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October 1, 2010

iPhone charger modded to look like biological monstrosity

I wish I understood Japanese so I knew what this was about. On second thought, perhaps it's better that I don't. (via Boing Boing)

Giant fluid dynamics sculpture made of robot-glued plastic balls

Um, wow. Geometric Death Frequency-141, as its called, was created by Czech artist Federico Díaz. It consists of 420,000 plastic spheres, each of which appears to be about 1.5" in diameter, glued together by industrial robot arms. The subject is a simulated liquid splashing inside an imaginary 50x20x20 foot box. Reportedly, Díaz wrote the software to perform the simulation himself, and the software to drive the assembly process, as well. More details over at designboom. [via Gizmodo]

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DJ battle hoodies

So delightfully bizarre! Mika Satomi and Clemens Pichler developed these DJ hoodies with soft switches, zipper switches, and a knit stretch sensor to help performers engage in a DJ battle. Their project documentation is stellar!

DJ Hoodie is a wearable interface that includes 4 channel zipper switch, fabric buttons with LED indicators and fabric pressure sensors. Two of these hoodies are connected with knitted stretch sensors on the hoods. It interfaces with computer with arduino using Firmata library and Pduino.

[via Fashioning Technology]

In the Maker Shed:

LED Sewing Kit

Embedding LEDs in plexiglas

The Synthetos guys experimented with embedding LEDs in laser-cut plexiglas, and the result is pretty sweet!

We had this idea to embed a classic 5mm LED into clear acrylic in a way that would showcase the shape of the LED and also let the LED illuminate an etched design in the acrylic. We started by taking a spec sheet from Lumex.com and importing it into Inkscape. Inkscape did a great with the import; all we had to do was select the LED and copy it to a new document. We cleaned up the paths so that we had just an outline. We then added the letter A to the diagram, which we converted to a path. This was what we wanted the LED to illuminate.

At the workshop, we imported this Inkscape SVG document into Corel, the environment for using the laser cutter. We cleaned it up the diagram a little and did a test cut. The first think we found was that the LED cutout was just slightly too short for the LED we tried to put in the space. We made a quick adjustment and tried again. The LED, with the leads, fit snugly into the acrylic. When we peeled back the paper we realized that we were using frosted acrylic. This turned out to be rather fortuitous, since with the frosting we were able to see how the LED's light was spreading across the surface. It was different effect then we were looking for, but a perfect one to use.

IC squisher from skate bearings, acrylic scraps

Spotted in the MAKE Flickr pool, this handy homebrew jig from the UK's oomlaut:

We've recently grown annoyed with the slightly bow legged stance DIP ICs ship with (it makes inserting them into sockets ever so frustrating). Rather than continue to spend longer than we liked on less than perfect results we decided to make ourselves a little jig to help out.

Details and laser-cutter files are available at the link above. This post from EMSL is cited by way of inspiration.

Apple TV 2G teardown

Curious to find out what's inside the new Apple TV 2G? The folks over at iFixit performed a teardown recently and found what makes the little set-top box tick. Some highlights:

Separate power supply board that can be replaced independently of the logic board.

Simple design - there's 6 pieces!

The ease of repairing this device, integrated high-efficiency power supply, low 6-watt power consumption, and efficient stand-by mode lead us to believe this may be the most eco-friendly set-top box of all time!

Animated LED pumpkin

This animated LED pumpkin, built by my HacDC cohort David Kaufman, uses a PIC16F648 microcontroller to individually control 25 LEDs in a styrofoam pumpkin. A Windows app is also available to edit the animations (which are then rebuilt into a PIC app).

LED Pumpkin

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Don't forget, we have our own DIY Haunts contest running here on MAKE!

Building a wire turtle (video)

Building a wire turtle (video)...

The 2nd Mini Maker Faire RI: doubling down on fun

Mini Maker Faire RI 2010
(Mini Maker Faire RI photo by johngineer on flickr)

It's been just over a month since this year's RI Mini Maker Faire, but only a couple weeks since we decided to do it all over again with another mini-RI Mini Maker Faire at the BIF-6 conference in Providence, RI.

