Makers

Chris Schaie’s mechanical irises for sale

Chris Schaie’s mechanical irises for sale

When I first saw Chris’s gorgeous brass-and-wood irising door peephole mechanism in the ShopBot booth at Maker Faire, I knew it was something special: A beautiful piece of machinery, designed and built solely for the pleasure of operating and observing its operation. When Chris contacted us wanting to sell them in the Makers Market, naturally I was excited, but I was also a bit skeptical. I couldn’t imagine that such a large, relatively complex machine of solid brass and wood could be manufactured and sold at anything like a reasonable price point. But the $285 Chris is now asking, while certainly not cheap, is about 40% of what I was expecting to see when I clicked on his listing. I will be surprised if he can afford to continue selling them at that price. Which is why I already bought mine.

A sawhorse to write home about

I’ve mentioned my friends Scott Constable and Ene Osteraas-Constable on the CRAFT blog before, and Scott’s recent post about the ideal characteristics of the venerable sawhorse, along with a photo of some beautiful “indoor sawhorses” he’s made seemed like good fodder for a mention here. Scott writes: To me, there’s also something inherently a little […]

How do Mecanum wheels work?

We get the pleasure of working with some amazing artists/illustrators here at MAKE. One of them is James Provost. James did the illos for the “Lunchbox Laser” and “Marble Adder” projects in Volume 20, and the “CNC For Under $800” piece in Volume 21. He also did the wonderful illustrated version of the Maker’s Bill […]