RSSArchives: January 2008
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January 9, 2008
Retro-future scooter made from appliances and scrap metal
Nemomatic writes -
Ever since I was a kid I have always loved old scooters. However I have never really wanted the responsibility of maintaining a "vintage" machine. I always thought to myself, "why can't we have the convenience and reliability of modern engineering like a Honda with the class and styling of an old Lambretta?" Recently it occurred to me that as an adult, I actually have the skills and facilities to address this important issue that has nagged me all these years. I am a metal sculptor, and have absolutely no experience with scooters at all. What follows in this instructable is my experience of stripping down a mid 1980's Honda elite 125cc scooter, and totally redesigning it with aluminum scrap metal.Retro-future scooter made from appliances and scrap metal - [via] Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 9, 2008 02:00 AM
DIY Projects, Instructables, Transportation |
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| Comments (0)
HOW TO - Turn a Windows Mobile 6 device into a WiFi router
Jason writes -
WMWifiRouter is a new utility that you can run on your WiFi-capable WM6 device to turn it into a GPRS-uplinked WiFi router. When activated, it will set up your WiFi link in ad-hoc mode and start a DHCP server. Your laptop will see a new network called WMWifiRouter, and connecting to it will funnel all of your network traffic through your phone and its GPRS connection.It used to be that you had to use a separate laptop connected to your phone to do the routing and network address translation side of things. This hack will allow you connect 1 or more WiFi laptops anywhere where you can get a cell connection, and you can do it without additional hardware. All you need is your phone.
Why isn't this available as part of the base WM6 operating system?
More:
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 9, 2008 01:00 AM
Cellphones, DIY Projects, Gadgets, Wireless |
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| Comments (4)
HOW TO - Upgrade the XO laptop's operating system
Jason writes -
If you've visited the OLPC Wiki, you've probably noticed the box on the right hand side that shows the latest releases (stable and development builds). Although the current stable build listed is 650, there's a newer one (653) that you might want to upgrade to. But if you want the latest, greatest, bleeding edge XO builds, you need to check out the "joyrides". However, these can be extremely unstable, so be warned.If you're ready to install the upgrades, read on - Link.
Before you upgrade, there are a few things to know:
- You can have two versions of the operating system installed at any time. By default, you'll boot into the one you installed most recently. So if you start out with build 650, then install build 653 and reboot, you'll start up in build 653. If you hold down the O key (on the keypad to the right of the screen) as you boot, you'll boot the alternate operating system (in this case, 650). (At this point, I believe that 650 becomes the default and 653 the alternate.)
- At boot time, the XO laptop maps a pristine (see /versions/pristine) copy of the operating system into the running system's filesystem. Any changes you make to the filesystem are in another location (see /versions/run), but it all looks like one filesystem to you. When you reboot into an alternate operating system, any changes you had previously made to it are revived.
- When you use the olpc-update command to update to a new version of the operating system, the alternate operating system is wiped out (both the pristine version and any modifications to it)
- Through all of this, your home directory (/home/olpc) is left unchanged.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 9, 2008 12:00 AM
DIY Projects |
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January 8, 2008
Stop robot callers with a tone
Aparently there's a U.S. Special Information Tone signal for a dead phone line, and robot callers (telemarketers, debt collectors, etc.) listen for it, then remove the "dead lines" from their lists. Record it at the beginning of your answering machine messages to make (some) robots stop calling you! [via] Link.
(Photo by Flickr user scriptingnews)
Posted by Becky Stern |
Jan 8, 2008 08:00 PM
Cellphones, DIY Projects |
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| Comments (10)
Free electronics stock photos
Michail writes -
I am happy to announce the release of our set of Free Electronics Stock photos. This is a collection of 286 usual electronics items that you may already being familiar with, but haven’t the time to take photos of them. You can use them on your blog, website or printed jobs for free. Great efforts have been made to achieve a professional look and being usefull to all of you. Electronic items photographed under DIY studio lighting and processed using software.Free electronics stock photos - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 8, 2008 07:00 PM
Electronics |
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| Comments (0)
Pure Digital camera dissection - flip video F130W
Kyle writes in -
Pure Digital, known for its disposable digital still and video cameras, has recently produced a non-disposable version. Here are high resolution shots of the innards, down to the naked CCD.Pure Digital camera dissection - flip video F130W - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 8, 2008 05:00 PM
Electronics, Imaging |
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| Comments (1)
Steam-Wars LEGO contest
One of the more interesting variations on the steampunk theme has been Steam Wars, a vision of the Star Wars universe through a Victorian lens. In this vein, there's now a Steam-Wars LEGO contest, announced on the LEGO Star Wars forum FBTBForums. The contest runs through January and the first place winner gets an AT-AP Walker Set.
