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posted by Fnord666 on Monday June 14 2021, @11:34AM   Printer-friendly
from the sooooper-genius dept.

Roller Skating, Wile E. Coyote-Style | Hackaday:

Today's tidbit is that just anybody (including [Ian Charnas]) can exchange money for jet engines, no questions asked. Scary, huh? So once [Ian] secured the cutest little engine, he took a poll regarding possible uses for it. Jetpack rollerskating won, that's obvious enough. So let's get into those details.

In order to run the thing and test the thrust a bit before strapping it on his back, [Ian] went about this the smart way and welded together a sliding stand. And he didn't use just any old Jansport backpack, he welded together a frame and roll cage for the engine and attached it to a full-body harness. There's also a heat shield to keep his backside from catching fire.

Read the linked story and then watch the well-crafted (and funny) video in YouTube where he documents parts procurement (including getting hold of jet fuel), the build process, safety precautions, and actual test runs. Not only did he give it a try, but also obtained help from roller derby aficionados who we able to double his top speed!


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by looorg on Monday June 14 2021, @11:36AM (1 child)

    by looorg (578) on Monday June 14 2021, @11:36AM (#1145038)

    No. I don't think I would want to strap that device on to go for a (high-speed-) roll.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 14 2021, @12:03PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 14 2021, @12:03PM (#1145040)

      suspended between the technical bits, and the sheer insanity of it all

  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday June 14 2021, @02:02PM (4 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday June 14 2021, @02:02PM (#1145059) Journal
    From the data [crxturbines.com], the Swiwin SW300B has a thrust of 300N and a mass of 2.5 kg. That yields a respectable thrust-weight ratio of 12 (which compares well [liquisearch.com] to a selection of a few modern jet and rocket engines).
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 14 2021, @03:00PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 14 2021, @03:00PM (#1145078)

      I'm not going to waste my time looking for it, but... This story is outdated. A guy in a wheelchair put Aerotech rocket motors on his wheelchair and got fame over 20 years ago.

      • (Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Monday June 14 2021, @03:43PM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday June 14 2021, @03:43PM (#1145097) Journal
        Jet engines can be throttled or even shut off, giving you some control over your destiny. Aerotech rocket motors, being examples of solid propellant motors, burn until they're out of fuel - no matter what trouble you've run into in the meantime.

        Jet engines also can burn longer since one gets a lot more delta-v out of the same amount of propellant (since one doesn't need to carry oxidizer).
      • (Score: 2) by Unixnut on Monday June 14 2021, @04:20PM (1 child)

        by Unixnut (5779) on Monday June 14 2021, @04:20PM (#1145104)

        It has been a story as old as time, this page ( http://pigeonsnest.co.uk/stuff/rocket-car.html [pigeonsnest.co.uk] ) seems to have a version of it that I heard before (more detailed though).

        Saying that, even strapping a jet engine to roller skates has been done multiple times before. I mean, it was even on Top Gear back in 2009, when a guy on jet skates drag raced an Aston Martin ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPgpzHFc_ck [youtube.com] ). So not sure why this particular time round it is newsworthy, but ok.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @04:53AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @04:53AM (#1145381)

          I'm assuming because it is entertaining? Hasn't come up in the last 12 years? I don't think there is any claim here that this is the first time it has been done.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 14 2021, @02:22PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 14 2021, @02:22PM (#1145066)

    First, this is absolutely amazing. I'm somewhat surprised it actually "works," but when I think about it, there is no reason it shouldn't. It's more just a mental block recoiling from the potential fear than anything physical or engineering (unlike the more popular, and technically-possible-but-much-harder-and-less-practical jetpack fliers people dream about).

    Second, it demonstrates once again how much media and popular imagination misrepresents reality, much like computer hacking and warfare. People (at least I) associate jet engine with "very fast," so picture a jetpack on a rollerskates as traveling something like 100MPH. Actual physics, though, suggest it produces much less thrust than that. The actual speed they got to was more like 20 MPH, and 35 when really pushing it. To be clear that is very fast, but far from a "catch a cheetah, a gazelle, or a cartoon roadrunner" type fast. It also makes me realize exactly how fast cars actually are.

    Awesome story. Thanks for posting.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday June 14 2021, @03:45PM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday June 14 2021, @03:45PM (#1145099) Journal
      It would be a lot faster, if he were carrying a massive jet engine rather than a 2.5 kg one. The planes that attain extreme speeds with jet engines have a lot more engine.
  • (Score: 1) by shrewdsheep on Monday June 14 2021, @03:43PM (4 children)

    by shrewdsheep (5215) on Monday June 14 2021, @03:43PM (#1145095)

    The part I liked most was how he got the jet fuel. I like challenges like these: this is forbidden, we don't sell that, you need a license for this, this is only for experts...

    Sir, you cannot walk this way ... well, challenge accepted.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 14 2021, @05:57PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 14 2021, @05:57PM (#1145147)

      I wonder if that's what really happened, because they have his credit card, and he fraudulently claimed he was fueling somebody else's plane. If somebody wanted to throw the book at him, they could.

      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 14 2021, @06:32PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 14 2021, @06:32PM (#1145163)

        Jet-A is just kerosene.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @02:19AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @02:19AM (#1145340)

          Funny he didn't know that. Oh, skateboard! Or, Rollerskates. Makes sense.

        • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Tuesday June 15 2021, @02:45AM

          by Reziac (2489) on Tuesday June 15 2021, @02:45AM (#1145350) Homepage

          Are there actually any restrictions on buying jet fuel? or was the rigamarole just to keep random persons from annoying the airport? (Given you can buy kerosene at any hardware store.) I couldn't find any offhand..??

          --
          And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 14 2021, @04:57PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 14 2021, @04:57PM (#1145115)

    All I get whenever I open a youtube window these days is an advertisement. Of course I just close it immediately since I don't like being raped.

    • (Score: 4, Touché) by mrpg on Monday June 14 2021, @05:13PM

      by mrpg (5708) Subscriber Badge <reversethis-{gro ... yos} {ta} {gprm}> on Monday June 14 2021, @05:13PM (#1145122) Homepage

      You can use firefox with noscript and ublock origin or brave browser. No ads.

    • (Score: 4, Touché) by KilroySmith on Monday June 14 2021, @05:49PM

      by KilroySmith (2113) on Monday June 14 2021, @05:49PM (#1145143)

      >>> I just close it immediately since I don't like being raped.
      I'm pretty sure that getting raped once would change your opinion of the horror of watching an ad on an ad-supported website.

  • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday June 15 2021, @03:18PM

    by Freeman (732) on Tuesday June 15 2021, @03:18PM (#1145530) Journal

    The guy was actually smart about it, well more smart than the average YouTube "creator". Doing anything like Wile E., essentially just means death by X thing. The Darwin Awards have more in common with Wile E. than this thing.

    --
    Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
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