makezine.com: Make 26: Karts & Wheels

Volume 26: Karts and Wheels

Roll into spring with MAKE Volume 26: "Karts and Wheels"

Garage go-kart building is a time-honored hobby for do-it-yourselfers, and we’ll help you build wheeled wonders that’ll have you and the kids racing around the neighborhood in DIY style. Build a longboard skateboard by bending plywood. Propel a go-kart with a pair of battery-powered drills. Put a mini gasoline engine on a bicycle. And construct an amazing wind-powered cart that can outrun a tailwind. Plus, learn how to build the winning vehicle from our online Karts and Wheels contest — a full-custom adult Soapbox Derby racer!

In addition to karts, you’ll find plenty of other projects that only MAKE could give you:
• A flaming tube that keeps time to music and makes sounds waves visible — in fire
• An easy, fun synthesizer and loop station for making electronic music
• A fun reflex game called Pendulum Challenge (Buy the kit in the Maker Shed!)
• Two bio-sensing projects: a lie detector and a controller driven by your brain waves (Buy the lie detector kit in the Maker Shed!)

All these projects and much, much more await you in MAKE Volume 26!

View a list of all links referenced in this volume

That's How We Roll by Mark Frauenfelder in Welcome
I hope the projects in these pages will help you rekindle some of your own childhood memories, as well as provide your kids with opportunities for fun, adventure, and learning. Page 11

Reader Input in Reader Input
Arduinophytes and Maker Services Page 12

Maker's Calendar by William Gurstelle in Maker's Calendar
Our favorite events from around the world. Page 15

Projects in Your Mailbox by Dan Woods in In the Maker Shed
We're proud to announce that Make: Projects readers can now conveniently purchase just about everything they need for their next project directly from the Make: Projects website. Page 16

Ultimate Hot Wheels Track by Keith Hammond in Made on Earth
Chris Burden's kinetic sculpture Metropolis II is a mesmerizing cityscape where 1,100 toy cars blaze down 18 lanes of freeways in endless loops. Page 18

In the Lion's Den by Jerry James Stone in Made on Earth
Built by U.K. photography duo Will and Matt Burrard-Lucas, the BeetleCam is a modded 4WD robotic buggy manufactured by Lynxmotion and mounted with a DSLR camera. Page 20

RFID Radios by Thomas Walker Wilson in Made on Earth
Matt Brown's idea is to affix an RFID chip inside a laser-cut, flat-pack paper radio, and then pair the radio with a speaker base with an RFID reader. Page 21

Delicate Machinations by Stacey Ransom in Made on Earth
Andy Paiko has painstakingly re-created intricate antique machines almost exclusively out of glass, including a seismograph, a spinning wheel, weight scales, and even a large-scale Ben Franklin-esque glass armonica - and yes, they all work. Page 22

Pooled Resources by Laura Kiniry   in Made on Earth
Rather than sink money into filling in or restoring their run-down swimming pool, Dennis and Danielle McClung transformed it into a desert greenhouse. Page 23

Orbital Illusion by Goli Mohammadi in Made on Earth
Fairgoers at the 2010 Bay Area Maker Faire were mesmerized by a massive, steel-and-glass orrery gently rotating in the main hall. Page 24

Ice Music by Kim Bailey in Made on Earth
Tim Linhart and his wife, Birgitta, construct working orchestras and concert halls out of ice. Page 25

Live from MAKE! by Gareth Branwyn in Tales from the Web
This year we not only upgraded our website and moved "into the cloud" – we hope you're enjoying improved performance, social media, and commenting tools – we also launched some great programs online. Check them out! Page 26

DIT: Raising Our Collective Barn by Saul Griffith in Making Trouble
When you build it together, your learning is amplified - multiplied by the number of hands. Page 27

Ultra-Simple Sunshine Recorders by Forrest Mims III in Country Scientist
Sunshine is essential for plant growth, which is one reason scientists have developed so many methods to measure it. Page 28

Moral Suasion by Cory Doctorow in Make Free
A wake-up call for anyone who's blithely relying on the cloud. Page 31

Manufacture Your Project by Mitch Altman in Maker
(and make a living doing what you love.) Page 32

Paper Clip Paper Holder by Gus Dassios in 123
What's better at holdeing paper than a paper clip? A bigger paper clip! Page 38

Drill Kart by Gever Tulley
Got an itchy trigger finger? How about two? You'll love driving the Drill Kart, an easy-to-build go-kart powered by twin cordless drills that make it steer like a tank. Page 40

World's Simplest Longboard by Mark Frauenfelder
After giving my daughter my old skateboard, I started to miss having one. So I made my own. Page 46

Make a Motorbike! by Lew Frauenfelder
Add a retro-style, one-cylinder gasoline engine to your bike. Page 48

OutRun by Garnet Hertz
Building the unsimulation of a driving video game. Page 50

Kult of the Kart by Nik Schulz
Cyclekarts are pint-sized (yet adult-piloted), prewar-style racers that are equal parts art object and four-wheeled mayhem generator. Page 54

Faster Than the Wind by Eric Chu
Mind-bending propeller cart outruns the wind that powers it. Page 56

Weekend Warrior by Jeremy Ashinghurst
I decided I needed a new hobby, and soapbox racing sounded interesting - very fun, not too expensive, and it would get me into metalworking, which I had no experience with as an electrical engineer. Page 60

Wild Wheeled World
A roundup of DIY karts, scooters, and other rolling wonders.

