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August 6, 2009

Brainstorming cooler hacking ideas

Hi everyone! It's me, your friendly MAKEcation camp counselor Matt. Have you started your cooler hacking project yet? If not, here are some ideas to help get you started. Be sure to post your own ideas in the comments. We'll be giving away a Maker's Notebook and The Best of MAKE or Best of Instructables to the one we think is the most interesting. If you have any questions about the challenge, don't hesitate to send them to me at: campcounselor@makezine.com.

Temperature Monitor: Add a temperature display to keep you informed about how cool your refreshments are. If you plan to store perishable foods inside, how about an alarm to alert you before they spoil?

Increased Efficiency: Or, avoid the whole problem of heating all together by making your cooler more efficient. Going somewhere without shade? Try building in an umbrella holder, to keep those hot sun rays away from your vittles.

Solar Cooling: Instead of diverting the sun's rays, why not catch them with a solar panel and then use the energy to drive a thermoelectric cooling unit?

Mobility: Having trouble getting your cooler to your picnic location? Adding a motor so that you can drive it might be a bit extreme, but a simple set of wheels and a hitch would allow you to tow your cooler behind a bike. Don't feel like getting up to fetch your next drink? Cannibalize a toy car and finally build that remote controlled cooler.

Ok, now I want to go camping so I have an excuse to try all these things out!

Here are some other possibilities:

Build a robotic cooler that comes when you command it
Add racing stripes for extra speed!
Built-in electronic drum kit for performing around the campfire
Add a secret compartment to hide your keys
Dry compartment for storing cake
Fingerprint reader lock to protect your juice boxes
Built-in floats to take it rafting
Dalek/remote control cooler mashup?
Build in a propane cooler
GPS logger to record your favorite hang-out places

And here are some previous hacks for inspiration:

Youth Family Films share their Cooler Kart

David Calkins explains how to make an RFID-protected beer fridge

Simon Jansen shares his jet powered beer cooler

Post your ideas in comments!

August 4, 2009

MAKEcation Cooler Hacking Challenge

Whew! All of that soldering and kid-wrangling worked up a powerful thirst. So, you drag over the ol' Coleman and crack open a few cold ones. Sitting there drinking your beers (be they root or hops) with your newly-trained team of solder-droids, you all start contemplating that old faithful camping cooler. Maybe it needs some EL wire highlights around its edges, or an entertaining LED display, or how about some solar-powered, active cooling? Or heck, maybe some wheels and a motor so you can drive that sucker around the patio.

Okay, maybe that last idea is too silly, but you get the idea. It's summer, you've got the family itchin' to do something with their new-found geek cred, why not take our MAKEcation Cooler Hacking Challenge? Trick out any beverage cooler however you like -- the sky's the limit (hey, sending a cooler into space on a weather balloon -- now there's a challenge...), upload the images to the MAKE Flickr pool, and tag them "MAKEcation." As with the Soldering Challenge, you're eligible for a $100 Maker Shed Gift Certificate and some other cool prizes.

For the Soldering Challenge, we brought on Dave Hrynkiw from Solarbotics as our beloved Camp Counselor. He wasn't called out of his virtual cabin very often, but he was dutifully at the ready... and remains so. The Soldering Challenge will continue until the end of the month, so there's still plenty of time to submit your MAKEcation photos to Flickr.

For the Cooler Hacking Challenge, we want to introduce you to our latest author-addition to the site, Matt Mets. He'll be starting off his stint with us as your next Camp Counselor. Matt is an electrical engineer who loves creative repurposing of electronic junk, hacking open source software, and photography. Besides now working for MAKE, he's also currently an artist-in-residence at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. He's in the process of designing a ferrous wheel and an emotional typewriter. No, really. Matt will be here to help brainstorm cooler hacks, to answer any technical questions, consult on your hack ideas, and to help us judge the entries at the end of the month. If you have any questions for Matt (or for Dave), send them to: campcounselor@makezine.com.

