RSSArchives: John Park
Make: Holiday Gift Guide 2009: Santa Claus Machines
Santa's got the coolest tools. How else could he and his elves build all those gifts in time? Now, thanks to custom fabrication services, we can all get access to the Santa Claus Machines. From bespoke action figures, to interplanetary terrain models, from one-of-a-kind sneakers, to tailor-made machine parts, there has never been a better time to harness advanced fabrication tools to build objects of your own design! In this gift guide, we'll look at some of the leaders in the Santa Claus Machine revolution.
Big Blue Saw
If your gift plans call for something sturdier than wood or acrylic, you may need to move beyond laser cutters into a full-blown CNC machine shop. Enter Big Blue Saw. They have an intuitive browser-based CAD program where you can design your part, and then choose your material (aluminum, steel, etc.) and thickness. They'll fire up their water-jet machines, and in no time you'll have that rolled steel stocking stuffer in your hands.
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Posted by John Park |
Nov 17, 2009 08:30 AM
3D printing, Gift Guides, Holiday projects, LEGO, Wearables |
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Art Heist build complete
My friend Tod Kurt and I finished building our laser tripwire art heist! (He did all the heavy lifting.) This is for the Machine Project Benefit this Saturday night. Here's a sneak peek:
We're using a hazer to make the laser beams visible, which works surprisingly well in this semi-open space. To increase the spectacle we installed a few extra lasers that are not being sensed for tripwires, but just look cool. The heisters won't know which these are, however, so it adds to the challenge without increasing complexity.
In this side view you can see what happens when you break too many beams: lots of lights come on, including a blinding, red LED array. For this Tod used an Arduino-controlled AC optical relay. I'm hoping Tod will write up the whole project for a MAKE article, because he has all kinds of neat tricks like this throughout.
The event is shaping up to be truly wonderful, and affords the attendee a rare chance to hang out in Mister Jalopy's secret underground lair. I'm totally shameless, so if you ask I'll eat some laser for you. There are still a few tickets available, hope to see you there!
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Laser tripwires for Machine Project art heist
Machine Project Benefit 2009
Posted by John Park |
Nov 5, 2009 12:30 PM
Arduino, Arts, DIY Projects, Gaming |
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iPhone Rock Band robot
The rhythm game arms race continues -- if they miniaturize the guitar games, we will miniaturize the guitar game robots!
My friend Joe Bowers writes:
Rock Band has been released on the iPhone, and even though its a lot of fun, I would rather have something play it for me. Preferably a robot! The light sensor sends data to an Arduino, which is waiting for a spike in the data. The Arduino runs the sensor data through some averaging filters, and sets a threshold for on and off. The iPhone touch screen isn't like most PDAs. It uses a capacitive touch screen. I had some conductive foam laying around, its usually used for shipping sensitive electronics. If I used something non conductive, like a plastic pen, the foam would do nothing to the screen. My solution to this was to put thin copper wires into the foam (I also used these wires to attach the foam to the servos)... Add all of the above together into a modified Pelican case, with a lot of hot glue (non glittery) and you have a robot that will gladly beat all your difficult songs, sit back and sip some fine tea.
Posted by John Park |
Oct 29, 2009 01:30 PM
Arduino, Gaming, Robotics |
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Scary shifty servo eyeballs
Todbot is at it again. Here's a creepy, simple, and effective Halloween effect -- a pair of glowing eyeballs that look back and forth at your victims. It's made with two ping pong balls, two BlinkM programmable LEDs, three servomotors, and an Arduino microcontroller. Stick ti in a pumpkin, or better yet, incorporate it into your costume, and you've got maximum spookiness.
Head to the todbot blog for more info, and to download the Arduino sketch.
In the Maker Shed:
Posted by John Park |
Oct 28, 2009 05:30 PM
Arduino, Halloween, Holiday projects |
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Play kitchen made from shelving parts
I really like this homemade play kitchen build from dollar store shelving parts. It cost less than $20 and breaks down for storage. The felt fried eggs look delicious.
[Thanks, Luckymomma!]
Posted by John Park |
Oct 27, 2009 05:00 PM
DIY Projects, Kids |
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MicroRAX modular beams
Looks like the small-scale aluminum t-slot world his heating up! Previously I've recommended 80/20 for small projects that needed sturdy, precise framing structures to hold up a microcontroller and some sensors, but those can be difficult to find in small sizes. Now we've got MicroRAX from Twintec, and Mini-T by Maker Beam on the way soon. Both are a 10mm square stock with a variety of connectors, joints, and hardware. They are aimed at makers, with direct sales, and small kits of common parts.
