Cool Tools ran a DIY Contest. The winner was Steve Hoefer and his “Hand Lights:” There are tons of head mounted lights to light your work, but they only put light where you point your head. And when your viewpoint and your lighting are close together everything appears flat with little or no shadow. Enter […]
Tormach wants to sell you an upgrade package for your Mach3-compatible CNC robot that includes a 1.3M USB microscope with 220X optical magnification, a mounting bracket, and all the necessary software to turn your CNC equipment into a scanner. The cool part is they’ve also produced a video showing how to hack together a slightly-less-powerful system using a $20 pen cam and some free software that will let you make 2000 dpi scans limited only by the size of your CNC bed envelope. The “killer app” for this equipment is automatic reverse-engineering of parts, but you could also use it to easily scan maps, posters, artwork, or other oversize stuff. [via Hacked Gadgets]
By Angela Sheehan Conductive fabric/thread and a few electronic parts transform this seemingly ordinary plushie into a fun, playable instrument. This octopus jellyfish-inspired puppet lets you make different squeaky sounds using an embedded Drawdio. Hold the puppet by putting one hand in the loop on its belly. Use the other hand to touch conductive spots […]
When I was a kid, I was very hard on school supplies, and I remember dreaming about “industrial grade” school supplies–Kevlar backpacks and, particularly, sheet aluminum binders with piano hinges. These days, you can actually buy such binders, but they are relatively expensive. So why not make your own? Instructables user cowscankill did, with a salvaged snap-ring mechanism and riveted leather hinges. I want one.
I’m generally not much of a kit-buyer, but it seems like each one Windell and Lenore release is better than the last. They almost had me with the Bulbdial clock; I will probably not be able to resist the new Egg-Bot kit. They’re taking preorders now, and the first kits are supposed to ship at the end of this month. Looks like new orders are already backed up into October.
The iFixit folks grabbed their tools and went bananas on a new 4th gen iPod Touch. Here are some of the highlights of what they found inside: * This is the easiest iPod Touch we’ve ever cracked open — a bit of glue and two tabs hold the front panel in place. We hoped that […]
Back in February, MachinistBlog contributor Mikey won an essay contest there with his post, Honest – all I ever wanted to do was make some stuff…, which is a must-read for anybody who’s thinking about getting into hobby machining. And it includes a picture of this beautifully rebuilt mower. Mikey says:
