Should you find yourself in want of a classic Moog Synthesizer but a little short on funds, consider anait’s paper version – much more portable than the original!
More:
Precisely rendered paper synth
Posted by Collin Cunningham | Monday June 22nd, 2009 5:22 AM
Categories: Craft, Music | No Comments
It’s now possible to run Nintendo emulation without ‘classic’ emulator on Palm WebOS. In just ten easy steps, provided by the kind folks at pre web wiki, you, too, could be shooting up the baddies in the Central American jungles of Contra.
NES emulator on WebOS [via CruchGear]
Posted by Adam Flaherty | Monday June 22nd, 2009 12:36 AM
Categories: Computers & Mobile, Electronics, Fun & Games | No Comments
Theo Jansen’s idea for the Strandbeest was that they would be “autonomous,” driven by the wind. Here’s a solar-powered version.
More:
Posted by Gareth Branwyn | Sunday June 21st, 2009 9:49 PM
Categories: Art & Design, Robotics | No Comments
Lucky, of Pizza Crusade, writes:
I saw your post on Tyvek sails, and immediately thought of the PDRacer (Puddle Duck Racer) – a little sailboat you can build for about $150 with tools most people already have. There’s a ton of info out there, as well as info so you can get involved with a local group of PDRacers – or start your own group. I haven’t built one yet, but can’t wait to try my hand at it.
When I was a young teen, my dad had a 37′ cabin cruiser for a while and I had a dinghy sailboat about this size (plastic). I loved that thing. This brings back fond memories.
Posted by Gareth Branwyn | Sunday June 21st, 2009 9:22 PM
Categories: Energy, Fun & Games | 1 Comment
[Photo from Uncle Ray]
Long before my time, my grandfather Raymond Albert Sheffield, was messing about with cars. When I was about 10 or 11, we sat on a beach on Martha’s Vineyard watching the ferries come and go exchanging cars and passengers while he told me of the car that he had built in his younger days.
Apparently, not having enough money for a vehicle was not going to stop him, so he built his own version of what I recall was a Model A. Where the model name would have been embossed, he put his own name. During the winters, he needed to get his ride off the street, so he and his mates dismantled the vehicle so that it could be carried down the stairs to the basement of the house he and my grandmother lived in. I imagine that he spent the winter modding and tuning the components for a better vehicle in the following year’s driving season. In several of the pictures here, you can see the gleeful pride he had in owning and driving the vehicle that he made with his own hands. In this one you can see the excitement he had of driving his project.
My uncle Ray inherited the task of dealing with the room full of photos (no kidding!) after my grandfather passed on. He has since scanned and archived the decades of black and white photos that my grandfather shot, developed and printed in a darkroom located in his office.
My grandfather went on to become something of an inventor, tinkerer, and maker. Some time in the 1970′s, I recall being at his Cambridge workshop, Air Conditioning Engineering, and seeing all the metallic creations he was cooking up with the help of his staff. One that I recall was a tubed fireplace contraption that drew the cool air from below the fire and expelled warm air out the top of the tubes, increasing the efficiency of the average wood burning fireplace.
Much of my grandfather’s life’s work seemed to track back to the creation of his car, the RayBiltIt, and the practical joy of a useful project. We should all do what we can to cultivate this kind of competent pursuit of dreams in the young people around us. Who knows what can come of such interests? New inventions, new technologies, new solutions to the world’s problems, or maybe just some good wholesome fun with innovation?
If you have a father in your life who has nurtured your making spirit, you can share some stories with us in the comments, and if you are still hunting for the perfect gift, he may enjoy a discounted subscription to MAKE magazine.
Posted by Chris Connors | Sunday June 21st, 2009 7:12 PM
Categories: Energy | 5 Comments
Skulls! Who doesn’t love ‘em?
Well, me, for one, and probably a bunch of other folks who don’t care to be constantly reminded of mortality. We seem to be in the minority, however, with most deriving some kind of weird existential thrill, or deep Buddhist-y zen calm, from staring deep into the empty, black sockets of eternally grinning Death. Whee!
So, in honor of you deranged necrophiles, (especially you, Noah Scalin) I’ve rounded up three years worth of skullaphenalia from MAKE and CRAFT. Whether your taste runs to soft-and-cuddly pink death or cold-and-creepy-with-tentacles death, you’re sure to find something among these links that quenches your malevolent bloodthirst. You make me sick! Also: Enjoy!
Livejournaler vomitsaw’s bracelet is made from an etched PCB, with solder pads for eyes and mating RCA connectors as a clasp.
Cute death:
Shawn Bowman’s sugar-skull tutorial will have you smacking your lips on sweet death in no time.
