Table of contents for Vol 92 - Spring 2025 in Make:

MAKE: MAGAZINE AT 20 It’s been an amazing 20 years, and we couldn’t have made this magazine what it is without you, our readers. And we mean that literally! Make: authors are often Make: readers first! It’s your kind words and dedication — and creative projects — that keep us going. —The Editors I’ve subscribed to Make: since issue #1. Attended all the Maker Faires at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan. It’s been life changing. I want to help keep this space alive so everyone can find their inner maker! —Brian Smith I have been a subscriber since nearly the first issue and love the community and innovation that Make: highlights. —Jared Siirila A longtime reader who believes in the maker movement and the good it can bring. I…

I had the opportunity to bring back together members of the first team who helped develop Make: magazine, taking an idea I had and turning it into something real and tangible. I am grateful for all that they did. DALE: Mark, when I first talked to you about a new magazine I wanted to start, you were in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. MARK: I was there with my two young daughters and [wife] Carla. You had been doing the Hacks series of books at O’Reilly and you wanted to do a general-interest “recreational technology” magazine. DALE: I had no experience publishing a magazine, but I had connected to John Battelle. He knew you from Wired. MARK: About four months later, I came back from Rarotonga and I flew out…

FAB LAB FOUNDER LOOKS BACK AND TO THE FUTURE It was 20 years ago today … that Dale Dougherty (not Sgt. Pepper) came to play. I’m proud now to have been the first interview in Make:, although I was puzzled at the time. I’d been making things all my life, but didn’t get why that act warranted capitalization, or a magazine, or becoming a noun+verb+adjective. Rereading the interview now, I’d give myself a C for vision, a B for technology, and an A for people. Vision In the interview I mentioned some of the places fab labs had spread to, but didn’t note that each was inspired by another lab opening. That led to exponential growth (as measured by the fablabs.io portal); there are now around 3,000 fab labs in…

Compass is a DIY handheld CNC router designed to make CNC machining more accessible. Unlike traditional CNCs that move a cutting tool within a fixed workspace, Compass relies on you to guide the device around your workpiece. As you move it, it automatically adjusts the cutting tool to stay on the programmed design path, enabling accurate, large-scale cuts with a much smaller device. This is all accomplished using optical flow mouse sensors to track the position of the device, and a leadscrew-driven gantry to adjust the tool. The brains are a Teensy 4.1 microcontroller. Why a Handheld CNC? The concept of a handheld CNC machine may seem a little backwards at first. CNC machines are big hunks of metal and motors, with spinning blades to cut things with. How and…

TIME REQUIRED: A Weekend DIFFICULTY: Moderate COST: $100–$150 MATERIALS: » Heat gun, Warrior brand, 1500W, dualtemperature from Harbor Freight » Rotary flour sifter, stainless steel, 8-cup capacity preferably with a flange on the bottom. Chef Giant CGK6056 or similar from TigerChef, Amazon, etc. » Aluminum pizza pan, 13", 18 gauge such as American Metalcraft TP13, from Amazon. All the aluminum parts can be cut from one pan, but there’s very little “wiggle room” for a miscut piece. I recommend you order two. » Gearmotor, 12VDC, 100RPM, 6mm shaft Greartisan brand, Amazon B072R57C56 » Flange coupling connector, 6mm ID such as Amazon B0CJMDKN8N » Speed control, 12VDC output, 2A I used Aledeco brand, Amazon B09XB18PPN » Jack and plug, low voltage I used RCA audio connectors. » Cable, 2-wire, 24ga or…

Time to mix two of my favorite things: bubble blasters and companion bots! In this article, I’m going to show you how to hack a bubble blaster to make your own bubble-blowing buddy. ABOUT BUBBLE BLASTERS The idea for this companion bot came from a workshop I ran at my makerspace, Radio Snack (instagram.com/radiosnack.tech). My friend Andy Quitmeyer of Digital Naturalism Labs (dinalab.net) donated a bunch of bubble blasters for us to hack. A couple of years ago, Andy wrote a zine called BubblePunk about using bubbles as an environmentally friendly, disruptive activist tool and upcycling technology. You can find a copy of the zine at dinalab.net/2023/04/10/bubblepunk, as well as all of Andy’s super useful instructions on how to disassemble bubble blasters, make bubble solution, and more! When taking apart…

