Eltoozero of www.destruc.tv writes “I built this case mod to be a nearly completely authentic looking Mac Classic, but with a Mac Mini inside, playing DVD’s through the floppy and running OSX, except it’s black.” Eltoozero said he’d write up more about his project if there is interest, so post up in the comments! Link.
Krazydad writes – “I decided a few weeks ago to build a wooden gear clock because I wanted to understand the clock mechanism better. There are a number of websites that offer plans for wooden gear clocks, but as someone with absolutely no woodworkng experience (band practice generally interferes with taking shop class), and no tools, I needed something that was ready to build. I found three sites that offer such kits…” Here’s a review of the Ascent Wooden Gear Clock kit. Link.
With our kits you can capture high-speed events, splashes, popping balloons and breaking glass. It’s an adjustable flash controller triggered by light or sound. Our kit includes a high-speed flash, disposable camera, flash controller and fully assembled flash trigger that synchronizes the high-speed event and the flash. Also included is a 6-ft cable connects your high-speed flash to the flash controller, and all the tools needed to precisely time your high-speed picture. Flash controller is adjustable, so the flash can be triggered by soft sounds, loud sounds, a laser pointer, or a flashlight. The kit also includes digital output that can trigger other external flashes, such as the SnapShot II strobe light. But, how do we test each unit before we ship them? Here’s great video with Tom Anderson from Quaketronics showing you what we do! Link (MP4). Click here to get the video with iTunes! This video should work on PC/Mac/Linux/iPod video and PSP (let us know if it does not).
We’ve had a few emails and posts about folks who wanted to build their own lie detector, here’s one (and how it works) – “The circuit diagram of the Lie Detector is shown above. It consists of three transistors (TR1 to TR3), a capacitor (C1), two lights or LEDs (L1 & L2), five resistors (R1 to R5), and a variable resistor (VR1). Suitable transistors to use are BC547, BC548 or BC549, or any other small NPN transistor. The Lie Detector circuit works based on the fact that a person’s skin resistance changes when they sweat (sweating because they’re lying). Dry skin has a resistance of about 1 million ohms, whereas the resistance of moist skin is reduced by a factor of ten or more.” Link.
Not a bad deal for $49. “MIDISpeak Module – Version 2, The Talking Toy MIDI RetrofitAdds a standard MIDI IN port to your Speak & Spell, Speak & Read, or Speak & Math. Non-English versions also supported. Trigger thousands of sounds–words, word fragments, garbled speech, percussion and bizarre sound effects.” Link. In MAKE 04 we also show you how to build music toys like this. Modify a Casio keyboard (or other electronic audio stuff) and start playing some of the strangest sounds you’ve ever heard.
William on GoRobotics writes “The popular educational and hobbiest company, Parallax is finally offering kits with USB support! The long-standing support of serial control in robotics and microcontrollers continues to be a problem, so it’s good to see some of the larger players begin to make the change.” Link.
Kath Red of Red Current has collected some of the coolest, craftiest robot links (aliens included). From kits, to soft robots, even to robot fabric, you’ll definitely find something inspiring to make in whatever crafty way you choose. Link.
