blog: Cooking & molding bioplastics at home: recipes, results & tips Inspired by Mendel Heit, Martin Bauer and Jay Cousins we've been doing a lot of playing around with bioplastics. Here you can see the original post with a video that shows you how they made bioplastic. Additionally this video is quite helpful. So why have I been spending every minute of my free time cooking bioplastic? Basically the idea is: make a biodegradable plastic in your own home. Theoretically home made bioplastics could be of great benefit to hobbyists and hardware hackers.
Make CNC DIY Projects & Products | MakeCNC.com LIFT 2010 : Résumé d’une seconde journée de conférences Voici le résumé de cette deuxième journée de conférence de la LIFT 2010 à Marseille du 7 juillet 2010. Au programme du Hacking de people, les techniques pour développer son cerveau et tout un passage sur la gestion de liberté numérique. bref une journée intéressante encore bien remplit. Anab Jain, Superflux, nous présente un petit film qui commence avec la douce musique de Dallas pour nous expliquer comment on peut Hacker les gens. Elle nous exprime sa vision du futur dans notre société moderne avec l’utilisation de FabLabs pour créer notre environnement à l’instar des grands groupes industriels d’aujourd’hui. Elle nous explique que ce sont aussi les designers et les penseurs d’aujourd’hui qui vont créer le monde de demain, sans forcement concevoir réellement un objet, mais en développent juste un concept. François Taddéi, INSERM, nous explique que pour pouvoir développer son cerveau il faut d’abord s’ouvrir au monde nous environnant et le comprendre. Adriana Lukas, The Mine!
How to Make a Three Axis CNC Machine (Cheaply and Easily) A salute to those who have laboured through to this point (and to demonstrate that it is reproducable) Here are some pictures of other peoples machines. Photo 1 - Chris and his friend put together this unit; laser cutting the parts out of half inch acrylic. Not only does it look super it must weigh a ton. Photo 2 - Sam McCaskill has finished his desktop CNC machine and it's looking really really nice. Photo 3 - Angry Monk's - With MDF pieces cut on a laser cutter and drive converted from toothed belts to threaded rod Photo 4 - Bret Golab's - Bret has completed his and gone through the extra step of getting it setup to work with Linux CNC (a task I attempted and was foiled by complexity). (If you have built one and would like it featured here, please send me a PM and we can arrange for the sending of photos)
Design*Sponge Calls for Peace Between Pros and DIY-ers | Co.Design "Don't worry," Grace Bonney, founder of the blog design*sponge told a ballroom full of designers at IDSA's international conference in Portland, Oregon last night. "DIYers won't replace you. We're not trying to take your jobs." Why the defensiveness? The conference's topic might have something to do with it. As one of the most influential voices in the area deemed "threat," Bonney tried to walk a diplomatic line, assuring the audience that her community, while talented and eager, was in no position to swoop in and land the HP account. "We don't have your talent," she said. While acknowledging that the crafts movement has its faults -- too often, they copy other peoples' designs, there's frequently a lack of quality control, they can be lazy when it comes to innovation (her words, not mine!) "They've revived the love of creation at the simplest level," she said. Lindsay Adelman's chandelier, also available as a DIY kit An alarm clock by Natalie Duckett [Grace Bonney photo by Anna Wolf]
Elliot Washor: Making Their Way: Creating a Generation of "Thinkerers" "Rise above oneself and grasp the world." -Archimedes (engraved on the Fields Medal) Making is making a comeback. A cornucopia of fabrication and tech labs public and private are sprouting throughout the country. Maker Faires -- sprawling outdoor extravaganzas that combine the atmosphere of a medieval fair with old low-tech and new high-tech garages -- are bringing makers of all ages together to share their work and their learning. These new expressions of "thinkering" bring the wizened tinkerer and the tech-savvy youth together in playful competitions that range from the serious and sublime to the deliberately frivolous and outrageous. Making provides opportunities for young people to use their hands and their minds together. Sadly, however, to observe these young "thinkerers" is to be at least temporarily deluded into believing that this is what many of our young people are all about. We reviewed disturbing data on how young people spend their time.
