I adore how he does literally the worse thing to get noticed by the algorithm (months and years of no upload, followed by short bursts of uploads) and STILL has 1,26M followers. Shows the quality.
I'm sure he has thousands of requests and probably tens of thousands of ideas... Further this is probably been already mentioned on his channel but I'd love to see his take on Roman concrete which is significantly stronger than anything we make today
It's good content. Bill has such a knack for displaying the exciting engineering of many everyday items, while giving the greatest engineering sales pitch possible.
Also just by ignoring it, stamping metal is quick and easy so it doesn't even matter whether it'll always work, you can make so many that you can still produce a lot.
@@hedgehog3180 but... if the dimensions have to be super accurate... wont all the layers be slightly miss aligned? you would be less precise punching holes and layering them together
but your kind of making your problem bigger, now not only do you need to make and align these plates with precision, you also need to build the very good aligner machine, and many of its parts that require precision. You kind of passed the problem to the next part. @@darkcoeficient
On another note, and at the risk of being melodramatic, I just subscribed to this channel and have only seen 3 videos yet. And my mind is kind of blown right now. I had considered engineering in my college years but thought it to be an exact science! I thought it would be too challenging for me and not quite fitting with my natural tendencies. But now I see that I use that engineering mind a lot in my life to solve problems and implement solutions. I just didn’t have any role models to show me and guide me to see that I just might have the mind for it. And I didn’t have the confidence in myself to find out for myself. This makes me sad for missed opportunities. But moreso excited! I still have plenty of life left and plenty to learn. This makes me feel like I actually do have something I’m capable of contributing. Thank you for breaking an old, outdated belief! *edited for clarity
These four new episodes have been great! I really appreciate your featuring the positives rather than the failure analysis we get from most engineering-centric sources. Hoping for more in the future.
@@markfryer9880 I can't agree with this enough, I love learning about the brilliant solutions and creative thinking that goes into the development of an idea from something that is exciting but flawed, into a new paradigm that becomes ubiquitous throughout the world. These triumphs don't get enough attention compared to the focus given to disaster response.
Bill it is so good to have you back. I think the work and effort you put in is amazing and I for one am TRULY grateful for all these new episodes and not forgetting all your previous works. All the best from Steve in the UK
Welcome back, Engineer Guy! I’m so glad this channel is producing videos again. The content is so fascinating. .0001 is a heck of a tolerance, and machining the magnetron from solid copper would’ve have not only taken a week per unit but wasted material. Microwaves would have never become affordable. Not to mention needed a plumber just to install in a kitchen.
If it takes a week to machine something just because it's made from copper, you need new machinists. Use sharp tooling with the correct geometry, a WATER based coolant, and correct speeds and feeds, and you'll have no trouble at all. Machining copper is one hell of a lot easier than machining titanium, which work-hardens in a single pass if the per-tooth pressure is too high.
The magnetron is the literal definition of Sacred Geometry. And it's origins is not earthly. I guess the watchers really wanted the European slave revolt crushed.
As always after watching your videos I have a hard time finding the right words to express how much I enjoy them. I can imagine how much effort is put into every one of your videos. Please know that this is very much appreciated. Thank you so much for your work.
Speaking of Magnetrons, I have some fun memories of playing with magnets from some. My father's a retired USAF radar maintenance tech. He would occasionally bring home a dead Magnetron and strip the twin horseshoe magnets from it. Those suckers were strong, and if you weren't careful, would do a number on any fleshy parts that got caught in the way. Never thought to disassemble the inside of the magnetron itself to see what it looked like. Sadly, that's a missed opportunity that won't come again.
Great explanation. This is something I've seen alot of, people who fail as engineers because they're too rigid in their definitions of what quality is. They navigate on their own aestethic sense, rather than the constraints of the actual problem, and they like to imagine one type of solution suits every problem. Such people would enjoy the fine machining of the older magnetrons, and seeing the comparison at 8:50, would scoff at the less precise machining, claiming the angular holes are simply a worse design. When in fact the reason for the old precise machining doesn't exist when using it in a small consumer oven.
Early 70's, home from school on a sick day, watching the Price Is Right, and the late Johnny Olson touting emphatically on a Show Case presentation, "...and this beautiful Amana Radarrange! with its modern cooking capabilities..." will forever be stuck in my head for some strange reason...
This was a really great way to tell this story. The story of "best" to an engineer and how it changes based on context, time and situation. Brilliant. Side note, My dad was a master machinist and tool maker. He had a contract to make those super precise magnetron cavities for raytheon ... He told the story often. He loved the challenge.
As a retired engineer myself (and both my son’s are engineers), thank you for this series. You do wonders to explain what engineering is! Well done!! 🎉
I am a professional design engineer, 9 years in the business. When watching these videos I regularly find myself nodding an smiling. Really good content! And I especially love the message, that even people decades in the field forget, that it doesn't need to be perfect, but good enough.
I appreciate the attention to both historical and technical detail. However, there is one unfortunate photograph choice: the picture right after 1:17 shows a Bf 109 G-2 of the Finnish air force flying over Helsinki on February 6 1944. While Finland was still an ally of Nazi Germany at the time, and while Finland and Great Britain were technically at war, I doubt the British had any fears of the Finnish bombing London. SA-kuva, the original source of the image, makes the following request on their website: "When you publish a photograph from the archive, mention 'SA-kuva' as the source. You may not use the photographs to mislead people."
@@engineerguyvideo I left in March 1983 to start my first job at Gould in Chicago. I'm now retired and kill some time with RUclips videos. Today was the first I came across your channel. It appears you don't make videos very often but I've bookmarked your channel and will work my way through the older ones. You do a good job.
i see an engineerguy upload, i watch. i may be but a software engineer but the lessons in bill's videos and the principles they teach are equally as applicable in my trade as any other engineering trade. always excited to see you upload, bill. i hope you're well and thriving as you deserve to be
you just said something I always thought, people like mythical stories about inventions and inventors, and sometimes even get angry when they read the real story because "it ends the magic". but it doesn't make sense to me, the details are the most amazing part of history, there is so much magic in reality when you try to dive deep into it. why would anyone prefer some mythical story ?
