Portable Radio Station Gets A Beautiful Case

August 30, 2012 by 9 Comments

[Martin] put together a simple portable radio unit to take some MP3s with him while he’s out and around. The build was simple; just a no-name Chinese MP3 player, a battery, and an FM radio transmitter. To give his project a little more pizzazz, he came up with a very handsome laser cut wooden case to turn what would be a bunch of wires and components into an attractive build.

[Martin]’s case makes wonderful use of the kerf bending technique. By cutting small staggered lines in a piece of plywood, [Martin] was able to bend his laser cut enclosure into a surprisingly tight radius. With the help of a pair of laser cut forms and a bit of hot water and glue, he was able to make the shape of his case permanent.

The top and bottom of his case are also laser cut plywood, but [Martin] included a translucent plexiglas logo on the top. When his radio unit is activated a LED inside his project box lights up, illuminating his personal logo.

Kerf bending is something we’ve seen before, and we’re looking forward to seeing more project boxes use it in the future, hopefully with the application of a veneer to cover the diamond-shaped holes.

MakerFaire K.C. Sneak Peak At ArcAttack’s New Toy

June 25, 2012 by 17 Comments

I’ve been seeing videos of ArcAttack all over the web for several years now and hoped one day I’d be able to cross paths with them. When I heard they were going to be at MakerFaire K. C., I was determined to grab them and ask a few questions. As it turns out, they’re fans of Hackaday and were happy to talk. Not only that, but when I was asking what fun things they were building, their eyes lit up. “You’re going to love this” one of them said as he ran off behind the stage.  He returned with a device which was strapped to his body and spitting 5 foot long lightning bolts. He was right, I did love it!  They demonstrated this proton pack looking portable tesla coil for a while, shocking each other and random bits of metal, all the wile grinning like the fools we all are.

I know we’ve covered a portable tesla coil or two before, but seeing this thing in person,heading right for you,strapped to someone who might actually even be able to run faster than you, is pretty cool.

There is video (sorry, shaky) and a ton of pictures after the break. Enjoy.

Continue reading “MakerFaire K.C. Sneak Peak At ArcAttack’s New Toy” →

Don’t Bring Your 3d Printer To MakerFaire

June 25, 2012 by 48 Comments

This could easily be called “the year of the 3d printer”. They are in the news, in every hackerspace, and at every event. This last one is the one I’m going to focus on here. All the coverage we’ve seen as well as our personal experience shows that MakerFaires are filled with 3d printers. At MakerFaire K. C., there were so many that I lost count. I didn’t even bother taking pictures or stopping to look after a while. Many were makerbots, though a few repraps were present too.

If you want to be noticed at MakerFaire, DON’T BRING A 3D PRINTER AS YOUR SOLE DISPLAY.

Continue reading “Don’t Bring Your 3d Printer To MakerFaire” →

Heading To MakerFaire Kansas City

June 22, 2012 by 9 Comments

Today, I’m heading out to Makerfaire Kansas City. I plan on covering this event quite extensively. If you see me, don’t hesitate to come up and introduce yourself. I may even have a custom cut vinyl hackaday sticker left for you. Since we are Hackaday, I plan on trying to get into the details and get interviews following [Ian Lesnet’s] lead. We don’t just want to see a neat thing on a table, we want to know how it works and what roadblocks that person ran into. See you there!

 

NC Maker Faire 2012: Robot Hockey

June 21, 2012 by 9 Comments

nc-robot-hockey

Robot combat has inspired makers probably since the first one was conceived.  Whether it’s an epic struggle between two future superpowers, or simply a friendly match of robot hockey, it’s always fun to watch. NC Maker Faire 2012 was no exception as [Carolina Combat Robots] had a small arena with remote control robots going at it. The matches were incredibly popular, and I was glad to be able to see some of it from my table next door!

Check out the video after the break for some footage of these ‘bots in action! Continue reading “NC Maker Faire 2012: Robot Hockey” →

Raleigh Maker Faire 2012

June 20, 2012 by 17 Comments

raleigh maker faire 2012

As [Caleb] mentioned earlier, I attended the Raleigh Maker Faire this year as an exhibitor. Although the table was for my personal site, some of you might have noticed that I was wearing a sweet [HAD] shirt and dispensing our stickers (which seemed to fly off the table). The event was extremely fun from the “other end of the table,” and I very much enjoyed meeting everyone. If you’re on the fence about showing off your stuff at one of these events, my advice would be to absolutely go for it!

The event itself is staffed entirely by volunteers, and Raleigh was able to attract more people this year than ever before. Thanks especially to [Kevin Gunn] and all of the volunteers for coordinating and setting everything up. Everyone was extremely helpful and the event was easy to find and prep for.

One warning though, if you do decide to set up a booth at a Faire, expect to talk a lot. You’ll feel like you’re among friends though, and you’re probably an expert (or at least can fake it) at whatever you’re displaying, so it’s really fun!  I’ll be doing several more posts on this event, so be sure to check back, especially if you attended! Continue reading “Raleigh Maker Faire 2012” →

Fisher-Price Record Player Plays Stairway To Heaven

May 24, 2012 by 27 Comments

[Fred Murphy] has an old Fisher-Price music box/record player that has lost many of its disks over the last 40 years. It’s a very simple device – concentric grooves in a plastic disk have plastic bumps that are picked up by the tines of the record player ‘cartridge.’ Seeing as how this toy is basically a music box, [Fred] figured making his own records would be well within his grasp; he did the reasonable thing and made a Stairway to Heaven disk for a toy music box.

To figure out where to place the ‘bumps’ for the musical tines, [Fred] built a small tool in Visual C# 2010 that allowed him to place notes on a scale and generate the requisite GCode for the disk. After sending this file to his CNC mill, [Fred] had an acrylic disk that played Led Zeppelin on a child’s music box.

Of course, this Instructable wouldn’t be complete without a video demo of Stairway blasting out of this record player. You can check that out after the break.

Continue reading “Fisher-Price Record Player Plays Stairway To Heaven” →