Make Magazine - Volume 21 PDF
Make Magazine - Volume 21 PDF
Make Magazine - Volume 21 PDF
Cigar Box
Guitar!
page 76
YOUR DESKTOP 21
PROJECTS
FACTORY YOU CAN DO
PUSH-BUTTON
3D Manufacturing SPEED GAME,
at Home PADDED SWORDS,
MAGIC PHOTO CUBE,
SPECIAL SECTION SNOW GUN & MORE
BEGINS ON PAGE 45
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makezine.com
What is
the missing
component?
Industry guru Forrest M. Mims III has created yet another stumper.
The Ultra Simple Sensors Company assigned its engineering staff to
design a circuit that would trigger an LED when a few millimeters
of water is present in a basement or boat. What is the water sensor
behind the puzzle piece? Go to www.Jameco.com/unknown5 to see
if you are correct and while you are there, sign-up for our free full
color catalog.
1-800-831-4242 | www.Jameco.com
WELCOME BY DALE DOUGHERTY
Much More to Do
Five years in, MAKE is just getting started.
T
his issue marks the start of the sixth year of Tinkering is getting a good name again in
MAKE. Its been a wonderful five years, full education. There is greater recognition that tinker-
of surprises and challenges. Im grateful to ing is a practical and productive way to learn almost
each of you who support our efforts by subscribing anything and a viable alternative to textbook learning.
or buying the magazine on the newsstand. Weve Its a shift away from proving what you know to
gotten to know so many of you and your incredible demonstrating what you can do. Its also a way of
work through makezine.com and Maker Faire. Five thinking with many levels of complexity. The most
years have gone by very fast, and yet it feels like important thing in education is to engage the student
were only just beginning to see the possibilities. both physically and mentally. Hands-on projects
do just that, especially when students are given the
Making spans generations and inspires people ability to explore their own ideas, develop them, and
of all ages. One of our great surprises is that MAKE then share them with others. I hope we can turn
appeals to kids and adults, and serves to bring them more students into creative makers.
together around projects. Learning to make some-
thing is stimulating and satisfying, whether you prefer DIY doesnt mean doing it by yourself.
LPs or MP3s. I hope this new partnership thrives. Its the paradox of DIY. A huge benefit of making
things yourself is that you discover there are other
Makers go pro, and more pros think of them- people a lot like you. There are people who want to
selves as makers. Makers are enthusiasts who collaborate (in person or across the web), or those
are doing what they love, which is the definition of who just appreciate what you do and offer tips and
amateurs. But were seeing some makers develop encouragement. Getting together to make things
a following, and begin to go pro. Theyre making and learn new skills at hackerspaces or maker labs is
kits, developing products, providing services, or fun and productive. I hope to see the growth of local
marketing their expertise. This grassroots innova- communities for makers in cities around the world.
tion deserves recognition as a valuable source of
new product ideas. MakerBot Industries, the cover Maker Faire comes to Detroit and New York City.
subject of our desktop manufacturing issue, is a Maker Faire will expand to two new cities this year, in
good example of makers who developed a product addition to the Bay Area. We want to be part of the
that enables others to create new things. The maker rebirth of Detroit. Were working with The Henry Ford
spirit is gaining recognition in the workplace as a Museum in Dearborn, Mich., which captures the heart
catalyst for design thinking. This is good news for and soul of American manufacturing. Detroit is also
the maker community, and remarkable in such a home to some of the best American music ever made.
challenging economy. I hope our new Makers Market And were excited to organize a Maker Faire on
(makersmarket.com) will foster new opportunities the East Coast, at the New York Hall of Science. With
for makers with new products or services to sell. a large number of makers, New York City offers a
chance to explore creativity, innovation, and educa-
Even in a digital age, this magazine offers a tion on a world stage. I hope youll get involved.
unique hands-on experience. (And a complete
set looks great on the shelf in your work area.) As you can see, theres a lot to look forward to in
Im proud of MAKE magazine and the editorial and the years ahead. And a whole lot more we hope to
creative teams who produce it. I am so appreciative do together.
of our readers whove told us how much this maga-
zine means to them. Lets keep a good thing going. Dale Dougherty is the editor and publisher of MAKE.
Make: 1
Let your geek
g shine.
Meet Steven Kennedy, SparkFun customer and
Orchard Park High School teacher. In one of his
classes, Steven helps his students discover the
world of physical computing by encouraging them
to explore all the facets of engineering whether
it is electrical, mechanical, or aeronautical. Using
SparkFun products, Stevens class has created
projects ranging from a homemade pick-and-place
machine to a robotic arm.
Sharing Ingenuity
W W W. S P A R K F U N . C O M
2010 SparkFun Electronics, Inc. All rights reserved. All other trademarks
contained herein are the property of their respective owners.
For more information about Stevens class and projects, please visit
www.youtube.com/user/OPHSTech or www.opschools.org.
Volume 21
46
46: The Revolution Will Be Squirted
An inside look at MakerBot Industries. By Becky Stern
68
Reinventing the wheel is not mandatory. By Cory Doctorow
Vol. 21,Jan. 2010. MAKE (ISSN 1556-2336) is published quarterly by OReilly Media,
Inc. in the months of January, April, July, and October. OReilly Media is located at
1005 Gravenstein Hwy. North, Sebastopol, CA 95472, (707) 827-7000. SUBSCRIP-
TIONS: Send all subscription requests to MAKE, P.O. Box 17046, North Hollywood,
CA 91615-9588 or subscribe online at makezine.com/offer or via phone at (866)
289-8847 (U.S. and Canada); all other countries call (818) 487-2037. Subscrip-
tions are available for $34.95 for 1 year (4 quarterly issues) in the United States;
ROBOT MADE: in Canada: $39.95 USD; all other countries: $49.95 USD. Periodicals Postage Paid at
Plastic milled by the Sebastopol, CA, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address
changes to MAKE, P.O. Box 17046, North Hollywood, CA 91615-9588. Canada
micRo CNC bot. Post Publications Mail Agreement Number 41129568. CANADA POSTMASTER:
Send address changes to: OReilly Media, PO Box 456, Niagara Falls, ON L2E 6V2
Make: 3
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Make: Projects
Traditional
Cigar Box Guitar
Build this 3-string instrument that
requires a minimum of tools and parts,
yet sounds great. By Mark Frauenfelder
76
Geared
Candleholder
Make an elegant, all-aluminum candle-
holder with a movement containing 3
handmade gears. By Benjamin Cowden
86
Reaction Timer
Use 555 timer chips to test your
reflexes in this experiment excerpted
from Make: Electronics.
By Charles Platt
96
Electroluminescent
(EL) Wire
Bring glow into your projects by learning
how to work this flexible, durable mate-
rial. By Louis M. Brill and Steve Boverie
142
Make: 5
Without our ShopBot and the great community
of other ShopBotters, we would have never
made it this far. Thanks to ShopBot and my
fellow ShopBotters for helping us to live our
dream of creating new and exciting designs.
Angus Hines, Hines Design Labs
www.AngusHines.com
Angus Hines life as a Maker began at the age of two when he took his first toy
apart to see what made it work. From that point on, if it had screws or could be
taken apart and dissected, nothing was safe. He was bound and determined to
see what made things work and find ways to make them work better.
After he retired from his career as a project manager and spent some time cruis-
ing the Chesapeake Bay, Angus began to get bored and restless. He turned to his
first love of creating new things and purchased a laser engraver. Angus started
Classic Marine Co. and began making instrument panels, indestructible LEDs and
other marine Items, but, as business grew, he decided he needed a larger, more
versatile platform. Angus purchased a ShopBot and expanded into larger design
projects like furniture, small buildings and larger marine items. Not content to
make things that already exist, he started another company, Hines Design Labs,
and has now ventured into prototyping, design assistance and helping people
take their ideas from a napkin sketch to a finished product. Angus love of making
has taken his company from a small marine manufacturing facility to a full-blown
design prototype shop, and his ShopBot helped make it all possible.
888-680-4466
What will you make today? www.shopbottools.com
Volume 21 d
eck the URL associate
READ ME: Always ch you get started. There
with a project before dates or corrections.
may be important up
Maker
18: Made on Earth
Snapshots from the world of backyard technology.
133: Kids
Scratch programming.
32
119: Imaging
Time-lapse movie setup. 136: Office
Photo cube, brass balls.
123: Outdoors
Bow drill firemaking, 139: Workshop
snowmaking system. Fan speed controller.
152: Toolbox
Almost affordable laser cutter, silicone rescue tape, and more.
Make: 7
As we benefit from the inventions
of others, we should be glad to
share our own freely and gladly. EDITOR AND PUBLISHER
Benjamin Franklin Dale Dougherty
[email protected]
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF CREATIVE DIRECTOR MAKER MEDIA DIVISION ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER & GM,
Mark Frauenfelder Daniel Carter CONSULTING PUBLISHER MAKER RETAIL
[email protected] [email protected] Fran Reilly Dan Woods
[email protected] [email protected]
MANAGING EDITOR DESIGNER
Shawn Connally Katie Wilson SALES ACCOUNT MANAGER DIRECTOR, RETAIL MARKETING
[email protected] Katie Dougherty Kunde & OPERATIONS
PRODUCTION DESIGNER Heather Harmon Cochran
ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITOR Gerry Arrington SALES & MARKETING
COORDINATOR MARKETING & EVENTS MANAGER
Goli Mohammadi PHOTO EDITOR Sheena Stevens Rob Bullington
PROJECTS EDITOR Sam Murphy
LOS ANGELES &
Paul Spinrad [email protected]
SOUTHWEST SALES
[email protected] EVENTS
Jeff Griffith, Joe Hustek
COPY CHIEF
ONLINE
626-229-9955 DIRECTOR, MAKER FAIRE
Keith Hammond SAN FRANCISCO & Sherry Huss
STAFF EDITOR WEB MANAGER PACIFIC NORTHWEST SALES
Arwen OReilly Griffith Tatia Wieland-Garcia Nick Freedman EVENT INQUIRIES
8 Make: Volume 21
Tech tattoos are just
the beginning...
From creating unique projects like architectural models to
engraving on high-tech gadgets, our laser systems provide
a wide variety of capabilities. Create all the products you The New Zing 24 Laser
see here with one very versatile laser system.
1.888.437.4564 [email protected]
Laura Cochrane (MAKEs editorial assistant) is a Northern California native who enjoys
wordplay. In college, she was able to write an A+ paper on the Greek philosophers Heraclitus
and Parmenides, even though her head almost exploded. She respects creativity and
genuine enthusiasm, and loves working with the MAKE and CRAFT crew because there
is an endless supply of both. She lives with a brother-and-sister pair of cats named
Cotswold and Trudy. When shes not hard at work fact-checking stories about amazing
and accomplished makers, she dabbles in Andean panpipes, yoga, biking, photography,
blowing bubbles, and knitting.
Brooklyn photographer Kate Lacey (cover photography) just remodeled her apartment,
and all of a sudden she would love to have you over for dinner. Kate was thrilled to shoot
this months cover, the MakerBot CupCake CNC 3D printer, and she cant wait to use one
to print out a sweet new Canon EOS 5D Mark II. Her book, Show Dogs: A Photographic Field
Guide, is coming this fall from Evil Twin Publications/DAP.
Jeremy Kerfs (DIY Scratch Programming) is a high school sophomore living in the San
Francisco Bay Area. He started programming with Lego NXT and BASIC and moved to
Python and Java for creating video games, where he makes his own graphics and sounds as
well. When not hacking, he likes juggling, and he hopes one day to merge his love of robotics
with the aforementioned juggling. His science fair project takes up vast amounts of his
time, but he also enjoys running track and cross-country.
Wendy Tremayne (DIY Bow Drill) is an event producer, conceptual artist, builder, and
teacher. She founded Swap-O-Rama-Rama (swaporamarama.org), a now international
event thats a hybrid of clothing swap and skill-sharing, in an effort to transform consumers
into makers. She frequently can be found giving presentations on the subject The Maker
Is the Revolutionary. Wendy writes regular features for CRAFT (craftzine.com) about
innovators of reuse and natural materials. She lives off-grid in Truth or Consequences,
N.M., where she develops sustainable building techniques. Check her out online at
blog.holyscraphotsprings.com and gaiatreehouse.com.
Louis M. Brill aka Louie Lights and Steve Boverie aka Dr. Glowire (Electroluminescent
Wire Primer) are co-founders of Light N Wire Productions. Dr. Glowire (pictured) has
designed and built a multitude of maverick and miscellaneous EL wire projects for
costumes, props, and Burning Man theme camps. Known for his deft technique with
a soldering iron and intuitive grasp of building custom devices, hes created many an
electronic gizmo. Louie Lights began his quest for an intimate knowledge of light in
New York Citys SoHo district in the early 1970s. He has co-designed many LED and
lightwire devices for Burning Man events, and operates The Theater of Performing Lights.
10 Make: Volume 21
Grab these great products online at makershed.com
TK TK TK
TK TK TK
AIR ROCKET KIT OLLO ACTION KIT ARDUINO
Complete kit for the rocket Build your own robot in no PROJECTS PACK
launcher featured in MAKE, time with this construction Everything you need for an
Volume 15. Just add a few kit for beginner robot Arduino project, from the
pumps of air and youll enthusiasts. Arduino itself to buttons,
be sending rockets up sensors, resistors, motors,
hundreds of feet. Includes switches, and more.
supplies for 15 rockets.
12 Make: Volume 21
MAKE FREE BY CORY DOCTOROW
I
dont know if youve noticed it, but holy awe-
some, there is a lot of stuff lying around. If you Theres a strain of thinking that
want some high-density memory, you can just says its cheating to innovate by
go get it off the shelf no need to shut yourself up
in the basement for a year winding cores. remixing or reconguring other
Componentized pieces like Arduino boards are peoples existing inventions.
likewise wonderfully convenient, getting a lot of the
finicky stuff out of the way so that you can focus
on creating. Weve got highly polished text editors, people living with AIDS had to take these pills sepa-
web servers, operating systems; whole libraries rately, which is error-prone and difficult (especially
of preconfigured virtual machines; mountains of for kids). Because of Ciplas legal innovation, they
cheap electronic toys to raid for parts. were able to technically innovate and produce an
The proliferation of stuff isnt without its problems AIDS pill that saves lives.
(theres a patch of plastic garbage bigger than Texas And yet theres a strain of thinking that says
floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean), but its somehow cheating to innovate by remixing or
theres a lot of good news for makers in the stuff reconfiguring other peoples existing inventions
explosion. that its not really yours unless you design it from
For starters, just consider the opportunities that the ground up. But everything was invented once
arise from standardized packaging (To make your wheels, pencils, math, light bulbs. Its literally impos-
cantenna, first drill a hole in the cholesterol count sible to create without standing on the shoulders of
on the back of the Pringles can; then puncture the giants (this sentence was created with raw material
Pringles mascots left eye, nose, and left lapel.) provided by Mr. Isaac Newton, whose contribution
Having a lot of stuff lying around opens the door is gratefully acknowledged herein).
for a different kind of innovation than was char- Theres nothing wrong with etching your own
acteristic of previous generations. You can buy circuit boards instead of using an Arduino if thats
a whole, fully assembled radio and innovate by what floats your boat. Theres nothing wrong with
changing its firmware so that it does something inventing exciting new compounds instead of
the inventor never considered. You can innovate mixing up stuff from a chem supply house if it
by developing Chumby widgets, or by modifying makes you happy.
standardized knitting patterns to make them But theres no virtue in eschewing existing tools
more mathematically interesting. simply to be more original. Youd fire an accountant
You can even innovate by doing less (as Brian who announced that he couldnt do your taxes until
Enos aphorism goes, Not doing the thing that he finished reinventing double-entry bookkeeping.
nobody had ever thought of not doing.) Think of Youd get out of a taxi whose driver was testing out
the iPod, which succeeded in part by having fewer octagonal wheels just to be different from the pack.
features and doing less than the confusing, clut- Great ideas may involve reinventing the wheel, but
tered first-wave MP3 players that preceded it. they may not. If youve got a wonderful idea that you
Or you can innovate by finding a way to overcome can try out more quickly with off-the-shelf parts,
social problems that prevented a technical fix. Cipla, give your imagination its due and let it get right to
an Indian pharmaceutical company, took advantage the good part, without having to boringly invent
of Indias compulsory license on anti-AIDS drugs stuff that already exists.
(a compulsory license requires pharma companies
to sell their drugs to all comers at a set fee) in order
Cory Doctorows latest novel is Makers (Tor Books U.S.,
to create an anti-AIDS cocktail that combined drugs HarperVoyager U.K.). He lives in London and co-edits the
from rival manufacturers. Before Ciplas innovation, website Boing Boing.
14 Make: Volume 21
TALES FROM MAKE: ONLINE BY GARETH BRANWYN
Make: 15
READER INPUT
16 Make: Volume 21
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MADEONEARTH
Report from the world of backyard technology
18 Make: Volume 21
Cranked-Up Creativity
Mike Adairs wife reports that he sleepwalks more They worked all year making things to sell, Adair
when hes in the middle of designing a toy. Adair, a remembers. My dad cut out wood shapes and my
44-year-old artist from Overland Park, Kan., works mom did tole painting. With his crafty parents and
at Hallmark. In his spare time, he builds brightly col- fascination with animatronics, Adairs artistic incli-
ored wooden crank toys in his basement workshop. nations were fed from a young age. As an adult, he
Most of his toys employ a hand crank that powers visited Londons Cabaret Mechanical Theatre, which
pulley wheels that create animation. The first crank inspired him to begin building crank-animated toys.
toy he made, The Debate, depicts the visceral nature His approach to coming up with toy ideas varies;
of human disagreement with humor and elegance. hes found it easiest to begin with the mechanics
The busts of two men face each other; the one and build the concept afterward, but hes learning to
smoking a pipe nods his head slowly, while the work both ways. As my mental mechanism library
other, with a cigarette, shakes his head more vigor- increases, Im able to come at it from the concept
ously. Using different sizes and shapes of pulley side and find the mechanism to carry it out, he says.
wheels and arm lengths, Adair can generate mul- In addition to building toys, Adair draws a comic
tiple speeds of action using a single crank. for Boys Life magazine and hopes to make a pop-
Growing up in Southern California, Adair loved up book. For his next crank toy, hes finishing a
Disneylands animatronic attractions, counting zombie cow tromping through a graveyard, called
America Sings and Country Bear Jamboree among Night of the Living Cud. When the cow opens its
his favorites: Great examples of animatronic genius! decaying mouth, a canned moo will escape.
His family made a pilgrimage to the park every other Laura Cochrane
year, and his parents raised money for the visits by
participating in neighborhood craft shows. Crank Animations in Action: mikeadair.com/Toys.htm
Make: 19
MADEONEARTH
Bright Idea
The chandelier that Eric Lawrence built from the as with CFs. Finally, he found some 5-watt, dimmable
molded styrofoam his new Apple computer came in fluorescent bulbs that emitted the perfect glow and
looks like barracks that Frank Lloyd Wright would burned as brightly as 20-watt incandescents, yet
have designed for the Imperial Stormtroopers in didnt get dangerously hot.
Star Wars, he explains. Hes right. Ive had [the 5-watt bulbs] on for 24 hours and
Lawrence, 42, a web designer and former art can go grab a bulb in my hand, he says.
student at the University of Texas, Austin, made the In May 2009, Lawrence entered a 16-bulb,
first Styrolight a few years ago. Hed just bought a 35"35" Styrolight into the Austin Design Within
new laptop, had all this styrofoam packaging lying Reach showrooms M+D+F furniture competition.
around, and owed his nephew a Christmas present. When he won the sustainability prize, he took
He did the math. home a gift card, lots of attention, and endless
I like the way the foam diffuses light, Lawrence bragging rights.
says. Its keeping it out of the landfill, and I just like More commissions are coming his way, but hes
the shape. got a problem. Unfortunately, Apple has quit using
Photograph by Eric Lawrence
More lights followed. He tested different glues styrofoam, so my free source of materials no longer
(settling on a hot glue gun) to connect the white exists. I have enough left to build one big one.
blocks of foam and play with new shapes. He joined Be on the lookout for his next bright idea.
these to homemade aluminum frames of used bar Megan Mansell Williams
and angle stock using two-part epoxy.
He bought all kinds of compact fluorescent light >> Foam Chandeliers: styrolight.com
bulbs in search of the right color and brightness.
LEDs werent simple and their color wasnt as nice
20 Make: Volume 21
Emotional Aquatics
Inspired by Argentine writer Julio Cortzars non-repetitive, fluid motions similar to swimming,
short story of a mans emotional obsession with giving it a 3D appearance. Were still waiting for
aquarium life, Axolotl is about more than just an the creature to surprise us and do something really
algorithmically enhanced animation displaying stupid we didnt teach it, says Ohana.
life-like traits from a fish tank. Its also about the The creature is projected onto a fish tank from
responses it gets. behind while an attached camera captures faces,
NYU Interactive Telecommunications Program streaming them into the computer where OpenCV-
(ITP) grad student Eyal Ohana, 35, came up with based software detects each face and its position.
the idea for Axolotl while brainstorming ways to Metaphorically speaking, says Ohana, our
portray life and instigate reaction through creature can see. It then reacts in one of two ways:
motion and form. Classmate Filippo Vanucci, 28, shy but playfully curious, or totally terrified a
joined forces for its physical and interactive imple- shrinking retreat that viewers seem to favor. Sound
mentation. The result is a 3D audiovisual display texture correlating to the creatures movements
attracting onlookers with a digitized squid-like adds ambiance. It was most recently shown at
creature that responds to facial recognition by Brooklyns MediaLounge festival in June 2009.
Photograph by Rob Ryan
simulating a sense of interaction and involvement. Responses are diverse. Some see Axolotl as
To create Axolotls creature, Ohana and Vanucci something funny and cute. Others try to trick it,
utilized the open source programming language hoping for a sudden reaction. But one things cer-
Processing 1.0. Each of the creatures movements, tain: for eliciting interaction, its a success.
such as undulating and contracting, are subject to Laura Kiniry
physical forces like gravity and friction, but are also
modified with unpredicted values. This generates Axolotl Video: eyalohana.com/axolotl
Make: 21
MADEONEARTH
I was especially interested in three-wheeled Cyr hopes the Kart will stimulate conversation
bikes and how workers hauled gigantic loads on the about self-reliance, mobility, and shelter. He envi-
bikes flatbed, Cyr explains. I saw people carrying sions it as a functioning sculpture emblematic of
loads of building materials, large pieces of furniture, human perseverance.
huge bags of styrofoam, really huge items that Thomas Walker Wilson
people in the West would use pickup trucks for.
The Camper Bike is an amalgamation of some- More Work by Cyr: kevincyr.net
22 Make: Volume 21
The Art of Fusion
In art world lingo, an artists artist is someone manmade, the constructed, and the built.
greatly admired by his or her peers, earning But before we take this apocalyptic scenario too
accolades from other artists that are oftentimes seriously, Pankin who actually lives and works in
followed by critical and/or commercial success. close proximity to the majestic Sequoia National
With his innovative use of plywood, fake fur, saw- Forest steps in with tongue-in-cheek titles and
dust, foam, model-scale trees, and other familiar visual puns. Hog Wild (2008) is a big hogs head
goods, Jared Pankin might inspire a new term: the made from patched-together fake fur and mounted
crafters artist. on the wall like a hunting trophy. In Half Knot (2008),
This is not to say that the art world hasnt also the front of a fox is completed by a chunk of dark
embraced Pankins whimsically wild sculptures; his wood in back, which doubles as a tail that eases
Photograph courtesy of Carl Berg Projects
three solo exhibitions in Los Angeles got the stamp effortlessly into a tree, stretching into the air above
of approval from several contemporary art critics. the animal as it teeters on a tower that seems part
But its this combination of art and craft that make Tinkertoy and part craggy mountainside.
Pankins chunky pseudo-naturescapes so compelling. The environment is endangered, but Pankin
Pankins tableaux are both serious and light- isnt waiting for it to disappear. Instead, he leaps
hearted. Constructed from wood that is either found headfirst into a sea of imaginative re-envisioning,
or easily available at the local hardware store, his creating neither replica nor homage to nature, but
works often resemble floating landscapes. These a playful fusion of the organic and the manmade, of
reference and refute nature at the same time, as if art and craft.
their makers knowledge of the organic stemmed Megan Mansell Williams
from photographs or postcards, during an era when
the natural world had been fully supplanted by the >> More Pankin: makezine.com/go/pankin
Make: 23
MADEONEARTH
Mechanimals Menagerie
In the imaginary mechanical underworld they and purposeful. Theyd look less useful.
inhabit, the elephant is a bulldozer, the giraffe Each sculpture starts with what Chase considers
is a crane, the cheetah a courier. In real life, the the hardest part: the eyes and head. From there he
mechanical animals, or mechanimals, are the creates the torso and legs, giving each limb fully
work of Salt Lake City, Utah, sculptor and com- functional joints, albeit in a single plane. Due to the
mercial photographer Andrew Chase, who welded nature of Chases car-parts medium, the animals
them together from sheet metal, iron pipe, and are all roughly the same size, averaging about 3 feet
used car parts. tall and weighing up to 125 pounds.