Here are some videos, posts, and pictures from Mini Maker Faire RI. If you have more, please post them in the comments!

Chris Connors' video interview with Abend
Rhode Island Museum of Science and Art (video by Chris Connors)
Photos from Ray's Hobby Projects
Mini Maker Faire RI photo pool on flickr

Maker Trip Reports:

Trashbear Labs
Neuron Robotics
Cyrozap
AS220 Labs
Tellart
Aerial videos from Bob Desmarais: 1 2

A big thanks to our partners for helping make this happen: MAKE, WaterFire, Cutler&Company;, RI Nexus, CrowdVine, Greater Kennedy Plaza, and Cronk Software.

We couldn't have done this without our sponsor Ximedica, who provided us with the funding needed to make this event happen and help us be ready for next year. Our Kickstarter backers and PayPal donors also put some fuel in our tank; thank you!

And of course, we couldn't have done it without the makers who exhibited. Thank you! We'll be back next year, and hope to have the dates set soon!

Homebrew IC Squisher makes DIP chips managable

Spotted in the MAKE Flickr pool:

The fine folks at oomlaut were tired of straightening the leads on their dual inline package (DIP)-style components, so they built an IC Squisher (ICSQ) machine to do it for them. Based on a design they learned about from Evil Mad Scientist Labritories, their build uses a couple of bearings and laser cut plastic to do the job. Best of all, the plans are all on their website, so you can make your own.

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Lots of steam engines this Saturday in East Greenwich, RI

It's time for the annual Yankee Steam-Up at the New England Steam and Wireless Museum, a must-see event that includes steam, wireless, and lots of makers:

Yankee Steam-Up: For model makers, Machinists, Engineers & Historians
Saturday October 2, 2010, 8:00AM-4:00PM
Steam & Compressed Air for Models.
Licensed Boilers & Licensed Engineers.
New Englands Largest Steam-Up Boiler.
Giant Working Steam Engines & Hot Air & IC.

Admission, $15.00
All Steam-Up Proceeds go to Upkeep of the Museum
Free Parking
Food on Grounds at noon

If you haven't been, it's an impressive event. They connect a whole bunch of steam engines, large and small, to a big boiler, and they crank away all day. The steam engine collection includes some amazing pieces of history, and the wireless collection is pretty sweet, too. Don't miss the Massie spark gap transmitter either.

Admission is $15, and there is free parking. All the proceeds go to the upkeep of the museum, which is located at:
1300 Frenchtown Road
East Greenwich, RI 02818

More information on the 2010 Yankee Steam-Up

Spy on your brain and heart with Arduino EEG

Have you always wanted to monitor your brains signals, but didn't have the money or expertise for an expensive setup? I caught up yesterday with Jacob Shiach about the Arduino EEG Project, which I first heard at the Open Science Summit in Berkeley, CA back in July. Here's what Jacob had to say:

From an outside view, it probably looks like a torture scene from a Bond flick. Forrest is sitting there with electric wires tied to metal washers duct-taped to the side of his head. While I adjust the power on a foreboding box that appears to cause Forrest's face to distort in pain. Luckily this isn't the movies, the strange box is called an Encephalagraph (EEG) and the faces are just a side effect of trying to force different brainwaves to present.

Using only an Arduino, a few resistors, capacitor, op amps, washers, a 9v battery, and duct tape, you can read brain waves. It's surprisingly that simple. We held an "art" workshop on the 25th, teaching people how to build EEGs and how to integrate them it into their artwork. High school students who had never soldered before were able to understand the electronics behind it and how they work to relay brain waves. It was really pretty amazing.

Note: Our EEG serves double purpose as an EKG which is what we were testing in this video

You can check out more info about the Arduino EEG on Jacob's Kickstarter page

If you have a cool science project, want to test if your food is genetically modified, or learn more about your DNA, comment on this post!

