Innehållsförteckning för September 2019 från Popular Mechanics

PRODUCED: CHINA TIME TO DISASSEMBLE: 4 HOURS, 56 MINUTES NOTES:On stage in 2008, Steve Jobs pulled an entire laptop out of a manila envelope. It had a full-size keyboard, a screen, batteries, ports—everything most of us would need from a laptop, all somehow fit into a case that was 0.76 inch at the thickest point. It was a technological triumph that would go on to dictate the design of every portable personal computer that came after. Apple updated the Air once in 2010, but otherwise left the basic design alone until last year. As much as its external aesthetics, the Air’s internal layout demonstrates the design brilliance that helped Apple dominate the consumer technology market. NUMBER OF PARTS: 508 How to open and update an older Mac. THE EASY UPGRADE:…

THE USS ZUMWALT and her two sister ships are undergoing a dramatic change of mission just three years after the first ship was commissioned. The destroyers, originally meant to provide naval gunfire support for the Marines and to bombard targets far inland, are now being reoriented as ship killers. The Zumwalt class of destroyers, which also includes the USS Michael Monsoor and the USS Lyndon B. Johnson, was intended to dramatically boost the fleet’s gun firepower. After the retirement of the four Iowa-class battleships in the early 1990s, the Navy studied a number of solutions before deciding on the Zumwalts. Each ship would be equipped with two 155-millimeter Advanced Gun Systems, each firing a precision-guided Long Range Land Attack Projectile (LRLAP) to ranges of up to 83 nautical miles. The…

ABOUT FOUR AND a half years ago, I drove the then-new Corvette Z06 at a track in Nevada. With 650 horsepower, the Z06’s rear tires struggled to cope with a firestorm of torque dispatched by the massive V8 sitting out ahead of the cockpit. For all its superlative capabilities, the Z06 needed more traction, more weight on the rear end. I told Tadge Juechter, Corvette executive chief engineer, “I think to do any better than this, you need to go mid-engine.” He assumed a look of weary annoyance and replied, “Yeah, that’s what everyone keeps telling me.” Which, you’ll note, was not a denial. Juechter had a good poker face, because back in Michigan, he and a team of engineers had been working on such a car since 2013. Disguised…

WHERE DID IT COME FROM? “Who distilled it? Do they list the name of the distillery on the label? If they don’t tell you who distilled the product on the label, they don’t want you to know. That weeds out a lot of varieties.” WHAT INFORMATION IS ONLINE? “Is there a website on the label? Can you look it up and see pictures, or is it some fanciful story? There’s a slew of sites that talk about the beautiful heritage of the family, but you never can get the real family name.” WHO’S THE IMPORTER? “I look up that importer and see what else they are doing. Are they serious about rum, or are they a small company that’s doing a tequila, a whiskey, and a gin, and, ‘Oh, we…

Ptolemaic Egyptians were rolling them in 300 B.C. The Romans fashioned them from glass some 400 years later. Truly glorious, a 20-sided die, the icosahedron, goes back to antiquity. But modern roleplaying games owe their use to the demands of statistics-heavy wargames, starting in 19th-century Prussia. Early versions used the classic 6-sided die, but centuries later, players were frustrated by its limitations, especially with percentages. How do you mimic the real-life probability that a mortar will land in the right spot 2,000 yards away with a 6-sided die? By the late 1960s, game designers like Michael Korns started publishing manuals like Modern War in Miniature, which were filled with tables of real wartime probabilities, often in 20 increments of 5 percent each. For that kind of math, the icosahedron was…

WHEN THE SOUND of my garage do or opening went from a GRR-RRRR-wha-wha-ding-pop-pop-GRRRRRRR that woke not only my sleeping children but my neighbors, too, to a barely audible and sorta-comforting whirrrrrrrrrr, I knew the $198 Genie was a keeper. Its ¾-horsepower motor and quiet belt drive are a big improvement over my creaky, greasy, chain-driven model. Of course, almost any newer belt-drive opener would be. But the SilentMax Connect stands out in other ways. Setup is relatively simple for any DIYer, with clear directions that require basic tools and fortunately not an advanced engineering degree. The kit comes with two remotes, a wired controller, and two wired safety sensors that prevent the door from closing if anything gets in their way. The wired devices take some care to connect, but…