Tasty death:
Mark Kilner’s “Numbskull” is a plastic skull covered in painkillers.
Arty death:
Wayne Martin Belger’s cenobite-esque “Third Eye” is a century-old skull fitted with a pinhole camera.
Downright creepy death:
My own “Deathblinger” clock is a rhinestone de-gentrification of a high-falutin’ designer diamond watch.
Miscellaneous death:
Posted by Sean Michael Ragan | Sunday June 21st, 2009 6:28 PM
Categories: Art & Design, Craft, General, Home | 5 Comments
Francesco Fondi, of GAMERSWEB, sent us this video of Hina, a manga custom version of the Kondo KHR-2HV robot. It’s a scaled-down version of KHR-2HV, using 20 digital servos (KRS-788HV) plus one GWS-PICO-STD, all controlled by a small board located in the head. While it “makes coffee” only through the miracle of video editing, the dexterity and range of motion and the feeling of it being alive is pretty impressive. And I love watching a robot working an old hand-grinder.
Posted by Gareth Branwyn | Sunday June 21st, 2009 10:21 AM
Categories: Robotics | 2 Comments
This month’s Dorkbot London looks like a smashing good time:
Something good – Douglas Repetto: The founder of dorkbot visits from NYC to spin us a fine tale.
Electricity – Mike Harrison: Expect high voltages.
Open source embroidery – Ele Carpenter: Investigating the relationship between programming for embroidery and computing.
Lunar Lander – Iain Sharp: A mechanical recreation of the classic arcade game.
19:00-22:00, 23 June 2009
Limehouse town hall, the boxing club, limehouse town hall,
646 Commercial Road, E14 7HA
Image above is CC by Flickr user sh1mmer.
Posted by Becky Stern | Sunday June 21st, 2009 9:53 AM
Categories: Home | No Comments
This week on CRAFT we saw:
CRAFT Video: Embroidery 101 at Maker Faire
How-To: Build a Birch Log Table
Posted by Becky Stern | Sunday June 21st, 2009 9:31 AM
Categories: Craft | No Comments
[Image from John's Nautical & Boatbuilding Pages]
Buying a manufactured sail can be very expensive. If you are making your own vehicle and want to experiment with wind-driven propulsion, you might want to check out the idea of using building wrap as a way of forming your sails:
Now plan the sail. For this first sail, let’s not have battens; they would complicate things a lot. Draw a picture of it, and figure out if you can make the sail without a seam. Remember, as you draw it, there will be curve to the luff to shape the sail. And also, at each edge the sail will be two inches wider, for the taped hem. If you do need a seam, plan to use the edge of the material at the leach, and run the seam parallel to the leach, as in the sketch. Located in this way the force across the seam, tending to pull it apart, is kept at a minimum.
Let’s make the leach and foot absolutely straight, unless the foot is to be attached to a spar. But any edge attached to a spar needs to be curved in order to get shape into the sail. The deepest part of the curve, for a reasonably stiff mast, ought to be one third of the way up the luff from the tack, and its depth should be one inch for each five feet of luff (or foot). By the way, for now let’s call that point “D” for now. More about it later.
Now you need a gym or a dance floor, or something like that. You can guarantee the owner that you will not harm it. And you and your helper, if you have one, will for sure need a set of knee pads, like volleyball players and flooring people use, or you will come away with sore knees.
I like the suggestions on how to source the materials as inexpensively as possible, and the flexibility of the design. If you have tried this out, show us some photos or other documentation!
You can use the techniques for making a sail like this for your nascent parking lot surfer, kite, or other wind-powered transport. You will probably want to build and test a few before letting the shoreline leave your line of sight. Once you get the hang of the designing technique, then you may want to take the best of your plans to a professional sailmaker to have a formal, durable sail made up.
Posted by Chris Connors | Sunday June 21st, 2009 9:03 AM
Categories: Energy | 2 Comments
From all of us here at MAKE and CRAFT, we’re wishing you and your loved ones a grand ol’ Dad’s Day! We hope you’re all enjoying a fantastic day with the family. Pictured above is some DAD binary cross stitch with RAM frame by Early Bird Special.
Posted by Becky Stern | Sunday June 21st, 2009 8:29 AM
Dave Fowler, of uC Hobby, sent us a link to this java app for determining resistor code values. There are a lot of these resistor ID tools floating around, in different formats — it’s nice to have the option to use which one works best for you and your circumstances (for instance, I don’t have a computer at my workbench, so it’s easiest for me to just use my DMM or one of those paper dial IDers I got from Radio Shack several decades ago). But YMMV.
Online Resistor Color Code Tool
Posted by Gareth Branwyn | Sunday June 21st, 2009 7:35 AM
Categories: Electronics, Tools | 10 Comments
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