Don and dW's Steam-Wars Contest! - [via] Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Jan 8, 2008 04:00 PM
Announcements, LEGO, Toys and Games |
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| Comments (0)
Multimeter clock
FunnyPolynomial squeezed a modified LEDkit.biz red LED clock into a stylish Digital Multimeter case! - Link.
From the Maker store:
With the LEDkit™ solderless clock kit, you create a giant -- 9" x 5" -- super bright self-standing clock only 1/8" thick that keeps accurate time -- even during power failures up to 1 minute. Change the brightness at the push of a button. The digits fade smoothly when the time changes -- minimizing distraction. Automatically synchronize multiple clocks. Easy to assemble & no soldering required! The unique wiring pattern doesn't need a traditional PCB with tiny parallel tracks on it. You simply twist the LED leads directly to other leads. Only six conductors enter the panel! Also available with Blue LEDs. Requires 60Hz (USA/Canada) electrical power. LED Clock Kit -Red - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 8, 2008 03:00 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Kits |
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| Comments (3)
LEGO organizing tips
Here's something that had never occurred to me: organizing your LEGO brick collection by creating same-size blocks/stacks and then just removing the number you need during a build. Kind of obvious, but...
How to organize your Lego bricks for efficient building - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Jan 8, 2008 02:00 PM
LEGO, Toolbox, Toys and Games |
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| Comments (3)
DIY Facehugger Alien bag charm
Eva writes in -
I drew what I think is a cute picture of a chubby Alien facehugger, and tried to crochet is as a bag charm. Success! I've written out general instructions for making one, so now you can have a facehugger charm, keychain, or brooch too!DIY Facehugger Alien bag charm - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 8, 2008 01:00 PM
Crafts, DIY Projects |
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| Comments (0)
Working Stargate
This is freaking rad - a maker made a working Stargate (by working I mean it dials up a planet, lights up, etc - it doesn't actually transport you anywhere, yet).
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 8, 2008 12:00 PM
Electronics |
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| Comments (8)
Bristlebot 2.0
A variation of EMS Lab's Bristlebot, with a variable resistor added to it.
And behold!: Mega Bristlebot!
Toothbrush bot - Link
Mega Bristlebot - Link
Related:
- HOW TO - Make a Bristlebot a tiny directional vibrobot made from a toothbrush! - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Jan 8, 2008 12:00 PM
DIY Projects, Robotics |
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| Comments (3)
FrostBot - a CNC robot for frosting cookies
Brain made a computer controlled cookie frosting robot, he writes -
The Frost Bot robot consists of a small table-top CNC router kit made by www.fireballcnc.com, augmented with a forth axis stepper motor driving a frosting extrusion device. The four stepper motors of the system are driven by a single board called a Quad EasyDriver, which is based upon putting for Easy Driver boards together and sending them data using two shift registers. (Like a one-directional SPI bus.) This board is driven by a UBW controller board (from SparkFun) using a custom firmware and powered with a standard computer (AT) power supply at 12V. The UBW firmware takes motor move commands over the USB connection from a computer. The computer runs a Liberty Basic application that loads HPGL based vector graphics files, and sends them to the UBW. It also handles homing, jogging, zeroing, offsets, etc. The HPGL input files to the Frost Bot software are generated from Post Script files using GhostScript, and those .ps files are generated from SVG files made in InkScape. Although it all sounds really complicated, it is actually straightforward if you think about each chunk.FrostBot - a CNC robot for frosting cookies - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 8, 2008 11:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Holiday projects |
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| Comments (2)
Roll your own cathode tubes
In a follow-up to the amazing vid of a guy fabricating his own triode vacuum tubes, here's a webpage from a builder who shows how he created his own crude cathode ray tubes.
