Great LEGO project, I’m hoping they release the code – “Introducing GameByEmail’s Dice-O-Matic. Made from Legos, a USB camera, and a bit of software, it’s a home-grown, dice-rolling monster. Don’t let it’s rickety looks deceive you; this puppy can easily crank out the 20,000 rolls a day consumed by GamesByEmail. In fact, at full speed it averages almost one roll a second, well over 80,000 a day!.” [via] Link.
Nothing says Christmas like a Yeti ornament. Craftlog posted up her tips on using Print Gocco to create her abominable creature. Make one yourself or if you are up for a swap, she’ll make you one for something else in return. Also big news here, you might want to stock up on the cool printing machines as Gocco’s are being discontinued from the manufacturer. Link.
Learn how to tie stopper, hitches, loops and bend knots – great videos! “This is a site about knots: how to tie them, how to appreciate their beauty. Even the seriously knot-challenged among us can learn to tie many useful and popular knots by following along with the short, step-by-step instructional video clips on this site.” Link.
Chris is looking for things to do with 20 old hard drives “I have twenty 3.5 inch hard drives collecting dust in my garage (10Gb and all working) and I will use them to do things. What things I haven’t decided yet, but I already have a couple of ideas. We have 20 nice shiny discs, as many read/write heads complete with arm, 40 very powerful magnets, and so on. It’s actually only the imagination that sets the limits. In this first part we go through the, maybe trivial but vital, task of taking the drive apart in its components without damaging anything.” Link.
Here’s another iSight tripod – Steve writes “My dad is a master deal finder. Over the thanksgiving holiday, I traded him a broadband router for this super nice pro camera tripod that he located for $6.95 at his local Salvation Army store. The only thing it was missing was any way to mount a camera.. a problem I’m sure I can rectify with an inexpensive solution from a camera store, or an even less expensive solution from my garage. While my camera’s in the shop, I figured I can use it for a really great iSight tripod.” Link.
If you’ve ever taken a spin on one of those theme park rides that show movies, shift/thrash the audience simulator-style you might like the idea of building your own. Jared, the Maker writes – “For some time I have wanted to make my own, seeing the NASA shuttle simulator and other similar training simulators all over. Well one day while playing mech 4 I realized that I had the power to do so literally in the palm of my hand. So I decided to mod out my simulator. Well a lot of R & D went into this and this is actually a prototype for the main build to come.” Link.
Here’s how to make a fun boat powered by steam “…it wasn’t until I was an adult that I saw my first putt putt steam boat, chugging away in an outdoor market in Bangladesh– in Southern Asia– one of the poorest countries in the world. Made mostly from a recycled milk tin, it sounded like a tugboat and it really moved–all efficiently powered by a little vegetable oil lamp. How could such a cool thing have existed without my knowing about it?” Thanks Jos! Link.
