MAKE | DIY projects, how-tos, and inspiration from the workshops and minds of geeks, makers, and hackers @ Make: magazine

A Maker Day in Far Rockaway This Weekend

With a bunch of the MAKE team out west helping prepare for the 7th annual Maker Faire Bay Area (including myself), a part of me really wishes I was back home for two awesome events taking place this weekend in Far Rockaway, Queens. Inspired by the likes of NYC’s boardwalk Mermaid Day Parade, and Baltimore’s Kinetic Sculpture Race, the Rockaway Waterfront Alliance is hosting the 1st annual Rockaway Bike Parade on Saturday May 19th from 11AM – 2PM, beginning at Jacob Riis Park. Expect to see Fish Bikez (above), inflatable costumes, decorated ice cream carts, and other pedal-powered maker contraptions! Afterwards take a break, grab some fish tacos for lunch, and then make your way to Marina 59 for their artists in residency opening from 3PM – 8PM. Over a dozen teams of artists & makers have been laboring for over a month, outfitting reclaimed docks and junk boats with interactive arts. This event will inaugurate the 2012 season of the “Boatel,” previously reported here on MAKE last year by Jon Kalish.

Flyers for both events after the jump – if you’re anywhere near NYC this Saturday this is where you should go!

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Posted by Nick Normal | Wednesday May 16th, 2012 3:30 AM

Categories: Events | No Comments

Junktech Spin Art System

This simple, clever contraption from the folks at Austin Creative Reuse was spotted at last Saturday’s Austin Mini Maker Faire, where it was keeping a lot of kids engaged, for a long time, at very low cost. A platter, driven by a hand crank and chain cobbled together from bike parts, spins a junk CD while paint is dribbled on from squeeze bottles above. An old washtub keeps splatter corralled, and the whole setup is mounted on a retired hand truck, which is stable for use laid over on its back, but easy to tip up and roll away. More info about ACR—who they are, what they do, how you can get involved—at the link below.

Austin Creative Reuse

Posted by Sean Ragan | Tuesday May 15th, 2012 10:51 PM

Categories: Education, Green, Kids | No Comments

Tool Review: Kimwipes Delicate Task Wipers

When you need to clean something small or delicate, such as precision instruments or optics, don’t reach for a dirty microfiber cloth or lint-leaving and potentially scratchy paper towel, use a Kimwipe. Kimwipes are disposable delicate task wipers that are intended for use in laboratories and industrial settings, but they are every bit as versatile in home workshops.

“Delicate task wipers” has always sounded strange to me, but I suppose the distinction is necessary to avoid confusing Kimwipes with Kleenex tissues or ordinary tissue paper. But that’s essentially what Kimwipes are – sheets of high quality low-lint tissue paper.

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Posted by Stuart Deutsch | Tuesday May 15th, 2012 8:30 PM

Categories: Toolbox, Tools, Workshop & Tools | 6 Comments

The Soul of America – We Are All Amateurs

No matter where you are in America – the United States of America – you’re within shouting distance of an amateur. Maybe it’s a garage tinkerer, a homebrew geneticist, DIY archaeologist, or “self-taught sky-buffs” fabricating home telescopes that rival the technical ability of major institutions. These characters and their creations are explored in This American Life contributing editor Jack Hitt’s newly published book, Bunch of Amateurs, which hits stands today.

America’s self-invented tinkerers are back at it in their metaphorical garages—fiddling with everything from solar-powered cars to space elevators. In Bunch of Amateurs, Jack Hitt visits a number of different garages and has written a fascinating book that looks at America’s current batch of amateurs and their pursuits. From a tattooed young woman in the Bay Area trying to splice a fish’s glow-in-the-dark gene into common yogurt (all done in her kitchen using salad spinners) to a space fanatic on the brink of developing the next generation of telescopes from his mobile home, Hitt not only tells the stories of people in the grip of a passion but argues that America’s history is bound up in a cycle of amateur surges.

In celebration of the amateur spirit, we’re giving away a bunch of prizes (including an Orion 90mm refractor telescope) starting today and in the coming weeks – more information after the jump.

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Posted by Nick Normal | Tuesday May 15th, 2012 4:30 PM

Categories: Authors, Books and Magazines | 196 Comments

The Pizzoetrope: How to Recreate an Animated GIF on a Pizza

It’s hard to ignore the popularity of pizza and animated GIFs on the internet, especially on social networking sites like Tumblr. The Pizzoetrope is a device that brings pizza, animated GIFs, and social networking together in one elegant dish. As the name suggests, The Pizzoetrope is basically a zoetrope that is created on a pizza by using the toppings to make the images in the animation. Animated GIFs from the internet can be used as a template for decorating the Pizzoetrope and the finished pizza can be used as a catalyst for social networking by sharing it with friends or having a Pizzoetrope party!

To learn how to make your own Pizzoetrope, check out my tutorial on Make: Projects.

If you’re interested in learning more about zoetropes and other animation devices, then be sure to read Marc de Vinck’s Phenakistoscope tutorial as a prerequisite to making your own Pizzoetrope.

Keep in mind that it may take some trial and error to get your Pizzoetrope animations to work properly, so be prepared to go through a few test pizzas, as if you really needed an excuse to eat more pizza.

Posted by Andrew Salomone | Tuesday May 15th, 2012 2:30 PM

Categories: Art & Design, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

CRAFT on MAKE

We had a lot of fun making this goofy video. As it declares, coming in June, CRAFT, our popular go-to site for the crafting community, will be moving over to makezine.com. We’ve always felt as though crafting was just another type of making. As we’ve moved our content management deeper into WordPress, it makes sense for us to move our craft content over to the makezine.com domain and to treat it as one of the key content areas that we plan on building out as we move forward. So, coming next month, that’s what we’ll be doing. CRAFT on MAKE.

Here’s CRAFT editor Rachel Hobson on the move:

Our teams already work closely together to bring you the best of the maker movement. By moving CRAFT over to MAKE, we’ll be able to offer you the crafty content you love in a more streamlined, efficient way. You’ll get the same types of posts each day, from the same team members you know and love. All our feeds will automatically transfer, so you won’t have to update your RSS reader or other methods of reading the new CRAFT feed on MAKE. The transition will be as seamless as possible.

We’ll also be joining forces at Maker Faire Bay Area this weekend. The CRAFT and MAKE areas have merged into one amazing space, ready to spark all of your making curiosity, from stitching to soldering. Be sure to check back this week for updates on our exciting CRAFT programming for the Faire.

We look forward to working as part of the greater MAKE team and continuing to share the best DIY inspiration for makers of all kinds.

Posted by Gareth Branwyn | Tuesday May 15th, 2012 1:31 PM

Categories: Announcements, CRAFT, Crafts | 1 Comment

Educators’ Agenda for Maker Faire Week

Coffeebots by Teach Me to Make — come make these on Thursday evening

This week and weekend we have more education-related events than we ever have before, and we’re delighted to invite you to all of them. This post outlines all that’s happening from Thursday through Sunday of Maker Faire week.

We know teachers are already supreme makers, building smart students every day. And the best teachers we know love to roll up their sleeves and take on do-it-yourself projects with their students. This year, as Maker Faire celebrates the DIY communities in arts, craft, engineering, green design, music, science, tech, and so many other areas, we’re putting a special spotlight on how these activities work in school as part of our “DIY Learning: The New School” pavilion. We welcome all students, teachers and parents to explore both this special exhibit hall along with all the other inspiring examples of learning at Maker Faire.

A special pre-Faire meetup just for teachers

On Thursday, May 17th, from 4-7pm, join us for a special afternoon session co-hosted by MAKE and EdSurge devoted entirely to educators! Become a Maker: you will have time to try your hand at building projects. We’ll talk about how to integrate “making” activities into the classroom with national leaders, Dale Dougherty of Maker Faire, master teacher Gary Stager, and Classroom 2.0’s Steve Hargadon. And you’ll have a chance to meet and talk with local area makers and teachers about what they’re making and how it supports learning in the classroom. Find out how to start a Makerspace or Maker Club at your school, and find out how to get more involved with all our intiatives by meeting Maker Education’s AnnMarie Thomas. Try your hand with MakerBot, Arduinos — both in and out of Coffeebots (seen above), kits from Maker Shed, and more cutting-edge personal fab from the DIY Pavilion. Oh, yes, there will be food, too. And more! You won’t go home empty-handed. This event is open to all educators. And we know teachers love this four-letter word: it’s FREE! But please sign up so we’ll be prepared for your visit.

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Posted by Michelle "Binka" Hlubinka | Tuesday May 15th, 2012 1:30 PM

Categories: Education, Maker Faire | No Comments

MAKE Asks: Epic Fails

Make: Asks is a new weekly column where we ask you, our readers, for responses to maker-related questions. We hope the column will spark interesting conversation and that we’ll get to know more about each other.

One time I accidentally shorted the transformer on one of my guitar amps, sending sparks flying. This was definitely an epic (and dangerous) fail for me.

This week’s question: What was your most epic mistake on a project you were working on? Were you able to fix it?

Post your responses in the comments section.

Posted by Michael Colombo | Tuesday May 15th, 2012 12:00 PM

Categories: DIY Projects, Electronics, MAKE Asks | 35 Comments

Ping Pong Ball Suction Construction

This appeals to my childish desire to add more chaos to the game of ping pong. From Make: friend Niklas Roy

In Spring/Summer 2012 both guys were invited to create an installation version of Ping Pong Country in Lille’s Gare St. Sauveur. They were a bit tired of doing the same thing for such a long time over and over again, so they asked me to contribute some machinery to the environment in order to make it a bit different in its actual version. I came up with the devilish plan to offer the audience an opportunity for sabotaging the game in a playful way.

While some people play ping pong (preferably more than two players which then have to run around the table) another visitor can confuse the players via a separate control panel which is part of the sabotage edition: This destructive master mixer lets you switch the music to Heavy Metal (accompanied by disturbing strobe light); you can turn on fans on the ceiling for an additional wind challenge; you can just add some funny train and animal sounds with a supercool children’s toy, or – and now it comes – you can spill plenty of balls onto the ping pong table which you collected beforehand with the “Ping Pong Ball Suction Construction”!

Ping Pong Ball Suction Construction