Animated GIFs show how mechanisms work
What better way to explain the way complicated mechanical devices work than by using an animated GIF? [Via Core77]
Month: August 2010
How-To: Felt Ice Cream Sundae
I’ve been eating a lot of ice cream this summer; I just can’t get enough. One possible outlet for such an obsession could be to sew up this felt ice cream sundae plushie, a lower-calorie alternative to the frozen good stuff, using the tutorial by antibromide. More: How-To: One-Ingredient Ice Cream Ice Cream Cone Balloons […]
Micro-hydro-electric bucket project
Inspired by Sam Redfield’s rural alt.energy work in hydro-electric power, featured here on MAKE, “Fishboy,” working out of the Vancouver Hacker Space, created this micro-hydro plant in a plastic bucket. The power generator in the system is a Permanent Magnet Alternator (PMA) with a pelton wheel directly attached to the shaft. Water is sent through […]
Scenes from the Kansas City Mini Maker Faire
Congratulations to the Kansas City Mini Maker Faire team for hosting an excellent Faire! Along with countless happy visitors, I had a great time learning about all of the awesome projects that were being presented, such as a remote-control Nerf gun, soda can crusher, and miniature drum set. The MakerBots were out in force, and […]
To see the world inside a toilet paper roll…
It’s a dreary, rainy day here in Virginia. Stuck inside the house, if I had young kids, this would make a fun activity, the kids probably tittering the whole time about building worlds inside of toilet paper tubes. We’ve covered Anastassia Elias’ work here in the past, but it bears repeating. Paper cuts – Rolls […]
Working with Interfacing
Nicole at You SEW, girl! has a great post going through all the ins and outs of working with interfacing for your sewing projects, especially when you run into little problems. [ via Twitter @thelongthread ]
Tesla-style through-ground magnetic wave communicator
Interesting article over at AAAS’s ScienceNOW about MagneLink, a short-range wireless communications system being developed by Lockheed-Martin that uses magnetic fields, rather than radio waves, to transmit information. Supposedly Tesla first experimented with such a system, hoping to compete with radio, in the 1890s. For most wireless applications, radio is clearly a superior system; magnetic wave communicators suffer from limited range and poor signal-to-noise ratios. There’s one thing they can do, however, that radio can’t: easily transmit through hundreds of meters of rock or clay. They can, therefore, be depended on in the event of a mining accident to allow trapped workers to communicate with rescue personal in situations where radio is impossible and wired systems may be inoperable or inaccessible.
