Dalton Ghetti makes art from an EXTREMELY small medium: pencil lead. With the steady hand of a surgeon and some obviously super sharp tools (I’d love to see his kit), he transforms writing instruments into tiny sculptures, including mind blowing links of “chain.”
Originally from Brazil but based in Bridgeport, Connecticut, he spends months to years on each sculpture. People in the New Rochelle, NY area can check Ghetti’s work close up and personal at the Brother Kenneth Chapman Gallery, Sept 8, 2010.
One of the fun capabilities that the CHDK hack for Canon point and shoot cameras enables is super fast shutter photography. By snapping the shutter at 1/10,000th of a second (or faster), you can freeze moments that are imperceptible to the human eye. Speeding bullets, balloons popping, or one of the more common shots, splashing water.
Once you have a camera that can stop time, you need a way to tell it exactly when you want to do so. Instructables users SaskView has created an awesome solution to that problem by building a laser trigger that causes the shutter to actuate when the beam of light is broken. What’s more impressive is that he’s sourced most of his parts from a 99 cent store – this is truly a lost cost/high return project.
Materials
I got the following at my local Dollar store (each item was actually $1.25: talk about misleading advertising!) Laser pointer Door chime USB Cable Magnets Clamp Shelf brackets Mini-tripod Self-Adhesive backed Velcro Small picture frame (for the plate glass insert) Eye drops (for the dropper bottle. I poured out the contents as I believe anything purchased at a dollar s…
The Camera
You’ll need a Canon camera because we’re going to temporarily modify its firmware using the Canon Hacking Development Kit. CHDK is loaded onto the memory card inside the camera, allowing us to override most of the camera’s functions, turning a cheap point and shoot into a highly adjustable way-cool time freezer.Currently there are 47 Canon cameras that CHDK will work wi…
The Circuit
At the bottom you’ll see a link to a pdf containing the schematic. To trigger your CHDK enabled camera we’ll be using the USB remote function. In this case we have to use it via the ’syncable’ method, which is lightning fast compared to the normal USB remote. The syncable remote also operates differently. It triggers the camera on the falling edge instead of the risin…
The Laser
The laser pointer has a momentary switch but I wanted a slide switch that would allow the laser to remain on without me holding the button. The Dollar store magnetic door chime not only had the slide switch that I wanted, but also it used the same kind and number of batteries that the laser does. This was cheaper than buying just a switch from an electronics supplier. …
The Drop Rig
Below is a photo of my setup. Some pieces of wood and some steel shelf brackets clamped to a TV tray. The laser is mounted with the magnets on one of the brackets, and the photodiode on the other. In between and slightly above I’ve velcro’d the eye dropper bottle filled with milk.
CHDK Settings: Enabling Synchable Remote
In order for the USB cable remote to work, you have to enable it. With CHDK installed on your camera go into the Main Menu and at the very bottom you’ll see Miscellaneous stuff. Enter that menu and at the very bottom of it you’ll find the Remote parameters menu. In that menu set Enable Remote [.] Make sure there is a dot inside the square brackets, meaning it’s enable…
CHDK Settings: Extra Photo Operations
Now go into the Extra Photo Operations menu at the top of the main menu and set: Disable Overrides [disable] Include AutoIso & Bracketi [.] Override shutter speed [1/10000] Value factor [1] Shutterspeed emun type [Ev Step] Override aperture [5.03] Override Subj. Dist. V [350] Value factor [1] Override ISO value [80] Value factor [1] Force manual flash [.] Power of flas…
Adjusting the Camera Settings
Normally you would be triggering an external flash, while the shutter is open using a cable release with the camera in ‘bulb’ mode. Once the flash goes off, you let the shutter close. This requires the room to be darken because the shutter will be open for many seconds. In this setup you can have the room lights on because the flash and shutter are triggered at the sam…
Adjusting the circuit
With your drop rig in place mount the photoresistor to one of the steel brackets and the laser on the other one. Adjust the position of the laser so that the droplets fall through the beam. Adjust the position of the photoresistor so that it’s illuminated with the laser. Power up the circuit. LED1 will light up, indicating power. Before we begin using the eye-dropper,…
Third party manufacturers that want to make iPhone/iPod charging devices have to agree to a secret hardware setup that will allow the devices to work, and promise to not disclose what components and specifications are needed to make a charger work. Engineer/hacker/braniac Ladyada (of adafruit.com fame) disassembles a few charging devices to investigate the exact resistors used, and how a wall charging device (AC) differs from a battery charging device.
Read more of her notes and explanations about USB charging, the differences in iPhone chargers over the last few generations, and a great photo of the innards of an iPhone wall jack.
Adafruit sells a variety of electronics kids: Arduino supplies, breakout boards, power supplies and more.
If you want to build your own battery-powered Apple charger, get the adafruit MintyBoost kit here.
Two other fun and hilarious electronics kits from them: Tweet-a-Watt and the Digg Button Kit.
