The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for bikes, rockets, R/C vehicles, toys and other diversions.
James Yawn’s site Recrystallized Rocketry has lots of great information about DIY rocketry, including this great tutorial about mounting a video camera. This hot pink rocket is called the “sugar rush,” because it is powered by Yawn’s homemade potassium nitrate/sugar rocket fuel. [Thanks, Kenneth!]
The key to the process is that the metallic aluminum is present as a nano-scale powder, and its oxidation by water thus occurs over a huge surface area and therefore proceeds very quickly, releasing amazing amounts of energy. The video starts with the acoustic mixing of the nano-aluminum with water to make a gray paste which is frozen, in a mold, to make a tubular rocket motor. It then proceeds through various test-bench firings and culminates (at 4:00) in the launch of an actual rocket using the mixture.
From the MAKE Flickr pool Sean_st shares pics of his homegrown Settlers of Catan boardgame. He even carved his own buildings and roads from soapstone & alabaster! Have a closer look at his work on Flickr.
Mobile gaming mastermind ZodTTD has updated his mame4iPhone app to use BTStack, allowing the use of a Wii remote as a controller. I could see using this with the iPhone app video out hack as a low-cost casual gaming console.
The amazing “Big Daddy” costume build from Volpin Props that we covered back in September is up for auction on eBay. The listing closes just after 9:00 PM PST on December 3rd which, incidentally, is my birthday (hint hint hint). The image shown above is actually a photograph of the costume (admittedly one that’s been run through a PhotoShop filter or two) taken at the Georgia Aquarium. You can view the entire photo-set here. [Thanks, Phil!]
Over the past few years, I have been fascinated by Michael’s Halo armor project. The piece that first caught my eye was his M6G pistol made of foam. Insulating foam is a fascinating material, due to its’ consistency, low cost and ease of tooling. Machined foam can be cut quickly, and can be finished with a variety of surface treatments from diluted white glue to some paints. He’s been posting to the MAKE Flickr pool for quite a while, allowing us to see what he’s up to as the projects evolve. Recently, we’ve had an email exchange where he has shared some of the process and techniques that he is employing on this masterful personal project.
Although it can’t be a terribly accurate way to make polycube puzzle pieces, I must admit I am charmed by Qiao Chang’s origami soma cube blocks. [via Neatorama]
