Phillips head screwdriver

Operating Railroad Grade Crossing Signal

Operating Railroad Grade Crossing Signal

It seems that no matter how much things change, one thing that is always constant is a kid’s fascination with all things trains. When my son was about 4 years old he was fascinated by passing trains. Even more captivating to him was the railroad crossing signals which would flash and ring to announce a […]

Mini Rover Redux

Mini Rover Redux

This project is based on work by MAKE magazine contributor Tom Zimmerman. Tom, who was honored in 2009 as California’s Volunteer of the Year for his unpaid teaching campaign in public schools, developed the idea as a hands-on activity to accompany his talks about the Mars rover program. Basically, he mounted an X10 wireless surveillance […]

Sun Logger

Sun Logger

A data logger is a device that is left to run for long periods of time, making regular measurements of external sensors. We’ll be using the Arduino microcontroller and a homemade “shield” (an Arduino accessory board) to create a device that gathers data on light-brightness in an area and how it changes over time.

Stationary Drumcycle

Stationary Drumcycle

A recent toe injury kept me from running for a few weeks, and I bought a stationary bike to keep in shape while recovering. The exercise bike has a lot to recommend it: it’s low-impact, safe, easy to scale up for harder workouts, and indoors out of the weather. It’s also as boring as watching […]

Restore a Table Lamp

Restore a Table Lamp

We are restoring old table lamps we had so we can use them now. We took them to paint, and my parents told me they would pay me 2 dollars for each lamp I "restored" with cable, switch and connector. So they gave me money and I went to buy switches and copper cable to […]

The MakerGear Mosaic 3D Printer – Part IV: The Z-Axis

The MakerGear Mosaic 3D Printer – Part IV: The Z-Axis

This is the fourth of eight guides in a series documenting my build of MakerGear’s Mosaic desktop FDM/FFF 3D printer kit. the frame the Y-axis the X-axis the Z-axis the extruder the build platform the electronics the first print   This part covers assembly of the Z-axis systems, including installation of the two hardened, precision […]