One part of the video of particular interest is the soldering blower unit that Ladyada uses. Designed to allow for the teeny-tiny components to be soldered or removed safely instead of being bashed with a blazing hot metal iron tip, this thing melts the solder with hot air, so you can then safely manipulate it as needed. She uses the Hakko 851 hot air soldering station – it’s not cheap, but I think I need to get one of those things.
The 851 hot air rework station is ideal for soldering and desoldering small surface mount chip components, heating heat-shrink tubing, and other local heating operations.
• adjustable temperature control from 100°C to 540°C (212°F to 1004°F)
On Catch It Keep It, I had the weekly challenge of designing and building an insane method for destroying an object of considerable value, and then figuring out and building a solution to the same challenge in order to show the contestants that the objective was not impossible, should they fail.
Being who I am, I often found my solutions breaking the “keep it simple” rule – partially because the contestants usually took the simple route, and partially because I wanted these things to be awesome. That created situations with considerable potential for failure, when failure really wasn’t an option. But the show was real, and just like in real life sometimes things don’t go as planned…
This is not going to end well...
Episode five was the Les Paul challenge. Who doesn’t drool over the idea of owning a heavy, thick slab of rock lore? I sure do (although, sadly, the prizes were only for the contestants). The method of destruction? Surround the guitar with 100 lbs of thermite – a compound that burns at 4500 degrees. That’s a LOT of thermite – we had to special order the materials (aluminum powder and iron oxide) due to the quantity requested.
As the episode geared up, I had two solutions in mind: surround that heavy, thick guitar with a heavy, thick box, and shield the whole thing with ceramic tiles and sand (interesting aside: I successfully fused sand into glass during testing), or mechanically extract the guitar from the stage. The contestants wisely, but boringly, chose a box solution – essentially building a fortified dog house, not the most exciting build to watch for an hour, but it had the best potential for winning. Thankfully, they added a small external cooling system to keep things interesting; I thought Bruce’s idea to wrap the entire thing in copper pipe and pump cold water through like a radiator would have been brilliant, but it got vetoed by their team.
I wanted my solution to be big and exciting, and I had drawn up plans that were just that: a pulley system that would loop the guitar and fly it off the stage along a line that ended in a protective net. In order to actuate the lasso/pulley, the system needed a tall tower for a counterweight fall from, connected to the pulley via a block and tackle system that would move the guitar quickly.
It worked great in testing, over and over. But perhaps we tested it one time too many, perhaps a line got tangled, or perhaps the lasso connection was tied too tightly and didn’t want to release. Either way, I never imagined I’d be responsible for torching a $2000 Les Paul.
As frustrating as that was, I’ll admit that the footage of the flames raining down on the guitar is absolutely mesmerizing and beautiful, especially in slow motion. I put the clip online, and as a bonus added a couple other slow motion shots from the show as well.
Vinyl records have a unique place in the world of music media. Aside from their warm analog tone, vinyl is the only popular medium that is nearly impossible to create or duplicate at home – something that can’t be claimed by cassettes, CDs, DVDs, and certainly not mp3s. Not to be an apologist for piracy, this inherently creates more value for recorded music than using an easily reproducible medium (be it physically or digitally) does. But as we all know, digital is the present and the future, and I am not complaining about that at all; one look at my iTunes playlist and you’ll know what I mean.
Now, if you haven’t seen the exact process in how records are created, you might be surprised at how much manual cooperation is involved. From inspecting the metal pressing discs and the lacquered masters, to centering the disc for hole punching, you’ve got sweet old ladies who are meticulously making sure your music will sound great. And the actual assembly process, even with automation, is like something you’d see in a Detroit auto maker’s factory: heavy hydraulic equipment pressing hot platters into precision shapes, rotating slicers, and vacuum-assisted label placers.
You can watch the whole process happen, courtesy of Discovery’s “How It’s Made” – part two is where things get interesting.
Using the wooden strips, make a box around the glass plate. Seal off the edges using the window cement. Make sure everything is air tight.
Step 2
Place your record inside the box making sure that the portion to be copied is facing upward. Squeeze in some window cement to mark where the hole in the record is.
Pour in the mixture. Start from one corner and let it fill-up the mold to about half a centimeter. Make sure it’s even. Let it dry for 6 hours.
Step 5
Peel off the silicone from the cast. Cut off the excess using a cutter.
Step 6
Pour the liquid plastic (Smooth On Task #4) on top of the silicone cast.
Step 7
Make sure that nothing spills over the round form. You can also brush off any air bubbles that might occur.
Step 8
Carefully loosen the plate from the silicone form. Using a drill press, bore a hole through the center of the plate. You can use the silicone form as a template to make more copies.
There you have it. Your very own pirated record.
(QJ translated this from the German site Zeit.de, also unavailable except via archive)
How well does this work? To be seen… the next step is to rip a vinyl record (pretty easy to do using a USB turntable), then cast a copy of it using this technique. Rip the copy, compare waveforms and look for any major discrepancies. That’s today’s project.
These links come from the music blog/record label I collaborate on: Sneakmove.com – we have put out a few vinyl records of our own. If you’re into limited edition 7″ compilations featuring unique songs from amazing bands, you should take a peek at our catalog and help support independent music by purchasing a collectible record or two.
