In the Make: Online Toolbox, we try to focus on tools that fly under the radar of more conventional tool coverage: in-depth tool-making projects, strange or specialty tools unique to a trade or craft that can be useful elsewhere, tools and techniques you may not know about, but once you do, and incorporate them into your workflow, you'll wonder how you ever lived without them. And, in the spirit of the times, we pay close attention to tools that you can get on the cheap, make yourself, refurbish, etc.
I did a piece for CRAFT Volume 04, called "What the Hell Is That Thing?" It was inspired by a Fiskars perfing wheel tool that I had. I didn't even know such a thing existed, but I did some garage-duplicated CDs years ago and the musician/graphic artist who was working on the project with me, recommended I get one for perforating the CD tray cards, for easier folding. I've been using it ever since for any sort of folding job. You can get razor cutting and other wheels for it, too.
For years, this tool has sat on the shelf in my office. Several people have spotted it, picked it up, and said: "What the hell is this thing?" So that was the inspiration behind the CRAFT piece, and this installment of Toolbox.
So, what are your "What the hell is this thing" tools? Chime in with Comments.
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This device, called a Resistor Lead Forming Tool, almost went into my previous "Ten tools you won't want to live without" column. And also in "Clamps, Jigs, and Helping Hands." Definitely one of those tools that has a bigger impact on your work than you expect and you do end up wondering why you didn't get one of these in your toolbox sooner. Our pals at EMS Labs sell these in their store for $7.
I love free stuff that comes with your house. This tool was in a kitchen drawer when we bought our place. It's called a Gilhoolie, a tool for opening troublesome bottles and jars. It's never met a lid it couldn't ratchet, grip, and leverage off with aplumb. According to Wikipedia, it was invented by a Dr. C. W. Fuller, a retired dentist from Yonkers, the early 50s.
My friend Claire Carton recommended a bone tool, a simple tool used for cleanly and sharply folding/creasing paper, burnishing material that's been glued, etc. They come in a bunch of different shapes and sizes, but are usually plastic and look sort of like an exceedingly dull letter opener (the one above is a ball-type). When I was a graphic artist, I had a boning tool made out of wood, some sort of hardwood, with a smooth, flat diagonal surface on one end and a pin-point on the other (protected by a little cork cap). It was designed for the age of wax galleys (columns of typeset print with wax on the back to adhere to layout board). The flat end was for rubbing the waxed galleys down to the layout board and the pin was used for lifting up the galleys for repositioning. I still have the tool and adore it. The wood is patina'd from years of me handling it. A very simple, seemingly forgettable device that I've used for nearly 30 years. Bone tool. Ancient.
Claire also mentioned a grommet setter. In my CRAFT piece, I talked about the Crop-A-Dile, a bizarre looking device that's a multi-size hole-puncher and grommet-setter. My love for this thing has only grown. We had a couple of these at Maker Faire Bay Area last year, in the Maker's Notebook Modification Station, and people used them to add grommets and punch holes for studs in their books, to bunch holes for ties and snaps, and other creative uses. It's actually strong/sharp enough to easily cut clean holes in the hardboard covers of the Notebooks. This thing usually goes for $25 in a craft store. You can get in through Amazon for $15.
One aspect of Make: Outreach that we're particularly excited about is the Project Pack. As those of you in the maker community know, MAKE magazine and Make: television celebrate the do-it-yourself approach towards technology, and events like Maker Faire and Make: Day present a means of engaging with others interested in doing the same.
But chances are you know someone who looks at all things DIY as unfamiliar, or even daunting and intimidating. This is where the Project Pack comes in handy. You can find it, along with the Outreach Toolkit, by clicking on the Outreach Tools tab at the top of the Make: Outreach website.
The Project Pack is a PDF file containing full instructions for four simple, cost-effective projects, each inspired by a project featured in Make: television's Maker Workshop, and perfect for incorporating the MAKE message into everyday situations.
If you don't have room for a full-sized Portable Trebuchet from Make: television Episode 106, check out the Desktop Trebuchet project in the Project Pack, which uses some pencils, rubber bands, and paper clips.
If you were a fan of the Mini Robots that John Park built in the Maker Workshop on Episode 108 of Make: television, but want to start at the basics of robotics and circuitry, check out the instructions for a Simple Motor.
If you were fascinated by the Cigar Box Guitar from MAKE magazine, Vol 04, or Episode 110 of Make: television but aren't quite ready to hack a tape deck into an amplifier, check out the simple Recycled Instruments project.
All of these projects were designed with the idea that DIY is an empowering process, which will encourage the maker spirit in both experienced makers and those who are building these projects for the first time. Strong partnerships make for great outreach, and the Project Pack is perfect for instructing and inspiring participation in creative activities.
As you likely know, Make: Online is made possible by ads and sponsorship. Getting these advertisers is an important part of keeping Make: Online in business and in a position to offer the content and features that we we want, and that YOU want. We also like the idea (as does our advertising partners, Federated Media) of targeting advertisers that sell goods and services you might actually want to buy. To get to know more about our readership, we do periodic surveys.
Yeah, we know. Surveys! Joy! To make it more... uh... fun, we have a drawing. Just fill out this short Make: Online Reader Survey. As a thank you, we will be giving away to 10 Maker's Notebook to randomly-chosen readers who complete it.
Important: Make sure you leave your email address at the end of the survey if you want to be in the drawing (your email address is for giveaway purposes only.) Thanks!
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I found this really interesting video on YouTube that was filmed by Tom Swindell. Felix Thirn created the amazing mechanical piece of art featured in the video. Other credits go to the Director Tom Mansfield, and Editor Chris Barnet. Great work!
The 1,618,033rd dorkbot-nyc meeting will take place at 7pm on Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 at Location One in SoHo.
Featuring the divine and proportionate:
Erik Sanner: Paintings that Move, Spring Planting, and How to Enjoy Traffic Cones
Why make art when every day we encounter strikingly beautiful, impenetrable objects of infinite interpretation? The aesthetic practice of traffic cone viewing is as rewarding as visiting a gallery or museum. However, by simultaneously engaging in traffic cone appreciation and collaborative artmaking, I believe we can each experience a unique "hey!" moment.
Waste to Work explores the transformation of labor into electric power, using sweat as the link. Sweat is the perfect medium: it is an electrolyte that can be used to make galvanic batteries - "waste" that can be harvested from our labors - and remains an extremely personal commodity that holds our scent, essential salts, fats, pheromones. This project has multiple phases: building sweat batteries and sweat harvesting suits.
The Towel is a scratch built model airplane consisting of foam, trash, $100 worth of motor/prop/rc gear etc and 3 hours building time. It flies great and its primary goal is to channel everyone's inner 8 year old. It also serves as the foundation for an excellent night flier (to be demonstrated), aerial video vehicle and has excellent repairability and crash tolerance.
Dorkbot-NYC meeting When: 01 April 2009, 7-9pm Where: Location One, Greene st north of Canal $$$: $FREE$
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Zebranalogic's Circular Oscillator design reaches new heights of cylindrical synthesis - and wow, it sounds kind of angry about it :( I suppose that's just the squarewaves talkin' … and growling. Either way, it's quite a jump from the Circular Oscillator VII and I'm guessing assembly must be a bit tricky for the PCB/knobs at the unit's mid-length. Nicely done.
I love that this guy's project blog is called Scoop My Cat Box, and the subtitle is: "One man's quest to offload his responsibilities onto the internet." So far, he's working on two projects, the titular robo cat box, and an Arduino and ultrasonic range-finder-based water dish that lets you know, over the innerwebs, how much is (or isn't) in your cat's dish. I love the last line of the video: "In no time, your friends will know exactly how much you neglect your cat."
Is it just me or is it getting warm outside? Celebrate spring with us at the next Make:NYC meeting!
Challenge: Reconstruct the beast!
Teams will get a box full of parts from a disassembled item. Item must be reconstructed in working order -- or else! ... or else you can help each other and I'm sure we'll get it figured out.
Show and Tell
Meet your fellow NYC Makers and show off your creations! Bring your gadgets, gizmos, sketches, ideas, anything you'd like to put in the spotlight. We encourage NYC Makers to collaborate on and discuss DIY projects. If you're planning to bring a project, drop us a note at meetings@makenyc.org.
