Over at Made by Joel, the eponymous author’s son just acquired a noble knight made by Lego with a moveable arm for pretend sword-fighting. Not one to be excluded, Joel made his own version from wood, and the two staged an epic battle on video.
The notched work on the body parts are quite good. It makes me wonder if they were done by hand or routed on a CNC. All the same, the results are fantastic and inspirational for all you toy-makers toiling away at handmade pieces for the little ones in your lives. I have a spring loaded Hot Wheels launcher in the works, but shh… don’t tell my nephew quite yet. Post in the comments if you have a handmade toy in mind for the upcoming holidays.
We’re giving away amazing kits from our new Make: Ultimate Kit Guide EVERY DAY — thousands of dollars worth of merchandise, including MakerBots!
To celebrate the release of our latest publication, the Make: Ultimate Kit Guide 2012 (and its companion website), we’re giving away at least one of the cool kits reviewed in the issue each day during the holiday season. Today, we’re giving away our fourth MakerBot Thing-O-Matic (a $1,300 value!), featured on the cover of the Ultimate Kit Guide. Here’s Make: Labs intern Eric Chu’s review of Thing-O-Matic from the issue:
If you want to get into 3D printing but don’t know where to start, the MakerBot Thing-O-Matic Kit is the way to go. It’s a complete kit, so you need no additional parts, and a large user community can back you up if problems pop up (not to mention Thingiverse, where you can find awesome open source designs). It took me about 20 hours to build the Thing-O-Matic and start printing, and I improved its accuracy with more tuning, calibrating, and tinkering with settings in the ReplicatorG software. If you have any trouble, read the discussion at the bottom of every build step. I’ve since 3D-printed many fun and handy things (everyone loves a 3D-printed gift!) and the MakerBot is now by far the most-used machine at Make: Labs.
To be eligible for today’s giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment below in this post.Writing a haiku will not help your chances (but it may give us a laugh.) The entry period for today’s prize will be until 11:59pm PST tonight. We’ll choose one person at random, you’ll be notified by email, and you’ll have 48 hours to respond. The Winners List is kept on the Giveaway landing page. That’s it! No purchase necessary or anything else to do. Please leave only one comment per post. You can enter as many giveaways as you like until you win. This giveaway is for US residents only. You also must be 18 years old to enter (Kids: Ask your parents to enter). See the Kit-A-Day Giveaway landing page for full sweepstakes details and Official Rules.
Important Note: If you enter this drawing, when it’s over, please check the place where you registered to comment (eg. Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter). Some people are winning these kits and then not responding when we send them a message using the available means of contacting them. We want to make sure you get your giveaway!
For this year’s guide to the best in Arduino boards, shields, and accessories, we asked Tod Kurt to share some of his suggestions. Tod is the author of Hacking Roomba, co-founder of the Los Angeles hackerspace Crash Space, and creator of BlinkM, the “Smart LED.” He used to do web work and build Martian probe cameras. He blogs at todbot.com/blog/. Here’s Tod’s guide to the ever-expanding world of Arduino. -Gareth
Arduino Uno R3 (Maker Shed, $30)
The Uno R3 is the official Arduino board to get if you’re just getting started. If you already have an Arduino, chances are you want another one. Having multiple boards makes debugging easier, lets you experiment with network protocols, and gives you the option of permanently installing an Arduino-based project. You can never have too many Arduinos. No… really!
The Uno R3 is an improvement over previous Unos in only a couple of ways that are important (and only in certain types of projects). Its reset circuitry is better if you’re controlling a high-current device like a motor. Its reprogrammable USB chip has 16kB instead of 8kB, making it easier for the Uno to look like a USB keyboard, mouse or other device to your host computer. If you can’t get an R3, the R2 works just as well if you’re just starting out, and you can easily retrofit it with the reset circuitry fix.
Gameduino Game Adapter Shield (ExCamera, $53)
Getting an Arduino to make video and sound is hard. But not anymore. The Gameduino is one of the most amazing shields to emerge from the Arduino community. It turns the Arduino into an 8-bit gaming console, with VGA output and stereo sound. It’s driven by an FPGA with a custom 16-bit coprocessor that gives you access to 256 sprites on 512 x 512 pixel backgrounds and 64 voices of 12-bit sound. You can recreate pretty much any game from the 1980s now with just an Arduino, a Gameduino, and a couple of buttons.
The Excamera site has numerous examples of how to code your Arduino sketch to take advantage of the Gameduino’s capabilities using the well designed “GD” Arduino library. You can be up with a Arduino-controlled on-screen bouncing ball in a matter of minutes. I’m going to be using one of these to make a full-color video animated status display for one of my projects.
PowerSwitch Tail II (Maker Shed, $27)
Ever wanted to have your computer control Christmas lights? Or a fan or floor lamp? The PowerSwitch Tail makes it a snap and makes it safe. Dealing with AC currents can be dangerous; the PowerSwitch Tail hides the potentially lethal AC switching in a sealed enclosure. The whole thing looks like a stubby extension cord. It has an isolated (to 5300V) low-voltage input on its side that takes a voltage between 3-12VDC. To turn on an AC appliance, you set that input HIGH from an Arduino’s output pin. The PowerSwitch Tail can switch an AC load of up to 15A (up from 10A from the original PowerSwitch Tail), meaning just about any appliance in your house can be controlled with it. Get a bunch and control one per Arduino pin!