Bio: Tito Jankowski is of course a fan of open source science tools, including his own work on gel electrophoresis and easy to use PCR.

More:
See all of our citizen science coverage

Red Bull's "Create the Future" contest at Maker Faire

(From left to right) Albert Hwang and Matt Parker of the Lumarca project presented with the Red Bull "Create the Future" award (a MakerBot!) by Eric Siegel, of the NY Hall of Science, and Gareth Branwyn, of MAKE

At this year's World Maker Faire, Red Bull sponsored a "Create the Future" contest. The idea was to choose one maker at the Faire who offered a compelling glimpse of the future. The prize was a MakerBot CupCake CNC. Just as the MakerBot offers a glimpse into a future of cheap and powerful 3D printing on your desktop, Red Bull and the contest judges went in search of another emerging vision of the future being developed by a maker.

But first, there was a party! The Red Bull Maker Faire Party on Friday night announced the contest and introduced the judges. Held in the astounding Great Hall in the NY Hall of Science, MAKE's Dale Dougherty kicked off the festivities and ArcAttack! provided the high-voltage entertainment. There were also drinkbots serving up Red Bull-powered cocktails, a marching band, costumed revelers, and lots of happy party goers. Eric Siegel, Director and Chief Content Officer of NY Hall of Science, and I, representing Maker Media, were announced as the judges.

So who won? It was really hard to choose. There were a number of really impressive, stand-out projects. But in the end, Eric and I were in perfect sync as to who the winners should be: Matt Parker and Albert Hwang (along with Elliot Woods) for their amazing Lumarca project. It is a perfect example of something that appears very simple on the surface (it's mainly constructed of yarn, fishing line, and home store parts), but it has incredible potential to offer affordable 3D visualization capabilities (and it's just darn cool). Here's how they describe it on their website:

Lumarca is a truly volumetric display which allows viewers to see three dimensional images and motion. The system requires only a computer, a projector, and common materials found at most hardware stores. This provides an affordable platform for artists to design compelling content that conveys information, narrative, and aesthetic information in a new way.

Matt, Albert, and company are looking for investment money via Kickstarter to take their project to the next level. Hopefully, the exposure from this contest will help.

Good luck, guys. And congrats on winning Red Bull's "Create the Future" contest!

More pictures of the Red Bull Create the Future Party after the jump...

Homemade wooden knob for camera is beautiful

Spotted in the MAKE Flickr pool:

Flickr user vamapaull lent his digital camera to a friend, who managed to lose its control knob. When the camera was returned a few days late, it sported this beautiful wooden wheel. I want one for my camera!

Pedal powered grain mill

rebar pedal grain mill for web.jpg

Flickr user gdafm saw my recent rebar bike post and sent us a link to these photos he took in Ampareas, Peru, of a pedal powered grain mill made in large part of welded rebar, including rebar pedals and a rebar bike seat. [Thanks, gdaf!]

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DIY Haunts kicks off

Our DIY Haunts contest is in high gear now and we're stoked. Whether it's a skull fountaining green slime or a coffin full of robot spiders, this is your opportunity to share your spooky build-skills. The contest is open to all skill levels, and is sponsored by Jameco Electronics.

If you'd like to participate, you have two options: First, you can pursue your own project, with your own materials. It just has to be a project that moves in some way, lights up, and emits sound. Alternatively, you can build our "official" Spooky Fun Tombstone project (details to follow) using your own parts or the OPTIONAL Jameco Electronics parts bundle. Every week, via the DIY Haunts newsletter, we'll show you how to accomplish another step in the project, so even if you're just starting out, you're sure to end up with a great decoration! And there's plenty of room within this follow-along project to add your own creative flair and have a chance at the prizes. The prizes are sweet, including a Stingray Robot and a Lego Mindstorms kit.

Interested? Check out the DIY Haunts landing page for full contest details, prize packages, and inspiring projects from Make: Online.

We've already put out the first issue of the DIY Haunts newsletter. If you'd like to sign up, just fill out the form below. It'll sign you up to our official contest newsletter mailing list (for this contest and for future contest project newsletters).

