Photos of the prototypes of the Make: Electronics Components Packs. Our art department is still working on lovely sticker art for the cases. Each will also come with a cool Maker Shed Electronics Cheat Sheet (with resistor code values, etc).
They've been months in the making, in fact, the robo-elves in the Shed are still putting their greasy little end-effectors on the finishing touches, but I wanted to show 'em off to you anyway. It's the Make: Electronics Components Pack 1 and Components Pack 2, almost everything you need to build the projects from Chapter 1-4 of our tech bestseller Make: Electronics (e.g. sorry but we don't provide the lemons for the lemon battery experiment -- but don't think we didn't consider it!). In fact, we carefully considered everything that goes into these kits, and what they go into -- nice, sturdy compartmented plastic storage cases.
Pack 1 has over 200 components, Pack 2, over 100. And because nearly all of the projects are breadboarded, when you're done doing the experiments in the book, you'll still have nearly 300 components and two cases to get you off and running in your newfound electronics hobby. We say nearly 300, because some of the parts are intentionally harmed in the conducting of these experiments. But not to worry, none of the expensive ones. What are a few fried resistors amongst friends?
Component Pack 1 sells for $99.95 and is available for pre-order now and will be available mid-March. You can sign up to be alerted to Component Pack 2's availability and price. It too should be available mid-month.
Wanna get free shipping on the Component Pack 1? The Shed currently has a deal. Until the end of February, get free shipping on all orders over $125! Just enter coupon code FEBSHIP to your cart prior to checkout. Prior to entering the code, make sure your cart totals at least $125; free shipping will then be pre-selected from the drop-down shipping option.
And don't forget, Maker Shed also offers the Deluxe Toolkit, which includes the tools you need for the book (and getting started in electronics in general), a copy of Make: Electronics itself, and the newest edition of our popular Maker's Notebook.
In the Maker Shed:
Deluxe Make: Electronics Toolkit Our Price: $124.99 Do you want to learn the fundamentals of electronics in a fun and experiential way? Not sure where to start, or what tools you might need? We've taken care of all the questions with our deluxe tool kit from the Maker Shed, featuring our best-selling book, Make: Electronics.
Vik Olliver put up a great tutorial about how you can successfully drill down the middle of a shaft using a standard drill press and cheap vice. To do this, you drill the part backwards, by putting the drill bit in the vice and the part in the drill press chuck. The trick is that you can line up the vice precisely by placing the drill bit into the chuck upside down, lowering the tool, then using it to align and clamp down the vice. Once the vice is secured, you release the drill bit from the chuck (but not the vice), and put the part in the chuck. Of course, a lathe might be preferable, but sometimes you have to work with the tools you have! [via Hack a Day]
I'm not sure what's going on here but it appears to be an ode to space elevators. The uploader's YouTube channel also has similar videos saluting the Pioneer and Voyager space probes as well as one talking about terraforming Mars. [via the Space Elevator blog]
Our pal, Jenny Hart, of Austin's Sublime Stitching, has a monthly column called "Crafting a Business with Jenny Hart" over on Venuszine. There's a lot of information here that's applicable to any type of crafting/maker business.
It seems to me that somewhere between working average day jobs and having your own successful business, there would be a scary transition. How did you handle that? Any tips for crafty women who would like to do the same but who don't have the courage?
You bet it was scary. Lost sleep, constant worrying, and seemingly endless work at two jobs: my day job and my dream job. It still is scary. But the scary part is different now. Attempts at making bigger strides, having more demand than resources to meet those demands, managing money wisely, and trying to find financial backing and business people in the industry who get the DIY movement (psst ... they don't) to possibly partner with. I've often felt very much like running a successful business is discovering the emperor has no clothes. Only, you're king at your own company, which means you're the one feeling naked.
What professional advisers should a small-business person hook up with at the beginning?
Every business will eventually need a lawyer and an accountant, but small businesses can often do without either for a while. A lot will depend on the kind of business you're running. If you need to incorporate right off the bat or have copyright, trademark, and/or patent concerns, then you'll want a lawyer right away. Even small service firms are wise to have a lawyer available for assistance with wording contracts, partnership agreements, and so on, though you can get a long way on the advice of books, small-business resource centers (many states have government-funded programs to help entrepreneurs with basic contract templates and such), and the occasional e-mail or phone call to a lawyer just to make sure your T's are crossed and your I's dotted. As for accounting help, if you're like us and start out as a partnership (the equivalent of an LLP in the U.S.), you can probably get away with just having a bookkeeper (which is a lot cheaper than an accountant), but if and when you incorporate, you'll need an accountant for sure.
