From fuzzy sensors to underwater ROVs to your very own eco-friendly surfboard.
TOOLBOX
Holiday Kits for Makers
Makers are not typical when it comes to the holidays. They don’t want to be buried in packaging; they’d rather give or receive something they can build themselves. And they like stuff they can personalize to make their own. Most of all, makers like useful presents, whether it’s something they’ll use on a daily basis or a tool that makes building that totally impractical project a little more … practical.
Here’s a roundup of kits, books, web services, and tools we think the makers in your life will like. Be sure to check out our online gift guide at store.makezine.com for more great finds as the holiday season gets into full swing.
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Kit
When I was a kid, I lived for all the science and tech kits I’d get for Christmas: the chemistry sets, the rocketry starter kit, the telescope set, the X-Acto hobby tool chest. Today’s budding nerds get to experiment with hydrogen fuel cells, thanks to this great kit. Experiments include: How to build a solar-powered car; Effects of direct and indirect radiation; Electrolysis and its effect on water; Oxy-hydrogen test; How to construct and load a reversible fuel cell; Decomposition of water in the fuel cell; Qualitative and quantitative analysis of gas in a fuel cell; How efficient is electrolysis?; How light influences electrolysis; Solar electrolysis; Fuel cell-powered car. I wonder if it’s too late to finagle one of these under my Christmas tree?
—Gareth Branwyn
Tuna Tin Kits
There’s nothing fishy about these QRP amateur radio kits housed in Two Tinned Tunas cans. You can buy one with all the bells and whistles, or get the bare-bones kits, which require some additional parts scrounging. Or check out the Picaxe Construction Set, a little self-contained Picaxe microprocessor breadboard system.
Awesome Automata
Available in our very own Maker Store, the Designing Automata Kit teaches about simple mechanics using cams and a crank slider mechanism. (No glue needed!)
Many different designs can be made, and the kit can be used over and over again. MAKE is proud to be the only store this side of the pond to carry this kit, produced in Thailand using chemical-free rubberwood from sustainable sources.
Mugi Evo Plane Kits
These Mugi Evo twin-wall polypropylene glider kits look fun, and they’re pretty inexpensive. They’re made from corrugated plastic, the stuff used for lightweight signs and produce boxes. Mugi also offers cool LED lighting options, and it’s easy enough to add lightweight servos.
Fuzzy Sensor Developer’s Kit
This kit offers an up-close look at IFM’s fuzzy sensor technology, which makes the fabric itself a sensor by using electronic yarns and materials. Designed specifically for toy, fashion, and other electronic product developers, it’s a cool way to play with soft circuits. MAKE readers can get an additional 10% off through the holidays by entering passcode “make” at the checkout!
KITS FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Classic Radio Kits
We can’t forget to include a couple of radio kits, like a World War II foxhole radio kit (which uses a razor blade instead of a crystal) from xtalman.com. Or check out the shortwave kits at radio.tentec.com/kits, and Niel Wiegand’s great how-to at makezine.com/go/tentec1054.
Gyroplane Flying Motorcycle Kit
The Super Sky Cycle kit ain’t cheap, but it has a 300-mile range and a top speed of 100mph flight/55mph highway, and can carry a pilot up to 280lbs. It’s freaking awesome, and “street legal,” whatever that means here.
Hydrodynamics Kit
This 300-piece hydrodynamics building set from ThinkGeek includes girders, tank parts, tubing, valves, tube connectors, meters, and an electric pump with AC adapter. We like it because it’s not a cut-and-dried kit; you have to actually think the building process through!
Boarduino
Wow! Check out the Boarduino, a breadboard-compatible Arduino clone (or see the Maker Store for our own Arduino kit). You’ll never have to struggle with a solderless breadboard again. When programmed with the Arduino bootloader, it can talk to the Arduino software and run sketches just like the original.
Green Surfboard
The handmade surfboard is a classic DIY project. Here’s an eco-friendly kit from Greenlight: a recyclable EPS foam core, bamboo fins and stringer, bamboo fabric instead of fiberglass, bio-plastic leash plug, and low-VOC epoxy. It comes with a set of DVDs to show you how to build it.
ROV in a Box
Save yourself a million bucks or so and try out this underwater robot kit. Includes pretty much everything you need for a working robot, including the frame and lights for night diving.
One small lock and two bikes? No problem!
Stuck with two bikes and one lock? And it’s a mini-lock? Fear not, this trick from Ethan Clarke at Refried Cycles in San Francisco will be your savior.
First, arrange the bikes at a suitable lock post facing opposite directions with the rear axles as close as possible to the post.
Next, near the dropouts, where the seat stay and chain stay meet, thread the lock through. Position the curved end of the shackle within the plane of one of the wheels, and pivot the crossbar down to meet the other end.
Rest easy!