MicroRAX are available for purchase now, and you can contact them for free samples if you'd like to play around with some. I spoke with Chris Burrows from Twintec and he said they're ready for an onslaught of sample orders, so bring it on!
I'm excited to see that they've uploaded CAD files for two of their parts to Thingiverse, so you can plan your project in 3D. Head here to download them. Hopefully they'll add CAD files for all of their parts soon.
[via HackedGadgets]
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Q & A with MakerBeam @ Evil Mad Science Laboratories
Posted by John Park |
Oct 26, 2009 05:00 PM
Toolbox |
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Machine Project Benefit
One of my favorite organisms in Los Angeles is Machine Project, a kind of hacker's art gallery, or as they put it "a non-profit community space...investigating art, technology, natural history, science, music, literature, and food."
We're holding a benefit at Mister Jalopy's place, and it promises to be a wonderful event. We'd love to see you there!
Mister Jalopy writes:
On November 7th, Mister Jalopy's personal 4000 square foot studio will be host to the first Machine Project benefit.
Proceeds from this once-a-year event will enable Machine Project to continue welcoming any and all to free Machine public events in 2010. Tickets start at $75 for members, or $100 for non-members, with a Benefactor level ticket available for $250.
With over 20 participating artists, technologists and musicians, the 2009 Benefit will pack a month's worth of events into a single intimate evening. What to expect? Opportunities to steal art from a laser-protected, action movie-style set, wager on microscopic slime mold races, try your hand at gold panning to prospect for real gold nuggets, stay late to huddle around the firepit to make 'smores, partake from the amply stocked wine and beer bar, have a wood-fired pizza from an on-site brick pizza oven, enjoy music from four different acts, replace your old Getty Museum fake ID, participate in head-to-head speed soldering contests and eat noodles supplied by Kwong Dynasty Noodle Cart.
[via Dinosaurs and Robots]
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Laser tripwires for Machine Project art heist
Posted by John Park |
Oct 22, 2009 04:00 PM
Arts |
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Retro futuristic classroom enforcer robots
As an unruly second grader I often endured the chalk-throwing rage of Mrs. Seaman (*giggle*). Not much fun, but at least I wasn't being corporally punished by these "watchful robots that rap students on the head if they lose focus or act up."
This vision of the future, ominously entitled "The Rise of the Computerized School", was illustrated by Shigeru Komatsuzaki for an article in a 1969 Shōnen Sunday magazine. The "Computopia" feature predicted that by 1989 our lives would be equal parts carefree and terrifying thanks to the pervasiveness of computers, telecommuting teachers, and pugilistic enforcer robots.
[via Pink Tentacle] [Thanks, Contorto!]
Posted by John Park |
Oct 22, 2009 11:00 AM
Retro |
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Custom case for Chumby Guts
My friend Joe Bowers bought a Chumby Guts kit. Step one: get it up and running. Step two: give the poor, naked thing some clothes. Joe designed a case for it and asked me to laser cut it for him. It reminds me of an old television set. This is an early prototype; we plan to refine the design, add some etched graphics, and more. Maybe some rabbit ear antennae?
Clever trick alert: Joe put the Chumby on a scanner and traced the rounded-cornered bezel in CorelDraw to get an exact fit. It pops in there beautifully!
In the Maker Shed:
Posted by John Park |
Oct 15, 2009 04:00 PM
Electronics, Gadgets, Kits, Retro |
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Laser tripwires for Machine Project art heist
Why are we building laser tripwires? My friend, we'll call him Agent Todbot, and I are creating a competitive art heist event for the upcoming Machine Project benefit. This means lots of fog, laser tripwires, and flashing lights. Competitors will try to get through, steal a piece of art, and return without crossing any beams.
To build this, we're pulling apart a bunch of laser pointers, mounting them at carefully measured intervals (in Mister Jalopy's museum behind Coco's Variety), and pointing them at photosensors. Tod attached these to small acrylic discs to allow some slack in the system. We'll provide more build details as we go.
Machine Project Benefit 2009
Posted by John Park |
Oct 12, 2009 05:30 PM
Arduino, DIY Projects, Gaming |
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