The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for bikes, rockets, R/C vehicles, toys and other diversions.
There is certainly lots to debate about corporate sponsorship of education and sponsored editorial content, in print and online. We have these debates all the time here at MAKE. And I’m sure educational organizations have equally tough choices to make in terms of getting the funding for great educational programs, money that companies are all […]
It’s too hot in NYC for a sweater bike, but it exists – no one knows who/why yet. Update: Some clues in the comments on CRAFT! Thanks Rachel!
…but non-lepidopterists will probably be hard-pressed to figure that out just by looking at it. The video rates high on the jaw-dropping scale. The ChouChou electric butterfly is, in fact, a lepidoteroid robot, of sorts, from Japanese firm Tenyo Magic. It perches, flexes and flaps its wings, and flutters around its jar when disturbed. Preorderable now from JapanTrends.com. [via NOTCOT]
Turns out the yellowing of old ABS plastic is due to degradation of bromine-containing fire retardants which are added to the plastic during manufacture, which release elemental bromine, causing the yellow color. Shining UV light on the gel accelerates the decomposition of the fragile oxygen-oxygen bond in the peroxides it contains, generating reactive hydroxyl radicals which scavenge the free or loosely-bound bromine in the plastic that causes discoloration.
If ferrofluid and silly putty had a kid, it would be this, super paramagnetic silicone putty. Watch above as it swallows a magnet. Hit the jump for another video. [via Geekologie] More: Morpho Towers – Two Standing Spirals (Ferrofluid sculptures)
Custom electric guitar build by Travis S., incorporating an original Millennium Falcon toy over a hard maple backing block attached to a purchased neck black. I especially like the light-up engine blocks. More details are available here. [via Neatorama]
Here’s a clever idea I’d love to see liberated from its high-design context by the maker community: Sports equipment with integral POV displays. These ping pong paddles by Troika are an interesting start, but there’s all kinds of other onomatopoetic possibilities, like, say, baseball bats or tennis rackets that leave a glowing WHACK! in the air when you hit the ball. Personally, I want a set of boxing gloves that provide Batman-style comic book POW! and BAM! captions when I punch things. [via adafruit]