The mythos of genius comes in two flavors I've noticed. One is the savant who can effortlessly solve some problem (ignoring all the years of study to have a base understanding of the problem to begin with). Or the flash of inspiration (ignoring all the previous failures that lead down this path). Both seem to ignore the everyday problem solving people do as routine. So it becomes a story of either gods walking among us or some simpleton outsider recognizing the emperor has no clothes; relieving people of the burden of trying and failing themselves (or at least not viewing their own successes as worthy).
@@quintessenceSL The worst part is that it can discourage people when they hit the hard work of inventing, because they feel like that difficulty means that they're doing something wrong, or aren't cut out for the task.
Plus, I don't think the myth and the truth are mutually exclusive in this case. The idea of using microwaves to cook food could have been born from a radar technician melting a candy bar, and that wouldn't invalidate the fact that it took many design iterations and innovations to make that idea work in a household setting. Then again, that radar technician came from my state, so I might be a little biased.
Right side/left side of the brain usage. Right side of the brain harboring more of the emotional response to a situation and the left side harboring more of the analytical (numerical/cold facts) response to a situation. The general population uses the right side of the brain (warm and fuzzy) for their decision making... (not to sound dismissive of the latter - there are proper places for it).
@@GoatBarn no, that is another myth that people spread because they like the idea of separating people in neat little boxes, and when I say its based on nothing they get angry because I'm a party pooper.
My heart is so full that new videos were released. The simplicity and easy of speaking helps get the point across without coming across as condescending. It's real information delivered in everyday language and I hope more comes at some point. Very well done, glad to see you well Bill.
Hello there! Great to see another video on this channel. I started watching this channel years ago in primary school and it has inspired me to become an engineer. I'm about to finish my third year in engineering and start my internship for the summer. Thanks for being a great teacher.
@@markfryer9880 I picked up civil engineering because my local university has an excellent CE program, but it was really hard to choose between civil and mechanical.
I love watching your videos, they are some of my favorites on RUclips honestly. And it has been a great number of years since you've had any out but I'm glad they are back now! I would like to propose that you alter the title of this video series to: "Science Versus Engineering: Shots Fired!" I love the somewhat tongue in cheek, also somewhat serious theme of all the videos being basically bleep you science, we'll do it without you! While still acknowledging the importance of science to our society, you are simply pointing out that engineers can accomplish things without some of this scientific knowledge that dominates the academic landscape. Common sense is a valuable trait, and should be valued more academically.
I will stop now … putting all the stuff away now in video and working on next video … some I posted a picture on Reddit showing the studio covered in all the stuff from this series
This is one of the most awesome descriptions of the engineering process that I’ve seen on RUclips. This video brings to mind another fantastic explainer of engineering practice. Back in the 1990s I discovered books by Henry Petroski - especially To Engineer is Human, a wonderfully accessible book that explores the relationship between engineering failure (example: metal fatigue cracks that formed in the early iron bridges during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries) in driving advancement of the art. Make more of these please 🙂
Absolutely love this series! Also, I want to thank you for these videos, they brought UIUC to my attention over 8 years ago and I just graduated with a bachelor's from them this weekend!
Does anyone know how they aligned the stamped parts? With the tolerances being so tight on the machined part it's impressive a similar performance can be reached with stacked sheets. Even stamping the sheets to such a tolerance by itself is impressive.
I don't believe the individual sheets had to match each other as precisely as the single block of metal had to be uniform throughout. The stack is a whole bunch of tiny magnetrons pointed in the same direction rather than a single strong one. As long as your die is precise any imperfections in each sheet gets averaged out, where in the single block imperfections would be magnified by the size.
As someone who worked in the field. Metal stamping as a die maker. It's really easy to get extremely precise parts from stamping. The same way broaching is more precise than drilling, milling, or boring. You can put a step in that just broaches a rough stamped part. To make extremely precise stamped parts you just maintain the tooling better than normally found in stamped parts.
Vitruvian Man is thus named to reflect its source: Vitruvius’s Ten Books on Architecture (1st century BCE). In the early pages, Vitruvius describes how different proportions of the human body match a circle and a square. Leonardo just drew what Vitruvius wrote.
Thank you Bill. When my wife left the Army she started college. I previously held a BA in psychology, but as I’d been teaching math and science, I decided to return to school. At the same time she earned her BS in microbiology, I earned about 50% of my BSEE. I love engineering and often dream of finishing, but sadly it’s an unlikely prospect. Your videos not only remind me of why I love it, but also that engineering is a widespread human activity from antiquity (with or without a degree). So again I say, THANK YOU!!!
As a career engineer I love hearing someone speak with such genuine love for engineering and explaining it in a way that can lift the lid on an otherwise misunderstood and sometimes completely hidden profession. The Egineerguy embodies all the best parts of human inventiveness and curiosity. Well done!
Glad to have you back Bill! Love this video, will have to check out your new book! I like to say that as a product design engineer I’m always just balancing equations. Computers make it easy to do the number crunching now a days but we still have to balance the manufacturing techniques available to us, the material, make it cheap enough someone is willing to buy it etc. Design engineering is what you get when you mix algebra, manufacturing, and a bit of instinct together
One thing i would really love to see is a series where he collabs with a Physicist he informs us of how the object works its inspiration and the physicist tells us why it works like that. As someone who really likes to know both sides it would be a dream come true
You are a real master of teaching. The script, the pace and the simple but clever animations are so perfect for the understanding of everything you want to teach. I wish I'd have a teacher like you in college. Learning would have been an amazing journey. I'm glad you are back, your videos always wake up that children inside me who wanted to build things and solve real life problems.
Ok so I’ve just discovered your videos literally today and I can’t stop watching them , I’m no engineer but I’ve always been told I think like one , I guess it’s just how my mind works , I’m so thankful for your videos and more opportunities to learn stuff on a deeper level.
Bill, you can make a video on the basics of anything and we'll watch it. You do such an incredible job at breaking things down, explain the history and the how to and it's like a perfectly tunes symphony. Here's to many more awesome videos. Thanks for you hard work.
