Signs Made From E-Waste
Built for an e-waste design competition, Istanbul-based designer Yasemin Artut made these “E-letter” signs for Kadir Has University.
Science
DIY science is the perfect way to use your creative skills and learn something new. With the right supplies, some determination, and a curious mind, you can create amazing experiments that open up a whole world of possibilities. At home-made laboratories or tech workshops, makers from all backgrounds can explore new ideas by finding ways to study their environment in novel ways – allowing them to make breathtaking discoveries!
RasPi and Arduino-Controlled Weather Station
José Amores, also known as UC4FUN, built this cool weather station that features sensors and a RTC module plugged into an Arduino, connected via XBee to a Raspberry Pi with an SD card storing data and a wifi connection to the Internet, allowing José to publish the data online. [via Embedded Projects]
U.S. Manufacturing: Cheaper and Greener?
Lean, or “just-in-time” manufacturing can save companies money. But can it help cool a warming planet? Elroy’s Rob Honeycutt says yes.
Flatsun Simulates Burning Solar Activity
It’s about a bilion times smaller than our actual closest star (140 cm, the artist made sure to make this exact), but Rafael Lozano-Hemmer has managed to recreate its glowing visuals in his art piece, Flatsun.
Tool Review: SunVolt Portable Power Station
The SunVolt Portable Power Station is a portable solar panel that can be used to charge cell phones and tablets. There are actually two models, the SynVolt and the SunVolt Max. The first outputs 10 watts under optimal conditions, while the Max is rated for 15 watts, with 8-14.4 volts juicing your device. The SunVolt […]
Toolsday Hangout on Air, Live and Online Today at 2pm PST/5pm EST
Today is Toolsday here at MAKE, so you know what that means – a live Google+ hangout where we will be discussing our favorite tools and workspace essentials. The main topic of the hangout will be power, in various forms. We’ll discuss a few of the many possible ways to power your projects, whether it’s with a homemade bench-top supply, a solar panel hanging out of your window, or a kit like the Mintyboost.
Tool Review: Rio Grande Electroplating Chems
This weekend, my buddy Jon came over, and we used my garage chem-lab to silver-plate some brass hinge leaves for some fancy jewelry boxes he’s making. I had never electroplated anything before, and have been curious about the process since my undergraduate days. My impression, based on my survey courses, was that electroplating is messy and dangerous—one of those jobs it’s usually best to contract out to a speciality shop. Jon came prepared with a bucketful of supplies. He had the parts themselves, a benchtop power supply, a strip of stainless steel to serve as an anode, cotton plating pen tips, a strip of 0.999 silver to wrap around the pen tip and connect it to the PSU probe, copper wire to support and ground the parts during the plating operations, and three bottles of MIDAS-brand electroplating chemicals. (MIDAS, for the record, is Rio Grande’s house electroplating products brand.)