Several of William Grill's designs have included pulse-width modulator (PWM) circuits that control LEDs. But what about the control of line-powered lamps and fixtures? You can find several commercial PWM controllers, but build one yourself, save money and learn how to implement a microcontroller-based design. This circuit is no flash in the pan.
Polar and horizontal mounts of solargraph 35mm pinhole-can cameras. Images captured in Nuremberg, German. Camera: plastic 35mm film cans, paper: Agfa BS310 RC. [Spotted on the MAKE Flickr pool]
Jason Moungey of macetech dropped me an e-mail yesterday to let me know that the 9x9 RGB LED matrix table they were showing off at Maker Faire Bay Area 2009 (as shown above) has been upgraded with a Bluetooth shield that lets it receive tweets that control the display. Construction and programming details are available here, and there's a live feed of the table here.
I am over the moon with excitement for these new Saga guitar (and banjo, mandolin) kits the Maker Shed is now carrying. I've been ogling such kits ever since Steve Lodefink did a kit-guitar project on his blog. These instrument kits require just enough work that you feel like you've really accomplished something, and you get bragging rights for having built your own axe. The customizing possibilities are also exciting. My credit card started trying to sweet talk its way out of my wallet the second I saw these in the Shed. I think *I've* sweet talked the Shed into sending me a kit to assemble and document for the site. Editorship has its privileges (that and a lot of unseemly begging).
A bunch of MAKE staff members are being similarly seduced by their pocket plastic and the call of these kits. I smell MAKE staff DIY jam band at the next Maker Faire! Move over Spinal Tap!
The kits come in a variety of guitar styles, from flying V to double cut-away, and range in price from $179 - $259. There are two bass models (at $195), two mandolins (one electric, one acoustic), and two banjo kits.
One of the things I'm most excited about is coming up with some amazing veneer or finish and a design for the peghead. Not to mention the creation of my own nameplate to attach to it.
Then my next DIY music project after that will be re-learning how to play the guitar! I haven't played since high school.
In the Maker Shed:
DIY Music section Offering acoustic and electric stringed instrument kits, synth kits, and sound generators.
Hobby servos are great for quick jobs, but if you attempt to do very precise work with them, their limited resolution quickly becomes an issue. Forum user came up with an elegant solution, using a high-resolution magnetic sensor to detect the rotation:
Modified continuous-rotation servos are used extensively by roboticists due to their small form-factor, enclosed motor-gearbox, ease of mounting and high-availability. Some users keep the original drive electronics and the potentiometer feedback element but this approach allows for limited position control and velocity control / profiling. Others tend to remove them and use external control/drive boards and custom-made encoders. Ideally one would prefer to have the feedback element and the new drive electronics enclosed inside the servo. Unfortunately hacks involving optical devices and code-wheels have very limited resolution and require a lot of precise work.
Magnetic encoders use spinning current Hall technology to measure magnetic flux distribution across the surface of the chip. They typically come in high resolutions and require very few external components. The operational setup requires a small disk magnet with circumferential field distribution to be attached on the rotating element whose angular deflection is to be measured, and in close proximity to the sensor IC.
This hack utilises Austrian Microsystems' sensor IC as feedback element for a modified servo. The servo to be hacked is the popular Hitec HS485 HB.
Of course, you could probably just buy a higher resolution servo, but where's the fun in that?
A lot of makers find themselves annoyed by throwaway products that can't be fixed and are hard to open. Check out this interesting article by Alex Diener discussing the phenomenon from the opposite perspective: an industrial designer's. To illustrate, Diener attempts to open up a busted iron (video above).
Design for Disassembly is a design strategy that considers the future need to disassemble a product for repair, refurbish or recycle. Will a product need to be repaired? Which parts will need replacement? Who will repair it? How can the experience be simple and intuitive? Can the product be reclaimed, refurbished, and resold? If it must be discarded, how can we facilitate its disassembly into easily recyclable components? By responding to questions like these, the DfD method increases the effectiveness of a product both during and after its life.