Color in the boxes of anything you’ve already completed, visualize your skills, and identify your skill gaps. Get inspired to try new things, and tailor the skill tree to suit your own journey by swapping in your own goals.…

It’s a rare thing to start a magazine and see it survive for 20 years. It’s even rarer that a magazine would become a catalyst for a community and a movement, based on a set of ideas: • It’s part of human nature to make things. It’s who we are at our best. • We are all makers, but not everyone realizes they have the gift. • Look at the many physical and digital tools for making things. • Makers create all kinds of things for work and play, from the serious to the silly. • We foster a kind and generous community that welcomes all. One of the questions I’ve been asked, and it’s awkward for me, is “How did you create the maker movement?” I usually start by…

A few weeks ago, a family of three teenagers walked through the WonderLab doors. One of them had dark hair covering their face, walking behind the rest of the family, and was clearly not sure about the bright, colorful space they had just entered. I observed as they took notice of the animatronic welcoming them into the lab, and I figured it was a good sign. As they walked through the rooms, deciding where to land, I noticed a glimmer of interest in our circuitry activity. I watched as the facilitator in the room welcomed them in and showed an example of how easy it was to make a noise or light machine. Quietly, they took some pieces and parts to work on at a station. When I returned 15…

MARK FRAUENFELDER: Mark was the first editor for Make: magazine. He had worked at Wired and was a founder of Boing Boing. Today, he’s research director at a nonprofit think tank called Institute for the Future, and they’re in Palo Alto, California. DAVID ALBERTSON: David came up with the design and format for Make: magazine. He is a graphic designer who has his own firm, Albertson Design in San Francisco. SHAWN CONNALLY: Shawn was the managing editor for Make:, working with Mark as well as copy editors and designers to produce the magazine. Today, she divides her time between Occidental, California, and New Mexico. She is a master gardener. PAUL SPINRAD: Paul was an early contributor to Make: and then joined the team as an editor. Today, he’s a technical…

Twenty years ago, I wrote a column called “News from the Future” for the first issue of Make: magazine. I based it on the notion from science-fiction writer William Gibson that “The future is here. It’s just not evenly distributed yet.” Makers, hackers, hobbyists, and enthusiasts, I argued, are living in a future that we will all one day catch up to. The list of projects from early issues of Make: did indeed bring momentous news from the future. Drones, anyone? Ubiquitous wireless networking? Autonomous vehicles? Earth sensing? Biohacking? Shoebox-sized satellites are now launched by the thousands from reusable launch rockets built by private companies. We increasingly get our internet, and soon, our phone service, from space. Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has built his fortune on hardware innovation.…

Let’s close this article by crediting the engineers who played key roles in interconnecting today’s high frequency and broadband electronics. The BNC connector was patented in 1951 by Dr. Octavio Salati of Hazeltine Electronics Corporation. He simplified the threaded N connector developed earlier by Paul Neill of Bell Laboratories and the quick-release C connector invented by Amphenol’s Carl Concelman. The new connector was designated BNC after Bayonet-Neill-Concelman. You can learn more about the history of BNC connectors in a Hackaday article by Dan Maloney (hackaday.com/2018/10/19/the-bnc) and a Botland article by Sandra Marcinkowska (botland.store/blog/bnc-connector) — though this history is not without controversy, writes electrical engineer Davide Andrea (reddit.com/r/rfelectronics/comments/lwa9tc) SMA connectors were developed under the leadership of Dr. John H. Bryant at Bendix Research Laboratories Division from 1955 to 1962. Existing coax…

Tell us about your faves: editor@makezine.com Prusa MK4S $1,099 assembled, $799 kit, $99 upgrade kit (for MK4) prusa3d.com Historically, the “S” model upgrades for both the MK2S and MK3S focused on improving reliability, durability, and ease of maintenance. The MK4S is no different with a batch of upgrades that translate into improved print quality, faster print speed, and quality-of life-improvements. On paper, the bed-slinging MK4S is on par with the total print times of popular Core-XY printers touted for such high print speeds. The MK4S features: • High-flow nozzle — The custom-designed Core Heating Technology (CHT) nozzle works with both specialty high-flow filament and regular filament. • 360° cooling system — A large fan combined with a 360° shroud can cool particularly challenging overhangs at angles up to 75°! •…

