This mini-sumo design by Jeremy Bloyd-Peshkin features our wheels, and one of our favourite building materials, Sintra. We can't laser-cut sintra (PVC=bad stuff when burned), but milling it works well, as this builder shows. The asymmetric motor layout works, as proven by this contest-winning design (scroll to the bottom of the page).
Useless (Xmas) Machines!
Dave Hrynkiw
December 13, 2010
We're teaming up with Brett Coulthard of Saskview.com to get their version of the Useless Machine put together as a parts bundle. We just finished it Friday night, and quick-posted tweets & a few photos of it, and are shipping today!
What comes in the bundle? Pretty much everything you need to successfully build a Useless Machine of your own:
- 1 x 39300 Black acrylic "Useless Box" construction set (with nut/bolt hardware)
- 1 x SWT8 DPDT toggle switch
- 1 x SWT9 SPDT lever switch
- 2 x #2 mounting screws for SWT9
- 1 x BHoldAA 2-AA battery pack
- 1 x DSST (double sided sticky tape, for mounting the battery pack)
- 6" hookup wire
- 1 x GM4 gear motor
- 4 x "Little Rubber Feet" to protect your Useless machine from abrasive counter tops!
We're only offering the box in black acrylic at the moment (experimented with clear - ehk), but if you ask really nicely, we probably could run one in red, blue, green, orange, white and (if you really want it), clear. Call in if you want any of those options.
Speaking of cool "Useless machines", Tony Youngblood's Christmas version was just featured on the Makezine Blog. He built his with our GM8 for super-fast response (we did our bundle with the slower GM4 - we like a more deliberate "ME: OFF" response).
MORE POSTS
CES - Engadget's video of the RS2 &...
Engadget has a large (albeit short) video of the new RoboSapien V2, and a bit of the Robopet. Check it out!
May issue of Discover Magazine
Mr. Tilden informs me that his experiments with 40 B.I.O.Bugs in the desert of Whitesands, New Mexico will be detailed in the May issue of Discover Magazine. I've seen some of his personal pics of the experiment, and it is indeed impressive photography. Keep an eye out for this issue!
New Instructables!
Our clear breadboard was recently blogged on Makezine, which reminded me we juuuust about had an instructable ready for that same item. So, a few hours later, it is finished and posted. And while I was at it, I finished editing another Instructable by Jerome Demers, our intern. He did up a DIY Miniball instructable […]
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Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.