Red Dragon Mini Dragon Propane Torch Kit $62 Time to cook-ready coals: 3 minutes, 30 seconds No wonder this propane torch is the preferred fire-starter on the competitive barbecue circuit: You get a roaring fire or white-hot charcoal ultrafast. Bonus: Doubles as an effective garden and patio weed incinerator. 10 HACKS EVERY GRILL-MEISTER SHOULD MASTER 1 CONTROL YOUR TEMPERATURE It’s the most critical rule for cooking outdoors. And the only way to nail it is with a meat thermometer. “A grill is really an outdoor oven with a lousy thermometer,” says Meathead Goldwyn of AmazingRibs.com. “Get some duct tape and cover that built-in thermometer.” Then buy a digital thermometer (see our recommendations on the opposite page). It’s the most accurate way to control temperature. “You can’t tell if meat is…

WHAT YOU NEED: A good supply of hardwood Oak, walnut, ash, and fruitwoods are good. Old hardwood shipping crates are a good source. Don’t use softwoods like pine or cedar—they won’t burn long enough to cook a hot dog. A firebox Some people simply dig a hole for their fire. I use an old 55-gallon drum. If you use a drum, make sure you burn it clean of all residues of oil or whatever. WHAT TO DO: 1. CUT YOUR HARDWOOD INTO CHUNKS Twelve inches long is ideal for the firebox of an offset smoker. 2. START YOUR FIRE The type of hardwood doesn’t matter, as long as you can get a really hot fire going. You want flames shooting up. 3. ADD THE HARDWOOD Add a layer at a…

We tested each light here extensively. We verified manufacturer claims of distance on a dark road under a canopy of oak, maple, and cedar trees. We ran them on their highest setting till their bulbs flickered, faded, and died. We tested the ones that claimed to be waterproof by submerging them elbow-deep into a bucket of water and clicked through all the buttons and settings. Then we dropped them from 7 feet onto a concrete slab to assess their impact resistance. Finally, we ran, hiked, and wore them around the house in the dark, just like you would, to gauge their fit and overall performance.…

MY WIFE AND I assessed what we needed: a media console, a bed frame, a coffee table. I thought the same thing that most of you reading this publication would probably think: “I’m building at least one of these things myself.” A few days later, that thought died. Specifically, it died when I clicked Complete Checkout, for two articles made of the cheap particle board furniture that anyone handy, or seeking to become handy, is supposed to denounce. I even had access to expensive tools and expert colleagues that could guide me through a satisfying project. Instead, I bought a TV table from—good God—Urban Outfitters. Now I’m waiting for Bob Vila to show up and take away my tape measure. I know I’m not the only one who caves and…

ACCORDING TO social media, the Rockingham traffic situation is a disaster. The Friday night crowd coming to the first-ever Epicenter Festival, a three-day concert in rural North Carolina, has overwhelmed the local roads, leading to backups miles long. I scored cheap tickets for the next two days, but I’m wondering if I’ll end up spending my weekend idling in gridlock with angry Korn fans. So on Saturday morning, I head to the venue to do some recon, armed with perhaps the ideal vehicle for this mission: the Zero FX, an electric dual-sport bike. I figure if I get stuck in pavement-bound traffic, I’ll just find a path through the woods. That’s the theory of the dual-sport—it’s a dirt bike with a license plate. The FX, like Zero’s street bikes, is…

VERTICAL LAUNCH SYSTEMS The ship is armed with 80 Mark 57 vertical launch systems: armored missile silos capable of launching SM-2 and SM-6 surface-to-air missiles, Evolved Sea Sparrow short-range air defense missiles, Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles, and the Vertical-Launch ASROC anti-submarine rocket. It also carries the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile. ADVANCED GUN SYSTEMS The Zumwalt packs two 155-millimeter Advanced Gun Systems, long-range cannons designed to bombard targets on land with precision at a rate of up to 10 rounds a minute. The guns live in covert mounts that conceal the 31.5-foot-long howitzer barrel from the probing beams of enemy radars. Upon command, doors open and the guns rise up, ready to shell distant targets at ranges of up to 83 nautical miles. INTEGRATED POWER SYSTE The Integrated Power System (IPS) powers…