Make: Projects Karts & Wheels Runners-Up
Madagascar Institute Chariot Races
Unauthorized Fun on Wheels
Gasifier Go-Kart
Wheelchair Accessible
The Brilliant Moonbeam
Redefining Street Legal
Tony Hawk's 630-Horsepower Skateboard
Home-Brewed Segway Scooter
Go, Toy Racer, Go!
Robo-Rainbow
Digital-to-Analog Car Mod
Biofuel Electric Snow Hummer
Page 65

Bokeh Photography Effect by Sindri Diego in 123
With this project, you can create an effect that makes the out-of-focus lights in your pictures appear any shape you want. Page 70

The Flame Tube by William Gurstelle
Visualize waveforms with fire. Page 72

The Luna Mod by Brian McNamara
Simple, addictive sound effects looper. Page 80

Spirulina Superfood Tank by Aaron Wolf Baum
Farm-fresh cyanobacteria. Page 92

Biosensing by Sean M. Montgomery, Ira M. Laefsky in Skill Builder
Track your body's signals and brain waves and use them to control things. Page 102

Jumper Wires by Charles Platt in 123
Instead of cutting the wire first and then trimming the insulation, I trim the insulation and then cut the wire. Page 112

Pendulum Challenge by Ken Delahoussaye in DIY: Circuits
A fun reflex game for all ages. Page 113

Hack Electronic Pushbuttons by Peter Edwards in DIY: Circuits
Tap into your electronic devices and take control. Page 116

Solar Food Dryer by Abe Connally in DIY: Outdoors
Drying with the sun is one of the easiest, most energy-efficient ways to preserve your harvest. Page 120

Fabric Formed Posts by Abe Connally in DIY: Outdoors
Create cheap and easy reinforced concrete columns in organic, sculptural forms. Page 124

Fool's Stool by Gordon Thorburn in DIY: Home
Build a fake Colonial Period stool good enough to fool almost anybody. Page 128

Jigsaw Puzzle Chair by Spike Carlsen in DIY: Home
Make this smart chair from a 2'x3' sheet of plywood. Page 132

Hidden-Magnet Knife Holder by Larry Cotton in DIY: Home
Craft a cool way to keep your cutlery. Page 134

Simple Art Easel by Liz Llewellyn in DIY: Home
Make an easy easel for your artwork. Page 138

Anti Dog-Bite Siren by Charles Platt in Electronics: Fun and Fundamentals
Hack an alarm siren to make a DIY dog repeller. Page 142

Combination Lock by Tom Parker in Make Money
Sometimes it costs more to buy it than to make it from the money itself. Page 146

Kinetic Illusion Toys by Donald E. Simanek in Toys, Tricks, and Teasers
Deceive the eye with impossible falling motion. Page 148

Charge That Cell! by Lee D. Zlotoff in MakeShift
Page 152

Howtoons by Saul Griffith in Howtoons
Page 154

Toolbox in Toolbox
Hot stuff, from thermometers to a pocket hotspot; and rugged gear, from backpacks to drills to tweezers. Page 156

Cookie Alarm in Eureka!
Use your maker skills to protect the cookie jar against potential cookie monsters. Page 158

Make a Diving SpudMarine! by Bob Knetzger in Toy Inventor's Notebook
Here's a fun and fast way to create a homemade version of the classic cereal premium toy, the baking powder-powered diving submarine. Page 164

Bird Feeder by Scott Bedford in What I Made
Made from soda cans & chopsticks. Page 166

Chinampa Gardens by Tim Anderson in Heirloom Technology
Can ancient Aztec agriculture save the sinking Sacramento Delta islands? Page 168

Ptah-Hotep and the Bag Press by William Gurstelle in Remaking History
Use linen, wood, and the wisdom of ancient Egyptians to make a juicer. Page 170

My Home-Built Power Wheelchair by Marcus Brooks in Homebrew
About three years ago I accepted arthritic degeneration of my hucklebone (hips) as an excuse to build a power wheelchair. Page 176

MAKE: Amends Errata for this volume.

Where it appears	The Flame Tube, Page 75
The error	Font substitution strikes again! In the Tools list, the two drill bits listed should be 1/16" and 9/16", not 0" and 9".

Where it appears	The Luna Mod, Page 80
The error	In the schematic for Volume 26's Luna Mod sound looper, the labels for Tempo and Sound were mistakenly reversed. The corrected schematic is online at makezine.com/26/lunamod and makeprojects.com/project/t/974.

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