Chase, 42, began building the mechanical beasts Chases mechanical elephant went through four
in 2004 as props for a childrens book he wrote and iterations before taking on its pachyderm form. On
photographed, Timmy. In the as-yet-unpublished my second try the body was better but still wrong.
story, a robot leaves his subterranean home to It looked too much like a dog. Finally, I swallowed
explore the surface. Chase took the background my pride and found some good reference material,
Photography by Andrew Chase
photos first, then matched the lighting, and finally he admits. Now he relies heavily on photos and
positioned the mechanimals in his studio, later animal anatomy drawings.
merging the images via Photoshop. Each beasty takes between 60 to 80 hours, says
About his use of old transmission gears and bear- Chase. Much of that time is spent scrubbing parts
ings, Chase says, It is partly a financial decision cocooned in sedimentary layers of oil, grease, and
theyre free. But beyond that, they look neat. Things dirt. The cleanup sucks, he says. Its horrible.
that are made for a purpose have a certain elegance Ian Dille
about them, he says. If I didnt incorporate gears
and bearings, the animals wouldnt look as industrial >> Chases Mechanimals: makezine.com/go/mechanimals
24 Make: Volume 21
In the Zome
The next big thing in construction may follow the and available free from the Google 3D Warehouse.
example of the car industry it might be all about While the goal was to create a structure that any-
the hybrid. one with access to a CNC tool could easily make and
Rob Bell and Patricia Algara created their own assemble, thats not to say the initial build was a piece
hybrid structure, a DIY greenhouse they call the of cake. The Algarden Zome took 80 hours of CNC
Algarden Zome. A Zome is a sort of hybridized cutting and assembly, then friends were recruited for
structure; part geodesic dome, part jewel, and part more days of site prep, painting, and assembly.
yurt, explains Bell, who used the same concept to The biggest difficulty Bell and Algara had was
make a tent-like Zomecile that won accolades at managing the many distinct but similar-looking
the Austin Maker Faire in 2007. parts. The Algarden Zome consists of 84 individual
By salvaging the plastic sheeting from an old panels, each built from two separate frames encas-
collapsed greenhouse and making good use of their ing translucent plastic sheeting. The 168 panel
ShopBot CNC router, this software engineer and frames are actually made from 1,344 individual
landscape architect duo were able to inexpensively pieces cut from marine-grade birch plywood, and
build a replicable design. They based the structure keeping all these pieces organized was challenging.
Photo courtesy of Rob Bell
on a class of polyhedra known as zonohedra. The unique building pattern is extremely versa-
While a dome will tend to resemble a sphere, tile, and its jewel-like symmetry makes it a nice fit
a Zome will resemble a jewel, explains Bell, who for yoga studios and guest cottages, Bell points out:
works as a designer and fabricator when hes not The organic design is very aesthetically harmonious
writing software. and spiritually resonant. Bruce Stewart
Designed as a model for building similar struc-
tures, the Algarden Zome designs are open source >> More Zome Photos: makezine.com/go/zome
Make: 25
COUNTRY SCIENTIST BY FORREST M. MIMS III
Snow Science
D
epending on the circumstances, a landscape provide a slight warm bias. But the most significant
coated with snow can be a winter wonder- warming is often caused by nearby roads, parking
land, a major nuisance, or a disaster in the lots, and buildings.
making. Theres another way to view the white stuff Snow also provides an ideal tool for photograph-
as well, because snow can provide an important ing and studying natural heat islands. For example,
resource for doing science. rocks emerging through snow will quickly warm
Both scientists and photographers have long when exposed to sunlight and melt nearby snow.
studied and photographed the astonishing beauty Stumps and living vegetation will also become warm
of individual snowflakes. Here well concentrate on and cause melting. This provides interesting clues
snow that has reached the ground. Well explore about the survival of insects and microorganisms
some of its characteristics and effects on the envi- during winter.
ronment, aside from the moisture it provides. You can do a variety of experiments that illustrate
how heat islands affect snow. The simplest is to
Snow as a Heat Island Indicator place various objects on snow in an open area
The temperature measured by many of the ever- with plenty of sunlight. Sheets of black and white
diminishing number of climate monitoring stations construction paper will work if there is no wind. Take
around the world is biased in the warm direction by photos of the objects and the surrounding snow
improper site selection or by changes at sites that before and after the sun has done its work.
were properly located when they were first installed.
In 2007 meteorologist Anthony Watts became Snow as a Particle Collector
concerned about this problem and began a project During the spring of 2004, fires in Southeast Asia
to survey all the climate monitoring stations in the sent smoke plumes across the Pacific Ocean to
United States Historical Climatological Network the United States. When the Navy Research Labs
(USHCN). Watts project has so far provided pho- NAAPS aerosol forecast (www.nrlmry.navy.mil/
tographs and detailed descriptions of 1,003 of the aerosol) showed that smoke would arrive in New
1,221 USHCN stations surveyed by Watts and his Mexico, I headed west from Texas in my old pickup
volunteer team of citizen scientists. in an effort to both measure the smoke and capture
The most alarming finding from this study is that some of it for study. Along the way, a homemade air
many stations are placed much too close to heat sampler mounted on the truck blew air collected by
islands such as buildings, pavement, sidewalks, a funnel over the sticky side of a piece of adhesive
driveways, and even the hot exhaust from air tape. (Ill provide details in a future column.)
conditioners. Only 10 percent of the stations sur- The air sampler proved its worth by collecting
veyed meet the National Oceanic and Atmospheric mineral grains, fungal spores, pollen, and other
Administrations (NOAA) two highest rankings for matter while driving along West Texas and New
climate stations. Full details of Watts project are at Mexico highways. But it failed to collect any of the
surfacestations.org. microscopic particles of coal-black soot that form
Watts and others have used expensive infrared smoke. The Asian smoke remained high overhead
viewers to see how weather stations are influenced and none of it fell to the surface while I was sampling.
by nearby heat islands. Snow can also indicate a The smoke covered much of New Mexico, but when
warming bias, and it can be easily recorded by an I arrived in Las Cruces on March 25 it was much too
ordinary camera. high to be captured.
There is likely a problem if snow melts more Finding particles of smoke that might have fallen
rapidly in the vicinity of a temperature station than from the smoke clouds before I arrived in New Mexico
in a nearby open area. The temperature-sensing would require a very different kind of collector, so
apparatus itself and its mounting hardware can I headed for Cloudcroft in the nearby Sacramento
26 Make: Volume 21
A B
Mountains. The NAAPS forecast showed that included dark black particles of soot scattered
smoke particles fell to the ground over that region among the tiny grains of gypsum dust and sand.
on March 1617. The soot was presumably from the Southeast Asian
Large patches of snow remained in the mountains, smoke that fell across the region the week before.
and they were coated with a surprising amount The obvious question about the fungal spores
of dust. The snow under the dirty layer was much was, did they arrive with the dust or the smoke?
cleaner. The NAAPS model showed that a large dust Or maybe they blew from nearby evergreen trees?
storm had blown across the mountain on March 5. The smoke hypothesis cant be ruled out. When
In effect, the patches of snow served as giant air my daughter Sarah was in high school, she discov-
samplers that captured and stored whatever was ered many spores and bacteria in biomass smoke
Photography by Forrest M. Mims III
falling from the sky. While smoke particles were the that arrived in Texas from the Yucatan Peninsula.
main objective, the dust provided a bonus. It was She established this beyond a reasonable doubt
time to place a drop of melted snow on a glass slide by capturing spores arriving with smoke from the
and inspect it through a microscope. Yucatan by means of a homemade air sampler she
A single drop of snowmelt from the dirty layer flew from a kite at the edge of the Gulf of Mexico.
contained hundreds of fungal spores and many This discovery became a fast track paper in
thousands of tiny grains of gypsum. Also present Atmospheric Environment, a leading scientific
were plant matter, transparent orange crystals, and journal (see makezine.com/go/smokespores).
what appeared to be a few slivers of volcanic glass. While spores can probably be blown across the
Dozens of samples were inspected, and many Pacific, its much more likely that those in my snow
Make: 27
COUNTRY SCIENTIST
Fig D: A fresh blanket
of snow has arrested the
melting of snow sprayed
with sand spread by a road
crew atop New Mexicos
Sandia Mountain.
Fig. E: Snow near Cloudcroft,
N.M., coated with dust from
White Sands and smoke
from Southeast Asia.
Fig F: Samples of dirty (left)
and clean snow collected
near Cloudcroft, N.M.
Fig G: A microscopic view
of gypsum sand, dust, plant
matter, and spores from
D snow near Cloudcroft, N.M.
The pointer indicates
a Curvularia spore.
Fig. H: A drop of dirty
evaporated snowmelt on
a microscope slide left
behind this deposit of dust,
smoke particles, fungal
spores, and plant matter.
E
F G H
samples came from much closer sources, such as particles? If these and other contaminants are
nearby trees. In any event, it was quite a surprise to present, can you use satellite imagery to back-track
find so many fungal spores in snow atop a moun- the storm that dropped the snow, thereby possibly
tain. The spores included the genuses Alternaria, finding where the contaminants originated?
Nigrospora, Curvularia, Cladosporium, Penicillium How do plants buried under snow exploit the heat
(or possibly Aspergillus), and what resembles the islands formed by rocks and stumps?
ascospores Splanchnonema and Leptosphaeria. What are the simplest and most efficient ways
I was unable to identify the most common spore in to melt snow outdoors? Ashes? Sand? Sunlight
the snowmelt, as its not shown in E. Grant Smiths reflectors? Reusable black plastic sheets?
Sampling and Identifying Allergenic Pollens and Finding answers to these and other snow questions
Molds (Blewstone Press, 2000) or Bryce Kendricks can lead to a variety of intriguing science projects for
The Fifth Kingdom book and CD (Mycologue Publi- those who reside in or who visit snow country.
cations, 2000).
Going Further
Forrest M. Mims III (forrestmims.org), an amateur scientist
If you reside in snow country, whats in your snow?
and Rolex Award winner, was named by Discover as one of the
Does apparently pristine snow contain fungal 50 Best Brains in Science. His books have sold more than 7
spores and protozoa? Is it contaminated with soot million copies. He edits The Citizen Scientist (sas.org/tcs).
28 Make: Volume 21
MAKERS CORNER BY DAN WOODS
T
his past fall, Frys Home Electronics and
Maker Shed (makershed.com) reached an
agreement to install Maker Shed retail kiosks
in four of Frys largest superstores as a kind of DIY
retail test. Each kiosk was to merchandise MAKE
magazine (natch), Make: Projects books, and a
lineup of kits produced by some of our favorite indie
makers like Mitch Altman, Ken Murphy, Dale Wheat,
Amy Parness, and Ariel Churi.
Needless to say, we were elated. A big-box
electronics store embracing DIY and the growing
maker community! But this presented us with a
bit of a challenge since we didnt actually have
any retail kiosks, or a budget to go buy anything.
Plus, we started walking retail stores and quickly
realized we dont much care for most retail kiosks. were defined and sized. Now I needed to collect
We wanted something that would effectively materials. I had a cache of reclaimed fence board
represent our magazines, books, kits, and the in my workshop. But I needed more, so a visit was
distinctive MAKE brand. It wasnt enough to simply made to my source, a local fencing company that
display product, we wanted to celebrate the maker sells the fences they remove when installing new
spirit. It had to exude the familiar ambience of a ones. I remembered a pile of corrugated metal
shed, make maximum reuse of stuff we had sitting sitting on a friends property. So I got a few sheets
around the shop as well as locally salvaged materi- from him. The rest came from the usual sources.
als, and fit in a 2'2' footprint. So after sketching up Reclaimed fence board needs to be tamed a bit
some ideas, we brought in local maker Joe Szuecs to before use. A few passes through a planer evens
make it all happen. Here he describes his process: out the thickness between boards. From there, it
was just basic cabinetmaking: a solid interior struc-
The Maker Shed team had some ideas regarding ture of plywood, surfaced with the rustic materials.
the design. From what I gathered, they were look-
ing for a rustic workshop look. Mention was made The resulting kiosks are a nice combination of
of pegboard along with weathered corrugated weathered shed and repurposed industrial tubing.
galvanized steel. The early prototypes were built Theyre uniquely MAKE, and Frys is ecstatic. And
around the tubular aluminum framing used for in fittingly MAKE fashion, the kiosks were loaded
Maker Faire workbenches. up, trucked down, and set up by our own staffers
I liked the idea of combining the modern look Heather Cochran and Rob Bullington in one day.
of the tubular aluminum with weathered natural If youd like to check em out and maybe show
Photography by Heather Cochran
materials. Ive built furniture in the past using old Frys how much you appreciate the program by buy-
corrugated steel roofing and weathered redwood ing a thing or two, you can find them at the following
fence boards. The materials work well together: California Frys stores: San Diego, San Jose (East
think old barn. I threw together a prototype to see Brokaw), Fremont, and Sunnyvale (East Arques).
how it looked. The aluminum, redwood, and corru- And hopefully, more locations and other electronics
gated steel combination completely evoked the retailers will follow.
spirit of MAKE. I envisioned a CNC whirring away
in the middle of some unfinished garage space. Dan Woods is MAKEs associate publisher and Maker Shed
The functional components of the design general manager.
Make: 29
123 + + Cup Positioning
System By Cy Tymony
Not everyone has a GPS (Global Positioning System), YOU WILL NEED
but you can easily make a CPS (Cup Positioning Sys-
tem) from any cup and learn the art of orienteering! Styrofoam cup, pen, staple or paper clip, magnet,
and transparent tape
Moon If theres a crescent moon in the sky, imag- point to the Little Dippers handle, the North Star.
ine an arrow pointing downward that follows the 2
tips of the moon. This points south. This trick also Compass Add water to the cup to transform it
works fairly well with a half or gibbous () moon. into a compass. Float your compass needle on the
surface. When it comes to rest it will point north!
Stars Position the cup so you can see the Big Dip-
per and the Little Dipper images on it. Now look up
to find them in the night sky. Its easier to locate the Cy Tymony is the author of the Sneaky Uses for Everyday
Big Dipper first, then follow its rightmost stars that Things book series. sneakyuses.com
30 Make: Volume 21
PlasmaCAM
Cutting His
Own Paths
Inventor Eddie Paul does more before
lunch than most people do, ever.
By Keith Hammond
and the Department of Defense. I can on the subject, and I buy the tools. Since
Not bad for a high school dropout who got his I dropped out of high school, Ive just read
big break stunt driving on The Dukes of Hazzard. technical books. Its all I read, technical books.
A voracious reader with no formal engineering In fact I just read my first novel, The Road
schooling, Paul has developed unique designs for [by Cormac McCarthy].
pumps and engines, optics, and hydraulics. Hes
invented and built new camera rigs, animatronics,
That may explain why the next book hes
writing is a DIY urban survival guide. >>
32 Make: Volume 21
Make: 33
Maker
SON OF AN INVENTOR Fed up with balky pumps and compressors,
Growing up in California, Paul apprenticed with Paul invented his own. His high-efficiency
his father before setting out on his own. My Cylindrical Energy Module (CEM) is one-sixth
dad was an inventor, he says. He invented all- the size of comparable pumps. Its used by fire
threaded rod, rotisserie chicken machines in departments to blast firefighting foam and by
supermarkets, a new kind of domed navigational Navy Seals to spray decontamination chemicals.
chart. He taught me to find a need and invent Run it in reverse, and its an engine six
a solution and make it as simple as possible. pistons, 12 cylinders, no valves, and only seven
I worked in his shops; he taught me how to weld, moving parts thats achieved 98% volumetric
grind, drill, all that stuff. efficiency and 3hp per pound of engine weight.
I was on my own at 13, making a living working No ones ever done that, Paul says. Now hes
on motorcycles in L.A. and San Francisco, and building one thats only 12 by 13 inches, and
living off my 45 meter maid trike. This was in the eyeing the X Prize for the worlds first 100mpg
late 1960s. Soon Paul got into building and flying passenger car.
hang gliders, which got him a movie stunt job, Paul also invented Circlescan 4D, a 3D camera
which led him to The Dukes and a storied career technology based on the psycho-optical Pulfrich
in stunts, special effects, and custom cars. effect, unlike the anaglyph and lenticular 3D
technologies currently in use. And hes produced
E.T., SHARK WEEK, AND PIXAR dozens of how-to books and videos ranging from
Since the 1970s his auto division, Customs by basic welding and plasma cutting to advanced
Eddie Paul, has built vehicles and effects for customizations.
movies ranging from E.T. and Back to the Future
(yes, the time-traveling DeLoreans) to The Fast SHOP OF ALL SHOPS
and the Furious. His shop has earned a reputa- If youre any kind of tool-user, a tour of Pauls
tion for completing huge jobs on improbably shop is mouth-watering: ten CNC metal lathes
tight deadlines for Grease they built 48 cars and mills, two CNC 3D routers, a 4-by-8-foot
in two weeks, and for 2 Fast 2 Furious they did vacuum former, and a 5-by-10-foot PlasmaCAM
200 in a month. table that will cut steel up to 1 inches thick.
Along the way, Paul evolved into much more I love that machine, Paul declares. Everything
than a hot-rodder. Today hes relied upon for in heres cut on that motorcycle parts, turbine
industrial design and prototyping, marine engi- blades, you name it.
neering, and complex movie imagineering. Pixar Theres a Ford Model T hot rod hes building
hired him to build full-sized, running replicas of for his new how-to book, and a badass midnight
Sally, Mater, and Lightning McQueen from Cars. blue 67 Pontiac GTO from Vin Diesels movie
He built life-sized animatronic horses for The xXx. (For stunt scenes, Paul says, We bought
Mask of Zorro, and decades worth of aquatic LeManses and turned them into GTOs. Its a lot
camera gear for the Cousteau clan. cheaper and you dont ruin GTOs.)
More than once, Paul has been the Discovery Out back are mini fire trucks Polaris ATVs
Channels secret weapon for Shark Week. An fitted with Pauls CEM pumps next to electric
experienced deep sea diver and underwater motorcycles for George Clooneys Leatherheads.
photographer, Paul designed plastic body armor And you cant miss Pauls custom Chopper 1,
and a scuba muffler to help divers get closer to a crazy-overpowered motorcycle with a 502 big
the predators, and rigged a gut-checker camera block Chevy engine, dual Weiand blowers, and
to peer into their stomachs. But his sharky mas- nitrous oxide.
terpiece was built for Fabian Cousteau: a 17-foot, As cool as all this stuff is, Im more awed by
swimming, shark-shaped submarine piloted by a Pauls library. Shelves sag under a lifetime of
diver inside, to get right up in a great whites grill. learning: CNC robotics, mathematical physics,
Im basically an inventor, Paul says. I do the blacksmithing, electronics, fluid mechanics, and
rest for money. Ninety percent of what we do is thermodynamics. Ancient inventions, nuclear
invention. weapons, lasers, and computer animation. The
34 Make: Volume 21
BY AIR, LAND, AND SEA:
Pauls pulsejet hang glider;
Hollywood stunt driving
(he survived this plane
collision); shark sub-
marine piloted by diver
inside; remote-control car
rig; L.A. to Vegas ride with
no hands; diver armor for
Shark Week; and a half-
sized Nissan sub (he broke
his neck during this stunt).
Photography courtesy of Eddie Paul
Make: 35
Maker
American Boys Handy Book, shipbuilding, and Burning Man. He shows me the insane 20-foot
of course sharks. A collection of massive brass chainsaw hes made out of a motorcycle and
diving helmets looks on, as though were in the big red fire engine hell bisect with it for
Jules Vernes own chart room. a National Geographic pilot called Cut in Half.
Then there are the Eddie Paul stories that rival By cutting his own paths, Paul has not only
Chuck Norris or the Dos Equis Guy. He invented become highly skilled and knowledgeable. Hes
a pulsejet hang glider and buzzed LAX. He once also carved out a wide, satisfying creative space
fell 360 feet and lived. Hes been attacked by in which to make a living.
sharks, on purpose. He taught Twisted Sister how You cant meet Eddie Paul without wanting, at
to ride motorcycles. He got a secret clearance least a little bit, to have Eddie Pauls job. But it's
from DoD, and then redesigned their lasers. He not the kind of job someone can give you. Its
once rode a Harley-Davidson from L.A. to Vegas the kind you make for yourself.
with no hands. His advice to aspiring makers today? Read
But I think Im most impressed by the enjoy- those technical books. And learn to use two
able, almost incredible variety of work that tools: AutoCAD and the CNC plasma table. And
Paul is doing. Just during our brief interview on write how-to articles for magazines thats how
a Saturday morning, he explains his process I got the job for Grease, the guy saw my article.
for replicating Pixars Cars characters at life I ask, would he have had the same opportuni-
Photography by Noah Webb
size (a huge CNC router carves 3D forms out of ties if he werent in L.A. and the movie business?
stacked plywood, then ABS plastic is vacuum- It got me started, Paul admits. But I could
formed over these). He greets a customer have done this anywhere. People will find you if
from WePower whos there to inspect Pauls you do good work.
beautifully machined prototype wind turbines.
He demonstrates his patented pump/engine,
then pulls up his CAD design for a steam- Keith Hammond is copy chief of MAKE. His grandfathers
powered motorbike that would be at home at were a technical writer and a body-and-fender man.
36 Make: Volume 21
Photography by Noah Webb (Mustang, router, plasma cutter) and courtesy of Eddie Paul
RODS, MODS, AND INVENTIONS: (Opposite) Rods on racks; Chopper 1 superbike. (This page) Mustang fender
flares; CNC 3D router station; plasma cutter in action; full-sized Mater from Cars; Cut in Half fire engine; rep-
lica of Akira anime motorcycle; Pauls patented pump/engine with double-ended pistons and sinusoidal cams.
Make: 37
Maker
rom his skunkworks in Chico, Calif., metal building big kid bikes?
like a modded gecko. Witness the Bigger Wheel, a natural skill for building and fabrication. Following
a grown-up version of the childhood favorite that that, I re-enrolled in college, changing my major to
looks like it came of age on the set of an Easy Rider manufacturing.
remake. All three push cycling to the next level (or
perhaps the one beyond that). NS: So now you make your living as a bike
After a spin on the Kitten at last years Maker fabricator?
Faire in San Mateo, I had to learn more. GD: No, not yet. The pedicab keeps my head above
water while I try to make metalwork art my main
Nik Schulz: How and when did you get started source of income. My marketing skills need a lot of
38 Make: Volume 21
work, though. All of the work Ive received has been
from people that have been referred to me or have
seen me at my shop.
Make: 39
Maker
Locally Grown
Carving boards and waves with the maker of all-wood
Grain Surfboards. By Peter Smith
ike LaVecchia and Brad Anderson own Peter Smith: What goes into building an all-wood
The handmade boards are computer-designed to cedar planks and these specially milled strips that
maximize the efficient use of the wood to save you build up around the frame.
some trees but also save some money, LaVecchia
says and constructed in a modern rib-and-keel PS: Why did you choose hand craftsmanship?
style with roots in traditional boatbuilding. Grain also
offers weeklong surfboard-building classes whose ML: Ive been around wooden boats most of my
pupils each go home with a beautiful wave vehicle life. Love the feeling of them. Love the fact that no
theyve made with their own hands. I spoke with matter where you are, you can repair it. You can fix
LaVecchia from his workshop in York, Maine. it with common materials. Theres no real mystery
40 Make: Volume 21
WITH THE GRAIN: Mike
LaVecchia (opposite),
president and founder
of Grain Surfboards,
stands outside his shop
next to a book-matched
beauty he built. (This
page) A student in a
surfboard building class
shapes his rails with
a hand planer; a Grain
employee teaches a
lesson on board build-
ing; CAD drawings, like
this one showing the
airplane wing struc-
ture of a funboard,
let the makers refine
their designs based on
customer feedback.
technology there. If you can build it by hand, then Weve put a ton of time into our manual. We get a lot
you can fix it by hand. of satisfaction that people are out there doing it.
