Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/12/05/50-gadget-reduces-washing-mac.html
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Finally, something to curb the immoral fad of sitting atop the washer to get a cheap thrill that’s been corrupting our nation
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Well, $50 x unknown risk of faulty execution and/or late or non-delivery because Kickstarter.
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Hopefully it works but I think this concept needs a bit of work. It doesn’t look very durable and looks like crap, think this can be enclosed and set up to look like a lid that’s part of the washing machine (if it’s going to sit on top)
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Fad? Why, my grandmother…
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American front-loaders have two major design flaws, from an engineering POV: (1) tubs that are too large, and (b) tubs that are slanted slightly upwards. The latter helps with water use and agitation on these larger machines, but also increases vibration, and clothing getting twisted up. The smaller, true-horizontal-axis machines from Miele et al still vibrate, but much less.
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cheap!? I bought a Miele, my friend.
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this brace that mounts on the bottom or top of the washer
How does it work if it’s mounted on top of the washer?
If you can make this work for $50 why aren’t the washer manufacturers building in something similar for less?
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Previously:
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Spending some time actually leveling your washer makes all the difference in the world. After doing that I haven’t heard the thing or had it move in a good 5 years.
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Another thing that makes a huge difference is buying a good washer instead of a crap one. Our first front loader was the cheapest Kenmore on the showroom floor at Sears (back when Sears still had stores). Even when levelled it made a ton of noise. When it died after a mere 8 years, we cursed mightily and then bought the most affordable washer recommended by Wirecutter (an LG), and it a) gets things much cleaner and b) is almost completely silent.
… Easily? If anything its probably more effective mounted on top than toward the bottom as it can more effectively counter the movement of the washer. Its the same principle of whats used in super tall skyscrapers
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You just have to put the washer upside down. Or mount it to the ceiling…
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Yeah, basically a $50 lottery ticket that might result in a product, or it might result in nothing but disappointment.
It looks like the load-bearing elements are just the transducers and everything else is just to house the control unit and wires, so those are the only things that need to be terribly sturdy.
I’m concerned about those though. I can think of a couple of ways this could be done-ferrofluids with changing viscosity or either a voice coil + permanent magnet or a dual voice coil design. There’s a brief flash of what appears to be a block diagram of how the thing works which shows some kind of ambiguous looking things which I assume are the transducers so it’s hard to say, but really no matter what solution is used (it’s probably dual coils, that’s the cheapest and you can create quite a bit of force with wall current) heat is going to be a problem. Those things are doing a lot of work.
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Most manufacturers do make self-leveling washers. I used to have a Whirlpool that was. IIRC, it was a fairly simple system of some articulated arms and a spring. I had to replace the spring once. They also make retro fit self-leveling legs for washers that cost about 25 bucks.
Speed Queen is the only washer brand that matters.
This in development by BOSE over many years… and now… with BOSE tech picked up and improved by ClearMotion.
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