(For some inspiration, be sure to check out last year's Make: Halloween winning contest entry, Jared Martin's Mr. Bones and the Gourditos, in the video above. Jared is one of this year's judges!)

More:
DIY Haunts: A Halloween contest sponsored by Jameco Electronics

Maker challenge: FM radio kit for third world children

Thomas Wiltherspoon is the director of Ears to Our World, a charitable organization bringing access to information via self-powered shortwave radio to the third world, and he's looking for help from makers like you:

I've always wanted to give our radios directly to children, but reality is, these kids live in some very impoverished areas and it could make them a target of theft if they tried to carry home one of our commercially produced Grundig FR200s, for example.

In a perfect world, though, I would like to provide kids with a small FM or shortwave, snap together, modular radio kit they they could build without needing a soldering iron. Something very, very simple. I've always envisioned this being a small radio that operates off of a single AA cell and has an led lamp. It could, perhaps, be powered by a small detachable PV panel.

Something like this could be given to kids and, if a component breaks--say, a speaker or FM receiver--they could simply replace that part instead of trashing the whole unit. Not only would it teach kids a little about radio, but it would be a practical way for them to receive either community FM stations or SW radio broadcasts--life-giving information, in many cases.

Our ideal radio would have the following features:

A price tag of less than $10 US

Operation off of one AA battery

Modular, snap together design which would make for easy assembly and field service

Reception of FM and/or SW bands.

Small, bright LED lamp.

Small, functional speaker or earphones

A bonus would be if replacement parts could be available locally and would give discarded items a new life--for example, using a plastic bottle as the radio container.

The project almost sounds unrealistic, but I'm certain that somewhere out there in the Maker community there is the knowledge to make this radio a reality.

Check out the Wall Street Journal article about Ears to Our World, and ff you're interested in getting involved, drop an email to [email protected].

Very, very serious tic-tac-toe game

Why scratch out a game of naughts and crosses on the sidewalk when you can use a computer-controlled mill to carve a board and pieces out of solid billet aluminum and bronze? Thingiverse user hugomatic knows the answer to that question, whatever it may be.

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Precious materials, mundane objects: art by Susan Collis

Susan Collis recreates mundane objects with extreme attention to material detail. She forces you to reconsider small things you would otherwise pass by, especially with this piece, Made Good, in white gold, diamond, silver, and coral.

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Susan Collis' Splatter Emroidery

Southern Ontario hackerpsace conference

SoOnCon 2010 is the Southern Ontario Hackerspaces & Makers Mini-Conference. The Friday night festivities begin with a catered reception for registered participants and a cash bar. Registered Participants are free to bring a guest for an additional $20 at the door. Saturday is an all-day event with a keynote speaker, talks, demonstrations, workshops, and projects! After the full day on Saturday, you're invited to Nuit Blanche to see what Toronto art has to offer. Don't forget to get your hack on with our convention badge: an ARM-based microcontroller!

Most recent posts: page 1 of 6
1 2 3 4 5 6

Aug	OCT	Nov
	01
2009	2010	2011

Make:

iPhone charger modded to look like biological monstrosity

Giant fluid dynamics sculpture made of robot-glued plastic balls

DJ battle hoodies

Embedding LEDs in plexiglas

IC squisher from skate bearings, acrylic scraps

Apple TV 2G teardown

Animated LED pumpkin

Building a wire turtle (video)

The 2nd Mini Maker Faire RI: doubling down on fun

Homebrew IC Squisher makes DIP chips managable

Lots of steam engines this Saturday in East Greenwich, RI

Spy on your brain and heart with Arduino EEG

Red Bull's "Create the Future" contest at Maker Faire

Homemade wooden knob for camera is beautiful

Pedal powered grain mill

DIY Haunts kicks off

Maker challenge: FM radio kit for third world children

Very, very serious tic-tac-toe game

Precious materials, mundane objects: art by Susan Collis

Southern Ontario hackerpsace conference

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