Know a project that would be perfect for Made on Earth? Let us know: editor@makezine.com IT REALLY TILES THE ROOM TOGETHER CHUCKSOMMERVILLE.COM If you’ve ever watched the Times Square Ball drop on New Year’s Eve with its many LED lights and patterns, you’ve seen the work of Chuck Sommerville, a longtime game designer and LED artist based in Folsom, California. His Penrose Tile Wall is accessible throughout the year, and has exhibited at Burning Man and last year at Maker Faire Bay Area. Measuring 18×9 feet, each of its 900 diamondshaped “cells” contains two lighting modules with three 12V LEDs each. The “backplane” wall itself is mounted to a steel Unistrut framework. Sommerville crafted the 18-piece backplane out of melamine with the help of a team of friends. They used…

Though it’s commonly associated with dinging bells and chimes in the 1960s, and electronic whirring and beeps in the 1980s, the pinball machine has entered a new era of popularity. These physical, electromechanical games entered a rough patch during the influx of video games in the 1990s. But in 2023, The Economist reported that sales of new machines by pinball’s biggest manufacturer, Stern, rose by 15–20% every year since 2008. Pinball tournaments and community events are booming too, with thousands being held each year. Part of this resurgence in the pinball business can strangely be credited to the Covid-19 pandemic. While it hurt arcades, barcades, and the social aspects of pinball, it increased demand for home buyers. People who were staying home during lockdown found joy in owning their own…

• CRIS BENTON, Berkeley, California, writes: Like Make: I find myself 20 years older and this places me in the state of contented retirement. I continue to play around with KAP, using low level photographs in sustained, longitudinal projects to document and understand landscapes of interest. My South Bay Salt Pond work led to exhibits at the Exploratorium and to Saltscapes, a book with Heyday Press. Another KAP project documents the coastal defenses of San Francisco Bay. These days I am splitting my time between grandkids, camping, and travel but still get a kite up now and then. flickr.com/photos/kap_cris • JOHNNY LEE, Redmond, Washington, writes: I am working on AI experiences for wearable devices like AR glasses. Very “buzzwordy,” I know. Previously, I developed spatial computing technology for Google, and…

After years of hauling music equipment to jams — and ages hooking it up — synthesizer guru Mark Vail (markvail.com) and I found a solution: We prewired small, battery-powered synths to effects processors and packed it all into briefcases. Now we could simply flip open the lids, plug into the P.A., and play; with headphones we could even jam in cafés without raising a ruckus. But for an airplane trip, I wanted something even smaller. 1 BINDERBLIP That’s when I built BinderBlip. Basically, I drilled out the clips from a three-ring binder and velcroed on a QuNexus MIDI keyboard controller, Midiplus MiniEngine sound module, and Gecho Loopsynth effects processor/recorder. The MiniEngine is unusual in that it’s both a USB MIDI host and a battery, which means it can power a…

There is a certain magic in learning a new skill and making something from scratch. Trying new things is a challenging and rewarding habit to build, making us more capable along the way. What if every skill we learned could be visualized on a video game dashboard, with a path to future goals revealed? My book Skill Seeker aims to do just that, with a collection of 15 video game–inspired “skill trees” that lay out a set of milestones for a range of skill areas. To use a skill tree, you color in the tiles of anything you’ve already completed. Start at the base of the skill tree and work your way up, moving from basics to advanced skills. With 73 tiles per tree, these are designed to meet you…

Pinewood derbies have been a staple of the Cub Scouts since the 1950s and Nerdy Derbies are a Maker Faire favorite, but I’ve never seen a variation quite like the Electric Hot Dog Derby at Maker Faire Bay Area this last year. “Fundamentally, it’s just a fancy pinewood derby track,” said creator Andrew Leung — but with cars that cook weenies along the way. Each 3D-printed car has about 100 thumbtacks that poke into the hot dogs, and aluminum wheels that draw current from the track through induction to zap them on their way to the finish line. “I used copper tape to create what effectively is about 90 feet of exposed wire along the length of the track in all three lanes,” Leung said. “Electricity passes through the wheels…