Adam Savage shows us around his amazing “hidden workshop of wonder” in San Francisco on Tested.
The workshop is filled with notable film props, costumes, specialized tools, collector items and more. He shows us how he made a relatively inexpensive display case into something fantastic for showing off a few of his many collectible items as well as giving us a peek into how he manages and organizes his many tools, bits, accessories and more.
Creating basic circuits by hand is the best way to learn about how electronics work and using a breadboard has traditionally been the best way to do this, at least until now. Circuit Scribe is a kickstarter project that features a cool new ball point pen that uses a conductive silver ink which is perfect for drawing simple circuits. Utilizing just a Circuit Scribe pen, piece of paper, and a few electronic components like a LED light or a small motor, you can create just about any small project that you can imagine. This catchy idea has already pulled in $260,000, which is far beyond the set goal of $85,000.
This pen would make a great tool for children to use in the classroom to learn about simple circuits and there’s even a Classroom kit that includes 10 basic kits and a activity book. You can also buy just one basic kit for yourself to see what you can come up with. You can also get two larger kits, the Maker Kit and Developer Kit.
Each kit includes the Circuit Scribe pen which can be purchased separately for $20.
Here’s what’s in the Basic Kit (Cost $30):
Maker Kit ( Cost $50):
Developer Kit ( Cost $100):
If you are like me and love building garage kits, but can never find any good information on products to use and detailed tutorials, you have come to the right place, because I finally found it!
Leona’s Workshop is a YouTube channel (and website) I stumbled upon while searching for useful and vital information before beginning on my own garage kit. I have never found such useful tips and guides before. She has a very good tutorial about what tools and products to use. As for her building videos, they are easy to follow and she has a high standard for detail which makes the tutorials worth it.
So if you haven’t already, go check it out!
While reading through a few articles on web, I came across a truly inspiring video. It’s about a 98 year-old man named Hal Lasko who creates amazing 8-bit style artwork using Microsoft Paint. Hal worked as a graphic artist when he was younger and he used to create his own unique typography by hand.
Hal started using Microsoft Paint later on in his retirement when his family introduced it to him around 2005. Hal has been spending hours upon hours every day since then creating his own unique artwork.
You can view more of Hal Lasko’s artwork at hallasko.com and for a deeper look into Hal Lasko’s world, you can head to WIRED.
This is a great build video for an 8x8x8 LED cube by Kevin Darrah that I stumbled upon on the web. It goes over the basic build techniques and shows you how to utilize a jig for assembling the LED arrays. As you watch the video you will quickly begin to realize that this project is not for the entry-level builder, clearly this is something that will consume a lot of your time and patience but the end result is awesome. Either way, it’s interesting to see how it all comes together.
There are many Arduino builds out there that can be great for beginners. If you’re not familiar with Arduino then I highly recommend that you read this introduction to Arduino, it covers everything you will need to get up-to-speed on what it’s all about.
You can find many projects in the Arduino Playground, they include schematics and code to help you build cool stuff. If you want to make a much more novice-friendly 3×3 LED Cube you can use these schematics and code.
So what are you waiting for? Find a project and get building!