FUNKIEST SMOOTHEST HAMPDEN RUM FIRE JAMAICAN WHITE OVERPROOF RUM / $30 About as funky as it gets. Spoiled-tasting, almost. And, at 126 proof, you’ll want to dilute it yourself. Either with rocks and water, or the lime juice and simple syrup that goes into a daiquiri. Work your way up, no matter how you drink it. PLANTATION XAYMACA SPECIAL DRY / $37 The Plantation company is a bottler and “finisher” of various rums from around the Caribbean. They acquire the rum and then age it for a short period of time in their own casks. This Jamaican rum is funky but not too funky. EL DORADO 15 YEAR OLD DEMERARA GUYANA RUM / $45 The rum sweet spot. Complex but fruity and syrupy. About as rich as rum gets. HAMILTON JAMAICAN…

WHEN YOU THINK of ’90s sci-fi, big names come to mind. The decade kicked off with Schwarzenegger getting his ass to Mars in Total Recall, and didn’t stop until Neo dodged bullets in The Matrix. In between were highlights like Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, Twelve Monkeys, The Fifth Element, Men in Black, and Gattaca. All great films, recognized as such in their time. And then there’s Event Horizon, a weird Neptunian horror almost universally loathed upon its 1997 release. Take, for example, critic Stephen Hunter’s review from The Washington Post: “If you want to have that ‘Event Horizon’ experience without spending the seven bucks, try this instead: Put a bucket on your head. Have a loved one beat on it vigorously with a wrench for 100 minutes. Same difference, and…

SMOKING ISN’T FOR everyone. But if you want to give it a shot, try this low-and-smoky slow style of barbecuing meat with your gas grill. Just don’t tell your friends in Texas. “If you’re going to smoke, an offset, the traditional Texas-style smoker, makes the best food,” says Jess Pryles, live-fire cooking expert and author of the book Hardcore Carnivore. “Offset is the purest way. It forces you to learn how to run the fire. With an offset smoker, the only way to control the temperature is the air intake. So, if you really want to learn barbecue craft, go offset.” We asked Pryles to walk us through the smoker options. —J.C. OFFSET Fire Source: Split logs burning in a separate firebox connected to a cooking chamber. Pros: A full…

YOU WALK TO the elevator, you hit the Up button, and you wait. And you wait. And… you wait. There really is a good reason the lift keeps rising away from you. And it’s not karmic payback for never returning your neighbor’s pruning shears. With every press of a button, we’ve given our elevators a doozy of a computational challenge. The elevator system must decide which car to send for you, and when. It must choose whether to go up from the fifth floor to collect those people on the seventh before coming down to the lobby to answer your call. It must consider who’s been waiting longer, and which of the many paths is the most efficient and least painful for everybody. Elevator traffic is an elaborate, delicate dance,…

RED Shades of this color are good at maintaining your night vision but don’t pick up fine details. Use it around camp and to read at night without disturbing your tentmates. GREEN Easily picked up by low-light receptors in your eyes, shades of green are ideal when you need to see detail at night, like on a rocky trail, or reading contour lines on a map. BLUE If you’ve watched CSI, you know that blue lights make blood visible in the dark. That makes this color popular with hunters, who can use it to follow an animal’s trail.…

With gas saws, determining power is easy—just look at the engine size, measured in cubic centimeters, or cc. It’s trickier with battery-powered saws because there are two ways the motor can arrive at its output, measured in voltage and amps. A saw’s electric motor can draw more amps (current) at a lower voltage or fewer amps at a higher voltage. Both can produce the same end power result in watts: amps x volts = watts. Consider the Stihl saw in this amps-volt argument. It won with only 36 volts, one of the fewest in the test. Another very capable competitor, the Milwaukee, has only 18. The electrically knowledgeable will argue that more voltage is preferable. Current is what causes heat, and relying on more current (amps) to get the job…