DIY is not so threatening. Highlights from the IDSA 2010 Conference The Industrial Design Society of America held it’s annual conference in Portland last week. I had the great fortune to present Ponoko’s response to “DIY: Threat or Opportunity”. I also think DIY and making are at the very core of being a designer. Some highlights in no particular order: Chad Jennings from Blurb presented his interpretation of the DIY revolution as a 3 phase development. 1: Mass customization (Nike iD) 2: People Powered Products (Moo, Blurb, Ponoko, Shapeways), 3: Towards people powered businesses. Jay Rogers talked us through how Local Motors is co-creating unique cars. Tine Latein provided us with a personal insight in the process of designing, manufacturing and market her awesome 3D printed Einzeller necklace. Martin Van Tilburg walked us through the design and development of the Toideloi Stackhouse, a modular kid’s playhouse. All in all it was an inspirational and fun week.
Online : Eri Gentry interviews Melanie Swan of DIYgenomics We have surely entered the age of citizen science! Take, for example, my father’s reaction thirty years ago to a family history of colon cancer. He wholly cut out red meat, began taking vitamins, and started exercising daily. Melanie is a prime example of someone utilizing growing genomics research to learn about herself. To learn more about Melanie’s pioneering citizen science work, here’s a brief interview I conducted with her: Eri Gentry: How did you get involved in genomic research? EG: What exactly is DIYgenomics? EG: DIYgenomics is utilizing crowd-sourced research. EG: What have you learned by using a participative approach to research? EG: Do you anticipate continuing to crowd-source research data? EG: What are the most promising research areas for DIYgenomics? EG: DNA research is getting quicker and cheaper but whole genome sequencing is still out-of-reach for the average person. EG: What is your long-term vision for DIYgenomics? EG: What excites you most about your work? More:
Do-It-Yourself Information for Home Improvement Projects - DIY Ideas Cool Copper Projects Warm metallic hues are easy to love but often pricey. When you create the look... Easy Doily Bowl Craft a decorative bowl from a doily picked up from a flea market, antique... Camper Birdhouse Encourage birds to stay awhile with an adorable vintage birdhouse. Making the Modern Do-It-Yourself Biology Laboratory (video Could a bio lab be coming to a garage near you? There was a time when only scientists used computers. Now systems that are thousands of times more powerful are available to nearly everyone. Bio-technology could follow the same course. However, if you want to tackle genetic testing, synthetic biology, etc then you’re going to need some serious hardware. Electrophoresis, polymerase chain reactions, fluorescent spectrometry – these are all really basic techniques but they still require specialized machines that can cost thousands of dollars. It’s been more than a year since we covered DIYbio.org, the online website where many would be bio-tech hobbyists share information. If you have a lab. The Hardware We’ve already covered one amateur biology hardware project: the Pearl Gel Box – an open hardware electrophoresis gel box from Pearl Biotech. Jakowski and Josh Perfetto are developing another open hardware lab tool: a polymerase chain reaction thermocycler. Problems with Wetware and DNA
Remaking a portable stool My grandfather used to make portable stools from a couple of thin pieces of wood that tied together with a simple string. Growing up we usually had a couple of these “tie stools” conveniently stashed around the house, and we always got them out for backyard barbecues and took them with us when we went camping. Although my woodworking skills are nowhere near what my grandfather’s were, we’ve been inspired by that stool to play around with making small, lightweight furniture that can be disassembled, stacked flat and tied together for easy transport. My first try was pretty wobbly, and felt like a little twist would splinter it. A couple of revisions later, I have a reasonably sturdy stool that is held together with a nylon strap. While plywood is inexpensive and a reasonable material for prototyping, miniatures in paperboard are much faster to make and are a pretty good analog for the behavior of the wood. We’d love to hear about any other classic designs you think should be remade.