April Maker Challenge #30.2/30 : kiteJuice!

WHAT: i want to make a kite, that spins in the wind. And i want to hook that up to a lightweight brushless dc motor, and charge some caps! Bam! stored energy by nature. i need to somehow make this stored energy in a user-friendly useful way.

OBJECTIVE: make a kite that spins, hook it up to relatively rigid wire/cabling, hook THAT up to a motor, and capture it's back emf to charge batteries/capacitors. no real power goals here - just want to see how much i could feasibly get.

HOW: hmm. i have a stash of tent nylon ripstop. i also have access to spools of ABS wire (it's from an FDM printer - dont ask). thatll be the two primary ingredients. and i have a range of dc motors. that should be enough to start.

APPLICATION: wind! maybe enough to tune in and run a radio outside on a windy day. maybe can be staked to the ground at a campsite, or strung to trees. whenever you need some power.

April Maker Challenge #30.1/30 : didge

WHAT: uh. this one is crazy easy - so it only counts as 0.1 on the AMC list. ill think of something new later. i want to make a didgeridoo. now.. i dont have access to termite hollowed trees, so i will have to get by with PVC pipe. i learnt how to play it in Australia 2 years ago - and i really liked it. i talked to the Aborigine dude about it and he was like.. yeah. a PVC pipe will do.

OBJECTIVE: make a didgeridoo that sounds decent. then learn how to be respectable at playing it.

HOW: 1) get PCV pipe probly 2 or 2.5 inches in diameter. 2) sand and deburr edges. 3) apply vaseline or beeswax around the mouthpiece, and flap your lips.

APPLICATION: play the didge!

April Maker Challenge #29/30 : apartmentHerbPlanter

WHAT: so i was listening to Kasper on a splendid table while cooking dinner. makes a LOT of sense to me to start a food garden. but alas - i live on the 3rd floor of an apartment. i DO have windows, and i DO have a balcony. thatll do.

OBJECTIVE: make a planter that can sustain fresh thai chillies, cilantro (and parsley), holy basil, and green onions. (i tend to use a LOT of these). hopefully yield enough for a 2 week harvest cycle.

HOW: will probably be a staggered launch of this thru the summer. i eat a LOT. which means i have to put out quite a bit of balcony real-estate to get that done. so i might crop rotate and freeze many of chillies and basil. to be determined.

APPLICATION: food! homemade food! would go well with the vermicomposting i plan to startup. on top of the CSA for staples .. i would only need to go grocery shopping for meat and outlying stuff.

April Maker Challenge #28/30 : catLounger 2.0

WHAT: i have a cat. his name is Felix. this is him.

he likes cardboard, and he likes to lay on things. (a lot of things). about a year ago, i made him a cardboard lounger - which took WAY too long. this was catLounger 1.0:
Since work is throwing a whole bunch of cardboard away - i figure it's time for 2.0

OBJECTIVE: make a cardboard lounger than Felix will enjoy. minimize new materials used. no adhesives (if i can help it). and something that will take me less than a half day in the shop.

HOW: cardboard. lots of it. bandsaw (better than a boxcutter), macrame string (i have a spool) to bind the thing together.

APPLICATION: Felix gets to sit on his duff while i make stuff or draw, and he doesnt feel left out! (he often likes to sit on my lap - which makes drawing/soldering difficult)

April Maker Challenge #27/30 : woodenDummy

WHAT: i've always been fascinated by wing chun, not so much as a practical form of defense, but in the sense that it is an artistic form of body flow. so i wanna make myself a wooden dummy. (sometimes referred to as Muk Yan Jung, 木人樁) . Typically look like this:

OBJECTIVE: make a wooden dummy to approximate a persons defense geometry. would also be an AWESOME coat rack. Would be nice if it doubled as a shin conditioner for muay thai leg kicks.

HOW: cheap wood probably wouldnt really do. nice solid oak or some such other hardwood would be ideal - but i doubt i would have the budget for that. the *sprung* mechanism would be pretty cool to design robustly, and not have it be too obvious (and detract from the traditional aesthetics)

APPLICATION: kick ass bruce lee style.

April Maker Challenge #26/30 : ArtOnDeck

WHAT: i wanna make an refreshing/reloading slide of art, on my desktop or digital picture frame or whatever. i have this massive collection of art that i troll thru everyday online, thru my RSS feeds. (FFFound!, VVork, drawn.ca, wooster, etc...). so i sorta wanna make an app. dont really know the details about browser compatibility - but i think this would just be cool to have. and to have someone else share the feed, or i could share theirs... even MORE fun.