My dad was an Electronics Technician on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific in WW2 and worked on radars that employed huge magnetrons like the one shown in this video. Segue to decades later, I'm talking with him about the new microwave oven he had just bought. I mentioned that it was powered by a magnetron and he stared at me and said in wonder, obviously remembering those wartime monsters and said in disbelief, "It's powered by a maggie?!" I finally convinced him that it had been miniaturized, but I think he still didn't quite believe it.
I studied RF and magnetrons in college (still have PTSD from Smith charts), know the theory, worked with it in the real world.. and it still feels a little like black magic to me :)
I'll add to your PTSD: The Smith Chart is a example of a Möbius Transformation, a rational function conformal mapping in the complex plane. Travelling Wave Tube Amplifiers were my gig for a couple of decades. It's all "Voodoo Microwaves"!
Thanks for this series Bill! It's great to hear about the engineering stories that actually go on / went on behind the scenes. The Rule of Thumb for arch walls I probably never would have learned about otherwise!
I am pretty sure that the plane pictured at 1:26 isn't being flown by Germans. I think it's being flown by a Finnish pilot in service with that country in a war with the soviets. Finland's uneasy association with the Nazis is really interesting history. Great video!
the Finnish airforce used a swastika in its insignia starting in 1918 for reasons unrelated to the Nazi party. Finland was officially prohibited by the western allies from using it after 1943, but is still unofficially the insignia used today. The fact that they both ended up as allies toward the end of the war and shared the same insignia was mostly a coincidence since it was already a popular symbol before being appropriated by Nazis.
So 'Best' varies considerably with the specific requirements for an engineered product, it's so simple but a very important point to emphasise. I particularly liked the innovation to stack thin die-punched slices to produce a magnetron. A very elegant solution to the problem of requiring both high precision, and high production volume.
I’d be keen to see how they assembled those wafers into a single brick where they did seem to be spiraling in at least one example seem in the video… but that may have just been a demonstration piece not fully assembled yet.
@@JoeOvercoat I imagine that they built an alignment jig (or given the production volume, numerous jigs) and just stacked up the plates as needed. Quite like how you would be tasked to assemble a motorcycle or hydromechanical planetary gear automatic transmission clutch these days, since the construction is remarkably similar between those two items (many stacked sheets held to fine tolerances).
@@44R0Ndin Those jigs must have had have high tolerance & calibration challenges is a production environment. So much so, that I suggest that would be worth a video on its own.
Stacking stampings is a fairly common practice for other stuff too these days. The rotors and stators of brushless motors tend to be made like that to greatly simplify fabrication and reduce eddy currents, for example.
Your closing address should be on every engineering school's prospectus, and mainstream media content creators should take it to heart. Engineers are every bit as creative as painters, musicians or sculptors and our lives would be as unbearable without them as it would be without pictures, music or statues.
wow...just wow!!!. what a series of videos Bill. I didn't want it to end. I've been creating and co-inventing things my whole life and these videos make me see that process in a whole new way. I've also been frustrated with myself for years for not fully understanding how one of these inventions even works entirely. It uses the turbulent flow of a combination of compressible and non compressible fluids in a novel way but not too dissimilar to a venturi but many times more energy efficient. My Partner and I have always felt like we needed to fully understand it for people to take us and our invention seriously but if no one even really knows how basic turbulent flow works than i don't feel so bad....LOL You have given me new understanding and passion for this and future innovations. thank you. :)
Wow, excellent video! 👍 I'm an IBEW wireman by trade, but have toyed with the idea of getting an EE degree off and on for a few years. This video definitely gives me the motivation to get started on that path sooner than later.
I'm in my third year of university for mechE after having worked various jobs before starting. Do it! You'd be surprised how many people in engineering are in our same boat. If you have the smarts and, more importantly, the drive/willpower, go for it!
I love that you talked about the creativity of engineering. I'm an EE and I get frustrated when people assume the field doesn't require creativity and is simply about following rules. Engineering is about balancing competing factors and often requires considerable creativity to present a solution that is appropriate for the competing factors. Mind you, the same people tend to presume that photography (a passion of mine) is simply pressing a button...
Thanks for the video Bill. A question - Do you have more information about the process of stacking the laminations of the wartime magnetron? I'd think perfectly aligning the holes would be more difficult than machining the solid design. Not to mention the multitude of surfaces to keep perfectly clean/corrosion free. Feels like more potential for error. Maybe the limiting factor wasn't precision, but simple time of manufacturing. I'm surprised it worked! It makes intuitive sense but I wouldn't have trusted the idea if I'd come up with it. Suppose that's why I'm not an engineer!
I am not an mechanical engineer or a machinist, I work in IT infrastructure so I may be very ignorant here. My assumption was that one or many sets of rods was produced at the specified measurements to be pushed through the plates and they were then sealed in some way, by welds or otherwise, to a base plate at the correct positions.
I remember the anecdote about the engineer and the chocolate. I remember, from the version I read, that he noted the effect, but didn't get back to it until well after the war.
The best 'explain it like I'm 5' description for how a magnetron works that I have heard is that it's whistle for electron instead of air(gas) molecules.
Absolutely bang on! I despair the way the media trivialises scientific and engineering achievements, relegated to."fun curiosity stories" at the end of news bulletins or dumbed down and "artified" so much as to be pointless in "documentaries". RUclips is my saviour - there are so many talented content makers who treat their viewers as intelligent individuals wanting to learn, unlike the mainstream media aiming at the lowest common denominator.
amazing work bill, might want to change the thumbnails though since it looks like its an audiobook which is probably why this isnt getting as many views as you usually do
Indeed! Part of the reason for watching Bill's video clips is the _delivery._ His voice reminds me of broadcasting greats Charles Kuralt and Charles Osgood.
Thank you for making this. I'd never understood magenetrons. Are military and aviation magnetrons still built with the stacked plate method? After all that tolerance is still fairly difficult to achieve Its also nice to see you back. I'd figured you were done with making videos.
Magnetrons are obsolete in radars. The frequency fluctuates from pulse to pulse and as the device warms up, so they can't be used with the Doppler techniques employed in modern radars.
@@nerd1000ify The company I worked for up until retirement last year makes thousands of magnetrons for marine radars where they are cheap, powerful and effective.
