I have a mostly finished pair of pants sitting right next to my sewing machine. All I need to do is install the invisible zipper (hold me, I’m afraid) and stitch up the other side, and they’ll be ready to hit the town. Luckily, Kate from See Kate Sew seems to have sensed my anxiety […]
Without a doubt, one of the most loved attractions at Maker Faire are the life-sized R2D2s that roam the fairgrounds. Their controllers are usually just off to the side of the groups of people who crowd around the R2D2s, smiling as kids and adults alike proceed to flip out over the droid who feels like […]
I love it when people use humble PVC as a project enclosure. In this case, Alex Avtanski of San Jose, CA, built this DIY Magnetometer to detect and measure magnetic storms. The activity of the Sun varies on a cycle with a period of approximately 11 years. Periods of low solar activity are followed by […]
George over at MAKE recently shared this amazing math-based dragon curve quilt by Camilla Fox. Fox explains some of the challenges behind the design and the process of making the quilt on her website: The curve is framed (within the quilt) with space to allow a rotated interlocking copy of the dragon curve, and this […]
This cute pillow project from Maureen Cracknell would be a great Valentine decoration for your home. It uses simple quilting and reverse applique to create a sweet pillow cover that can go right over your existing cushion and be easily changed out after the season. You could even use the same idea and techniques to […]
MAKE pal Dino Segovis brings us this handy tutorial on running a stepper motor in “reverse,” i.e. turning the shaft mechanically in order to generate electrical power, instead of the normal usage. He writes: Any electric motor will also output a voltage when it’s freely spinning. Stepper motors are much better at this because they […]
In a basic Arduino sketch, if you want to take action based on the status of a digital input pin, you’d check the state of the pin repeatedly until a particular condition is met. However, as your sketches become increasingly complex, you’ll find that it’s not always the best way to do this. EngBlaze posted […]
