From traditional crafts to modern crafts, we’re covering news and interesting projects to educate you and keep you inspired. Design trends and pop culture related projects are here to inspire.
Here’s this week’s “cool stuff being made!” – “…animation of the making of a flat panel display. In fact, you’re probably looking at one now. This shows you how once again you are surrounded by manufactured products: cars, food, clothing, flat panel displays. Without manufactured products, the world would be a quiet and empty (and hungry) place.” [via] Link.
Jake posted up an Instructable for our mousebot “Mousebot from Make vol 2 is a fun introduction to robotics. So fun that I’ve created this expanded documentation of a Mousey build from start to finish, with a few extra little tips you won’t find in the mag. This how-to is best understood after reading the original article from page 100 of Make vol 2 however it is probably not required. Mousebot is a simple bot that uses two “eyes” to sense light and then turns towards the light. A single large “whisker” is mounted on the front of the mouse to detect collisions.” Link.
Refik writes “Why do we need Amplifiers? How to build a simple one? LM 741 – You have some output source (for example an analog sensor) where the voltage is very low, just few mV (millivolts), and you would like to measure the output with your ADC (Analog to Digital converter) and with the results do some calculations with your MCU (Microcontroller) or some other device. The values the ADC gives you are all almost the same because its bit resolution is too small to show you any differences between the different states of the sensor.” Link.
Peter writes “Neutrik, the pro audio connector maker, was handing out samples of their new USB connector at NAMM. It’s screaming out to be be built into a DIY project, like a crazy audio USB patch bay for all these USB drums and keyboards and things that are proliferating.” Link.
More on the RFID zapping project “The RFID-Zapper is a gadget to deactivate (i.e. destroy) passive RFID-Tags permanently…Goals are a proof-of-concept and the construction of at least one functioning and appealing prototype, as well as a documentation of the project, so that everyone can build an own RFID-Zapper. Since the project found so much positive resonance, we probably are going to work on some other realizations of the concept, e.g. building an RFID-Zapper from scratch, without a single-use-camera.” [via] Link.
Barry writes “After attending the Winter NAMM show for a number of years I’ve noticed that the exhibitors seem to fall into two categories: the established company showing their new (and sometimes vaporous) products; and the independent start-up company looking to be noticed by distributors, music stores, potential investors and the music press. It seems that every year I spent more of my NAMM cruising time checking out the various small companies that all get stashed off in some side room. Many of the products from these companies are never seen the by the mainstream either because their potential market is too small, or most people simply can’t figure out what the hell to do with it.” Link. Yay, MIDI trumpet!
Liquid Paper’s Mod Dots Shop has a new take on the ever trusty straight pins. She’s created a line of teensy lovable objects atop pins like birds, kitties and my favorite “Teensy Ninjas” shown here. I imagine they can safely protect your crafting area from harm. From the site, “Ninjas are handcrafted from polymer clay. Each ninja stands about 1/2″ high (not including pin). Set contains 1 ninja armed with shuriken (throwing star), 1 ninja armed with nunchucks and 1 ninja armed with a sword and a Mod Dots pincushion.” Link and Flickr.
