If lemonie’s Lego microtome is too involved for you, here’s a way simpler design for a simple hand microtome made from a wooden spool, a bolt, a nut, a washer, and a bit of dowel rod, plus the essential razor blade.
A microtome is a laboratory machine normally used to slice extremely thin samples of soft specimens for optical microscopy. If you’re one of those folks who could care less about optical microscopy, it also has culinary applications. I quote from the sacred text of GoodFellas: In prison, dinner was always a big thing. We had […]
In this brief video, MAKE contributing editor Bill Gurstelle demonstrates a simple arc light (a precursor to the incandescent bulb) using a length of carbon rod, a knife switch, some ceramic insulators, Nichrome wire, and an 18-volt power tool battery. How to Make an Arc Light
False-color shadowgram of gunshot from a .357 magnum by Gary Settles at Penn State university. The New York Times has an awesome slideshow of shadowgrams and Schlieren photographs, created by engineering professor Gary Settles, which accompany a 2008 article about his work at Penn State’s Gas Dynamics Lab. The method, which can produce fantastic visualizations […]
Have a look at the most perfect spheres ever engineered.
MAKE subscriber “Cobbler” sent us this video and a note: Remember the first issue? Here’s my video of the homopolar motor project that was featured there. The motor works like a charm. It is mesmerizing to watch and makes a cool conversation piece for your cubicle. Update: The motor Cobbler built is actually different than […]
In this clip from FMCG, Ken responds to Jeri’s capacitor deconstruction with his own very visual (and very mechanical) demonstration of how voltage is generated and how you can build a simple capacitor, with aluminum foil and plastic, to generate charge mechanically and dump it into the cap (analogous to how a Wimshurst machine works). […]
