Here’s part two of Jason’s HOW TO make a robot car – “This is the second part in a howto series about building a relatively cheap robot out of a radio controlled car and an embedded microcontroller such as the Basic Stamp.” Link.
Rick writes “This page shows how to make molds and do metal casting using rtv rubber and low temp metals, it also has sections on low cost plastic injection (very low cost) and styrofoam forming.” Link.
Brady writes “What you see is a homemade backpack flamethrower. I initially got interested after finding this page showing another guy’s plans on making one. I tried twice to make the main tank out of PVC, but for some reason the PVC just did not want to hold more than 50 PSI without leaking (the first one actually exploded at about 75 PSI). So I went the more expensive but safer route by using a metal tank. Also, with a metal tank you can use gasoline ($2.50/gallon) instead of denatured alcohol ($10/gallon) as the combustible liquid because gasoline eats PVC, so if I went the PVC route I’d have to use denatured alcohol.” Link.
Pink haired and heavy-metal lovin’ Zach, was an 11 year-old 6th grader last year in Bre Pettis’ art class. At the end of every year, Bre gives his students a chance to work on an independent project. “Zach already knew how to knit and brought in some string to knit with and he needed some knitting needles to being his project,” Bre recalls. “I remember him saying something like ‘I could have used pencils, but this is cooler.’ ” Zach ended up with a cool looking wristband, originally intended to be a scarf. Bre’s video blog, I Make Things, makes us wish we were back in school in Room 132 for art class. Thanks Bre! Link.
“Silent Bob records all incoming music, streaming or otherwise, from the soundcard. When the user decides to record and pushes the button, no problem Silent-Bob has already started the recording 2 minutes earlier! Never miss the begining!” This could be handy for podcasters or anyone looking to record sounds to make their own ringtones. [via] Link.
Seems like a fun project to replicate “…a windmill with a diameter of just 10cm which works by flexing piezoelectric crystals as it rotates, causing them to generate a current. A ‘gentle breeze’ of 16km/h is enough to generate the 7.5mW necessary to power a small electronic sensor. Such windmills are designed to solve the problem of powering Wi-Fi kit in remote locations. Geologists, for instance, can monitor seismic activity using wireless-enabled sensors located across large geographical areas.” [via] Link.
Hans has a good how to on making a $45 hot air pencil for desoldering “Many types of surface mount capacitors will delaminate when soldered with a regular soldering iron, the main problem being the thermal shock and uneven distribution of heat across the component. Using a Hot Air Pencil solves this problem, by carefully raising the temperature of a component these thermal shocks can be avoided. So, I needed at least a simple Hot Air Pencil. Checking my favorite catalogs I found several, but the cheapest being $600! Need being the mother of inventions, and refusing to pay the price, I started looking for a way to make my own Hot Air Pencil.” Link.
