Making it with Charles

I am a maker and here is where I post my latest experiments.

[makingitwithcharles]

I was missing the buckwheat hull pillow I had in Japan so I decided to make some new ones. Last night I dreamt of soba! 😴 🍜

[makingitwithcharles]

Getting ready to make a metal detector. Looks like I have some soldering to do.

[makingitwithcharles]

I tried making mizu shingen mochi again. This time I did some experiments with flavors. I made matcha tea, a hot toddy with whiskey, umeshu (plum wine), and yuzu lemon.

[makingitwithcharles]

Stay classy this Valentine’s Day.

[makingitwithcharles]

Here is the amp I made in action. I didn't turn it up all the way so you can see it works pretty well. Next I will make an enclosure to house everything. I want to make it a portable amp I can take with me when I do presentations.

Here are links to where I got the parts:

Speaker: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2pcs-78mm-3inch-4ohm-5W-DIY-Foam-Edge-External-Magnetic-Square-HiFi-Full-Range-Speaker-Horn/32716065547.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.qdwoZl

Amp kit: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/LM386-Super-MINI-Amplifier-Board-3V-12V-DIY-Kit-M57/32637623311.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.Uvewjv

[makingitwithcharles]

I needed an amp and wanted to spend as little as possible. I found this kit for less than $1.

[makingitwithcharles]

Here's a lithopane I printed of the first programmer, Lady Ada Lovelace. There was a good bit of stringing but I can clean it up a bit. I made it using the built in functionality of Cura.

[makingitwithcharles]

We have a Google home mini in the bathroom but had no good spot for it. Luckily I’ve also been breaking in my 3D printer and found an awesome model on Thingiverse to solve our problem. Here’s the model so you can print one yourself: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2690436

[makingitwithcharles]

Here is a cheap and simple step sensor I made from a foam panel, aluminum foil, aluminum tape and some wire. The sticky side of the tape wasn't so conductive so I folded a piece of aluminum foil over and covered it with a second piece of tape. This helped it to make a good connection with the wires. You can use this sensor while wearing socks. We hooked several of these up to a makey makey to make a step piano at a local elementary school.

[makingitwithcharles]

I went to the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation known as Miraikan and my friend and I got the chance to ride around on these Uni-cubs made by Honda. It was a great way to see the museum!

[makingitwithcharles]

Polarized 3D Photography

MIT students wrote a whitepaper a while ago about using a kinect and a polarizing filter to do high-res 3D scanning. I am going to have to look into this!

[makingitwithcharles]

I tried hacking a Microsoft Kinect to make a 3D scanner. Then I scanned my bear statue. What do you think? https://skfb.ly/678pF

[makingitwithcharles]

I recently joined Boxbots, a robot fight club. They make cardboard-body robots and have them fight every month. I finished all the electronics so now it is time to make the body and give it some style. Checkout their site to see more robots: https://www.acemonstertoys.org/box-bots/

[makingitwithcharles]

Here is a contact microphone I made using some bottle caps, a piezoelectric disc, some zip ties, and a mono audio input. It works pretty well and I am planning on using a similar one to electrify my cardboard ukulele. I met the makers of this design at the San Mateo Maker’s Faire a few years ago. Here is their website: http://getlofi.com/shop/contact-mics/

[makingitwithcharles]

The top picture is a washi paper doll I made with the Washi Ningyo Club in San Francisco’s Japantown. These dolls are made using lovely washi paper, cotton, and thread. Traditionally they do not have any faces so children playing with them can use their imagination to think up who they are. The three pictures at the bottom are amazing pieces created by the Washi Ningyo Club in Fuji, Japan. They depict scenes from the story of Kaguya Hime (The Bamboo Cutter’s Tale). This story was animated by Studio Ghibli in their movie “The Tale of Princess Kaguya”. The story takes place in Fuji city. In fact the bamboo grove where they found a golden glowing bamboo shoot with a baby girl inside is about a 10 minute bike ride from my house. I ride past it at night sometimes but I haven’t seen any glowing bamboo yet.

[makingitwithcharles]

I tried to do some more advanced origami today. These two sets of cranes are both made from one piece of paper. You have to cut the paper a bit but they are all still connected.

[makingitwithcharles]

I tried my hand at making giant bubble solution for a bubble show but, I think my recipe needs a little more work. We still got some giant bubbles thought they did not last as long as I would like. The kids loved it though and it was a great time!