This guy is a legend! I vividly remember his shows in the early 90's. Back then I was a 10/11 year old Dutch kid with only a limited understanding of the English language and there were no subtitles. Nevertheless, Tim and Rex managed explain the basics of how things work. I don't know why, but somehow I can hear "this is recorded on sticky tape and rust" as if I'm watching that episode right now. 😄
I really love playing with everything mechanical and electrical . I watched your videos 4 times. At least. I now the way must of those systems works But it’s still a pleasure to look at you explaining the Hole thing again. I made a long trip to visit the watch museum and the automated musical instruments, also amazing. I went to this museum and it was closed. For maintenance. But after they learned that my trip was more than 8 hours of plane plus few more by train to reach Suizerland they reopened the museum just for me for free. I was the happiest men on earth.
I've always wanted to do something with pneumatics - the action is so satisfying! You can get oil free compressors pretty cheaply nowadays - I think they use two or more diaphragms to avoid any friction surfaces that need lubricating
I have several oilless piston type compressors, all salvaged from wrecked cars with air suspension. One has been my tire inflator for the past 20 years, been run until it was smoking hot numerous times, generally abused, and still works like new. Most of them have an integrated solenoid bleed valve that's handy too.
Or compressors from used fridges and A/C units - They can be used either as a compressor or as a vacuum pump. However they won't last long without proper lubrication applied directly into the intake air...
As a maker, mad scientist, amateur scientist, professional engineer, and so on and so forth, I can hardly express how much your shows, both old and new, have enritched my life. Thank you!❤
You remind me so much of my grandfather. He was so smart and always in his shop devising clever devices of all sorts. He built a elevator in his house in later years and used paddle wheel pump and cold creek water to cool his house back in the 40's.
Great to see Tim back doing at what he does best, entertaining through technology. I am still loving the Secret Life series as much I did when I was a kid. Absolutely brilliant.
Very good! I had a Ford that had pneumatic windscreen wipers, powered from the intake manifold vacuum. They stopped when going up-hill, due to a lowered vacuum!
I remember those - you had to slip the clutch and briefly rev the engine to get a quick wipe going uphill in the rain. VW had a system which worked off the air in the spare tyre. If you had to fit the spare then you had no wipers so I guess that Ford's method was less bad than the VW.
I have no want to meet ANY "celebrity". A bit of a disdain for most of them actually. I'd PAY to spend a couple hours touring Tim's shop and absorbing everything he had to impart. His videos are some of the absolutely best content available. And he imparts his knowledge for free! Thank you SO much and PLEASE continue, as is comfortable and enjoyable, to keep educating so many of us who absorb every video like a sponge. Oh how I wish I had such instruction as a child.
you can build a pneumatic computer... using force balancing and analog pressures to represent signals. bellows and diaphragms will be balance against levers and springs. This can provide control in both proportional and inverse proportional relationships. Add in some bleed valves and you get reset action, addition, subtraction, accumulation... these types of computers are quite reliable and are not effected by magnetic fluctuations or changes in either magnetic or electric fields... ideal for industrial controls... or if you need a computer that can survive a EMP blast. =D Happy Wednesday!
I've been in engineering for 21 years, I should have been shown this as a training video as an apprentice! You've taught me things about components that we use but never really understood 😊
I hope to one day visit this arcade. These videos are so much more helpful than many others on YT. I love how it just comes down to his decades of practical experience (and it's broken up according to how he approaches making these machines).
Age counts big time. Unfortunately, most of the youtube makers are young (that in itself isn't a bad thing), but wisdom and experience is considerable more dense in older engineers!
Could you make a video on sheet metal working, really wondering how you made those goats! Love the videos, I once made an interactive animatronic gromit (moving eyes, wagging tail etc) for a sculpture trail in bristol, its still in use 5 years later (9 hours a day). So can appreciate how hard it is to make reliable mechanisms that the public can be around. Would love to do something similar again one day. Hope to visit novelty automation one day.
