Jeff Reifman has written a charming little piece on his blog about “being raised by RadioShack:” At one point, Chuck paid me $10/hr (a fortune) to manually re-type the entire contents of private investigator Gavin De Becker’s client database. Chuck set up two Model II computers side by side and I manually moved his entire […]
SparkFun’s Tim from Tech Support shows us how to differentiate between the various RFID products and gives a quick tutorial on using the tags with Arduinos. More: Seeing RFID on the cheap RFID speakers change their tune as they are moved Interview with RFID implanter DIY Arduino-based RFID spoofer RFID Tags with Conductive Thread antennas […]
The wikiHow tutorial of the day is this clever idea: use a plastic straw as mini bobbins for a travel sewing kit!
Brian Dereu of Hollow Spy Coins showed us how to make this hollow dead-drop bolt for stashing secret messages back in MAKE 16. It’s not hard to do if you have access to the necessary equipment–a drill press, hacksaw, vise, grinder, and the appropriate taps and dies. But if you don’t have those tools, or you don’t have the time to use them, and you still want a spy bolt, Brian will gladly sell you one hand-made by his family and him for the not-unreasonable price of $37.
This clever clock kit from EMSL has an analog-style face, but no hands. Instead, kinda like a sundial, it has a “gnomon” that sticks up in the middle. Three rings of inward-pointing LEDs are positioned around the rim, each a different color and each at a different angle relative to the face. The blue ring is at the shallowest angle, and thus casts the longest shadow representing the “seconds” hand. The red ring is at the steepest angle and casts the shortest shadow to make the “hours” hand. The green ring, in the middle, is minutes. Check the video above, courtesy YouTube user amandachou, to see it in action.
The “Bulbdial” clock is available as a kit with four different case options, but the clear/black variety shown above is definitely my favorite because it shows off the cool retro-futurist logo on the circuit board. Here’s a time-lapse video of YouTuber jcorsaro building one from a kit.
A few weeks ago, I picked up a LC-Style Guitar kit from the Maker Shed. I have always wanted this style of guitar, and the fact that it’s a kit made me want it even more. The fist step to assembling the guitar is to finish all the wood components, and that’s where I’m asking […]
And sometimes, it’s just this simple. Urbanwoodswalker writes on Flickr: This is a real handy holder I came up with for those delicate tools such as pin vice, delicate tweezers, sewing needles and pins. Even the stray craft blade. I glued nine wine corks to a jar lid. And that is it. The jar is […]