Our ancient tools, meticulously crafted from natural materials and intended for repair and reuse, are perhaps the earliest example of DfD. During the 1950's rise of consumerism, fueled by mass production methods, cheap labor, and design fashion, disposability became the norm. Over time, the waste created by planned obsolescence and a throw-away culture was exposed. Organizations studied the negative impacts of toxins found in our product waste and governments began to regulate. In 2004, the European Union passed the landmark WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Directive, placing the responsibility of disposing electronic products with their manufacturers. This tectonic shift was recognized as a sign of things to come by global manufacturers, driving interest in the DfD strategy.
Last night many NYC makers, doers, and shakers met at the Martha Stewart Living offices in New York to talk about World Maker Faire, which will take place in September in collaboration with the New York Hall of Science in Flushing Meadows, Queens. Bridgette Vanderlaan from the Maker Faire team posted up some photos to the Maker Faire Facebook page.
Looking to take a break from tinkering on your latest project this weekend? Here are some fine maker events to check out, from The Maker Events Calendar. Wish your event was on the list? Add it to the calendar!
Before going any further, I really should say thanks to William J. Beaty, a research engineer in the Chemistry department at the University of Washington, who e-mailed me a few days ago with a link to his page of odd physics videos, which I have been systematically mining for content ever since!
This latest gem shows a piece of high temperature superconductor floating around a closed track made of rare-earth magnets. YouTuber majos explains:
High-temperature superconductor (Yttrium barium copper oxide) floating in the magnetic field of Neodymium magnets. This phenomenon is called the Meißner-Ochsenfeld-Effect and was discovered in 1933. The superconductor has to be cooled with liquid nitrogen which has a temperature of 77 K or −196 °C. If it is placed in a strong magnetic field it remains in its position. It also works if you turn the track upside down.
Join the MAKE team along with Pixar and TechShop for the Young Makers program Saturday (2/27) from 11am to 3pm at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, CA.
Our "Meet the Makers" session will begin at 11 am in the McBean Theatre. Our goal is to explore the work of a variety of makers and gain insight into the maker mindset. I will ask some questions, but we hope kids will have their own questions to ask these makers. This program will feature smart fabrics, soft circuits, and wearables. We'll see examples of how electronics is literally being woven into clothing and increasingly incorporated into the world of fashion.
Our featured makers are:
Adrian Freed
Adrian Freed is Research Director of the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT) program at Berkeley. He uses smart materials to teach electronics to kids. He will also talk about how conductive fabrics can enable new ways of making music. (For more, see Adrian Freed's web page)
Grace Kim
A graduate of the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU, Grace Kim will talk about construction techniques in wearable technology (as in the garment shown above). Her work has been displayed at the Future Fashion Event, at Viaggio Telecom in Pisa, Italy, and the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts (GAFFTA) in San Francisco. (For more, see Grace Kim's NYU Thesis Project)
Daniela Rosner
A Ph.D student at the I-School at Berkeley, Daniela will talk about recent developments of the Spyn project, which now uses a Nexus One mobile phone to capture the stories people associate with handmade objects. Her work was featured in this article [PDF] from CRAFT magazine. (For more, see Daniela Rosner and Spyn Project).
In the Open MAKE session that follows from 12-3pm, we'll have several hands-on activities on the Exploratorium floor demonstrating "soft" circuits and working with conductive fabric and thread. (We think that these activities are geared toward ages 12 and above but younger kids can participate but might need some additional support from parents.)
Build Your Own Bling - Make simple circuits (LED-battery) for rings, barettes, or pins.
Sew-a-circuit - Learn embroidery techniques with inspired by electronic designs.
As I've mentioned previously, the goal of the Young Makers program is to demonstrate to kids different modes of making and encourage them to make things. We also hope the program will develop young makers who exhibit their own work at Maker Faire. Members of the Maker Faire team will also be present. Come by if you have questions about how you, your school or organization can participate in this year's Maker Faire.
Gather your kids and their friends and join us at the Exploratorium this Saturday.