Bill, your content is so engaging and the presentation so easily digestible without being dumbed down. There aren't many better channels on RUclips. Thank you.
What a great video series! The microwave always fascinates me because I get so much use out of it and it's just a really interesting device, seen other RUclips channels do some crazy stuff with them. So what's next? Any hints you can give us?
I just want you to know that for years now you changed how I think about things and that you are at the top of my “personal education list” of videos. you explain things so well!
Watched your videos years ago, before i was in college, then during college, and now as an engineer desigining and architecting microchips for a popular semiconductor company, that gets used by billions of people everyday. Im proud to be an engineer, and thankful for people like you for so elegantly enabling people like me.
on spencer's design of the magnetron (where slices are used instead of one metal cylinder), it seems like aligning those plates to fit the tolerance is a feat in itself
Okay, but could we take a step backwards a moment, because I kinda want to get a microwave dome. More seriously, wouldnt the dome help causing some chaos in the microwaves producing a more even cook? I guess the rotating platform was a safer easier option.
These latest 4 videos, published in the last 3-4 days, are top-tier quality. Please make more such videos! Those 4 videos are the only reason I subscribed and rang the bell to get all your new videos recommended to me, and I'm looking forward to more similar videos. Keep up the good work! I wish you the best!
Best or 'best quality' - I struggle with my IT 'engineer' colleagues all the time over this. They just don't get it. To them best or best quality means they spent massive manpower on it making it the absolutely best bit of code thingy ever. it will do x, it will do y, it will cure cancer. The customer is rarely happy that their thingy cost 100k. For me though best means - FOR the purpose - performance required, cost required, efficiency required, lifespan required. I knock the thinhy out for 1k. customer is happy. But as far as my IT colleagues are concerned this is a compromise they don't want to make. My analogy is that if it was up to them designing a car, every car would be made of gold, go at 200mph and sit 50 people. customer: "but I want a car to drive to the shops with the wife". IT 'engineer' - this is what you need, it will not only do THIS, but is reusable and extendible - and can take up to 48 of your friends AND travel at 200mph. why do you not want that ? sigh..
Great to have you back Bill! Just noticed that I can't see any of your old videos on your channel. If you've made them unavailable for some reason I really think you should bring them back. They were an awesome introduction to done wonderful engineering concepts. (And your probably leaving advertising income on the table)
I love this channel. All the videos are so simple and precise and yet so interesting, unlike all the other youtubers using fancy bgm and dancing around with fake excitement.
You have a distinctly Bob Ross/Mr. Rogers kind of quality to your videos. They're just great to watch. I'm glad you've found your way back to making videos, it would've been a shame to lose you to the ages forever.
THANK GOD!! You are posting again!!! Sir you are literally a great benefit to our society. The way you explain things and your voice tone is so perfect for learning easily. I was devistated when you stopped posting. Please keep up the videos!!
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
I adore how he does literally the worse thing to get noticed by the algorithm (months and years of no upload, followed by short bursts of uploads) and STILL has 1,26M followers. Shows the quality.
I would love to see how many new followers came along during that hiatus. The videos all stand up quite well over time. Love bill!
I'm sure he has thousands of requests and probably tens of thousands of ideas... Further this is probably been already mentioned on his channel but I'd love to see his take on Roman concrete which is significantly stronger than anything we make today
I guess his videos are meant for people that can override the algorithm 😎
also his youtube channel has the most simple name and unfindable by those 2 terms alone lmao ("engineer guy"
It's good content. Bill has such a knack for displaying the exciting engineering of many everyday items, while giving the greatest engineering sales pitch possible.
But when the world needed him most, he returned.
He's not the engineer guy we deserve, but he is the engineer guy we need.
Hab nicht erwartet Tomary hier zu finden
Hitler?
@@corneliustalmidge4707I’m sorry, what!?!
I absolutely LOVE the way the tolerance problem was solved by thinking so outside the box.
Also just by ignoring it, stamping metal is quick and easy so it doesn't even matter whether it'll always work, you can make so many that you can still produce a lot.
@@hedgehog3180 but... if the dimensions have to be super accurate... wont all the layers be slightly miss aligned?
you would be less precise punching holes and layering them together
@@hindugoat2302you make one ver, very good "aligner" to always get them aligned properly.
but your kind of making your problem bigger, now not only do you need to make and align these plates with precision, you also need to build the very good aligner machine, and many of its parts that require precision.
You kind of passed the problem to the next part.
@@darkcoeficient
Just to add, laminating magnetrons also makes magnetic losses much lower
On another note, and at the risk of being melodramatic, I just subscribed to this channel and have only seen 3 videos yet. And my mind is kind of blown right now.
I had considered engineering in my college years but thought it to be an exact science! I thought it would be too challenging for me and not quite fitting with my natural tendencies. But now I see that I use that engineering mind a lot in my life to solve problems and implement solutions. I just didn’t have any role models to show me and guide me to see that I just might have the mind for it. And I didn’t have the confidence in myself to find out for myself.
This makes me sad for missed opportunities. But moreso excited! I still have plenty of life left and plenty to learn. This makes me feel like I actually do have something I’m capable of contributing.
Thank you for breaking an old, outdated belief!
*edited for clarity
These four new episodes have been great!
I really appreciate your featuring the positives rather than the failure analysis we get from most engineering-centric sources.
Hoping for more in the future.
Beauty, three more episodes to chase up and watch!
As the son of a Civil Engineer, if Engineer Guy posts, it gets priority #1.
@@markfryer9880 I can't agree with this enough, I love learning about the brilliant solutions and creative thinking that goes into the development of an idea from something that is exciting but flawed, into a new paradigm that becomes ubiquitous throughout the world. These triumphs don't get enough attention compared to the focus given to disaster response.
The only bad thing now is that next video is probably 3 years away
I will try to do better
@@engineerguyvideo I'm no engineer but I think you're doing pretty ok already.
Bill it is so good to have you back. I think the work and effort you put in is amazing and I for one am TRULY grateful for all these new episodes and not forgetting all your previous works. All the best from Steve in the UK
Thank you
@@engineerguyvideo please show us the machining, manufacturing techniques, and process progressions of all the parts of the magnetrons discussed here
I think that is your part in the process of learning , research :)@@2MinuteHockey
Welcome back, Engineer Guy! I’m so glad this channel is producing videos again. The content is so fascinating.
