Mechanical Pencin: A website about the hidden engineering in everyday objects
Muhammad523
29 points
4 comments
May 31, 2026
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Discussion Highlights (4 comments)
Muhammad523
"Illustrated tear-downs and break-downs of everyday products, like mechanical pencils, lighters and pez dispensers, that you may have taken for granted. Drawn by Bryan Macomber, a mechanical engineer and artist." The description above comes from the following post on mastodon: https://merveilles.town/@rek/116658587354593919
srean
Such a beautifully done site. I might be in love already . Many kudos. I dropped in a suggestion to do one on an umbrella. There's a lot going on in these. One can study the differential geometry of surfaces. The mechanism design of opening and closing. I find both the spring ones (push button) and the ones without spring quite fascinating. In fact the ones without a spring has implicit ones imposed by the bending of the spokes.
niraj898
Looks like a unique idea to me !! I think with proper exposure, it has the right features to get high user engagements!! BEST WISHES!!
unwind
Meta: confusing typo in title. Mods , please fix penciN -> penciL. Thanks.