Our boards are designed in AutoCAD, so we can
get it really dialed in. We send designs back and PS: What tools would I need to build one at home?
forth to a customer and get feedback and tweak
things. Then, the idea is to build it as accurately ML: Everything that goes into the board comes with
as possible. We dont quite have the freedom that the kit. All the planking, the rail strips, the frame, all
somebody shaping a foam blank does. the glues, the fiberglass, the epoxy, fin boxes, all the
hardware. You need clamps, and some edge tools
PS: But you dont wear dust masks either. like a hand plane and a spokeshave. You could spend
75 bucks and have everything you need.
ML: Exactly. We do all of our work with edge tools. The clamps can add up [but] if you take a 4-inch
Never wear a dust mask. Youre not worried about PVC pipe and cut pieces off it and open the pipe up,
breathing dust, fumes, and all that kind of stuff. We do its got tension in it. Its a real inexpensive way to make
have to sand, but compared to what youre doing with your own clamps.
a foam board power planers and sanding screens
its just such a nicer process. PS: Is it ever too cold to surf?
PS: Why did you create kits and classes for people? ML: Rarely. Wetsuits have come a long way. Theres
some cold days, though. Luckily, we all live close by,
ML: Once we really dialed it in, we thought, This so its nice to run home and jump in the hot shower.
is easy and fun. We cant get the prices down to
where most foam boards are, so we thought, Why
Peter Smith lives in Maine and has covered food, culture,
not offer them as a kit? We still think of it as selling and technology for Good, Gastronomica, and The Atlantic
a surfboard, its just they have to put it together. Online. peterandreysmith.com
Make: 41
Maker
The
Nonsense
Factory
The Maywa Denki collective
ROBOTUNES: Nobumichi Tosa is the man behind the
makes instruments of mass machine behind the music. He holds regular non-
whimsy. By Lisa Katayama sense toy-making workshops at his studio in Tokyo.
obumichi Tosa stares straight into my around different species of fish. We realized that
he got to college that he realized his creative tool of imism, Tosa says when I mention this. We believe
choice would be the machine. everything has a spirit. Tools are fun, and by using
There was a workshop at my university that them in different ways, you can figure out your own
looked exactly like my dads old store, he says. And path. Just like judo and bushido, what Im showing
I thought, Maywa Denki has become a forgotten thing you is Maywa-do the path of Maywa Denki.
of the past, but maybe its time I can resurrect it.
Lisa Katayama writes for Wired, Popular Science, New York
Working closely with Masamichi, his older brother, Times Magazine, and her own blog, TokyoMango. Shes a
Tosa made a collection of 26 gadgets themed contributing editor at Boing Boing and the author of Urawaza.
42 Make: Volume 21
The Solar
Catenary
Reflector
Build 21st-century renewable
technology using 17th-century
mathematics. By Tho X. Bui
Y
HOW TO FAKE A PARABOLA: (Clockwise) Backyard
two camps: increasing efficiency or reducing solar catenary reflector (SCR) cooker built in 20
minutes using sheet steel and wood; experiments
cost. A few years ago, when I decided to do
with miniature catenary reflectors doubled the
some amateur solar research of my own, I chose output of a solar PV cell; overlaid symmetrical
the cheap route. catenary (red) and parabola (black) show their
I had the idea to use mirrors with a catenary closest match at 1:4 height-to-width ratio.
curve to concentrate sunlight. The catenary,
described by y = cosh x, is the curve that ropes or
other flexible materials naturally fall into between In other words, let the material hang down the
two supports. This curve was mistaken for the distance between the posts. Following this formula,
parabola (y = x 2) until the difference was cleared a couple of teenagers built an effective SCR cooker
up by 17th-century mathematicians. using hand tools in 20 minutes, under my guidance.
Parabolas are often used for concentrators since Surprisingly, it turns out that a properly pro-
they focus parallel rays into one point. I reasoned portioned asymmetric catenary reflector (ACR),
that if I could find parameters under which catena- where one support is higher than the other, will do
ries and parabolas are similar, I could make a solar a good job at concentrating light thats not exactly
catenary reflector (SCR) that would effectively perpendicular to the axis of the curve. This means
concentrate sunlight. that within certain limits, an ACR can concentrate
The advantage of the SCR is that its self-forming. the light as the sun travels across the sky.
Solid parabolic shapes dont occur naturally, and you Large, inexpensive ACRs hold promise as a way
need to make them stiff and strong to maintain their of getting more out of smaller, more precious photo-
shape against wind, snow, and other destructive voltaic panels. Im currently researching this pairing,
outdoor forces. and want to explore whether such designs are better
And the SCR is quick and inexpensive to build, than parabolas at focusing diffused light the
requiring no special tools or knowledge. Just hang Achilles heel of the parabolic concentrators. To keep
some flexible, reflective material and you have it. the program within my kitchen-science budget, Im
SCRs could ultimately be more durable than rigid working with miniatures. In my early experiments,
parabolic reflectors because of their Zen-like ability I doubled the output of my photovoltaic cell.
Photography by Tho X. Bui
to deflect with the wind, instead of fighting against it. You are welcome to join me in this grassroots
To determine when a catenary will reflect like a research. Email me at [email protected].
parabola, I modeled the problem mathematically
on a computer. As expected, I found an aspect ratio
where a catenary reflector almost matches a para-
Tho X. Bui (thoxbui.com) lives in Phoenix, Ariz., with his lovely
bolic mirror at concentrating light: 1 high to 4 wide, wife and three turtles. He used to do research for a living, now
for a symmetrical reflector. hes doing it for fun.
Make: 43
SolidWorks is a registered trademark of Dassault Systmes. 2010 Dassault Systmes. All rights reserved.
SolidWorks presents an online series about three PRODUCT DESIGNERS forced to work in an overow trailer. Starring a USER COMMUNITY OVER ONE MILLION STRONG,
a friendly NEIGHBORHOOD SOLIDWORKS RESELLER, and more than 150 USER GROUPS. And now showing ALL EPISODES,
TIPS, DEMOS, DOWNLOADABLE POSTERS, and even NEW RINGTONES.
NR WATCH SEASON ONE AT 3 D U D E S G O N E 3 D. C O M
NOT RATED
MAKERBOT'S CNC CUPCAKE PAGE 46
PAGE 66
later were witnessing a similar revolution in LUMENLAB'S MICRO CNC KIT PAGE 68
3D printing. Its now possible to set up a parts
MAKERBEAM PROTOTYPES PAGE 70
factory on your desktop. In this special section
of MAKE, well show you the many ways how. WHAT'S HOT IN 3D FABBING PAGE 71
Make: 45
REVOLUTION
THE An inside look
at MakerBot
WILL BE Industries.
BY BECKY STERN
SQUIRTED
THREE CUPCAKES:
Mayer, Smith, and
Pettis with their open
source 3D printers.
46 Make: Volume 21
A Extruder
F
B Printed object
C Motherboard and A
motor controllers
D Y-axis stepper motor
E
E Z-stage pulley
F Plastic lament
B C
his is the Wild West of 3D printing, Bre Pettis explains as we stand inside
T the so-called Bot Cave. This warehouse space in downtown Brooklyn,
N.Y., is home to MakerBot Industries, an open source hardware startup with
the mission of making the dream of desktop fabrication a reality for every
person on the planet. More hackerspace than superhero lair, the Bot Cave and
its shelves are full of electronics, packing materials, and prototype machines.
Something about the place has that feeling of a secret hideout, even if the high-
tech superhero vehicle in the garage is a single-speed with drop handlebars.
The edgling rm is in the business of making kit- the bed and sweeps over another layer of loose pow-
based 3D printers. Also called rapid prototyping or der. This process repeats until the object is complete,
fabbing, 3D printing is a catchall term to describe at which point it can be lifted from the vat of loose
a group of technologies that are used to translate powder and dusted off. In the extrusion method, the
Illustration by James Provost
virtual 3D plans into real objects. Unlike computer- toolhead deposits a thin lament of heat-softened
controlled milling machines, which start with a block material (usually ABS plastic) in layers that harden
of material and whittle it down into a nal form, 3D as they cool, building up a nished object.
printing involves building up layers of material. Zach Hoeken Smith, Adam Mayer, and Bre Pettis
This additive process is commonly achieved in one founded MakerBot Industries less than a year ago. All
of two ways: powder bed or extrusion. In the powder three men, who met through Brooklyn hackerspace
bed method, a toolhead deposits a binder selectively NYC Resistor, have been active in the DIY community
across a bed of powdered build material, then lowers for the past ve years (Pettis produced videos for
Make: 47
A
48 Make: Volume 21
B C
prototypers so portable that people bring it Fig. A: The CupCake design is in perpetual beta.
to parties. The CupCake whinnies and purrs as it Fig. B: New CupCake parts can sometimes be built on
prints. Watching the machine internally illumi- a CupCake. Fig. C: The CupCake can make parts from
a variety of 3D modeling platforms. Fig. D: Samples of
nated with LEDs for dramatic effect is like sitting the CupCakes output, available in cream and black.
around a campre.
MakerBot ships the machine as a kit that includes
motors, pulleys, circuit boards, and laser-cut ply- something fabbed required the use of large
wood, which means you build it yourself. They accept mainframe-style machines housed in restricted-
pre-orders and ship machines in batches. As owners access research facilities, building a CupCake CNC
of previous batches build and use their machines, moves the mainframe onto your desktop.
they make suggestions and improvements to the The types of items that the CupCake CNC can
design of the machine. These improvements are make are similar to those of a traditional 3D printer,
implemented in future batches, and are made avail- but the paradigm is completely different. The level of
able to current users as an upgrade. user engagement with the nuts and bolts of the tech-
While the rst batches required the painstakingly nology is much deeper, and the cost is much lower.
tedious task of soldering many surface-mount ICs MakerBot operators communicate through
to the motherboard, the latest CupCakes ship with groups on Google and Flickr, and rely on each other
completely assembled electronics, taking a lot of to solve problems and help keep their machines
the effort out of the assembly process. The machine running smoothly. This distributed support network
comes together like Ikea furniture; its assembled means less customer support for the three founders
with little more than an Allen wrench. to maintain although they admit to answering
The CupCake CNC is the rst of its kind in its eld. many hours of support emails daily.
Pettis condently compares it to early personal A parallel project, Thingiverse, is helping the
computers like the Altair and Apple I, citing the MakerBot community thrive. Launched by Smith
hack-it-yourself hardware and savvy user base of and Pettis in summer 2008 as a website for sharing
enthusiastic tinkerers. Where previously having laser cutter source les, Thingiverse was easily
Make: 49
E F
Fig. E: Maximum part size is 4"4"6". Fig. F: The body pieces, or buy just the extruder. The machines
case is made from laser-cut " birch plywood. modularity and its open plans make it attractive to
Fig. G: Electronics include a stepper motor driver, tinkerers who are turned off by hacker-unfriendly
motherboard, extruder controller, and opto-endstop.
black box technologies.
Fig. H: A belt and pulleys move the extruder in the
z-axis (shown from above). Fig. I: The Brooklyn HQ. Open source modeling for 3D printing is also in
development. In hacking circles, the standard (closed
source, expensive) 3D modeling platforms like Maya
expanded for sharing 3D les as well. The design of and SolidWorks are slowly losing ground to free, open
the site encourages the same iterative process used packages like Art of Illusion and Blender.
to design the CupCake in the rst place. Regardless of how they make their models, how-
Thingiverse allows users to create a page for a ever, most CupCake users employ Skeinforge
thing, which contains machine-readable plans for (a clunky-but-free Python script) for slicing the virtual
cutting or printing, pictures or renderings of the object into a set of layer-wise instructions for the plas-
thing, and instructions for creating your own. Users tic extruder and moving platform. Yet another open
can then post their own versions of the thing, or source package, ReplicatorG, is used to send these
even make improvements and release a derivative toolpath instructions to the machine for printing.
thing, which is linked to the original. Its possible to circumvent the big 3D modeling
Users far and wide can share models for printing. software packages altogether by scripting objects
For example, user Zaggo in Offenberg, Germany, entirely through mathematical rules. These scripted
posted a model of a whistle, and half an hour later or parameterized objects can come about in two
users in New York held the freshly printed object in ways: a script either generates an STL le (the de
their hands, hot off the Bot. Discussions ensue on facto standard data transmission format) to be
each objects page about assembly technique or sliced the same way as a standard model, or it gen-
future revisions. Since problems are solved collec- erates the G-code to control the toolhead.
tively and publicly, the community benets. The list of planned improvements to the CupCake
Different versions of the CupCake CNC kit are CNC is long and exciting. What you can currently
available to t the needs of folks who already have print is limited because of a lack of printable sup-
some of the components on hand. If you already port material. Commercial extrusion-based printers
have access to a laser cutter or CNC toolhead, you have two extruders: one for the main plastic and
can pick up a kit that comes without the laser-cut another for support material, which is deposited
50 Make: Volume 21
G H
where necessary to give the main extruder a place Plans are already in the works for a desktop 3D
to put plastic that may overhang a previous layer. scanner, which would pair with the CupCake CNC
Implementing support material is a high priority for printer to create the washer/dryer combo of DIY
MakerBot, but its also a big challenge. fabrication (see also Andrew Lewis SplineScan
When they were preparing for the Consumer system, page 54).
Electronics Show this month, the three hoped to Theyre also working on being able to print in PLA,
unveil electronics improvements like a new Arduino a corn-based biodegradable plastic. The pice de
Mega-based motherboard, onboard USB support, rsistance, however, is an extruder that uses cake
and new microstepping motors for ner motion frosting instead of plastic. The Frostruder prototype
control. is currently in its second revision; the days of CNC
Other members of the maker community are get- cupcake frosting are coming soon.
ting involved, too. Charles Pax, a fellow NYC Resistor
member, is working on ideas for a conveyor belt to MakerBot Industries: makerbot.com
carry nished objects away from the CupCakes Thingiverse: thingiverse.com
build area to help automate the printing process. Marc de Vinck's blow-by-blow account of building
I want a desktop factory, he says, but I dont want a CupCake: makezine.com/go/cupcakecnc
to have to be a factory worker.
But MakerBots goals dont stop at the CupCake. Becky Stern is associate editor of MAKE: Online and CRAFT.
Make: 51
ARMCHAIR A new way to
create 3D models
ARCHITECT for Google Earth.
BY COLIN BERRY
live in Los Angeles, but, like Tony Bennett, left my heart in San Francisco,
I whose charming Victorians, swooping hills, and rolling fog spark my fond-
est memories. So when I heard Google was releasing Building Maker, a tool for
amateur designers like me to create geo-located 3D models of buildings in their
favorite cities, I looked to see if mine was listed: sure enough, there she was.
I updated my Google Earth, cracked open an Anchor Steam, and got to work.
Building Maker exists for a couple of purposes. save it in the 3D Warehouse just a folder, really
Its a way for Google to beef up the infrastructure of awaiting approval by Googles QA experts. I got
Google Earth adding height, width, and thickness a message: Your model will be reviewed for
to those weird, flat maps that comprise the applica- Google Earth.
tion. But the tool also allows folks to virtually tour I was excited! I immediately tackled more complex
a place, to experience a city in all its architectural designs: a building with a gable; a stately Edwardian
splendor from their PC desktops. My time spent overlooking Golden Gate Park; my pal Jeffs restored
modeling was to be the trade-off for sharing my loft in Pacific Heights. As my skills improved, I incor-
love of the City by the Bay. porated more of Building Makers features, which
As it turned out, using Building Maker was easy. include a stackable block tool, a magnet for aligning
From the home page, I chose San Francisco from and connecting disparate features a gable, say, to
a drop-down menu, and a zoomable map allowed a roof and a free-form shaping tool. I previewed
me to find a particular location I wanted to model. each new model in 3D on a city map.
I picked my first apartment building, a flat-topped, I had some questions, though, so I tracked down
blocky rectangle in the Western Addition. Mark Limber, Building Makers product manager
Once Id selected it, I simply clicked to align the at Google. Limber explained how the tool was born
corners of transparent 3D blocks superimposed on of SketchUp, Googles free 3D modeling software
a series of satellite photos, tugging here and there acquired from AtLast, which allows people to design
to fine-tune each view. Some photos were clearer everything from furniture to floor plans.
than others, but Building Maker was smart enough We want to create a map of the world, Limber
to average my work out as I progressed. said of Building Maker. We have 50 cities now, and
Before long, Id advanced my building enough to were adding new ones all the time. He likened the
52 Make: Volume 21
Once you choose the city (facing), a zoomable satellite map lets you choose the street and the very building
you want to model. Then pick from a series of fully adjustable 3D icons (this page) that most closely match
the building shape. The accurate model emerges incrementally through various satellite views.
Make: 53
DIY 3D Introducing the
SplineScan computer-
SCANNER controlled turntable.
BY ANDREW LEWIS
to rotate objects for accurate photography or Gearbox This part takes the turning force of the
interactive display. stepper motor and turns it into something more
Im currently using the turntable to archive and suitable for our needs. Its a simple design with only
measure ancient artifacts as part of my Ph.D. a few components.
studies (mara-3d.org), and I have to say that Im
very happy with the results so far. Electronics The brains and nerves of the scanner
The parts list might look a bit daunting, but the allow you to control the turntable from your
project isnt difficult to make. The scanner itself computer. The wiring isnt difficult, and only limited
consists of 3 main parts: soldering knowledge is required.
54 Make: Volume 21
A
Make: 55
A B
C D
56 Make: Volume 21
E F
G H
modules in various positions. With that done, you accurately. Measure carefully, and allow plenty of
can turn your attention to the gearbox and motor. tolerance in the motor mounting holes. Remember
that its much easier to reposition the motor than to
2. Make the gearbox. reposition the bearings.
The gearbox is easy to make with readily available Push-t the bearings into the holes (they shouldnt
parts. It gives a 10:1 reduction ratio, which turns the need glue) and then slide the shaft through the rst
1.8 stepper motor into a 0.18 motor and puts a bearing. This will be quite a tight t, and might
right-angled turn into the motor shaft (Figure C). need a gentle tap with a heavy object to push the
Start by cutting down your aluminum box so that shaft through.
its just wider than the motor. The exact width isnt Slide the 10-toothed gear onto the shaft inside
important, as long as you leave enough of the box the case. Continue pushing the shaft down through
on either side to allow for the plastic end caps. the bearing until it ts into the second bearing.
Drill a hole through the center of the largest side Now t the motor (with the worm drive on the
of the box, to allow the shaft and the plastic worm shaft) into position and bolt it in place. You can also
drive to pass inside. Drill holes at the corners of move the 10-toothed gear on the 4mm shaft so that
the box that line up with the mounting holes on the it meshes with the worm gear, and x it into position
motor, using the motor as a template. using the small setscrew on its brass hub.
Next, enlarge the hole in the plastic worm drive to Fit the end caps in place, and youve almost
6.5mm so it will t onto the motor shaft, and cut the completed the gearbox. Screw the gearbox into
worm drive to the length of the motor shaft. It should the chassis top with M3 screws, using the top as a
be a tight t, and you might want to dab a little epoxy template for the holes in the gearbox (Figure D). If
on the end to make sure the shaft stays put. you use a 3.5mm drill bit, you can tap the holes in
Drill 8mm holes through the narrowest sides of the gearbox and screw directly into it. You may want
the box, to house the miniature shaft bearings. This to include some packing washers between the top
step is quite tricky; the holes need to be positioned of the gearbox and the top plate of the chassis, to
so that plastic cog and the worm gear mesh together accommodate the plastic sides of the gearbox.
Make: 57
I J
K L
3. Make the turntable. Attach the controller to the top of the chassis
Cut the turntable from a piece of 3mm aluminum or using M3 bolts, with a couple of extra nuts as
rigid plastic using the template at splinescan.co.uk. spacers between the controller board and the
Drill a 4mm hole in the center (Figure E, previous top plate.
page) and x a 4mm mounting hub in position, using The motor wires connect directly to the control-
a 4mm shaft as a guide. You can glue this if you ler board, leaving only the power wires, which are
wish, but I modied the hub and used 3mm coun- attached to a 2.5mm DC socket on the side of the
tersunk bolts to hold the hub in place (Figure F). chassis (Figure G).
Fit the turntable in position on the chassis, and I mounted the DC socket in an old blanking plate
cut the shaft so it wont protrude above the turn- from the rear of a PC (the same plate I took the USB
table. Fix the turntable onto the shaft by using socket from). The DC socket is wired directly to the
a long Allen key to tighten the grub screw (setscrew) USB socket in the top of the chassis plate (red to
in the hub on the underside of the turntable. red, black to black). Connection is made to the PC
To nish the turntable, you can cover it in sticky- using an ordinary USB A-to-A cable.
backed foam or paint it with a matte nish. The motor controller needs 12V to operate, and
a 12V 2A power supply should be adequate to run
4. Mount the electronics. the system.
The Milford Instruments motor controller takes The power supply also powers the " jacks
a serial port signal and converts it into motor (Figure H). You can connect the jacks directly to
movement. power via the DC socket; this is acceptable if you
dont like soldering and you want to keep things
NOTE: You can also use an Arduino with a suitable motor as simple as possible.
shield to control the stepper motor, and future versions The drawback is that the power to the jacks
of the scanner may use Arduino as standard. The truth
will be constant, meaning that any laser emitters
is that I already have several of the Milford Instruments
controllers left over from another project, and I dont or lights plugged into the system will always be
have any spare Arduinos at the moment. switched on, even when the machine is idle.
58 Make: Volume 21
and since most laser emitters and LEDs use sub-
stantially less, youll need to step down the power
using a monolithic voltage regulator. I recommend
the LM317, which can be wired to produce a range of
different voltages.
The design of the emitter casings is quite simple.
I used Neutrik " cast phono plugs, which t neatly
into " copper pipe (Figures I, J, and K). I had ample
space to t the power regulator circuit (Figure M)
and a tiny laser line generator that I got on eBay.
I used a standard plumbing end-cap to nish the
M top of each emitter and then painted them black
(Figure L), and held the copper tube onto the cast
plug using a combination of hot glue and grub
screws.
Make: 59
YOUR OWN CNC An overview from the
co-author of the new
FOR LESS THAN book Build Your Own
CNC Machine.
$800 BY JAMES FLOYD KELLY
60 Make: Volume 21
A X-Y-Z stepper motors
B Router
A C Power supply
D Breakout board
E Stepper motor drivers
E
D
B
having a drill press, table saw, and a few other basic How well does it work? That depends on what you
workshop tools will make your build go a little faster do with it. Patrick uses his DIY CNC machines to cut
and smoother. Ultimately, though, a DIYer can easily and drill the parts required to build more DIY CNC
build this machine with a bit of patience and the machines hows that for trusting in your own design?
most basic of tools. Im just getting started with using mine, but
The machine uses threaded rod for lead screws engraving is something that a novice (like me) can
(Figure C, following page). Three stepper motors get immediate satisfaction from, and the results are
each mate to a lead screw to control the forward/ sharp and clear (Figure F).
Make: 61
C D
E F
Building the Machine youll get straight to the electronics and building the
If youre wondering whether building this machine CNC machine frame.
is really within your skill range, let me assure you Your rst task will be to cut, drill, and assemble
that if youre comfortable cutting wood with a table the machines tabletop that also serves as the x-axis
saw or handheld circular saw, if you can change (Figure G). Completing the tabletop will not only
and use bits with a drill press or handheld drill, and give you a place to attach the remaining compo-
if you can use a ruler, you can do this. (If youre a nents of the machine, but youll also become quickly
master DIYer with tools galore, you wont have any familiar with the handful of standard tasks required
trouble building this machine.) for the rest of the project (counterboring, using
This project is great for shop classes, after-school cross dowels to connect parts, cutting lead screws,
programs, and Boy/Girl Scout troops, but its also and so on).
the perfect parent-child project. I dont have many As you build your machine, youll cut and drill
opportunities to work with my dad these days, but some special pieces called bearing and rail
I really enjoyed working with him as we built two (!) assemblies, or BRAs (Figure H). These allow your
of these CNC machines together. Having someone CNC machine to move smoothly and accurately
else to double-check measurements and hold on all three axes by riding on another piece of
pieces as you drill or bolt them down is invaluable, angled aluminum rail. Patricks method for building
but its also nice to have someone else around to and using the BRAs is extremely simple as well
troubleshoot a problem as well as share the success as reliable.
when the machine runs for the rst time. Building chapters are short, so youll always have
Our goal for writing the book was to provide a a good starting and stopping point. Youll begin with
good walk-through of the process, with plenty of the x-axis, add on the parts needed for the y-axis
pictures, from start to nish. After a handful of (Figure I) and nish up with the z-axis (Figure J).
chapters that explain CNC, the basics of joining While building the CNC machine frame, youll also
MDF pieces, and building the unique parts that give be given instructions for wiring up all the electronics.
the CNC machine the ability to move smoothly, We tell you exactly what motors, drivers, and power
62 Make: Volume 21
G H
I J
Have Fun
Building my own CNC machine was just as enjoy- completing this project, however, is that I am the
able as using it. During the assembly, I learned real limit to my CNC machine the machine is
some new woodworking techniques, became more just waiting for me to learn new techniques and
proficient with a table saw, and learned to love methods to push its capabilities further. Youll nd,
the Forstner bit (which I highly recommend for as I have, that after building your CNC machine,
counterbores and drilling holes in general). the real work is just beginning.