We'd also love to get your help in brainstorming ideas for cooler hacks. Post your ideas in the comments. We'll pick our favorite one and you'll get a Maker's Notebook and your choice of The Best of MAKE or The Best of Instructables.

August 3, 2009

Don't forget your soldering challenge!

It's Lucas again, our poster child for the MAKEcation Family Soldering Challenge. Here he is (note: safety glasses this time!) working on his second soldering project, a Drawdio. Lucas (and family) get a free Maker's Notebook because they posted pics of their MAKEcation to the MAKE Flickr pool. The next four people who post their pics will also get a free notebook.

And don't forget, we're giving away a $100 gift certificate to the Maker Shed for our favorite family soldering photos/videos and five Best of MAKE or Best of Instructables books. Adafruit industries has also generously given us some of their awesome soldering merit badges to give out to winners. But you've gotta upload your pics!

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July 31, 2009

How-To: Build a BEAM solarroller

Yesterday, I posted a reprinted from my old tech site, Street Tech, of a piece I did on Zach DeBord's solar-powered vibrobots. Here's another piece from Street Tech, one on building solarrollers, a simple kind of solar-powered car common in beginner BEAM robotics. Like the vibrobots, this would make a perfect project for a family who's just learned how to solder and wants to collaborate to build something fun (and cool!). - Gareth

Gopod bless Flickr! While searching on it recently to see if anyone else had built Mousey the Junkbot or a Symet or Solarroller inspired by my BEAM robotics articles in MAKE, Volume 06, I discovered Zach DeBord and his amazing BEAM creations. A Chicago-based designer and Web developer who's done work for (among others) Comcast, Volvo, and Yellow Tail (mmm...wine), Zach's bots put the "A" ("Aesthetics") back into BEAM, with gorgeous, meticulously-rendered designs that are as much objets d'art as autonomous robo-critters.

All of his robots are awesome-looking, but I was instantly attracted to this roller because it's bigger than any solarroller I've ever seen, and it uses two solar cells, four storage capacitors, and two gearmotors. Ingeniously, this roller can be steered (sorta). Zach writes: "It is currently configured to go forwards, but by angling either solar panel, it will turn more in one direction since one panel will be getting more light. With both panels angled in the same direction, it is pretty phototropic."

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July 23, 2009

Lucas learns to solder

Back in December, we posted a piece about Lucas, a six-year-old who'd learned how to solder and made a battery-powered guitar amp for his grandmother for Christmas. Six might be a little young for most kids to handle a soldering iron, but each person is obviously different (and you likely know what your kids can/cannot handle).

At one of the Maker Faires, a kid asked me if he could build the Solarbotics Herbie that'd he'd just bought in the Maker Shed, as I made up some Mousey the Junkbots. He was maybe 9. He'd never soldered, he was fidgety, and he kept nearly dropping the iron, nearly burning himself, soldering-desoldering-resoldering bad welds -- I was on pins and needles the whole time. He finished the bot a lot faster than I'd finished my first Herbie. He put in a battery, turned it on, and it took off with a shot. It worked! I was stunned. He'd built his faster than I had and I'd had to resolder at least one connection and futz with my whiskers. So, never underestimate kids.

At the same time, be reasonable, use common sense, and BE SAFE. When we posted Lucas' project the first time, readers were quick to correctly point out that it was a big no-no to have a 6-year-old (or maker of any age) soldering without safety glasses on. His dad admitted it was foolish -- no excuses. And Lucas did get a nasty little iron burn, which he shows off in one of the pics in the Flickr set. Such burns do come with the territory, at any age.

Six year old with a soldering iron

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July 22, 2009

Camp counselor Dave's soldering tips

We asked our MAKEcation Camp Counselor, Dave Hrynkiw, to share with us some of the common mistakes he sees newbies making when learning to solder. He shares some of his thoughts below.

