Make Magazine
DIY projects, how-tos, and inspiration from geeks, makers, and hackers
Updated: 1 hour 41 min ago
Haikus About Making
Last week we had a giveaway on Twitter, for a year's subscription to MAKE magazine. We asked people to enter by tweeting a haiku about making, and we got a lot of awesome replies. Here are some of our favorites.
Categories: Makers
Black Makers Month: Chad Jenkins
Odest Chadwicke Jenkins is my friend and neighbor. If I really wanted to split hairs, Chad is more a scientist than a maker. I will overlook that small technicality because the work that Chad does is profoundly awesome and has mega impact in the world of robotics, which affects every maker working with robots. Chad and I share many interests including video games and robots and I find it interesting that he runs the lab previously occupied by Leslie Kaelbling, one of my former mentors, who is now at MIT. Chad played rugby in college, so you don’t want to mess with him! Chad is so cool, he was recently named as one of the “Brilliant 10” by Popular Science.
Categories: Makers
New Steampunk Book from MAKE and O’Reilly: Vintage Tomorrows
In Vintage Tomorrows, a new book from MAKE and O'Reilly Media, Intel's resident futurist Brian David Johnson joins James H. Carrott in a globe-spanning journey to dig beyond definitions and into the heart of the growing Steampunk subculture. Through interviews with experts such as Margaret Atwood, China Miéville, William Gibson, Cory Doctorow, Bruce Sterling, and James Gleick, this book looks into steampunk's vision of old-world craftsmen making beautiful hand-tooled gadgets, and what it means for our age of disposable technology.
Categories: Makers
Spaced Out with the Makers of the FFD Space Suit
An interview with Nik Moiseev and Ted Southern, the makers of the Final Frontier Design Third Generation space suit being developed for commercial space flights.
Categories: Makers
Network Enabled ShapeOko CNC Uses Raspberry Pi and Alamode
Kevin Osborn was tired of worrying about getting dust from his ShapeOko CNC mill into his computer. Using a Raspberry Pi and an AlaMode shield he can now send G-Code to the machine over his wireless network, leaving his computer clean and available for other tasks. According to Kevin, "this is of the simplest and most rewarding applications of AlaMode."
Categories: Makers
MAKE Asks: Books that Inspire you to Make
MAKE Asks: is a weekly column where we ask you, our readers, for responses to maker-related questions. We hope the column sparks interesting conversation and is a way for us to get to know more about each other.
Categories: Makers
World’s Largest Rubik’s Cube Mosaic Uses 85,794 Cubes
Toronto-based CubeWorks Studio has set the record for “Largest Rubik’s Cube Mosaic Ever Created” by using 85,794 Rubik’s Cubes to recreate the skyline of Macau, China. The 13-foot-high, 200-foot-wide mural was installed in sections on the Macau waterfront in December. Here’s a time-lapse video showing the mural being assembled and [...]
Categories: Makers
Introducing Black Makers Month
Fortunately, I have a supportive family that helped me follow my dreams of becoming an engineer. Unfortunately for a lot of kids, they don't have the kind of support network and opportunities that got me to where I am today. So last March I decided to do something more to help inspire these kids. First, I gave a TEDx talk on the topic. Then I began to collect profiles of black makers wherever I travelled with the hopes of giving kids heroes and role models. I've posted these profiles to a website "Black Makers."
Categories: Makers
Adafruit’s Limor Fried Will Hang Out with Obama Thursday on Google+
Adafruit Industries' Limor Fried has been selected to join President Obama this Thursday for a "fireside hangout" at 1:50pm PST/4:50pm EST. During the live event on Google+ Limor and the President will discuss manufacturing and education. You can play a role, too. Submit your questions to youtube.com/whitehouse and Obama will answer the questions voted to the top.
Categories: Makers
Tool Review: Barch Designs Raspberry PiHolder
I’ll admit it: I'm an enclosure geek. From the sleek, brushed-metal case I got for my first Mini-ITX computer, to the sheet steel box I wrapped around the electronics in my Nerf Sentry Gun build, I put a lot of thought into selecting the right case for the job. For my new Raspberry Pi Model B computer, however, I didn't have to think very long. Not after I first laid eyes on the Barch Designs Raspberry PiHolder.
Categories: Makers
Pi-blaster Improves Software PWM on Raspberry Pi
Without an external digital to analog converter circuit, getting pulse width modulation out of more than a single PWM pin on the Raspberry Pi could be achieved by writing your own code to set the pins high and low at the appropriate time (i.e. bitbanging). The solution isn’t perfect, however. [...]
Categories: Makers
Flexible Paper Sculptures Defy Expectation
Inspired by the honeycomb-cut paper decorations popular in Chinese festivities, Beijing-based artist Li Hongbo uses the same technique to create otherworldly sculptures that look like they’re made of plaster when resting, but have the ability to accordion out to bizarre proportions. A book editor and designer, he’s had a love [...]
Categories: Makers
Make a Cool Project Enclosure in Six Easy Steps
I’m a big fan of MicroRAX aluminum beams — they’re great for throwing together quick structures for my projects. Recently I had to make a project enclosure so I thought I’d test out some corner braces I’d bought. It turned out pretty sweet! Click on the slideshow to see how [...]
Categories: Makers
Five Trends in 3D Printing
In preparation for the Maker Faire each season, the editors of MAKE have been divying up topical beats so we can cover more area. I’ve been covering the 3D printing beat, and thought I’d share some of the trends and technologies I’m seeing going into Maker Faire. Putting aside the [...]
Categories: Makers
5, 4, 3 2, 1 Things About Joey Hudy
Image: Kevin Lamarque / Reuters Young maker Joey Hudy‘s 16th birthday is right around the corner, on March 13, and though he’s not even a legal adult yet, his list of accomplishments include meeting President Obama and shooting his own homemade Extreme Marshmallow Cannon with him, creating his own custom [...]
Categories: Makers
Happy National Inventors’ Day
In 1983, President Ronald Reagan declared Feb. 11, Thomas Edison's birthday, National Inventors Day. Edison is an easy one. There are certainly lesser known inventors out worth celebrating. Any suggestions?
Categories: Makers
Crayon Creatures Turns Kid’s Drawings Into 3D Printed Objects
Crayon Creatures is a delightful service that takes advantage of Shapeways’ full color sandstone 3d printing technology to turn your child’s drawings into actual objects. Just check out the giraffified Llama (above), or visit their shop for other examples like the classic Hamster in a Speedboat. Filed under: 3D Printing
Categories: Makers
St. Louis Educators Learn to Solder and Program at a Popup Makerspace
On Saturday, February 9, St. Louis' Disruption Department hosted a "Popup Makerspace" for teachers at EdcampSTL, a completely free unconference organized by educators. Over seventy teachers came to the temporary space and learned to solder, program a robot, and try their hand at the Ruby programming language.
Categories: Makers
3D Printed Soft Robot Tentacle
A look at Matthew Borgatti's recent "Print Your Own Robot: Part 7" which shows a working 3D-printed tentacle-bot in action!
Categories: Makers
How-To: Forrest Mims Puff Switch
A puff switch is operated by blowing into a tube. They are useful in applications in which the user, for whatever reason, cannot be expected to activate a switch by more conventional means. The use of the term "puff switch" implies a switch intended to be used in this manner, but of course the more general name "pressure switch" (in this case, "positive pressure switch") also applies. The opposite type—a mouth operated switch operated by negative air pressure—is usually called a sip switch.
Categories: Makers