Ive also started to dig deeper into the use of
CAD software for designing, and CAM software for
converting my designs into G-code, the instructions
that Mach3 uses to control the motors and direct
James Floyd Kelly ([email protected]) is a freelance
the router. writer in Atlanta. He is the editor-in-chief of the Lego
The most surprising thing Ive learned after Mindstorms NXT blog, The NXT Step (thenxtstep.com).
Make: 63
DIRECT DIGITAL Create custom jewelry
using CAD software and
WEDDING a 3D printer.
BY JONATHAN OXFORD
RINGS
fter giving my wife a handmade
A plastic faux-diamond engagement
ring, I decided Id better get serious
and come up with more permanent
wedding rings. The polycarbonate ring
was funny, but even made out of an
engineering plastic, there was no way
it would last.
We scoured the vintage jewelry shops, and then
the dreaded mall stores, until we finally decided
that the only way to get exactly what we wanted
was to design the rings ourselves. And like any
self-respecting industrial designer, Im prone to
believing that I can design and make anything.
Luckily for me, the making part turned out to be
easy I simply sent my CAD design to a 3D wax
printing house, then sent the wax prints to a jewelry
foundry and got back platinum rings.
MATERIALS & TOOLS
3D CAD software I used SolidWorks.
Access to a 3D wax printer
Design and Make Access to a jewelry metal foundry
Your Rings Finishing and polishing tools
material being cast. designed specifically for direct lost wax casting.
Each metal has a different shrinkage rate, so the I wasted a bunch of money having the designs
last operation you do in the CAD process should printed in a plastic material that I was told could be
be to scale the design to account for shrinkage. burned out of the investment (the mold) directly.
The casting house you choose may use a custom- This may work for some metals, but for platinum
formulated metal, so ask them what the shrinkage it produced unusable parts with air bubbles. In
will be. the end, I went with a high-precision wax printer
designed specifically for jewelry casting.
64 Make: Volume 21
A B
C D
5. Send the wax prints to could leave you with not enough material. Better to
a jewelry foundry. leave some extra for the setter to work with.
If youre a hobbyist jewelry maker, you may be
able to cast the rings yourself. Not having a metal TIP: Inside sharp corners are almost impossible to polish.
foundry in my closet, I chose Platina Casting in Even the small raised areas around the holes in my ring
had this problem. Making separate parts that can be
New York to cast them in platinum.
soldered together after polishing, or even adding small
llets to inside corners, can help.
NOTE: Youll pay for a little bit of extra material in the
form of a sprue attached to the design. This is where the Alternatives
molten metal enters the mold cavity. The caster will cut
Of course, creating a simpler design and not
the sprue as close as possible, but a bit will remain that
will contribute to the total weight. The sprue will setting stones will save time and money and will
be sanded off during the finishing process. allow you to do more of the work yourself. Also keep
in mind that precious metals are very expensive
6. File, sand, and polish a lot! and currently rising in cost on a daily basis.
Or have a professional jeweler do it for you. Most jewelry foundries use silver to test designs
Since I was having stones set, I chose the latter. before wasting expensive gold or platinum, and
Stone setting is a complex task better left to the silver can be very affordable as the final material.
professionals. Alternately, try titanium, copper, or bronze if you
For my final file output, I filled in the area where really want something unique.
the stones would be except for a small hole to
locate the center (Figure D). This step was recom-
mended by the jeweler who did the stone setting.
Stone setters have special tools to create the
Jonathan Oxford is an industrial designer living and
correct hole shape for each specific stone. Trying to working in San Francisco. He is also a sculptor, machinist,
predict these shapes before shrinkage is risky and welder, woodworker, and all-around tinkerer.
Make: 65
OPEN SOURCE This plasma cutter
promises tool inter-
SELF- changeability, and synergy
with its RepRap cousin.
REPLICATOR BY ABE CONNALLY
boasts a 4-foot by 8-foot work area, and can cut oxyacetylene, laser, water jet, etc.), making it versa-
anything that conducts electricity, from aluminum tile and extremely useful.
to steel, up to 1 inch thick. Other machines make that difcult without
Made mostly of steel, the RepTab torch table can major modications, says Marcin Jakubowski, the
actually make a copy of itself (minus the motors and groups founder and director. We can make up to
controller electronics). The machine was designed 10-foot-long windmill blades if we modify the table
on and is run with popular open source software, as a router table. Thats pretty useful.
including Blender (conceptual designs), Inkscape But RepTab is more than a self-replicating
(cut paths for the machine), Linux (laptop OS), and machine. Its also been a major experiment in
EMC2 (motor controller). developing open source hardware at the groups
66 Make: Volume 21
IN THE THICK OF IT: (Opposite) Lawrence Kincheloe and Marcin Jakubowski pose inside the RepTab cutting
table. (This page) Kincheloe practices cutting with the plasma cutter tip on the RepTab.
Factor e Farm headquarters in rural Missouri. completely new concept that could work with many
Lawrence Kincheloe, who created the current different materials.
RepTab design, says his motivation to contribute to The synergy between the two machines means
the project was to answer some serious questions that each has the possibility to work with materials
as to how to make a living doing open source work. the other isnt equipped to handle, and also hints
The team hopes that the current prototype will at the possibility of merging the functionality into a
lead to a design that can be successfully marketed to table that can work with both metals and plastics,
the DIY community as an open source product or kit. he enthuses. At the moment, if you put a plasma
The hardest part, Kincheloe says, is balancing cutter onto a RepRap Darwin, it would likely melt
between keeping it as open as possible and still or cut through the table!
making it viable and worthwhile to distribute and RepTab is the latest in OSEs open source
develop. hardware toolbox (see their LifeTrac tractor in
Photograph by Lawrence Kincheloe
RepTab can be built for $1,000, if you dont count MAKE, Volume 18). The group maintains a well-
the laptop and plasma cutter. So, its not the cheap- documented website and wiki for every project.
est tool in your shop, but the team hopes that open Makers are encouraged to join in the development
source collaboration will help bring the cost down, of RepTab at openfarmtech.org/weblog/?cat=214.
as well as improve the overall design.
I believe thats where community development
can really play a big part in making it possible for
Abe Connally follows open-source hardware projects from
everyone who wants to get one, says Kincheloe.
his secluded off-grid hideaway. His experiments with archi-
He envisions a time when the RepTab project tecture, energy, and sustainable systems are documented
can incorporate RepRap components to create a at velacreations.com.
Make: 67
CNC Meet the mighty micRo,
a tabletop CNC robot kit
MACHINE from Lumenlab.
BY STEVE LODEFINK
KIT
Z-AXIS
I
Y-AXIS
X-AXIS
C
J
J
F
H
J E B
G A
D
J K
or the longest time, Ive wanted to start tinkering with CNC milling and
F routing. But despite the number of well-documented homebuilt CNC
machines out there, I could never quite get the momentum to start building
one. So I decided to fast-track my entry into DIY CNC by starting with a kit.
I chose the micRo, a tabletop CNC robot kit is moved around below the cutter. The micRo, on
from Lumenlab (the base price is $999). I wanted the other hand, like most (but not all) DIY CNC
something small enough to be stowed under the machines, is of the gantry crane design, whereby
workbench when not in use, but stout enough to the work is stationary and the tool holder moves
cut aluminum and hard plastic. around on 3 axes, bringing the cutting tool to work
The micRo looked great (in a NASA sort of way) the piece.
with its white technical plastic connecting block
Photography by Steve Lodefink
68 Make: Volume 21
NOTE: Lumenlab has since changed its offerings a bit,
and is now selling an assembled machine controller
rather than discrete electronics boards and components.
But if you prefer to roll your own controller, you can still
purchase the DIY machine kit by itself, and use stepper
drivers from one of the many vendors who offer CNC
drivers and driver kits. A PC with a parallel port, run-
ning the free and open source EMC2, makes a fine CNC
controller.
Running a Job
There are two fundamental software steps to pre-
paring a job for a CNC machine. First you have to
draft the part in a CAD (computer-aided design)
program. Next, you use CAM (computer-aided B
Make: 69
MAKERBEAM
70 Make: Volume 21
3D FABBING 3D printing and desktop
manufacturing innovators
STATE OF tell us whats currently
on their radars.
THE ART BY GARETH BRANWYN
Make: 71
B C
D E
Fig. B: A growing map of fabber garages around the world. Not 100,000 yet, but its a start. Fig. C: An Adafruit
Industries Ice Tube Clock kit with a laser-cut acrylic enclosure. Fig. D: The newest RepRap, Version II Mendel.
Its both bigger and smaller than Version I: it can make bigger things, but is physically much smaller.
Fig. E: CandyFab is an open source 3D printer designed to print candy or other 3D objects using low-melting-
point materials like sugar.
reproduced elsewhere, by many others. years ago) paid for itself many times over. But as
And the prices for both subtractive 3D printers 2009 ends, there isnt a 3D printer for what we want
(CNC tools) and 3D additive printers have become to do at a price that makes sense for us yet.
much more affordable. Together, these digital Were on the lookout for a $10,000-range printer
fabrication tools contribute to the emerging that can produce models with fairly good structural
understanding of how digital models of practically strength, can support things like threaded screws,
anything can be translated into real objects: a laser and with good cosmetic quality without needing
cutter can make a plexiglass clock, a 3D additive to paint, sand, and nish the model. We might get
printer can produce a housing for an electronics a CNC machine, or go with injection molding, and
project, and a ShopBot can cut out childrens well likely continue investigating contract 3D print-
furniture. Digital fabrication makes a new type of ing services for now, since its more affordable than
manufacturing possible. settling on a so-so machine.
That said, the Solido 3D printer (solido3d.com)
Phillip Torrone and Limor Fried, Adafruit caught our eye. It uses sheets of plastic, cut out with
Industries, open source hardware pioneers and glue and anti-glue, and builds up the model a sheet
electronics kit-makers adafruit.com at a time. While there are variations, the Solido uses
Were cautiously optimistic about 3D printing. a PVC-based plastic, it can be drilled, its dust- and
Wed love to use one just like we use our Epilog 35W powder-free, and it's just under $10,000.
laser to create enclosures and cases for kits in an And, we think CandyFab and Bathsheba Gross-
economical way. The laser cutter ($20,000 a couple mans art are two of the coolest things weve seen.
72 Make: Volume 21
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Make: 73
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76
Geared Candleholder
86
Reaction Timer
96
Make: 75
PROJECTS: CIGAR BOX GUITAR makezine.com/21/cbg
TRADITIONAL
CIGAR BOX
GUITAR
By Mark Frauenfelder
76 Make: Volume 21
HAND-ROLLED MUSIC
Five years ago, MAKE featured an
electric Cigar Box Guitar project
(Volume 04, page 76). The projects
author, Ed Vogel, designed a simple
instrument using only parts youd find
at a hardware store. I made one myself,
and had a wonderful time playing it.
Last year, I decided Id like to make a more traditional cigar box
guitar. I soon found Cigar Box Nation (cigarboxnation.com),
a fantastic online hangout for homemade stringed instrument
enthusiasts. The photos, videos, and MP3s posted by these
happy strummers and pluckers were inspiring, and the variety
of guitars in the photo galleries was astounding.
I joined the group and was warmly welcomed by its mem-
bers, who kindly answered my newbie questions about frets,
choices of wood, and other aspects of guitar building. In a
matter of days, I had built my first cigar box guitar (or CBG for
short). Ive now built more than a half dozen CBGs, and I guess
you can say Im hooked.
Because every CBG is built by hand, using different found
and scrounged materials, no two sound alike. I love the
suspense of not knowing what kind of personality a CBG
is going to have until its completed. Heres how to make
Photography by Mark Frauenfelder
Make: 77
PROJECTS: CIGAR BOX GUITAR makezine.com/21/cbg
MEN T: r article.
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78 Make: Volume 21
SET UP.
B
J
A C
I K
D L
H
M
E
F
N
G
Make: 79
PROJECTS: CIGAR BOX GUITAR makezine.com/21/cbg
MAKE IT.
BUILD
YOUR
CIGAR BOX
GUITAR
START >> Time: An Afternoon Complexity: Easy
1a. Using a wood saw, cut the oak or maple lumber to 36". Youll
have to cut it a little shorter later on, but its good to start out
with more than enough.
1b. Saw off a rectangular slice from the lower end. This is the end
that goes into the cigar box. Measure the length and thickness of
the cigar box lid. I use the box itself as a guide, tracing along the
oak stick with a pencil. Mark these dimensions on the wood, then
use a saw to remove the part shaded red in the illustration.
Also make a pencil mark 2" from the end. This is where your
1
bridge will go later on.
1c. Mark the lines for the nut and headstock. Starting from the 4
pencil mark you just made for the bridge, make another mark 2 3
indicating the scale length (I decided on a scale length of 24").
This second mark is where the nut will go. Make a third mark "
farther past the nut. Make a fourth and final pencil mark 3"
beyond the third mark.
1d. Cut out the headstock. Your third and fourth pencil marks
indicate the beginning and the end of the headstock. Use your
saw to cut away the material shaded in red in the illustration
above. The headstock should be half as thick as the neck, or 2".
1e. Sand the fretboard. Now is a good time to sand the top surface of the neck so its dead flat. Use a
sanding block, starting with rough sandpaper and finishing with fine-grit sandpaper.
80 Make: Volume 21
2. INSTALL THE FRETS
I used to be intimidated by the idea of frets. The process seemed mysterious and difficult. But its really
not. If you take your time and make careful measurements, youll have no problem.
2a. Mark the fret locations. Enter your desired scale length into
an online fret spacing program (see makezine.com/21/cbg) and
print out the table it generates. Using a yardstick and a square,
make pencil marks along the length of the neck to indicate the
location of the frets.
NOTE: If you dont want to install metal frets, you can glue flat
toothpicks over the pencil marks. They work quite well, but will
eventually wear out. If you want a fretless guitar (which also sounds
great), go over the pencil marks with a Sharpie or with some paint.
In either case, skip to Step 3.
2b. Cut the fret slots. About 5" should be deep enough. The saw
blade should be thin enough so the fret tangs bite into the slots
you cut. I buy medium-gauge fret wire and have had no problem
with frets popping out. A coping saw and a hobbyists miter box
will help you keep the fret slots square with the neck.
2c. Form the back of the neck. On the backside of the neck,
shape the sharp 90 edges into soft curves so your fretting hand
can easily slide up and down the neck. A Surform shaver tool will
quickly rough out a rounded edge. Follow up with sandpaper until
the wood is very smooth.
NOTE: Dont shave the headstock or the part that will fit into the cigar
box only work on the area under the frets and nut.
Make: 81
PROJECTS: CIGAR BOX GUITAR makezine.com/21/cbg
2d. Tap the frets into the slots. Fret wire usually comes pre-cut,
and each piece is about an inch longer than the width of the
neck. The wires cross section is T-shaped, and the barbed center
rail goes into the slot.
At each fret slot, align one end of the fret wire so it overhangs the
side of the neck just a fraction of an inch. Press the fret wire into
the slot, then place a thin block of wood on the fret and tap on
the block with a hammer until the fret is all the way in.
NOTE: You can smear a tiny bead of super glue across the part of the
fret that fits in the slot if you wish, but I usually skip it, because its
hard to keep the glue from getting onto the neck.
2e. Clip the fret wire. Cut it almost flush with the neck. Repeat
Steps 2d and 2e until all frets are installed. I installed 21 frets on
my cigar box guitar.
2f. File the ends of the frets. The cut ends of the fret wires are
very jagged and would shred your hands if you attempted to play
without filing them smooth. Use a file to form a gentle curve on
both ends of each fret. (If you have a store-bought guitar handy,
inspect it to see how the frets should look.) Run your hand up
and down the neck. If your skin snags, you need to keep filing!
Use a magnifying glass and look for any small burrs that need to
be filed off with a jewelers file.
82 Make: Volume 21
3a. For each peg, drill a large hole for the post and 2 small
pilot holes for the mounting screws. A drill press will make
things easier, but if you use a handheld drill, try your best to
drill straight down.
TIP: When you drill the holes for the posts, use drill bits made for wood.
I used the wrong kind of bit and it tore out big splinters. (You can see a
missing piece above the top tuning peg, inside the orange circle in the
bottom photo).
4a. Cut a hole (a 3-sided notch) in one end of the box for the neck.
Measure the cross section of the part of the neck that fits inside the
cigar box, and draw a matching rectangle on the inside of the box.
Use a coping saw to cut the 2 vertical lines, then use a utility knife
to score the horizontal line several times until you can snap off the
rectangle.
Insert the neck, close the lid, and make sure the fretboard is flush
with (or a tiny bit higher than) the lid. If the fretboard is lower than
the lid, sand down the cut-out part of the neck that comes into
contact with the lid until the fretboard and lid are flush.
4b. Now well screw the neck to the box. I try to use as little glue
as possible when I make a cigar box guitar because I dont like
waiting for the glue to dry, and screws make it easy to take the
guitar apart for repairs, modifications, or salvage.
Drill a pilot hole in the far end of the box and drive a screw through
the box into the neck. Close the lid and then pilot-drill and drive
2 more screws through the lid of the box into the neck (if you later
want to install a pickup, you can remove these screws).
4c. Attach the tailpiece. Fold the cabinet hinge centered over the
front lower edge of the cigar box, then drill pilot holes and screw
it to the lower end of the box. The hinge will sit over the screw
you inserted in the previous step, 4b.
Make: 83
PROJECTS: CIGAR BOX GUITAR makezine.com/21/cbg
4d. Paint position marker dots on the neck. Use paint or a Sharpie to make dots above frets 3, 5, 7, 9, and 12.
4e. String the guitar. Thread the barrel ends of the strings
through the hinges unused mounting holes. Wind the other ends
of the strings onto the tuning pegs, but not too tight yet. Here's
a good video that will teach you how to wind a guitar string:
makezine.com/go/guitarstring
4f. Slip in a bridge and a nut under the strings. I used a wooden barbecue skewer to make the bridge and
the nut. Snip 2 pieces to size and place one above the line you drew for the nut. Place the other under the
strings on the cigar box at a distance equal to the scale length you chose; this is the bridge.
4g. Screw down the tailpiece. Drill a hole through the hinge
and drive a screw through it into the lid and the neck. This will
increase tension on the strings and prevent rattling.
4h. Make a sound hole. Use a small hole saw (" diameter or
so) to cut a sound hole in the top of the box. Make sure to posi-
tion the hole so it doesnt cut into the neck. (I made this mistake
when I made my first cigar box guitar!)
Guess what youve built your guitar! In the next section, Ill
explain tuning and playing, as well as direct you to other helpful
cigar box guitar resources.
84 Make: Volume 21
USE IT.
TUNE UP
AND TURN ON
GET IN TUNE
The most popular tuning
for cigar box guitars is
called open G tuning.
Many of the original
blues guitar players
used open G, and its
a favorite with Keith
Richards of the Rolling
Stones.
Visit makezine.com/
21/cbg for an MP3 file
of this tuning played
string by string on a
six-string guitar. For the
CBG, you can ignore
the first string thats
plucked, and tune it to
the 3 strings after that:
G, D, and G.
Make: 85
PROJECTS: GEARED CANDLEHOLDER makezine.com/21/candleholder
GEARED
CANDLEHOLDER
By Benjamin Cowden
86 Make: Volume 21
ENLIGHTENMENT AESTHETIC
Nothing says machine quite like a
bunch of gears turning in time with each
other. Its an iconic image. Unfortunately,
gears are expensive and hard to find
pre-made. You can scavenge them from
discarded machines, but the selection
is limited, and its possible to amass
a whole drawer of gears without having
any two that actually fit together.
When I began making kinetic sculpture, this was one of
my major dilemmas. So I developed an easy and relatively
fast technique for making my own gears out of metal plate
that also has the advantage of giving them an inviting,
toy-like appearance.
Heres an elegant, all-aluminum candleholder with a
movement containing 3 handmade gears. The drive gear
or pinion on the left pushes 2 candle-bearing arms up and
down on either side, and because of the different sizes
of the gears, the candles move at different rates.
Photography by Benjamin Cowden
Make: 87
PROJECTS: GEARED CANDLEHOLDER makezine.com/21/candleholder
Creating
a Movement
A geared movement raises
and lowers the candles
via parallelogram-linkage
arms that keep the
candles level.
4
4
n 8-tooth drive gear or pinion gear 1 turns the same principle as the classic Luxo L-1 desk lamp:
A 15- and 24-tooth driven gears 2 , each of which the 4-bar, parallelogram linkage. On each arm, the lower
Illustration by Damien Scogin
moves a different arm. The 2 driven gears have a pair of pivot points and the upper pair of candleholder
gearing ratio of 5:8, so the 2 candleholders reach the anchor points are both vertical and 1" apart, and its
same relative position, such as maximum height, with this relationship that keeps the candle cups level in
every 8 revolutions of the smaller gear or every 5 of any arm position.
the larger one. Either way, it takes 120 teeth for an arm The gears move the parallel arms by means of a
to transit its full range of motion, which corresponds connecting arm 4 , a simple crank linkage that
to 15 full turns of the drive gear knob. converts rotary motion to reciprocating (back and
Movable parallel arms 3 hold the candles, using forth) motion.
88 Make: Volume 21
SET UP.
C
K T
D
L
E U V
B N
G
O
S W
H
I P Q
R X
J Y
Make: 89
PROJECTS: GEARED CANDLEHOLDER makezine.com/21/candleholder
MAKE IT.
BUILD
YOUR
GEARED
CANDLEHOLDER
START >> Time: 20 Hours Complexity: Moderate
1a. Download patterns for the gears and all other project parts from makezine.com/21/candleholder. To
calculate the radius of each gears pitch circle, which runs through the center of the teeth, I used the formula:
r=s*n /
where s is the tooth size and n is the number of teeth. I used a " drill, giving a " tooth size, so for my
8-, 15-, and 24-tooth gears, I got pitch radii of 0.637", 1.194", and 1.910", respectively.
1d. Wherever the pitch circle crosses the radiating lines, punch
and drill a " hole. Also drill the center with the " bit.
90 Make: Volume 21
1e. Cut the gear out as much as you can on a band saw.
1f. Finish the teeth by filing them until they are semicircular and
even-looking.
1g. Test-mount the gears onto a wood board using " bolts or
rod. Leave a tiny bit of room, or slop, between the gears to
decrease the chance of binding. Turn them, and mark any
problem areas for more filing.
1h. To tap the holes for the connecting arms, clamp the gear so
the hole location is off the edge of a table. Secure the 10-24 tap
into the handle, put a couple drops of tapping oil on the tap, and
screw it slowly into the hole. Apply light pressure, and turn back
every quarter turn to break off the curls of metal. Go all the way
through the hole before backing the tap out. Clean the hole, and
screw in one of the 10-24 shoulder bolts to test the threads.
TIP: Use a combination square and a divider to mark vertical lines and distances from the bottom edge of the plate.
2b. Follow the pattern to outline the body. Use your center marks to create the outline, scribing circles
and connecting them with necks. I used an oval drafting template to make smooth curves.
For the 2 feet, mark two 4"-diameter half-circles at the bottom. In the upper corners, mark 4"-radius
circles (1" diameter) that encompass both arm pivot holes. Make the central circles small enough to
show off the mechanism inside. The resulting outline will be fun and reminiscent of old machines.
Make: 91
PROJECTS: GEARED CANDLEHOLDER makezine.com/21/candleholder
2c. Roughly cut the back panel of the body on a band saw and
drill the holes. The Y" holes in the corners are for 8-32 machine
screws that hold 1" threaded standoffs between the 2 panels.
2d. Use the back panel as a template to mark the front panel.
To improve visibility of the gears, make the middle area of the
front panel a little smaller. Clamp the panels together and redrill
the " holes for the pinion (the smallest gear) and the Y" arm
holes through the back and front panel together. These are the
only holes in the front panel.