.0001 is a heck of a tolerance, and machining the magnetron from solid copper would’ve have not only taken a week per unit but wasted material. Microwaves would have never become affordable. Not to mention needed a plumber just to install in a kitchen.
SCCCCCCABBB HAIR PISSS POT
If it takes a week to machine something just because it's made from copper, you need new machinists. Use sharp tooling with the correct geometry, a WATER based coolant, and correct speeds and feeds, and you'll have no trouble at all. Machining copper is one hell of a lot easier than machining titanium, which work-hardens in a single pass if the per-tooth pressure is too high.
@@railgap dude, we're talking about 75 years ago
Beautifully and carefully written/produced.
This is the quality of content which will stand for years.
Hello ppl from 2060
Saw one error, he described the consumer microwave cooling fins as stainless steel, but they're aluminum, as cooling fins often are.
It's nice to have a living, breathing example of 'What an Engineer Means by Best' doing the narration for the video.
The magnetron is the literal definition of Sacred Geometry. And it's origins is not earthly. I guess the watchers really wanted the European slave revolt crushed.
As always after watching your videos I have a hard time finding the right words to express how much I enjoy them. I can imagine how much effort is put into every one of your videos. Please know that this is very much appreciated. Thank you so much for your work.
I very much appreciate your comment!
Speaking of Magnetrons, I have some fun memories of playing with magnets from some. My father's a retired USAF radar maintenance tech. He would occasionally bring home a dead Magnetron and strip the twin horseshoe magnets from it. Those suckers were strong, and if you weren't careful, would do a number on any fleshy parts that got caught in the way. Never thought to disassemble the inside of the magnetron itself to see what it looked like. Sadly, that's a missed opportunity that won't come again.
Great explanation. This is something I've seen alot of, people who fail as engineers because they're too rigid in their definitions of what quality is. They navigate on their own aestethic sense, rather than the constraints of the actual problem, and they like to imagine one type of solution suits every problem. Such people would enjoy the fine machining of the older magnetrons, and seeing the comparison at 8:50, would scoff at the less precise machining, claiming the angular holes are simply a worse design. When in fact the reason for the old precise machining doesn't exist when using it in a small consumer oven.
It might even be better to spread the energy out a little in frequency space for an oven.
You've seen a lot of failed engineers, have you? That suggests you've worked at a lot of lousy, incompetent firms.
As an EE, I understand the points that you make in this series. I hope the series inspires current and future engineers.
You might even say... Current and *potential* engineers...
I'll see myself out.
Early 70's, home from school on a sick day, watching the Price Is Right, and the late Johnny Olson touting emphatically on a Show Case presentation, "...and this beautiful Amana Radarrange! with its modern cooking capabilities..." will forever be stuck in my head for some strange reason...
This was a really great way to tell this story. The story of "best" to an engineer and how it changes based on context, time and situation. Brilliant. Side note, My dad was a master machinist and tool maker. He had a contract to make those super precise magnetron cavities for raytheon ... He told the story often. He loved the challenge.
As a retired engineer myself (and both my son’s are engineers), thank you for this series. You do wonders to explain what engineering is! Well done!! 🎉
I am a professional design engineer, 9 years in the business. When watching these videos I regularly find myself nodding an smiling. Really good content! And I especially love the message, that even people decades in the field forget, that it doesn't need to be perfect, but good enough.
More than “good enough”, but the “best” that can be done with the desired parameters, social, cultural, etc at the moment.
I appreciate the attention to both historical and technical detail. However, there is one unfortunate photograph choice: the picture right after 1:17 shows a Bf 109 G-2 of the Finnish air force flying over Helsinki on February 6 1944. While Finland was still an ally of Nazi Germany at the time, and while Finland and Great Britain were technically at war, I doubt the British had any fears of the Finnish bombing London. SA-kuva, the original source of the image, makes the following request on their website: "When you publish a photograph from the archive, mention 'SA-kuva' as the source. You may not use the photographs to mislead people."
Good Health and Long Life to you, engineerguy.
Thank you sincerely for your superb quality content on this platform.
I got my PhD in EE from U of I 40 years ago, so I doubt you were around back then, but your videos give me good feelings about having gone there.
If it exactly 40 years ago, then I arrived a year after you left … set foot on campus August 1984.
@@engineerguyvideo I left in March 1983 to start my first job at Gould in Chicago. I'm now retired and kill some time with RUclips videos. Today was the first I came across your channel. It appears you don't make videos very often but I've bookmarked your channel and will work my way through the older ones. You do a good job.
11:10 "The new wave of engineers that will help to solve the problems our world faces."
A positive vision for new bright minds. Thank you.
i see an engineerguy upload, i watch. i may be but a software engineer but the lessons in bill's videos and the principles they teach are equally as applicable in my trade as any other engineering trade. always excited to see you upload, bill. i hope you're well and thriving as you deserve to be
I am well!
you just said something I always thought, people like mythical stories about inventions and inventors, and sometimes even get angry when they read the real story because "it ends the magic". but it doesn't make sense to me, the details are the most amazing part of history, there is so much magic in reality when you try to dive deep into it. why would anyone prefer some mythical story ?
The mythos of genius comes in two flavors I've noticed. One is the savant who can effortlessly solve some problem (ignoring all the years of study to have a base understanding of the problem to begin with). Or the flash of inspiration (ignoring all the previous failures that lead down this path).
Both seem to ignore the everyday problem solving people do as routine.
So it becomes a story of either gods walking among us or some simpleton outsider recognizing the emperor has no clothes; relieving people of the burden of trying and failing themselves (or at least not viewing their own successes as worthy).
@@quintessenceSL The worst part is that it can discourage people when they hit the hard work of inventing, because they feel like that difficulty means that they're doing something wrong, or aren't cut out for the task.
Plus, I don't think the myth and the truth are mutually exclusive in this case. The idea of using microwaves to cook food could have been born from a radar technician melting a candy bar, and that wouldn't invalidate the fact that it took many design iterations and innovations to make that idea work in a household setting.