A great sheet metal channel to watch is Ron Covel and he does sheet metal for Hot Rods and car restoration projects, so plenty of techniques to be learnt from him. Mark from Melbourne Australia
Thanks Tim. I'd not really thought about pneumatics for a long time. I had some pneumatic lego when I was a kid but that's really the only time I've played with it. Maybe I'll start using it in some projects now your video has refreshed my memory of it.
I had the early Lego Technic or Tech Set as it was then so I missed out on the pneumatic Lego Technic. Do they still include it in any sets or is everything screw jack driven?
I turned thirty last year. I really struggle to know who I am or what I want to do with my life. The one thing I've always been fascinated by, but for most of my life struggled with, was creation. Telling stories, making THINGS, anything at all, even pointless things. But so much that I've considered doing has been too complicated to even approach. Too scary to even research. The Secret Life Of vids are so satisfyingly done, spectacularly well explained to help demystify what might as well be magic if you don't look under the hood. Just want to say thank you for these. Really helps to show that taking the first steps into things like this isn't so hard at all.
Great to see you back, I remember your TV series when we were all younger, and have loved your practical approach to passing on your knowledge and experiences ever since. Thank you...
As a child, I loved Tim and Rex in The Secret Life of Machines. As an adult, I'm in disbelief the YT algorithm did me such a solid as to show me this great man is still at it 35 years later!
My grandfather used to build ride-on steam Railway engines, he was a member of the North London Society of Model Engineers. I now find myself gravitating towards more and more mechanical engineering. I think you two would have gone well, both working out of a problem using experimentation. Glad to see you back. Ast...
The auto drain will let the liquid out of the tank but there will still be a lot of water vapor mixed into the air so a mist filter or dryer will likely be required.
I wish I could give you two thumbs up. I really enjoyed the secret life of machines years ago. It was my favorite TV show. Thank you for creating this series of videos to pass on your knowledge to those younger mechanically inclined folks today!
Fantastic stuff all round Tim, I remember watching you years ago on 'The secret life of... ' Your creations are brilliant! Thanks for all your videos and explanations.
Thanks Tim for yet another brilliant insight in everyday items. Always entertaining and informative. Lovely to see the dedication to Rex & Graham. Watched your TV programmes when you were on C4. Under the pier show & Southwold are well worth a visit, you'll not be disappointed.
In all the time I have worked with pneumatics, there is only one hard and fast rule which has held true... the ideal gas law is a suggestion, Bernoullis principles are are a rule of thumb. However... "Whichever style of quick connect you bought, it isn't that one. Nor is the other style you have downstairs... it will always be the other kind that you didn't know existed until just now." holds true.
What a fascinating video Have loved your work since I was at school reading your cartoons in the Observer. It was the only reason my parents bought it. Thank you.
Tim glad you are back. Absolutely made my day. Having a very hard time through bereavement and just rubbish work but this made me feel so full of happiness. I work in oil and gas, it’s all about control.Glad to see you doing what is brilliant… Love A xxx
A million things to watch on RU-vid and I have already watched this particular episode at least6-8 times, not to mention how many times I have watched all Mr. Hunkins videos. I wish Rex was still here to be involved.
Ah, a new Tom Hunkin Video! The Magic of Your Shows are Still There! You are the Common-Man's Treasure! I have been watching and following you since I was a young man, and we are kindred spirits in Tinkering! Even though I have been in industry and around pneumatics, I learned a few new things (as usual!). So thank You! When you pass, and go to heaven, may you have a fully outfitted-shop attached to a McMaster Carr warehouse!
8:35 Oh my I remember playing that one in London last year during September! I still have the 'nuclear waste' as a memento to the wonderful time I had. Thank you for your service Tim. Greetings from Germany!
Tim!! SO glad to see you again. I've shared a lovely many hours viewing your videos, new and old, with my aging father, as something to do with him that he laughs so heartily with. Thank you. You've reminded us both of my childhood with him, watching both weird British TV stuff (we're American) and these wonderful educational videos by very clever people in those times. It actually reminds me a lot of many other RU-vid creators I've discovered lately, including yourself. Thank you very much. We love you and appreciate all your work, back then and now. You deserve all success possible.
