Make: Kit Reviews

What’s kombucha? It’s a refreshing, lightly sweetened, sparkling tea drink that is naturally fermented (yet non-alcoholic). The Oregon Kombucha kit comes with everything you need to make your own kombucha at home. The instructions are clear and easy to follow. Boil a gallon of water, brew the tea satchel, dissolve the sugar, let it cool, […]

Beverages: beverages, fermentation, Kombucha, sparkling tea, starter kit

It took me about 45 minutes (not including glue drying time) to put together a service-able ukulele from Wolfelele’s precut wooden components. The well-designed parts fit together in a way that ensured it didn’t end up crooked, and the triangular instrument sounds better than any other $100 ukulele I’ve played. The kit has everything you […]

Musical Instruments: music, musical instruments, Ukulele

Spike Your Juice is a simple introduction to home fermentation. The kit comes with enough yeast packets for six batches, an airlock with rubber stopper, and clear instructions. To brew a batch of alcoholic juice, add one yeast pack to a 64oz bottle of juice (such as grape or cranberry), shake, stopper with the water-filled […]

Alcoholic Beverages Beverages: alcohol, beverages, fermentation

Iced coffee is refreshing and delicious, but I’ve never been able to make it as well as I’d like. As it turns out, I was doing it wrong. Rather than prepare it with a traditional hot brew method, I should have been cold brewing it. This reduces acidity and produces a concentrated flavor that stands […]

Beverages: beverages, coffee, cold brewing, iced coffee

Who’d believe a sawdust log in a plastic bag could turn into a magical mushroom forest before your eyes! My first harvest was bounteous and the shiitakes delectable, but careful attention to growing conditions was required to yield multiple crops of mushrooms rather than mold. If you get 3–5 harvests, the kit is a bargain; […]

Food: food, mushroom farm, mushroom growing, Shiitake

This amazing demo shows how you can transmit sound over a laser beam. The transmitter modulates power to a laser pointer with audio from a headphone jack. The receiver is just an earphone and a solar cell; no power source. I assembled both in minutes, and it was strange (in a good way) to hear music […]

Science: communication, Science, spy gear

I’ve thought of building a dome for years, and when I was looking for a quick and relatively inexpensive place to put my workshop for the winter, this kit from Shelter Systems seemed like just the ticket. Based in Santa Cruz, Calif., Shelter Systems is still using the same non-puncturing “grip clip” technology they used […]

Home & Shelter: geodesic dome, home, shelter, tent

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.

Clocks: Arduino, clocks, LEDs, Pac-Man, Pong

This kit’s great for office warfare but it’s really meant for flight-testing paper airplanes. Two DC motors spin rubber discs in opposite directions to grab your plane and propel it up to 30mph. There’s no soldering, just pre-cut wires and a screw terminal block. Intended for teaching kids ages 14 and up, it’s easily assembled in […]

Toys & Games: Games, launcher, paper planes, planes, toys

Although the V90 is an entry-level machine, it’s decidedly not a toy. The way it functions is complicated — a platform carries the tool holder; a larger gantry moves the tool back and forth; the frame positions the gantry; and it’s all driven by a motor turning the screw interposed between two shafts. Indeed, this […]

Tools & Workshop: CNC, Tools, Workshop