900 B.C. Work boots are in their infancy. Greeks make ones from terra cotta. Romans pound hobnails through sandal soles for traction. 1812 Philadelphia cobbler William Young popularizes separate boots made for left and right feet. 1869–1930s The Golden Years. Charles Goodyear, Jr. invents the Goodyear Welt to attach boot upper to sole. Red Wing popularizes the steel toe. 1937 Italian mountaineer Vitale Bramani invents the Vibram sole made of grippy, lugged rubber. 1982–TODAY Gore-Tex breathable waterproof membrane first used in hiking boots migrates to work boots, keeping our feet drier in the wet.…

On June 1, 2019, Popular Mechanics and the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference joined forces to celebrate American Hiking Society’s National Trails Day®. This purpose-powered annual event is designed to encourage outdoor enthusiasts of all skill levels to gear up, get out, and give back to our national trails. More than 300 readers and outdoor adventurists took part in our National Trails Day® Open House festivities, featuring guided hikes and stewardship opportunities at Ramapo Valley County Reservation.…

Meet the man behind the machine. As Chief of Naval Operations from 1970 to 1974, Elmo “Bud” Zumwalt introduced “Z-grams”: Navy-wide messages that authorized facial hair, introduced beer-dispensing machines to barracks, and established two destroyer squadrons that gave promising young officers the opportunity to command sooner. Zumwalt also pushed for racial unity in the Navy and advocated for expensive, high-tech ships to be supplemented with cheaper ships that could take on lower-priority missions. His vision is reflected in today’s fleet of guided missile destroyers and littoral combat ships.…

FIRST, THE TERM “craft” came for whiskey. And we bought so much that shortages hit and prices skyrocketed. So, on to mezcal. To the Italian bitters called amaro. To gin, which distillers can produce relatively quickly since no aging is required. And vodka, which is distilled to not really taste like anything at all. It seems every other liquor got that artisanal, small-batch, let’s-get-slightly-weird treatment known as craft distilling. Except, until recently, rum. But in the past 15 years, craft rum distillers blossomed, from fewer than 10 in the U.S. in 2006 to more than 200 in 2019. Rum has rarely held a prestige spot on bar shelves and liquor cabinets. It’s usually the sweet—often overbearingly so—well mixer for when you want a beach vibe. So why is it prime…

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is the oldest tabletop roleplaying game of sword and sorcer y—emphasis on the sorcery. Because without magic, D&D wouldn’t be very exciting, unless you like wargaming the Battle of Agincourt while rolling constitution checks to not contract the plague. Magic, and its evolving rules, gives D&D its storytelling power, letting players’ minds wander beyond the real world. It makes sense that, in the game’s first edition, D&D creator Gary Gygax borrowed mythical races and monsters like Ents, Orcs, and the Balrog from J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Gygax also modeled certain game mechanics after Jack Vance’s Dying Earth stories. Like Vance’s tales, Gygax’s magic was inherent, like gravity, but could only be summoned by text-bound formulas. It was also kind of clunky. In…

“Are you kidding? What a great watch at a ridiculous price. Thank you Stauer!”— Gitto, Hicksville NY Only $29! You would be hard pressed to find a timepiece of this outstanding quality and precision at this price. You need a new watch…the one you are wearing was made when Nixon was in office, but extravagantly-priced watches that add zeros just because of a high falootin’ name are an insult to your logic. Why shell out big money so some foreign company can sponsor another yacht race? It’s time to put an end to such madness. It’s absolutely possible to have the highest quality, precision classic timepiece without the high and mighty price tag. Case in point: The Stauer Urban Blue. Packed with high-end watch performance and style, minus the high-end…

WHAT YOU NEED: • ¾" 3-strand twisted nylon rope• Swing seat (you can make or purchase one)• Tree limb at least 6" in diameter HOW TO DO IT: Find your spot at least three feet from the trunk, but not so far that it sags under your weight. Prepare your rope with an eye splice* to make a loop in one end. Toss the eye splice over the limb and position the rope. Feed the plain end through the eye splice, then pull it snug around the limb. Repeat with the second rope, then hang your swing at the desired height. WHY THIS WORKS: During use, the weight on the swing keeps the rope snug around the limb, preventing movement, friction, and damage to the bark. When not in use,…