If you'd like to attend we have plenty of space for everyone, but please RSVP!
Did you know that you can get Make: Online delivered to your inbox each day? Feedblitz, the service that we use, does a really nice job of formatting the content. You get the entire day's worth of web content in a single digest email.
Make: Daily Mail gives you an internally-linked "What's In This Issue" table of contents, content ratings and recommendations, through Outbrain, and the ability to email individual items. You can even have the articles spoken to you, by machines of loving grace (with slightly funky inflections). Apps like Flickr slide show, YouTube and Vimeo vids play right in the email.
To sign up for Make: Daily Mail, enter your email address in the field on the right "rail" of the site, right below the iTunes Podcast link, or click here to go to the Feedblitz sign-up page.
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Carl gives an old-fashioned marble a shot of electric oomph with this upgrade -
Arduino with motor shield controlling a continuous rotation servo. The wheel turns when marbles are detected by the infrared phototransistor and LED pair next to the wheel.
Full set here, includes Arduino source and demo video.
Neat - I'm guessing it would only take a bit more power and leverage to quickly turn this into an 'outdoors only' toy. Check out more project pics in the Flickr set. Read more | Permalink | Comments | Digg this!
A group of German amateur radio hobbyists has successfully bounced a radio signal off the planet Venus, over 31 million miles (50 million km) away, and received it back on Earth (Earth-Venus-Earth = EVE). Peter Guelzow (DB2OS), President of AMSAT-DL, writes:
On March 25th, 2009, a team from the German space organisation AMSAT-DL reached another milestone on its way to its own interplanetary probe towards planet Mars.
The ground station at the Bochum observatory transmitted radio signals to Venus. After traveling almost 100 million kilometers, and a round trip delay of about 5 minutes, they were clearly received as echoes from the surface of Venus.
Receiving these planetary echoes is a first for Germany and Europe. In addition, this is the farthest distance crossed by radio amateurs, over 100 times further than echoes from the moon (EME reflections).
For receiving the EVE signals, an FFT analysis with an integration time of 5 minutes was used. After integrating for 2 minutes only, the reflected signals were clearly visible in the display. Despite the bad weather, signals from Venus could be detected from 1038UT until the planet reached the local horizon.
The 2.4 GHz high power amplifier used for this achievement is described in the current AMSAT-DL journal. This represented a crucial test for a final key component of the planned P5-A Mars mission. By receiving echoes from Venus, the ground and command station for the Mars probe has been cleared for operational use and the AMSAT team is now gearing up for building the P5-A space probe.
For financing the actual construction and launch, AMSAT-DL is currently in negotiation with the DLR (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt) amongst others, to obtain financial support for the remaining budget of 20 Mil Euros.
AMSAT-DL wants to show that low-cost interplanetary exploration is possible with its approach.
As far as downloaded files are concerned, the latest version of OS X seems to have taken a cue or two from Redmond. Eric Meyer figured out a fix for this that will allow you to selectively disable the downloaded file warnings for certain file types. Here's his take on the problem:
One of the things that I've found mind-bendingly annoying about Leopard (besides its complete refusal to allow classic window management) is the "this file was downloaded from the internet, are you sure you want to open it?" dialog box. Yes, damn it: I just downloaded the file with the express intent of opening it. Stop bothering me. Keep it up and I might mistake you for PC.
Assuming you can use good judgement without the need for an alert box, the solution is a simple XML preferences file edit. You can disable the nag on text, html, images, or whatever file types you commonly download and open.
I really like this little sumo bot based on the ever-popular Arduino microcontroller. The bot features line sensing, obstacle detection, and a nice interface board for the geared motors. Check out the website for more information and the source code.
Features:
Weight: 332 g
Size: L=10cm W=10cm H=12cm
Sensors: Dual Front telemeter ranging, Dual Surface IR line sensing
Brain: Finite state machine baesd on Arduino duemilanove
We added a lot of new products to the Maker Shed this week. One of my favorite items is the XBee wireless module. Over the next few weeks we will be adding even more cool products, and building more kits. Are there any products from the Maker Shed that you would like to see us build? If so, leave your suggestions in the comments. Thanks!
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