Blog
ShapeLock Plastics…
Make reader Ron sent this in- looks interesting, anyone try it? Might be good for some prototyping. ShapeLock is a super strong plastic similar to Nylon or Polypropylene in toughness. However, unlike the two former plastics it does not need high temperatures or high pressures to form into useful shapes. ShapeLock is easily hand-formed into shape at just 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Link.
Recycling to Survive in Sudan
In Southern Sudan, international aid is being put to full use, and so are the shipping materials. The Sudanese are converting the packaging from international food aid and other supplies into necessities such as ropes, furniture, and kitchen utensils. Workers at an airstrip in Rumbek, in South Sudan, hack apart the fuselage of an old transport plane with axes. Later the aluminum will be recycled into cooking pots. Link.
Poor Man’s Kinesis Keyboard
Nice keyboard hack- For programmers like me with wrist pain, I have made a simple keyboard modification that lets you press the Ctrl, Alt, and Shift keys with your thumbs. Just like those expensive $240 Kinesis keyboards, but made using a $30 K’nex building toy. (K’nex is like Lego but uses rods instead of bricks). Link.
Electric Cinderella
![Buildingillusions3[1]](http://cdn.makezine.com/make/blogs/blog.makezine.com/buildingillusions3%5B1%5D.jpg)
Drawing from the myth of Cinderella a pair of elegant sexy shoes with a crystal tip but with a new power inside: a stun gun. It’s just a shielded, potential weapon, meant to be used only once, as the wearer has to break the glass to use it. Cinderella is no more without defenses; waiting for the prince to save or worse to chose her [via] Link.
The HoverMower
Some DIY versions on the way I bet…Eastman Industries has taken the lawn mower to a new level (literally). The HoverMower is designed to hover slightly above the ground on a cushion of air, making it more maneuverable, extremely light, easy to propel and able to reach previously inaccessible places like extreme inclines, wet grounds, and tight, difficult to get at places. [via] Link.
The Great Ball Contraption
Build a machine out of Lego that takes Lego soccer balls from an input hopper to an output hopper at a minimum rate of one per second by any means you can devise. Define a standard interface for this kind of machine so that the output of one will reliably feed the input of the next. Now invite hundreds of Lego fanatics to use their imagination to build modules of all different sizes and types to meet this standard – then connect them all end to end to make the biggest Rube Goldberg contraption in history. Thanks Steve! Link.