NOTE: As is usually the case with a mini U-lock, your wheels are vulnerable, so get some locking skewers.
Have a trick of the trade? Send it to [email protected].
MAKE LOOKS AT BOOKS
Kids Rock
Howtoons by Saul Griffith, Nick Dragotta, and Joost Bonsen
YOW! These cartoons tell you how to make stuff. ZEEK! Kid stuff like marshmallow guns, water rockets, and duct-tape exoskeletons. POW! In serial comic form, you’ll find explicit instructions on how to make, for instance, a working electric motor with just a C battery, a rubber band, two safety pins, and some wire. Or how to make ice cream in two plastic baggies. Neato! Kids who won’t read “real” books will zip through these comic strips.
Despite the well-tested, foolproof instructions, young’uns will still need some adult assistance to complete the projects. At least our 11-year-old did. That’s OK. This book will persuade them to do most of the work. And to try something more ambitious next time. After all, the projects not included in the book — the ones that kids think up themselves — are really the ones that this high-octane comic blast encourages most.
—Kevin Kelly
Magical Machinery Tour
Recording The Beatles by Kevin Ryan and Brian Kehew
My hands were actually sweating and I was woozy with excitement as I unboxed my copy. Weighing in at 11lbs and 540 pages, this opulent hardcover tome (which comes in a faux studio tape box with oodles of extras, like photos, a lyric sheet, and other cool mementos) demands your attention. And any Beatles (or analog recording) fan will gladly sacrifice untold hours poring over its remarkable pages.
The authors (and self-publishers) spent a decade sifting through the notes and logs of EMI engineers and interviewing those involved in recording The Beatles. Every bit of technology used, from mics and instruments to recorders and mixing consoles, to the studio spaces themselves, is detailed in the text and shown in hundreds of photos and diagrams.
With the current resurgence of interest in analog recording and playback technology, connoisseurs will flip over all the photos of vintage equipment. Given the dizzying amounts of technical detail, you might think this book is only for recording engineers or engineer wannabes. Far from it: the authors never forget to tell the human stories, the creative side of things, and the lengths that the engineers went to in innovating and cobbling together new recording processes. The result is a publishing milestone, both a masterpiece of record engineering history and a significant piece of book-art worth every penny of its cover price.
—Gareth Branwyn
Pop-Up Perfection
Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy by Matthew Reinhart
When a preview copy of Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy arrived at our house, I can’t even express how wickedly cool we all thought it was. Much like families of yesteryear gathered around the radio for their favorite program, ours gathered around the book to ooh and aah with abandon.
Even the Tweener loved it, and he doesn’t think anything is cool. The 5-year-old asked to see it again for a bedtime story, and complained that it was too short once my wife was done opening the more than 35 pop-ups.
We’re big fans of pop-up books around here, and this one is in a class all its own. The detail is simply stunning, with a level of intricacy I’ve never seen before. Think pop-ups on top of pop-ups, and when we opened the last page and Luke and Vader’s light-sabers actually lit up, well, let’s just call it a slam dunk for some geeky family entertainment.
—Bruce Stewart
Maker Math
Practical Math Application Guide by Norman Chenier
OK, so this may not seem like a great holiday gift, but trust me, it is. The math taught in this practical guide is the kind I wish they’d taught me in high school. Each section uses real-world situations (with a homebuilding bent) to illustrate different math principles, so you simultaneously learn trigonometry and how to lay out stairs, geometry and how to level with a plumb bob.
It has worksheets to practice what you’ve learned as well as “trade tricks” for DIYers that you wouldn’t find in a math textbook. Many makers know this stuff intuitively already, but if you’re new at this kind of thing, the book is a great resource. By the end, you’ll know how to deal with unequal roof pitches, but you might just be a bit more of a math geek, too.
—AO’R
Prices vary lulu.com
Lulu is a print-on-demand system that you can use to make, publish, and sell your own books. I used it to create a book for my nieces and nephew, and was really happy with the results. The process is pretty easy: download their templates, add your content, upload the templates, choose your book printing and cover options. Once you’re finished, the books are available on demand, much like Café Press T-shirts. It takes a while for the books to print and ship, so if you need your books by a certain date, plan ahead! (For more self-publishing options, see “Book Yourself,” page 53)
—Terrie Miller
FAVORITE THINGS
Prototyping and projectiles — as chosen by the engineers of IDEO.
McMaster-Carr mcmaster.com
When we have to build a prototype in a day and need that certain door latch, self-tapping screw, or compression fitting, we go directly to McMaster-Carr. You can get just about any industrial supply item, from micrometers, to furnaces, to O-rings, to 500-gallon storage tanks. And they offer overnight shipping on most things! This site is definitely in the category of “trusted resource.”
