Archive for the ‘MAKE Projects’ Category
Build a $5 Heli-Rocket from MAKE Volume 25
January 20th, 2011 | 
Author: 
The cover project from our newest issue of MAKE, Volume 25, is Doug Desrochers' "$5 Heli-Rocket" (seen above being field tested by intrepid Make: Labs engineering intern Nick Raymond). With a mere $5 worth of materials, including toilet paper tubes, coat hangers, and rubber bands, you can build this high-flying model rocket. Instead of employing a standard parachute, this rocket releases its three tail fins, made of thin corrugated cardboard, which swing open like helicopter blades to slow the rocket's descent. We've shared this entire project with you in Make: Project, and invite you to get in and collaborate. Also, check out the author's video of the Heli-Rocket in action, and be sure to grab a copy of MAKE Volume 25, fresh on newsstands right now.
Check out MAKE Volume 25:
MAKE Volume 25: Arduino Revolution
Give your gadgets a brain! Previously out of reach for the do-it-yourselfer, the tiny computers called microcontrollers are now so cheap and easy to use that anyone can make their stuff smart. With a microcontroller, your gadget can sense the environment, talk to the internet or other hardware, and make things happen in the real world by controlling motors, lights, or any electronic device.
Posted in 
Tags: 
Make: Projects – Hang a picture from a pull tab
When I was a teenager, we had a distinctly impolite name for a pull tab that had been removed from the can with the rivet ring still intact, said name being based on a persistent urban legend about the alleged redemption value of these relatively rare tabs. I can assure you, dear readers, that legend has nothing to do with the reason I am familiar with this handy trick for removing pull tabs with the ring intact every time. Turns out, a tab with an intact rivet ring is quite useful for mounting to wooden frames as a picture hanger. And I, you know, have to hang up lots of pictures. Seriously.
More:
- Make: Projects — Light Switch Time Capsule
- Make: Projects — No-Holes Poster/Quilt Hanger
- Make: Projects — Install a Penny Countertop
DIY school mascot, complete with cooling fan
Minnesota-based Make: Projects community member David Howard contributed a great how-to for making your own school mascot from scratch, complete with a cooling fan in the head piece to keep your furry mascot from overheating. Maybe your maker club or hackerspace needs a mascot too? Now you'll know how to make one. Thanks, David!
DIY school mascot, complete with cooling fan
Minnesota-based Make: Projects community member David Howard contributed a great how-to for making your own school mascot from scratch, complete with a cooling fan in the head piece to keep your furry mascot from overheating. Maybe your maker club or hackerspace needs a mascot too? Now you'll know how to make one. Thanks, David!
Make: Projects – Kinect privacy shield from Kinect packing foam
-thumb-600x450-60572.jpg)
My new Kinect is a very cool toy, but it was not lost on me, as I was plugging it in, that I'd given the Microsoft hive-mind a pretty sophisticated set of eyes and ears onto my living room. Sure, I suppose I could only plug it in when I'm using it, but I'm kind of a neat freak about my entertainment center wiring and I don't want to be digging the Xbox out every time I decide I want certain privacy. Some kind of lens-cap arrangement seemed the easiest solution, and making it out of the foam that the Kinect came packed in avoids the danger of picking some material that might scratch the device or otherwise be incompatible with it over the long term. Plus, it makes it easy for anyone who owns a Kinect (and still has the box) to go and do likewise, should they be so inclined.
More:
- Make: Projects — How to Run Mac OS on a PSP
- Make: Projects — How to Jailbreak an iPod touch or iPhone
- Make: Projects — iPalm Unlimited