Dave is the geek behind the woman (hey Cheryl!) who runs the Solarbotics and HVW Technologies. He's our virtual Camp Counselor during "Teach Your Family to Solder" week. If you have any questions for Dave related to soldering, send email to campcounselor@makezine.com.

Using Too Little Heat: This is an issue when you're using those wimpy 10- or 15-watt pencil-type soldering irons. They're usually purchased as part of a set which includes some murky solder, a useless soldering-iron "stand," and a "what is this thing for?" mini-wrench, used for replacing the tip (trust me, the iron ain't worth that effort). The idea behind soldering is to heat the item, and then melt the solder to the item. In most electronics situations, that item will likely be a wire, or an electronic component. When you have an iron that generates wimpy amounts of heat, trying to heat up the item will take longer than it should, which will usually lead to damaged components from excessive heating, or a messy solder job (because the builder got impatient and melted the solder to the tip and tried to "paint" the molten solder to the joint). Either situation is bad. Save those wimpy irons for burning your name into a piece of wood, or roasting marshmallows from the inside-out (but don't eat them! - bet that iron isn't lead-free/RoHS compliant).

Using Too Much Heat: We often see kits come in for repair that have been scorched like they've been soldered with a butane torch! Sometimes they have! Or with one of those huge pistol-grip soldering guns designed for soldering 12-gauge car trailer connections in mid-winter Alaska. A printed circuit board's copper traces are barely more than glued onto the phenolic or fiberglass substrate we call a PCB. Too much heat kills this adhesive layer, making traces and pads lift from the board like a bad sunburn two days after that bender on the beach (sorry for that imagery, but it's pretty accurate). Go easy with the firestick, chief. The boards and components are made to withstand a certain amount of heat in the soldering process, not the heat of a solar flare.

Painting: This is the most common newbie mistake. As mentioned under "Too Little Heat," soldering is the process of heating the items you want to solder together, and melting the solder to those items, using the heat in the items (as transfered by your iron). It's the reverse of painting. The (wrong) painting method is melting solder onto your iron, then trying to smear it onto the item you're soldering. What you end up with is a solder job that will most likely flake right off. You want to paint? Try the Bob Ross-style class at the local community college (Jeez, I miss that guy -- and his tremendous hair). Think of the soldering iron as a gravity gun for solder. Stick the iron where you want the solder to go, and when you apply it, the solder will naturally flow towards the heat. You can't convince solder to go where there's no heat. It's kinda like a retired Canadian that way.

Appriopriate Tools, Equipment, and Supplies: I bet you think I'm going to suggest getting the best soldering iron you can afford, right? Nope. A decent low-cost iron is fine. If you stick with electronics long enough to thoroughly wear out a medium-quality 20-to-30 watt pencil-type soldering iron, then go ahead and buy something fancier. Spend about $25 on a iron (not a kit!) and you'll be all set.

Solder comes in many types and flavors, the most common being "Lead-free" and "Lead/Tin." Given a choice, I'll take leaded any day. There's a reason all military-grade electronics are still done with lead-based solder. It's just better. It melts at lower temperatures, flows better, and ends up looking shiny when applied properly. The other stuff looks like crud, even when it's done correctly, which is especially troublesome for beginners looking for proof of a healthy join. Yes, there are lead-based dangers, but use some common sense, good ventilation, and don't eat while you're working (solder/fingers, fingers/sandwich, sandwich/brain, brain/dumb), and wash your hands well with soap when you're done.

Secondary to the leaded/non-lead solder issue, there's the decision of "no-clean" vs. "rosin" flux. OK, there are more types, but those are the main types. Flux is a chemical paste that's usually in the core of the solder you use. When you melt it, the flux cleans the surfaces and "lubricates" the soldering, making the metals bind correctly. If you have a choice, get a "no-clean" flux, as the other types will make your solder joints look like burned sugar.