OBJECTIVE: make a desktop / browser app that will "stream" a slideshow or an RSS. i dont have time to peruse individuals flickrsets or whatever - so itll have to be from some sort of art aggregator (like i mentioned earlier) or a shared RSS with whomever shares em. has to be manageable from the window itself, (can pause, go back, find source etc).

HOW: dont know. probly ask for some help via the very skilled fellows out at #tcmaker.

APPLICATION: fun! on a broader scale - a shared community/channel of images would be cool for everyone, without having to go open a browser. its like a physical manifestation of RSS feeds.

April Maker Challenge #25/30 : juicerStick

WHAT: okay. the title is a bit vague. i want to make a hand held baton that i can shake vigorously (or bring with me running) that will charge and sustain a 5v charge - to plug into my phone for off occasions. sorta like a mechanical mintyboost - minus the alkaline batteries,

OBJECTIVE: make a portable, mechanically actuated 5v supply. should be able to physically crank/shake it while providing power to sustain the current boost. should be able to hold at least an additional hour of phone use per *charge*. smallest form factor possible to accomplish that additional hour. hopefully robust enough to leave in the car year-round.

HOW: no idea. im guessing 5v regulator, inductance coil, maybe a spring, nice magnet, ... havnt fleshed this one out yet. might take some research in supercapacitors. or maybe just really big ones.

APPLICATION: in case i need to use the phone when its dry. i like the mintyboost - but its chemical shelflife leaves something to be desired. you KNOW i will run out of batteries when i need em.

April Maker Challenge #24/30 ; A Better Chalkball

WHAT: a chalkball. a typical one looks like this:

i want to make a better one. i happen to be a chalk fiend while climbing - i sweat like a sponge in compression. i've found the refillable ones to be too cumbersome, and the mechanism to refill tends to get messed up with chalk after a while.
also - its currently awfully messy to break off brick magnesium carbonate to fill in a chalk ball. (i like the brick chalk cause its a cheaper and more effective way to buy chalk).

OBJECTIVE: make a chalk ball that i would like to use, that is refillable, and takes brick chalk nicely. has to not bleed out too much chalk to finish a brick per trip, but still be good for bouldering.

HOW: i've made simple ones before, using pantyhose. (chalk bleeds thru quite nicely). but i have to change it up and maybe go for something with an absorbent loop weave. i am thinking of using a button as closure, since the cynch doesnt work so hot. i had thought of closing it like one of those hypolon waterproof rucksacks, with a button instead of a fastex buckle.

APPLICATION: climb more. sweat less.

April Maker Challenge #23/30: wokNroll

WHAT: i want to make a propane fired wok stove. i live in an apartment that has electric element burners. (and so far, 4/5 of my previous apartments were all electric element stoves). optimally - this would be something that would also come with an extractor - or something that i can run outside.

OBJECTIVE: make a *portable* wok stove. has to be able to run at least 1 giant wok. i need some MASSIVE BTU's here (or kJoules out). hopefully, it should reach the 400 Fahrenheit mark. i need to achieve what is referred to as "wok hei". will either have to run

HOW: not sure. probably get a propane tank, and a commercial burner ring (or possibly several?). i'd need a whole bunch of stainless for this build - since there is gonna be vaporizing oil particles and stuff. a fire extinguisher and emergency cutoff is probably a good idea.

APPLICATION: this is like the opposite of sousvide. fast and furious chemical conversion/combustion needs to take place. the "browning" technique here is an understatement.

April Maker Challenge #22/30 : selfEthnographer

WHAT: listen.... i have some issues. with myself. while i've always had an underlying desire to make things work "better" - i have often not paid much attention to myself. SO. i want to make a video-recording system that allows me to self-critique certain aspects of my daily life. go METRICS!

OBJECTIVE: make a portable, discreet, schedule-able video-recording system for self ethnography. It should be able to also be triggered by an event (not just time). initially - i would like this to work within the home, but later - hopefully portable and cheap enough to install in my car, or at work, or at the gym or whatever.

