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March 19, 2010

Cool Idea: Bannister ropes

Image courtesy W.R. Outhwaite & Son, Ropemakers.

Depending on where you live, this may be old hat for you, but I've lived 30 years on this earth and never seen a rope bannister before. And I just finished remodeling my staircase too. Besides being less expensive, easier to ship, easier to install, and way more interesting than a rigid handrail, a rope bannister is an awesome excuse to do some classic knotwork and play with giant-gauge rope. I'm pretty sure that's a Matthew Walker knot (Wikipedia) there in the end of that one.

March 18, 2010

DIY geiger counter

MarkusB of Lets Make robots designed this simple Geiger counter. If you've somehow come across a Geiger counter tube and want to make a detector out of it, this could be just the thing you need. His design uses only commonly available parts, and is powered by a 5v power supply. He plans to make a radiation-seeking robot out of it, perhaps as an atomic version to Natalie Jeremijenko's feral robotic dogs?

This is all well and good, but how does the circuit work? Let's take a look:

How-To: Make rigid carbon fiber tubes

Epoxyworks is a free magazine published biannually, and archived online, by Michigan's Gougeon Brothers, Inc., who use it to promote their West System brand of epoxy resins, which I have not used and have no stake in, but it's chock full of tutorials, tips, and techniques for working with composite materials that could probably be "de-branded" and used with whomever's products you prefer. Shown here are photos from one article that caught my eye (PDF), by J.R. Watson, showing how to form straight and curved rigid composite tubes in carbon fiber, kevlar, fiberglass, or other braided material by laying the composite up over a mold made from split foam pipe insulation. It also covers techniques for joining the finished rigid tubing sections. [Thanks, Alan Dove!]

From the pages of MAKE:

John Wanberg showed us how to make a carbon fiber composite iPod case back in MAKE 9.

More:

March 17, 2010

SWM seeks experienced chemist for "explosive polymerization"

Image: S2-P2-P6, by sculptor Roxy Paine.

About a year ago I was wandering around Maker Faire Bay Area thinking about polymerization. Collin had recently posted his now-world-famous cymatics video, and I was standing around talking to the TAP plastics folks about whether it might be possible to "freeze" cymatic forms by applying the sound waves to some kind of polymer resin that could then be solidifed, almost instantaneously, by adding a drop or two of catalyst. I had, you will not be surprised to learn, been drinking heroic amounts of coffee.

But in the subsequent process of researching fast polymerization reactions, I came across an intriguing term: Explosive polymerization. Visions of exploding goo bombs pushed schemes for freezing cymatics to the back-burner, and I started Googling around excitedly, seeking the inevitable YouTube video that would show me exactly what an "explosive polymerization" looked like, and if it was as exciting as it sounded.

As far as I can tell, they're aren't any.

Moreover, textual information in the tubes is scanty. The phrase appears in the abstracts of a few articles in polymer science journals, and in safety warnings associated with certain chemicals that are prone to explosively polymerize and with those that are prone to initiate the process. (Including some safety nightmares that are in both categories.) Inevitably it's considered as, you know, a bad thing. An uncontrolled, useless, and probably dangerous process to be avoided if at all possible.

And I'm sure that's all true. But it sounds really neat. And I want to see it.

I mean, taking proper precautions, I can set off a firecracker or other small conventional explosive, film it, show it off to others, and generally have a good time learning something about the natural world. And even though I've got a graduate degree in organic chemistry, I know comparatively little about polymers, and I'm not about to start experimenting without advice from somebody who knows what from what-not.

So I'm crowd-sourcing the problem. Is there a specialist in the house who knows something about explosive polymerization? And if so, can you tell me: What is the polymerization analog of a small firecracker? Some kind of diminutive goo-bomb that will go off impressively but without injuring bystanders or spraying horrible toxins everywhere? I mean theoretically, of course. I can't promise to actually do anything unless I can satisfy myself it's really safe, but maybe somebody can point me in the right direction?

March 15, 2010

LED lighting PCB board etching

MAKE Flickr pool member Joel Miller (jmillerid) is planning some LED lighting for his house and has been evaluating Luxeon Rebel LEDs. He etched these boards to experiment with different colors, their heat values, etc.

Luxeon Rebels are designed to dissipate heat through a large "no connection" solder pad directly under the chip. There are specific guidelines for the design of the PCB to draw this heat away from the LED which include a multitude of plated vias to increase the copper surface area. I'm unable to create plated vias in my homemade boards, so my intent is to mount the board to an aluminum plate, using an aluminum machine screw to draw the heat through the hole in the middle of the board.

