- Lego Interface UX
- Are there dead wasps in figs?
- ONO: How the Biggest 3D Printing Scam of All Time Unfolded
- This promotional video from Exco, a maker of aluminum extrusion dies, shows a lot of what goes into manufacturing an extrusion die
- New Supergiant Isopod Discovered
- Slide show of How Cork is Made
- Joe Rinaudo’s Fotoplayer Corona Virus Quarantine Concert. (A photoplayer is a specialized player piano used for scoring cartoons and silent movies.)
- You can apparently reverse engineer a key for a lock from the sound that the key makes upon insertion.
- A few of the 507 Mechanical Movements, beautifully 3D printed by Sam Schmitz
- A Refrigerator magnet clock
- The MINI PET DIY Computer Kit
- A demo of the Weav3r LEGO Loom by Jerry Nicholls showing how the heddles are set for each row for a zig-zag pattern. He’s gradually adding build instructions for it to his blog which holds a wealth of LEGO mechanisms.
All posts by Windell Oskay
Linkdump: August 2020
- ISS solar transit showing the SpaceX Crew Dragon and the Canadarm2 by Thierry Legault on YouTube
- A DIY Neon Pixel Display
- Ramelli’s Rotating Reader built by RIT students who called it a 16th century version of a multitabbed browser
- FBI Motivational Posters from WW2, obtained via FOIA request
- Graffiti covered e-bike, designed to blend in with urban architecture
- Why The Docking Adapters On The Space Station Are Shaped Oddly
- ThreadPlotter: punch needle embroidery on the AxiDraw
- How eggplant got its name
- The COMIX-35: an improved clone of the COMX-35 RCA 1802 home computer
- Circuit Scupltures by Leonardo Ulian (more on instagram)
- Kipp Bradford and Adam Savage build a Refrigerated Cooling Suit
- IMSAI 8080 replica front panel kit by The High Nibble
Linkdump: July 2020
- Inside the Pulsar Calculator watch from 1975
- Simrefinery recovered
- Putting the coronavirus under the microscope
- The helium shortage has ended, at least for now
- Ken Shirriff looks at the 8086 processor
- Strike a solder joint behind enemy lines
- Testing the Mars helicopter in a simulated martian atmosphere
- A project to make a DEC H-500 Computer Lab Reproduction
- Visualizing brain activity with an AxiDraw
Linkdump: May 2020
- The real lord of the flies
- Learn python from the NSA
- Index Pick and Place, an open source pick and place machine. Video intro here.
- Matisse designed a chapel in Vence
- A fully automated bread production line (YouTube)
- A Roman villa mosaic floor has been found near Verona
- How to draw the Corona Virus
- From the first black band-aid (1998-2002) to Amazon and Target (starting in 2014)
- From CityLab, Your Maps of Life Under Lockdown
Linkdump: April 2020
- “Do we want to get to the moon or not?” John C. Houbolt was responsible for the Lunar-Orbit Rendezvous plan
- A video comparison of different laser marking compounds for use with CO2 lasers
- Figures in the Sky: How cultures across the World have seen their myths and legends in the stars
- A wonderful little <$10 video game: A Short Hike
- Papercraft models of classic computers
- John Pound, the creator of Garbage Pail Kids is also a generative artist (via)
- Springer has made a set of books and articles available at no cost to help those affected by coronavirus lockdowns
- A clever linkage for a mechanical elbow (via Matt Siegel)
Linkdump: January 2020
- Open source SVG emoji from Twitter
- 2-Bit Mario: A physical Mario Brothers game
- The most important device in the universe, built by prop designer John Zabrucky
- Video made from photos of Comet 67p taken by Rosetta
- A Conversation on Microbiomes mostly focused on the Sourdough Project
- Cat Coat Genetics 101: A Tweetorial
- Thermochromic 7-segment display
- Formlabs Form 3 Teardown by Bunnie Huang
- Life Under the Ice is Ariel Waldman‘s site documenting microscopic life in Antarctica
- A nicely done website of paper sizes
- Nikon Small World 2019 Photomicrography Competition Winners
- Patterned plywood speakers
- Plotting perlin spirals
- Pre-GPS automobile navigation system
- XYZen Garden Kit
- Inside the digital clock from a Soyuz spacecraft with Ken Shirriff
- The Newport Transporter Bridge (YouTube)
- Interesting dataset: Flagged and rejected vanity license plate applications from the California DMV
- Dark Horse Discord: a gaming chat platform and the future of work
- Machining a bamboo-styled pencil barrel on a lathe, from Lindsay Wilson
- Mapping cases of COVID-19
The AxiDraw MiniKit
Today we are introducing a brand new member of the AxiDraw family of pen plotters: the AxiDraw MiniKit.
The AxiDraw MiniKit is a special compact addition to the AxiDraw lineup.
Designed for lighter-duty applications, It takes up less desk space and less storage space. With a plotting area of just 6 × 4 inches (150 × 100 mm), it’s small enough to take with you, or to fit into places where bigger machines can’t.
In addition to be being “Mini”, it is also a kit.
Unlike other models of the AxiDraw family like AxiDraw V3 and AxiDraw SE/A3 (which come assembled, tested, and ready to use), the AxiDraw MiniKit is a machine that you assemble yourself.
We’ve taken great care in designing a kit that is rewarding to build and to own.
And of course, it’s an AxiDraw, and performs like one. Small but sturdy, it’s built with custom aluminum extrusions, machined parts, attention to detail, and care.
Our Thanksgiving Weekend Sale
It’s our Thanksgiving Weekend Sale! use checkout coupon code TURKEY to save 10% storewide at Evil Mad Scientist.
Save on popular items like the brand new AxiDraw MiniKit, surface-mount 555SE and 741SE soldering kits, and everything else too.
Our biggest sale of the year, it’s a great time to get that AxiDraw SE/A3, EggBot, or through hole 555 kit too.
Sale runs through Monday, December 2.
The 555SE and 741SE surface-mount soldering kits
Today we are pleased to announce the release of two new soldering kits: the 555SE discrete 555 timer and the 741SE discrete op-amp.
Both of these new kits are surface mount soldering kits — our first surface mount soldering kits — and we think that you’re going to love them.
You might be familiar with our Three Fives discrete 555 timer and XL741 discrete op-amp kits. Both are easy soldering kits that let you build working transistor-scale replicas of the classic 555 timer chip and the famous µA741 op-amp. Those two are constructed with traditional through-hole soldering techniques and are styled to like “DIP” packaged (through-hole) integrated circuits.
Our new 555SE and 741SE kits implement the same circuits, now with surface mount components, and are styled to look like smaller “SOIC” packaged (surface mount) integrated circuits, complete with a heavy-gauge aluminum leadframe stand. Side by side with their through-hole siblings, the new kits are exactly to scale, with half the lead pitch and a lower profile.
The 555SE and 741SE kits each come with eight (tiny) color-coded thumbscrew binding posts that you can use to hook up wires and other connections.
You can also probe anywhere that you like in these circuits — something that you generally can’t do with the integrated circuit versions.
The new 555SE and 741SE circuit boards are black in color, with a gold finish and clear solder mask so that you can see the wiring traces between individual components. There are a few other neat details here and there, such as countersunk holes for mounting the board to the leadframe.
The surface mount components are relatively large, with 1206-sized resistors and SOT-23 sized transistors, and assembly is straightforward with our clear and comprehensive instructions. These kits are designed to be a joy to build, whether you’re an old hand at surface mount soldering, want some practice before tackling a project, or are introducing someone to it for the first time.
And here is the new family: XL741, the Three Fives, along with the new 741SE and 555SE.
You can find the datasheets and assembly instructions for these kits, as well as links to additional documentation, on their respective product pages.
Both new kits are part of our ongoing collaboration with Eric Schlaepfer, who we have worked with on a number of dis-integrated circuit projects including the four kits here and the MOnSter 6502.
Back to School Sale
During our Back to School Sale, use checkout coupon code SCHOOL to save 10% at the Evil Mad Scientist shop.
Everything is included in the sale, from LEDs and soldering kits to AxiDraw and accessories.
Sale runs through Saturday, August 31.