Cool projects on Make: Online

Make: Online has published a number of cool projects recently.

Sew a cute Morse code key leg strap

Diana Eng's frilly and fashion-forward Morse code key. Diana Eng (best known from Project Runway and her book Fashion Geek) is our current guest author. Besides being a geek-chic fashion maven, Diana is also a ham operator and on a mission to introduce a new generation of hobbyists (especially women) to ham radio. In this project, she makes a sexy garter strap to hold her new Morse key.

Shrinky Dink gaming minis

Sean Ragan shows you how to make some sweet home-baked gaming components using Shrinky Dink plastic and binder clips.

More on making Light Bricks

As a follow-up piece to Alden Hart's LED Light Brick project in MAKE, Volume 18, the atuhor shares more ideas for molding and casting the acrylic bricks to house your LED board, including using machinable wax to create a life-mask face to house your array. Disco face, baby!

[#1 posted by Brad S., July 3, 2009 2:11 PM]

SJ really REALLY needs to get on the ball and put out a new edition of OGRE. I wanted to pick up a copy for my 13-year-old cousin but wasn't aware I'd need to mortgage my house to do it.

OGRE is the perfect gateway drug to serious board gaming.

[#2 posted by Gareth Branwyn, July 3, 2009 2:33 PM]

I agree, Brad! I loved that game.

I actually had a full set of the miniatures but sold them when we moved to our current house. I got so much money for the lot of them, it basically paid for move!

[#3 posted by stratojoe, July 3, 2009 3:51 PM]

Ah.. OGRE... I still bust that one out from time to time. What a great game!

Wish I still had Car Wars...

I'll never be convinced that any of the 'cars with machine guns' video games come anywhere close to the fun of hand-drawn maps spread out on the floor. What it lacked in spastic excitement, it thoroughly made up for in imagination.

[#4 posted by Anonymous, July 3, 2009 4:56 PM]

Fun Fact: in the Ham world one would write about "Diana KC2UHB": first name & FCC call. Even the bylines in magazines like CQ and QST (both real magazines for hams) are first name & call on first citation -- and then use only the call on subsequent reference.

73,

Mike Ki6H

PS: Teach yourself Morse Code for free, courtesy of German ham Fabian DJ1YFK. www.lcwo.net

[#5 posted by Stefan Jones, July 3, 2009 10:17 PM]

A new edition of DELUXE ILLUMINATI was recently released; I'm sure a new edition of OGRE will be available eventually! Steve is true to his roots, but there are market realities to deal with.

I created some of the vehicle gadgets for Car Wars. Flaming Oil Slicks, and Ram Plates, as I recall.

Also the Orbital Mind Control Lasers for an Illuminati supplement . . . don't know if I was ever credited for that. In any case, I got the idea from an episode of Barney Miller.

[#6 posted by Anonymous, July 23, 2009 6:24 PM]

Speaking of Ideas, Why isn't Make Pillaging the Patents? I mean a patents only reason to exist is to give the pertinent information to other Makers so they can build on it Right? Unless you make a commercial thing out of them they are essentially in the public domain, otherwise what are they protected for?

Think of it as a shotgun research project. Pick an unlikely yet potentially useful technology - Cold fusion or similar, and have a go. you can have variations on a theme, use it as an example of how to do proper science. Who knows what may come up :)