HOW WE TESTED THEM WE SHOPPED FOR more than 30 pounds of food: thick and juicy hamburgers, marinated chicken, and vegetarian patties. We also used white bread to help us determine the temperature distribution of each gas grill’s cooking surface. That’s important to know. Cold and hot spots require a complex movement of food around the grill’s surface to prevent overcooking or undercooking. For expert advice and insight, we invited chef and cookbook author Dave Joachim to lead our test. We began right at the box and looked at how the grill comes out. Unlike full-size gas or charcoal grills, tailgate grills require little assembly, taking just a few minutes of work. But looking at a cold, clean grill gives us a sense of its build quality and workmanship. Then…

Your grill’s built-in thermometer just won’t cut it. Try one of these precision tools instead. —J.C. Thermapen IR Digital Thermometer $139 It’s two in one: an infrared thermometer to measure surface temperature of a grill or flat-top griddle instantly, and a thermocouple probe thermometer to insert in meat to check internal temperature within three seconds. The backlit digital display can be read from any angle. For something simpler, get the Ther-moPop ($34), a favorite pocket thermometer of line cooks for its ease of use and splash-proof design. Smoky bears may want to go with the Smoke 2-Channel Alarm ($99), which includes two sensors, one that clips inside the smoker or grill and a probe for the meat, plus a wireless receiver that allows you to monitor temperature from inside your…

Meghan Owings plucks a horseshoe crab out of a tank and bends its helmet-shaped shell in half to reveal a soft white membrane. Owings inserts a needle and draws a bit of blood. “See how blue it is,” she says, holding the syringe up to the light. It really is. The liquid shines cerulean in the tube. When she’s done with the show and tell, Owings squirts the contents of the syringe back into the tank. I gasp. “That’s thousands of dollars!” I exclaim, and can’t help but think of the scene in Annie Hall when Woody Allen is trying cocaine for the first time and accidentally sneezes, blowing the coke everywhere. I’m not crazy for my concern. The cost of crab blood has been quoted as high as $15,000…

LIKE BOB DYLAN in Newport, the chainsaw has gone electric. The advent of high-capacity lithium-ion storage cells, improved brushless motors, and smart designs has produced something amazing: a quiet, clean-cutting, well-balanced, and productive chainsaw that runs on a battery. For tree felling and hardcore wood cutting, the high power of a gas saw remains ideal—notching, bore cuts, and bucking on large-diameter hardwood demand the speed and torque they deliver. But the convenience, low weight, and ease of operation make electric options a better choice for most homeowners. You experience those benefits as soon as you start an electric saw. There’s no special technique required as with a pull-start gas model. No coddling and coaxing the two-stroke engine, no fussing with oil mixture. Just drop in a charged battery, release the…

BEFORE YETI COOLERS became so popular that owners began chaining them to their truck beds to prevent theft, before copycat products filled the shelves and web stores of Bass Pro Shops and REI, before the cult of Yeti made incredibly expensive coolers so desirable that it left us looking at our old Igloos and Colemans with distaste and distrust, there was a man standing on a cooler aboard a boat, casting for a wily redfish. When you’re angling for redfish, as Roy Seiders was wont to do, elevation is as important as your rod and reel: A higher vantage reduces glare and affords a better view. Seiders, like many others, sometimes jumped up onto his cooler to gain an advantage. But his wasn’t strong enough or sturdy enough to stand…

Vintage1 Modern Leather Textile Indian Harley Street Dirt Fast Slow Loud Pipes2 Quiet Pipes Toolbox Tool Belt Spokes Mags Helmet No Helmet Mechanic Dealer Oil Grease Clean Hands Graph Paper Blank Sheet Carbs EFI Cats3 Dogs Sports Bike Cruiser4 American Import Building Up Taking Apart Gin Rum Digital Gauge Analog Gauge5 Twisties Interstates Mustache6 Clean Paper Towels Shop Rag Radio Atmosphere7 Tube Tubeless Windshield Wind Noise Center Stand Side Stand LET ME EXPLAIN (1) It’s what I grew up with. I have a 1959 BSA Gold Star, a Triumph Thunderbird, a Parilla 175 Superhawk, and a few Ducatis. (2) You don’t need to shake the windows, but the sound defines the motorcycle. It’s nice to know the iron horse is alive. (3) People come from all over the world to…