Looking for a last minute stocking stuffer? The Supercap Racer, designed by George Albercook, is the latest addition to the Maker Shed’s popular Mintronics line of DIY kits. Simply solder the kit together, add 4 AAA batteries, and you’re ready to race! It takes only seconds to charge the supercapacitor, and when fully charged, it will power the racer across the floor or table at lightning speed! Supercap Racers are fun for the whole family and a great way to learn how to solder. Watch out, they’re addictive! (Note: Requires 4 AAA batteries and basic soldering)
This Arduino Leonardo clone by Inigo Zuluaga is the latest example of PaperDuino, where an Arduino is created using a paper printout as a wiring diagram, bill of materials, and construction pattern. [Via Dangerous Prototypes]
Larry Ogrodnek created this fun LED Nametag Kit, an electronics hobbyist’s version of those ubiquitous “HELLO! My Name Is” stickers that are typically worn at awkward gatherings. An onboard Attiny13 microcontroller allows you to switch between four built-in programs: all letters on, letter chase, fade, and blink. To help you make your own custom nametag, Larry even set up an online name layout tool to help you figure out where the LEDs should be placed before you solder them in. Not only that, but he also made the code completely open source if you want to try your hand at hacking the badge. The LED Nametag Kit is available for $20 through PayPal and Etsy and will be available in The Maker Shed in January. [via Technabob]
Weird? Certainly. Slightly disturbing? Arguably. Wonderful? I think so, yes.
I featured a picture of creator Noda Akira showing his device off at Make Tokyo Meeting 07 in last week’s MAKE Flickr pool roundup, and Akira himself turned up in the comments to identify himself, claim credit for the device, and link to the embedded video showing off how it works. The text is in Japanese, but the video is well made and gets the point across nicely even if you can’t read it. I wonder how much it occludes the airway? Could you wear one in each nostril without feeling like you were down with a head cold? [Thanks, Akira!]
Folded into shape and held together with a couple of rubber bands, the Blinky from d-school pals Liv and Léa holds a standard roll of 35mm film that’s manually advanced using wooden dowels. It’s compact size offers ease of use and the standard film size makes processing a snap. [via DIYP]
This past Thursday in Vancouver, artists got together to display works that dealt with energy in some way. Hosted by eatART, Art With Energy was in a gallery-setting, with giant kinetic sculptures and interactive displays interweaving the crowd. You can learn more about the artists’ work on the Art with Energy Blog, and check out the photos below.
This state-of-the-art example of 3D projection mapping has been making the rounds on Facebook. This projection show was done in Kharkov, Ukraine, on the Kharkiv Regional Administration’s building (on 8/24/10), in honor of the city’s birthday and Independence Day.
‘Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the land, all the makers were sawing and brazing and shaping by hand…
And taking pictures, right? I know all your gift projects are classified TOP SECRET//SI-GAMMA 459-CANOE/TALENT KEYHOLE-LANTERN//NOFORN, but I hope you are remembering, nonetheless, to snap some tasty work-in-progress shots to go along with the inevitable proud trophy pics. And I trust that, the first week of the new year, the MAKE Flickr pool will be exploding with post-Festivus cheer.
Not that we haven’t got some great eye-candy, right now: Johngineer takes pole position, this week—he knows we can’t resist oscilloscope art, especially when it’s seasonal. And then there’s fdecomite, whose lovely polyhedron models turn up here again and again, and who has just produced this handy (and beautiful) visual index of those models. Finally, was glad to see Rob Cruickshank coming out from behind the camera for his self-portrait, avec soldering iron. Would love to see more makers doing likewise!
We’re giving away amazing kits from our new Make: Ultimate Kit Guide EVERY DAY — thousands of dollars worth of merchandise, including MakerBots!
To celebrate the release of our latest publication, the Make: Ultimate Kit Guide 2012 (and its companion website), we’re giving away at least one of the cool kits reviewed in the issue each day during the holiday season.
This giveaway is for a pile of Arduino fun! It includes the Ultimate Microcontroller Pack w/Arduino, Voice Shield, EZ-Expander Shield, and an RTC Breakout Board (a combined value of $219!) If you’ve ever wanted to get into Arduino, this is the kit for you! Just imagine all the great project you can build! Have something in mind? Tell us in the comments!
Like all our giveaways, these kits are reviewed in our Make: Ultimate Kit Guide 2012 and reviewed on the companion website:
To be eligible for today’s giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment below in this post. The entry period for today’s prize will be until 11:59pm PST tonight. We’ll choose one person at random, you’ll be notified by email, and you’ll have 48 hours to respond. The Winners List is kept on the Giveaway landing page. That’s it! No purchase necessary or anything else to do. Please leave only one comment per post. You can enter as many giveaways as you like until you win. This giveaway is for US residents only. You also must be 18 years old to enter (Kids: Ask your parents to enter). See the Kit-A-Day Giveaway landing page for full sweepstakes details and Official Rules.
Important Note: If you enter this drawing, when it’s over, please check the place where you registered to comment (eg. Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter). Some people are winning these kits and then not responding when we send them a message using the available means of contacting them. We want to make sure you get your giveaway!
