Cigar boxes are great containers for loads of things. I had a bunch on hand after going to the local wine shops and asking for donated cigar boxes. Inspired by the Rock and Roll Speakers project in Fashioning Technology, it seemed like a good idea to have my students build their own music player embedded in a cigar box. This is a major project, taking several weeks, though it probably could be done by an individual in an afternoon without introducing many of the concepts we've worked on.

Box preparation
The boxes are pretty well made, and we found that we could sand them and coat them with spray paint. Boxes with colorful printed designs can be left unpainted. We have a vinyl cutter, so a lot of class time has gone into making custom multicolor stickers from photos. We're using the Threshold tool in Gimp to convert the image to a high contrast black and white, and then importing it to Open Office Draw to add a border. Having a border makes the sticker weeding process much easier.

Speaker insert
Using some scrap cardboard a metal ruler, utility knife, and careful measurement, we made an insert to hold the speakers and cover up the electronics. The speakers sound much better when enclosed. Just putting them inside the box improves their sound even without the cardboard insert. The speakers are secured to the cardboard with hot melt glue, and some students are making speaker grilles for further protection.

My daughter had to draw first blood on the package. We cracked the box and checked out the stuff inside. After going to the hypnotist show to benefit the school drama department and doing strange things on stage, I felt refreshed and motivated to assemble and play with Chumby guts until long past my bedtime.

I didn't take any photos, in large part because of the very helpful images already taken and posted to the MAKE Flickr Pool.

Build instructions are on one double sided sheet of paper. I missed it the first few times I looked through the box because I thought I would find a booklet. There is a link to the instructions pdf on the Chumby guts page in the Maker Shed. The directions are pretty good, but leave a bit to be desired. I found the photos by MAKE Flickr Pool members MTBFO and ewee to be essential. Early in the build, I was wondering which of two sets of small screws to use, and found that the silver ones were likely the ones by checking a photo. I also found the notes on many of ewee's pictures to be really useful.

So now there is a new tooltoy in the arsenal. This should be fun, and already the big question is "How do you case this thing?" Kent Barnes has extended the chumbilical cord that connects the mother and daughter boards and seems ready to move things around. John Park has a nifty laser-cut case. The box that it came in is sized about right for a first enclosure. The next case will probably be a cigar box, which is very alluring lately. You can clothe your naked Chumby guts by following these instructions.

As soon as it was plugged in, the disembodied Chumby woke up, started talking and showed a tour of the basic functions. Within a few minutes, it had upgraded the firmware and brought me to the website to register it. Finding the household wireless was a snap. Over on the Chumby wiki, you can find resources on hardware, software, and more.

In all, this has already been a fun project with few pitfalls. The next steps of customizing the case and configuring the software are exciting prospects at this point. Now that she's awake, my daughter is curious about how each of the widgets work. This will be a fun thing to have.

Have you got a some Chumby guts waiting to be animated? If you've already built yours, please weigh in with your tips and tricks by adding a comment or two. If you have a glamour shot to share or process set of pics, post them over to the MAKE Flickr pool.

In the Maker Shed:

Chumby Guts

Oh wow, it's the Cupcake CNC kit from MakerBot Industries! I'd ordered it weeks earlier and had completely forgotten about it. (The truth is out: I have an atrocious memory, sad but true.)

And so the adventure begins! I'm going to document my "out of box experience" with a MakerBot. How many posts will the series be? I'm not sure since I've never built one. How often will I post about the build? Again, not sure, but I'll try to do at least one a week, maybe more, it all depends on how much free time I have between all my other maker-ly projects.

A little background: My CNC experiences

I've been tinkering with CNC for about 10 years, and consider myself an enthusiast, not an expert. I do own a few CNC mills, routers, and lathes. I have retrofitted old mills, and even build one from scratch. Pictured above is my mobile CNC machine, dubbed the "MobileC." I stuffed all the components into a mobile tool cart so I could bring it to hackerspaces, workshops, and events, all in the hopes of helping out fellow makers.

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!

Related:
Laser tripwires for Machine Project art heist
Machine Project Benefit 2009

Care to hand control of your playlist over you to an Arduino?

Awhile back I was working on a project that that I wanted to be able to start music the on my mac through the IR receiver. After a while of looking around I found this library  which allows you to use your arduino as an Apple Remote. I integrated it in to my project and it worked great! So the other day I decided to make an Apple Remote shield for my arduino.