Legendary to see a new series! Also that pneumatic residential elevator near the end, wow!! Thanks for continuing to inspire, and sharing your knowledge and creative personality.
Tim mentioned vacuum bellows used in cars - my Land Rover used to have its cruise control throttle mechanism controlled that way. One might remember the old distributor vacuum advance too. The vacuum tube system for moving items around is used in the nuclear industry for moving radioactive canisters around quickly and without human contact (I forget but there is a university department in America that has a system that runs over a huge distance between labs). Perhaps Tim mentioned it but pneumatic systems work well in 'explosive' environments where the risk from an electrical spark would be a real problem! What a brilliant video - we are so lucky he is still broadcasting albeit on RU-vid!
Wow, I had no idea you had more shows out! I have entire series of The Secret Life of Machines saved! As soon as i finished watching, I donated! I'm a Machine Operator at a factory and Pneumatics are used *extensively* both on the machine I run and elsewhere in the facility. They even have air-powered pumps called 'Sandpipers'.
I absolutely cannot describe how much I loved every minute of this video. "I love this tool, and would probably have never made these goats without it." I mean, *obviously*
as a professional mechatronics engineer I find this series of videos incredibly educational and what's more explained in very simple terms and practical. Thanks a lot for sharing your vast knowledge!! very cool arcade machines too!
I've been checking for a while for a new video 😂 fell in love with Tim when I was a kid watching Secret Life of Machines and I'm so glad he's still at it on RU-vid. Would really like to get over to the UK one of these days and see the arcade.
If you want to check out low pressure pneumatics, look at the W123 in your drive! The central locking is all vacuum powered. You'll find a huge vacuum tank at the top of the boot, and lines going to all the door and the fuel filler. A valve in the driver's door is connected to the lock plunger, and switches between 2 vacuum motors like the VW one you showed. There are other similar ones in the dashboard for the HVAC to move the blend doors. On an old diesel Mercedes there's a valve connected to the accelerator linkage which simulates a gas engine manifold vacuum, for the automatic transmission. I've taken mine apart, but still don't understand how it works. It must operate on a similar principal to the pressure regulator, but I don't see how it doesn't create a vacuum leak. My 1991 Benz adds to this a vacuum amplifier device which modifies the accelerator vacuum valve with boost pressure. The ignition switch is pneumatic too!
Having worked in China I would suggest that you definitely get what you pay for. Their machine tools are 1/6 the price of Western machine tools and the last in production about 1/6 the time. This means you look at production lines and calculate at what point you wish to be in profit and be able to replace a tired for failing tool or machine. An excellent series and a must for every apprentice engineer to watch .
I watched Secret Life series years ago and missed it when it went off the air. This week I stumbled across Tim’s RU-vid channel and I have been on a binge ever since. Nice to see Tim still going strong. Can’t wait for future content!!!
Years ago, I went to a lightning lab as part of a school field trip....one thing this lab did was launch small rockets trailing a thin wire into a storm cloud. All of the controls were pneumatic in the launch facility, with all the electrical components in the launch pad. Nonconductive tubing from the " bunker" to the launch pad. At my last job, the elevators were partially controlled by what amounted to a vacuum/pneumatic computer if a sort This was a great video! These should be shown in schools...
Tim your a legend! Love your under the pier show loved meeting you and Rex in Ipswich in 2011 at the student Union ! These videos are fantastic thank you for your time and efforts! 😊
Oh lord oh lord Tim... I Cried with happiness seeing this new upload. I remember seeing you when i was a little boy, I had your "almost everything,," book it was treasured by me and kept it into adulthood, where sadly my vicious vindictive ex wife threw pretty much all my my childhood stuff out stuff out, I was heartbroken as a long passed family member brought it for me.
Great video tim! A lot of train doors (both external and internal) run on pneumatics. Your right about reliability. On the newer trains it's all electric powered and the fault reports is lot higher.
For the clock at the zoo, I recommend a recently serviced older Hydrovane. They sit in filthy factories and run for decades with almost no maintenance.
Visited your arcade on Southwold pier last summer. Amazing! The kids loved it too, my daughter really enjoyed the dog walking simulator. Can't wait to go to your london arcade!
