We’re excited to be joining Make: Live tomorrow for Episode 5: Kinetic Contraptions. We’ll be showing our mechanical Tabletop Pong, which we took to Maker Faire last year. You can check out the show preview over at Make, and join us at 6 pm PDT/9 pm EDT Wednesday for the live show.
The other three books are Lego Technic Idea Books: Fantastic Contraptions, Simple Machines, and Wheeled Wonders. And these are a phenomenal collection of assemblies and subassemblies providing the kind of masterful insight into Lego construction that comes from many years of careful study.
Interestingly, none of the electronics projects requires programming. Shred refers to music, as many of the electronics projects are audio based. Many of the non-electronics projects are also musically inclined, but there is plenty for everyone in this book, from boomerangs to rockets.
Snip, Burn, Solder, Shred is a good introduction to making stuff, and is clearly oriented toward doing things with kids. It would be nice if it had full-color photography. Some of the projects have supplemental material which is worth checking out on the Snip Burn Solder Blog.
The body of the books unfold with beautiful full-color photography. The contraptions are cleverly constructed of different colors to make the mechanisms and assembly clear.
Many of the assemblies seem obvious in retrospect, but the thought that went into them is deep and clear.
Not all of the assemblies are obvious at first glance, and many are quite complicated, like this gear reduction assembly that allows two speeds in addition to direct gearing. For anyone who loves Lego, prototypes in Lego, or loves mechanical assemblies, these books are definitely required viewing, and we’re not sure how we lived without them for so long.
(Full disclosure: we received these review copies from No Starch Press, and Evil Mad Science is mentioned favorably as a resource in Snip, Burn, Solder, Shred as a resource. That could have influenced our opinion. Also, we like Legos.)
It’s lemon season again, and that means more marmalade!
Last year we showed how incredibly easy it is to make a simple marmalade. That kind was more of the bitter, opaque variety–which might be your favorite–but here’s how to take that to the next step and make a light and sweet marmalade.
johngineer posted this Cylon Snow Plow video and writes:
Get the Larson Scanner kit at the Evil Mad Scientist shop. :D
Gareth over at Make put up a sweet post called Giving thanks for the joy of making:
“We like the phrase “the joy of making” around here. It may sound a tad new agey, but most people who frequent this site and are involved with any type of hands-on activity certainly know what we’re talking about. I had a memorable example of this recently. I did a residency last month at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. One night, I did a BEAM robot workshop for one of my classes. I also had a couple of Evil Mad Scientist Labs Larson Scanner Kits with me. A group of four students excitedly grabbed one of the kits and hurried off to a corner to build it…”
Read how it turned out over at the Make blog.
As part of our continuing quest to experiment with every possible fabrication technology, we recently came across an opportunity to try fabric printing services while outfitting our new office with curtains.
Continue reading Minor Ikea hack: rollup curtains with custom printed fabric
If you happen to be into TV and/or Eggbot, you might want to tune into the Martha Stewart Show on Wednesday, Oct. 20. Our collaborator, Bruce Shapiro, inventor of the Eggbot, will be on as a part of a special episode about Maker Faire which will show off some of the cool things that Martha and her colleagues discovered at Maker Faire New York. After the show is broadcast, you should be able to find photos and video from the episode here.
Photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid under cc-by-nc-nd license.