In short, get a $25, 20-to-30 watt pencil-type soldering iron, a $12 1-lb. roll of no-clean lead/tin solder (that's lots - share with family and friends), don't floss with the solder, and don't paint it onto your projects.

Bonus Tip: Get a container of Multicore "Tip Cleaner." Best $3 you'll spend on a soldering accessory. It will triple the life of your solder tips, and make almost any gungy tip look clean and shiny again. Just don't breath the fumes when you push a hot dirty tip into this pumice-like substance.

More:
Toolbox: Soldering Essentials, Part 1
Toolbox: Soldering station tools and hacks

July 21, 2009

Solarbotics' soldering summary

[Click on image to enlarge]

Dave Hrynkiw, who runs Solarbotics and HVW Technologies, is our virtual Camp Counselor for "Teach Your Family to Solder" week. One of the things I love about Solarbotics' kits is that they always have excellent, and funny, documentation. Each of these instruction booklets includes the brief soldering tutorial posted above. Really, that's all the basics you need to know. We'll have more detailed tutorials, tips, videos, etc, throughout the week, but armed only with this "quick reference card" and the basic tools, as outlined in my Toolbox column, you'd have what you need to solder successfully. If you're going to be teaching people how to solder, print out the above and have it on-hand for your students.

If you have any questions for him related to soldering, send email to campcounselor@makezine.com.

More:
Toolbox: Soldering essentials, Part 1
MAKEcation: "Teach Your Family to Solder" week
Let's take a Summer MAKEcation!

July 20, 2009

Toolbox: Soldering essentials, Part 1

In the twice-monthly Make: Online Toolbox, we focus mainly on tools that fly under the radar of more conventional tool coverage: in-depth tool-making projects, strange or specialty tools unique to a trade or craft that can be useful elsewhere, tools and techniques you may not know about, but once you do, and incorporate them into your workflow, you'll wonder how you ever lived without them. And, in the spirit of the times, we pay close attention to tools that you can get on the cheap, make yourself, or refurbish.

This week, as part of "Teach Your Family to Solder Week," we look at what you need to get started in soldering. We already did a Toolbox column on soldering stations and stands, a staple for more serious soldering. Like anything else, once you get into it, there are all sorts of higher-end products you can invest in. But for starters, here are the bare basics you'll need. On Wednesday, I'll do a second installment of the column with more specialty tools you can add to make your soldering experience that much better.

I struggled with soldering for years because I was trying to do it with a super-cheap, low-wattage iron that came with a computer toolkit I got on sale. I finally broke down and bought a Xytronic model and was amazed at how much easier the soldering was and how much better my work looked. Mine second iron was similar to this model, sold by adafruit industries. Ladyada sells it for $22. It's a 30W, 110V temperature-adjustable iron. Well worth the money. I'm a big believer in early success when learning something new. The quicker you can get satisfying results and feel that sense of accomplishment, the more likely you are to keep going. In learning to solder, having an iron at least as good as this one will help you have a positive experience right from the start.

[For makers in other countries, adafruit also sell a 220V Euro-version of the same iron.]

Most irons come with a little metal stand that you rest your iron on. These are not trustworthy in the least and the iron is likely to end up in your lap. You need to get a spring-type stand that your iron securely slots into. Inside the large spring holder is a metal sleeve which protects you (and other flesh-covered entities) from getting burned. These stands also come with a sponge that you wet and wipe your iron on to keep it clean. You can get these stands at most electronics suppliers, online and off. The stand above is from adafruit and costs $6.

The spring holder holds your iron, but what holds the circuit boards you're going to be working on? This gadget, called a Panavise, in this case, the Panavise, Jr. Look on the desk of just about anybody doing serious electronics and you're likely to find one (or more) of these. Next to a Third Hand (see below), this is the most common jig for holding electronic components while you weld them all together. You can get these at most electronics suppliers. Ladyada sells hers for $28.