Flickr member yamamo2 and his dad built this high performance double pendulum (aka chaos machine) and dang - can this thing get down or what? Instant physics party anytime! unless of course you happen to close and catch a stray pendulum to the noggin … physics party foul, indeed :(

Related: HOW TO - Build your own Chaos Machine

Randy Sarafan writes:

The nice thing about IKEA furniture is that it is cheap and easy to hack. In other words, lets say that you were to buy two cheap $30 Gorm shelving units and assembled them to discover them that one was crooked. Well then, it would be really easy to spend an afternoon converting the crooked one into a solid, stylish and symmetric bookshelf bench. As you probably just guessed, this Instructable will show you how to convert a Gorm shelving unit into a bookshelf bench. With a few extra peices of hardware and a couple of basic power tools, you could be on your way to relaxation and organization all at the same time.

Tom Nunn demonstrates the "skatchbox" a simple percussion box outfitted with contacts mics and a plethora of objects for scraping, tapping, swiping, etc. The shuffling and raspy textures the boxes make are pretty unique, certainly warranting further investigation by audio experimentalists out there. And if you've got some plastic combs, a piezo disc, and a flat box building one of these should be a breeze.

Fred points out this schematic for a rather interesting radiotelephone transmitter instantaneously powered by the operator's voice -

One of the neatest minimalist amateur radio transmitter circuits around - this one is voice powered - it provides DSB, (double side band)modulation and power from an ordinary 8-ohm speaker - if are in doubt that the circuit works, the maker has the contacts and the voice recordings to prove it!

Dino sent us this vid demonstrating some potential audio effects resulting from landline-to-cellphone delay times. Strictly speaking "reverb" is usually considered as sound delays with no discernible separation - but hey, who's counting? Good clean fun to try at home- would definitely be cool to see this effect taken advantage of in a live performance or art installation ... but maybe only on nights & weekends? :P

This is the second revision of my PIC based LED binary clock. The original version was the first PIC project I attempted, it used a PIC16F84A to do both the timekeeping and control the display matrix, unfortunately it didn't keep good enough time and gained about a minute every week.

In the Maker Shed:


In the Maker Shed: DIY Design Electronics Kit

In need of a more visible level for setting up long exposure night shots, zomie made an LED illuminated level attachment for use with his DSLR + Gorillapod setup. Check out his instructable for the step-by-step.

Augustson designed etched and assembled a specialized Arduino board for a new robotics project -

What is ADM 1.0? Basically we built an Arduino, added a Dual Motor Controller to it and a small prototyping area. Hence the name ADM (Arduino Dual Motor).  The board works and is programmed just like a normal Arduino. For the science fair, part of the rules stated we could not use an actual Arduino board, but were able to build or modify our own.

Peter Johansson is building a professional-grade medium-format camera. Like, from scratch. He's about 80% done and has done a wonderful job documenting the build. [Thanks, Billy!]

This is very cool - Dann Green of 4ms Pedals has posted schematics, code, and parts list for the Autonomous Bassline project. The ATtiny84 based module is also available in kit form with an optional heavy-duty enclosure. And if this thing wasn't awesome enough as is - an infrared clock signal can be used to drive the unit.

Ian Lesnet submitted this cool hack-'o-lantern to our Make: Halloween Contest 2009. There's an Instructable here, a Flickr set here, and YouTube video here. It's a color-changing pumpkin full-court media press! The build uses a ShiftBrite RGB LED module, IR receiver, universal remote control, and a PIC18F2550 as the brains of it all.

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

First up is my "Scariest Pumpkin Ever" build. I had a great time testing this project out on the neighborhood kiddies! HONK! Check out the link for complete build instructions. Just a word of warning, you neighbors are going to hate you! Trust me, I know. A big thanks to everyone who sent me links to your own builds inspired by this project. I really appreciate it!

Next up is my Gakken Mechamo Crab build with a few additional creepy parts. Again, this was a lot of fun to make, and has been very popular when I bring it to Maker Faire. Check out the link for another video of this creepy-crawler in action. Eeeeeeek, eeeek, blip, blip!

My last Halloween inspired build was the Animated Ghost kit from the Maker Shed. It's a really easy kit to make, and it always manages to freak-out anyone that gets too close! Remember, it's never too early to start working on next year's projects!

Speaking of Halloween, don't forget to enter our contest! Do it, or Robot Zombie Cat is going to come after you!

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

From Samuel Aaron Ward, this motion-activated device lowers a scarythang when it senses motion. It's built around a Microchip PIC16F684 and is based on plans from the October 2009 issue of Nuts & Volts magazine. [Thanks, Vern!]

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

Far beyond simply open-sourcing the schematic, Eric Archer posted a full step-by-step for recreating his Mini Space Rockers drum-synth kit on protoboard. Hmm … I get the feeling he really wants us to build these =] - very awesome.