Homemade Cathode Ray Tubes - Link
Related:
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Jan 8, 2008 11:00 AM
DIY Projects, Science |
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| Comments (2)
Cobra Commander USB drive
Simple retro mod, a DIY Cobra Commander USB drive... Link. Spotted @ the "JoeCustoms" site, a community devoted to customizing GI Joes.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 8, 2008 10:00 AM
DIY Projects, Toys and Games |
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| Comments (0)
THE HELLO EXPERIMENT - Blindfolded sculpting
THE HELLO EXPERIMENT blindfolded (willing) participants as they sculpted Lionel Richie... While listening to the 1984 smash hit "Hello". The results are great - [via] Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 8, 2008 09:00 AM
Arts |
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| Comments (1)
Junk city
The giant (over 11 foot tall) city by artist Chu Enoki is made from a whole heap of polished junk - [via] Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 8, 2008 08:00 AM
Arts, Made On Earth |
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| Comments (3)
Surface mount soldering guide
Here's an outstanding surface mount soldering guide from curious inventor -
Surface Mount components, as the name suggests, attach to the surface of boards, not through holes like older components. SMDs ("Surface Mount Devices") are lighter, cheaper, smaller and can be placed closer together. These factors, among others, mean that the days are numbered for through-hole components with widely spaced leads.Surface mount soldering guide - Link.This set of guides will demonstrate (relatively) inexpensive tools and methods for soldering and desoldering SMDs. The first page, Surface Mount Soldering 101, contains a 9 min. video overview. The pages that follow contain more pictures and go into more detail. They also cover some topics not in the video, like hand soldering a QFN chip and using solder paste with a toaster oven.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 8, 2008 07:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (1)
Popular Mechanics Illustrated Home Handyman Encyclopedia & Guide (1961)
Bill writes -
I recently came across a 4-volume set of the Popular Mechanics Illustrated Home Handyman Encyclopedia & Guide (from 1961) in the bargain bin at a local used book store. Of course, I grabbed them.Popular Mechanics Illustrated Home Handyman Encyclopedia & Guide (1961) - Link.The ~4000 pages of projects are amazing - it's basically your grandparents' equivalent of MAKE Magazine. Tons of the projects wouldn't even be printed today due to liability concerns.
Everything from planning/building/remodeling a house, woodworking, metalworking, making your own boat/go-cart/children's playground equipment, indoor shooting ranges, to gardening, farming, and equipment to make handling your animals easier.
Over the past four days I've taken pictures of the title pages and illustrations for the most interesting articles, and put them up on Flickr. I've also contacted Popular Mechanics to see about getting permission to break out the scanner and make proper PDFs of the best projects.
There are over 300 images from the pages of the encyclopedias, great stuff.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 8, 2008 06:00 AM
Retro |
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| Comments (6)
Creating a fiberglass snowmobile trailer (in the shape of a cat and mouse!)
Upnorthrick writes -
Here is a snowmobile cutter I built over the last winter. It is a cat chasing a mouse chasing a chunk of cheese. The cheese is the hitch and the cat is the actual trailer. It is sized to carry a banana box and a bit more. The cat's tail is a handle to open the storage area and is held closed with magnetic latches.Creating a fiberglass snowmobile trailer (in the shape of a cat and mouse!) - Link.As I haven't made anything with foam and fiberglass in some time I wanted a project with many compound curves.
People ask if it will carry passengers. I briefly considered a rumble seat but despite our well maintained roads it seems passengers deserve a suspension. Someone without a snowmobile might consider a smaller dog or person pulled version or toboggan.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 8, 2008 05:00 AM
DIY Projects, Instructables, Transportation |
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| Comments (0)
Page 22 of 26 << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 >>
Features and more @ MAKE!
MAKE @ The NYC Toy Fair 2008 - Covering DIY!HOW TO - Build the arms of assistance.
MADE in Japan - Part I.
MADE in Japan - Part II.
MADE in Japan - Part III.
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Make store - Loud Objects Noise Toy Kit
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