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?
Elekit TU-879S Stereo Tube Amplifier
The great thing about this kit is the variety of skills you’ll learn. Not only do you end up with a warm-sounding tube amp, but you also learn how all these audio components are produced, as well as proper soldering technique, orientation of polarized capacitors, spacing of large-value wirewound resistors, and heat sinking of transistors. […]
Spike Your Juice
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
Ginger Ale
The Brew It Yourself Ginger Ale kit is a great weekend project for the whole family. It comes with easy-to-follow instructions, ginger ale flavor extract, yeast, a funnel, and two blank labels. My kids enjoyed measuring, mixing, and heating ingredients, proofing the yeast, and bottling in two 2-liter bottles, adorned with their custom-made labels. After fermenting […]
Hario Cold Water Coffee Dripper
Make Kit Reviews
Hario Cold Water Coffee Dripper
$251
Reviewed:
Make Kit Reviews
Hario Cold Water Coffee Dripper
$251
Reviewed:
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 […]
Hi-Tech H45
If you want a more challenging high-power build experience, I like the Hi-Tech H45 kit. It’s big (2.63″ diameter and 49″ tall), with sturdy plywood fins and a durable plastic nose cone, and it can handle motor types F through I. I got my first high-power certification on this model back in 1990. Good times!
Big Daddy
A few rungs up the ladder toward high power is Estes’ Big Daddy, a chunky, 3″- diameter model. While designed for D and E solid rocket motors, it can easily handle AeroTech’s 24mm F motors. It’s not much more difficult to build than the Astra, but bear in mind that an E motor has up to […]
Desktop Trebuchet
RLT Industries has gone above and beyond with its Desktop Trebuchet kit. Each piece of wood is carefully chosen and precisely computer-cut. All the required tools can be found around your house or at a hobby shop, and the instructions are very detailed. However, as instructed, I used wood glue on the main frame and […]
Siege & Ballistics: ballistics, desktop, siege, tabletop, trebuchet
The Truth Meter
See what happens when someone asks you questions or when you laugh or get surprised. Everyone responds differently. See if you can turn the LED on with your mind. Try it on your friends or adversaries — it’s a great way to get to know someone! We’ve even included a few extra resistors, so you […]
Reinventing Edison: Light Bulb Kit
Thomas Edison purportedly said that he didn’t fail 700 times in trying to make the incandescent light, he succeeded in proving 700 ways not to do it. Now it can be your turn. This fun science kit is designed to excite and engage experimenters of all ages in re-creating the development of the first light […]
Laser Voice Transmitter and Receiver
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 […]