I’ll give a “DO IT Reader’s Discount” to anyone buying Minicomp 2, Minicomp 3, or the Languis/MMC split CD: $4 each. Click the album cover below to order with the special price.
This is a low-cost, easy to follow project that appeals to all of us who have wanted to sound like a guitar god at some point. Delay pedals are a staple effect of so many musicians these days. Take U2’s The Edge; his sound is almost entirely based on the use of delay.
The Instructable for this project goes light on the actual electronics, but fortunately many more detailed writeups exist already. The case for it gets more attention, and you can tell – it looks professional.
One note that is made in this interesting piece by RG Keen on the economics of pedal building – if you’re doing this to try to save money, don’t. Cheap delay and effects pedals can be bought new for as low as $20 – and used for even less. But there is a real value in building something yourself, so make sure to calculate that aspect in as you prepare yourself to embark on this project.
My schematic is largely (read: almost entirely) based upon Casper Electronics’ EchoBender pedal, which is in turn largely based on Tonepad’s Rebote 2.5 Delay pedal, which is in turn, more or less, based upon the example schematic in the PT2399 datasheet. Having breadboard all three, I personally can not hear a significant difference in sound between the Casper Electronic version and the one on Tonepad, which some people say is superior sounding (the one in the datasheet just sounds flat). The nice thing about the Casper Electronics version is the inclusion of a feedback pot, which gives a really full sound to the echo effect.
I’ve been gathering materials and information to build a CNC machine for a while, but keep putting it off because I haven’t thought of any exact application I need one for just yet (aside from milling a Hellraiser-style cube). Then I saw this: a CNC milled all-aluminum tape dispenser. A 1lb thing of beauty. Beautifully crafted, ready to deliver whatever length of tape you need, short or long.
This project has kick-started my creative juices with a whole slew of fun CNC projects. Of course, anything done in metal will need a sturdy machine (the great book Build Your Own CNC Machine has all the steps and templates to make one from MDF), but I can envision a wood version of this tape dispenser that would look super kickass as well.
It’s absolute overkill. Over a pound of 6061 aluminum, every part CNC machined and yes, it’s just a scotch tape dispenser. This is the creation of the Advanced CNC class at Laney College as taught by Bob Rice. I programmed and machined all the parts from drawings using MasterCAM, a Chevalier toolroom mill and a Haas SL lathe. All the threads were single-point cut and threaded holes rigid tapped. Every part required at least two operations, every face is machined.
Just in time for father’s day – or just a treat for yourself – the Makita 18v lithium drill/driver is a kickass tool that lists for $398, regularly sells for $197 ($199 at Home Depot) and today (Sunday, June 6) is available for $149. Comes with hard case, TWO batteries and charger.
One of the guys on the Catch It Keep It crew had this drill so I got to use it a lot – it was easily the best drill we had in the workshop, and I’ve been looking for one for myself for a while. Lightweight, powerful. Good torque. Very nice ergonomics.
Upper Austria University of Applied Sciences has a hardware-software design program with a fantastic competition: Hexapod robot dance-off. I don’t know much about it as of right now but I am going to do some serious research because this looks like a great program.
From the Youtube description:
We are proud to present the best of dance compilation from the 5th Hexapod Championship held in April 2010. Get behind-the-scenes footage at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV6nKXydHv8
The Panasonic FX37 (get the upgraded model for $144 $129(!!) here) is a great camera. Fast, wide-angle lens, (f/2.8, 25mm equivalent) in a compact package with all the modern features (image stabilization, HD video, facial recognition, etc). And it takes really nice photos. However there is one downside: its sensor seems to attract dust, which is especially noticeable when zooming in on a bright object (such as the sky).
I’m not sure if this is a matter of the case being poorly sealed compared to other pocket cameras, but it is frustrating. Thankfully, the remedy is fast and simple: by removing a few small screws, you are able to access the sensor inside the camera. A few bursts of air and a quick reassembly is all it takes to be snapping photos like the camera is brand new.
I made a quick video tutorial of how to access and clean the sensor– the entire process takes less than 10 minutes. Make things smoother on yourself by getting the tools together before starting the process. You don’t want to leave the case open any longer than necessary.
Be careful disassembling your camera. This will almost surely void your warranty (a warranty that probably can be used to have the company clean the sensor for you), so be certain that you are willing to risk breaking your camera forever. I take no responsibility for any damage incurred following these instructions. Now, go clean that sensor!
Hi, I'm Mike. I’m the co-host of Science channel’s Punkin' Chunkin' and Catch It Keep It. I work on TV shows explaining and building the crazy machines that crush stuff, blow things up, shoot fire, all in the name of science.
You may have seen me on fuse TV's Rock and Roll Acid Test, where I helped put some of rock's biggest legends and lore to the test.
I'm a former staffer and current contributor to Wired and ReadyMade, two awesome magazines that focus on technology and diy living.
This site is where I keep a list of instructions for fun projects I've done or am working on. I encourage everyone to get involved - get up and make something!