LED lighting, part 1

More:

Circuit Skills: Circuit Board Etching, sponsored by Jameco

March 12, 2010

Cardboard horse to hide paper tiger

Artists Juniper and T.J. Tangpuz built this paper horse out of cardboard and wire ties. Most impressive! [via boing boing]

March 11, 2010

Play Clothtylophone combines best features of pillow, synthesizer

Spotted in the MAKE Flickr pool:

Flickr user syano made this stylish clothtylophone, a functional cross-stitch Stylophone. Nice work! Here's what the insides look like:

In the Maker Shed:

Lilypad E-Sewing Kit

March 5, 2010

Scientific cookie round-ups

I didn't know such a thing as scientific cookies existed, or even that a round-up (or two) were needed to show off all the flavors and possibilities that creative people have come up with. But now I realize I was living in the plain white flour and possibly moldy pantries of mundane cookiedom. Why make a star sugar cookie when you can make a sugar cookie atom?

$fractal_cookies_evilmad_make.jpg$

Luckily, Ms. Humble of Not So Humble Pie is blogging about all the geeky baked goodies she can find, and she's gathered them up in two (so far) round-ups. Of course our inspired cooking pals over at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories are included!

Science Cookie Round Up 1

Science Cookie Round Up 2

More:

Sierpinksi Cookies

February 19, 2010

How-To: Make the key glowstick chemical yourself

I have lots of hare-brained projects involving chemiluminescence that are currently back-burnered because the chemical that causes the bright chemiluminescence of commercial glowsticks, i.e. trichlorophenyl oxalate (TCPO, shown below), is relatively hard for hobbyists to acquire. I've even gone to the trouble of setting up a business account with a major chemical supplier, establishing business credit references, and getting my residential address approved to receive chemical shipments from them. Just so I could log onto their website and order 100g of TCPO. Which I did many months ago. It's been back-ordered with their supplier since then. Who knows when or if I'll ever actually get it.

This video from YouTuber NurdRage comes with a lot of caveats: the synthesis of TCPO from trichlorophenol and oxalyl chloride is relatively straightforward as syntheses go, and the starting materials are much easier to acquire than TCPO itself, but they're still not at all grocery-store type compounds. And it's not a thing to attempt without the expertise, equipment, and facilities to do it safely. Plus the creepy "Jigsaw" voice effect that the narrator uses to disguise his identity doesn't exactly inspire confidence. There's nothing illegal about this procedure, as far as I know, but I think he wants to remain anonymous so nobody can sue him if they try to play along at home and end up burning it down.

Nonetheless, I was grateful to find this video in the tubes, and will probably attempt it myself at some point. Famous last words, anyone?

Successor to domino toppling needs better name

Watch the video. This is one of those things you kind of have to see happen to understand.

A so-called "stick bomb," "frame bomb," or (worst of all) "xyloexplosive device" (Wikipedia) is an arrangement of flat flexible beams, like popsicle sticks or tongue depressors, that are woven together under tension such that they can be "set off" at one point and sort of explosively disassemble starting at that point, with the reaction propagating away along the structure. Like domino toppling, but flashier.

The problem is all of the common names for this trick would probably get you strip-searched if you used them at the airport.

TSA AGENT: "What are you doing with all these popsicle sticks?"

STICKBOMBER: "I'm going to a stick-bomb convention. I mean, I use them to build frame bombs. Haven't you ever heard of a xyloexplosive device?"

TSA AGENT: "Kindly put your hands in the air and step over here with me, sir. Don't make any sudden moves."

I'm not sure I have any better suggestions. But perhaps we can all brainstorm. "Poptomata?" "Spring-frames?" Anyone?

[via Boing Boing]

February 17, 2010

Building a CP/M 68k computer from scratch

João Silva's latest project is to build his own computer from scratch, and it looks like he is off to a great start. Based around the Motorola 68000 processor, he is attempting to build a system that can run the CP/M-68k operating system. Besides just figuring out how to wire the chips up correctly, he is also working on getting a compiler set up so that he can write C programs for his system. It's an ambitious project which harkens back to the good old days of building computers in one's garage using discrete components. I look forward to seeing his progress!

