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!
Raph writes “The Homebuilt anemometer project – I wanted to build a measuring instrument which must be placed outside, exposed to the natural elements so I decided to build a cup anemometer. To add a little more challenge to this project and make it less expensive, I decided to try to build the anemometer using parts I already have, as possible.” Link.
Jason writes “In anticipation of the Mars proximity last Saturday, I put together a quick howto on using your hacked CVS camera (or any digital camera, really) with a telescope. I was planning to do a follow-up with some photos, but the sky has been overcast in Minneapolis for 4 days now. Hopefully, some Makers out there had better viewing conditions and can share their pics. As for me, it looks like I’ll have to wait for some other celestial event before I can try this out.” Link.
Rick writes “A great ‘how to’ making steam engines, (although most are run on compressed air). All you need to know from simple single cylinder models to V twins and more. A neat project in time for the holiday season – What a great present.” Link.
Rick writes “Animated examples of many different types of internal combustion and heat engine along with an explanation of how they work. My favorite is the Wankel engine (The Wankel a triangular rotor incorporating a central ring gear is driven around a fixed pinion within an oblong chamber). Somehow it just shouldn’t work.” Link.
Rick writes “Here are some examples of Stirling engines – An online shop for many model engines. But often existing products are the inspiration for our own production efforts. Worth a look for anyone interested in Stirling or steam engines.” Link. In MAKE 04 we have an interview with Dean Kamen who’s also cooking up a Stirling engine.
How to make the sunrise in your bedroom every morning. Many artists have used the Camera Obscura over the years, now make your own. – an optical experiment easy to do, but which, in spite of its simplicity, is able to give you a continuous marvel. What you have to do is simply mount a lens on the bedroom window. In this way, when you wake up in the morning, you will admire the outside scene projected on a wall of your bedroom. Link.
“…construction of a very simple low-cost compound microscope. As shown in Figure 1, the microscope we describe is one that just about anyone can build and will produce a magnification of about 75 times. Microscopes may be thought of as very intricate and mysterious instruments but in reality, they are not as complicated as one may think. Building this simple instrument is not only a fun project, it will help you understand how microscopes work.” Thanks Rick! Link.
