Component Quality: 5
(5=Highest quality) How nice are the components in terms of materials, design, fit, and other qualities? Well-made circuit boards, computer-cut plastic and metal parts, and other precision components add to the experience.
Nebulophone
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 […]
Pico Paso
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 […]
Thingamagoop 2
Analog voltage-controlled oscillators (AVOs) make a variety of intriguing hums, beeps, buzzes, and loops, controlled by buttons, knobs, and sensors. These are fantastic group projects because once the soldering irons are all put down, you get an excellent payoff: you can have an impromptu concert. Bleep Labs, run by Austin, Texas, circuit bender and kit […]
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
Atlatl Kits
If you’ve ever wanted to hurl spears to bring down a woolly mammoth, then these two kits from Thunderbird Atlatl are the way to go. The Nanticoke and Kanakadea kits are both high quality and simple to build, so with a little time and effort you can make a very nice-looking atlatl suitable for serious […]
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 […]
Analog Geiger Counter
MAKE contributor John Iovine has been designing and improving affordable Geiger counters for decades. After Japan’s nuclear crisis last spring, his company was swamped with orders. Now they’re working on even better designs and DIY kits. This analog counter detects beta radiation above 36 kilo-electron volts (keV) and gamma above 7keV, signaling each radioactive particle detected with an […]
Cloning a Fluorescent Gene
When I told my 8-year-old daughter I had a kit to clone fluorescent jellyfish DNA, she was excited to try it. But this is a high-school level project. The reagents are sent in a styrofoam box with dry ice, and the projects require a polymerase chain reaction thermal cycler (which Genotyp will loan out to classrooms that […]
SpikerBox
This is a solder-together kit for studying the electrical impulses of cockroach neurons. The online instructions are excellent, with videos and plenty of clear photos of the assembly process. My 8-year-old daughter identified and inserted all the electrical components into the clearly marked printed circuit board through-holes, and I did the soldering. She asked me […]
Chofu Wood-Fired Hot Tub
The Chofu is a very simple, and very beautiful, DIY wood-fired hot tub heater. It looks like a potbellied stove with an Eastern aesthetic, and it comes from Japan. Any container that’ll hold water can be the hot tub (metal stock tanks are a great choice). The stove is connected to the tub by two […]
