Lego TARDIS
Spotted in the MAKE Flickr pool, photo and build by user JustJon. It uses an Arduino + adafruit Wave Shield to play the Doctor Who theme and flash the siren light. There’s more info, plus video, at JustJon’s personal site.
Toys and Games
Sandcast aluminum ray gun, with bonus pour vid
Craig Bush saw our recent post about Ryan Palser’s Fallout 3 replica weapons and thought we might be interested in this photoset of his home-poured aluminum Call of Duty ray gun replica. He was right. As much as the prop itself, I really dig his video of the pour, embedded above. If you’re interested in sandcasting aluminum at home, there’s a lot to learn, in the 120-odd seconds of this video, about how to do it right.
Steampunk Mr. Potato Head!
I knew this was going to happen? Steampunk Mr. Potato Head
MAKE 23: Matt Gryczan interview
Life-long maker Matt Gryczan conceived of and documented the how-to for the Gyrocar in the current issue of MAKE, Volume 23, and I had the privilege of meeting him and his family at Maker Faire Detroit in July. Matt worked the MAKE booth with us all weekend, and his enthusiasm for sharing knowledge never waned […]
LEGO NXT audio sequencer
This audio sequencer from Damien Kee can be made with a standard LEGO NXT 2.0 kit and includes software and PDF instructions.
Beer bottles with tuning levels printed on labels
Delightfully clever marketing gimmick from designer Matt Braun, who’s made a beer label printed with a scale showing the relationship between the level of liquid in the bottle and the note that it makes when you blow across the top. Apparently Matt actually brewed a small batch of “Tuned Pale Ale,” and, thanks to the massively positive response his clever label is getting, has plans to brew some more. You can sign up at his website to be notified when it’s available for purchase, or you could try tuning some bottles of your own. Once you’ve figured out the levels for the notes, why not etch the scale into the glass?
Free booklet on mechanisms for automata and other projects
For a limited time, Cabaret Mechanical Theatre is offering a free download of an eighteen page booklet by famed automata-maker Paul Spooner. This is a great resource for the mechanically-curious and must have for automata-makers.