The page is a remarkably thorough guide to setting up a CNC robot workshop at home, and a first article in a series on CNC robotics. I created it simply because there are virtually no books or useful reference pages for people who want to get into @home fabrication without an extensive background in machining and materials science.
The page itself is devoid of images (although there are some rad ASCII illustrations), so to see some of Michal's work, visit his photo page.
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Dale Dougherty and Sherry Huss of MAKE/CRAFT and Maker Faire will be in Chicago this week. If you're a Chicago-area maker, drop by Flapjaws Cafe on Thursday, July 17 at 7pm or so. Thanks to Brian Fitzpatrick of Google in Chicago who helped us organize this meeting.
Come by and join us for a beer. We'd love to meet you and learn more about the things you make and craft.
Flapjaws Cafe, 840 N Wabash Ave., Chicago, IL (312) 255-1122. If you have any questions, email Dale at dale@oreilly.com.
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This week: Making a Life-size Gummy Coke Bottle, Pentacom's Toy Camera Simulator, The Raygun Project, New iPhone Apps from Made in Japan Faves, Cut Your Own Hair - Cleanup's a Snap!, Smoking Sneaker Mods, What Happens if You Apply Electricity To..., The Sine Wave Orchestra.
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Lyndsay Williams of Girton Labs brings us the Sensesurface control interface -
Applications that would normally use a mouse or Qwerty keyboard can be now controlled with traditional knobs. The scroll bar on the right hand side of your computer screen can be controlled with a real slider button. SenseSurface can be used with most laptops with a USB input. The sensing knobs have a custom designed movement sensor to determine position within approx 180 degrees with a 10 bit digital output, linearity typically 1%. The magnetic knobs can be removed and repositioned immediately by picking them up and moving to a different part of screen. A unique sensing x/y matrix is attached to the rear of the laptop screen to detect the control's position.
It'll be interesting to see more on this system - details on the magnetic interface to precious LCD surface seems quite important - Sensesurface on Girton Labs [via Matrixsynth] Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Computers | Digg this!
Gaze upon what is purported to be the biggest subwoofer in the world - The 'Real Total Horn', built beneath its own listening room -
Royal Device has on its own developped and built in Italy the biggest subwoofer of the world for an AUDIO/VIDEO room that can be also considered as the greatest AUDIO ROOM for private music listening of the world. The Royal Device audio room belongs to Roberto - the audio designer who made it.
The audio reproduction is focused on the speakers output capability more than electric power output of the amplifiers with no need of KWatts power supply lines, releasing more than 110 dB/1W/1 meter sensitivity starting from below 10 Hz focused on the listening position. […]
SUBWOOFER horns are built underneath the floor in a cavity of 1 meter deep. Each horn is driven by 8 x 18" (47 cm) woofers. A total of 16 woofers.
Each horn is 9.5 meters long and has a floor mouth area of 2.2 square meters and reproduce starting from 10 Hertz FULL POWER. The real mouth area IS NOT the one on the floor. The real mouth have to be considered together with the side vertical frontal panels. The total horn is calculated onto the listening point considering the side walls and the ceiling loadings. This reduces the floor mouth that is not in open air.
(hmmm … wouldn't that drum kit create some unwanted vibration?)
If bikes had a "rat king," it might look something like this. I like the ornamental wheel on the front fork that has a fender going all around it. Not the most practical bike on the rack, but certainly the most unique.
By way of the Steampunk Workshop comes this incredible alt.victorian mouse, found on a Russian modder's forum. I guess the caged innards are to house the mouse (of the biological kind) that powers the contraption. The occult symbols and incantations hammered into the brass are a nice touch.
This is a long shot, but does anyone know anything about this fantastic indy publication "Payphone History" ? - it seems to be a small run "book" about 130 pages, excellent information and I love the paste up style. Here is the cover and table of contents.
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Daniel Carnes writes in to tell us about this cool wooden RC tank built by Matthias Wandel. The site has lots of pictures of the build. Matthias also makes other super elaborate wood works.
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This detailed mod shows you how to make a time machine out of an old delorean, just like the doc did in the 1980s movie, "Back to the Future". I was a big fan of that movie when it came out, although getting your hands on a 1980s Delorean might be kind of tricky these days. Unfortunately, this isn't the version that runs on banana peels.
Funax built an HTML Color Name Generator to derive RGB hex code from a physical objects -
I can decide the HTML color name without looking at color charts. […] PC side software was built with Processing. This stapler's color is Cadet Blue. Ok?
This eye(and ear)-catching bottle cannon is on display as part of the SUPERDOME exhibition @ the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. Regine from we make money not art shares details -
Arcangelo Sassolino's Afasia 1 is a nitrogen-powered sculpture that shoots empty beer bottles, those icons of rock culture, against a wall at 600km/hr inside a zoo-like metal cage. The shooting happens every few minutes. Meanwhile you're left wondering whether you should opt for safety and step back or let curiosity take over and walk closer to get a better view of the blast. The waiting for the upcoming and -let's face it- absurd blast only adds to the anxiety. The artist wanted visitors to add a visceral experience of art on top of the usual intellectual one. Green shards pile up as the days pass.
This project shows you how to build a custom cooling system for the 780i Striker II. Tons of great photos for this one but be careful to check your pipes for leaks before you install the system.
As you can see from these photos, we came up with prosthetic appliances for the trees which contain a pair of eyes. Each eye is made from half of a Ping-Pong ball, with an iris & pupil painted slightly off center. This is then mounted on the second hand shaft of a small (& cheap) clock. A white LED light fitted behind the eye ball illuminates it at night.
The body of each sculpture was made from spraying expanding polyurethane foam around a chicken wire form. The cured foam was then carved down to the desired shape. The Spruce & The Oak were covered with bark collected from the Festival site, and the two Poplars were covered with varnish soaked papier-mache and painted - on-site - to match their specific trees.
Anthropomorphically creep-tastical! - Arboreal Sentinels Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Arts | Digg this!
This project called "The Interruptor" is part of the larger project, "Adventures in Urban Computing" from the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. The device interrupts you when you are speaking and then gives you prompts with its built in display. Check out the link for lots of pics of it in action.
Apparently just by holding the 'Das Patent' in different positions you can form the entire alphabet. Looks like an interesting project to integrate with some motion control system to create a new type of display. I have only one question. Where is the "X"?
This is an incredibly simple and cheap system for generating power from water. The basic concept is using a turning wheel to generate water pressure at 35psi. That pressurized water is then used to power a turbine. It is completely self-regulating and a great source of green energy. Check out the website for some videos of the pressure wheel in action. Now I have to buy a house with a steam on the property?
Bridge, by Michael Cross, is a really interesting interactive artwork. As you start walking across the water a series of steps that appear. The problem is, the steps also disappear behind you, leaving you with no choice but to move ahead. I would love to try it out.
Send in your garden musical instruments. Things like wind chimes, outdoor gongs, bells, fountains, musical sculptures, etc. Think solar, wind, water powered and beyond.
Let us know if you enter!
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