Launch streams of toilet paper in mid-air. The ultimate TP machine. Thanks go to Professor Greg Arius of the Phenomenauts for the original article in Make Volume 8
To download Streamerator MP4 click here or subscribe in iTunes.
Check out the complete Streamerator article MAKE 08 “Streamerator” & You can see that in our digital edition.
Here is the Streamerator in action on stage with the Phenomenauts
Editor’s note: This video has a new sponsor, GoDaddy – so if you’re thinking of getting a domain name you can use the MAKEMAG code and get 10% off… -pt
If you want to make an impact online, GoDaddy.com has what you need. .COM names as low as $1.99. Plus, world-class hosting, fast-&-easy Web site builders and much more. Plus, as a viewer of the MAKE Podcast, enter code MAKEMAG, when you check out, and save an additional 10% on any order. Some restrictions apply, see site for details. Get your piece of the internet at GoDaddy.com.
54 thoughts on “Weekend Project: The Streamerator”
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OMG, how can you promote such a project? This thing is nothing but a paper wasting machine!!! Think of the energy required to manufacture that paper, and the energy that went into building and operating the project. Such a waste! This is just one more example of Make: contributing to environmental devastation and global warming!!!!!!!
oh, btw. that stuff ^^^ up there? That’s called satire. Rock on, Make:!!!
listen to me you jackasses. drop the intersticial ads, or make them relevant. an ad for godaddy in the middle of a howto (loose definition) for a toilet paper launcher makes just about as much sense as a condom commercial between scenes of a spongebob squarepants episode.
your readers didn’t ask for the video ads! drop them. stop using my eyes to generate income you assholes. I’m a subscriber. I don’t want to see these effing ads.
YEAH!!11!1!!! MAKE, how DARE you try to PAY FOR YOUR SITE!!!1!
grumpas is RIGHT!!!!1!! Drop all ads! And give all your kits away free!!!!1!!!!1!111! And pay for my cable bill, so I can watch spongebob too!!!1!!1!!!!
And WOW, a ***THIRTY-SECOND*** ad! That’s WAY WAY WAY TOO LONG!!!11!11!!!11!!!! Poor grumpas! He’s lost 30 seconds of his life, and as a SUBSCRIBER TOO! Feel his pain.
Dood, you just toilet papered the brady bunch house!!!
@grumpas
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!
a) There is such a thing as using the seek feature of the video player to skip the ad.
b) It’s a Metacafe video, streamed from their site. Go complain to them about the ad.
As for the project itself, it’s pretty cool, but I can’t imagine a stealthy TPing when using a leaf blower. I think that the results of the mod might have been enhanced a bit by the high-wind day.
Kip thought the safety glasses dude looked cool, and then low and behold, we see a similar caricature in the go daddy ad, which is not inserted by Metacafe, unless it was just an extreme coincidence that Kip was also the announcer for the ad?
As for the usefulness of this project, wouldn’t a gas powered blower would be more practical, making it portable without having to also steal energy from the recipient of the TP’ing?
For starters, how would the o-ring help keep the toilet paper from touching the hole-punched steel rod? Putting it on is just a waste of money. Seconly, KipKay, when are you going to post an ORIGINAL weekend project that is not published in a Make volume? Bre did original things ALL the time…
To be completely honest this guy just make me feel more and more like he only does this sort of thing for money.
The project doesn’t inspire me to make something like this at all and the projects only seems to become more and more childish but I guess that’s your new target group.
This is my honest opinion and I have never made a project since KipKay came along, I’m sorry but Styrofoam plate speakers, car camera mounts and tp launchers doesn’t interest me as much as the old projects.
/Honest opinion, please don’t flame me to death.
@Notyou – I appreciate your comments and understand that not all of the projects are something everyone is interested in. While this is not a difficult project to make and certainly is not “high-tech”, it sure was fun making it and seeing the results. The Phenomenauts, a band from the SF Bay Area used this on stage during some concerts. I will add a video of them using it. Thanks
@davis – The “o” ring is larger than the hole in the punched steel which keeps the stabilizer from moving any further down the rod. The “o” ring cost about $.06. The plan right now is to do projects from MAKE Magazine that’s why I am doing them. Thanks for your comments.
@justDIY – Thanks for the question. When I was shooting the video and saw the warning label full of symbols, I decided to keep him for fun! Yes, there is a guy with glasses on the Godady logo but I never even noticed that they may be similar, which they’re really not. Anyway, GoDaddy is currently a sponsor of the Weekend Projects and will appear in the videos. I would imagine since MAKE is not a non-profit organization, advertising revenue is important just like the hundreds of ads in MAKE Magazine.
