Although coconut shells do have some well established niche market uses such as novelty swimwear and small caged-pet shelters, I can’t help but to feel as though too many of them are going to waste.

The New Altoids Tin?

No I don’t mean as a mint holder, but as an improvised homebrew electronics project enclosure. The Altoids tin does make a nice project case. It has a hinged lid, giving you easy access to your business, a great pocketable form factor, and of course they are everywhere for free. But despite these merits, I think that the ubiquitous mint tin has been used to excess, and its use may be nearing the saturation point. I have a hunch that the coconut shell might just turn out to be the next big thing.

When I was recently trying find an enclosure for the ukulele amp that I was building, a coconut came to mind, and I don’t think that I could have found a better case. In addition to the obvious thematic tie-in with the ukulele, the coconut shell has a number of other redeeming qualities.

The shell is hard and durable, easily machined, has a pleasing organic texture which can be left hairy, sanded smooth, or anything in-between. The little brown dome of a half-shell is cute as a bug, bringing a smile to all who see it. The dome shape is extremely stable and tip resistant. I could go on all day.

Coconuts.

Via Dinosaurs and Robots

Mark Frauenfelder and Mr. Jalopy have partnered up to write a new blog called Dinosaurs and Robots.

Mark is the founder of Boing Boing and the Editor in Chief of Make Magazine. Mr. Jalopy also writes for Make, and is a curator and purveyor of some of the great forgotten artifacts of the San Fernando Valley. The site is all about objects of extraordinary quality.

I am honored to have been invited to be the inaugural gest blogger!

Check it out: Dinosaurs and Robots.

“Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid”.

I finished my LED blaster pistol build. You can read more about the project in this instructables post.

I suppose that if you set out to build a Blaster Pistol, you should expect that somewhere along the way you might be required to construct a Uranium PU-36 Space Modulator, but I wasn’t prepared to build a Oneshot Monostable Multivibrator.

When I first thought about adding light and sound to my raygun project, I really just envisioned using the gun’s trigger as a switch to turn on the sound and light effects - done. But I quickly realized that the effects would need to pulse in a consistent and controlled manner. With each trigger pull, you should get a pulse of light, and a blast sound. To seem convincing, the duration of the pulse should be the same each time and only happen once when you pull the trigger even if you were to keep the trigger switch closed. And you don’t want the sound effect looping over and over or getting cut short.

The 555 Timer IC

When I surveyed my expert sources for advice about how to better control my effects, the resounding answer was “use a 555 timer”.

I have built a lot of electronic kits in my day, but for some reason every time I try to tinker with building my own circuits from scratch, I fail miserably. I have tried a number of times to teach myself the fundamentals of electronics by getting some components and building a small amplifier or some such project, but it never seems to work out. This time I was determined to make it work, so I researched 555 timer circuits, bought a few of the IC’s and gave it another try. But before getting into it, I went to Ebay and bought a huge lot of resistors, capacitors, a breadboard, jumpers, and other components that someone else had cast off, probably after becoming frustrated with learning electronics. I remembered from my previous forays that one of the most frustrating things about experimenting was not having the right resistor or capacitor on hand and having to run to radio shack and pay $10.00 for .30 cents worth of parts and still not get what you need.

Even with great determination and much time devoted to the project, it was still sort of frustrating. You see, the 555 has been in use since the early 1970’s and seems to have been the mainstay IC of homebrew electronics experimenters until PICs became ubiquitous. There are literally thousands of circuits out there that are built around the 555, and I found 5 or 6 that looked to be just what I needed. However, the first three designs that I tried all failed to work as advertised (if they did anything at all). I was remember why I had given up on circuit craft those other times.

Finally, over on Rob Paisley’s site I found a circuit that looked a little different than the standard 555 one-shot.

This one actually worked.

Once I had the timer pulsing an LED on the breadboard, I started adding the actual effects that I wanted to use in my project. I want the firing sequence to do 3 things:

1) Pulse a cluster of super bright red LEDs with a forward blast of light.
2) Shoot out a blast of red laser light that with project a nice red spot all the way across a well-lit room.
3) Make a nice laser gun sound that is synchronized with the lights.

I bought a little laser diode assembly on ebay that came with a focusable collimating lens, which allows you to spread the usual pinpoint laser dot out into a bigger red blob.

For the sound effect, I bought a Radio Shack recordable sound module. To get the sound onto the module, I cut of the microphone and clipped the leads to an RCA-to-mini stereo cable and plugged that into the headphone jack of my computer. By pushing the record button on the module and the play button on the computer at the same time I was able to load up a laser sound that I found somewhere on the web.

