- Using a Sharpie can make gummy metals easier to cut. And we’re learning why.
- Online Digi-Comp II emulator (via The Computer Museum)
- Analyzing Solorigate from the Microsoft Security blog
- Exploring with Microscopes + Drones: San Rafael Bay, part of a new video series by Ariel Waldman
- The story of a community cannery in Portland, Oregon
- Quickly Sketch Escher-type Repeats Using Inkscape
- Pompeiian snack bar with guard dog excavated
- Reverse Engineering the source code of the BioNTech/Pfizer SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine
- The Fighter Plane That Shot Itself Down
- Desktop Wind Tunnel (via The Prepared)
- Monitoring municipal water quality with clams
- A green flash while observing Jupiter at SpaceWeather
- CMYK Embroidery
All posts by Windell Oskay
The AxiDraw MiniKit 2
Today we are introducing a major refresh of the smallest member of the AxiDraw family of pen plotters: the new AxiDraw MiniKit 2. The AxiDraw MiniKit 2 is our special compact DIY-kit version of the AxiDraw lineup.
Versus the original AxiDraw MiniKit, the MiniKit 2 has been redesigned for easier assembly, better precision, and higher performance. The key change is that the long linear rail that forms the base of the machine — a custom aluminum extrusion in the original — has been replaced with a solid bar of 6061-T6 aluminum, machined in the same precision process as our top-of-the-line AxiDraw SE/A3, and then anodized to a satin-silver finish. This change simplifies a number of the assembly steps, but more importantly has a cleaner overall look and tighter manufacturing tolerances for improved precision.
In addition to be being “Mini”, the MiniKit 2 is also still a kit.
Unlike other models of the AxiDraw family like AxiDraw V3 and AxiDraw SE/A3 (which come assembled, tested, and ready to use), the AxiDraw MiniKit 2 is a machine that you assemble yourself.
We’ve taken great care in designing a kit that is rewarding to build, own, and use.
The new version is also heavier than the old one, which helps it to stay stable on your desk at higher speeds and gives it a small boost in effective speed, in addition to the upgrades in precision. Small but sturdy, The MiniKit 2 is built with machined parts, just one custom aluminum extrusion now, attention to detail, and care.
Linkdump: September 2020
- Lego Interface UX
- Are there dead wasps in figs?
- ONO: How the Biggest 3D Printing Scam of All Time Unfolded
- This promotional video from Exco, a maker of aluminum extrusion dies, shows a lot of what goes into manufacturing an extrusion die
- New Supergiant Isopod Discovered
- Slide show of How Cork is Made
- Joe Rinaudo’s Fotoplayer Corona Virus Quarantine Concert. (A photoplayer is a specialized player piano used for scoring cartoons and silent movies.)
- You can apparently reverse engineer a key for a lock from the sound that the key makes upon insertion.
- A few of the 507 Mechanical Movements, beautifully 3D printed by Sam Schmitz
- A Refrigerator magnet clock
- The MINI PET DIY Computer Kit
- A demo of the Weav3r LEGO Loom by Jerry Nicholls showing how the heddles are set for each row for a zig-zag pattern. He’s gradually adding build instructions for it to his blog which holds a wealth of LEGO mechanisms.
Linkdump: August 2020
- ISS solar transit showing the SpaceX Crew Dragon and the Canadarm2 by Thierry Legault on YouTube
- A DIY Neon Pixel Display
- Ramelli’s Rotating Reader built by RIT students who called it a 16th century version of a multitabbed browser
- FBI Motivational Posters from WW2, obtained via FOIA request
- Graffiti covered e-bike, designed to blend in with urban architecture
- Why The Docking Adapters On The Space Station Are Shaped Oddly
- ThreadPlotter: punch needle embroidery on the AxiDraw
- How eggplant got its name
- The COMIX-35: an improved clone of the COMX-35 RCA 1802 home computer
- Circuit Scupltures by Leonardo Ulian (more on instagram)
- Kipp Bradford and Adam Savage build a Refrigerated Cooling Suit
- IMSAI 8080 replica front panel kit by The High Nibble
Linkdump: July 2020
- Inside the Pulsar Calculator watch from 1975
- Simrefinery recovered
- Putting the coronavirus under the microscope
- The helium shortage has ended, at least for now
- Ken Shirriff looks at the 8086 processor
- Strike a solder joint behind enemy lines
- Testing the Mars helicopter in a simulated martian atmosphere
- A project to make a DEC H-500 Computer Lab Reproduction
- Visualizing brain activity with an AxiDraw
Linkdump: May 2020
- The real lord of the flies
- Learn python from the NSA
- Index Pick and Place, an open source pick and place machine. Video intro here.
