Austrian Claudio Zachl Werbegrafik has a blog called The Amateur Engineer, and a YouTube channel with a regular show he’s been running every two weeks for a little over a year, now. In this episode, he shows off his drool-inducing Ultimate Breadboard prototyping station, mothered by necessity in a complex ongoing project to build his […]
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The folks at Aerogel.org are serious about it: The “Make” section of their exhaustive “open source aerogel” site will teach you how to make high-quality monolithic aerogel the way the pros do it, from building your our own supercritical drying apparatus (“manuclave” is their neologism), to mixing up the wet ingredients, to actually performing the […]
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If you’ve got a shop, you’ve probably got some source of vacuum around, even if it’s only a residential vacuum cleaner for tidying up the floors. And in a pinch, a home or shop vacuum cleaner will do for light duty vacuum applications like running a small vacuum former. If you’re doing chemistry, however, and […]
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Embossed aluminum is pretty much the ultimate labeling material. Without wanting to be morbid, there is a reason why military services around the world choose it for personnel identification tags. Secured with mechanical fasteners, instead of adhesives, an embossed aluminum label will stand up for years against water, extremes of heat and cold, prolonged direct sunlight, and any organic solvent you care to throw at it. This is a true “industrial-grade” labeling tool, and if you can snag a used one for a reasonable price, you can expect a lifetime of use from it.
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We have featured projects from teenage chemist Hayden Parker, who is this semester an entering freshman at Willamette University, several times since he first showed up on our radar at Bay Area Maker Faire 2011. We recently asked Hayden to share some of the most useful practical tips he’s picked up from the home and hobby chemistry community, and this list is the result. Thanks, Hayden! Keep up the good work! – Ed.
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Following an accident that damaged some of his written lab notes, biologist and photographer Colin Purrington undertook to choose his next laboratory writing instrument more scientifically. The test set included 20 pens and 1 pencil. As a brand, the Japanese-made Sakura Gelly Roll pens, like those shown here, stand out for fade- and bleed-resistance under the tested conditions.
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Our own inimitable Laura Cochrane spotted this clever trick over at The Craft Patch. It may not be glamorous or sexy, but I love insanely simple stuff like this born of paying careful attention to what’s right there in front of you.
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