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MAKE Magazine (11 unread)

CRAFT weekly recap

Posted: February 14th, 2010, 8:12pm MST

This week on CRAFT we saw:

Crochet 3D Glasses and more...
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Unusual mechanism: The rolleron

Posted: February 14th, 2010, 8:07pm MST

Yes, this is a missile. Sorry about that. But it turns out the AIM-9 Sidewinder is the only well-documented example I can find, on the web, of a machine that employs these interesting little widgets called "rollerons." See the little metal pinwheels at the trailing corners of the fins? The rolleron is basically an air-driven gyroscope, as Tom Harris explains over on HowStuffWorks:

[A] spinning wheel resists lateral forces acting on it. In this case, the gyroscopic motion counteracts the missile's tendency to roll -- to rotate about its central axis. The simple, cheap rollerons steady the missile as it zips through the air, which keeps the seeker assembly from spinning at top speed. This makes it a lot easier to track the target...

Cool, neh? And there could certainly be nonlethal applications for all you hobby rocketeers out there. [Thanks, Lewis!]

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Make: Together (more collaborative couples)

Posted: February 14th, 2010, 6:01pm MST

We asked several of our favorite maker couples to tell us a little bit about the ups and down of their collaborative process. This touches on two of our current site themes, today being Valentine's Day, and this quarter having a Maker Business theme. All three of these couples have turned their passion for making things, and their ability to work well together, into successful small maker businesses. Jillian Northrup and Jeffrey McGrew run Because We Can, a CNC-driven design and fabrication shop in Oakland, CA. Amy Parness and Ariel Churi run Sparkle Labs, creating "hi-tech, high-touch" products and environments, such as the awesome DIY Design Electronics Kit. Dave and Cheryl Hrynkiw run http://www.solarbotics.com/, the premier supplier of BEAM and other types of robotic kits and parts. Thanks to all three couple for taking the time out to talk to us. Happy Valentine's Day -- Gareth

MAKE: What sorts of projects do you collaborate on? How long have you been doing it?

Jillian Northrup (and Jeffrey McGrew): Well, right now, we run our design-build business, Because We Can, together. But we've been working together since we met, which was in 2000. When we first started dating, we decided to put together an arts and events newsletter and secret society, of sorts, we called it "Loteria Cabal." We wrote a monthly newsletter together, doing about four events a month (one of the events was our wedding!). It was really fun! We did that for about three years, then stopped, focused on the Art Car we made together for about a year, then decided to start the business that we run today. We've been in business since 2006.

Amy Parness (and Ariel Churi): We make toys and art projects together. We also make dinner. We like to make cupcakes and ice cream. We've been doing it for about 7 years.

Dave (and Cheryl) Hryrinkiw: Cheryl supports my weird ambition to be a self-proclaimed "Chief Geek" at my own little technology company. We've been at it for...wow... 17 years?!? Why is she still married to me?
The Solarbotics staff. Cheryl and Dave are on the upper right. Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Makers | Digg this!
Lego Segway needs only NXT 2.0 parts

Posted: February 14th, 2010, 6:00pm MST

This isn't the first Lego Segway (defined as a balancing bot on two wheels) -- that honor would probably go to Steve Hassenplug's Legway. However, the Legway used two EOPDs (Electro-Optical Proximity Detector) from HiTechnic Sensors to balance. What's cool about this project is that it needs only those parts found in a standard NXT 2.0 set. Most notably, it uses a light sensor in place of the expected (and non-standard) gyro sensor.

By using the NXT Color Sensor as a simple proximity sensor to the ground to detect the approximate tilt angle of the robot, the robot can actually balance itself!

For more fun, if you have a second NXT brick, you can make the Segway rider on this robot lean forwards and backwards via Bluetooth remote control, which will cause the robot to start rolling forward or backwards while staying balanced, just like a real Segway!

Most self-balancing robots (including the actual Segway PT) use one or more gyroscopic sensors to detect the actual tilt angle of the robot from true vertical. This robot uses only the NXT Color Sensor (in light sensor mode) by aiming the sensor at the ground and measuring reflected light, which will change slightly depending on how close the sensor is to the ground.

[via The NXT Step]
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Using snow to see heat transfer

Posted: February 14th, 2010, 3:00pm MST

In these photos, you can see the heat transfer happening through a number of roofs in my neighborhood. In a wintery time like we have now, the snow acts as an indicator of your insulation. If you have a full roof of snow, then you're well insulated. If you have spots of bare roof surrounded by snow, then inside the house is an area where it's uninsulated, or poorly insulated. If your roof doesn't hold the snow at all, then it's time to look at your attic insulation. Sunny, South facing roofs will naturally clear faster on clear days, due to the input of solar energy. Any part of your building envelope that transfers heat is spending your money and wasting energy resources.

On some of these roofs, you can see areas of white lines. These are the rafters. The roofing structure is thicker there, and heat isn't transferring as well in those spots. A nearby antique cape, shows that the rafters are 3 or 4 feet apart. That is a big difference from the way it would be framed in modern times with the rafters at 16 inches on center.

One neighborhood house sports a chimney from a woodstove. It seems that the rafter bay where the chimney pierces the roof is totally uninsulated, judging from the lack of snow on that one section of the roof.

