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!
Bill Hammack’s video confection is especially sweet this week. Bill scored a vintage Delta “black box” on eBay and, in this week’s installment, tears it apart on camera to show you how they built ’em in the old days to stand up to “three-thousand gees and one-thousand degrees.” I just watched it, and I’m having a hard time resisting my ebullient urge to spoil the ending for you, so I’ll just shut up and let Engineer Guy take it away. [Thanks, Bill!]
This “50% sawdust” project from Israel’s Kulla design involves mixing equal parts sawdust and shredded plastic bags in a mold under heat and mild pressure to produce a composite chip-board type material that, reportedly, requires no other adhesives, binders, or other components. Lots of questions left to be answered, but an interesting start. [via Dude […]
EdenTXlocation.jpgBack in 2008, I wrote a series of posts about Alvin E. Gandy’s 1965 patent “Gandy Slide-A-Way” mechanical gate opener, which uses the weight of an approaching vehicle to automatically open and close a remote vehicle gate without electrical power. The story has apparently gotten back around to Mr. Gandy’s surviving family. His niece Annie just commented:
A “wobbler” consists of two intersecting circles in perpendicular planes. When you roll it along the ground, it wobbles left and right as it moves forward. I saw these 18″ diameter pine disks for sale at a lumber store and thought they would make a wonderfully large wobbler. The construction simply involves cutting a slot […]
Every year we, the editors and authors here on Craftzine, scour the interwebs for cool gift ideas, all with a crafty bent. Certain themes almost always make the gift guide schedule — sewing, crafts for kids, eco-crafting — but there aren’t enough days in the winter season to cover all our vast and varied interests. […]
And you can watch it happen in this literally awesome video from the BBC’s Bang Goes the Theory. I wonder how much that lens cost? I’ve got a shed out back, wouldn’t be too hard to cut a hole in the roof… [via Boing Boing]
Jeri shows how to make a light emitting cell with blue glow stick chemicals (DPA).