Then again, that radar technician came from my state, so I might be a little biased.
Right side/left side of the brain usage. Right side of the brain harboring more of the emotional response to a situation and the left side harboring more of the analytical (numerical/cold facts) response to a situation. The general population uses the right side of the brain (warm and fuzzy) for their decision making... (not to sound dismissive of the latter - there are proper places for it).
@@GoatBarn no, that is another myth that people spread because they like the idea of separating people in neat little boxes, and when I say its based on nothing they get angry because I'm a party pooper.
My heart is so full that new videos were released. The simplicity and easy of speaking helps get the point across without coming across as condescending. It's real information delivered in everyday language and I hope more comes at some point. Very well done, glad to see you well Bill.
Hello there! Great to see another video on this channel. I started watching this channel years ago in primary school and it has inspired me to become an engineer. I'm about to finish my third year in engineering and start my internship for the summer.
Thanks for being a great teacher.
This means a lot to me; thank you for sharing.
Well done Boris! The whole world needs Engineers, not Influencers!
What branch of Engineering, Boris?
Mark from Melbourne Australia.
@@markfryer9880 I picked up civil engineering because my local university has an excellent CE program, but it was really hard to choose between civil and mechanical.
I love watching your videos, they are some of my favorites on RUclips honestly. And it has been a great number of years since you've had any out but I'm glad they are back now! I would like to propose that you alter the title of this video series to: "Science Versus Engineering: Shots Fired!" I love the somewhat tongue in cheek, also somewhat serious theme of all the videos being basically bleep you science, we'll do it without you! While still acknowledging the importance of science to our society, you are simply pointing out that engineers can accomplish things without some of this scientific knowledge that dominates the academic landscape. Common sense is a valuable trait, and should be valued more academically.
Thank you for this mini series. Releasing them day after day has been delightful. I was originally expecting them one a week!
Little bit of positive meta feedback here: I very much appreciate the soft spoken, lower paced delivery. Thank you for the mellow learning experience.
Holy crap this upload rates insane I’ve been waiting 2 years for this
I will stop now … putting all the stuff away now in video and working on next video … some I posted a picture on Reddit showing the studio covered in all the stuff from this series
so GLAD to have you back!
Still. hands down. one of the best Science Educators on the internet!
Love the topic, learned new things. love it
That’s very kind of you to say
This is why I never unsubscribe from channels that seem to have died. Every so often, they actually do come back.
This is one of the most awesome descriptions of the engineering process that I’ve seen on RUclips. This video brings to mind another fantastic explainer of engineering practice. Back in the 1990s I discovered books by Henry Petroski - especially To Engineer is Human, a wonderfully accessible book that explores the relationship between engineering failure (example: metal fatigue cracks that formed in the early iron bridges during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries) in driving advancement of the art. Make more of these please 🙂
Petroski’s work was a influence on me.
@@engineerguyvideo please show us the machining, manufacturing techniques, and process progressions of all the parts of the magnetrons discussed here
Absolutely love this series! Also, I want to thank you for these videos, they brought UIUC to my attention over 8 years ago and I just graduated with a bachelor's from them this weekend!
Congratulations!
Even without new uploads, this channel never stopped being one of the best of all time on RUclips. Thrilled to bits to see your return.
Does anyone know how they aligned the stamped parts?
With the tolerances being so tight on the machined part it's impressive a similar performance can be reached with stacked sheets. Even stamping the sheets to such a tolerance by itself is impressive.
I don't believe the individual sheets had to match each other as precisely as the single block of metal had to be uniform throughout. The stack is a whole bunch of tiny magnetrons pointed in the same direction rather than a single strong one. As long as your die is precise any imperfections in each sheet gets averaged out, where in the single block imperfections would be magnified by the size.
To answer the basic question, I would assume the keyway cut into the edge of each ring was used to align them with the housing.
As someone who worked in the field. Metal stamping as a die maker. It's really easy to get extremely precise parts from stamping.
The same way broaching is more precise than drilling, milling, or boring. You can put a step in that just broaches a rough stamped part.
To make extremely precise stamped parts you just maintain the tooling better than normally found in stamped parts.
Vitruvian Man is thus named to reflect its source: Vitruvius’s Ten Books on Architecture (1st century BCE). In the early pages, Vitruvius describes how different proportions of the human body match a circle and a square. Leonardo just drew what Vitruvius wrote.
Thank you Bill. When my wife left the Army she started college. I previously held a BA in psychology, but as I’d been teaching math and science, I decided to return to school. At the same time she earned her BS in microbiology, I earned about 50% of my BSEE. I love engineering and often dream of finishing, but sadly it’s an unlikely prospect. Your videos not only remind me of why I love it, but also that engineering is a widespread human activity from antiquity (with or without a degree). So again I say, THANK YOU!!!
As a career engineer I love hearing someone speak with such genuine love for engineering and explaining it in a way that can lift the lid on an otherwise misunderstood and sometimes completely hidden profession. The Egineerguy embodies all the best parts of human inventiveness and curiosity. Well done!
Glad to have you back Bill! Love this video, will have to check out your new book! I like to say that as a product design engineer I’m always just balancing equations. Computers make it easy to do the number crunching now a days but we still have to balance the manufacturing techniques available to us, the material, make it cheap enough someone is willing to buy it etc. Design engineering is what you get when you mix algebra, manufacturing, and a bit of instinct together
One thing i would really love to see is a series where he collabs with a Physicist he informs us of how the object works its inspiration and the physicist tells us why it works like that.
As someone who really likes to know both sides it would be a dream come true
You are a real master of teaching. The script, the pace and the simple but clever animations are so perfect for the understanding of everything you want to teach. I wish I'd have a teacher like you in college. Learning would have been an amazing journey. I'm glad you are back, your videos always wake up that children inside me who wanted to build things and solve real life problems.
You are your channels team are champions. Thank you, and thank you for coming back.
Ok so I’ve just discovered your videos literally today and I can’t stop watching them , I’m no engineer but I’ve always been told I think like one , I guess it’s just how my mind works , I’m so thankful for your videos and more opportunities to learn stuff on a deeper level.
