Math Monday: 3D Hilbert Curve from plumbing supplies By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics The 3D Hilbert curve is an infinitely long path which wiggles around through all regions of a cube, making right angles in a systematic manner. Physical models can be made with additive fabrication technology. The elegant metal version above […]
David and Christiane Erwin, of Austin, TX, founded Mid-Century Modern door company Crestview Doors to provide other design conscious homeowners with an alternative to the colonial-style front doors you can get at a big box store (the Park house proudly sports the orange “Burbank” pictured below!). They now sell DIY Doorlite Kits so you too can build the door of your dreams. Read on to find out how this maker couple does it.
Here is a video of my visit last weekend to the Massachusetts QRP Convention, a meeting of ham radio enthusiasts who use low power. QRP operators are the makers of the ham world. Since they work with such low power, many QRP operators make and modify their equipment to get the perfect performance. Every little […]
For those of you who aren’t up on your tradecraft, a “dead drop” is a place where spies or other clandestine-y folks drop off items for later retrieval by other agents. A “dead drop spike” is a particularly ingenious little container devised for the purpose. Basically, it’s a hollow metal spike, with a threaded watertight closure at the top. You put your top-secret microfilm or whatever inside the spike, take it to your dead drop, and stomp it into the ground with your foot. Then you cover it up with a rock or a piece of trash or whatever. The lid has a pull-loop built into it, so that when your contact comes by later to clear the drop, he or she can grab the spike by the loop and yank it up out of the ground again.
When I first learned about dead drop spikes years ago, I had a bit of a nerdgasm and decided I had to have one. I scoured the tubes, but alas, no one was selling them. Imagine my delight when, a couple years later, I discovered that Brian Dereu of Hollow Spy Coins had added a custom-machined dead drop spike to his inventory. I ordered one immediately, and could not be more pleased with its quality. That was at least a year ago, and as far as I can tell, if you’re in the market for a dead drop spike, Hollow Spy Coins is still the only place you can get one online.
I am glad that, so far, in life, I have not had to join the ranks of those umpty-many folks who, at one point or another, have suddenly found themselves needing to fill a whole lot of sandbags in a hurry. Hopefully, I will never be in that situation, but when and if I am, I’m going to try to remember this tutorial by Instructables user RiverOakRanch. The jig they describe allows one person to fill six tubes at once, helps to insure equal filling, and, most importantly, frees up another laborer who would otherwise have to stand there holding the bags open.
Riley Porter created a large fume extractor that uses fans and carbon filters to clean the air in his workshop. This past weekend I decided that I would attempt a carbon filtering fume extractor stack (at least what I called it). Basically the fumes from the smoke of many different materials is pretty bad. The […]
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In the Makers Market: LED hula hoop kits
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From seller ProdMod, this cool kit for making your own color-changing LED hula hoop that collapses for storage like a band-saw blade:
Use this kit in combination with 10.5 feet of tubing (sold separately) to build your own LED hoop. This is the easiest of my kits to assemble. The battery lasts about 5 hours of continuous use, and can be easily replaced for a new one. This kit includes: One Lithium Battery, 12 feet of paired wire, One Slide Switch, One Tube Connector, 21 LEDs.
A rechargeable hoop kit is also available, which includes a rechargeable battery, a charger, and an integral charging jack to install in the hoop.
