It’s never too early to start planning for Halloween – Fasten a large grotesque head to the end of a stick four or five feet long; around the neck gather a skirt of black material, long enough to reach the ground when the end of the stick is extended at arm’s length above the head of the operator inside... We also have a great Halloween project in MAKE volume 03. Link.
…build and operate a mechanical device to simulate, remarkably well, what happens when a robotic spacecraft takes advantage of a “gravity assist” on its interplanetary trajectory through the solar system. The device substitutes a strong, moving magnet for a massive orbiting planet, and a steel bearing ball (BB) for a spacecraft. The “magnetic assist” it provides to the BB is closely analogous to the “gravity assist” a spacecraft can receive from a planet moving in its solar orbit. Link.
Cool tool- need to try this out– Jon’s Phone Tool (JPT) uses a Bluetooth mobile phone, your Mac’s modem, or speakers to dial the phone. JPT can also make calls via Vonage, CallVantage, Skype, Ovolab Phlink, Parliant’s PhoneValet, an Asterisk PBX server, IP-based telephony devices, or SIP softphones by Xten Networks, Inc. for use with many VoIP services. Link.
A Maker in our comments writes “I made PVC marshmellow guns for my two boys this weekend. At first, they had no idea what I was doing. After my 8 year-old saw the first mini-marshmellow fly out of the tube and smack the wall, he was hooked and so was his 5 year-old brother. Thanks for helping me be a hero for $5.71 (cost for 2 guns). My oldest slept with his gun last night and was amazed that when he woke up it smelled like marshmellows. “Yup,” I said, “I love the smell of marshmellows in the morning.” The male bonding has begun. Thanks for the Make”. Link.
These dolls are blank and come with markers so your kids (or anyone else) can draw their own designs, faces and more on them. They’re $40 which isn’t too bad, but I bet you could get a doll pattern and make your own DIY Draw-It-On Dolls. Could be fun for kid’s parties and such. My version might have a LCD as a head and you could draw on that… [via] Link.
This week my 2nd adapter shorted out completely. And since my battery only lasts about 7 minutes I was dead in the water. I really didn’t want to fork out more bucks on another new supply so I decided to crack it open. I was able to fix the problem and put it back together, just like new….sort of. First I had to crack open the casing. The supply was obviously designed to be disposable and the casing had no latches or screws holding it together. I had to hammer a thin screwdriver around the edges and eventually cracked the egg open. [via] Link.
…a very cheap fume extractor for solder fumes to avoid breathing this nasty stuff in all the time. Not only is it a nice ‘make’ hack, it also is a perfect tool for many more ‘make’ adventures. What you need: a slot type cooling fan, a vacuum cleaner hose, some zip ties, hot glue, cardboard or flexible plastic sheet and a power supply. Link.