Adding Transistors

When I added the laser to the circuit, things stared going haywire. I guessed that the laser, LED, and sound board circuits would need to be isolated from each other, so I used the signal from the 555 to trigger an NPN transistor to switch on the LEDs. Then I ran a jumper from the emitter of the LED transistor to trigger the another transistor to turn on the laser.

Things were better but still erratic, so I added diodes to the transistor base connections, which fixed the problems. I removed the play button from the sound module and soldered on some wires in its place. I used a third transistor to trigger the sound board. I also had to add diodes to the sound board power leads, or it would cause the laser to put out only a faint glow. It’s all very mysterious.

Building The Circuit

Once I had all the bugs worked out, I dismantled the breadboard version and rebuilt the circuit on a piece of perforated circuit board. Even though I used the exact same components that I had used in the breadboard setup, it didn’t work quite right when I built it on the circuit board. I had to change the timing resistor to get the correct timer pulse, and use a different current limiting resistor to make the laser come on. Lots of trial and error, but I have a great sense of accomplishment for getting further than I have in my previous attempts at homebrew electronics.

UPDATE:

The final laser blast effect was leaving me a bit limp, so I decided to add a little motion in the form of a 10 LED chaser that will run down the side of the blaster as it fires.

The Chaser is supposed to be some sort of “pulse generator” ramping up to discharge a laser bolt.

You can see the effect in action In this YouTube video. Now THAT’s excitement!

Blaster Finished - You can see the finished gun in this Instructables Post.

Image Courtesy of Apemania.com.

I can ‘t think of a better way to ring in the new year than to start working on my 2008 Halloween costume.

It’s been just over a year since I got my sewing machine. When I first got it, I had ambitions of cranking out a whole closet full of custom shirts, perfectly fitted to me, styled in vintage fabrics and cut just the way I like ‘em. Well, as it would happen, having a better shirt just wasn’t enough to motivate me to take on the challenge of creating a garment from scratch. I did manage to do some alterations here and there, but it wasn’t until Halloween rolled around that I found the real killer app for sewing - Costumes!

Last year I sewed parts of the whole family’s costumes, which was really fun and satisfying. This year, I am going to take the opportunity to sew up a whole POTA chimp suit from the ground up and hopefully gain some new tailoring skills in the process. Yes indeed, the prospect of having my own chimp suit turned out to be a sufficiently powerful incentive to get me sewing in earnest.

I looked into getting started in latex mask making but decided to leave that for another time, and have already contracted with movie makeup artist and avid POTA collector Matt Sotis to make my chimp mask for me. Check out the amazing work that Matt did on this orangutan.

Finding a Pattern

Since I am just starting to sew, I really wanted to work from a pattern. Unfortunately, you can’t just purchase a Planet Of The Apes Adult Male Chimp Suit pattern at your local fabric store, so I started searching for “Tunic Shirt” patterns on ebay. I placed a bid on Simplicity 8177 which is a pattern for a sort of quasi-African grooovy shirt from the late 60’s which appeared to have pretty chimp-like proportions. The pattern was published in 1969, the year after the POTA movie came out. I was outbid on the auction, but while brooding over my loss, I noticed that the image of the pattern envelope had little icons representing the pieces that were included in the pattern.

The Blow-Up

Wondering if this preview could serve as a pattern, I blew up the image in Photoshop and traced outlines of the front and rear panels and the sleeve. I then printed this mini-pattern out on a sheet of 8.5 x 11 paper, cut out the pieces and assembled them with tape. To my pleasure, the result did look sort of like a possible foundation for a chimp tunic.

I then put my opaque projector to it’s first practical test, using it to enlarge the pattern up to full scale. To determine the right size, I measured the width of one of my shirts and added a few inches for seam allowances and fitting.

After tracing the pattern onto a large sheet of paper and cutting the pieces out, I folded each panel in half bilaterally and trimmed them to restore their symmetry, which had been lost during this convoluted enlarging process.

Next Time: Making the Chimp Tunic.

So you’ve borrowed a video projector and you’re finally going to host that Don Knotts film festival that you’ve always talked about. Well, Cannonball Run II doesn’t look that great on a beige wall, and you don’t have any white sheets to hang. Rest easy, with a trip to the fabric store and a few spare hours, you can make yourself an admirable projection screen.

Get some blackout cloth

What you are going to need is some drapery blackout fabric. This stuff is a lightweight, white fabric with a rubbery coating on the back. It is sold at most fabric stores and is normally used to make a light-proof backing for curtains. The rubber coating makes it super opaque, which is perfect for making a highly reflective projection screen.

