Kits

Bounce For Glory: Peter William Wagner (video)

Peter William Wagner bounces across the fairgrounds at Maker Faire Bay Area 2011, delighting everyone whose path he crosses. The big purple eccentric-axled bike has two inflated all-terrain wheels that can also function as flotation for the aquatic parts of the annual Kinetic Grand Championship in and around Arcada, California, where this “whim-cycle” has appeared for the last six years. Even Peter’s baby granddaughter enjoys the ride.

Building the MakerGear Mosaic 3D Printer – Part II: The Y-Axis

Building the MakerGear Mosaic 3D Printer – Part II: The Y-Axis

This is the second installment of my series on building Rick and Karen Pollack’s MakerGear Mosaic 3D printer. This part covers assembly of the robot’s first of three Cartesian axes. One of the nice features of the Mosaic kit is that several of the more complex subassemblies are supplied pre-built, greatly simplifying construction. This stage of the build consists essentially of…

How-To: Holography

I always assumed that the process of making a hologram was so complex that it was limited to only those with access to expensive lasers and other fancy optical equipment. But when I heard that the Maker Shed started carrying Litiholo’s Hologram Kit, I was surprised that such a thing existed and I was eager to give it a try. After carefully following the directions, my first hologram was visible, but just barely. This was better than I expected, actually. The manual stresses that controlling vibration is the most important factor in creating a good hologram, but I live in a busy Brooklyn apartment building that often feels the low rumble of the subway trains rolling by. I tried to make another, but this time I increased the exposure time from five minutes to fifteen as the instructions suggested. The result was a surprisingly sharp hologram of a toy car.