2e. Tap the holes for the larger gears on the back panel the same way you tapped the gears in Step 1h.
2f. For the pinion axle, which will connect to the knob, cut a
1" piece of " steel rod. Put one end through the center of the
pinion and slip a clamp-on shaft collar on top. To join the collar
and pinion, drill a 5" hole down through both, off to one side,
and use a small hammer to drive in a 5" tension pin.
2g. Make the knob the same way you made the gears, as a
5-tooth gear with " teeth (pitch radius = 0.796", marks every
72). Drill and attach the knob to a shaft collar with a tension pin,
the way you did the pinion in Step 2f.
2h. For the feet, cut two 4" lengths of 4" aluminum rod. They
need 2 slots cut halfway through them, " wide and 1" apart.
Put the feet in a vise and use a hacksaw to cut each side of the
slot, and then saw diagonally across both to clear out material in
between. Finish clearing out the slots with a coarse file until the
body panels fit in them. Youll attach these feet with epoxy later.
92 Make: Volume 21
3a. Cut the arms. Refer to the connecting arms pattern at makezine.com/21/candleholder. All measure-
ments are based on the centers of the holes, so add some extra length for the ends, and grind or file the
corners round.
3b. Drill the holes. Some need to be " while others are U". The connecting arms attach to the gears
with "-diameter shoulder bolts and the parallel arms pivot on " threaded standoffs. The arm parts
attach to each other and to the candle brackets using U" binding posts.
3c. Cut the spacers. Ten spacers of varying lengths hold the arms and gears at the correct distances
between the front and back panels. Referring to the spacer plan online, cut the 2" unthreaded aluminum
spacers down to the lengths needed with a hacksaw. Cut them a bit long and then file them down to a hair
short, to allow for free movement.
4b. Cut four 2" lengths of the "1" aluminum bar, round the
bottom corners, and cut and drill per the pattern. Each short
length of bar needs 2 posts cut out of the top to fit into the holes
in the disks. Use a file to round the corners of each post, and
insert the bars into the disks.
4d. To stake down the posts, clamp the bracket in a vise, then
position your center punch in the middle of each post and use a
small hammer to drive it in gently, spreading out the aluminum
slightly, like a rivet.
4e. Use 2" binding posts to join the brackets to the parallel arms, then finish the holders by using epoxy
to attach glass drip rings on top of the disks.
Make: 93
PROJECTS: GEARED CANDLEHOLDER makezine.com/21/candleholder
5b. Install the 8-tooth drive gear, axle, and knob. To hold the axle in place behind the back panel, slip a
couple of wave spring washers over the end and secure it with the third clamp-on collar. You can adjust
tension on the axle by pinching the spring washers between the collar and the panel.
5c. Use a grinder or file to trim 1" off the end of each shoulder bolt so they wont stick out through the
holes in the "-thick gears or panel. (The threaded ends of the bolts are 2" long.)
5d. Attach the large gears to the holes tapped in the back plate with 7" shoulder bolts, adding wave
springs or fiber washers on each side for tension so that the candle arms wont fall down. I added 2 fiber
washers behind and 3 spring washers in front of each gear.
5e. Attach the connecting arm for the 15-tooth gear with a 2" shoulder bolt through a " spacer. Attach
the arm for the 24-tooth gear with a 3" bolt through a " spacer.
5f. Referring to the spacer plan, add the front panel and the 4 pivot arms, connecting the long pivots to
the connector arms with " binding posts. The arms pivot around 4 standoffs secured to the panels by 8
button-head machine screws, and are laterally positioned by matched-length pairs of unthreaded spacers
slipped over the standoffs.
5g. Attach the candleholders, and seat the panels in the feet.
When all this is put together, the arms should be between the
body panels, and secure but not tight on the gears. You may have
to tweak the washer combinations; try several to find what works
best. When you put the machine together for the last time, add
some thread locker to the gear bolts and the binding posts to
prevent them from coming undone.
5h. Use epoxy to permanently attach the feet to the body. Youre done. Congratulations!
This is not a simple project, and doing it mostly with hand tools is especially challenging, but the sleek
look and smooth mechanical action of the finished product should be very satisfying. I hope this piece will
not only provide a fun project for the home but also be a catalyst for more experimentation in mechanics.
For additional information and photos, go to twentysevengears.com/gearedcandleholder.
94 Make: Volume 21
USE IT.
CRANK UP
THE ATMOSPHERE
This candleholder makes an excellent centerpiece
at the dinner table; being transformable means it
can change to fit the occasion. Lots of big serving
bowls on the table? Lift the candles up high so they
shine down on all the delicious food!
Given the time and craftsmanship that goes into
its creation, this project also makes a wonderful
gift. I gave a similar candleholder to friends of mine
at their wedding, and they told me it was the most
beautiful object they own.
VARIATIONS
The dimensions and materials for this project are
quite variable. You can use steel, plywood, or acrylic
for the parts without a problem, except for tapping
threaded holes. For plastic or wood, try threaded
inserts such as McMaster-Carr part #99362A500.
The body shape and arm length can change to
suit your desires. Just make sure the candle cups
dont collide and the connecting arms dont hit the
axle. If youre not sure whether your adaptation will
work, make a cardboard mock-up and try it out. RESOURCES
The design is also expandable: imagine a whole Flash animations showing how different movements
row of candles, each rising and falling at different and mechanisms work: flying-pig.co.uk/mechanisms
speeds!
Useful animations and explanations of mechanisms:
BECOME A GEARHEAD technologystudent.com/cams/camdex.htm
Once you understand the way this type of mecha-
nism works, you can adapt it to an infinite number My website, with images and video of many
of projects. Being able to make your own gears mechanical sculptures, as well as links to
and levers allows you to create exactly the move- other kinetic sculptors and resources:
ment you want, whether its for a walking robot or twentysevengears.com
a machine that brushes your teeth and ties your
shoes! 507 Mechanical Movements: Mechanisms and
Check out the resources to the right to add to Devices by Henry T. Brown (Dover, 2005) is a
your mechanical vocabulary and inspire your inner classic book of ideas for creating movements.
kinetic sculptor.
Illustrated Sourcebook of Mechanical Components
by Robert O. Parmley (McGraw-Hill, 2000) is a
compendium of ideas for mechanical inventors.
Make: 95
PROJECTS: REACTION TIMER makezine.com/21/reaction_timer
Reaction Timer
By Charles Platt
96 Make: Volume 21
START >> Time: An Evening Complexity: Moderate
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Step 2: Counting
Fortunately, we have a chip known as the 4026,
H
CMOS chip (meaning, Complementary Metal Oxide
Semiconductor) and is thus sensitive to static
electricity.
H
this experiment, were going to need positive and
F
details. If your breadboard doesnt already have the
columns of holes color-coded, I suggest you use
Sharpie markers to identify them, to avoid polarity
H
G
9 volts. Make sure you have the chip the right way
K
98 Make: Volume 21
compare this with the schematic in Figure E. 9V
Include a tactile switch between the positive sup- DC
ply and pin 1 of the 4026 counter, with a 10K resistor
to keep the input to the 4026 counter negative until
the button is pressed. Make sure all your positives
and negatives are correct, and turn on the power.
You should find that when you tap the tactile
switch lightly, the counter advances the numeric
display from 0 through 9 and then begins all over
again from 0. You may also find that the chip
sometimes misinterprets your button-presses, and
counts two or even three digits at a time. Ill deal
with this problem a little later on.
The LED segments wont be glowing very brightly,
because the 1K series resistors deprive them of the
power they would really like to receive. Those resis-
tors are necessary to avoid overloading the outputs
from the counter.
Assuming that you succeed in getting your coun- Fig. D: When building circuits around chips, its
convenient to have a positive and negative power
ter to drive the numeric display, youre ready to add
supply down each side of your breadboard. For the
two more counters, which will control the remaining reaction timer circuit, a 9V supply with a 100F
two numerals. The first counter will count in ones, smoothing capacitor can be set up like this. If your
the second in tens, and the third in hundreds. breadboard doesnt color-code the columns of holes
on the left and right sides, I suggest you do that
In Figure G (following page), Ive used arrows
yourself with a permanent marker.
and numbers to tell you which pins of the counters
should be connected to which pins of the numeric
display. Otherwise, the schematic would be a con-
fusing tangle of wires crossing each other.
At this point, you can give up in dismay at the
number of connections but really, using a bread-
board, it shouldnt take you more than half an hour
,&
to complete this phase of the project. I suggest you
give it a try, because theres something magical
about seeing a display count from 000 through 999
all by itself, and I chose this project because it also
has a lot of instructional value.
S1 is attached to the clock disable pin of IC1, so
that when you hold down this button, it should stop
that counter from counting. Because IC1 controls
IC2, and IC2 controls IC3, if you freeze IC1, the other
,&
two will have to wait for it to resume. Therefore you
wont need to make use of their clock disable
features.
S2 is connected to the reset pins of all three
counters, so that when you hold down this button, it
should set them all to zero.
S3 sends positive pulses manually to the clock
input pin of the first counter.
Fig. E: IC3 is a 4026 counter. IC4 is a triple 7-segment
S1, S2, and S3 are all wired in parallel with 1K display chip. The arrows tell you which pins on the LED
resistors connected to the negative side of the display should be connected to the pins on the counter.
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PROJECTS: REACTION TIMER makezine.com/21/reaction_timer
power supply. The idea is that when the buttons
are not being pressed, the pull-down resistors
keep the pins near ground (zero) voltage. When you
press one of the buttons, it connects positive volt-
age directly to the chip, and easily overwhelms the
negative voltage. This way, the pins remain either in
a definitely positive or definitely negative state.
If you disconnect one of these pull-down resistors
you are likely to see the numeric display flutter
erratically. (The numeric display chip has some un-
connected pins, but this wont cause any problem,
because it is a passive chip that is just a collection
of LED segments.)
NOTE: Always connect input pins of a CMOS chip so that
they are either positive or negative. See the No Floating
Pins warning on page 104.
&RXQWHU
I suggest that you connect all the wires shown in
Fig. F: The 4026 decade counter is a CMOS chip that the schematic first. Then cut lengths of 22-gauge
accepts clock pulses on pin 1, maintains a running total wire to join the remaining pins of the sockets from
from 0 to 9, and outputs this total via pins designed to
IC1, IC2, and IC3 to IC4.
interface with a 7-segment LED numeric display.
Switch on the power and press S2. Youll see three
zeros in your numeric display.
Each time you press S3, the count should advance
by 1. If you press S2, the count should reset to
three zeros. If you hold down S1 while you press
S3 repeatedly, the counters should remain frozen,
ignoring the pulses from S3.
idea is to avoid one pin on a chip Better still, dont solder CMOS
Grounding acquiring an electric potential that chips at all. When youre ready to
Yourself is much higher than another pin. immortalize a project by moving
it from a breadboard into perfo-
To avoid the frustration that occurs While handling CMOS components, rated board, solder a socket into
when you power up a circuit and grounding yourself is important. I your perforated board, then push
nothing happens, be sure to take find that in dry weather, I accumulate the chip into the socket. If theres
these precautions when you use a static charge merely by walking a problem in the future, you can
the older generation of CMOS chips across a plastic floor-protecting unplug the chip and plug
(which often have part numbers mat in socks that contain some in another.
from 4000 upward, such as 4002, synthetic fibers. You can buy a wrist
4020, and so on): strap to keep yourself grounded, or Use a grounded, conductive
simply touch a large metal object, surface on your workbench. The
Chips are often shipped with their such as a file cabinet, before you cheapest way to do this is to unroll
legs embedded in black foam. This is touch your circuit board. I am in the some aluminum foil and ground it
electrically conductive foam, and you habit of working with my socked (with an alligator clip and a length
should keep the chips embedded in it foot touching a file cabinet, which of wire) to a radiator, a water pipe,
until you are ready to use them. takes care of the problem. or a large steel object. I like to
use an area of conductive foam to
If the chips are supplied to you in Never solder a CMOS chip while cover my workbench the same
plastic tubes, you can take them there is power applied to it. type of foam used for packaging
out and poke their legs into pieces chips. However, this foam is quite
of conductive foam or, if you dont Grounding the tip of your soldering expensive.
have any, use aluminum foil. The iron is a good idea.
FUNDAMENTALS
power. When the 4026 is running on counters (in 8s), and so on.
Counters and Seven- a 9-volt power supply, it can source
Segment Displays about 4mA of power from each pin. Why would you need to count in
This is barely enough to drive a anything other than tens? Consider
Most counters accept a stream 7-segment display. that the four numerals on a digital
of pulses and distribute them to clock each count differently. The
a series of pins in sequence. The You can insert a series resistor rightmost digit rolls over when it
4026 decade counter is unusual in between each output pin of the reaches 10. The next digit to the left
that it applies power to its output counter and each input pin of the counts in sixes. The first hours digit
pins in a pattern that is just right numeric display, but a simpler, counts to 10, gives a carry signal,
to illuminate the segments of a quicker option is to use just one counts to 2, and gives another carry
7-segment numeric display. series resistor for each numeral, signal. The leftmost hours digit is
between the negative-power pin either blank or 1, when displaying
Some counters create positive and ground. The experiment that time in 12-hour format. Naturally
outputs (they source current) Im describing uses this shortcut. there are counters specifically
while others create negative Its disadvantage is that digits that designed to do all this.
outputs (they sink current). require only a couple of segments
Some 7-segment displays require (such as numeral 1) will appear Counters have control pins such
positive input to light up the num- brighter than those that use many as clock disable; which tells the
bers. These are known as common segments (such as numeral 8). counter to ignore its input pulses
cathode displays. Others require and freeze the display; enable
negative input and are known as If you want your display to look display, which enables the output
common anode displays. The bright and professional, you really from the chip; and reset, which
4026 delivers positive outputs and need a transistor to drive each resets the count to zero.
requires a common cathode display. segment of each numeral. An alter-
native is to use a chip containing The 4026 requires a positive input
Check the data sheet for any multiple op amps to amplify the to activate each control pin. When
counter chip to find out how much current. the pins are grounded, their fea-
power it requires, and how much tures are suppressed.
it can deliver. CMOS chips are When a decade counter reaches 9
becoming dated, but they are very and rolls over to 0, it emits a pulse To make the 4026 count and
useful to hobbyists, because they from its carry pin. This can drive display its running total you must
tolerate a wide range of supply another counter that will keep track ground the clock disable and
voltage from 5 to 15 volts in the of tens. The carry pin on that coun- reset pins (to suppress their func-
case of the 4026. Other types of ter can be chained to a third counter tion) and apply positive voltage to
chips are much more limited. that keeps track of hundreds, the enable display pin (to activate
and so on. In addition to decade the output). See Figure F to see
Most counters can source or sink counters, there are hexadecimal these pins identified.
only a few milliamps of output counters (which count in 16s), octal
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PROJECTS: REACTION TIMER makezine.com/21/reaction_timer
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PROJECTS: REACTION TIMER makezine.com/21/reaction_timer
FUNDAMENTALS
so if you apply negative voltage to
The Bistable pin 4, it flips the output to nega-
555 Timer tive. After that, the output will stay 1 8
voltage to pin 6. Can you see the Heres a quick summary of the
))
consequences? bistable configuration: 3
6
Make: 105
PROJECTS: REACTION TIMER makezine.com/21/reaction_timer
Numeric
Display
555
Reset
Pulse
Pulse
Switch !
Counter
Generator
FINISH X
Make: 107
BUILD Run a mini electric punk bike faster (and funnier)
NOTES by powering it with a big, bad cordless drill.
I HAVE A 25' CRUISING TUGBOAT IN FLORIDA, On flat pavement, the Electric Punk only went
and I wanted a small, lightweight ride that I could 5mph, and it couldnt even pull me up my driveway
keep onboard for making beer and ice runs when slope. But its small frame was perfect for the project.
I pull into a marina. After seeing a short segment on For the engine, I used a 36V Bosch Litheon drill,
TV about a cordless-drill-powered bike at a hard- which was the most powerful cordless I could find.
ware convention, I decided to build my own. I bought it reconditioned through Amazon for $219.
Behold the result: the Drill Rod (Figure A). I also found a nice, small right-angle gearbox (1:1
Equipped with a 36-volt drill, this brute accelerates ratio) made by Torque Transmission, model #RAB-1,
from 0 to 10mph in just 2 seconds and is responsive which was rated at 1/3 HP at the drills maximum
enough to do tricks like standing on its back wheel. speed of 1,800rpm.
As for styling, its been said that when Im on
my Drill Rod, I look like a circus bear on a tricycle Beefing Up the Rear Wheel
(duly note in Figure B). You will not attract potential I took the Electric Punk apart (Figure C) and went
romantic partners when riding this. Trust me. to work. I stripped the plastic shells, the battery, the
When I started the project, I contacted the motor, and the motor thumb trigger on the right
company that made the bike I saw on TV and asked handlebar. I threw the useless little motor in the trash.
if they could just sell me the right-angle gearbox First I replaced the 7" rear wheel with a larger rear
that enables the center-mounted drill to drive the wheel and sprocket assembly for the Razor Mini
rear wheel. But they refused; they would only sell Chopper, which takes a 9" tire. This would carry
a finished bike. weight more comfortably. I dont know if this was
I continued looking for ways to build my own. strictly necessary, but I knew I wanted it in order to
At a flea market, I found a tiny battery-powered bike make the bike look cooler.
Photography by Russ Byrer (Fig. A); and courtesy of Russ Byrer (Fig. B)
for kids called the Electric Punk, made by Razor. To fit the 9" wheel onto the bike, I needed to
I bought it for $60 and took it home. With its small relocate the axle farther back on the swing arm, so
battery and motor, I knew it was underpowered I drilled new axle holes about " behind the original
for what I needed, and its 7" rear wheel looked too ones, and then moved the brake pads back to match
small to support the weight of an adult. (Figure D, page 111).
A B
Rear wheel assembly cable for kickstand extension Heavy pliers and file
(wheel and sprocket)
for Razor Mini Chopper Aluminum bar stock Bicycle seat Hammer and chisel,
part #W15125090048 or router
from Razorama 2" metal rod, 5" length Various screws, washers,
(razorama.com), $26 and nuts Ruler
Make: 109
BUILD The Drill Rod
NOTES
F G
H I
Make: 111
BUILD The Drill Rod
NOTES
opposite end of the trigger lever. I filed the lever end piece, and then threads through the washer, nut,
round so its edges wouldnt mar the plastic trigger and wing nut that tighten it down (Figure P).
(Figure K). I attached the bottom of the support pillar to the
gearbox mounting plate using 2 U-shaped clamps
Mounting the Drill that I cut out of steel. The clamps fit around the
The bikes rear wheel has a spring shock absorber plate and U-channel, with a socket head cap screw
(Figure L), so I needed to mount the drill in a way to tighten them down together (Figure Q). The
that would allow it to move up and down along with bottom end of the threaded rod rests on the topside
the bikes swing arm. (The alternative would be to of the bikes swing arm.
tighten the rear shock spring all the way down, dis-
abling it but this would make the ride extremely Riding the Drill Rod
uncomfortable.) One last modification: the seat that comes on the
To accomplish this, I designed a hinged platform E-Punk is very small, so I installed a larger, spring-
that connects to the bikes seat post. Designing loaded seat. The Drill Rod was complete, ready to
and making this flexible connection was the hardest rev up and ride (Figure R).
part of the project. So how does it handle? I have cruised with the
The platform has 2 parts: a front bracket that Drill Rod several miles so far, and it works just fine.
clamps to the seat post, and the main platform that Several friends have also tried it, and it always puts a
holds the drill. The bracket has a flat slot in back, big smile on their faces. I like to think this is because
and the platform has an axle that passes through theyre having fun, but perhaps embarrassment is
the slot. The rod is contained by the slot but is free involved. My son and son-in-law also both love riding
to move inside, creating a combination slip joint and the Drill Rod. Like me, they have no shame.
hinge (Figure M). This supports the platform while One day I was cutting tree limbs hanging over
giving it 2 degrees of freedom: up-down tilt (pitch) a fence on my property, and a limb fell onto the
and forward-back translation (surge). neighbors side of the fence. The way our homes are
I machined the front bracket out of aluminum configured, I had to go halfway around the block to
stock using my Smithy and made the axle out of get to where I could pick up the limb, and I decided
some 2" rod, turning the ends with a threaded to ride the Drill Rod. On the way back home, I passed
die and screwing matching knobs onto each end. I a city maintenance truck. The guy inside just stared
pieced together the platform out of some scrap teak and shook his head as if to say, You know that
wood from a paper towel holder that I dumpster- people can see you, dont you?
dove at a marina. See design sketches for the hinge The Drill Rod weighs 37lbs, including the weight
and platform at makezine.com/21/build_notes. of an extra battery, which fits easily in the frame
The rear part of the platform has a metal tongue where the original battery pack went. The little bike
for the bottom of the drill to hook onto, and 2 pegs takes me 2 miles per fully charged battery. If you
that cradle the drill on either side. The pegs are carry extra batteries, you increase your range 2
small lengths of dowel that I beveled with a file miles per battery. I did the math.
and glued into holes (Figure N). Admittedly, the brakes that come on the E-Punk
A separate curved piece of teak fits on top of the are terrible, and are inadequate for the Drill Rod. But
platform and swings around to cradle the back end between using the brakes and dragging your feet,
of the drill, where it protrudes through the hole in you can get stopped. That being said, if you build one
the platform (Figure O). and run it into a tree, consider yourself forewarned.
A support pillar connects the main platform down Meanwhile, Im thinking about building a drill-
to the motor mounting plate. Its a 16" length of powered dinghy.
threaded rod tucked inside a slightly shorter length of
square aluminum U-channel. At the top, the U-channel
Russ Byrer is a retired engineer for Delphi Automotive
butts up against the underside of the platform. The Systems who, among other things, did technical support for
rod sticks up through holes in the platform and swing the CART Indy Car Racing Series.
M N
O P Q
Make: 113
123 + + Safe Bamboo Swords
By David Battino
2. Wrap it in foam.
Squeeze the foam around the pole, leaving about
12" uncovered for the handle. Allow the foam to
extend 1"2" beyond the other end of the pole
so the tip is padded.
Use It.
We battle using Monty Pythons Black Knight
rules: a chop to your opponents arm or leg disables
it; keep fighting until one of you has no limbs left. In
the photo below, Sir Christopher has lost both legs
3
Albert Einstein once wrote that God does not play in living organisms bodies, such as potassium-40,
dice with the universe. To which Niels Bohr (or carbon-14, and lead-210.
Enrico Fermi) reportedly replied, Stop telling God To produce the random numbers, a microcontroller
what to do with his dice. constantly runs through a loop counting from 1 to
Heres a mood lamp that expresses these dice 4. Whenever the Geiger counter detects a particle,
as 4 multicolored cubes that blink randomly, with the loop is interrupted and the last number counted
true randomness not the deterministic, pseudo- indexes to one of the 4 LED cubes. This new cube
random chaos that computers and other closed, is lighted, and the counting resumes until the next
logic-based systems produce, but real, nonreplicable detection. The algorithm resembles a fast-spinning
randomness, triggered by background radiation carnival wheel thats stopped occasionally to read
Photography by John Iovine
from across the universe. the pointer position, then spun again.
I designed this lamp for testing ESP (extrasensory As a result, a new cube on the lamp switches
perception), although it has other fun and interest- on about once or twice a minute, under normal
ing applications. At the heart of the device is a mini circumstances. If the same cube lights again, it
Geiger counter that detects ionizing radiation from momentarily blinks off in between. For logging and
3 main sources: cosmic radiation from the sun and other uses, the random numbers are also sent to
stars; terrestrial radiation from radioactive elements a serial port as TTL data (0V low, 5V high) that can
in the soil, air, and water; and radioactive isotopes be read by a PC.
