There is a set of bike pedals attached to each seat. The chain on each one drives a sprocket attached to the chair’s pivot point. Spinning the pedals tilts the chair and the entire frame reacts by rotating. They only had one set of pedals attached, but it was more than enough to spin the wheel at a pretty good … Read the rest

My traveling companion Will has posted his first Maker Faire post on Engadget. We’re continuing to add photos to the Hack-A-Day photostream on Flickr. If there’s anything you see there that you’d like more info on, just ask.… Read the rest

I was pleasantly surprised to find Tim Robinson’s difference engines at the Maker Faire. Both machines are based on Charles Babbage’s designs and built out of Meccano. A difference engine is a mechanical computer for tabulating polynomial functions. You can read more about the construction on his site. More photos: one, two.… Read the rest