Make: Kit Reviews

Turn anything into a drum set with your Arduino and this simple kit. Some makers build custom drum sets from fine hardwoods, while others take the easy route and make practice sets from mouse pads and sheet metal. Instead of building my own, I used the included piezo elements to trick out my Rock Band […]

Musical Instruments: Arduino, drums, music, musical instruments

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

People my age remember red plastic toy rockets from childhood that you filled with water, pumped with air, and watched as they leaped dozens of feet into the air. Well, things have gotten far more serious in the world of water-powered model rocketry, and hobbyists are reaching heights upwards of 800′ using plastic soda bottles, thin […]

Rockets: multi-stage, Rockets, water-powered

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

If you like high-voltage sparks arcing through the air (and who doesn’t?), check out the Coil Driver, which drives an automotive ignition coil at audio frequencies. Like other musical kits, the Coil Driver makes a great group build because you can all make cool sounds together when you’re done. However, while it’s an easy solder, […]

Kit Party: Arduino, high voltage, music, party

Another small synth from Bleep Labs, the Nebulophone is more robust than the Pico Paso. It packs three potentiometer knobs, two buttons, an LED/light sensor combo that serves as an analog low-pass filter, and a unique piano-like series of pads on the PCB that you can control with an alligator clip. It has a programmable […]

Kit Party: music, party, synthesizer

This tiny, handheld synth features two light sensors, two pots, and two buttons. It’s an easy build, even for newbies, soldering together very quickly with no difficult steps. I love how snug the little guy is, but this compactness comes at a price: no enclosure and no speaker. To hear the Pico Paso, you’ll need […]

Kit Party: music, party, synthesizer

I was reading Boing Boing one day and saw a link to this bicycle motor kit, consisting of a 66cc two-cycle engine, drive mechanism, gas tank, muffler, and controls. The ad brought back kid-time memories for me, as I had dreamed of one day owning a Whizzer, the classic motorized bicycle. It was the only vehicle you could […]

Wheels: bicycles, conversion, engines, Wheels

Indie makers RLT Industries of New Braunfels, Texas, sells this lovely wooden model kit of the classic “south-pointing chariot” mechanism. Set the chariot down with the vane pointing in an arbitrary direction — south, north, whatever — and a geared differential connected to the wheels will keep it pointing the same direction regardless of which […]

Wheels: heirloom tech, Wheels

Learn about the sense of smell with eight perfume oils and a variety of jars, mixers, and pipettes. Experiments range from fragrance extraction to composing your own perfume scents. My friend and I enjoyed one experiment where we prepared test strips of all the fragrances and then guessed which we were sniffing. I got two […]

Science: fragrance extraction, perfume, Science