On my house, you can see thin spots about two feet from the gutter. That is the place where the studs from the wall meet the rafters. This unusual framing technique seems to have been done to save on materials when building the house. The wall is well insulated, as is the attic. Its just the junction point that is radiating heat.

Before this winter, there were three bare spots on a section of roof over the mudroom in my house. I noticed these spots, and really noticed the cold air flowing from the recessed lights in that room. For a few winters, I put up insulating window plastic over the fixtures to keep the warm in and the cold out. These lights have since been removed and the cavities insulated, there is still a bit of melting in those locations, but nothing like it was.

What can you see by looking at the exterior of the houses around you? Can you see the energy flowing from warm to cold? Does this help you see improvements you can make to your house?

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Happy Chinese New Year!

Posted: February 14th, 2010, 2:30pm MST

2010 is the Year of the Tiger - symbol of vivacious bravery! Go ahead, venture into unknown territory or kick your current skill level up a notch by trying something new. This year can be a great time to proudly show the world what we've cranked out this past year of the Ox!
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Vintage miniature stories

Posted: February 14th, 2010, 2:00pm MST

Recently, I came across photographer Michael Paul Smith, who has an online showcase of his miniature scene photographs.

I asked him to tell of his process, influences and techniques.
I first start off with some very rough sketches on the particular building I'm thinking of making. Really, they are mere scribbles, but they capture the key points of the structure. I have to ask myself questions like: when was this building built and in what style of architecture. Has this building been added to over the years and if so, in what way. If you walk down the center of town, and really study the buildings, you can see their history. For what I'm doing, my structures have to be generic enough so they don't look too unusual, yet they have to have some character to them to make them interesting. I also study photographs from the past. There are books out entitled Then and Now, which show photographs of buildings taken in the 1890's and also in the present at the exact same spot. These are very telling because you can see how drastically or subtly things have changed. I want my models to have the feeling that they have traveled in time.
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NYCR hackathon video

Posted: February 14th, 2010, 12:00pm MST

I just love watching the inspired tinkerings of sleep-deprived Club-Mate-swilling hackers. Readers, have you participated in an all-night hackstravaganza? Was it a good experience? What did you work on?
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Pa++ern: Tweet-to-embroidery production

Posted: February 14th, 2010, 9:00am MST

This art installation, originally designed by Daito Manabe and Motoi Ishibashi, allows Twitter-users to tweet instructions to web site that replies with an example output. Upon approval it sends the design to a bank of industrial sewing machines which then embroider the resulting pattern onto a t-shirt. The web site still works, but not sure if you can still buy the shirt you create. [via Open Materials]
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Make: Together (couples that collaborate)

Posted: February 14th, 2010, 7:30am MST

My friends Sean and Claire are always making and doing together. They do urban exploring, they psycho-geographically map the high-weirdness and local color of their beloved Baltimore, and they're always working on some kooky project together. Where other couples might be going out for a romantic dinner at some over-priced eatery, Sean and Claire will more likely to be found playing footsie while building their rendition of a Cabinet of Wonders from the Future or working on their Baltimore Babylon (my name for it, not theirs) model train board. In celebration of Valentine's Day, I asked them to write something up about the ins and outs of being a couple that collaborates and to tell us more about their unique take on model training. -- Gareth
Make: Together By Claire and Sean Carton

Barbie and Ken. Bill and Hillary. Bob and Rita (Marley). Laurie (Anderson) and Lou (Reed). Burt and Lonnie.

If there's stuff to make, and the willingness to make it, there's a long history of couples making it happen together. And call us icky romantics, but we think there's something special about two people coming together to make something bigger and better than either individual might accomplish on their own. Not to mention: It's fun!
"Beads? Bunny ears? After several months of working on their train layout together, they just don't care, anymore."

As a couple, we've always loved collaborating. It's probably one of the things that drew us together in the first place, starting with bashing out information architectures and creative strategies at a digital agency in Baltimore, MD, ten years ago. The process of collaborating, of brainstorming, of negotiating through the tough parts, of sweating the details, and finally, celebrating the birth of something that we'd created together, has always been a center point of our relationship.

So, how do you make it work, making things together? It isn't always easy. But we've done a passable job at figuring out how to creatively collaborate without killing each other, or ending up in divorce court. So we thought we'd take this opportunity to share with you some of what we've learned about making together. Is is Valentine's Day, after all.

Rather than serving up a bunch of bland, half-baked advice, we thought we'd take you inside one of our recent projects: our postmodern (and somewhat post-apocalyptic) train set, and the inevitable fallout. Hopefully, along the way, you'll gain some insight into how we make this work, and maybe take away some inspiration for how you can undertake collaborative projects together (if you aren't already).
Closeup of "Tyler's," Claire's re-creation of a 1968 riot-era bricked-over package store/bar Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Makers | Digg this!
Next Fab Studio in Philly

Posted: February 14th, 2010, 4:00am MST

Next Fab Studio in Philly...

NextFab Studio is a membership-based, high-tech workshop and prototyping center- it’s Philadelphia’s “gym for innovators”. Located in the University City Science Center, on Philadelphia’s Avenue of Technology, our brand new 3600 square foot facility provides comfortable, clean, and safe workspaces with hand tools, 3D printers, computer controlled machine tools, software, and electronics workbenches. Expert instructors and a community of collaborators are on hand to help you problem-solve and achieve your vision. NextFab Studio has everything necessary for you to invent, repair, create, and innovate!
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