Switchblade Ninja Star
Cool mechanical toy made by Thingiverse user Zach Redding for his little brother, who requested “a ninja star where the blades pop out.” I want one water-jet-cut from stainless steel.
Fun & Games
The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for bikes, rockets, R/C vehicles, toys and other diversions.
Cansole: Arduino Based Video Game Console in a Can
Tinkerer and author John Graham-Cumming (he wrote the Geek Atlas) created an Arduino-based gaming system that fits in a can. On the left is the main controller (the power switch is visible) and on the right is the expansion controller with its cable. The left (red) controller also has a ‘fire’ button that isn’t visible […]
Playable Lego Ukulele
Ross Crawford’s brick ukulele can be played and its four strings are tuned to C, F, A and D. This model has to be able to withstand the tension of 4 fairly tight strings without exploding. I ended up using a pre-stressed Technic rod up the middle of the neck, which allowed the head to […]
Lego Die-Rolling Robot
Just what you need to speed up your D&D sessions! The mission: To make an absurdly overcomplicated robot to do something as simple as roll some dice. It’s sort of a Rube Goldberg machine although for the sake of practicality there’s buttons to control the throwing and then the picking back up again so that […]
Help Lifesize Mousetrap Grow
Lifesize Mousetrap provides a great opportunity to see real world applications of physics, spectacle and problem solving. Perhaps you remember endless hours of fussing with cardboard and plastic parts trying to get the mousetrap together to catch the mouse. Mostly, I recall that the build was way more interesting than the actual game. Over the years, Mark Perez has built the life size version of Moustrap along with his band of merry Rubes. They’ve taken the show on the road to Maker Faires in Austin, Detroit and San Mateo. People keep asking for more, and so they’ve set up a Kickstarter campaign to fund a traveling version of Lifesize Mousetrap to bring to schools and demonstrate their festive take on the game.
Owen Grace: Guitar Zeros
Watching the stream from the MAKE and CRAFT demo stages, I was totally impressed by Owen Grace and the work he’s done with Electronic Arts converting game controller guitars into playable instruments. In a Maker Faire success story, Owen told of how he made his game controllers into instruments as a personal project, got some friends together to form a band, and then caught the ear of the executives at Electronic Arts. They liked his maker project so much that they offered him a job, where now he continues his project of passion as his profession. Owen and his band are featured on the cover of Make, Volume 15.
Lego Pegasus Automaton
This work from Korean Kyoung-bae Na, aka edulyoung, would be impressive as a static Lego model. As a flapping-wings automaton, it is, I daresay, magnificent. Kyoung-bae Na has a BrickLink storefront as Studio Amida, but the Pegasus Automaton is not listed there as of this writing.