# Doper-Labs Project 2: Ultra-Sonic Drill

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-labs-project-2-ultra-sonic-drill/214058>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [November 19, 2003, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-labs-project-2-ultra-sonic-drill/214058 "2003-11-19T06:17:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-labs-project-2-ultra-sonic-drill/214058/1 "2003-11-19T06:17:02Z")

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Okay, [NASA’s developed this really nifty ultra-sonic drill](http://ndeaa.jpl.nasa.gov/nasa-nde/usdc/usdc.htm), and since Black & Decker isn’t making them, I’m wondering how hard it would be for me to slap one together myself. Any folks got any ideas? (And before someone starts screaming about patent violations, forget it. I’m not planning on selling these or doing anything else to violate the law. There’s enough loopholes in patent laws that anything I was able to cobble together would be exempt from 'em.)

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**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-labs-project-2-ultra-sonic-drill/214058/2 "2003-11-20T23:02:23Z")

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What? Nobody’s willing to take a stab at this? We can rack up 20 pages BSing about death rays, but _nobody_’s got any advice for a legitimate device? What’s up with that?

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**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-labs-project-2-ultra-sonic-drill/214058/3 "2003-11-21T01:39:22Z")

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All the engineers and technicians are out to lunch.

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**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-labs-project-2-ultra-sonic-drill/214058/4 "2003-11-21T05:47:10Z")

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And out to breakfast, and dinner. Hell, even the wiseacres who post strange comments seem to be missing.

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**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-labs-project-2-ultra-sonic-drill/214058/5 "2003-11-21T07:22:52Z")

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The principle seems simple enough. It’s just a vibrating metal rod, a miniature version of the pneumatic impact driver (or whatever they’re called, the tool they use to drill thorugh concrete road surfaces). Piezoelectric modules aren’t too hard to find. I’d guess the hard part is finding the right shape for the rod.

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**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\
**Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-labs-project-2-ultra-sonic-drill/214058/6 "2003-11-22T03:16:12Z")

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Where would I find piesoelectric modules and how would I know if they’re the right type?