The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for bikes, rockets, R/C vehicles, toys and other diversions.
When I was a kid, I lived for model rocketry. I was the vice president of our town’s model rocketry club. I raked leaves, mowed lawns, babysat bratty kids, anything to save up enough scratch to order from the Estes or Centuri catalogs. I can still remember the supreme joy I would feel on the […]
OK, I’m a little crazy when it comes to decorating my kids’ rooms. I like the challenge of a theme — so far, I’ve redecorated rooms in Western, Spaceport, Octonauts, and Sporty Teen modes. If my husband would agree, I’d redo the master bedroom in a Robot theme, but so far he remains unconvinced. So […]
Sparkles, here, is the creation of LA hackerspace denizen Matt Pinner, based on a concept by Sean Bonner. More pics in the Crash Space Flickr pool. “The value of something like this,” Sean observes, “is pretty obvious.”
Although it may be hard to top the My Little Pony version, this could be a fun game, for awhile. Mr. Potato Head, maybe?
If you were ever curious what went on inside one of those tiny guitar-like Paper Jamz toys that clutter the shelves at your local big box store, then you’ll find Margery Conner’s teardown (literally!) of interest. Printed circuits, capacitive touch, blob-tops; it’s a worthy read.
Matt Thomas of Roger Dodger Aviation (and Maker Faire Kansas City fame) designed and built this Moving Axis AirCraft Simulator, which is a flight simulator that tilts and shifts you as you fly a virtual plane.
Over on our Make: Projects platform, our old pal Stefan Jones shows you how simple it is to create your own nichrome igniters for model rocket motors, using little more than nichrome wire, masking tape, and some lacquer paint, hobby dope, or nail polish. How-To: Make your own model rocket igniters
Apart from the fact that the bricks and plates are open at their bottoms, and so the pieces always have one side that can’t be “smooth,” Lego is a pretty handy way to prototype interlocking solid puzzles. Many of these are based on cubic units, and can be built in Lego at a scale of 1 cube = 2 studs x 2 studs x 5 plates.
Eric Harshbarger, whose Lego hijinks we’ve featured a couple times before, has produced some lovely models based on this principle. Shown above are his 6-piece burr, checkered solid pentominoes, Soma cube, and deluxe polycube set. The awesomeness continues at Eric’s site.