Randy Sarafan made this work table geared towards making DIY projects and documenting them:
I set out to make a simple work table for my home studio so that I could have a surface upon which to work and document projects. I tried to keep the design as simple as possible as I only have a limited arsenal of power tools, a small vehicle for transporting materials and little patience for woodworking.
This design proved to be successful in accounting for all of these requirements.
Szymon Kobalczyk, one of my collaborators on the Generic Serial Driver for Windows 7 Sensor and Location Platform project, recently posted a link in our forum to the FEZ line of .NET-powered microcontroller kits. Shortly after that, Gus Issa from GHI Electronics (makers of the FEZ) got in touch, and sent kits to both Simon and me. Simon's had a chance to play around with the kit and build the robot shown in the video above:
Two reflective sensors are included in the kit (useful for line following and edge detection projects), and you can order additional components both from TinyCLR.com and other robotics sites. Many construction parts are included in the kit so it is very easy to attach additional sensors or other parts. As you can see on the picture above, I already added a Sharp IR distance sensor in front (so I can teach the robot to not bump on walls). I also added an Xbee expansion board on the back so one day I can control the robot remotely (and my Holy Grail is to connect the robot to Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio).
...
In my previous post I complained how upset I'm that there is no cheap .NET Micro Framework hardware for hobbyists. Now I can take it back. IMHO we finally have a very powerful alternative to Arduino and similar platforms, with the price that won't break the bank (especially with FEZ Mini).
The FEZ comes in two form factors: the FEZ Mini, which has a pin configuration that's compatible with the BASIC Stamp from Parallax; the FEZ Domino, which is pin-compatible with the Arduino USB models (and they even have a beta driver for the WIZnet Ethernet module used in Arduino Ethernet shields).
Flickr user DROP HPC-ANC is responsible for this fantastic mural featuring a Lego version of The Grim Reaper. Sir or madam, whoever you are, wherever you are, I'd very much like to shake your hand.
Livid's Builder series consists of a central USB-MIDI "Brain" board plus several input boards, each size-customizable for use with LED pushbuttons, rotary potentiometers, or faders. The system could definitely speed-up construction of that controller-of-your-dreams project - just be sure you won't end up wanting a few more buttons after you've drilled/cut the enclosure (guessing I probably would). Specifics available over at Livid Instruments. [via Create Digital Music]
How big is Rhode Island? Well, it's about the size of... Rhode Island! Sometimes I feel like part of a strange joke living in the national yardstick. So it is with great excitement, yet great concern that I noticed several major hackers will be descending on Little Rhody for QuahogCon. Is the state big enough to contain celebrity hackers Jimmie P. Rodgers, Mitch Altman, and Matthew Borgatti?
I can't wait to find out. Maybe there will be a hacker showdown at high noon! Maybe we'll all survive the genius onslaught long enough to hear Matthew Borgatti give the closing keynote and hopefully explain how he got so many snakes on that plane.
I'll be sure to share whatever stories I'm able to escape with, but you might just have to experience it firsthand. I recommend bringing a bicycle with lights and an open mind, prepared for talks like gender hacking and maybe a late-night secret bicycle adventure through the streets and alleyways of Providence, led by yours truly...
Finnish photographer Ollipekka Kangas tapes pinhole cameras to trees and sign poles for months at a time, accumulating some pretty crazy imagery.
Basically solarigraphic camera is a pinhole camera, very slow one. These pinhole photographs taken with a lensless pinhole camera with a extra long exposure. I use black&white paper which is 5-10 ASA. Exposure time can be very long, in some photos up to six months. Usually average camera is hidden in city for one to two months. The picture will appear without developing photographic paper with any kind of chemicals. Exposured paper is scanned in darkness and developed in Photoshop. All the cameras are very low tech, cheap boxes, canisters or film cans. I can take only like 5 pictures in month.
Sun draws many interesting traces in photos, you can really see the time passing by. Some times camera is tilted by passerby or tape just goes loose. Double exposures or traces of humidity can be seen in photos.
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