I think your videos is good, even if it would be fun with something other than stuff from the magazine from time to time, but I find the ads in the middle of the videos very irritating. Do MAKE: really have to earn money directly on everything they produce? If the videos are good it will be like an ad for you, and more people will visit the blog and see the video on metacafe. I am also wondering, how come you didn’t need to do this (putting ads in the videos) before?
An alternative could be to put the ads in the end of the video, because then they won’t interrupt what you see, and it won’t be as irritating, but I still think many will see the ad afterwards automatically. I saw this on a video site, I can’t remember which, and at least it worked on me. If I see a ad that’s just irritating me it wouldn’t make me buy their products.
please someone can check the quality of the projects.before posting them…this is a dumb stupid waste…mentality retarded project totally unnecessary…kipkay su**ks
@9volts – Yes, I always check the quality before publishing. Don’t really think it qualifies as “mentality retarded”. I will double check. I appreciate the kind sentiments.
The streamerator is fantastic. If you happen to think otherwise, you’re just not imagining it right.
Trust me, dancing at a show while covered in toilet paper is a proud moment indeed.
Kipkay, I thought the project was awesome. I’m gonna make one! The ad was a little annoying, but I didn’t really care about it much until I read the comments.
You are really good at video work.
What I don’t like most is how there’s an ad embedded in the blog post as an “editor’s note.” That’s terrible. How much was the “editor” paid to do that? And as for the ad in the video, I definately agree that if there must be an ad it should be at the end.
I mean “definitely”
oops
I don’t mind the ads. They are a little jarring but as was said Make is non profit but they will still have costs. The odd ad here and there so they can recover costs seems perfectly reasonable to me.
As to the ‘quality’ of the projects I don’t expect every project to be something I want to rush out and make myself. I am surprised people get so upset and offended when the project is something THEY don’t see the point of.
A true maker will get something out of it even of they don’t want to make it themselves. Ideas, techniques, learning about new bits and pieces. Using the ground clamps is a good example. I assume we are talking electrical ground here? As in earthing? Using them to hold a rod in place is brilliant and an idea I will store away in my brain for later use.
In life things don’t always go your way but always try to gain something positive from every experience!
Please, Please give us back Brie Pettis!!! This dude has not clue and no personality.
Since Brie left I very seldon look a the weekend projects, before I watch everyone. Horrible!!!!!!!!
Please get somebody else, please!
Where did Brie Pettis go ? this is getting awful grrrrr
Paul.
Check this video for another way to shoot toilet paper at people :
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=h7Gr4ddbeho
Good one! I’ve never skydived but that looks like a blast…literally!
> as was said Make is non profit
You misread:
“I would imagine since MAKE is not a non-profit organization”
Just a quick observation: I don’t mind Kip Kay, and I definitely don’t hate him — he’s a good host. But I HAVE noticed that many more people hate him and his projects than did Bre Pettis… that is unless only angry people post comments.
It seems that MAKE once had this audience that was more technology-oriented, an audience that wanted to know about inner workings of electronic circuits. It seems now that the targeted audience has changed. Cue rebellion.
As advice to Kip Kay — maybe try to be a little more selective about your projects. Something as basic (and, well, boring) as a toilet paper streamer/launcher isn’t going to captivate a large audience, or compel anyone to subscribe to the mag. Something with a little more electronics/crafting depth matched with nice payoff/output (shoot, everyone loves flashing LEDs) will, I think, grow your audience.
Just my $0.02. I’ll continue watching each weekend project, though honestly not participate in as many as I did while Bre was around.
@samurai1200 – I appreciate the comments as always. If you look at MAKE Magazine you will notice that there are hundreds of different projects and articles and not all are technology projects that are ‘turned on’ per se. I have tackled a couple dozen projects now from MAKE and have enjoyed each and every one of them. Sometimes basic projects are what people look for and sometimes they want more advanced projects that require alot of soldering, circuitry and techie stuff. Just like the Makezine Blog, you see all kinds of stuff on there so we will always offer a variety of projects and not all of them will appeal to everyone…just like anything else.
The original Streamerator 2000 is an incredible machine. It’s not much more complex than this one, but the loading bar can be rotated so a fresh roll can be popped into place easily. True, it’s wasteful, but if you’d ever been to a Phenomenauts show, you’d forgive them. Plus, the inventor, Professor Greg Arius, is a total hottie.