makezine.com: MAKE Television

Introducing Make: television

Presenting a new national series from MAKE magazine, Twin Cities Public Television, and American Public Television.

Make: is the DIY series for a new generation! It celebrates "Makers" - the inventors, artists, geeks and just plain everyday folks who mix new and old technology to create new-fangled marvels. Check out the Episode Guide to watch segments and read descriptions of previous episodes.

MAKE: television Episode 1: Bicycle Rodeo & VCR Powered Cat Feeder

For those of you who like to see the whole episodes of Make: television, here's a chance to see episode 1 in all it's glory. Meet Cyclecide, an inventive band of performance artists who build outrageous bicycle contraptions straight... Read More

MAKE: television Episode 2: Aerial Kite Photography & Burrito Blaster

Make: television Episode 2: Maker Cris Benton takes spectacular aerial photographs by rigging remote-controlled cameras to high flying kites. In the Maker Workshop John Park builds a Burrito Blaster, which can propel a burrito 50 yards, and Mister Jalopy... Read More

MAKE: television Episode 3: Steampunk & Pole Camera

Enter the alternative universe of Jake Von Slatt, a leading Steampunk Maker, who turns modern technology into Victorian works of art. In the Maker Workshop, John Park mounts a remote control camera on a painter's pole to take stunning... Read More

Make: television Episode 4: Fire Sculpture & DTV Antenna

Meet the Flaming Lotus Girls, a women-centric maker collaborative that creates gargantuan, fire-breathing sculptures. In the Workshop, John Park builds a digital TV antenna from wire coat hangers and a $10 video camera stabilizer. William Gurstelle shows surprising uses... Read More

MAKE: television Episode 5: Kinetic Wave Sculptures & Shopping Cart Chair

Tour the elegant and hypnotic motorized wave sculptures, created by visionary maker Reuben Margolin. In the Maker Workshop John Park upcycles a discarded shopping cart into a stylish easy chair, and Mister Jalopy details the unsung wonders of his... Read More

MAKE: television Episode 6: Music Machines & Trebuchet

Enter the plugged-in world of Tim Kaiser, a maker who fashions experimental musical instruments from scavenged objects. In the Workshop John Park assembles a portable trebuchet from plastic plumbing pipe, and circuit bender Bianca Pettis demystifies the art of... Read More

MAKE: television Episode 7: Urban Projections & Wind Generator

Bike along with Ali Momeni and his fleet of mobile video projectors that transform public spaces into massive sound and light shows. In the Workshop, John Park combines a used treadmill motor and PVC pipe to build a wind... Read More

MAKE: television Episode 8: Watershed Sculptures & Miniature Robots

We journey upstream with environmentalist Dan McCormick, a maker who crafts intricate watershed sculptures out of woven willow. In the Workshop, John Park shows how to build lively and inexpensive miniature robots. Mister Jalopy reveals the hidden treasures of... Read More

Make: television Episode 9: Computer Making Music & Personal Flight Recorder

Meet CCRMA, a group of musical makers who stretch the sonic boundaries by turning personal computers into an electronic symphony. In the Workshop, John Park hacks a Wii controller and turns it into a personal flight recorder that can... Read More

MAKE: television Episode 10: Wearable Technology & Cigar Box Guitar

Visit SparkLab founder and designer Syuzi Pakhchyan, a maker who explores the new frontier of high tech and fashion with her space age handiwork. In the Workshop, John Park shows us how to build a guitar out of a... Read More

Make: Online

with the editors and authors of MAKE Friday November 20, 2009

Suggest a Site!

Vacuum tube prototyping board

Bruce Heran made this prototyping board for his tube projects. He writes:

This is a project that I made to take care of an ever increasing need to prototype vacuum tube (valve) circuits. As you can see from the photos, it really is a test "board." I do a lot of work with tubes and love to design and improve circuits. In the process I often use various CAD type programs to rough out the designs. I have frequently found that the models do not agree with the final build. Some are right on, but most are off enough to turn a good idea into a waste of time. Thus the need to quickly prototype designs. Now I could have created this board with many additional features - speakers, output transformers, LEDs... But what I needed was a simple way to test single stage tube circuits. So for simplicity I wired the tube pins together (pin 1 to pin 1 and so on). The leads from the pins are brought out to terminals on a "Euro" style terminal strip. I included several other "Euro" strips, a pair of RCA jacks, a 100 k-ohm variable resistor and solderless prototype breadboard. This solderless breadboard is available in various sizes from several sources. If you build one of these boards, feel free to use the idea to adapt it to your needs and use whatever parts you so desire.

[Thanks, Gio!]

DIY Vacuum Tube Prototyping Board

Posted by Gareth Branwyn | 3:00 PM in Electronics, Retro | | Discuss (0)

Free LED Cookbook from TI

By way of Andrew Q Righter of HacDC comes word of this free PDF from Texas Instruments, a 41-page "cookbook" of circuit designs and application notes for TI's LED-related components. [Thanks, Andrew!] LED Reference Design Cookbook [PDF]... Read More

How-To: Open source intervalometer for Canon, Nikon cameras

Instructables user peterdr has put together a really excellent tutorial on how to build his CT-1 open-source hardware intervalometer for Canon and Nikon digital cameras. There's more info about the project at his personal website, and a parts kit is for sale on Amazon.com. Read More

PYMT, a multi-touch library for Python

Interested in building programs with fancy multi-touch interfaces? Speak Python? Well, in that case you might want to have a look at PYMT. Read More

Make: Projects - Pneumatic trough, part II

Last week I wrote about how to construct a simple sheet metal "bridge," which, in combination with an ice cube bucket and a jelly jar, makes an effective pneumatic trough for collecting gas samples over water. This week I'm going to show you how to use this apparatus to generate and collect pure oxygen, and how to use that oxygen to observe the brilliant blue flame of sulfur oxidation. Read More

Cardboard tube battle

My local library picked up on the festive trend of Cardboard Tube Fighting. The Boston Globe covered the preparations: The group discovered cardboard tube fighting last summer in time to incorporate a bit of it into a presentation on Greek mythology at a reading program party. The weapons are cylindrical pieces of thick cardboard about 4 feet long. The appeal, explains young-adult librarian Ellen Snoeyenbos: "It's totally ridiculous.'' As word of mock combat with reliably harmless weaponry spread among the town's youthful warriors, Snoeyenbos and the Bookmarks seized on the fund-raiser as a chance to exploit their discovery of the fighting fad made popular by YouTube. Saturday's event will feature one-on-one tournaments, guild-on-guild skirmishes (up to 10 fighters per team), "and an all-out battle for possession of the Royal Crown,'' according to the club. Read More

Make: Holiday Gift Guide 2009: Gifts for dads

There's a funny thing about dads' toys. Very often, kids borrow dad's supposedly grown-up toys and dad plays with toys designed for a much younger demographic. With that in mind, we present the Gifts for Dads list, filled with stuff that may appeal to more than one generation in your household. Read More