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!
I had the very great pleasure of meeting Ari Krupnik at the recent Bay Area Maker Faire. Among other cool toys, Ari was showing off his “RecycloGraph,” which is a two-piece Spirograph (Wikipedia) milled from an old CD on Ari’s ShopBot. Once he’s milled the profile, Ari turns the plastic over and etches words or graphics in the metal foil using a CNC laser. Ari’s selling them now using a “name your price” PayPal widget on his website.
The glue that holds rear view mirrors in place is amazing stuff, that breaks all the normal rules about adhesives: it holds a joint between two extremely smooth, entirely nonporous surfaces that are subject to near-constant mechanical vibration, extremes of temperature, and ongoing exposure to UV radiation. And it holds for years, even decades. If you are faced with one of those “impossible” gluing problems requiring a strong metal-glass or glass-glass bond, try using a rear view mirror repair kit on it. They can be had for a couple bucks from most hardware stores.
If you haven’t seen the work of Makers Market seller kaitrees before, well…this photo sums it up way better than I ever could in words: His work is amazing, and the way he does it is amazing, too.
We sent David Veloz, Jr., a Navy engineer at Port Hueneme, 29 copies of MAKE a few months back. He volunteers as a facilitator for a high school outreach program for students with an interest in science and engineering. Here’s his note back with a great pic of the students holding MAKE Volume 19.
Here’s a part of a documentary about an impressive set of mail-carrying trains in the United Kingdom.
Top 10 mechanical curiosities from the archives of Make: Online.
Music of the sun recorded by scientists @ Telegraph… Astronomers at the University of Sheffield have managed to record for the first time the eerie musical harmonies produced by the magnetic field in the outer atmosphere of the sun. They found that huge magnetic loops that have been observed coiling away from the outer layer […]
