Here's a low-tech way to share some holiday joy. Jared Lyon used a bunch of dominoes and some strategically placed bells to play the song 'Carol of the Bells' as the dominoes fell down. Fun stuff! [via neatorama]
What were your favorite videos that we did for 2009? There were too many to post each one, so please vote by the series and then tell us what your favorite episodes were in the comments.
Instructables user brainparts built this acoustically-isolated microphone mounting ring for his kick drum using bungee cords and a short slice of 6" aluminum pipe, all for about $20. He says if he were to do it again, he'd just use PVC pipe for the ring.
What were your favorite project in the magazine this past year? All of the major projects are listed below. Vote for your faves. And PLEASE tell us know in comments if you actually built any of projects and what your experience was, if you were happy with the results, etc.
Interested in learning how to program, or know someone who is? Then you might want to check out Al Sweigart's free book, Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python. Now in it's second edition, the Creative Commons-licensed book was written to help anyone, young or old, learn to program in the powerful Python language.
From the introduction:
Programming isn't hard. But it is hard to find learning materials that teach you to do interesting things with programming. Other computer books go over many topics that most newbie coders don't need. This book will teach you how to program your own computer games. You will learn a useful skill and have fun games to show for it!
This book is for:
Anyone who wants to teach themselves computer programming, even if they have no previous experience programming.
Kids and teenagers who want to learn computer programming by creating games. Kids as young as 9 or 10 years old should be able to follow along.
Adults and teachers who wish to teach others programming.
Anyone, young or old, who wants to learn how to program by learning a professional programming language.
It looks like it could be a great place for a budding programmer to start, and since it available online for free, why not check it out? [via O'Reilly Radar]
I'm working on a felt electronics control panel. It has two knobs and four pushbuttons. I first needle felt a little cylinder, then bore out a channel in which to fit a standard button or knob. They're delightfully fuzzy, yet firm to the touch. See more at my Flickr.
By way of Alden Hart at HacDC comes this amazing computer-controlled analog piano that speaks, *almost* comprehensible English, when a frequency spectrum of a child reading the text of the Proclamation of the European Environmental Criminal Court is transferred to robot fingers that press the piano's keys. Creepy. Cool. [Thanks, Alden!]
I'm digging the way you turn on this fiat lux lamp by designers Constance Guisset and Grégory Cid. In place of the standard light switch, you place an orb under the lamp, which then (presumably) uses a magnetic field to hold it in place. When you are done, you simply pull it away and the light goes out.
I think it would be awesome to make this into a timer for the light- the lamp could have a control system that slowly lowers the orb, until it gets far enough away that it drops to the floor and shuts off the light. Anyone want to try it? [via notcot]
Pedro Mealha was inspired by those 3D plywood dinosaur kits when he designed this lamp, called rhizome, the armature of which is a great example of the emerging "router aesthetics" Bruce Sterling wrote about back in MAKE Volume 11. I also like the wooden race and exposed ball-bearings that let it pivot at the base. Now if we can just persuade him to post the DXF files on Thingiverse... [via Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories]
This Tesla Tornado is made using a Subaru blower fan motor, complete with its 3-position speed switch mounted on the base. The blower motor has a flywheel fabricated out of Lexan with 6 neodymium magnets mounted in it. It magnetically couples with 6 magnets in the Tesla Pump disc pack, which is inside the vortex tube. The Tesla pump discs are magnetically driven by the blower motor flywheel magnets, so there is no direct connection. The pump disc pack is self-centering, and there is no rotating shaft, shaft bearings, or seals required.
Because nothing says xmas like the slurp of that water pump! Great walkthrough of the building of this Tesla Tornado.
MAKE subscriber Joe Kerman sent us a link to this video about how mechanical controllers for traffic lights work. This is from a Canadian kid's TV show from the late 80s (I think), called the Acme School of Stuff. I watched a number of other episodes on YouTube and found them pretty engaging and educational. [Thanks, Joe!]
Because of its classic sounds & serial-controllability, the Commodore 64's Sound Interface Device (SID) chip is much sought after by many synth DIYers. Instead of plucking one from a vintage piece of computing history, Christoph recreated the SID's functionality in firmware using an ATMega8 chip. The resulting emulator can be controlled via serial protocol - an Arduino shield was even designed to do just that.
This thing is called the "Slauerhoffbrug," and it lives in Leeuwarden in the Netherlands. The road section is lifted on a single massive counterbalanced arm up to 90 degrees in the air. There's a good photo gallery, including aerial views, over on frozenly.com. [via Neatorama]
Alpay Kasal's Twitter-enabled "Twistmas" twee tree responds to specific keyword mentions by lighting corresponding ornaments -
After designing a Twitter based installation for GE Healthcare, I looked forward to putting some Arduino's and LED's to work on a personal project. While speaking with Psytek, a founder of a hackerspace in Brooklyn called AlphaOneLabs, we decided an interactive Christmas tree would be a lot of fun. He bought a tree. I hunted for clear ornaments to stick the led's into, and after coming up dry, we set out to make our own. I thought this would be the easy part, it wasn't, I underestimated the elusive nature of ornaments in the wild. Eventually I found "golf display cases" at The Container Store.
Make, mod, hack, and bend your own analog noise monster with the new Thingamagoop 2 kit from the Maker Shed! It's a great kit for beginners, since it includes detailed instructions and photos of each step of the build. Advanced users can taking advantage of the Arduino integration, control voltage in and out, or just bend it like crazy!
Features
Analog VCO controlled by analog or digital signal from Arduino. (A separate Arduino board is not required)
Sample and hold, Arpeggios, noise, and bit crush effects with open source code so you can program your own sounds!
All the analog sounds of the original Thingamagoop.
Controllable LEDacle - Ramp and random waveforms with rate control.
New modulators - Square wave amplitude modulator and triangle wave pulse width modulator.
Tough, stomp box type body with silk screened graphics in 3 different styles.
Easy to access battery - No more screws!
Much fuller and louder speaker
CV in and out
Arduino Programmer jack. Easily hook an Arduino board up to the Thingamagoop 2
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