HOW: a camcorder would be reccommended. also - some way to trigger this to an event (time or an action set off by myself). A task action list is also needed, since i dont have enough time to study everything i do in life. I will start out small, with simple tasks like brushing my teeth, or drawing a sketch, or feeding my cat. It'd be nice to slowly graduate this to my muay thai form, or balance and movement when rock climbing.
this would give rise not just to improve myself, but also possible interjections for innovating products.

APPLICATION: Example scenarios would be my nighttime shutdown/sleep patterns (so i can hopefully figure out how to go to bed more predictably without burning time away online). a startup/wakeup routine study would be interesting - since my snoozetime varies so much. i'd like to watch myself draw - to REALLY see how many bad drawing habits i need to kick. i also believe my seating posture in my home chair changes over time, varying with my interest/stress levels. these are all things i can be better about, or devise a better way to accomplish.

April Maker Challenge #21/30 : miniWaterTower

WHAT: you know these little water reservoirs you stick in soil? i think they are called "glass plant watering bulbs". they look like this:yeah. i wanna make something like that. but out of cheap, everyday materials available out of the home. i *sometimes* neglect to water my plants.

OBJECTIVE: make a little water reservoir system that keeps my plants (in the short term) quenched. try and achieve a decent flowrate. hopefully hyrdrostatically pressure sensitive - so it doesnt just keep flooding these bastards.

HOW: science! and household appliances. i have hotglue, some water bottles (and wine bottles) - maybe the use of some cork and plastic tubing might be useful.

APPLICATION: water. my. plants.

April Maker Challenge #20/30 : humanDataMap

WHAT: after attending a lecture and talking abit with the legendary designer Niels Diffrient - he sort of highlighted the need for informed design and measurable data to support advancement. i want to make a pressureMap. In particular - it would be more along the lines of a seating pressure map (but i didnt want to title this AssMap). But instead of just pressure (which is the primary focus of human factors mapping) - i want to map out temperature and moisture buildup too.

OBJECTIVE: to provide a pressure/temp (and later moisture) map of a person. initially for a seated position - but maybe later into a glove or helmet to monitor sporting gear performance. initial resolution goals are to within a square half inch area. it has to be portable enough to throw on a chair and collect data, and be waterproof.

HOW: there are companies out there that provide pressure map systems using loadcells and whatnot - but they are expensive, and out of my reach. i dont quite yet know HOW i will get this all within a reasonable affordable budget, but i will share my findings and method with everyone for free! moisture might be a harder measurement to take, and possibly superfluous - since i can possibly approximate it with temperature.

APPLICATION: ass map! (which is used to ensure ergonomic and even pressure distribution for seating). and not just seating too. effectiveness of pillows, protective headgear, athletic gloves, shoes, etc... can all be tested and put to a metric!
i want measureable metrics goddamnit!!!

April Maker Challenge #19/30: petMelter

WHAT: yes. the title "petMelter" sounds a little dubious. but it should be PET (polyethylene teraphtalate) melter. This is the thermoplastic that is typically labelled PET or PETE on your soda bottles. wayy too much of this stuff ends up in the landfill.

OBJECTIVE: i want to be able to melt plastic bottles, and press them into "manageable" sheets. sheets suitable for vaccuforming. i should be able to take a bottle, split it in half, place it into this press/melter - and i should have a handy dandy piece of (close to uniform thickness) PETE, ready for heatforming.

HOW: And i wont so much "melt" this stuff. i dont require this to be shot into a injection mold - so i dont require a full melt. if i dont want to mess with crystalline composition too much (which would affect opacity quite a bit), i could float it just safely above PETE's crystallization(glass) temp of 75 C and apply a steady load to hopefully reflow. If that doesnt work, i could crank this stuff up to its Vicat temp (170 C), and just squish this stuff into a sheet or "ingot". experimentation will determine the ultimate method.

APPLICATION: this wont yield any readily useful blobs of plastic. but in future projects - where i intend to shape/mold blobs of plastic, this should proove ultra handy. might even feed in to Michael's (@uptownmaker) REPscRAP project.

April Maker Challenge #18/30 : flatpackMobile

WHAT: a flatpack mobile. for babies. I am about to be an uncle for the first time (due November)!! However, my sister and her as yet unborn child live in Australia. thats why the mobile will be flatpack.

OBJECTIVE: make a relatively "green" mobile out of high density cardboard. has to fit within a standard USPS tyvek mailer. has to look cool for the kid and the parents.

HOW: lasercut cardboard and some thread. i'd like to use the negative space between the cutouts as additional components and the outer card areas to be assembled into the frame of the mobile.