Finger Blasters recfx.com
Need to blow off some steam? Ambush a colleague? Shock a client? We’ve found that Finger Blasters do the trick. Harmless foam projectiles (but be careful at close range), these finger-launched rockets are great for infusing the workday with a sense of play.
FDM Rapid Prototyper stratasys.com
After staring at a computer terminal for days designing a part that’s one-tenth of the size of what appears onscreen, there’s nothing like actually holding the part in your hand to bring you back to reality. Our FDM (fused deposition modeling) machine gets nonstop use for that very reason. It is effectively a three-dimensional printer, taking the CAD-generated geometry created on the computer and building the part out of layers of ABS or other plastic in a matter of hours.
Arduino Electronics Board store.makezine.com
Oftentimes we need to add electronics to our prototypes, but designing and building a custom-printed circuit board takes too much time and money. This low-cost board takes input from a variety of sensors, and can control LEDs, buzzers, motors, or anything else you care to connect to it. Best of all, you can order them directly from the Maker Store!
Prototyping Team
One of IDEO’s secret weapons is its team of master prototypers. If they can’t build it, it can’t be built. Admittedly, this option is a little too costly for your average DIYer, but these folks are definitely one of our favorite things. In lieu of your own private team of professionals, find a nearby shop with a variety of equipment and skilled machinists to help you out with that rare fabrication problem.
Foamcore
This is the lifeblood of IDEO, along with Post-its. This sandwich of paper and foam is great not only for organizing our ubiquitous Post-its, but for creating quick, rough prototypes of everything from small, complex mechanisms to room-sized furniture installations. With foamcore, an X-Acto knife, and a hot melt glue gun, it’s possible to build just about anything.
IDEO is an innovation and design firm that has been independently ranked as one of the most innovative companies in the world. Known for the design of Apple’s first mouse, the first laptop computer, and the Palm V, IDEO more recently created the cockpit configuration for the Eclipse 500 Very Light Jet, Bank of America’s Keep the Change banking service, and the Shimano Coasting bike strategy. ideo.com
My Sweet Ride
I got to try out boardpusher.com, where you design your own skateboard deck and they create it and send it to you. It was super cool. It’s really great how you get to download images from your computer straight onto your board, to really make it your own. The choices of full-color backgrounds and designs were pretty good, and you can choose from six different board shapes, from old school to mini. You can also put your own message on the board (team name, maybe?), using one of 60 different fonts. BoardPusher is great for skaters of all ages. My dad said I almost peed in my pants with excitement when I found out I could get my own custom-made deck that could be whatever I wanted it to be — I’m not sure about that, but it is very cool!
—Kindy Connally-Stewart, age 12
Bananas for Bananas
Bananas, so nutritious and yummy, make for a perfect grab-and-go snack. But their elegant, naturally biodegradable and compostable wrappers cannot protect them from the ravages of my backpack. How many times had I scraped banana guts off the pages of a thick book or the vents of my laptop when I’d carelessly tossed them in with that vulnerable tropical fruit? Too many! That is, until I discovered the Banana Guard. Now, I no longer fear the big squish. Two of my friends had each mailed this clever carrier to one another at the same time, tickled by its, er-hem, suggestive shape. That shape can fit 90% of all bananas, and I’ve never had a problem sliding my packs o’ potassium into its universal curve. Cubicle dwellers are advised to keep the BG in a bag or propped open to reveal its cargo, or else be ready to raise a few eyebrows.
—Michelle Hlubinka
Sky Calendar
Sky Calendar comes as a one-page-per-month subscription from Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University. The front of the page is a calendar that’s packed with information about planets, moon phases, and other sky events during the month. The back has a map showing major constellations and planet locations during the evening throughout the month. When you subscribe, you get three months of Sky Calendar at a time. It’s been around for years and continues to be a great resource for casual sky watchers and amateur astronomers alike.
—Terrie Miller
Getting Junk Mail Stopped?
Sometimes a real present is the kind that involves nothing at all. Spam is a pain, but it’s gone with one click. My heart sinks as I see postal junk mail fill up my recycling bin day after day. And once you get on one mailing list, it’s all over. But there are a number of sites that give you tips on reducing postal junk mail (try ecocycle.org/junkmail or obviously.com/junkmail), or you can give the gift that keeps on not giving, at greendimes.com.
—AO’R
Gareth Branwyn is a contributing editor at MAKE.
Kindy Connally-Stewart is a 12-year-old geek-in-training.
Unblemished fruit fuels Michelle Hlubinka’s work as an illustrator, designer, educational consultant, and Maker Faire’s community manager.
Kevin Kelly is the publisher of Cool Tools and is Senior Maverick for Wired.
Tim Lillis is a San Francisco-based illustrator, designer, musician, and aspiring professional zombie actor.
Bruce Stewart is a geek dad who blogs at geekdad.com.
Have you used something worth keeping in your toolbox? Let us know at [email protected].