Mat's Bookmarks

instructables
  Find out how to make everything.

make
  Make magazine's web site.  They have a project area but it's not nearly as good as instructables.  The one nice part is you can find all the projects from the past issues.

tested
  Run by the mythbusters! 

pinterest
   Ok yes it's loaded girly stuff but you can also find woodworking tips and plans on this site.

Ana White
   Great plans that are simple to follow and free.

failblog
  Spend far to much time laughing at this site.

boing boing
  Geek news

sparkfun
  Electronic parts

adafruit
  Electronics parts

LED wizard
  LED wizard that will show you how to wire up your LED's and what resister to use.

templates
http://www.waitingforfriday.com/index.php/Building_a_robot_arm
http://www.robotoid.com/printable-templates.html


minecraft:
piston timer http://imgur.com/a/AmPF6
http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Crafting
http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/

C code
http://www.learn-c.org/
http://c.learncodethehardway.org/book/


usb interface
http://www.rakeshmondal.info/pic18f4550-project-tutorial-part-1-USB

drop down voltage
http://makezine.com/projects/portable-pi-power-raspbery-pi-to-go/

Pirate Radio
http://makezine.com/projects/make-38-cameras-and-av/raspberry-pirate-radio/

art blog
http://scotlandbarnes.blogspot.com/

Ascension
https://ascensiongame.com

swing game
http://www.swingame.com/index.php/documentation/how-to/item/how-to-draw-a-panel.html?category_id=81

c puzzles
http://chortle.ccsu.edu/CPuzzles/PartA/CpuzzlesAsection01.html

carving cloner
http://woodgears.ca/copy_carver/plans/index.html

tiny cards
http://www.leafcutterdesigns.com/shop/wsps/tiny-letters.html

Adam Savage

Adam Savage has been one of my heroes for years now.  It started off with watching "Mythbusters" and seeing him building objects to test myths.  I always found it fascinating when he would make a fake human body out of Ballistic gel and then turn around and make an air chamber.   It was the range of items he could make that made me love watching him.  As a maker I wanted this kind of flexibility to make whatever I can dream of.  A few years ago I was looking into him and found a lecture he had given at TED called "How Simple Ideas Lead To Scientific Discoveries".  I loved the lecture because it made it seem possible for someone like me to make scientific discoveries.  I have always been interested in science but without a lab and a bunch of letters after my name it seemed like I couldn't contribute.  I was thrilled to find that he had given a lecture at the BoingBoing Ingenuity theatrical event.  In that speech he gave his "10 Rules to Sucess".  I found all the rules interesting and thought provoking.  Rule 9 "Fail" really is important to me because the fear of failure has kept me back too many times and I need to remember it's important to fail.  He also gave a funny and great lecture on failure at Defcon 17.   Poking around for this post I found another lecturer called  "My Obsession With Wbjects and The Stories They Tell".  I can't encourage you enough to explore these links and listen to what Adam has to say.

  Adam if you happen too ever read this, thank you for all works and sharing what you have learned with the world.

speed build power cord spinner

  Once in a while I need something to solve a issue but don't have a lot of interest in building it.  This is one of those cases.  I needed something to keep my power cord in order but didn't care a lot about how it looked.  I took a few minutes during a file transfer and drew up a plan.  From there I didn't really measure I just took a pile of scrap wood and started building.   It's not pretty but it was free and works.

  This is the final product with the cord wound up.

On the right you can see the handle which spins the center.  The piece sticking out on the bottom is for my foot to hold it up.  I might add some feet now that I know it works.   The small section of cord on the right is the plug that goes into the wall.  I used zip ties to secure it to the piece which you can see better here:

   I gave my self about ten feet of cord to get to the wall.  Then I just spun the handle and wound the cord up in the center.  I did use two pieces to make the center wider.  I didn't want the cord being wound too tight and damaging it.

Now that you get an idea how it works here is it without the cord.

  It's not perfect but like I said it was a speed build that I just wanted done.  I built it out of mostly 1" thick pieces.  The center shaft is a old broken shovel.  The shovel was tapered so it caused the center  be off a little.  If you used a real dowel it would probably look better.   I had a old dowel around so the side pieces to hold the 10' of cord for the wall are made with the dowel and a 1" square.  I used a hole saw to drill through the pieces for the dowel.  I used glue and small screws I had around to hold it all together.

  One feature that I did think about while I built it, was I wanted to be as flat as possible.  If you look at the picture above the entire unit lays flat.  Mostly I just had to make sure to put the handle on right. 

  Just thought I would post a few pictures, maybe it will interest someone.  At least it shows that I was in my shop :) 

  You can get things like this that look nice at a hardware store.  The issue I had with them was mostly cost.  I didn't really want so spend anything and I already had a nice cord.  Also the units at the store tend to shorter or thinner gauge then what I wanted and had.