Make: 115
SCIENCE
C D E
Fig. A: The ESP Lamp project kit PCBs for the display Fig. D: The mini Geiger-Mller tube wrapped with copper
board and main board. Fig. B: Main board for a plain foil. Fig. E: Holes drilled in the main tube for power and
breadboard circuit. Fig. C: Small display board for a plain data connections.
breadboard circuit.
main PCB. Mark positions and drill 2" holes for the Applications Radioactivity
power plug and data port, if used, leading to their and Party Games
locations on the PCB. You can insert dummy plugs True random numbers are useful for data encryption,
into the jacks to conrm that the holes t (Figure E). statistical mechanics, probability, gaming, neural
Use a small saw to cut 3 arcs, about 60 each, networks, and disorder systems, to name a few. Here
out of the medium-sized ring. Arrange these arcs are some specic applications for the ESP Lamp.
as curved spacers around the perimeter of the Mood Lamp The lamps output is unpredictable
main board (Figure F, following page), and stack the in both time and color. You can see it as a sophisti-
display board on top. cated mood lamp, a window into the ramblings of
Solder the nal connections between the 2 the universe at large, or maybe an example of God
boards if you havent already, making them short talking (if anyone is listening).
and exible enough to t. Radioactive Fallout Detector Excessive radiation,
Drill each cube halfway through with a " bit, for such as from radioactive fallout, would make the
an LED to t into. The kit case pieces are made from LEDs blink rapidly. Using this same principle, if you
clear plastic and you can leave them transparent, wanted to generate random numbers more rapidly
but I created a frosted effect by texturing the cubes than the lamp typically outputs, you could hold a
and the surfaces below them with sandpaper and small piece of uranium ore close to the Geiger tube.
a wire brush (Figure G). This will also cause the lamp to blink rapidly and
The lamp is ready to be glued together. Using output random numbers.
clear silicone adhesive, glue the cubes over the Precognition Testing Predict the color of the next
LEDs on the display board (Figure H). Glue the main LED that will light, and track the results. For example,
board platform into the main tube and then glue write down what you think the next 60 LED colors
in the board. Glue the spacers to the inside of the will be. Chance alone will average 15 correct hits out
tube, and the display board on top. Finally, t the of 60 calls, but any number of hits between 9 and
clear plastic top disk over the cubes, nishing off 21 hits (2 standard deviations from chance) is not
the lamp. considered signicant. Hit counts above (or below)
Make: 117
SCIENCE
F G
H I
Fig. F: The display board support spacers arranged Fig. H: The dice cubes glued over the LEDs on the
around the parimeter of the main board. Fig. G: The display board. Fig. I: Random radiation or psychokinesis
case pieces cut, frosted, drilled, and ready for assembly. at work?
this range may be showing ESP/psi activity. deviations from randomness, which they reportedly
Psychokinesis (PK)/Intention Testing Choose observed during Lady Dianas funeral and after the
a single color to intend and write down the next 60 9/11 attacks. The ESP Lamp has a TTL output that
LED colors while mentally trying to get your color can be read by a PC, so software can be written to
to come out. As with precog testing, anything above check whether its output becomes less random,
or below the range 9 to 21 suggests activity. It has signaling an event, global or local.
been suggested that groups of people all intending
the same color have a higher inuence rate than Resources
individuals, so this could be a game to try at your Here are 3 research sites that use statistical tools
next party. and random events to assess possible ESP/psi
Telepathy Testing Two people sit in separate abilities of the human mind:
rooms; a sender observes the ESP Lamp and tries Psi Arcade: An online intuition game from the
to transmit the color changes to the receiver as they Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) psiarcade.com
occur. The receiver tries to receive the impression Global Consciousness Project: Featured in MAKE,
from the transmitter and writes down the colors Volume 09, page 62 noosphere.princeton.edu
and times. International Consciousness Research
Telephone to God Use the ESP Lamp as a Magic Laboratories (ICRL): Extending the discontinued
8-Ball type of device. Assign values to the colors, like Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research
green for yes, red for no, and so on. Ask a question (PEAR) program icrl.org
and wait for the reply from the next lit LED. Matthew
10:29 reads, Not even a sparrow falls to earth with-
out Gods knowing it. If so, God would know of this John Iovine is a science and electronics tinkerer who has
telephone and could communicate through it. published a few books and articles, owns and operates
Global Consciousness Signal The Global Images SI Inc., a small science company, and resides in
Consciousness Project (see Resources) analyzes Staten Island, N.Y., with his wife and two children, their dog,
randomly generated numbers for signicant Chansey, and a newly rescued tabby kitten.
Weve all seen time-lapse movies that seem to (yet sturdy) outdoor enclosure. With this setup, the
speed up the world around us. The effect is very images can be continually captured directly to disk,
compelling, making processes that normally occur around the clock, and Im able to log in remotely to
at a rate too slow to perceive unfold before our control the camera. I can also compile the images
eyes, such as the blooming of a ower. into movies on the same system.
Im working on a time-lapse movie that captures
the dynamics of weather and clouds, and the 1. Install Linux.
patterns of sunrise and sunset for an entire year. Note that installing Linux will wipe out any data on
I need a setup to capture a large number of your PC. You can download the Ubuntu installer for
images. I need to collect these images without free (ubuntu.com), or buy the DVD from Amazon.
Photograph by Ken Murphy
interrupting the image-capture process, and to The installation tools will walk you through the entire
access the system remotely. I want to do it on the process, asking you to select various application
cheap, without sacricing quality. packages.
Heres the solution I came up with: Im putting a Youll likely want an OpenSSH server so you
dusty old PC back into service, installing Linux and can remotely and securely log in, a web server such
gPhoto image capture software, and connecting as Apache so you can view your images remotely,
it to my old 4-megapixel Canon A520 camera via and any scripting languages you may nd useful,
USB. The camera will be mounted in an improvised such as Python or Perl.
Make: 119
IMAGING
D E F
KEEPING THE POWER BUTTON PRESSED ON: power button and glue it in place with 5-minute epoxy.
Figs. A and B: Use pliers to bend a 3" aluminum mend- Fig. E: Turn the screw by hand until it begins to tighten
ing brace. Fig. C: Attach a #8 screw onto the bracket against the power button. Fig. F: Tighten the top nut
with 2 nuts. Fig. D: Position the screw directly over the against the brace to lock the setscrew in place.
Note that with the power button held down, you of the box oor for easy access with the enclosure
may not be able to operate the camera manually, as cover door removed (Figure J).
its buttons will be unresponsive. You will, however, be
able to operate it remotely using the gPhoto software. 7. Put it all together.
After assembling the enclosure outside, I plugged
5. Install the enclosure window. my PC and the extension cord into the UPS power
I removed the front cover of the enclosure, cut a 4"4" supply, and ran the power and USB cables out my
window, and sealed the glass into place with the window. I made sure the setscrew was properly set
silicone adhesive (Figures G and H, following page). to ensure that the power is on, then plugged in the
Make: 121
IMAGING
G H
I J K
BUILDING THE ENCLOSURE: Fig. G: Remove the front washer, screw, and bolt. Fig. J: Cut a notch at the front
cover of the enclosure and cut out a 4"4" window. of the box floor for the USB cable. Fig. K: Adjust the set-
Fig. H: Seal the glass into place with silicone adhesive. screw to ensure that the power is on, then plug in the AC
Fig. I: Make a camera mount from a bent L-bracket, adapter and stuff it and the camera inside the enclosure.
AC adapter and stuffed it, along with anything else possibilities are endless for creating beautiful time-
that might need protection from weather, inside the lapse movies that span days, months, or even years.
enclosure (Figure K). Then I mounted the enclosure
on my roof. Resources
CHDK Replacement rmware for some Canon
8. Make time-lapse movies! cameras: chdk.wikia.com
Hopefully youve pointed your camera at something gPhoto Library and applications for Unix-like
interesting. To capture an image every 10 seconds operating systems: gphoto.org
for 1 hour, log into your Linux box (or open a terminal GBTimelapse Windows shareware, for Canon
window), and enter the following command: cameras only: granitebaysoftware.com
gphoto2 -F 360 -I 10 --capture-image iStopMotion Mac shareware:
When it completes, youll see that the current boinx.com/istopmotion
directory is lled with image les. Enter the command: FFmpeg Versatile image, audio, and video
ffmpeg -f image2 -i capt%04d.jpg -sameq processing software: ffmpeg.org
FirstMovie.mpg
This will assemble the images into an MPEG For additional online resources, go to makezine.
movie le. To view it, open it with VLC: com/21/diyimaging_timelapse.
vlc FirstMovie.mpg
Photography by Ken Murphy
At the default 24 frames per second, this gives you Follow the progress of Ken Murphys year-long
a whopping 15 seconds! Of course with this setup time-lapse movie of the sky at murphlab.com/hsky.
youll be able to make movies much longer than that.
To tell gPhoto to run indenitely until you interrupt
it (using control-C), simply set the -F ag to 0: Ken Murphy ([email protected]) is a programmer,
gphoto2 -F 0 -I 10 --capture-image musician, and tinkerer living in San Francisco. He is the
This just scratches the surface. The gPhoto and creator of Blinkybugs, simple, electronic insects that
FFmpeg programs are extremely powerful, and the respond to their environment by blinking their LED eyes.
ELEMENTAL KNOWLEDGE
Think youve mastered re? Make and
use a bow drill. By Wendy Tremayne
While visiting New Yorks Berkshire Mountains region MATERIALS AND TOOLS
last winter I happened upon a crew of girls who
Branches
are grounded in Earth knowledge. They study with
String
naturalist Michelle Apland at the Flying Deer Nature Knife
Center. The groups treasure chest of skills includes Handsaw (optional)
how to make bone tools, identify plants and insects,
build shelter, create a natural spring, distill water,
and whip up a bow drill to make re without a match. After the harvest, the formation was uniformly
On a below-freezing day in March, the girls and reversed and we set out for a fort that the girls had
I traversed a frozen pond. Midway across, the sound built earlier that day.
Photography by Talya Phelps
of cracking froze me in place. A 12-year-old turned Here awaited a tinder bundle, a bow drill, and an
her head over her shoulder to assure me that crack- ice half-wall. The wall surrounded a re pit that was
ing is no sign of weakness in the ponds ice sheet. easily lit, without matches, immediately providing
Later, all the girls unexpectantly dropped to their warmth.
bellies, extended their limbs to disperse their I hoofed my way out of the woods feeling entirely
weight on the ice, and reached out for cattails pooped while the girls remained to carry out an
growing beyond the watery edge the booty of impressive list of things they were going to do
the exploration. before sundown. I took with me this gem of a DIY.
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OUTDOORS
A B C
D E F G
Fig. A: Gather wood, string, and a knife. Fig. B: Whittle fireboard, right knee on the ground, bow with your
a spindle with semi-pointy ends. Fig. C: Notch the hand- right arm, and brace left arm around left knee.
hold to seat the spindle. Fig. D: Tie a thick string to the Figs. F and G: Drill a scorched pit into the fireboard,
bow ends. Fig. E: Drilling stance (righty): left foot on the V-notch it, and drill again to make a hot coal. Fire!
Make a Bow Drill one end of the spindle on the reboard and the other
A bow drill has 4 parts: the bow, the spindle, the in the notch of the handhold, apply rm downward
reboard, and the handhold. pressure to the handhold while bowing back and
forth so the bow turns the spindle in both directions
1. Choose and whittle your wood. (Figure E). Increase the speed. Stop when youve
For your reboard, nd or whittle a at board as thick burned a pit into the reboard thats the diameter
as your thumb and bigger than 3" wide and 3" long. of the spindle, and dark with charred wood dust.
For your spindle, choose a straight-grained branch
thats a thumb knuckle in diameter and 8" in length. 2. Make a notch in the reboard.
Whittle into a dowel shape, removing the bark On your reboard, cut a pie-shaped V-notch that
(Figure B), with a semi-sharp point at each end. reaches the center of the pit you just drilled. This is
For your handhold, nd a 5"-long piece of wood easiest if youve drilled your pit near the edge of the
(slightly narrower in width), semi-at on one side. reboard. (You can see the V-notch in Figure G.)
To make the handhold notch, whittle a "-deep
hole sloping at 45 to its center (Figure C). 3. Spin a hot coal.
Place the reboard on a surface that will catch the
Photography by Jessica Reed (E. F, G)
2. Make the bow. black sawdust, which creates a hot ember or coal.
Pick a bow from a live branch thats the thickness of Look for smoke and a red glow as you use the bow to
your index nger and a few inches longer than your spin the spindle (Figure F). When the dust reaches
arm. Choose a string thicker than a shoelace and 5" 800F, it will create a glowing coal (Figure G) that
longer than your bow. Using a clove hitch or square can be placed in a tinder bundle or kindling teepee
knot, tie it at each end of the branch (Figure D). to create a matchless re.
Use a Bow Drill to Make Fire Wendy Tremayne is an event producer, conceptual artist,
1. Drill a pit into the reboard. and yoga teacher. She created Swap-O-Rama-Rama as an
Loop the bowstring once around the spindle. With alternative to consumerism. gaiatreehouse.com
So it doesnt snow enough where you live? Fear not particles, making it possible for them to nucleate,
if it gets cold, you can cover that front lawn in or freeze quickly around their own impurities, thus
white, uffy snow with a homemade snow gun. All generating a spray of superne ice crystals.
you need are a few items from your local hardware This ice mist then crosses the spray from the 2
store, some quality spray nozzles, and access to a bulk nozzles, which supply the bulk of the water for
pressure washer and an air compressor. our snowmaking. Droplets from the bulk spray freeze
Photograph by James Moss (makesnow.net)
This snow gun is based on an internal-mixing to the nucleated ice crystals, creating uffy snow.
combo design I found at snowguns.com. It mixes
pressurized air and water internally and sprays Nozzle Knowledge
them out through 2 types of nozzles that work to- Nozzles are the most important purchase for
gether cleverly. Just wrap teon plumbers tape on your snow gun. To make an effective snow gun you
all the pipe threads, then twist it together tightly as have to match the bulk nozzles to the nucleation
you see it in the photograph on the following page. nozzles, and match both to the characteristics of
To understand how it works, remember high your compressor and pressure washer.
school chemistry: the smaller a particle is, the more A good brand is TeeJet; they make spray nozzles
surface area it has relative to its volume. Generally, for agricultural use and these work great for snow
that makes it easier to freeze. This is the job of the guns. TeeJet nozzles are numbered by their output;
nucleation nozzle; it breaks the water into very small on their face is a 4 or 5 digit number whose rst
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OUTDOORS
MATERIALS
23 digits represent spray angle, and whose last 2 Pipe and Pressure
represent ow at 40 pounds per square inch (psi), This snow gun uses 2" ID pipe made for home use.
measured in gallons per hour (gph). For example, I used a garden hose connection for the air line,
nozzle 8005 translates to an 80 spray angle and because quick-disconnect ttings are more prone
0.5gph ow at 40psi. to freeze-ups, but the water line is high-pressure
The trick to matching your bulk nozzles to your hose so youll need to use a quick-disconnect or
nucleation nozzles is that the nucleation spray a specic threaded tting there.
must engulf the bulk spray, or else the bulk spray Pipe material is another concern. Typical gal-
will have wet edges (spraying non-snow, just water). vanized steel pipe is rated for 150psi300psi; its
But you dont want the nuc spray overly wide, or possible to run it close to 600psi, but anything
youll lose efciency. over 700psi and the chances of pipe bursts are
Photograph by Ed Troxell
Here are some good angles to use: 40 bulk and greater. Brass is better, with a pressure rating from
65 nucleation, or 50 bulk and 80 nuc. (I used 125psi400psi. Stainless steel is the safest, rated
65/80 here because thats what was in stock.) for 3,000psi, but I dont think people want to spend
For a list of nozzle volumes (gpm) at various $15 per 2" tee tting.
pressures (psi), go to makezine.com/21/ Its a good idea to have a pressure gauge that reads
diyoutdoors_snowgun. to 1,000psi, to control how much pressure is going
into the gun. I run my brass gun at 450psi700psi,
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DIY
HOME
GOURD LANTERNS
Drill patterns into hard-shell gourds and
let the light shine through. By Diane Gilleland
using a drill to create patterns for light to shine Handheld drill with various drill bits
Large spoon
through.
Mineral oil (optional)
String of Christmas lights (2550)
NOTE: This project is fairly messy, making it
a good outdoor build.
1. Clean the gourd. cleaned, but youll save a lot of money by cleaning
Hard-shell gourds develop a coating of dirt and them yourself.
mold as they dry out. You can buy them already Begin by soaking the gourd in a bucket of water
C D E
Fig. A: Soak the gourd in water before cleaning. pumpkin-carving saw. Cut with the part of the blade
Fig. B: Scrub surface dirt away with an abrasive sponge. nearest the handle for better safety and stability.
Fig. C: Pierce the gourd shell with a paring knife. Fig. E: Clean the pulp and seeds out of the gourd. Gourd
Fig. D: Cut a 6" hole in the base of the gourd with a seeds are finicky, so planting them probably wont work.
for about 10 minutes (Figure A). The gourd will want NOTE: Some people are allergic to gourd
to oat, so turn it occasionally to keep all sides wet. dust, so do this next step outdoors and wear
Then, use a scrubbing sponge to remove the grime a surgical mask if you have this sensitivity.
(Figure B). It should rub off with medium pressure.
If you nd an area thats difcult to scrub clean, try 3. Clean out the inside.
letting it soak a bit longer. If your gourd has a stem, Remove the base of the gourd and dump all the
you can scrub the grime from it as well. loose seeds and dried pulp from inside it (Figure E).
Allow the gourd to air-dry. Gourds vary widely; some will have very little mate-
rial on the inner walls and others will have a thick
NOTE: The gourd will have some natural layer of aky dried pulp (Figure F, following page). If
discoloration even after cleaning. the material is thick, scrape out as much as you can
with a large spoon. Discard the pulp and seeds.
2. Cut off the base.
Cover your work surface with paper. Use a pencil 4. Draw some guidelines.
to draw about a 6" circle around the bottom of the Draw a design on the gourd in pencil. You can trace
gourd. When you cut out this circle, it will give the a template or draw freehand. These lines will serve
gourd a at, stable base to sit on. as cutting guides and can be easily removed with an
Begin the cut by using a paring knife to poke a eraser later.
hole through the gourd shell. Use medium pressure
and gently rock the blade back and forth until it 5. Drill or cut out your design.
penetrates the shell (Figure C). You can always cut a design into the gourd using the
Insert a pumpkin-carving saw into this cut and pumpkin carving saw, but Ive decided to use a drill
carefully saw along your pencil line. Use the part of here. With a drill, you can build all kinds of patterns
the blade closest to the handle for sawing (Figure D); from holes of various sizes.
this will keep the blade from bending. Position the drill bit so its perpendicular to the
gourds surface, and drill straight into the gourd
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HOME
F G
H I
Fig. F: Gourds vary; some have thin walls, while others in the pattern. Fig. H: Remove pencil marks from the shell
have thick, pulp-covered walls. Fig. G: Drill into the with an eraser. Fig. I: Poke through the drilled holes from
gourd wall with care, keeping hands away from the the inside to remove pulp that may be clogging them.
drill bit. Change drill bits to vary the sizes of the holes
with medium pressure (Figure G). The drilled holes will give the gourd a subtle shine and help it resist
should be at least " apart to keep the surface of moisture.
the gourd from breaking. Vary your patterns by Alternatively, you can use a polyurethane spray
switching to drill bits of different sizes. varnish for maximum protection, but to my mind,
it looks rather unnatural.
! CAUTION: Be very careful when drilling
a gourd, as the drill bit can slide on the curved 8. Light it up.
surface and cause injury. Always steady the First and foremost, never place a lit candle inside a
gourd against your work surface, and keep your gourd lantern! The inside walls are highly ammable.
hands far away from the bit. Be especially Instead, stuff a string of tiny Christmas lights
careful when drilling scarred areas of the shell, inside the gourd they wont fall out or use a
as they can be much harder than the surround- small LED lantern.
ing shell and can cause the bit to slip.
BETTER LEATHER
Embellish leather using a woodburning
technique. By Betz White
When I was in college for fashion design, we were as shading, crosshatching, and stippling. Youll be
assigned to create a garment using leather and surprised how much detail can be achieved and how
suede. Working with animal skins presents certain addictive this technique can become!
challenges you cant buy continuous yardage,
only hides; ripping out a seam leaves holes; it cant ! CAUTION: The woodburning tool gets
be ironed. I decided to come up with a way to make very hot. Never leave it unattended, and unplug
the plain cowhide a little more exciting as a fabric. it if you walk away. Work in a well-ventilated
Thats when I had the inspiration to get my hands area, and keep a dish with ice water nearby. If
on a woodburning tool and brand a design into the you burn yourself, cool your ngers in the water.
suede. Woodburning, or pyrography, is the process
of drawing on wood by burning lines into its surface 1. Do some natural selection.
Photography by Betz White
with a soldering iron-type tool. Select an item, such as a purse or other piece of
I was recently inspired to try the technique again, leather, youd like to woodburn. You can pick up some-
this time on a leather bag. By using this tool on thing secondhand or use an item you already have.
leather or suede, you can decorate and personalize Keep in mind that its best to use vegetable-tanned
anything from belts to wallets to shoes. Swap out leather and/or suede with a natural, unnished
different tips to create a variety of detailed lines, or surface. Lighter colors produce a higher contrast
experiment with traditional drawing techniques such when burned, allowing for a more visible image.
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HOME
4. Practice plenty.
Plug in the woodburning tool and let it heat up. Get a
feel for the tool by practicing on some scrap leather
or suede (Figure B). If you dont have any scraps, do A
INTRO TO SCRATCH
Make your own games and animations,
free and easy. By Jeremy Kerfs
The big video game companies create best-selling How Scratch Works
titles every year, but for the rest of us, bringing our In software parlance, Scratch is an object-oriented,
own unique game ideas from wishful thinking into event-driven, visual programming environment.
reality is notoriously difcult. Lets take those terms separately.
Creating even the simplest functionality can
take tens of thousands of lines of code. Luckily, the Object-oriented means that you design each
MIT Media Lab has created free software, Scratch character in your game (each sprite) by putting
(scratch.mit.edu), that lets kids create their own together scripts that dictate its behavior. Then
games or interactive stories using an easy drag-and- when you run the game, the sprites all just do their
drop interface and some elementary programming. own thing. To inuence each other, the sprites pass
Photograph by Jeremy Kerfs
Download, install, and launch Scratch, and soon coded messages called broadcasts.
youll be creating simple side-scrollers games
like Super Mario Bros., where characters navigate Event-driven means that every script you assemble
obstacles left-to-right. You can also make your for each sprite runs in reaction to some triggering
characters communicate via speech balloons, like event, like when the player clicks on the sprite, or
an animated cartoon. Scratch makes no distinc- hits one of the keyboard keys, or when another
tion between games and animations; its all in sprite broadcasts a message.
your programming.
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KIDS
Visual programming environment means that and blocks that determine their ow, such as loops
blocks on the screen represent basic programming and if statements. Add a forever block under the green
elements, and you assemble a series of instructions ag block; this sets up an endless listen-respond
by dragging-and-dropping the blocks together into loop. Next, drag 4 if blocks into the forever loop. Well
stacks. The blocks are color-coded and shaped use these to check for the 4 different arrow keys.
so they only t together in ways that make sense Look under the Sensing tab and drag a key
programmatically: the triggering events look like [space] pressed? block into one of the if block slots.
folder tabs, and the subsequent steps t together In this game, we want to know if the arrow keys are
like jigsaw puzzle pieces. Numbers t into round pressed, not the space bar, so click the box in the
holes, text strings t into rectangular text boxes, block and change space to one of the arrow keys. Fill
and conditionals t into diamond-sided holes that the other 3 if blocks to sense the other 3 arrows.
look like decision points in a owchart. Under the Motion category, move a change x by 10
block into the if blocks for the right and left arrows,
Familiarizing the Screen and a change y by 10 into the up/down blocks. To
Scratchs main screen (Figure A) has 3 columns: correct the directions for left and down, put a minus
1. The program blocks are on the left, organized into sign () in front of the 10.
menus by type. Your program should look like Figure D. Click the
2. The middle column is where you stack the blocks green ag, and you should be able to maneuver the
into a sprites scripts. Tabs at the top also let you cat around the screen. You can see that the if state-
customize the sprites costumes (the different ways ments inside the forever loop evaluate as true if the
it can appear) and the sounds it can make. You can key is pressed and false if not. The movement blocks
select costumes (Figure B) from a native library of then adjust the position of the cat accordingly.
animals, things, and people, or else design your own
using the Paint Editor pane (Figure C). Similarly, Adding Complexity
you can select sounds from a library of effects, or This program is very simple, but complex programs
record your own by clicking the Record button. can be difcult to follow. To help with this, Scratch
3. The right column contains the stage, where the has a Single Stepping mode that lights up each
games action takes place. When you rst open the block as it evaluates during runtime. To turn it on, go
program, the stage is a white rectangle containing to the Edit menu and select Start Single Stepping.
one sprite, the orange cat thats Scratchs icon. To To expand your program, you can add blocks to
run and stop your game, you click the green ag or your current scripts or start new scripts. To create
the stop-sign button above the stage. a new script, go to the Control category and drag
Below the stage, you see thumbnails of all the over a new when block. This technique of creating
sprites in your game. This is where you manage different scripts that run in parallel allows you to
your cast of characters, creating new sprites and separate the movement functionality, for example,
selecting the one youre working on. Theres also from that of any weapons or jumping.
a thumbnail for the stage itself, because it works as There are other types of code blocks besides
a special sprite; you can control its appearance, to Control, Sensing, and Motion: Variables blocks let
paint backdrops, for example, but you cant make you use global variables to store things like speeds
it move around. or the number of lives or bullets left; Operators
blocks perform simple arithmetical, logical, and text
Walking the Cat string functions; Pen blocks let sprites draw lines;
To illustrate Scratch programming technique, heres and Looks blocks control a sprites costumes, speech
how you can make the cat move with the arrow keys. balloons, and other aspects of its appearance.
To start a program, open the Control program blocks You can use costumes to create the illusion that
on the left and drag the rst block, when (green ag) a sprite is moving. Click the Costumes tab, and you
clicked, into the center of the Scripts pane. This block see that the orange cat has 2 different costumes.
instructs the program to start this script as soon as Use Looks blocks in a script to alternate between
the program is started. these, and the cat will appear to walk. Timing is
The Control tab contains blocks that trigger scripts important here; to avoid a too-fast blur, put a wait
Control block after each costume change. You can The Scratch community lets you share your proj-
also use costumes to give a character a shield, and ects and comment on others. To join, go to scratch.
program a sprite to take up a shield when a certain mit.edu/signup. Sharing your project is as easy as
key is pressed. clicking Share at the top of the Scratch window and
Sounds and music add a lot to a game, and then choosing Share this program online. If you
Scratch makes adding these easy as well. Sound like someone elses project, you can download and
blocks let scripts play and modify sounds, and the change it yourself, which is a great way to learn. But
Sounds tab over the scripts area lets you import if you gain inspiration (or code) from other peoples
and record your own. projects, make sure you credit them.
For people to play your Scratch games directly,
References and Community they need to have Scratch installed on their own
Scratch is well documented at info.scratch.mit.edu/ machines. But there are also ways of converting
support, which has a good How to Get Started Scratch projects into .exe executable les that will
document and a Reference Guide that documents run on any Windows machine.
all of the blocks. With these resources, you should
have no trouble creating your projects. And if you Visit makezine.com/21/diykids_scratch for links
want some inspiration for coming up with ideas, the to Scratch resources.
Scratch website also boasts more than 500,000
projects you can view and play online. To explore Jeremy Kerfs is a high school student who likes programming
what others are doing with Scratch, go to scratch. and computers. In his spare time he also enjoys reading and
mit.edu/channel/recent. running.
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DIY
OFFICE
Fig. A: Stack together 8 identical blocks to form a form the hinges. Use clear tape (black tape was used
cube. Fig. B: Tape the blocks together as indicated to here to make it easier to see where the tape goes).
1. Stack the 8 cubic wooden blocks into a larger Do the math. There are 8 cubic blocks in the magic
cube; 4 for the base and 4 on top (Figure A). Keep photo cube and each has 6 faces, totaling 48 faces.
them nice and tight. The full magic photo cube has 6 faces, each made of
4 faces from the cubic blocks. So, the full photo cube
2. Carefully tape the blocks together as indicated shows 24 of the possible 48 cubic block faces.
in Figure B. The clear packing tape is nearly invisible, When you completely turn the magic photo cube
so Ive used black duct tape to clearly show which 2 inside out, the other 24 cubic block faces are visible
blocks to tape together to make each all-important on the 6 new magic photo cube faces. The surfaces
hinge. Your packing tape should cover the whole joint of the intermediate orientations combine the 48
between blocks, unlike my duct tape here. cubic block faces in different ways.
2a. Tape a hinge connecting 2 bottom blocks to
make the front face of the magic photo cube. Tape 5. Only after manipulating the magic photo cube
a hinge on the back face connecting its bottom 2 and thinking about your prize pictures are you ready
blocks the same way. The front and back faces of to measure, print, and apply the pictures.
the magic photo cube should be identical. Cut each picture into the required number of
2b. Tape 2 hinges connecting the top and bottom little wooden squares for the selected surface. If the
blocks to make the left face of the magic photo blocks arent perfect, measure each cut.
cube. Tape 2 hinges on the right face connecting
the top and bottom blocks the same way. The left 6. Apply the pictures to one surface of the magic
and right faces should be identical. photo cube at a time using a good glue stick.
2c. Tape 2 hinges connecting the front and back
blocks to make the top face. There are no hinges on 7. Adjust the picture portions to allow a smidgen of
the bottom face. room for the hinges to bend in each direction.
3. Rub the tape on each individual cubic wooden TIP: Glue can really mess up your pictures.
block with the bone. Carefully open the magic photo Watch their edges, as they tend to shave off
cube and reinforce the backside of each hinge with bits of glue that stick to something later.
another strip of clear packing tape.
Video showing a real Yoshimoto Cube in action:
4. Now youve got to play with this thing. There makezine.com/go/yoshimoto
are 6 faces on the magic photo cube, and after
manipulating it youll discover you can turn it inside Ken Wade is a volunteer engineer and project manager serving
out showing 6 totally new faces. Along the way youll kids and families at risk in Southeast Asia. Hes married and
discover other orientations of different dimensions. has three children; two are in college in the United States.
Make: 137
OFFICE
Glengarry Glen Ross image compliments New Line Cinema/ Artisan Entertainment; photograph by Paul Spinrad
balls as a desktop executive toy or motivational
prize. Maybe they feel it would be in poor taste
or politically incorrect, or maybe theyre afraid of
lawsuits over something that could so easily crush
a skull (brass balls are heavy). But to my mind,
these considerations just make the object more
appealing.
I decided to replicate the balls, and once I gured
out how to securely connect the cord, it was simple.
You can put these together in 2 minutes with no
tools other than scissors to cut the cord and a ame
to singe the ends.
To make them, cut about 2' of cord, thread a
setscrew on each end, tie a knot, and screw it into the
ball. You can use epoxy or threadlocker to make the
connection permanent. The balls I ordered already
had brass setscrews that reduced their original bores
to -20, and the knot probably wouldnt slip out of
those, but adding the smaller setscrews makes the
connection neater and more secure. I used a white
cord for authenticity, but I think a black one would
add a nice formal touch for evening occasions.
I gave the brass balls to Ed and he got a kick out
of them. He works in management at a large, sales-
driven company, so I hope he puts them on his desk.
When our house was built, I put a server room serial-port temperature sensor connected to a
next to my ofce. Unfortunately, it had only a small computer to monitor and plot the server room tem-
bathroom-style fan with a 4" duct leading outside, perature, so I closed the control loop using a MAKE
and during the summer I had to leave the door Controller, a stepper motor, and some Lego Technic
open, which made my ofce hot and loud. gears to turn the manual speed control knob.
So I installed a larger fan, along with an 8" duct I considered getting a different temperature sensor
Photography by Duane Wessels
that dumps the waste heat into our basement that would connect to the MAKE Controller directly.
during winter and outside during the summer. This would allow the system to stand alone without
The new fan works well, but also draws a lot of the computer. But in the end I chose to extend my
power almost 300 watts. To reduce energy existing setup and simply use the controller as an
usage, I installed a manual speed control, but this interface to the motor.
made the temperature vary too much.
Finally, I built a control system that automatically Assembly
adjusts the fan speed to maintain a constant I mounted all the hardware onto a scrap of board.
temperature in the room. I was already using a I screwed an outlet box onto one corner for the
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WORKSHOP
MATERIALS AND TOOLS knob shaft was recessed below a plate and harder
to access. So I left its knob on, cut a hole in a Lego
Temperature sensor with serial interface I used a Hot
gear, and hot-glued the knob inside (Figure C).
Little Therm from Spiderplant (spiderplant.com)
thats unfortunately no longer being sold. You can Lego gears span the distance between the
also wire an LM35 temperature sensor chip directly motor and the knob, all attached to a long beam
to the MAKE Controller (and tweak my Perl code with short axle pins. Id like to say I designed the
to read the temperature from the controller, rather
system of gears using algebra, but it was just trial
than executing the term program).
Electronic variable-speed fan control Broan model and error. Additional beams and axles comprise a
#72W (broan.com) frame that wraps behind the speed control so the
MAKE Controller Kit v2.0 with Application Board gears dont slide front-to-back (Figure D). A small
product #MKMT3 from Maker Shed
hanging weight keeps the last gear on the beam
(makershed.com), $120
Stepper motor such as All Electronics part #SMT-116, pressed down against the knob gear.
#SMT-113, or #SMT-119 (allelectronics.com) One problem was handling the situation when
Wall-wart power supplies (2) to power the MAKE the stepper motor tries to turn the knob beyond its
Controller and stepper motor separately
range. I wanted to keep the software stateless, so
Lego Technic parts sets: beams, bushes, cross axles,
and gear wheels Lego sets #10072-1, #10073-1, that it wouldnt have to care when the knob reached
#10074-1, and #10076-1 (peeron.com) its maximum or minimum position. This was
Deep electrical outlet box such as Wiremold/ particularly important with my speed control, since
Legrand #B3
Host computer with Ethernet adapter The computer
turning it just past the maximum shuts the fan off.
will need to be on all the time, but if youre cool- After some experimentation, I found the solution:
ing a server room (like me) there should be no I used a separate, weaker power supply (an old
shortage of computers. cellphone charger) for the stepper motor, which
Ethernet cable
Scrap of board or plywood, about 1' square
was strong enough to turn the knob through its On
Metal bracket for the end of a 24 such as Simpson range, but not strong enough to click it over to Off.
Strong-Tie #FB24 This works wonderfully and was simple to do on the
Screws and standoffs (4) for mounting the controller
MAKE Controller. I just connected the power supply
board to wood; I salvaged some from various ATX
computer cases. to External Power 1 and set the jumper to VExt.
Small weight tied to a string
Wire strippers Software
Drill and drill bits
I wrote the fan speed control code in Perl using the
Screwdriver
Glue gun and hot glue OpenSoundControl (OSC) module, which lets Perl
talk to the MAKE Controller over either Ethernet or
USB. If your computer runs BSD, Linux, or Mac OS
X, you probably have Perl installed. Download the
2 power supplies, and drilled the wood to let the OSC module from opensoundcontrol.org. You can
115V AC wiring enter through the back. I mounted download my project code at makezine.com/21/
the MAKE Controller in another corner using some diyworkshop_fan.
hex screw standoffs, and I secured the stepper mo- I congured OSC to use Ethernet rather than
tor in a bracket sized to hold 24 studs (Figure A). USB because it doesnt require any special drivers.
Next came the connections. From the controllers The MAKE Controller gets an IP address for the
Application Board, Main Power connects to DC computer via DHCP and listens for OSC commands
(I used a 10V DC, 0.3A wall wart), and an Ethernet to move the motor on port 10000.
cable connects to the PC. The motor has 5 wires; The stepper motor is controlled by 4 digital output
4 connect to Digital Outs Bank 1 on the Application pins that correspond to the motors 4 coils. To nudge
Board and 1 connects to ground. I gured out which the motor a step in either direction, the controller
went where by trial and error. changes the outputs to energize different coils.
The best part of the project was guring out how For continuous motion, the code needs a delay
to connect the stepper motor to the fan speed between steps to give the motor shaft time to nd
control. One of the Lego gears t over the stepper its new position. Welcome to the world of stepper
motors shaft (Figure B), but the speed controls motors, which behave very differently from servos.
D E
Fig. A: Hardware mounted to board, powered by wall- Fig. D: Gear assembly linking stepper motor to speed
warts. Fig. B: Lego gear connection to stepper motor. control. Fig. E: Incoming and outgoing air temperatures
Fig. C: Lego gear glued around fan speed control knob. before and after system installation.
Obviously if the temperature is high the fan The program will then periodically log the tempera-
speed should be increased, and vice versa. But for ture and stepper commands in the terminal window.
programmed control, the question is how frequently I use the open source data logging and graphing
should adjustments be made, and by what amount? system RRDtool (oss.oetiker.ch/rrdtool) to track
I found that it works well to step the motor air temperatures inside and outside my server
some number of ticks based on the logarithm of room. Figure E shows the month I placed the speed
the difference between the measured and desired controller into service. Note how the red line air
temperature. If the two are close, then no adjust- coming out of the room went nice and at.
ment is made, 95% of the time. For the few other
times, the system turns down the fan speed by one Conclusion
tick, so that it nds the minimum speed necessary I had a lot of fun with this project. It taught me
to maintain the target temperature. about microcontrollers and stepper motors, and
To run the program, fanspeed.pl, you need your even gave me an excuse to play with Lego. This was
controllers IP address. You can nd this using the my rst project using the MAKE Controller, which
mchelper app, downloadable from the controllers I was eager to try, and Im already looking forward
maker, Making Things (makingthings.com). Then to my next MAKE Controlled project. Meanwhile,
run the Perl script in a terminal window, like this: the fan control system has been very reliable during
its 20-plus months of service.
$ perl fanspeed.pl [desired-temperature] - [ip-address]
For project code and links to stepper motor
where desired-temperature is in degrees Fahrenheit control resources, visit makezine.com/21/
and ip-address is the address of the MAKE Controller. diyworkshop_fan.
Running the script to keep the temperature at 80F,
for example, would look like like this: Duane Wessels ([email protected]) is the author
of three OReilly books and is a big-time Unix/internet geek.
$ perl fanspeed.pl 80 - 10.0.0.9 He has too many computers but not enough Lego.
Make: 141
ELECTROLUMINESCENT WIRE makezine.com/21/primer
ELECTRO-
LUMINESCENT
(EL) WIRE
Its easy to work
with exible strands
of light.
By Louis M. Brill and Steve Boverie
ANATOMY OF LIGHTWIRE
Lightwire consists of a copper conductor or core Lightwire comes in diameters ranging from
wire coated with a layer of electroluminescent superfine 0.9mm to 5mm, and also in non-round
phosphor material and wrapped with a coil or mesh cross sections such as D-type for application to flat
of fine outer or wrap wires thats thin enough to let surfaces or T-type for stitching onto textiles.
light through (Figure A). When you connect high-volt- Other flavors include outdoor wire with UV pro-
age, high-frequency AC power between the core and tection, marine wire with greater water resistance,
outer wires, the phosphor layer in between glows. twin-core wire, high-brightness wire, and Lumiflex,
Covering this coaxial sandwich are one or two an industrial-strength lightwire cable for robust,
vinyl sheaths that protect the outer wires and filter professional applications.
the light to create different colors.
ANATOMY OF LIGHTWIRE
Inner sheath
Outer sheath
Center
conductor wire
Phosphor coating
Wrap wires
same aqua-glowing phosphor material inside, but Lightwire is shaped like other wires, but you
white wire now uses a pinkish phosphor and an dont connect each end and run current through
aqua coating, which comes out as a brighter white. it. Instead, the two connections are made to the
You typically run lightwire at 100V120V AC, with center conductor wire and the outer wrap wire at
a frequency between 400Hz2,000Hz. Increasing the same end.
the frequency changes the aqua phospors glow The far end of the lightwire is left unconnected.
color from green to blue, with a brightness peak In component terms, a lightwire connects and
at around 2,000Hz (cyan). Running lightwire at behaves like a capacitor, with its capacitance
3,000Hz will even turn it purple, although the glow proportional to its length.
Lightwire LEDs
Pluses Creates smooth, clear contours; off-the- Less complicated to achieve fading, blinking color,
shelf drivers and sequencers run many and color-mixing effects; less expensive, lower
effects (strobes, blinks, sequences); energy consumption, more illumination per area;
Photography by Paul Spinrad
flexible to apply, and easy to remove can project light over a distance (with a lens)
Minuses Does not color blend; fades over time; Tedious to attach multitudes (100s) of LEDs
if you cut the wire too short, you have into a single circuit; control circuitry needs to
to start over be custom built
Make: 145
ELECTROLUMINESCENT WIRE makezine.com/21/primer
3. Measure and cut the lightwire. Solder wrap wires to copper tape
For each eye image segment, hold the correspond-
ing color of lightwire along its line to measure out
d.
the proper length, then cut it to size, adding about
6" of extra length. Label each segment with tape to Remove phosphor
identify it, for example, eyelash/frame 1. Group the
cut segments together by frame: common or 14.
e.
For elements like the eyelashes, which are laced in
and out of the board, follow the wires path back and Solder short lead to
center wire and long
forth with a piece of string, holding it along the way lead to copper tape
with bits of masking tape. Then measure the lightwire E
Make: 147
ELECTROLUMINESCENT WIRE makezine.com/21/primer
I J
K L
Cut and strip 2 leads about 12" long. Solder one to The blinking eyelid covers different amounts
the bare core conductor and the other to the cop- of the blue iris and pupil, so frames AC all include
per tape. Use the proper color leads to designate iris and pupil segments, even though these ele-
the frame (but stripe vs. solid can go either way). ments dont move. Where the frames segments
Test the segment by connecting it to a working represent the same lines in the original drawing,
driver (Figure H, previous page). If it lights up, we mounted them side by side so they wouldnt
cover the joint with a piece of heat-shrink tubing. block each other (Figure K).
After mounting all the segments for each frame
5. Mount the segments, (Figure L), bundle the leads together in back and
frame by frame. label them for final connection later.
Starting with the common frame, attach all the
segments for each frame to the front of the board, 6. Connect the frames to the
following the drawing and running the leads out the driver and sequencer.
back. To minimize the spaghetti in back, pick one The 10-channel sequencer can switch from frame 1
side of the board to carry the leads, and drill pilot to frame 4, but it doesnt include an always-on
holes on that side where each segment starts. output, so we connect the common frame leads
To hold the segments down and guide them to a different box, a cube driver.
around curves, we made staples out of 28-gauge Test each lightwire strand again by alligator-
steel wire. Drill pilot holes where you want the clipping its leads to a driver. Although we tested
staples to sit, run each end of the staple through the them before, the soldered connections can break
holes, then fit the staple snugly around the lightwire when the strands are mounted, and its easier to
and fold its ends flat on the backside using needle- identify and repair individual elements before
nose pliers (Figures I and J). theyre connected together.
O P
For the wires in each frame, bundle all of their wires in back with more zip ties (Figure O).
leads together and separate the solid and striped Finally, plug the frame 1 connector into the
wire pairs. Twist the solid leads and the striped sequencers channel 1 port, frame 2 to channel 2, 3
leads together into 2 pigtail connections for each to 3, and 4 to 4. Plug the common frame connector
frame (Figure M), then solder the 2 masses to a into the cube driver. Choose the sequencer pattern
snap connector. You should wind up with 5 snap that makes sense for the project; in this case, 1-2-
connector plugs, each of which connects in parallel 3-4-3-2-1 gives the illusion of the eye opening and
across all the segments in a single frame and plugs closing (Figure P). Youre done!
into the sequencer or cube driver (Figure N).
RESOURCES
7. Final assembly. Animated image of Annies Blinking Eye: makezine.
The sequencer and driver both run off the same 12V com/go/blink
battery brick. Each has a battery snap that plugs Elam EL Industries LyTec lightwire manufacturers
into the bricks 9V-style terminals, so you need to site, with product datasheets: elam.co.il
Instructables How to add EL wire to a coat or other
solder an additional 9V battery snap to connect it to
garment: makezine.com/go/elwirecoat
both boxes. Then mount the brick, sequencer, and ePlaya Burning Man Community Discussion Board:
driver together on the back of the board near the lead eplaya.burningman.com
bundles. We just stuck them on with cardboard, metal Light 'N Wire Productions for lightwire, drivers,
sequencers, and more: lightnwire.com
fasteners, and zip ties, and then neatened up the
Louis M. Brill (Louie Lights) and Steve Boverie (Dr. Glowire) are co-founders of Light N Wire Productions, (lightnwire.com),
an art-technology resource center dedicated to EL wire. They teach classes on EL wire at The Crucible in Oakland, Calif., and
via touring Tupperwire seminars.
Make: 149
150 Make: Volume 21
MakeShift By Lee D. Zlotoff
Water Landing!
The Scenario: Youve had a long and crappy day at work. Whats more, its raining. Hard.
You pile into the front seat of your car with your umbrella, waterproof storm coat, and briefcase,
comforted only by the sight of a zip-lock plastic bag with homemade cookies. You plug in your
cellphone, secure it to the hands-free mount on the dashboard, start the engine, and hit the road.
Traffic sucks, so you decide to get off the highway onto a winding, back-road shortcut that runs
along the nearby river. Which wouldve been fine, until a deer suddenly darts across the road,
causing you to swerve, skid, and go bounding down the embankment to crash-land in the river.
The Challenge: When you recover from the initial shock enough to utter a few choice
expletives, you notice the airbag has deployed protecting your upper body from the crash
but your legs and ankles really hurt, and might very well be broken. Whats more, the river water
is rapidly rising into the passenger compartment from below. Fortunately, the door latch seems
to work, the rivers current isnt too swift, and youre a pretty strong swimmer. But its dark,
raining, and youre miles off the beaten track. What are you going to do now?
What Youve Got: In addition to the aforementioned items, theres a small flashlight and
a Swiss Army knife or Leatherman tool in the glove box, plus the typical work-related items
in your briefcase. Talk about needing a bailout good luck!
Send a detailed description of your MakeShift solution with sketches and/or photos to
[email protected] by May 28, 2010. If duplicate solutions are submitted, the winner
will be determined by the quality of the explanation and presentation. The most plausible
Photograph by Jen Siska
and most creative solutions will each win a MAKE T-shirt and a MAKE Pocket Ref. Think positive
and include your shirt size and contact information with your solution. Good luck! For readers
solutions to previous MakeShift challenges, visit makezine.com/makeshift.
Lee David Zlotoff is a writer/producer/director among whose numerous credits is creator of MacGyver. He is also
president of Custom Image Concepts (customimageconcepts.com).
Make: 151
A simply great calculator, laundry alternatives, a look at
music, and the 3D camera youve been waiting for.
TOOLBOX
Before Epilog sent their new Zing 16 laser cutter to I learned some laser cutting rules of thumb:
review, Id never considered building things one slice Square edge notches make for flush fits. Right
at a time. Soon thereafter, I felt like an Ikea flat-pack angles are the norm. Too much power leads to
design ninja. This 40-watt CO2 laser system makes charred edges.
quick work of cutting through wood and acrylic up After you get the hang of it, you can create pre-
to " thick, translating my digital designs into real- cise parts to solve your problems. For me, these in-
world objects. cluded solenoid brackets for a train project, Arduino
Think of a laser cutter as a USB printer with prototyping enclosures, and tiny geared robots.
superpowers. First, create your design with a vector With the Zings work area of 16"12", I never needed
drawing program, such as Rhino, Illustrator, or more space.
CorelDraw. Then send the design to print on the Small and reasonably priced (compared to
Zing. Instead of ink issuing from a print head, you previous-generation systems), the Zing series
get a focused laser beam cutting a path through represents a new breed of desktop laser cutters.
your material. My biggest complaint is that the The Zing 16 is an amazing tool, just the thing for a
official drivers are Windows-only. Third-party drivers hackerspace or tool collective. Fire up the laser!
for OS X and Linux exist, but I havent tried them. John Edgar Park
Want more? Check out our searchable online database of tips and tools at makezine.com/tnt.
Have a tool worth keeping in your toolbox? Let us know at [email protected].
DIY Project Calculator
$25 calculated.com
OpenIt
$12 enjoyzibra.com/openit
Make: 153
TOOLBOX KITS FROM THE MAKER SHED
Explore these and more at makershed.com. By Marc de Vinck
Getting Started
with Arduino Kit
$70 Maker Shed #MSGSA
Electronics
Workshop 1 Kit
$110 Maker Shed #MKTK15
MotorShield for
Arduino Kit
$20 Maker Shed #MKAD7
tinyCylon
$10 Maker Shed #MKDW1
The MAKE Controller Kit is an open
source hardware platform for projects
The tinyCylon kit is a great first project
for anyone wanting to learn to solder. requiring high-performance control,
It comes preprogrammed with several
different light displays, or you can hack feedback, connectivity, and ease of
it to create any pattern that you want!
Available assembled or as a kit. Batter- use. It can be programmed to run
ies not included.
autonomously or it can be used as a
peripheral for desktop/laptop appli-
cations via the popular OSC protocol.
The MAKE Controller is supported
by great open source software tools.
(Check out a MAKE Controller
project on page 139 of this issue.)
