Tools

How-To: Holography

I always assumed that the process of making a hologram was so complex that it was limited to only those with access to expensive lasers and other fancy optical equipment. But when I heard that the Maker Shed started carrying Litiholo’s Hologram Kit, I was surprised that such a thing existed and I was eager to give it a try. After carefully following the directions, my first hologram was visible, but just barely. This was better than I expected, actually. The manual stresses that controlling vibration is the most important factor in creating a good hologram, but I live in a busy Brooklyn apartment building that often feels the low rumble of the subway trains rolling by. I tried to make another, but this time I increased the exposure time from five minutes to fifteen as the instructions suggested. The result was a surprisingly sharp hologram of a toy car.

Tool Review: Fiskars ShopBoss

Tool Review: Fiskars ShopBoss

One thing I wrestle with in my day-to-day, sometimes literally, is shipping boxes — lots of shipping boxes: boxes of MAKE books and magazines, review books and hardware, and boxes of other cool stuff that shows up on my doorstep. And because I don’t drive and live alone, most of my shopping is on the internet. More boxes. So, my most frequent around-the-office tools are scissors and a box cutter. So, I was very interested when Fiskars offered to send me one of their new ShopBoss snips-based multi-tool.

Milling Machine Basics

Milling Machine Basics

Chicago’s American Machine Tools Corporation buys, sells, ships, and repairs heavy machine tools all over the world. They also maintain a curriculum of free, online, non-brand-specific operator education materials, including the best general How to Use a Milling Machine page I’ve seen. There are no videos, but personally I prefer old-fashioned text and diagrams for this purpose. If you are interested in movies, however, check out MIT’s Introduction to the Mill.

Prototype Quick-Build, Low-Cost 3D Printer

Prototype Quick-Build, Low-Cost 3D Printer

Printrbot, just successfully crowd-funded by Lincoln, California resident Brook Drumm, bills itself as an all-in-one 3D printer kit that “can be assembled and printing in a couple of hours.” Hack a Day’s Brian Benchoff gives a cogent technical analysis. Apart from the Kickstarter itself, Mr. Drumm maintains a Flickr set, a Vimeo account, and a fledgling blog dedicated to the project.

Building the MakerGear Mosaic 3D Printer – Part I: The Frame

Building the MakerGear Mosaic 3D Printer – Part I: The Frame

Ohio IT professional Rick Pollack founded MakerGear, LLC in 2009 to “develop products and services for the rapidly expanding maker community with a focus on advancing digital fabrication.” Working with wife Karen, Rick has already brought two fully-developed desktop 3D printers to market—a well-regarded Prusa Mendel kit and their flagship design, the Mosaic—as well as a line of accessories and upgrades for each.