- Matisse designed a chapel in Vence
- A fully automated bread production line (YouTube)
- A Roman villa mosaic floor has been found near Verona
- How to draw the Corona Virus
- From the first black band-aid (1998-2002) to Amazon and Target (starting in 2014)
- From CityLab, Your Maps of Life Under Lockdown
Linkdump: April 2020
- “Do we want to get to the moon or not?” John C. Houbolt was responsible for the Lunar-Orbit Rendezvous plan
- A video comparison of different laser marking compounds for use with CO2 lasers
- Figures in the Sky: How cultures across the World have seen their myths and legends in the stars
- A wonderful little <$10 video game: A Short Hike
- Papercraft models of classic computers
- John Pound, the creator of Garbage Pail Kids is also a generative artist (via)
- Springer has made a set of books and articles available at no cost to help those affected by coronavirus lockdowns
- A clever linkage for a mechanical elbow (via Matt Siegel)
Linkdump: January 2020
- Open source SVG emoji from Twitter
- 2-Bit Mario: A physical Mario Brothers game
- The most important device in the universe, built by prop designer John Zabrucky
- Video made from photos of Comet 67p taken by Rosetta
- A Conversation on Microbiomes mostly focused on the Sourdough Project
- Cat Coat Genetics 101: A Tweetorial
- Thermochromic 7-segment display
- Formlabs Form 3 Teardown by Bunnie Huang
- Life Under the Ice is Ariel Waldman‘s site documenting microscopic life in Antarctica
- A nicely done website of paper sizes
- Nikon Small World 2019 Photomicrography Competition Winners
- Patterned plywood speakers
- Plotting perlin spirals
- Pre-GPS automobile navigation system
- XYZen Garden Kit
- Inside the digital clock from a Soyuz spacecraft with Ken Shirriff
- The Newport Transporter Bridge (YouTube)
- Interesting dataset: Flagged and rejected vanity license plate applications from the California DMV
- Dark Horse Discord: a gaming chat platform and the future of work
- Machining a bamboo-styled pencil barrel on a lathe, from Lindsay Wilson
- Mapping cases of COVID-19
The AxiDraw MiniKit
Today we are introducing a brand new member of the AxiDraw family of pen plotters: the AxiDraw MiniKit.
The AxiDraw MiniKit is a special compact addition to the AxiDraw lineup.
Designed for lighter-duty applications, It takes up less desk space and less storage space. With a plotting area of just 6 × 4 inches (150 × 100 mm), it’s small enough to take with you, or to fit into places where bigger machines can’t.
In addition to be being “Mini”, it is also a kit.
Unlike other models of the AxiDraw family like AxiDraw V3 and AxiDraw SE/A3 (which come assembled, tested, and ready to use), the AxiDraw MiniKit is a machine that you assemble yourself.
We’ve taken great care in designing a kit that is rewarding to build and to own.
And of course, it’s an AxiDraw, and performs like one. Small but sturdy, it’s built with custom aluminum extrusions, machined parts, attention to detail, and care.
Our Thanksgiving Weekend Sale
It’s our Thanksgiving Weekend Sale! use checkout coupon code TURKEY to save 10% storewide at Evil Mad Scientist.
Save on popular items like the brand new AxiDraw MiniKit, surface-mount 555SE and 741SE soldering kits, and everything else too.
Our biggest sale of the year, it’s a great time to get that AxiDraw SE/A3, EggBot, or through hole 555 kit too.
Sale runs through Monday, December 2.