this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2025
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Engineering Memes

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For your consideration, I submit my design for a new ASME standard. The Scaling Banana.

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[–] Zachariah@lemmy.world 33 points 4 days ago (2 children)

How big is it? I need a banana for scale.

[–] ceenote@lemmy.world 26 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

~~Approximately~~ Exactly one banana.

[–] Zachariah@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

I’ll have to take your word for it. Can’t tell just from the picture. This could be a banana for ants for all I know.

[–] Bad_Engineering@fedia.io 13 points 4 days ago (1 children)

@Zachariah@lemmy.world its made from a composite of 4 3d scans of bananas purchased from 3 different retailers. So it's the average size of your average banana.

[–] JHD@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Average is 4 inches right?

[–] Carvex@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] LastYearsIrritant@sopuli.xyz 2 points 4 days ago

Are we talking mean, median, or mode?

[–] Bad_Engineering@fedia.io 15 points 4 days ago

It's also worth noting that in its final form it will be anodized yellow.

[–] empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 4 days ago (1 children)

NIST about to sell this as a $2,900 standardized reference item just like the peanut butter

[–] Bad_Engineering@fedia.io 6 points 4 days ago

@empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com that's the plan. I gotta pay for that M.E. degree somehow.

[–] KingJalopy@lemm.ee 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I would like to see the fixture holding that in place for each op in the machining process. I reckon you cut outside curve from a block then tapped the curve and operation 2 was held by a single bolt from underneath?

[–] Bad_Engineering@fedia.io 6 points 4 days ago (1 children)

@KingJalopy@lemm.ee The wood fixture was only used for the finishing pass and engraving for the top. The rest was just held in the billet by leaving a .020" layer around all sides.

[–] KingJalopy@lemm.ee 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Damn that's pretty smart! I used to work P&D in the aerospace industry mostly designing tooling and working out new programs in vericut. I like your approach! Nice work!

[–] Bad_Engineering@fedia.io 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

@KingJalopy@lemm.ee thanks. The fixture wasn't initially planned for, but the last pass on the roughing cut for the front went too deep and thinned the tabs holding it in the billet a little too much for comfort. So I just used the cad file to make a negative that I cut into the wood. The Scaling Banana™ fits quite snuggly into the fixture, the grey silicone was just to keep it from lifting out during machining.

[–] KingJalopy@lemm.ee 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I didn't even consider tabs when I first looked at it. We were discouraged from doing that at my job simply because too many button pushers worked there and could easily mess stuff up lol. We generally had them only roughing and the finish was always an actually machinist lol.

[–] Bad_Engineering@fedia.io 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

@KingJalopy@lemm.ee I'm not an actual machinist, just self taught. Also my machine isn't particularly nice/precise. It's an 90s bridgeport with a 3 axis cnc kit. So I try and use whatever tricks I can to make it all work out.

[–] KingJalopy@lemm.ee 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Bro rocking a bridgeport makes you more of a real machinist than most people lol there is no shame in that there is a ton of skill in being able to make stuff like that with nothing more than a Bridgeport.

[–] Bad_Engineering@fedia.io 3 points 4 days ago

@KingJalopy@lemm.ee thanks, I try my best.

[–] MisterFrog@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

Lemmy is so blessed to have this certified top-tier content.

This is so beautiful.

Other than the fact Australia will adopt it and I'll be left using nominal banana sizes based on the US banana.

[–] egrets@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago

Not to be confused with the near-identical ACME Exploding Banana.

[–] DemBoSain@midwest.social 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

How many bananas does this mass?

[–] Bad_Engineering@fedia.io 1 points 4 days ago

@DemBoSain@midwest.social it masses the same as 555.9 grams of bananas.

[–] prinzmegahertz@lemm.ee 1 points 4 days ago

It’s too bendy for the EU, isn’t it?

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Bananas are a measurement of radiation...

So, this ignores the actual science behind a joke and only cares about the meme without understanding it.

Very apt name, because engineers are the only ones who would know and care about it.

[–] Bad_Engineering@fedia.io 10 points 4 days ago (2 children)

@givesomefucks@lemmy.world This is not in reference to the radioactive potassium content of bananas. This is in reference to the internet trope of adding a "banana for scale" to uploaded pictures.

[–] elvith@feddit.org 1 points 4 days ago

And yet you forgot to add a real banana for scale! /s

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 0 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Yes ...

The meme is because someone saw something about the banana equivalent dose, making it a standardized unit of measurement.

The joke was the misuse of the measurement.

Which I feel like is the same thing I just said, so hopefully it made more sense that way.

[–] Bad_Engineering@fedia.io 4 points 4 days ago

@givesomefucks@lemmy.world you're the one missing the joke, this has nothing to do with banana radioactivity. I'm aware that bananas are used as an equivalent dose measurement of radiation. This has nothing to do with that.

There's no 'actual science' behind the joke. Bananas were used as units of radiation in cases where radiation output was negligible, in a humorous effort to make readers realise that, well, radiation output was negligible. Instead a bunch of undereducated people took it to mean bananas were hazardous radioactive fruit.

[–] gibmiser@lemmy.world 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago

Yeah, engineers kind of have that reputation...