Idk if you read these comments but the people of the internet love you and want learn more from you. We're listening
Bill, you can make a video on the basics of anything and we'll watch it. You do such an incredible job at breaking things down, explain the history and the how to and it's like a perfectly tunes symphony. Here's to many more awesome videos.
Thanks for you hard work.
My dad was an Electronics Technician on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific in WW2 and worked on radars that employed huge magnetrons like the one shown in this video. Segue to decades later, I'm talking with him about the new microwave oven he had just bought. I mentioned that it was powered by a magnetron and he stared at me and said in wonder, obviously remembering those wartime monsters and said in disbelief, "It's powered by a maggie?!" I finally convinced him that it had been miniaturized, but I think he still didn't quite believe it.
Thank you for this new series of videos, Bill. They are fantastic and I hope for more in the near future.
I studied RF and magnetrons in college (still have PTSD from Smith charts), know the theory, worked with it in the real world.. and it still feels a little like black magic to me :)
I'll add to your PTSD: The Smith Chart is a example of a Möbius Transformation, a rational function conformal mapping in the complex plane.
Travelling Wave Tube Amplifiers were my gig for a couple of decades. It's all "Voodoo Microwaves"!
Thanks for this series Bill!
It's great to hear about the engineering stories that actually go on / went on behind the scenes. The Rule of Thumb for arch walls I probably never would have learned about otherwise!
so excited to have you back
Love these back-to-back uploads!
Absolutely one of my favourite channels on RUclips irrespective of the upload schedule!
He came back to us when we needed him most.
I am pretty sure that the plane pictured at 1:26 isn't being flown by Germans. I think it's being flown by a Finnish pilot in service with that country in a war with the soviets. Finland's uneasy association with the Nazis is really interesting history. Great video!
It is … sorry
the Finnish airforce used a swastika in its insignia starting in 1918 for reasons unrelated to the Nazi party. Finland was officially prohibited by the western allies from using it after 1943, but is still unofficially the insignia used today. The fact that they both ended up as allies toward the end of the war and shared the same insignia was mostly a coincidence since it was already a popular symbol before being appropriated by Nazis.
@@Yordleton unrelated to the party, as it didn't exist back then. But not unrelated to the underlying ideology of racial supremacy
@@MultiPenners Oi, 'ark to this 'un, lads. Recks all swastikas mean "racial supremacy".
@MultiPenners agreed. It was a convergent evolution of racist thought
Thank you, Bill. You don’t dumb anything down. You just state the facts and we love it!
So 'Best' varies considerably with the specific requirements for an engineered product, it's so simple but a very important point to emphasise.
I particularly liked the innovation to stack thin die-punched slices to produce a magnetron. A very elegant solution to the problem of requiring both high precision, and high production volume.
I’d be keen to see how they assembled those wafers into a single brick where they did seem to be spiraling in at least one example seem in the video… but that may have just been a demonstration piece not fully assembled yet.
@@JoeOvercoat I imagine that they built an alignment jig (or given the production volume, numerous jigs) and just stacked up the plates as needed. Quite like how you would be tasked to assemble a motorcycle or hydromechanical planetary gear automatic transmission clutch these days, since the construction is remarkably similar between those two items (many stacked sheets held to fine tolerances).
@@44R0Ndin Those jigs must have had have high tolerance & calibration challenges is a production environment. So much so, that I suggest that would be worth a video on its own.
Stacking stampings is a fairly common practice for other stuff too these days. The rotors and stators of brushless motors tend to be made like that to greatly simplify fabrication and reduce eddy currents, for example.
Solid!
Top KEK!
Peace be with you.
Thank you Bill. This series has been a delight as always!
Concise and precise as always, I bet you could go on amazing tangents.
This miniseries was great, looking forward to more of your videos in the future!
Welcome back! Thank you for returning. Your style of presentation is informative and comforting.
Oh BOY. new engineerguy episodes! I've loved your shows since I was in grad school at uiuc, hearing you on the radio.
Isn’t he supposed to be dead? Like literally passed away?
Your closing address should be on every engineering school's prospectus, and mainstream media content creators should take it to heart. Engineers are every bit as creative as painters, musicians or sculptors and our lives would be as unbearable without them as it would be without pictures, music or statues.
2 in a row?!! Am I dead and in heaven??
It’s 4 … they are a series
@@engineerguyvideo I waited YEARS for you to come back, and WHAT A COMEBACK!!
@@engineerguyvideo😮😮😮
wow...just wow!!!. what a series of videos Bill. I didn't want it to end. I've been creating and co-inventing things my whole life and these videos make me see that process in a whole new way.
I've also been frustrated with myself for years for not fully understanding how one of these inventions even works entirely. It uses the turbulent flow of a combination of compressible and non compressible fluids in a novel way but not too dissimilar to a venturi but many times more energy efficient. My Partner and I have always felt like we needed to fully understand it for people to take us and our invention seriously but if no one even really knows how basic turbulent flow works than i don't feel so bad....LOL
You have given me new understanding and passion for this and future innovations. thank you. :)
Wow, excellent video! 👍
I'm an IBEW wireman by trade, but have toyed with the idea of getting an EE degree off and on for a few years. This video definitely gives me the motivation to get started on that path sooner than later.
I'm in my third year of university for mechE after having worked various jobs before starting. Do it! You'd be surprised how many people in engineering are in our same boat. If you have the smarts and, more importantly, the drive/willpower, go for it!
I love that you talked about the creativity of engineering. I'm an EE and I get frustrated when people assume the field doesn't require creativity and is simply about following rules.
Engineering is about balancing competing factors and often requires considerable creativity to present a solution that is appropriate for the competing factors.
Mind you, the same people tend to presume that photography (a passion of mine) is simply pressing a button...
Thanks for the video Bill. A question - Do you have more information about the process of stacking the laminations of the wartime magnetron? I'd think perfectly aligning the holes would be more difficult than machining the solid design. Not to mention the multitude of surfaces to keep perfectly clean/corrosion free. Feels like more potential for error. Maybe the limiting factor wasn't precision, but simple time of manufacturing.
I'm surprised it worked! It makes intuitive sense but I wouldn't have trusted the idea if I'd come up with it. Suppose that's why I'm not an engineer!
I am both a machinist and an RF engineer and I, too, have many questions similar to yours.
I am not an mechanical engineer or a machinist, I work in IT infrastructure so I may be very ignorant here. My assumption was that one or many sets of rods was produced at the specified measurements to be pushed through the plates and they were then sealed in some way, by welds or otherwise, to a base plate at the correct positions.
I remember the anecdote about the engineer and the chocolate. I remember, from the version I read, that he noted the effect, but didn't get back to it until well after the war.
The best 'explain it like I'm 5' description for how a magnetron works that I have heard is that it's whistle for electron instead of air(gas) molecules.
Absolutely bang on! I despair the way the media trivialises scientific and engineering achievements, relegated to."fun curiosity stories" at the end of news bulletins or dumbed down and "artified" so much as to be pointless in "documentaries". RUclips is my saviour - there are so many talented content makers who treat their viewers as intelligent individuals wanting to learn, unlike the mainstream media aiming at the lowest common denominator.
amazing work bill, might want to change the thumbnails though since it looks like its an audiobook which is probably why this isnt getting as many views as you usually do
Good suggestion… and … done!
You're back! I am so happy to see your return :)
I still think about your videos all the time, especially the soda can and nitinol ones :)
Love your videos, very well researched and extremely well articulated. Thank you for continuing to make these!
Whaaaat! The Engineerguy is back! Great stuff! Wonderful video, excited to watch the others. I'm glad you are doing well Bill, you are a treasure.
You need to do audio books! I would totally get listen to them all.
Indeed! Part of the reason for watching Bill's video clips is the _delivery._ His voice reminds me of broadcasting greats Charles Kuralt and Charles Osgood.
Sir, I just want you to know how much I appreciate your videos and how special they are among all the others on RUclips.
Thank you for making this. I'd never understood magenetrons. Are military and aviation magnetrons still built with the stacked plate method? After all that tolerance is still fairly difficult to achieve
Its also nice to see you back. I'd figured you were done with making videos.
Magnetrons are obsolete in radars. The frequency fluctuates from pulse to pulse and as the device warms up, so they can't be used with the Doppler techniques employed in modern radars.
@@nerd1000ify that's fascinating!
@@nerd1000ify The company I worked for up until retirement last year makes thousands of magnetrons for marine radars where they are cheap, powerful and effective.
@@nerd1000ify Not all radar applications require Doppler-measuring stability.
Bill, your content is so engaging and the presentation so easily digestible without being dumbed down.
There aren't many better channels on RUclips.
Thank you.
What a great video series! The microwave always fascinates me because I get so much use out of it and it's just a really interesting device, seen other RUclips channels do some crazy stuff with them. So what's next? Any hints you can give us?
I just want you to know that for years now you changed how I think about things and that you are at the top of my “personal education list” of videos. you explain things so well!
I really appreciate how Bill draws out the subtle yet incredibly important aspects of a concept that are often overlooked. One of my favourites!
Watched your videos years ago, before i was in college, then during college, and now as an engineer desigining and architecting microchips for a popular semiconductor company, that gets used by billions of people everyday. Im proud to be an engineer, and thankful for people like you for so elegantly enabling people like me.
The Engineerguy may not make videos often, but they are always the most enjoyable and enlightening ones on youtube when he does.
Its good to see you making videos again - as usual, your work is delightful!
Reports of engineerguys death have been greatly exaggerated
It's so nice getting a richer, more accurate lesson behind something we all take for granted.
on spencer's design of the magnetron (where slices are used instead of one metal cylinder), it seems like aligning those plates to fit the tolerance is a feat in itself
I know nothing about magnetrons but it could be that the tolerance only matters if the bits of metal are physically connected.
I can't tell you how great it is to have you back producing content. Thank you!
Okay, but could we take a step backwards a moment, because I kinda want to get a microwave dome.
More seriously, wouldnt the dome help causing some chaos in the microwaves producing a more even cook? I guess the rotating platform was a safer easier option.
These latest 4 videos, published in the last 3-4 days, are top-tier quality. Please make more such videos! Those 4 videos are the only reason I subscribed and rang the bell to get all your new videos recommended to me, and I'm looking forward to more similar videos. Keep up the good work! I wish you the best!
Best or 'best quality' - I struggle with my IT 'engineer' colleagues all the time over this. They just don't get it. To them best or best quality means they spent massive manpower on it making it the absolutely best bit of code thingy ever. it will do x, it will do y, it will cure cancer. The customer is rarely happy that their thingy cost 100k. For me though best means - FOR the purpose - performance required, cost required, efficiency required, lifespan required. I knock the thinhy out for 1k. customer is happy. But as far as my IT colleagues are concerned this is a compromise they don't want to make. My analogy is that if it was up to them designing a car, every car would be made of gold, go at 200mph and sit 50 people. customer: "but I want a car to drive to the shops with the wife". IT 'engineer' - this is what you need, it will not only do THIS, but is reusable and extendible - and can take up to 48 of your friends AND travel at 200mph. why do you not want that ? sigh..
Excellent discussion. Engineering is a real and very important science.
RS. Canada
Great to have you back Bill!
Just noticed that I can't see any of your old videos on your channel. If you've made them unavailable for some reason I really think you should bring them back. They were an awesome introduction to done wonderful engineering concepts.
(And your probably leaving advertising income on the table)
I am glad you started producing content again.
I love this channel. All the videos are so simple and precise and yet so interesting, unlike all the other youtubers using fancy bgm and dancing around with fake excitement.
Really glad to see you have resumed your channel. Thank you
You have a distinctly Bob Ross/Mr. Rogers kind of quality to your videos. They're just great to watch. I'm glad you've found your way back to making videos, it would've been a shame to lose you to the ages forever.
THANK GOD!! You are posting again!!! Sir you are literally a great benefit to our society. The way you explain things and your voice tone is so perfect for learning easily. I was devistated when you stopped posting. Please keep up the videos!!
I appreciate the effort you put into keeping this short and to the point. There are far too many drawn-out waffling videos these days.