Dampers... WHAT A DRAG!

Your daily intake of dampers low? I've got you covered!
Turn your project up a notch (but slower) with one of these!
Rotary, linear, hybrid, dapper, we got all types.

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Music: Switched on Carcassi - Brian Bolger

[AlphaPhoenixChannel]

So I watched this video whenever it came out - feels like days ago - but this morning when I tried to close the toilet seat, I kinda instinctively threw it down to make it close faster. As I dejectedly stood there watching it drop those last couple centimeters, I’d SWEAR I heard ToT whisper “rotary dampers”. Maybe even saw the word fly across my retina. Maybe I wasn’t completely awake yet…

[thomasstuart]

My favorite example of rotary dampers was on the joystick of the F-14 Tomcat. Being designed before fly-by-magic the joystick was directly connected to the huge, 3000 psi cylinders moving the stabilators in the back, To stop excessively "maverick" pilots from ripping the stabs off in high speed maneuvers, dampers were installed to slow the pilot input.
This gave ground crew the ability to punish errant fighter jocks by asking the to do several minutes of stick "wipeouts", involving moving the stick through it's full range while under a closed canopy in the hot sun.
We would tell the pilot that we needed it to troubleshoot a problem, we just left out the part about the problem being them not listening to ground crew instruction.

[abaile]

I just want you to know, this video has given me the solution to a problem I've been trying to design around for a year. Dunno why I didn't think of it myself, but thanks.

[WilliamDye-willdye]

I loved the way those calculators would ease open and stand up. Had no idea how simple the mechanism was, which IMO makes the ease-open function even more impressive.

[quartfeira]

You can't understand how happy I am every time that I see "This old Tony" notification 😁♥️✌️

[deusexaethera]

The coolest example of rotary dampers in consumer tech is definitely soft-eject cassette decks -- not that anyone uses them anymore, but still.

[Geniusinventor]

Can we all take a moment to appreciate the work this man is doing to entertain and educate us man thank you very much!.

[blazbohinc]

I swear. This dude could talk about anything whatsoever and I'd still put it on before bed and fall asleep to his soothing voice. Like I totally haven't done multiple times in the past. Nah uh.

[sbwhddv]

TOT, you are informative and FUN! FYI: I made a "James Bond" style pedal board for a guitarist friend. He wanted "cool factor 11" but had little money, so I used the rotary dampers from an old toilet seat to make the lid open just as you mentioned here. Battery-powered LED lights turn on automatically thanks to a re-purposed switch for refrigerators. ( available online) The curious thing is, Dave was always a decent guitarist, but had trouble finding work. When he showed up to jam sessions with this "JB / cool factor 11 pedal board, " other musicians noticed. That made him appear more professional... well, that and losing 60 lbs, getting some new clothes and regular haircuts. Now he gets more calls for paying gigs. It's amazing what Rotary Dampers and personal hygiene can accomplish!

[snoopsnet]

This is something I've been curious about for YEARS. I'm familiar with rotory dampers, but anytime I saw those calculators, I knew there was no way they fit a full damper in there. Also, they certainly wouldn't be giving them away for free if they did. Many thanks!

[thecakeredux]

I'm actually respecting the simplicity of that design. Very clever.

[skullys]

The first time I learned about these was when I was working as a electronic technician back in the early 80's repairing cassette decks. I was amazed at such a simple design that creates such a cool effect, thanks Tony for the memories!

[LazerLord]

I used to be obsessed with those calculator things as a kid, for some reason.
It was like a fun-sized laptop! Small things are always fun!

[thomasbecker]

Engineer here, and thank you for calling them "dampers, " and not "dampeners." My flight controls instructor loved calling out students who incorrectly called them "dampeners."

[rhalfik]

The goop is called viscous grease or just damping grease. For faster action you would use viscous oil - vehicle suspension, camera tripod heads. A solid state counterpart is viscous rubber. Mostly butyl, widely used in acoustics.

[TheSynthnut]

The most common damping grease is made by Rocol and is called Kilopoise. It's available in a number of grades from very light to crazy stiff. It's also stupidly expensive, but a little goes a long way. I use it for rejuvenating potentiometers that have dried out, been cleaned or feel gritty among other stuff.

[EngineeringSpareTime]

rotary dampers always increase the feel of quality of a product by a lot

[pianoanime]

Loving that the opening theme music plays whenever you open the device, even softly in the background as you talk about it.

[paulg]

The "sticky goop" is a high viscosity silicone fluid. Most of unsealed dampers use this in some way or another.
Few things will dissolve it other than siloxane solvents such as Polydimethylsiloxane (dimethicone)

[JB-olvz]

You are probably the only person on this world that can make a glorious film about this. Thanks from Sweden.