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with the editors and authors of MAKE Tuesday April 27, 2010

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Laptopograms: Contact prints from your computer

This looks like fun- this maker has been using the light from a laptop screen to expose photographic paper, creating what they call a laptopogram:

Laptopograms are images made by pressing photosensitive paper onto a laptop screen and flashing an image in a manner not unlike contact printing or photograms. The name 'laptopogram' is a misnomer - I reckon they can be made with pretty much any monitor. Perhaps 'Luminous Screen Emulsion Transfers' is a better name. Here, however, the negative is a digital image - and is flashed for a little time onto the paper before developing the image in a darkroom.

These prints were made with an IBM R51 Thinkpad running Lucid Lynx with a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. All prints were developed on Ilford Ilfospeeed RC Deluxe 5 Glossy paper using Tetenal Neofin Blau with water as a stop bath and a fixer of unknown provenance.

One of the best parts is the code to control the shutter:

#!/bin/sh vbetool dpms on ; sleep 2.0; sudo vbetool dpms off

If the contrast ratio could be made high enough, this technique would be great for directly exposing circuit boards or screen printing masks! Anyone know if this is at all possible?

[via kottke]

Posted by Matt Mets | 10:00 AM in Arts, Photography | | Discuss (0)

Sisyphean automaton

There are three movements, controlled from 3 axles, and the gears on the axles have prime numbers of teeth (23, 43, 59). So technically the movements will only repeat every 58,351 turns of the small gear. There's also a semi-random toggle on the head motion, so it will never really quite repeat. Almost all the parts press fit and/or lock together, so the whole thing can be disassembled to a pile of parts, then reassembled, adjusted, and set going again without tools. Read More

Reminder: Win a ticket to Maker Faire!

We're giving away a ticket to Maker Faire every day until May 12. Sign up at the giveaway page and check there every day to see if you've won! The 5th annual Maker Faire Bay Area is fast approaching!... Read More

Three-roll pinhole camera

This excellent pinhole camera exposes three rolls of film simultaneously. The work of Steven Monteau of Bordeaux, France, it's a pretty slick project, using felt-tipped pens to advance the rolls and marker tops as the knobs. Even better, Monteau... Read More

How-To: Make a shrimp from a bendy straw

Like ya do. Pictures above come from this Japanese page, and here's an English-language tutorial from Amanda of Creative Blythe. [via Recyclart] Read More

Minority Report-style Mobile Interface

Some of the folks over in the Ishikawa Komuro Laboratory at The University of Tokyo have prototyped a Minority Report-like touchless gestural mobile interface that, in addition to the ubiquitous air typing, also allows the user to interact with with the interface in 3D. Read More

Remote-controlled "RoboPlow"

Rob Klinkey (Charles, IL) built this scrappy (scrapey?) little R/C snow plow with a 50" blade, 6-wheel drive, 660 amps of power, 10 watts of LED lights for night plowing, and an on-board webcam. I like how it looks... Read More

Arduino ant farm - is a musical instrument

Ants walking through IR gates manipulate the Auduino synth program. John spotted this at the RobotFest / Mid-Atlantic Mini Maker Faire. He writes - I went to the RobotFest / Mid-Atlantic Mini Maker Faire yesterday. I saw this awesome... Read More

Spinning RGB LED Ball II

Laserpointerforums member FireMyLaser built this most excellent Spinning RGB LED Ball II, using a bit of junk from his scrap pile and lots of ingenuity. Read More

7 things I've learned while building a CoasterBot

At last count, 625 makers have decided to create a bot for our awesome Robot Build, and I'm one of them! My concept is a bristlebot built with four toothbrushes and a mini CD. I bought some wee vibration... Read More

Make: Robot Build project submissions

Becky's preliminary robot build. Note the use of a sewing bobbin as an idler wheel. We're absolutely thrilled with the response we've gotten to the Make: Robot Build! The participation on the Forums, Flickr, and on contestants' personal project... Read More

Chair suggests recycling without actually doing so

That's perhaps a bit unfair, as the PET from which designocrat Marcel Wanders' prototype "Sparkle" chair is made may well come at least partly from recycled sources, for all I know. What I should say, really, is that the chair suggests direct recycling without actually doing so. It looks like it's made from actual bottle parts, even though it isn't. Which is a rather strange kind of eco-marketing, IMHO. Still, I like it as a purely aesthetic object. Is it because I've been programmed to desire bottled water, and thus respond favorably to an object that mimics its form even in a totally irrational way? Read More

MythBuster Grant Imahara gets ArcAttacked

Maker Faire veterens ArcAttack recently persuaded Grant Imahara to enjoy one of their really high-voltage tunes from within an oh-so-cozy Faraday cage - looks like good times to me! [Thanks, Joe!] More: Happy Birthday Tesla - from ArcAttack (and... Read More

TeleMetrum, an open hardware telemetry system for rocketry

Bdale Garbee and Keith Packard are developing a solid-looking open source telemetry system, that they call TeleMetrum. Read More

Math Monday: Knitted cellular automaton tea cosy

By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics Cellular automata are mathematical systems that can generate surprisingly complex patterns from very simple rules. Camilla Fox worked out a way to knit cellular automata patterns by using two colors of yarn.... Read More

MAKE/MakerBot giveaway update

We're racking up the entries for the MAKE/MakerBot CupCake CNC kit giveaway! Design a 3D object and put it on Thingiverse for a chance to win your own 3D printer! Bre's been tagging Thingiverse things with "makeentry" (169 so... Read More

Mid-Atlantic Mini Maker Faire: Success!

I had the pleasure to attend the Mid-Atlantic Mini Maker Faire this past Saturday. There were lots of awesome things going on, such as air-powered rockets, a soft circuit fashion show, robotics, circuit bending, electronic art and more. Read More

Radically folding deployable table design

The obvious caveat, here, is that these are CG renderings of a concept design. Even relatively simple devices and mechanisms tend to breed unexpected problems in the transition from virtual to actual, and, IMNSHO, the cat's not really in the bag until you've made a real one in the real world. Still, pretty delightful mechanical design here. It's called "Grand Central," from Swedish freelance designers Sanna Lindström and Sigrid Strömgren. [Thanks, Billy Baque!] Read More

Shopping cart furniture

Here's some great recycled furniture made from shopping carts by Ramon Coronado. [via Milkcrate Digest] More: Maker Workshop - Shopping Cart Chair... Read More

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Weekend Project: Compressed Air Rocket
Blow your friends away as you send this 25-cent rocket hundreds of feet in the air. Thanks go to Rock Schertle for the original article in MAKE, Volume 15. To download The Compressed Air Rocket video click here and... More

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