Included with the project is a list of 25 variations for achieving a wide range of different sounds, all the way from "Thump Bass" to "Space Hawk" -

First choose which sound you’re going to build. […] Thats how you determine what values to use for capacitors C1, C2, and C3. What they do: C1 and C2 set the pitch range and affect the pitch envelope. C3 determines the decay time of the sound. I’ve tried up to 100uF here, which gives some looooong sweeps.

YouTuber datenkrieger75 built quite an excellent technobox featuring a patchable circular sequencer, a Gakken SX-150, and Mini Space Rocker circuits. Things start to sound prett wild (and eerily voice-like) around the 1m30s mark.[via Create Digital Music]

So, the stuff inside the balloon that makes the web is called HI-FLOAT, and it's a commercial product actually sold for injecting into helium balloons to make them retain their helium longer. It forms a skin on the inside of the balloon and keeps the helium from diffusing out so quickly. The "web" effect is created by applying the HI-FLOAT and letting it dry at one pressure, and then deflating the balloon, stressing it, and then re-inflating to a higher pressure, causing the film to detach from the walls (which, of course, means it's not working as a sealant anymore, but whatevs). I'm pretty sure this trick was developed in-house, by the company that makes it, to sell more HI-FLOAT. Still, it's pretty cool.

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

Fast, easy tutorial from Lenore of Evil Mad Scientist Labs. I wonder whether you might not use polystyrene beads as an aggregate to reduce weight?

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

Check out this cool Android-based head mounted display. Andrew Lim of recombu.com used an HTC Magic running Google Street View, safety goggles, and some cardboard to fashion one of the coolest HMD this side of Lawnmowerman. [Thanks, Andrew!]

In this video, Nick Valenza shows how he builds realistic replicas of Ash's infamous chainsaw prosthesis using parts from real chainsaws. Groovy!

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

RoundAboutGirl's playkitchen

[Thanks, Luckymomma!]

Here's what comes in each kit:

• 3.5'' LCD (320hx240v 16bpp TFT) with Touch Screen
  
• Texas Instruments TSC2100 Programmable Touchscreen Controller with Stereo DAC
  
• Plastic Front Bezel
  
• Gasket
  
• Aluminum Frame
  
• 4 x Screws to attach Aluminum Frame to Front Bezel
  
• 350MHz Freescale iMX21 MC94MX21DVKN3 ARM9 controller Motherboard Circuit Card Assembly with Samsung 64MB SDRAM on 32-bit data path and Hynix HY27US 64MB NAND Flash ROM
  
• Kionix KXP74-1050 3-axis accelerometer
  
• Daughtercard Circuit Card Assembly
  
• Three USB 2.0 full speed ports, one internal, two external
  
• Chumbilical Flex Cable from Daughter card CCA to Motherboard CCA
  
• Wifi Riser Circuit Card Assembly
  
• USB Wifi Dongle based on the Xterasys 3135G 802.11g USB Wifi adapter (ralink chipset)
  
• Flex Cable for Wifi Riser CCA to Motherboard CCA
  
• 3 x Screws for Wifi Riser CCA to Motherboard CCA
  
• 3 x Standoffs for screws for Wifi Riser CCA to Motherboard CCA
  
• 2 x 2W StereoSpeakers
  
• 4 x Screws for Speaker to Plastic Speaker Holder
  
• Plastic Speaker Holder
  
• Switch for Bend Sensor
  
• Plastic Switch Holder
  
• 2 wire cable with 2 pin connector(from Daughterboard CCA to switch)
  
• 2 x Screws to Attach Switch to Plastic Switch Holder
  
• 12 V DC 1A Power Supply
  
• Built-in microphone

(Note: actual parts may vary slightly due to manufacturing and availability)

Instructables user deceiver lives in southern Maine and needed a big DTV antenna to pick up signals from up to 60 miles away, so he build Big Bertha, a giant dtv antenna, and shows your inquiring minds how to do the same.

More:

• Maker Workshop - DTV Antenna & Steadycam on Make: Television
• Maker Workshop PDF - DTV Antenna

The sign build is by Hector Turner, the original zombie family art by LiveJournaler Image Girl. [via Haunt Project]

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

Very thorough build notes from Viacheslav Slavinsky, who built a plotter from scratch, then souped it up by adding a 300 mW laser in place of the pen. I was interested to note that while 300 mW isn't a lot of laser power, apparently it can cut through slightly more than a centimeter of "high density foam." I'd be curious how it fares against EPS and/or XPS. [via Hack a Day]

The neatest part about this, er, "Pie of Sauron" pumpkin build by AnubisTTP is the vintage Soviet 'dekatron' counting tube that burns at its pupil. It's also got LED backlighting inside. And I couldn't resist posting this little dekatron animated .gif from the Wikipedia article:

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.