A Photo Op Not to be Missed…
…if you happen to have a vehicle with about 300,000 units on the odometer. From Alan Parekh’s always-delightful Hacked Gadgets.
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!
Water Cooler Bottle Blaster
British company BCB has developed what is essentially a potato cannon on steroids. Called the Wall Breaker, this pneumatically charged cannon launches water cooler bottles at 984 feet per second.
Need to break through concrete in a hostage situation? No problem. Want to rip a giant hole through a cargo van. They have you covered.
This was developed for the British military, so I’m not sure we’ll be seeing a consumer version available anytime soon. Impressive all the same.
New in the Maker Shed: Grow at Home Mushroom Garden
This new Grow at Home Mushroom Garden is a bit of a departure from items usually found in the Maker Shed. We’ve noticed a trend toward urban agriculture and sustainable living which are completely embodied by this ingenious garden in a box. The brilliant design allows anyone to grow gourmet mushrooms right from the recycled packaging it arrived in.
iShred: iPad Embedded Snowboard
Every Third Thursday the employees of Signal Snowboards get together to get creative with board design and materials, and generally hack on gear at the factory. Recently they laboriously toiled over one of the more creative snowboard designs I’ve seen: the iShred.
Using Springs as Heating Elements
Longtime MAKE pal Raphaël Assénat wanted to recycle his stash of anti-static bags for component shipping, and built an improvised heat-sealer to do it. It’s just a step-down transformer, some current-limiting resistors, a momentary switch, and a resistance wire made by uncoiling a compression spring.
Math Monday: An Octahedron in a Balloon
You may know how to make a ship in a bottle, but how would you make this octahedron in a balloon? The twelve edges of the octahedron are made of strips of blue balloon rubber, glued to the inside of the clear balloon at the six vertices. Think of how you might make this before reading my solution below.
Now That’s a Lathe
At the extreme opposite end of the spectrum from “hobby” machine tools are those used to build ships and power plants. I have no technical details about the lathe shown above, but the photograph was taken in 1957 or 1958 at the Doxford Engine Works in Pallion, England. If you like it, don’t miss the gallery over at Ships Nostalgia about English shipwrights William Doxford and Sons. It’s chockablock with absolutely gorgeous, amazing photographs of giant men building giant machines with giant tools.