Month: June 2009

Motors and microcontrollers 101

Continuing with their fine series of tutorial videos, Humberto from NerdKits shows a number of basic experiments you can do with a DC motor, how EMF, resistance, and inductance influence the design of a motor control circuit, and finally, how to use toggled digital output and pulse-width modulation in driving the motor via a microcontroller. […]

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QR Code ruglette

QR Code ruglette

Nikolaus Gradwohl, an Austrian MAKE subscriber, created a QR code of his mother’s name that she can weave into the rugs she makes. Our very own Becky Stern was showing off her knitted QR code scarf at the Mini Maker Square at the Google I/O conference last month. She hadn’t had much luck with getting […]

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Shopping-cart serenade

Not since industrial noisemakers like Einsturzende Neubauten first miked a shopping cart… This is a decidedly more 21st version. The makers, Hogan Birney, Sean Kinberger, and David Plakon explain the design: Touch and pressure are used to control the live manipulation of sound and image. The cart is equipped with a video projector, computer and […]

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How-To: Re-cover a bike saddle

How-To: Re-cover a bike saddle

Say your bike saddle’s fabric/leather is wearing thin, or you just don’t like the color. Or say you live in Phoenix and your black bike seat gets so hot while it’s outside baking in the sun all day so that when you go to ride it, you get second degree burns. You might want to […]

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How-To:  Make pyrophoric iron

How-To: Make pyrophoric iron

A former chemistry teacher of mine provided a great definition of “pyrophoric:” [It] means that if you playfully squirt some at your lab mates, they will burst into flame. In other (less amusing) words, a “pyrophoric” substance is one that ignites spontaneously on exposure to air. Pyrophoric iron, however, isn’t as dangerous as that makes […]

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Transforming robot

Kevmag 2000 posted this YouTube vid of his transforming robot, apparently built for a robotics class. Pretty cool. I couldn’t find out much else about it. Kevmag 2000-Transforming Robot [Submitted by Chris Brent. Thanks, Chris!]

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