The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for bikes, rockets, R/C vehicles, toys and other diversions.
Ever wanted to make Lego soap? Rachel @ CRAFT writes: We are a big Lego-fanatic family, and it’s fun to find ways to work Lego into all aspects of our lives (not just playtime). This tutorial from Roots and Wings shows how to create a mold from Lego blocks that you can then use to […]
A so-called “stick bomb,” “frame bomb,” or (worst of all) “xyloexplosive device” (Wikipedia) is an arrangement of flat flexible beams, like popsicle sticks or tongue depressors, that are woven together under tension such that they can be “set off” at one point and sort of explosively disassemble starting at that point, with the reaction propagating away along the structure. Like domino toppling, but flashier.
PopSci has a good vide round of the 2010 ToyFair… I like the laser-harp-type thing… Say the word “toy” to a techie, and his mind will think one thing: robots. But all infrared-loving, artificially-intelligent smart-toy-ogling tech-savvy aside, new toys can instill as much “ooh! shiny!” as even the hottest cellphone. And we’re not just talking […]
Thus was born the idea of the scratch guitar controllers.
I experimented with a bunch of materials trying to find a resistor with the properties I needed, including VHS tape, tin foil, nichrome wire and conductive thread, to name a
few, before I stumbled on conductive foam. The foam is normally used to ship delicate electronics & ICs because it prevents the buildup of static electricity. It costs just a few dollars per sheet. I used the 1/4″ thick variety and paid about $7 for enough to make more than a dozen guitars. Other materials include scrap MDF, old futon slats, empty plastic film canisters (free from any place that still develops film), metallic tape (from any hardware store) & speaker wire.
Our buddy Fra Fondi, of Hobby Media/Xtreme RC Cars, was at the Nuremberg Toy Fair last week. He sent us email with some of the things he was most excited about, including this Grossi 2-stroke, 3.5cc R/C car engine that’s water-cooled! Looks amazing. Grossi’s 1/8 Rally Buggy Racer, using this new engine, will be available […]
We have covered other robotic Rubik’s Cube solvers before, but the CubeStormer is a little different. It’s fast, really fast! Apparently it’s able to solve any 3x3x3 Rubik’s cube in less than 12 seconds. Then again, maybe it isn’t that fast compared to Erik Akkersdijk
Yes, this is a missile. Sorry about that. But it turns out the AIM-9 Sidewinder is the only well-documented example I can find, on the web, of a machine that employs these interesting little widgets called “rollerons.” See the little metal pinwheels at the trailing corners of the fins? The rolleron is basically an air-driven gyroscope, as Tom Harris explains over on How Stuff Works:
