In the Make: Online Toolbox, we 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.
This week, we finish out our Shop Shelf series with a column on beloved tools, parts, and supply catalogs. I don't know about you, but I've always had a "thing" for catalogs. Maybe it's the tool fetishist in me, maybe it's the ravenous American consumer, or maybe it's the techno-utopian who thinks that the right tool, the right part, the right material, will make everything... well all right. Whatever it is (and it's probably all of these things or more), I love my catalog collection and always get a little thrill whenever a new edition shows up in my mailbox. And at least the catalogs themselves are free, so it's a very cheap thrill.
Apparently, I'm not the only catalog coveter. The query I sent to my maker network returned tons of results, too many to detail here (so some are simply listed at the end of the piece). As always, please chime in with Comments and tell us what are some of your favorite catalogs.
If you peer onto the shop shelves of every electronics geek in the US, chances are, the Digikey catalog will be spotted there. I don't remember a time when I didn't have one on my shelf. I even remember having a healthy respect for Digikey before I started messing with hardware and electronics, as I'd watch my wirehead friends ogling the components, spec'ing parts, and tearing into their Digikey orders when they arrived. I remember thinking: "Man, these guys sure are excited by this incomprehensible catalog and all of these strange components I can't begin to understand." Now I understand.
Jameco has a soft spot in my Charliplexed heart, as it was the first electronics catalog I started ordering tools, parts, and kits from. I started ordering from their computer parts catalog, got the electronics catalog, and fed my early electronics interest from there. One of the first things I bought from them was a 35-piece computer/electronics tool set. I still use many of the tools (e.g. the solder sucker) from that set on a nearly daily basis. And I still order from Jameco on occasion and have always been happy with their products and the customer service.
Another catalog that's always been in my collection. I haven't ordered anything from them in years, but I always enjoy scanning their offerings.
Electronics Goldmine Dan Barlow of HacDC writes: Electronics Goldmine offers discounts on SMT components, and often has cool, weird stuff like IC masks and wafers. They also have a special robot section.
MPJA A bunch of my maker buds recommended the venerable Marlin P Jones & Assoc catalog. MAKE's Collin Cunningham writes: "MPJA has some awesome prices on a variety of electronics equipment. I recently picked up a Mastech Dual 0-30V benchtop power supply for under 200 beans and I'm quite happy with it. They also have dirt-cheap toggle switches and some unusual surplus items, like a security camera mount I found useful for shooting macro/project builds."
Newark A catalog I've never even seen in person but one that shows up on a lot of recommendation lists for electronic component catalogs. And like all of the other catalogs here, it's sent free of charge, and it looks to be the size of a phonebook. And like most of the catalogs here, there are online and PDF versions, if you don't need the dead tree edition. Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Toolbox | Digg this!
I'm not entirely sure what this terrific Dan Clowes cover for the May 11, 2009 issue of The New Yorker is supposed to be about, but I would like to think it's making the point that makers are going to leapfrog traditional industries that can't seem to get out of a rut that has helped cause the recession. Read more | Permalink | Comments | Digg this!
Currently in beta, the OP-1 from Teenage Engineering, is an ultra-portable synthesizer and USB controller with an acute attention to detail. In addition to the gorgeous design, it packs a motion sensor and FM radio for increased mixability. Check out the interface, which has been described to "inspire not to control."
Max Flebus, a MAKE subscriber from Milan, sent us a link to this wonderful video of musician Paolo Angeli (who's worked with Fred Frith) playing a guitar that has motors inside the sound hole whacking away on the strings and robot-finger-like strikers, powered by foot pedals, that Paolo controls while playing the guitar with a bow, creating a sort of cobot guitar.
Baino shares this tutorial for creating a banjo-style ukulele from a tambourine plus parts from an inexpensive ukulele kit. I don't recall hearing one of these, but I'm guessing the sound must be pretty interesting considering the original instruments. See the instructable for all the how-to deets.
IKEA Granas side table (over 2x2 feet, big enough for coffee table) with 9x9 array of 81 ShiftBrite RGB LED modules. Currently running a simple sine plasma into HSV/RGB conversion on an Arduino (Seeeduino).
Wow - more than a conversation piece, I'm guessing guests may fall into a hypnotic state! See more of the display piece in his photoset.
We're having loads of fun dreaming up creative ways that Maker Media can use Twitter (like our new daily Make_Tips and Craft_Tips features). We want to grow our Twitter network. And we want YOU to sign up. So, here's the deal. We're calling this month "Book-a-Day in May." We'll be giving away a Maker's Notebook every weekday to one of our randomly-selected followers on Twitter. At the end of the week, we're also going to be giving away an Arduino MEGA to a randomly-selected Twitter-person. So start following us @Make to be eligible. We'll announce the first week's winners on Monday, May 11th.
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Roywanglu shares pics of his automated egg writer - the EggDrawer. Not a lot of info available for this one, but those are some great results from what looks to be a relatively simple setup. Check out more results in his Flickr photostream.
In this video, Limor shows off her build of the Turbulence microcontroller-based demo. She accomplished this by going retro (hey, it's demoscene, man), adding VGA and stereo audio output to her Parallax Propeller-based Ybox2 kit (which has NTSC out). To add VGA/stereo out, she created a mini-shield plug-in for the YBox. Pretty nifty! And as she says, it's really impressive that the Propeller MCU can process decent VGA and stereo audio. It's funny to see her drag out her old VGA monitor, too. Hey, where can I get one of those Techno-Goth stickers!?
The MAKE Flickr pool hit 5,000 members this week! (Thanks to Mark of Spikenzie Labs for spotting the milestone) It's great to see all the projects pouring in from both new and longtime members - keep 'em coming. A big thanks goes out to all contributors for making the pool such a great resource for DIY documentation!
The Morning Monster by Nick Hardeman is an interactive plush alarm clock with a few interesting features. First of all, you set the time and alarm by pressing buttons that are hidden inside the teeth. Also, when the alarm goes off, the blinds are automatically opened via a wireless link. The alarm system is based on an Arduino and the blinds are controlled by an h-bridge and stepper motor. I really like this alarm clock a lot!
The Morning Monster is a plush electronic alarm clock. He has all of the normal alarm functions, set time, set alarm, snooze, etc. However, what makes him a monster is his ability to shine the sun on your face when the alarm goes off by opening the blinds, unfortunately in the video, it is night time and pitch black outside. The blinds are also manually controlled my moving his left arm (our right) up and down. Don't worry, he knows where the blinds are, so if you hold his arm in one direction, he will never over-crank the blinds. GRR--.
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