Synopses & Reviews
Snip, Burn, Solder, Shred is packed with fun craft and toy-making projects for geeks on a budget. Inside, you'll find illustrated instructions for 24 quirky playthings. Part I: Kid Stuff contains child-friendly projects like the Lock-N-Latch Treasure Chest and a PVC TeePee; Part II: The Electro-Skiffle Band is devoted to homemade musical instruments; and Part III: The Locomotivated showcases moving toys, like a muzzleloader that shoots marshmallows and a steam-powered milk-carton boat.
Each project costs just $10 or less to make and is suitable for anyone, regardless of experience level. As you build, you'll learn useful sewing and carpentry skills, and the appendix offers a primer on electronics and soldering.
You (and your kids) will have hours of fun making projects like:
- A simple electric guitar
- An oversized joy buzzer that (safely) administers a 100-volt jolt
- Cool, mess-free, screen printed t-shirts
- Kites made from FedEx envelopes
- Booming Thunderdrums made from salvaged x-ray film
- Old school board games like Go, Tafl, and Shut-the-Box
Whether you're a mom or dad in search of a rainy day activity, a Scout leader looking to educate and entertain your troop, or just a DIY weekend warrior, the projects in Snip, Burn, Solder, Shred will inspire and amuse you. Now, roll up your sleeves and make!
Synopsis
Snip, Burn, Solder, Shred is a geeky toy-making and craft book, stuffed with projects like sewing a stuffed sock squid, building a steam-powered milk-carton boat, soldering an oversized joy buzzer, and crafting working boomerangs. Readers create board games, musical instruments, and cool toys that move. The book assumes no prior knowledge of skills like carpentry, sewing, and soldering, and each project is explained from the ground up. Primers on topics like basic electronics help readers master foundational techniques so that anyone, regardless of their experience or skill level, can pick up this book and successfully build the projects. Projects are suitable for a wide range of builders and are all cheap, or even free, to build-best of all, once each project is built, readers have something totally sweet. Every project includes tips, tricks, and technical data that will help readers expand and modify the projects, or craft something totally new.
Synopsis
Want to learn the fundamentals of electronics in a fun, hands-on way? With Make: Electronics, you'll start working on real projects as soon as you crack open the book. Explore all of the key components and essential principles through a series of fascinating experiments. You'll build the circuits first, then learn the theory behind them!
Build working devices, from simple to complex You'll start with the basics and then move on to more complicated projects. Go from switching circuits to integrated circuits, and from simple alarms to programmable microcontrollers. Step-by-step instructions and more than 500 full-color photographs and illustrations will help you use -- and understand -- electronics concepts and techniques.
- Discover by breaking things: experiment with components and learn from failure
- Set up a tricked-out project space: make a work area at home, equipped with the tools and parts you'll need
- Learn about key electronic components and their functions within a circuit
- Create an intrusion alarm, holiday lights, wearable electronic jewelry, audio processors, a reflex tester, and a combination lock
- Build an autonomous robot cart that can sense its environment and avoid obstacles
- Get clear, easy-to-understand explanations of what you're doing and why
About the Author
Charles Platt became interested in computers when he acquired an Ohio Scientific C4P in 1979. After writing and selling software by mail order, he taught classes in BASIC programming, MS-DOS, and subsequently Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. He wrote five computer books during the 1980s.
He has also written science fiction novels such as The Silicon Man (published originally by Wired books) and Protektor (from Avon Books). He stopped writing science fiction when he started contributing to Wired magazine in 1993, and became one of its three senior writers a couple of years later.
Charles began contributing to Make magazine in its third issue and is currently a contributing editor. Make: Electronics is his first book for Make Books. Currently he is designing and building prototypes of medical equipment in his workshop in a northern Arizona wilderness area.
