The Ultimate Kit Guide

Community Quality: 2

(5=Most community) How much of a community is there around the kit? Are there builder groups, online forums, circles, and meetups? Is the kit used in class- rooms or after-school programs? Do the kit makers or builders have a presence at events like Maker Faire?

PumLantern Kit

PumLantern Kit

Make Kit Reviews

PumLantern Kit

$30

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Reviewed: November 3rd, 2011

This kit includes everything needed to build a solar-charged, nighttime-activated, light-pulsing lamp. It charges all day from the SCC3733 solar cell, and “pumms” the four ultra-mega-super-bright LEDs to cast artistic silhouettes against the walls of the stylized cardboard lantern. The LEDs are a random grab of white, blue, red, orange, and green. Basic soldering is […]

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Wise Clock 3

Wise Clock 3

Make Kit Reviews

Wise Clock 3

$62

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The Wise Clock 3 is an easy and highly customizable driver for a 32×16 RGB LED matrix display (included). Its default program includes several different clock modes, but it can also display the date and temperature, or any message. Check out all the different clock faces, including Pong and Pac-Man.

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Solder: Time

Solder: Time

Make Kit Reviews

Solder: Time

$35

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Solder: Time was a perfect father-daughter project: my 8-year-old assembled the components and I soldered. Afterwards, she had a chunky blue wristwatch that her cousin admired longingly, so we made another one for her. Now their friends are asking for them. I think we’ve started a trend!

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MintyTime Clock

MintyTime Clock

Make Kit Reviews

MintyTime Clock

$23

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Reviewed: November 2nd, 2011

The MintyTime Clock Kit is a fun way to add a binary clock to almost any container. It’s intended to be housed in a mint tin, such as the classic Altoids tin, but it looks great in almost any container, from a custom-designed, laser-cut enclosure to an old wooden recipe box.

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LED Art Kit

LED Art Kit

Make Kit Reviews

LED Art Kit

$20

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Reviewed: October 27th, 2011

This easy-to-assemble, no-solder kit lets you create your own unique LED light show. The only tool needed is a pair of pliers for crimping the wire connectors. The RGB (red-green-blue) LEDs create a slow, ever-changing, multicolored glow that’s perfect for setting the mood of any room. Makes a great nightlight, too!

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