Make: 155
TOOLBOX MAKE LOOKS AT MUSIC
Transform
Analog M@
<N
I<
to Digital B@
;
CD recorders
$35 used, $200+ new
Gonzo Wisdom
Reaching Escape Velocity by Steven K. Roberts
$14 microship.com
Steve Roberts was also an early hardware hacking pioneer, writing his
first self-published book, Computing Across America (in the late 80s),
literally from the seat of his tricked-out, gadget-laden, internet-connected
bike. This new, deceptively slim volume contains 25 years of Roberts
trade secrets on how to capitalize, publicize, and find support for your
own gonzo engineering projects. Its meta-hack project wisdom from
the original high-tech nomad (see MAKE, Volume 06, page 28, Tech-
Nomading from Shore to Ship).
Patent Genius
Drawing on Brilliance by Randy Rabin and Jackie Bassett
$40 drawingonbrilliance.ning.com
After the U.S. Patent Office digitally scanned its 200-year-old collection
of some 6 million patents, they decided to trash the originals. A horrified
Randy Rabin spirited away as many of these patents as he could before
they met the shredder. This book collects some of these gorgeous
documents and offers some historical context for each, plus a takeaway
thought for would-be inventors.
Crystal Clear
The Voice of the Crystal by H. Peter Friedrichs
Instruments of Amplification by H. Peter Friedrichs
$15 and $20 hpfriedrichs.com
Make: 157
TOOLBOX
I love drying my clothes on the line, both for environmental and aesthetic
reasons (not much beats the smell of clothes dried in the sunshine), but my
shady San Francisco courtyard is only practical at the height of summer the
rest of the year, I can hang a towel out from dawn to dusk and it just wont dry.
Enter Laundry Alternatives cool electric spin dryer. A small portable electric
device, it spins up to 12lbs of wet clothes at 3,200rpm for about 4 minutes,
leaving your clothes just a touch damp. I was amazed at how much water came
dripping out of the little spigot (almost a quart), and when I hung the clothes
out on the line, they dried in less than an hour, even in the late afternoon.
While that wont help me on foggy winter days, it will significantly extend my
clothesline season, and cut down on the length of time I use the dryer on rainy
days. Next up: testing out their hand-cranked washing machine!
Arwen OReilly Griffith
Movie Madness
$1$5 rifftrax.com
Need multiples of a part? Apply a release agent to the Place the master on a flat Use the hot glue mold to
Dont have any casting mate- master. If you dont have surface (glass or parchment cast a new piece in plaster,
rials? Need it now? Use this actual mold release handy, paper works well) and use a auto body filler, epoxy, etc.
trick from Marc de Vinck, sometimes even water will very heated-up hot glue gun (use release agent again).
MAKEs CNC Maker. work. Otherwise a light to coat the piece. It may take You can also use this tech-
coating of oil will do. a few tries to get the right nique with caulk or sealant,
speed down. or even Jell-O!
Have a trick of the trade? Send it to [email protected].
the ceiling. The proper fix would have been to cut out the leaking Visit Donald Simaneks pages of
section of pipe and replace it, a task I was not looking forward to in science, pseudoscience, and humor:
the Texas summer heat. After complaining to a fellow chemist, he www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek.
suggested I try silicone tape as a temporary fix.
Bruce Stewart is a freelance technology
Four years later, that temporary repair, which took all of 45 editor and writer, as well as an infrequent
seconds to complete, is still going strong. Apart from a bit of dust, contributor to Wireds geekdad.com.
theres no sign of degradation in the tape, and Ill be surprised if
it doesnt make it another four years at least. Ed Troxell is MAKEs photo intern.
Rescue Tape comes in relatively short rolls, which is necessary Adam Zeloof lives in Central New Jersey
because its about 1mm thick and requires backing on both sides and enjoys sailing, camping, birding,
to keep it from sticking to itself, which it does almost instantly. geocaching, and of course, making.
If you wait a minute or so and then try to pull the bond apart, the
tape itself will fail before the joint does. Its soft and flexible and
Have you used something worth
highly resistant to heat, cold, water, and oil, and it can be used on keeping in your toolbox? Let us know at
any kind of material, clean or dirty. Sean Ragan [email protected].
Make: 159
TOYS, TRICKS, & TEASERS
By Donald Simanek
as 2,634 B.C. by the Yellow Emperor Huang-di, the compromise its accuracy quickly. Also, the wheels
first historically confirmed version was created by must not slip or slide.
Ma Jun (c. A.D. 200265). Legend even tells of a similar south-pointing
Its secret was a geared mechanism inside the ship, but this goes beyond credibility, for the
enclosed body of the chariot. The differential mechanism requires a flat, level, and unmoving sur-
motion of the wheels drove the gears, which in turn face to work properly. If such a ship existed, it more
caused the statue to rotate the same angle as the likely used a magnetic compass, which was known
carriage turned, but in the opposite direction. in China during the Qin Dynasty (221206 B.C.) and
Simple to say, but not so simple to invent. In fact, was certainly a more practical and reliable tool for
history tells us this closely guarded secret was lost navigation. The south-pointing chariot was not.
several times and reinvented, and in each case the The chariot mechanism had 4 wooden gears,
inventors received much acclaim. arranged in much the same way as the differential
When the chariot was shown in public ceremonies, gear of an automobile. But it was being used back-
the mechanism was hidden in an enclosed chamber ward. Additional, conventional gearing was required
underneath the statue. Some people supposed that to connect the differential to the wheels. The wheels
the chamber concealed a person with a magnetic drove the gears, which in turn rotated the statue. The
D E F G
CLASSIC CHARIOT REDUX Fig. A: Meccano model, Lanchester design, from Meccano Magazine, Jan. 1957.
Fig. B: Differential, from instruction book of Meccano Standard Mechanisms, 1934, U.K. edition.
Fig. C: Differentials, using Eitech parts with bevel gears (left) and Meccano parts with crown and pinion
gears (right). The gears grub screws will be removed, since all these gears must rotate freely on their shafts.
Fig. D: My open version of the south-pointing chariot. Mechanism and housing mostly of Erector parts.
Fig. E. The differential. Fig. F: Erector model, modified Lanchester design. Fig. G: Meccano model, Nuttal design.
gearing could have been used to drive the wheels, if with 3 setscrews (grub screws), or some other way
only the Chinese had had an engine of some sort to to fasten perpendicular shafts together.
Photography courtesy of Meccano (AB); and by Donald Simanek (CG)
power it. Sometimes a clever idea isnt implemented The shafts can be rigidly fastened, for the gears
fully because some other technology isnt available of the differential unit turn freely on them. Figure C
yet to support it. shows the use of Meccano or Exacto parts (gener-
ally the best quality readily available), or Eitech parts
Making Your Own Version (metric standard). I keep a supply of size 6 washers,
Hearing the chariot described, even seeing detailed both metal and nylon, to use as spacers for this sort
plans, may not convince you that it works as claimed. of mechanism.
You have to build one and experiment with it. Ive made several versions of this toy, but for this
Hobbyist mechanics build many variations, from article I made a larger one with the mechanism
small desktop models to full-sized carriages pulled exposed so it could be photographed with all impor-
by ponies or horses. Steel construction toy sets tant components fully visible (Figures D and E).
used to include plans for one, back when such Its not elegant, but it works. Most hobbyists use
toys were intended to educate youngsters about Meccano parts for such models, but I chose to use
mechanisms and physics. These days the internet Erector parts since I had a lot of them.
has many sites with pictures of models, and often The differential is the Lanchester design, but
complete plans for building the chariots, even parts rotated 90. I could have used spur and pinion
lists (see Resources, following page). gears to link it to the wheels, but I took the simpler
The differential gearing is the heart of this project route and used rubber O-rings (blue) and 4 pulleys.
and requires either 2 crown gears and 2 pinion One belt must be crossed to reverse the direction
gears, or 4 bevel gears. Youll need a shaft coupler in which it drives the differential (Figure E). (With
Make: 161
gears, an extra idler gear is required to accomplish
the same reversal.) The pulleys link to the crown In Chinese culture, south, being
gears of the differential with short sections of rubber the direction where the sun
tubing, since these must turn independently of the
axle that passes through them. reaches its highest elevation,
In the time-honored tradition of tinkerers I didnt is more important than north,
do any calculations, I just let the design evolve
and is considered the reference
as I built it. I tested it and then experimented with
different wheel diameters and adjusted the spacing direction on maps.
between the wheels until it worked properly.
Once the gearbox is built, these are the only two
remaining adjustable parameters. I wouldnt be The necessary reversal of direction of the drive from
at all surprised if this was the way the original one wheel was accomplished with an idler gear,
inventor did it. However, the math isnt that bad. mounted on the two fiber plates at the left.
The separation of the wheels is 14cm, and the wheel My second model used parts from Meccano
diameters are 7cm, for a rotation angle ratio of . sets (Figure G). I followed an elegant construction
The pulleys are all the same diameter, so the belts called the Nuttal design, which I found on the web.
have a rotation ratio of 1. It required gears of specific sizes, so I ended up
If you hold one wheel stationary and rotate the ordering quite a few brass gears. Fortunately there
other, you notice that the small gear in the differential are still sources where you can buy individual parts,
rotates on the stationary crown gear while the other even rare ones.
crown gear drives the small gear, for an additional This model has everything visible, and though the
rotation ratio of 2. The gears of the differential have a principle is the same, the gearing is quite different
gear ratio R, but the gears under the statue are in the from the museum models. The model is completely
reverse order, with a gear ratio 1/R, for a combined symmetric around the statue, and no reversal
ratio of 1. Multiplying all these ratios gives 1, and the gimmick is necessary. The wheels must move inde-
twist in one belt reverses the statues rotation to be pendently, so they are not fixed to their axles. The
opposite to the rotation of the chariot. An additional Nuttal model has just one long axle for both wheels.
small fudge factor is required to compensate for the Note the heavy, rubber-rimmed wheels.
tire width. You can see stereo 3D pictures of my models at
Its best to use rubber tires on the wheels, so they makezine.com/go/spc. Id be happy to see your
dont slip. Rubber O-rings of the right size work well. creative versions. Email me at [email protected].
Also, weight is an asset. Heavy wheels are less likely
to slip on smooth surfaces, or you can add load in Resources
the bottom of the box. South Pointing Chariots Harry Sieberts great
Oh, by the way, why does the man point south website with many different models, and plans
instead of north or some other direction? Actually and instructions for some of them, including Lego
he simply continues pointing in the direction he models. odts.de/southptr
was initially set to point. In Chinese culture, south, Wikipedia History, legends, and a brief
being the direction where the sun reaches its high- explanation of the SPC. makezine.com/go/chariot
est elevation, is more important than north, and is Girders and Gears A fabulous place to get parts
considered the reference direction on maps. for hobbyist projects. girdersandgears.com
Exacto parts Erector and Meccano compatible,
Alternative Designs with " hole spacing. Every English-standard
The first model I built was the Lanchester design, construction set part ever made, and more.
out of Erector parts (Figure F, previous page). The exactosystem.com
perpendicular axles are solidly fixed to each other.
All of the wheels and gears must turn freely on their
Donald Simanek is an emeritus professor of physics at Lock
axles. Short pieces of plastic tubing connect the Haven University of Pennsylvania. He writes about science,
large gears to the crown gears of the differential. pseudoscience, and humor at www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek.
Bent Festival
April 2224, New York City
An annual art and music festival celebrating DIY electronics,
hardware hacking, and circuit bending. Each year artists come
to perform music with their homemade or circuit-bent instru-
ments, teach workshops, and showcase the state of the art in
DIY electronics and circuit bending culture. bentfestival.org
SparkFun Autonomous
FEBRUARY Vehicle Competition
April 17, Boulder, Colo.
>> Family Science Days Electronics wizards, roboticists,
Feb. 1822, San Diego, Calif. and just plain geeks compete
Browse interactive exhibits, learn to create a vehicle that can
about cool science jobs, and autonomously navigate a course
have your questions answered around the SparkFun building.
by experts at the annual conven- A cash prize is awarded to the
tion of the American Association winner. sparkfun.com
for the Advancement of Science.
aaas.org/meetings/2010/ >> Scifest Africa >> Trenton Computer Festival
program/fsd March 2430, Grahamstown, April 2425, Trenton, N.J.
South Africa In 1975, the worlds first personal
Last year, 68,000 people attend- computer, the Altair 8080, came
MARCH ed Scifest, making this event the out. The very next year saw the
biggest of its type on the African first personal computer expo.
>> National Science continent. During its weeklong The show celebrates its 35th
and Engineering Week run, visitors explore more than anniversary with a host of events
March 1221, United Kingdom 500 exhibitions, lectures, work- including conferences, contests,
This years theme is Earth. shops, excursions, and whiz-bang speakers, exhibits, and a flea
Expect nearly a million people science shows. scifest.org.za market. tcf-nj.org
to participate in the ten-day
program of science, engineering,
and technology events and APRIL
activities all around the U.K.
britishscienceassociation.org >> Breakpoint
April 24, Bingen am Rhein, Germany
IMPORTANT: All times, dates, locations,
>> 2010 Green Energy Summit What happens at Breakpoint? and events are subject to change. Verify all
March 2427, Milwaukee, Wis. The concept is simple: orga- information before making plans to attend.
The Green Summits schedule of nizers set up a stage, invite Know an event that should be included?
events includes renewable energy programmers, artists, and musi- Send it to [email protected].
demonstrations, workshops, cians from around the world to Sorry, its not possible to list all
and training seminars. Keynote enter competitions, and then submitted events in the magazine,
but they will be listed online.
speakers include a NASA scientist audiences watch in amazement
and several Congress members. at the audiovisual demo If you attend one of these events, please
renewableenergysummit.org presentations that come out. tell us about it at forums.makezine.com.
breakpoint.untergrund.net
Make: 163
HEIRLOOM TECHNOLOGY
By Tim Anderson
Instant Paddle
Heres a better, quicker, inexpensive way to make a paddle.
C D E
F G H I
stick is the most suitable shape for grasping. I dont Method #2: Half-Hitch Whipping: This method is
know why Ive never seen canoe paddles with rect- simpler to learn and remember. (If youre in a hurry,
angular shafts. It works and feels great. use bigger cord and skip the whipping; if you soak it
This blade is 8"18", which is big like a snow with paint, varnish, super glue, epoxy, or something
shovel (Figure E). Later I cut it down into a smaller, similar, it wont unravel regardless of how crudely
more graceful shape, which I unfortunately lost. your lashing is finished.)
Be sure to take a Sharpie marker (or a laser) and Use the tip of your paddle shaft as a spacer to set
write a return address on all your gear. the size of the cord loops. Make sure the lashing
mostly fills the holes in your blade. This masons
6. Make cord grommets. twine is thin, so it took 7 turns of cord to seem right.
Method #1: Braided Grommets: This style of lashing Then I tied a half hitch around the turns of string
Photography by Tim Anderson
is popular in Bali. Its surprisingly quick to do. Put (Figure G). Pull the half hitch tight. The tip of the stick
2 turns of cord around the stick. The third turn is there for a gauge. Dont make the loop too small.
gets zigzagged through the first 2 turns to form a Youll want to jam the stick in there a few inches.
3-strand braid. For this example (Figure F), I kept Now whip your loop by tying a series of half hitches
following the pattern through the braid until I had around the turns of cord. Somewhere Ive seen these
6 turns and the braid was doubled. Then I tight- called French knots. To finish, use a spike to part the
ened it until it was the right size and pulled the tails turns of cord (Figure H). Poke the tail through them,
through the inside of the braid. and pull it tight (Figure I). Your cord loop is done.
Make: 165
Tie another, bigger one at the handle end of the
blade. Calculate the size to match the taper of the
shaft, so both loops will get tight when you jam the
shaft in there.
Sometimes it costs more to buy it than to make it from the money itself.
$34.99 $4.20
Wind chime bought Wind chime made from
online. quarters and dimes.
ve always liked wind chimes. Maybe its because Sure enough, by the next morning my 12 quarters
I my parents had one hanging on the front porch
when I was a kid. Theyre usually made with pieces
had been rolled thin, like nicely matched metal
potato chips. To make a frame for my wind chime,
of glass, or shells, or hardened metal tubes. And I carefully notched 4 more quarters and 2 dimes
anyone whos jingled a pocketful of quarters knows with a hacksaw blade, pressed them together in a
that regular coins lack the sweet musical ring of a vise, and added a dab of solder. Then I tied them all
wind chime. But hammer them thin enough and together with some monofilament fishing line using
those same coins play a different tune. traditional clinch knots.
I tried pounding on a few coins with a hammer All you need to make this project is 16 quarters,
Photograph by Tom Parker
and anvil, blacksmith style. It worked OK, but it was 2 dimes, and a 100-car coal train to flatten your
time-consuming and hard to make the coins sound coins. I dont think the coal company minds. I think
just right. Luckily, there are train tracks near my of it as their carbon credit. And you cant beat the
house. So I lined up a dozen quarters on the hard- sound of this money as it dances in the wind!
ened steel rails and left them waiting for the next
train to rumble by.
Make: 167
REMAKING HISTORY
By William Gurstelle
Benjamin Franklins
Electrical Experiments
There are two stories every American elemen- FOUNDING
tary school students knows: George Washington MAKER: Franklin
(17061790) not
chopping down the cherry tree and Ben Franklin fly-
only sparked
ing his kite in a thunderstorm to prove the electrical the American
nature of lightning bolts. Both are good stories, but Revolution, he
theres a difference: Ben actually did fly his kite in was a prodigious
inventor and the
the thunderstorm.
leading scientist
Few people have made as large an impact on daily of his day in
life as Benjamin Franklin. Aside from his political electricity.
and literary contributions, he was colonial Americas
greatest scientist. It seems that nearly half the
words we commonly use to describe our daily inter- The storm continued, wetting the kite string,
actions with electricity positive, negative, charge, and conducting increasing amounts of electricity
discharge, battery, conductor, condenser were down into the small shed where Franklin collected
coined by Franklin. the charge in a new but primitive type of capacitor
The kite story was first related by the famous called a Leyden jar.
English chemist Joseph Priestley in his 1767 book Franklin had already turned his observations of
The History and Present State of Electricity. Priestley electrical storms to great practical use by inventing
may have embellished the event, but even if some the lightning rod, which was most effective for pre-
of the details are hazy, the overall import is unques- venting the fires that frequently destroyed churches
tionable: in his legendary experiment with the key, and other tall buildings.
the kite, and the thunderstorm, Franklin proved But old ways die hard, as did the 121 bell ringers
what many educated people suspected: lightning is killed by lightning in Europe in the decades immedi-
indeed electrical in nature. ately after Franklin invented the lightning rod.
One day in June 1752, the skies darkened as Churchmen who believed lightning was caused by
clouds rolled into Philadelphia. Franklin and his son demons eschewed lightning rods in favor of the tradi-
William headed north to an open field with a small tional method of defending churches against lightning
shed. They carried a kite framed from cedar sticks, bolts: ringing church bells during thunderstorms.
covered with silk cloth, and topped with a sharp- The Leyden jar that Franklin used to trap lightning
pointed wire to attract the electrical fire. is a simple capacitor consisting of two conductors
The wind blew and soon the kite strained against separated by a thin insulating sheet. It was discov-
the kite string. Franklin and son waited inside the ered accidentally in Leyden, Holland, just a few years
shed, no doubt impatiently, until the storm began. before Franklins experiment.
Portrait from Getty Images
Then Franklin noticed the kite strings thin strands Physics professor Pieter van Musschenbroek was
of hemp moving. Seemingly of their own volition, attempting to electrify a glass jar filled with water
they stood as erect as soldiers at attention. by touching the water with a brass wire conductor.
Attached to the kite string was a metal key. Frank- When he accidentally touched the wire and the out-
lin moved his knuckle toward the key. Suddenly, he side of the jar simultaneously, the Dutchman found
felt a small shock as the electricity jumped from the himself stunned, literally and figuratively.
storm-electrified key to the grounded Franklin. News of this incredible jar of Leyden spread like
of modified Ramsden machine that uses rubbing You can make the generator just about any size you
friction between two electrically dissimilar materials want. Refer to the corresponding photographs to
to generate oppositely charged particles. A comb see the relationship of the parts.
harvests the charges and directs them to a Leyden
jar for storage. 1. Cut down the 2" tee fittings and attach them to
And once youve got bottled lightning, the oppor- the frame with lag screws and washers.
tunities for science and entertainment, as the Abb
Nollet proved, are endless. 2. Drill q" holes in the center of each 3" PVC cap.
Make: 169
! WARNING: Leyden jars can pack an
electrical wallop! Dont leave charged jars
lying around, and limit the size of your jar;
a quart is more than enough.
4 Leyden Jar
9. Build your Leyden jar using the diagram at left.
Line the jar inside and out with aluminum tape or
foil, except the top 1" or so. Drill a hole through the
copper pipe and thread the beaded chain through it.
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AHA! Puzzle This By Michael H. Pryor By Tom Parker
MAKEs favorite puzzles. (When youre ready to check your answers, visit makezine.com/21/aha.)
Cake Competition
The top chefs of the world, along with their assistants, met for a competition to see who could create the
most beautiful and innovative cake flower decorations. They used their fabbers to print 5 different types
of flowers for the top of the cake: rose, violet, lily, daisy, and tulip.
The chefs (Wylie, Rocco, Wolfgang, Jamie, and Ming) had their assistants (Jacque, Jasper, Cathal, Julian,
and Laurent) fill the fabbers with cheese, cookie dough, chocolate, peanut butter, and caramel. Each group
took a different amount of time to perfect their creation (30 minutes, 35, 45, 50, and 55), and only 2 of the
chefs received the coveted 3-star rating from the panel of judges. Two of the other chefs got 2 stars, and
1 chef only managed to get 1 star.
Name the chefs, their assistants, how long it took them, the ingredients they used, and the type of flower
they created, along with their final star rating!
1. Ming did not create the cookie dough tulip. 8. Wolfgang (who didnt work with Julian) took 55
2. Laurent finished in 35 minutes but got only 2 stars. minutes and got 2 stars.
3. The 2 flowers that received 3 stars were the daisy 9. Rocco and Jacque worked together and it took
and the one made of peanut butter. them longer than 30 minutes.
4. The rose (not made of cheese) was created by 10. Julian made the lily but he did not get 2 stars.
Jamie (who was not Cathals chef). 11. When all 5 flowers were placed on the judges
5. Jasper did not make the tulip, but his flower was table, the following groups stood behind their
Illustration by Roy Doty
Michael Pryor is the co-founder and president of Fog Creek Software. He runs a technical interview site at techinterview.org.
Make: 175
My Big Fortune Teller
HOMEBREW By Roger Hess
Tom Hanks may have received top billing for Cloth-insulated wire was hand-laced into wiring
the 1988 film Big, but one of the most pivotal harnesses, and old electrical items, hardware, and cos-
characters received no screen credit at all. This tume jewelry were found online and in surplus stores.
character was not an actor, but a 9-foot mechanical The only modern concession was the inclusion
arcade machine that grants your wish for a quarter. of a BASIC Stamp 2 microcontroller to control,
While Zoltar Speaks may appear to be one of the among other things, a modified MP3 player for
finest examples of a vintage fortune-teller machine theme music and sound effects. User functions
ever designed, it was unfortunately only a movie prop. can be configured using the front coin-release push
And when youre a collector who really wants a fantasy button while watching Zoltars eyes flash with coded
collectible that never existed, you make one yourself. sequences. The microcontroller and USB-to-serial
I was able to build the replica shown here entirely in connectors are hidden in a separate module that
my basement shop. Nothing was outsourced. can be removed without affecting the basic electro-
I began the year-long project by dimensionally scal- mechanical operation of the machine.
ing screen captures from the movie DVD, using the And what does this 600-pound monstrosity do?
Photography by Roger Hess and Becky Hart
actors height for reference. Zoltars head and torso Insert a quarter, and it springs to life. Music plays, the
were sculpted in clay over foam cores, and prototypes eyes light, and the head rocks. The backlit panels light
for decorative trim parts were machined from wood. in timed sequence, guiding you to use the cranks to
Patterns for the ornate coin ramp and raised- aim the coin ramp toward Zoltars mouth, make your
lettering castings were created using UV-cured wish, and press the button to release the coin.
polymer resin exposed through artwork created in If youre lucky, the coin enters Zoltars mouth
Adobe Illustrator. Silicone molds fabricated from the and your award card is released below. Your Wish Is
original patterns were filled with urethane resin to Granted, the card says. For the moment, my wish is
cast the final parts. relatively modest: I need more room.
Mechanisms and trim pieces were all custom-
designed, with the exception of the purchased hand Roger Hess is an eccentric engineer, tinkerer, collector,
wheels that aim the coin toward Zoltars mouth. and dog lover living in suburban Minneapolis.