We took a break from working on CandyFab today to make a donation tin for our Bristlebot arena at Maker Faire. A handy spaghetti tin just needed a few cuts in the lid to be serviceable, so we broke out our rotating cutting tool and made a few sparks.
Many electronic components are available on spools that can be used by machines for counting them out or placing them on boards. These capacitors were once on such a spool, but since we didn’t need quite enough for a full spool, they were counted out, rolled up and shipped out to us. They exhibit the opposite spirals of phyllotaxis that are probably most familiar from the face of a sunflower. Who knew capacitors could be so lovely?
A few months ago we showed you how to make beautiful fractals in polymer clay.
Take that idea, run with it, and where do you end up? In the kitchen, making Sierpinski cookies! These cookies, made from contrasting colors of butter cookie dough, are a tasty realization of the Sierpinski carpet, producing lovely, edible fractals.
As with our earlier project involving clay, you can make these by using a simple iterative algorithmic process of stretching out the dough and folding it over onto itself in a specific pattern.
Continue reading Sierpinski Cookies
When I reviewed the Feb. 2007 Lee Valley catalog, reader Dennis suggested we get the Garrett Wade Tools catalog. Excellent suggestion! We love drooling over tools, and the Garrett Wade catalog is a great place to do that. They carry a wide variety of “Tools for Enthusiasts,” primarily precision woodworking tools. They also carry high-end knick-knacks and home and garden items.
Continue reading Catalog review: Garrett Wade Tools March 2008
Art cars are great. Maybe someday we’ll have the guts to art up our Prius, but in the meantime, we’re making miniature art cars. It’s easy and fun and doesn’t require quite the same level of investment that a full-size art car needs.
April Fool’s Day is one of our favorite holidays. Here are couple of contests to help you get in the spirit:
If you happen to be in San Francisco and are looking for a way to celebrate, we recommend the St. Stupid’s Day Parade. Whatever you do, have fun!
On our recent trip to the Electronics Flea Market we got a very nice pair of tweezers. There are tons of great cheap tools at the flea market, and these are no exception. Superfine tips and a nice black coating were a couple of the features that drew us to this particular pair. However, there was one characteristic that we could not resist: they are beautifully labeled “Non-Megnatic.” Seeing this enigmatic label gives me joy every time I use them. Feel free to post in the comments what you think the fantastic word “Megnatic” ought to mean.
This little LED-lit cube is much more than just a paper lantern: It’s a translucent and flexible thin-film electronic circuit that hooks up a battery to an LED, limber enough to be folded into an origami box. And the coolest thing about circuits like these? You can make them at home.
Continue reading Paper Circuitry at Home: Electric Origami
Many cities are switching to LEDs for their traffic signals, and is it any wonder? The energy savings are tremendous, never mind not having to change burnt-out bulbs all the time. Luckily for us, LED traffic signals are finally ubiquitous enough to show up at the surplus stores. Our local junk shop had a couple of big barrels of LED stoplights and turn signals of various sizes. We picked one out that still had the connector attached for screwing it into a regular light bulb socket.
Of course, after we made sure it worked, we promptly took it apart. It is a fabulous object, designed to be used, abused, taken apart, and maybe even fixed, though there is not much to go wrong. Click through for more gory photos and delightful design details.
Saturday was the first Electronics Flea Market for 2008. We went, a little late as usual, but early for us. When we got our coffee and donuts at 8:30, there were already some vendors packing up; they had been there for hours and sold enough to call it a day. The weather was beautiful, and we all got sunburned, but we also took home a nice haul of goodies.
Above: the pretty stuff put in a cigar box for the benefit of photographers like me.