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MAKEcation: "Teach Your Family to Solder" week

Okay, mom, dad, so maybe you're feeling a little of the ol' economic pinch and the idea of stuffing the brood into the family cargo pod, filling its belly full of precious dinosaur squeezin's, and setting off for Wally World just doesn't sit comfortably on your bottom line this summer. You've decided to stay at home and the kids are non too thrilled about it. Why not get everybody together and announce that the family isn't going on a vacation this year, you're going on a MAKEcation. You're going to spend some quality time together as a family, making cool projects and learning some new skills in the process. And you're going to document your DIY summer and send your MAKEcation videos and pics to Make: Online, to seek fame (and a few nifty prizes) in the process.

Welcome to Make: Online's MAKEcation, 2009
Over the next few months, we're going to be running contests, issuing family challenges, offering project ideas and tech tips, all geared towards families doing DIY together at home. If you REALLY want to go away, we're also going to be offering ideas on maker-oriented vacations, cool educational, hands-on destinations you can visit and fun things you can do on the road. But most of what we'll cover will be projects and activities for your kitchen table and backyard. We're also bringing on "Camp Counselors," experts in the area of each challenge. They'll be on-hand to offer advice, answer any technical questions, and to blow their whistles if things get too rowdy. We'll also have our counselors involved in helping us look through your MAKEcation videos and pictures to choose who to give prizes away to (more on that later).

Our first MAKEcation project is "Teach Your Family to Solder" Week. Soldering is something that every maker should know how to do. Far too many people are intimated by the idea. It seems hard to do, it looks like it might be hard to do, and you think it is if you casually try it without the proper do and don'ts in mind (and the right tools). In point of fact, with a little practice and few key pointers, anybody, from about a tween to any-age adult (with decent enough eyesight and a steady hand) can do through-hole component soldering. We can almost guarantee that if you follow the instructions we'll be giving you throughout the week, and do some of the beginner projects we'll suggest (or similar), you'll be a successful solderer in a week's time. Knowing this skill will open you up to a lot of the projects you see in MAKE magazine and here on the site.

To help us for this project, we've enlisted the help of one of our favorite makers, Dave Hyrinkiw of Solarbotics and HVW Technologies. Besides running these two amazing mom and pop electronics shops, Dave is an icon in the BEAM hobby robotics community. The "A" in "BEAM" stands for aesthetics, so good BEAMbots are known for their arty, freeform construction (and that means neat and well-done soldering). Dave has been selling electronics and designing and building BEAMbots for as long as I can remember, so that makes him a perfect candidate to be our first MAKEcation Camp Counselor. Dave will be on-hand during the week and beyond, so if you have any soldering questions, send them to campcounselor@makezine.com. We'll collect them up and do a posting of any Q&A at the end of the week.

Later on today, I'll have a Toolbox column covering everything you'll need to get started in soldering. We also have the first of our MAKEcation bundles in the Maker Shed with several great beginner kits to get you started (plus a copy of the premier issues of MAKE, which includes an excellent soldering primer, and a copy of The Maker's Notebook, so you can document your family's MAKEcation).

Obviously, if someone in the family already knows how to solder, go ahead and start teaching all of the other eligible family members. Even kids that are too young to safely solder can get involved, by helping to put components in the holes on PCBs, clipping the leads on soldered parts, etc. Just make sure they're supervised, not close to the soldering irons, and that the power cables to the iron(s) can't be tripped over. Make sure to take photos/video of the family at work and send the links to us. And maybe dream up some cool project that everyone can work on together and document that as well.

More:
Let's take a Summer MAKEcation!

July 7, 2009

Ammo box fireworks controller

By way of the MAKE Flickr pool comes this wonderful build of a fireworks controller fittingly house inside of an ammo box. No text with the photo set, but the pictures pretty much tell the story of the build.

