Mechanical toy and automata gift guide
Dug North has posted a two-part Mechanical toy gifts for holidays 2008 on his Automata / Automaton Blog. Mechanical toy gifts for holidays 2008, Part 1 Mechanical toy gifts for holidays 2008, Part 2
Kits
HOW TO – SX-150 button mod
A number of people have asked for more info on how I modded the Gakken SX-150 analog synthesizer for pushbutton usage. If you’d like to add a DIY keyboard youself, check out my recipe – Parts – Feel free to experiment with other resistor/trimpot values and using more/less switches. The basic idea here is to […]
Owl pellet dissection kit
We gave owl pellet dissection kits as party favors a couple of years ago – they’re easy to put together and make great holiday gifts! We included a couple of owl pellets, dissecting forceps, a magnifier (we like the Private Eye loupe, you can nest them for higher magnification) and a Riker box to display […]
Chronulator 2 kit parts
I got my brand spanking new Chronulator 2 kit in the mail! I had big plans for opening it all up and taking photos of the parts. I figured I go out and find an amazing case to build it into. I have a two-year-old with a cold. I figured wrong. I got as far […]
Build: The Gakken Karakuri Tea Serving Robot
The Gakken Tea Serving Robot is designed to be a replication of the karakuri zui, an illustrated manual written in the Edo period (1603-1868). This mechanical doll has a tray that holds a cup of tea, and it is designed to approach the guest with the tea, bow his head, and then carry the empty […]
MAKE meets CRAFT – the gift guide of techy projects and more for the crafter
What do you get for crafters who also venture into the tech side of things? Before you start knitting a multimeter cosy, here are some great projects and gift ideas that intersect the worlds of MAKE and CRAFT. Fashioning Technology Ready to take your craft projects to the next level? With “smart” materials, unorthodox assembly […]
Elaborate Mini-Theremin casemod
James “Dr. Krazy X” McCracken III sent us pictures of his steampunk-y take on the Gakken Mini-Theremin kit build. Mini-Theremin The theremin, invented in 1919 by Russian scientist Leon Theremin, is one of the world’s earliest fully electronic instruments, and is also unique in that it was the first musical instrument designed to be played […]
