My project for the winter was to build a spinning wheel. Something utilitarian, like the Lendrum I learned on, but without the sticker shock. My mechanical requirements were pretty straightforward: a flyer-lead single drive wheel, preferably in an upright, or castle, orientation. Two treadles. This isn’t a difficult project, and if I were as interested in woodworking as I am in spinning, it would be finished by now. Read the rest of this entry »
Join Kwartzlab on Saturday, January 28 between 12:00 PM and 12:00 AM for our third annual Winter-een-mas Celebration!
Winter-een-mas is a holiday for gamers, spanning from January 25th through the 31st, and celebrated by spending time playing games with friends and family. We hope you’ll join us for this free event – featuring twelve hours of gaming goodness – playing classics from Settlers of Catan to Halo.
One of my fave events in the region is the annual Unsilent Night walk in historic downtown Galt. I went in 2009 with my hillbilly amp, missed 2010, but was intent to make it to 2011′s walk! Basically, the idea is to download one of several ambient Christmassy songs onto a tape, CD or MP3 player, then play it out loud with other people, creating a harmonious cacophony of noise. You then walk along a guided path, enjoying the sights and sounds of Christmas. Galt had an assortment of art stops along the way in its library, school of architecture, and parks. It was extremely fun and I’m intent on doing it again next year!
I had a project rolling around in my mind. It seemed simple enough, and might actually work, so I decided to give it a shot. Basically, I wanted to not just play music, I wanted it to shoot from my hands! And with the magic of old electronics, I can do just that.
Ingredients
1 old pair of computer speakers with a wall-wart-style (I got a set of nice-sounding Altec Lansings from Talize)
1 disposable lunch container, sized to fit comfortably on your arm
Enough elastic ribbon to wrap twice around an arm and the lunch container
1 MP3 player (I used a Phillips GoGear)
1 pair of cheap leather work mittens
1 battery holder (based on the voltage of the wall-wart – mine was 12 volts, so I used a case to hold 8 AAs (each is roughly 1.5v, 12V/1.5V = 8).
Make it
First, snip the power cord from the computer speakers and save it (but chuck the plug at the end)
Cut the power cord into two pieces – one long enough to go from one outstretched hand to the other, the other about 15 cm (though in retrospect it was too short – too short is far better than too long!)
Then disassemble the speaker set. Mine’s was glued together, so I just bashed the case with a hammer. I saved the speakers and the amplifier (the circuit board that the speakers and power plug into). Luckily, I was able to trim the grilles down so it was just large enough for the speakers to drill into, so I held onto those pieces, and the speakers’ screws.
Solder each lead from the battery case into each lead where the power plug goes.
Cut the cords from the amplifier to one speaker, as the wiring needs to be extended to reach each hand.
Solder each lead of the long electric cable to each cut cord from the amplifier, then solder the other end to the speakers. Then do the same with the other speaker and the short cord.
Downloaded music to the MP3 player and hook it up to the contraption.
Jam the amplifier, MP3 player, and battery pack into the lunch container.
Cut the elastic ribbon into two. Glue them into loops on the lid of the container. You should be able to “wear” the container on your arm with the elastic holding the lid shut tight.
Cut circles in the palms of the mittens about the same diameter as the speakers.
Glue or screw the speakers into the mittens, facing out. Here, since I was able to keep the bits of grill the speaker attaches to, I just screwed the speakers into the grille through the mittens.
Have fun blasting music through your hands!
For me, the setup lasted a good two hours – long enough to have a leisurely Unsilent stroll.
It’s a 60W laser cutter with a 24″ x 36″ work area! It will be a while before we get it fully installed and commissioned. Expect a ribbon cutting party in January.
Kwartzlab is proud to have Oscar Estrada displaying his work on the Art Wall for the month of December! Oscar Estrada is a visual artist who works primarily with pencil and colour pencil Sketching and painting. His focus is on realistic art and portraits. Oscar also uses his woodworking skills to make all the frames for his art. He was born in San salvador, El salvador and moved to Canada at the age of 16. Drop by any Tuesday evening between 7 and 10pm to meet the artist and check out his work. More info about Oscars work is available on his website: http://www.sketchsandframes.com
On Tuesday Nov. 29, Kareem Shehata from Aeryon Labs gave a talk about the Scout quadcopter. The Aeryon Scout is a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) micro unmanned aerial vehicle used for tactical, over-the-hill aerial intelligence. Unlike other systems, the Scout puts the control of aerial intelligence directly into the hands of the people on the ground that require the intelligence while delivering the most sophisticated and highest quality aerial intelligence available today.
Brendan Reilly has just completed a very interesting clock that was commissioned by George Soulis. He will be bringing it to Kwartzlab this Tuesday Dec. 6, at 8pm, to give everyone a chance to see it before it is delivered to George.
Last year, Tom dropped by the lab and gave a presentation about the beautiful Stirling engine that he built using his Taig milling machine and lathe. I found some video of the machine and finally uploaded it to youtube. The Stirling engine, which runs on a heat source, operated for hours sitting on top of a mug of hot water.
On Tuesday night Rob fired up the Wurlitzer 200A electric piano that he is in the process of restoring.
The power/volume potentiometer seemed to be a little dirty but after a few turns it powered on and the amplifier was functioning. You can read robs blog about the restoration here: http://www.auralplane.com/
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Follow us on Twitter
Our Mailing Lists
Visit Kwartzlab TV