February 10, 2010

Turning two pots into one efficient pot

Here's an interesting idea by Kenyan maker Dominic Wanjihia. By taking the rim from a Sufuria cooking pot, flipping it upside down, and attaching it to a slightly smaller pot, he was able to more efficiently capture heat from a fire. The result should be that less fuel is required to cook a meal, which is both an economic and environmental win.

This might actually solve a problem that I've had at home. One of my cooking pots has small plastic handles on it's sides instead of a single long one. So much heat escapes from my gas range around the side of the pot that it heats up the handles, making it difficult to pick up. Of course I could just use a pot with a different handle, however Dominic's device makes me wonder if that heat would be better captured if the pot had an oversize bottom to completely cover the burner. Think it would work? Does anyone sell them? If not, I might have to break out the welder and do some experiments... [via afrigadget]

February 8, 2010

Melting table

I'm digging this melting table by woodcarver Rob Smith. Beautiful! [via Dude Craft]

January 28, 2010

MAKE Volume 21: EL wire primer

Here on Make: Online, we've featured lots of projects that use electrolumiscent wire, like the barbershop pole, the sequencing costume, and the angler fish. EL wire is a really flexible (pun intended) way to add lighting to your projects, and it's fairly easy to use. In the newest issue of MAKE, Volume 21, we offer an 8-page primer on how to use EL wire, including the anatomy of EL wire, a discussion of drivers and sequencers, a comparison between EL wire and LEDs, and walking you through creating an animated blinking eye (frames shown above). If you already have MAKE 21, flip on over to page 142 and get started. If not, you can pick one up at a fine newsstand near you, get one over in the Maker Shed, or subscribe and have knowledge delivered to your doorstep.

January 21, 2010

Lathe experiment: captive ring

Our own Matt Mets has been experimenting with a metal lathe at Hack Pittsburgh, and made this aluminum rod with a captive ring in collaboration with Matt Stultz by carving the ring our of a section of the rod. Rad, and great photo!

January 19, 2010

Cutting glass bottles with acetone and string

Here's another method for cutting glass bottles, by Mike is bored: How to cut a wine bottle with acetone and a string. It doesn't look nearly as precise as the score-and-heat method, though. Anyone try this out? [Thanks, Mandy!]

More:

Lindy bomb in style with restored radio

Radio hacker and swing dancer Greg Charvot is at it again with his latest restoration, the Retro Boom Box. His local swing group was in need of a portable radio to use for impromptu Lindy Hopping, so he outfitted a 1940's radio with modern batteries that they could use while on the run. Here's what he has to say about it:

I hang out with swing dancers. We like to lindy bomb, where we dress up in vintage clothing and show up somewhere where there is no dancing with a boom box. We start playing an old song from the 30's and start dancing. It can be kind of obnoxious but it is very festive. This has occurred in subway stations, at furniture stores, art festivals, and etc.

Our team was using a 'boom box' from the late 90's, so i decided to upgrade to something more in the time-frame of our clothing. I found a 1946 battery powered (and AC) portable tube radio, the Olympic model 6-606. Unfortunately this radio is AM only and it requires type A filament and type B high-voltage plate batteries that are no longer available, and of course like all antique radios it needed restoration.

I restored the radio to original specifications. Then i hacked into it's audio circuitry to create an ipod connection. There is a small toggle switch on the back so that you can select the audio source as either the AM radio or an ipod. From there i built a replacement battery pack to replace the type A and B batteries. This battery pack requires 16 batteries (costing over $30), 10 9V's and 6 C batteries to power the radio for a reasonable amount of time.

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January 13, 2010

Lifelike robots teach students about marine life

This playful killer whale (orca) is actually a robot. One of a series of over 100 different creatures, it was built by Masamichi Hayashi to teach children about marine biology. There isn't much information about how they are made, however they look beautiful. Lucky kids! [via inhabitat]

January 12, 2010

Improbable gyro monorail

This improbable-looking gyro-powered monorail appears to have been built by MORI Hiroshi. The monorail car balances on the track using a gyroscope flywheel, with a control system that can change its alignment to keep the car upright.

The concept was independently developed 100 years ago by Louis Brennan, August Scherl, and Piotr Schilovsky, each of whom built models large enough to transport humans! [via Make: Japan]

More:

Electric miniature mono-railway

DIY hourglass

Dave writes in to share his friend Andrei's project, a homemade hourglass. Andrei made this using two wine glasses, hardwood, brass screws and a keen attention to detail. Excellent job!