A guest project by Dan Newman, contributing Evil Mad Scientist.
For my Eggbot plotting, I’ve had two seemingly exclusive goals: to execute
designs with food safe inks, and to use pens capable of producing fine, crisp
lines. Now, thanks to Lenore’s recent investigation of food safe markers combined with a simple five minute pen modification, it’s possible to achieve both goals with the same pen. Yes, I can have my eggs and eat them too!
We have, at a number of different times, come across situations where it was desirable to use a food safe marker. One example is our custom message hearts project, another is in the course of making circuitry snacks. The topic came up again recently in discussions of Dan Newman’s Nutrition Information and Omelet Recipe eggs, where commenters were debating whether or not one should eat an egg after it has been written on.
There are three types of food safe markers readily available in the US. We tested all three in an Eggbot and just for kicks, by hand on a bit of rolled out fondant.
The primary differences between the markers were in the shades of the red and black, the ink flow rates, and the texture and shape of the nibs. Colors like blue, green and yellow didn’t show significant differences, although it should be noted that the blues in all cases (no matter what color the plastic was) were closer to a sky blue.
Now that the scores have been received from final-round celebrity judges Hans Camenzind and Forrest Mims, Jeri and Chris will be announcing the results of the contest live on uStream, today (Wednesday April 20) at 9 pm EST.
To help get you in the mood for the results, here are just a few of our favorites that you may not have seen, in no particular order– hopefully some of these will be amongst the winners!
A beautiful working model of a 555 constructed of discrete components installed in the Encyclopedia of Integrated Circuits.
Pavel Hanak built the most pure 555 circuits that we’ve ever seen: Astable Multivibrators Built Solely From 555s. No external resistors or capacitors, just the internal resistance and capacitance of up to 20 additional 555s. (Clearly an insane genius!)
So that’s just a taste of all the awesomeness from this contest– we hope you’ll tune in live on uStream, today (Wednesday April 20) at 9 pm EST to see the winners.
BarBot 2011 gave us just a taste of what is to come this weekend at the huge international robotics competition in San Mateo. We rounded up some video links of Drink Making Unit 2.0:
We’ll be at RoboGames all weekend, participating in the symposium and selling a few choice kits and components. So get your tickets now! If you’re not in the bay area check the National Robotics Week event listingsto find an event near you.
Conference lanyards are often made of nice sturdy woven webbing. They seem like they ought to have plenty of uses, like replacement shoelaces or camera straps. After enough conferences, they start to look like an awful lot of raw material. Even enough to make a bag.
Lanyards that are sewn or crimped shut at the clip end are used for the horizontal webbing, and determine the overall width of the bag. Leaving the clips at the sides gives the bag a nice rattling sound and keeps the clips from scratching the contents of the bag. The upper clips can be used to hold keys to help keep them from getting lost in your bag.
Breakaway lanyards can be used for the vertical webbing, woven in and out of the continuous lanyards until they reach the top again. Place lanyards with compatible breakaway clips next to each other such that the clips can be connected to the neighbors to finish the top edges.
Make the handles by clipping a few lanyards end to end and then weave them through the middle of the bag afterwards to wrap around from one side to the other.
Alternate ending: omit the handles and clip the breakaway lanyards (vertical webbing pieces) back to themselves and stuff to form a pillow. This bag has proven popular with our feline population, and might be completely irresistible in pillow form.
We just got word that the Maker Faire folks will be exhibiting at Yuri’s Night Education Day tomorrow at NASA Ames! We’ll be bringing a few projects to show off for part of the day to the kids and educators who will be attending. Yuri’s Night is an annual worldwide party to celebrate Yuri Gagarin’s first flight into space. This year is the 50th anniversary. Even if you’re not in one of the classes attending the Bay Area Eduction Day, you can check the list of events to see if there’s one happening near you or register your own event.
“Make something awesome that is egg inspired. Share your favorite omelet, a picture of your best decorated eggs or your favorite “recipe” for knitted eggs. Anything egg related is eligible.”
You can win some prizes, including a Deluxe Egg-Bot Kit, and we’ll be helping to judge the the finalists. The contest closes on May 1, so start writing up your projects!
We’ve teamed up with Ponoko for a spring design challenge! We’re helping to judge and we’ve donated a Deluxe Egg-Bot Kit for the grand prize winner. Ponoko is also giving away vouchers for getting stuff made through their services.
Ponoko has made it so that anyone can have take advantage of prototyping tools like laser cutters and 3D printers that used to be either prohibitively expensive or inaccessible to individuals. You upload your digital designs, choose from a wide range of materials they stock, and then they fabricate them and ship the physical object to you. We’ve recommended them for folks who don’t have access to a laser cutter, but want to make custom handles for their Meggy Jr RGB or custom cases for their Bulbdial Clock.
The contest deadline is April 13, and we’re looking forward to seeing your entries!
