Justin Shull built this solar-powered terrestrial shrub rover, sort of the diet version of a cupcake car. Our apologies to Monty Python. [via laughing squid]
June 18, 2010
Mini fridge food dehydrator
Instructables jamilks converted this old mini fridge into a food dehydrator, great for fruits, herbs, and other healthy snacks! A food dehydrator needs to be warm and breezy, and this how-to uses an old computer fan and hot plate to get the job done.
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Self-playing musical instruments
These MIDI & Arduino-driven musical instruments — a violin and a glockenspiel(?) — were created by Spanish artist Joan Vallvé as part of Sónar, a music and multimedia festival going on this weekend in Barcelona.
The “Violí MIDI” and “Metal·lòfon MIDI” are part of the project to design and construct an automated musical environment. This environment must be able to play live, and that is why it has been designed to be easy to handle, reliable, stable and completely portable. The roots of the project lie in a reflection on the use of robotics as a tool for musical composition and performance. The media and surroundings influence and determine the artist’s creative process. A new environment, a new language and a new interface will produce new creations and new musical styles. This is therefore a new format which calls into question the limits of the concepts of singer-songwriter or musical group.
Robotic instruments have so far been polyphonic percussion instruments and melodic instruments using plucked strings. Other musical timbres, registers and functions have still to be explored. On the horizon of the project is the creation of an interface adapted to the characteristics of each instrument, making the automated musical ensemble into an automated musical environment. The project is also based on constructive simplicity, the recycling of components and free hardware (Arduino), as well as the MIDI protocol due to its flexibility.
[Via the Arduino Blog]
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Pixel art video using candles
Youtube user brusspup, known for his impressive illusions, created this amazing fire animation using a bunch of tea candles, a camera, and lots of time. It appears to be a stop motion animation video, but there are some clear signs that it’s not what it looks like- anyone want to explain how it was done? [via theo's gallimaufry]
More:
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Beautiful plumbing pipe lamps
These “Kozo” handmade iron-pipe lamps from Israeli group Demo Design Clinic first appeared on my radar back in early 2009 when Boing Boing blogged about their original model, the kozo1, pictured top left. They were a runaway success, and Kozo has since added many more models. They’ve got a clever trick for building the switch into a faucet handle to match the spot-on DIY aesthetics of the lamp itself. Gareth blogged a pretty sweet remake, minus the fancy switch, by a reader named Boris shortly thereafter.
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Jason Sacks in Xtreme Outlaw 250 race
MAKE pal Jason Sacks will racing in this weekend’s Xtreme Outlaws 250 race in and around Reno, NV (June 17-20). Jason is being sponsored by the fine folks at ShopBot. People who have worked on or presented at Maker Faire probably know Jason. He works as a production manager with the amazing crew that produces the Faires. The race will be televised on ESPN. Check your listings for times.
“In 1997, I decided to go off-road racing, so I built my own car,” said Jason. “13 years later, I’m still making the vehicles I race. ShopBot and I share the love of making things, and that’s one of the reasons this team is a perfect match.”
Jason will be competing in the Sportsman class in the upcoming Xtreme Outlaw Off-Road Race (XO250) sanctioned by VORRA Racing. The 250-mile course will take competitors from the Grand Sierra Resort, down Reno’s Mill Street and out into the desert hills just outside of the city. The race will test the endurance of both rider and machine as competitors fight for the podium and $10,000 in prize money.
Go, Jason! We’ll all be cheering you on. And let us know how it goes…
ShopBot: The fastest tool in the shop is now the fastest tool in the desert
Google Map of the course
Xtreme Outlaws page
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Thingamagoop pianola concept
This video shows a clever modification to the Thingamagoop: a lightproof cardboard enclosure with a cardboard strip to control the amount of light reaching the photocell. You control the synthesizer’s pitch by moving the cardboard strip. Maker Pete Ashton posits:
In theory a pianola-style score could be written on a long strip. That would involve working out the pitch differences between various sized holes. But it could work.
In the Maker Shed:
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Webcast video now available: First steps with Arduino
Thanks to everyone who came out to yesterday’s First Steps With Arduino Webcast! The video is now available on O’Reilly Media’s YouTube Channel.
Also, the Maker Shed discounts on selected kits is still good. We’ve lined up a discount code you can use (ARDBJ when you check out), which will give you 15% off any of these kits until June 21, 2010:
- Getting Started With Arduino kit (includes a copy of the book Getting Started with Arduino)
- Arduino Projects Pack
- Advanced Arduino Starter Kit (includes a copy of the book Making Things Talk)
O’Reilly Webcast: First Steps with Arduino.
You can find the changes I made to Blink during the webcast right here
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Toolbox: Show us your screwdrivers
In the Make: Online Toolbox, we focus mainly 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, or refurbish.
Since it’s “Physical Science and Mechanics” month, it seemed only appropriate that we cover screwdrivers, a simple machine if ever there was one. So simple, in fact, that my call to my usual networks of makers didn’t yield a tremendous number of responses. Maybe screwdrivers should have gone into last Toolbox’s Homeliest tools round-up. OK, so it’s little more than a rod with a handle on one end and a shaped tip on the other, but as we all know, our world is… well very screwed, so without drivers, we’d be in a real pickle.
I thought what I would do is inventory the significant drivers in my personal collection, followed by a few thoughts from friends and colleagues, and then throw it open to you all. What screwdrivers do you use and recommend? What tips for driving? Do you do any tap and die work? What do you recommend there? Please tell us in the comments below.
If I had to choose a “desert island” set of screwdrivers, it’d be a Wiha set of slotted and Philips drivers. Some tools just feel different in your hands. Wiha is like that. The blades are precision-ground high alloy chrome-vanadium-molybdenum. OK, I don’t even know what vanadium and molybdenum are, but they produce a really strong alloy that makes these drivers extremely tough and keeps their tips intact. The handles are well-proportioned to the blades so you get good torque and they have rotating caps for fingertip control. Some sets, like the above Wiha 26199 Slotted and Phillips Screwdrivers, come in a heavy-duty canvas roll-up. This is a really sweet set of tools for just over $25 on Amazon (MSRP $40.50).
Wiha 40010 Magnetizer or Demagnetizer ($6) — I don’t actually have one of these, but when the driver discussion came up on HacDC, someone was recommending magnetized drivers. Sometimes you want a magnetized head to help pick up and hold your screw, sometimes you really don’t want this. This device lets you to “turn on” and “turn off” a magnetic field. Nifty.
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Add your image to the last shuttle missions – NASA Face in Space
Add your image to the last shuttle missions – NASA Face in Space, via BoJ…
NASA wants to put a picture of you on one of the two remaining space shuttle missions and launch it into orbit. To launch your face into space and become a part of history, just follow these steps:
First…Select the Participate button at the bottom of this page and upload your image/name, which will be flown aboard the space shuttle. Don’t have a picture to upload? No problem, just skip the image upload and we will fly your name only on your selected mission!
Next…Print and save the confirmation page with your flight information.
Later…Return to this site after the landing to print your Flight Certificate – a commemorative certificate signed by the Mission Commander. You can also check on mission status, view mission photographs, link to various NASA educational resources and follow the commander and crew on Twitter or Facebook.
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