Make: Volume 85 — Turn It Up!

In this issue’s cover story, we go inside how an FX team built a working R/C prop of the famous disembodied hand “Thing” from Netflix’s Wednesday, and how you can bring your own props and robots to life with channel mixing, telemetry, and on-the-fly programming using OpenTX for your R/C transmitter.

Then, we dive into exciting DIY music projects, starting with the burgeoning synth DIY (SDIY) scene. Get the ins and outs of how to kit out your modular synth setup, then build your own simple synth and learn what makes it squeal with the Mt. Brighton Avalanche Oscillator. Or, go low-tech with a great-sounding Soda Bottle Marimba you can build for pennies, or 3D print your own speakers and instruments.

Plus, 33 projects and skills, including:

Program animations for mechanical flip-dot displays
Sharpen your knife skills by carving a chain from a tree branch
Etch custom designs into brass using salt water and electricity
Carve two different universal clamps for your CNC projects
Learn tips and techniques for getting glass-like 3D prints from clear filaments
And much more!

ON THE COVER: Jesse Velez’s radio-controlled pentapod “Thing” for Netflix’s Wednesday busts out some beats.

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COLUMNS

Editor’s Desk

The latest updates from Make: and readers like you.Page 05

Welcome: Seeing Both Sides Now

Making can be playful, or serious, or both depending on the project.Page 06

MacGyver Challenge: Teenage Wasteland

Keith Hammond

After an all-night rager, you have to drain a flooded basement before your parents get home — and the power is out!Page 07

Made on Earth

Backyard builds from around the globe.Page 10

FEATURES

Makers in Defense of Ukraine

A year of fighting back with innovation.Page 14

Printed Circuit Bird

Nightjar is a beautiful, hackable analog electronic synthesizer for generating birdsong.Page 22

Making Fireworks

Yes, you can legally build and shoot your own, with help from the DIY fireworks community.Page 26

RADIO CONTROL

To Bring a Thing to Life

Altogether ooky! Building the “impossible” robot hand for Netflix’s Wednesday.Page 28

Next Level Radio Control

Bring models and robots to life with channel mixing, telemetry, and on-the-fly programming, using OpenTX. Page 31

DIY MUSIC

The Anthem of Our Lives

Universally beloved and infinitely diverse.Page 38

Modular Synthesizers

A blast from the past: from the mighty Moog to today’s synth do-it-yourself (“SDIY”) scene.Page 40

Build Your First Module

Start on the bunny hill by making this DIY Avalanche Oscillator.Page 48

Pitch Perfect

Build the Undertoner — a simple but mysterious synthesizer circuit that always plays in tune.Page 52

Electronic Music Software

Save significantly with software samplers and synths!Page 58

Soda Bottle Marimba

Fun to play and easy to make, this DIY instrument has a wonderfully pure tone.Page 60

That Cutting Edge Plastic Sound

3D print your own speakers and handheld instruments.Page 64

Sonic Playground

These ingenious constructs push the limit of what makes a musical instrument.Page 66

PROJECTS

Flip-Dot Animation

Control an awesome mechanical display that flips physical pixels magnetically.Page 68

Whittled Wonder

Sharpen your knife skills by carving a chain from a tree branch.Page 74

Retro-Futuristic LED Ring

Make a mysterious, sci-fi inspired, glowy ring using LED filaments. Page 78

Squishy Tech: Play with Your Food

Weird Resistors Part 1. Build an Atari Punk synth circuit — then get fruity with it! Page 82

DIY CNC Workholding

These two universal clamps are easy to make and use on any CNC router.Page 88

Electronics Fun & Fundamentals: The Most Annoying Noise

Build a loud, irritating — and totally unpredictable — screamer circuit.Page 92

Electro Etching Brass

Etch custom designs into brass with this nontoxic process using salt water and electricity. Page 96

Amateur Scientist: Oops! There It Is

Serendipity is the origin of many inventions and discoveries.Page 100

Remaking History: Rock Like an Egyptian

How did they make holes in granite, or hollow out a hard-rock sarcophagus? Re-create the ancient Egyptian stone drill.Page 104

Toy Inventor’s Notebook: Mini Mechanical Marvels

Tomy’s classic mechanical engineering toys are still amazing today.Page 108

SKILL BUILDER

Transparent 3D Prints

Tips and techniques for getting glass-like prints from clear filaments.Page 114

Home Automation for Makers

The free, open source Home Assistant platform can connect all the things — including Matter and DIY devices.Page 118

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