Table of Contents
DEDICATION; ACKNOWLEDGMENTS; Introduction; What's in This Book?; Further Reading; Support and Contact; Kid Stuff; Chapter 1: Lock-n-Latch Treasure Chest; 1.1 Tools; 1.2 Supplies; 1.3 Building It; 1.4 About Board Sizes; 1.5 Crosscut Saw vs. Pull Saw; Chapter 2: Switchbox: A Soldering Project for Greenhorns; 2.1 Tools; 2.2 Supplies; 2.3 Building It; 2.4 Voltage, Current, and Resistance; Chapter 3: The Sock Squid; 3.1 Tools; 3.2 Supplies; 3.3 Building It; 3.4 Sock Cthulhu; 3.5 Resources; Chapter 4: The PVC Teepee; 4.1 Tools; 4.2 Supplies; 4.3 Building It; 4.4 Building Tip; Chapter 5: Cheap Mesh Screen Printing; 5.1 Tools; 5.2 Supplies; 5.3 Building It; 5.4 Printing Tips; 5.5 Resources; Chapter 6: Shut-the-Box: A Pirate Dicing Game; 6.1 Tools; 6.2 Supplies; 6.3 Building It; 6.4 Game Play; Chapter 7: Ticklebox: Jolt Your Friends; 7.1 Tools; 7.2 Supplies; 7.3 Building It; 7.4 Scrounging Tips; 7.5 The Mean-Ass Jingle Bear; Chapter 8: Small-Board Go/Tafl; 8.1 Tools; 8.2 Supplies; 8.3 Building It; 8.4 Game Play; 8.5 Resources; Electro-Skiffle Band; Chapter 9: X-Ray Talking Drum; 9.1 Tools; 9.2 Supplies; 9.3 Building It; 9.4 Playing the X-Ray Talking Drum; Chapter 10: Thunderdrum; 10.1 Tools; 10.2 Supplies; 10.3 Building It; 10.4 Playing the Thunderdrum; 10.5 Resources; Chapter 11: The Electro-Didgeridoo; 11.1 Tools; 11.2 Supplies; 11.3 Building It; 11.4 Playing the Didgeridoo; 11.5 Resources; Chapter 12: The Dirt-Cheap Amp; 12.1 Tools; 12.2 Supplies; 12.3 Building It; 12.4 Tweaking the Amp; 12.5 Resources; Chapter 13: The $10 Electric Guitar; 13.1 Tools; 13.2 Supplies; 13.3 Building It; 13.4 Playing the $10 Electric Guitar; 13.5 Modifying the $10 Electric Guitar; 13.6 Building Tip; 13.7 Resources; Chapter 14: Dirt-Cheap Boutique Stomp Boxes: The Spring Reverb; 14.1 Tools; 14.2 Supplies; 14.3 Building It; 14.4 Using the Spring Reverb; 14.5 Resources; Chapter 15: Dirt-Cheap Boutique Stomp Boxes: The Blinkie Tremolo; 15.1 Tools; 15.2 Supplies; 15.3 Building It; 15.4 Tweaking the Blinkie Tremolo; 15.5 Stompable Stomp Boxes; 15.6 Resources; Chapter 16: Dirt-Cheap Boutique Stomp Boxes: The Two-Transistor Fuzztone; 16.1 Tools; 16.2 Supplies; 16.3 Building It; 16.4 Using and Modifying the Two-Transistor Fuzztone; 16.5 Resources; Chapter 17: Cigar-Box Synthesizer; 17.1 Tools; 17.2 Supplies; 17.3 Building It; 17.4 Expanding the Cigar-Box Synthesizer; 17.5 Resources; The Locomotivated; Chapter 18: Cardboard Boomerangs; 18.1 Tools; 18.2 Supplies; 18.3 Building the Fast-Catch Boomerang; 18.4 Building the Cross-Stick Boomerang; 18.5 Throwing; 18.6 Tuning; 18.7 Store-Bought Boomerangs; 18.8 How It Works; 18.9 Boomerang Design; 18.10 Resources; Chapter 19: Pop Can Flyer; 19.1 Tools; 19.2 Supplies; 19.3 Building It; 19.4 How It Works; 19.5 Bonus Project: NASA's Finest Paper Airplane; 19.6 Tools; 19.7 Supplies; 19.8 Building It; Chapter 20: Quick-n-Easy Water Rocket; 20.1 Tools; 20.2 Supplies; 20.3 Building It; 20.4 Building the Better Rocket; Chapter 21: Putt-Putt Boat; 21.1 Tools; 21.2 Supplies; 21.3 Building It; 21.4 How It Works; Chapter 22: Jitterbug: Your First Robot; 22.1 Tools; 22.2 Supplies; 22.3 Building It; 22.4 How It Works; 22.5 Modifying the Jitterbug; 22.6 Reverse Sumo Racing; 22.7 Resources; Chapter 23: FedEx Kites; 23.1 Tools; 23.2 Supplies for the Diamond Kite; 23.3 Supplies for the Box Kite; 23.4 Building the Diamond Kite; 23.5 Building the Box Kite; 23.6 Flying Tips; 23.7 Resources; Chapter 24: Marshmallow Muzzleloader; 24.1 Tools; 24.2 Supplies; 24.3 Building It; 24.4 Firing Instructions; 24.5 How It Works; 24.6 Going Commando; Electronics Components, Tools, and Skills; Components; Tools; Skills; Resources; Colophon; Updates;