Two-Can Stirling Engine
The Stirling engine has long captivated inventors and dreamers. Here are complete plans for building and operating a two-cylinder model that runs on almost any high-temperature heat source.
Screwdriver
Yellow Drum Machine
Build a funky little free-range drumbot that roams, makes beats, and samples.
$30 Gobo Arm: Mobile Document Camera Stand
If you’re familiar with tabletop product photography and video, you know what a pain it can be to shoot overhead shots while working on your subject. Tripods just get in the way. The usual remedy is a document camera, the modern equivalent of the overhead projector. These cameras let you display close-up shots with an […]
PS/2/You LED Sign
It all started with a small LCD salvaged from an old printer. I recruited my code-savvy older brother, Adam, and we soon had the LCD displaying text from an Arduino microcontroller. This was neat, but it was inconvenient having to plug the Arduino into a computer for reprogramming whenever we wanted to change the text. […]
Hypertufa Planter
The ultimate Zen garden accessory is the stone urn. Filled only with water and a few fallen leaves, it defines tranquility. Unfortunately, these stone beauties cost hundreds of dollars. Luckily, a concrete mix called “hypertufa” was developed that has the look of stone, specifically the volcanic rock called tufa. In England, farmers carved watering troughs […]
Solar TV Remote
Powering a TV remote with the sun means you won’t have to buy batteries every six months to surf from your sofa. Low-voltage devices that use power only occasionally, like remotes, are good candidates for a solar-powered trickle-charge. Here’s how we modded our remote to live off of the sun, using rechargeable batteries connected in parallel with a small solar cell and a diode to keep any power from trickling back out.
The Luna Mod Looper
The Luna Mod is an easy and fun instrument that will have you making great-sounding loops in no time. Rather than sampling input like a traditional loop station, the Luna Mod synthesizes its own sounds, and you play it using two knobs and one button.