Ultimate Embroidery Kit$30.00 Have you learned how to embroider yet? This kit will teach you how to get started even if you've never held a needle and thread. Unique, quality supplies all in one tidy package that will have you set for stitching not just one, but hundreds of possible projects. Even better: your kit will be lovingly hand-assembled for you in Austin, Texas.
Flickr user fotogra4er replaced the fluorescent tubes lighting his aquarium with LEDs. Which, of course, make way more light and way less heat for the same amount of energy. Then he upped the ante by cooling the LED lighting bank with circulated tank water, exploiting what waste heat the LEDs do generate to warm it, and thus saving even more power that would otherwise go to the tank heater.
What do you do once you are already a skilled radio designer and restorer? Well, if you are Greg Charvot, you decide to build a shortwave radio using a single type of transistor as an active element. Normally, one would use number of different transistors, each designed to handle different amounts of power and amplifying bandwidth. Limiting yourself to a single type may seem like a mental exercise today (pun intended), but was apparently much more common back when transistors weren't easy to come by, so Greg isn't completely off his rocker. Also, by only using one kind of part, it should make repairs much easier.
Designing a radio like this is a little bit complicated, but not nearly as much as it might sound. The trick is to divide the radio function into manageable pieces, which can then be designed and tested individually. You will notice that Greg's radio (pictured above) is made up of a bunch of small prototyping boards. Each board contains a single circuit with a specific function, and physically separating them makes it much easier to test the parts, as well as swap out the ones that might be malfunctioning. It's also a neat design aesthetic, because it very closely resembles the way you would draw an electrical schematic to represent the circuit.
If you are interested in building a radio, I would strongly recommend giving it a go. Start with a kit, though, and pick one that explains the design of each stage so that you can learn how it works. It will definitely be an interesting experience, and who knows, it could be the start of a new passion! If you have a favorite kit or other guide to recommend, chime in on the comments.
It sounded like a dream: a health club for nerds, only instead of treadmills and weight sets, members paid $125/month to work with CNC routers, laser cutters, and other high-end gadgets. The first of three TechShops opened in Menlo Park, California in 2006 but two more, one in Beaverton OR and the other in Durham, NC followed.
In a Toolmonger.com forum thread, TechShop Durham founder Scott Saxon blamed the economy:
We have just under 25,000 sf here and secured our lease, as did Portland, during financially good times. The economy tanked right after we both started. Lack of funding is not the reason for anything. The reason we are moving is the landlord is unwilling to adjust to the current times. The rent here is simply too much.
We are moving to a much cheaper facility and with our present membership, about the same as Portland, we will succeed in 2010. I believe Portland will do the same. This is not political speak. This is just the way it is as told by the numbers.
Could it also be that the shops are experiencing member drain from the burgeoning hackerspace movement?
What do you think, readers? Is the day of the giant franchised TechShop over, to replaced by smaller, leaner, nonprofit hackerspaces? Will Portland and RDU bounce back along with the economy? Leave your thoughts in comments.
Note: A member of the Portland community asked me to link to the TechShop Portland forums which has additional discussion of the situation there.
We all have old, broken, or otherwise junk electronics stashed away in our closets. Randy Sarafan's 62 Projects to Make with a Dead Computer is just what it sounds like and much more, inspiring makers to repurpose mice, scanners, iPods, and yes, computers, to make high-tech housewares, newly-functioning gadgets, and accessories. The projects run the gamut of techniques, and with sections like fashion, pets, and music, there's something for everyone. Not only is the book full of DIY ideas, it also has excellent primers on electronics parts and the safety concerns regarding taking apart and repurposing tech-junk. Once you make your own upcycled projects, you can enter them in Instructables' Dead Computer Contest, where the deadline is March 7th.
Book Giveaway Time!
We're giving away 3 copies of 62 Projects to Make with a Dead Computer. Just leave a comment on this post, letting us know what kind of dead technology you have, just waiting to be transformed. We'll grab the winners' emails from your commenter account, so don't put your email address in the comment box! All comments will be closed by Noon PST on Monday, March 1st. The lucky winners will be announced next week on the MAKE Twitter feed. Good luck!
Sample Project: IR Camera
Over the years, I have collected a number of digital cameras that are not quite broken, but are definitely no longer quite working as they should. And as it turns out, a somewhat-broken camera is the perfect device for dabbling your feet in camera hacking. You already don't expect it to work exactly as it should, so if you make a mistake, there isn't the greatest loss. On the other hand, when you succeed in modifying it, the results are often phenomenal and result in experimental pictures that often far exceed all expectations.
Download the project PDF to make your own IR Camera!
With our DIY Week coming to a close, we thought we'd ask Lee David Zlotoff, creator of MacGyver and inspiration to clever makers and hackers everywhere, to share some of his thoughts on DIY, fix-all tools, widespread MacGyver-love, and MacGruber. Zlotoff grew up in Brooklyn and graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School, where he thrived in shop and pre-engineering classes. After landing in Hollywood, he picked up work as a writer on Hill Street Blues, a producer on Remington Steele, and, through a twist of fate and over-selling, creator and producer of MacGyver, the 1985-1992 action series whose secret agent refused to use a gun, preferred non-violent solutions, getting himself out of tricky situations using whatever he had on hand. Sure, some of the stuff at hand seemed a little too coincidental, but the solutions were vetted by scientists and engineers, even if not every step was shown to prevent eager fans from trying at home.
I was only peripherally interested in high-voltage electronics when I was in school, but if someone had told me I could have an awesome letterhead like this this one, it would have totally changed my career. It's said to have been used by Nikola Tesla, the brilliant and eccentric inventor that brought us everything from AC power distribution to Tesla coils. [via boingboing]
This toothbrush holder by Dominic Wilcox may be slightly over-engineered, but it's always better to err on the side of caution when it comes to toothbrush security. Learned that the hard way.
We just received a fresh supply of tinyCylon kits in the Maker Shed. Not into Cylons? *gasp* Then maybe a Lux Spectralis or WeeBlinky might be a good choice? All these kits are really easy to solder together, and the end result is a lot of fun. If you do like Cylons, don't forget to check out our How-to Tuesday: tinyCylon kit for complete details on how to make your own!
Physics professor Kieran Mullen of OU apparently has a hard-and-fast rule against laptops in class. To drive the point home, he staged a public execution of one by freezing it in liquid nitrogen and smashing it against the floor, where its broken remains were left as a warning to others. Of course the whole thing is staged and the laptop in question was old and worthless, but hey, any excuse to freeze stuff with LN2...
Make a fun and easy desktop cube that magically reveals photos. Thanks go to Ken Wade for the original article in MAKE Volume 21. View the PDF of this project. And then subscribe to MAKE magazine for other great projects you can do over the weekend.
Model maker and retired farmer Alex Garrard has spent over 33,000 hours bringing his scale model of Herod's Temple to life. Meticulously researched, it accommodates over 4,000 figures and occupies over 200 square feet.
"Everything is made by hand. I cut plywood frames for the walls and buildings and all the clay bricks and tiles were baked in the oven then stuck together," he says.
The Fairytale Fashion Collection uses technology to create magical clothing in real life. Electronics, mechanical engineering, and mathematics are used to create clothing with blooming flowers, changing colors and transforming shapes. Research and development for the Fairytale Fashion collection are shared online at FairytaleFashion.org as an educational tool that teaches about science, math, and technology through fashion. Fairytale Fashion was created with the support of Eyebeam Art and Technology Center nonprofit. Diana Eng is a fashion designer who specializes in technology, math, and science. Her designs range from inflatable clothing to fashions inspired by mechanical engineering. She is a designer from Bravo’s Emmy nominated TV show, Project Runway season 2 and author of Fashion Geek: Clothes, Accessories, Tech. Diana is cofounder of NYC Resistor hacker group. Diana is currently a resident artist at Eyebeam.
Great show, nice to see everyone from the maker scene in NYC at the show too!
Dhananjay Gadre is at it again, with a simple yet very useful Instructable for a LED illuminated eye loupe. I always want more light to see the objects I'm trying to magnify. I love how this niftly hack solves that problem!
Natural disasters like the earthquake in Haiti and man-made tragedies like soldiers or civilians losing limbs to explosives drive the need for better prosthetic limbs. Improved treatments are on the horizon in the form of novel foot and ankle prosthesis which behave energetically more like the human body than existing technologies. These powered devices can efficiently store and return impact energy during walking, and do so at the appropriate point in the gait cycle so that the user can walk more easily. A device designed by engineers at University of Michigan reduces walking energy by over 30%, compared to a traditional prosthetic foot. The researchers recorded cool high-speed video of the device in use. [from R&D Mag]
This bionic foot-ankle prosthesis was pioneered by a researcher at MIT, Dr. Hugh Herr. I had the pleasure of meeting him last year and was truly inspired by the encounter. He epitomizes passion for engineering, and is one of the few engineering researchers I've met who deftly and simultaneously applies scientific research and engineering technology to his work. A documentary was made about Dr. Herr, and the trailer is definitely worth a moment to view.
Maybe it's 'cause I'm still all aflutter over the new guitar kits in the Shed, but I paid special interest to this guitar pedal board and travel case that MAKE subscriber Ian, of Tiny Little Life, sent to us. He writes:
Steps in the construction of a pedalboard that I built for the guitarist in my band. This board is a mashup of a whole bunch of really great ideas I found from other DIY designs online. Plus, its covered in flannel.
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