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How-To: Air-Variable Capacitor From Scrap Aluminum

How-To: Air-Variable Capacitor From Scrap Aluminum

By Sean Michael Ragan

Sean Michael Ragan

I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to college and stuff. I am a long-time contributor to MAKE magazine and makezine.com. My work has also appeared in ReadyMade, c't – Magazin für Computertechnik, and The Wall Street Journal.

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This lovely hand-made component, built as part of a crystal radio set Instructables user Jezan assembled for his son, started out as a sheet of 1.5 mm aluminum that looks like it may have come from the side of an old file cabinet. Jezan used minimal tools…

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Morse code key made from a coin

Morse code key made from a coin

By Gareth Branwyn

Gareth Branwyn

Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. And he has a new best-of writing collection and “lazy man’s memoir,” called Borg Like Me.

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Spotted on the MAKE Flickr pool, this funky-fine Morse code straight key made with a Two Pence piece. 2p Straight Key More: Sew a cute Morse code key leg strap

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Mobile radios at Hamvention 2010

By dianaeng

dianaeng

Fashion + Technology Diana was a contestant on Project Runway season 2, graduated from RISD, and currently lives in New York City.

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Mobile radios are like DIY cellphones. They can communicate across the world without the infrastructure of cellphone carriers or the internet. And sometimes, there’s a lot of satisfaction in being able to do something all by yourself. Here I am at Hamvention 2010 in Dayton, Ohio checking out all of the mobile radios. There was […]

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