Firework Controller

July 4, 2009

13 Colonies Ham Radio Special Event

After a fourth of July BBQ, I was tuning around on the radio and made contact with Vince, K4AOC (operating as K2L) the 13 Colonies Special Event station in South Carolina. July 1- July 5th was the 13 Colonies 4th of July Special Event during which all thirteen original colonies were on the air with special event call signs: K2A-NY K2B-VA K2C-RI K2D-CT K2E-DE K2F-MD K2G-GA K2H-MA K2I-NJ K2J-NC K2K-NH K2L-SC K2M-PA. Make contact with all thirteen colonies to earn the Thirteen Colonies certificate.

4th of July roundup-abration!

Any holiday that necessitates pyrotechnics and cookouts must be a good one, right? - right!
In honor of such an awesome holiday, enjoy a collection of 4th-related posts for your perusing pleasure - oh, and Happy Independence Day!

How to: Make an American flag

HOW TO - Take photos of Fireworks & HOW TO - Photograph fireworks

Make your own smoke-bombs

Fireworks Drawings

LED fireworks

Wireless fireworks launch controller

Model rocketry and hobby fireworks

HOW TO - Make a sparkler & a geek's guide to fireworks

What MAKEs America great - Happy 4th of July from MAKE

Fireworks animation by PES

Unexpected, delightful; I did enjoy this fireworks animation by PES.

July 3, 2009

4th of July guide on Instructables

Instructables has a roundup of 4th projects for a happy weekend. BBQs, recipes, summer clothes, and water abound.

Bottle rocket mayhem

Ever wondered what it'd be like to set off 204 bottle rocks at the same time? I know I have. Turns out, it's a good time (so long as you're not in the line of fire).

I Love Bottle Rockets

June 30, 2009

Keeping their cool

Over on GeekDad, Dana Bostic came up with this simple backyard cool-the-kids "hack" -- a hose sprayer set to "shower," zip-tied to a tall step ladder pouring down onto a trampoline -- so the kids can work up a sweat and cool off at the same time!

Keeping the Kids Cool This Summer [Thanks, Shawn!]

June 28, 2009

Make: Projects - Magnetic toolbox

My Dad got a shiny new red tractor the week before Father's Day, which created a great opportunity for an easy, inexpensive, handmade gift: I bought a classic little red toolbox, to match the tractor, and fitted it with eight 3/4" ring supermagnets on the bottom to make it stick to the fender. There's a rubber washer between each magnet and the bottom of the toolbox, to cushion the magnets, each of which is secured using a 3/4" automotive panel fastener--basically a barbed plastic push fastener.

Inserted through the hole in the magnet, through the rubber washer, and through a 1/4" hole drilled in the bottom of the toolbox, the panel fastener secures everything in place. The head of the fastener also makes a nice black plastic "foot" on the bottom of each magnet, which protects the finish on the tractor from marring against the magnet, without being so thick as to block magnetic attraction.

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June 21, 2009

Happy Father's Day!

From all of us here at MAKE and CRAFT, we're wishing you and your loved ones a grand ol' Dad's Day! We hope you're all enjoying a fantastic day with the family. Pictured above is some DAD binary cross stitch with RAM frame by Early Bird Special.

June 19, 2009

How-To: Custom beer bottles

Over at CRAFT, Rachel points us to this tutorial for customizing a six pack of beer for Father's Day. Great for homebrew!

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June 18, 2009

O'Reilly Father's Day discount

O'Reilly is offering a discount of 40% on books, courses, workshops, and conferences in celebration of Father's Day. They're even throwing in a 20% Maker Shed discount when you use code DAD40 through June 22:

We're also sharing stories and posting photos of geeky Dads and Grandpas with their favorite tech books here. Please send us your fav pics to press@oreilly.com (by Friday, June 19). We'll be twittering about our Father's Day celebration, too. Please use #geekdad when you twitter.

Pictured above is O'Reilly's senior sysadmin, Dean Roman, and his kids (we're feeling love for you over here, too, Dean)!

More:

DIY for Dad: Happy Father's Day from MAKE, a gift guide for Dad

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