APPLICATION: for nephew development!

April Maker Challenge #17:30: sunBake!

WHAT: a homemade solar oven. yea, they have some stuff on instructibles - but i'd like to design and build one myself.

OBJECTIVE: should be able to get warm enough to cook meat (not necessarily boil water). hold a constant(ish) 200 F. temp control obviously isnt the primary objective - but the easiest first test is to cook an egg to completion within an hour (i think thats a modest goal). extra nice if i could get away without actually PURCHASING any new supplies specifically for this project.

HOW: cardboard, HD tinfoil, possibly some insulation material, and a light focusing apparatus (havnt figured this part out quite yet)

APPLICATION: sun cooking! eat em up yum!

April Maker Challenge #16/30 : plushHeadCrab

WHAT: i don't know if you're familiar with a game called Half-Life. in it - there are these creatures called headcrabs. i want to make a plush one.
..after doing a small bit of research - it seems they already make one. but goddamnit i want to make one anyway.

OBJECTIVE: make a headcrab. looks sort of like this:
it has to fit over my head. machine washable would be nice. i dont need the fancy posable limbs - but that might be a nice feature.

HOW: plush fabric, maybe some nice soft copper rod stock for the posable limbs, and stuffing. and it will probably require a whole lot of learning on my part, as how to make a plushtoy.

APPLICATION: it'd just be nice to have around the house. possibly used as a halloween costume (i would be a headcrab zombie - obviously). maybe my cat might find it amusing. we shall see.

April Maker Challenge #15/30 : b3nqnlnw

WHAT: inverse pendulum. (look at the title in a mirror). yes, it is a very academic problem. but hopefully easily enough solved with the use of a gyro.

OBJECTIVE: make a two (or one wheeled) robot that can stand upright. a mini segway, if you will.

HOW: stepper (probably). and hopefully a single gyro. hooked up via some small processor - see what happens. (i know its not THAT simple - but i dont want to think about the gory details here)

APPLICATION: lots! something that can stand up on command? two of these flipped might be able to make a controlled cartwheeling robot. could use this to make a ballbot*

* this will be another challenge, for another day.

April Maker Challenge #14/30 : NoiseNeedle

WHAT: you know the needles on turntables? how they interpret texture on vinyls into sound? i want to make a little rangefinder, that reads textures in real life - and converts them to sound. like a little laser beam scanner, feeding back textural (distance based) information and turning it into sound.

OBJECTIVE: make a portable, free standing, noise "needle". would be nice to have a visible laser dot scanning the surface. should sit on a little turret that has adjustable scan-rate. bonus points if i can make it actually read a vinyl LP.

HOW: there are lots of little rangefinding setups out there. will require lots of playing around with these techs to get this figured out. once that is done, the scanning turret should'nt be too hard. aiming for something that reads a short range (less than 3 ft). it would be crazy cool if i could convert this to read FAR away (ie: cityscapes)

APPLICATION: noise. interesting ones.

April Maker Challenge #13/30 : bubbleboat

WHAT: a tiny boat. that is propelled solely by bubbles! works in lakes AND bathtubs!

OBJECTIVE: exactly as above. it shouldnt sink when it's air reservoir is emptied. make them cheap and easy enough to make a fleet.

HOW: probably a balloon would be in play somehow. it would be really nice if i could manually change the direction of propulsion using a little rudder.

APPLICATION: boats. that make bubbles. there is no useful application other than fun.

April Maker Challenge #12/30: Cheshire Baloon

WHAT: a hot air type baloon that has the Cheshire cat on the bottom of it.

OBJECTIVE: make a baloon that looks like the Cheshire cat looking down. make it float for relatively sustained periods. low altitude (mostly over parks or crowds). techsmarts inside is optional.

HOW: would be really cool if i could make it out of used plastic bags already headed for the landfill. not sure how technically feasible that would be tho. i want this thing to float. not fly. the "cheapest" way to get hot air would be a candle i suppose. could charge the thing up with a hot air gun - then have it sustain using a candle?

APPLICATION: fun! would be sweet if i could release this over parks, floating just out of reach. in the bright daylight - the most visible thing would only be the eyes and the smile.

bonus points: techsmarts. this thing would be awesome if it had a little camera, a GPS, barometric pressure sensor, and maybe some way to tweet where at what it was looking down at.