Build a frame

Figure out what aspect ratio and size screen that you would like, then build a frame to strech your blackout cloth over. I ripped down some 2×4’s that I had to make some 3/4 x 1 1/2 inch boards. I built a 90 inch diagonal 16:9 frame from these and added an extra cross member to the center for the sake of rigidity. I then cut some 12 inch gussets, screwing and gluing them in place to reinforce all corner joints. This made for a rather stiff and lightweight frame.

Strech the screen

I used a staple gun to stretch the fabric over the frame. What you will end up with is a dirt cheap, lightweight, projection screen. If you ever upgrade to a retractable model with automatic masking, you can always use this thing as a painting canvas.

I‘m kind of getting lightsabered out. I promise that this will be my last mention of them for a while.

But I did have some leftover lightsaber making supplies sitting around after Halloween, so I used them to build a “saber” that I could actually use. In place of the blade, I installed a 7 watt Luxeon LED and the pulse driver from a little tactical flashlight. I adapted the LED to the head of an old Mini-Mag flashlight, which is now held into the saber hilt with a set screw.

Now I can fondle that ultimate of nerd fetish items, the lightsaber, under the pretext of needing to use a flashlight!

A rebel x-wing pilot just doesn’t look right in tennis shoes. If your Halloween costume could benefit from a pair of jack boots, but you just don’t feel like forking over the $300, don’t despair. You can make a pair of decent-looking costume boot tops in pretty short order.

Make A Pattern

While wearing the shoes that you will be using as the basis for your “boots”, wrap your leg in several layers of newspaper and tape. Use plenty of tape. Once you have this paper boot roughly the shape and size that you like, split it down the inside of the leg with a pair of scissors, and flatten it out. Use this pattern to cut out the material for your boot. I cut mine from a scrap of black vinyl that I got from an upholstery shop.

Sew it up

Fold the top edge back and sew a small hem to make the boot stiffer and give it a finished look. Then simply sew the tube shut and turn it inside out.

For an extra stiffening and to maintain a smooth look, you can glue a sheet of stiff paper or light card stock to the inside of each calf. After slipping these tubes onto your legs, just put on the matching shoes and there you have them, boots!

You say you need a yellow G for your Speed Racer costume but you couldn’t sew a stitch if your life depended on it? Rest easy, you can make jiffy iron-on letters using some felt and your hot-glue gun.

There is probably a pre-glued interfacing material made just for this purpose, but I didn’t know about it or have any, so I used paper and hot glue which worked great and was easy enough.

Design the Letter

Draw or print you letter (or other shape for that matter) onto a thin sheet of paper and cut it out with scissors.

Glue the First Side

Lay the shape right-reading on a piece of waxed paper and apply glue to the front side. Use the hot glue gun with light trigger pressure so that barely any glue comes out. Think of it as a pen and “draw” a thin film of hot glue over the entire face of the shape. Pay special attention to the edges.

Don’t use too much glue, or it might seep through the felt when you apply the final mounting heat.

Place the letter on your felt with the glue side facing the material and apply enough heat with an iron to melt the glue to the felt.

Glue the Other Side

Flip the felt over and apply glue to the other side of the paper.

Cut

Trim the felt to the shape of the paper, and you’ve got yourself an iron-on.

I think that I may have just out-nerded myself. You see, the 2-minute dueling sabers were fun for a couple of days, but they weren’t the most durable things in the world and were a bit lacking in the realism department. So I decided to build a nicer set of “elegant weapons from a more civilized time age”.

The Hilt

After researching lightsabers, I learned that the original lightsaber props were made from 1950’s vintage Graflex camera flash guns like might have been used on old press cameras. In fact, the Luke Skywalker saber was pretty much an unmodified flash handle. If you want a true replica of the Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader sabers, you can always get a Graflex flash on ebay but they do cary a stiff premium because every Star Wars geek has the same idea.

I opted to start from scratch, so I purchased some 1 3/16 o.d. (some schedule 40 size) aluminum tubing from a metals house. I chose this size because it looked about right to me and a “C” battery slid nicely inside with a little spare room for a wire. I bought a 2 ft length of the tubing and cut it in half at a 45 degree angle, and twisted it in some sandpaper to give it a nice machined look.

Reminder: You can cut aluminum no problem on your table saw with a carbide blade.

I had an old bicycle seat post that happened to fit perfectly inside the aluminum tubing that I bought, so I used that to make the bushings for the blades and the battery terminals. The rear battery terminal also serves as the end plug/battery retainer.

The Sith

For the Vader version, I cut a shroud from some PVC conduit and gave it a wrinkle finish to emulate the vintage camera equipment feel of the original. strips of rubber cut from an old auto floor mat make up the grip. The mythology says that the original propmaker used strips of windshield-wiper as the grip.

The Jedi

The Skywalker saber sports a spartan, gripless motif. I chopped up the heat-sink from an old pentium to form a cool space-age looking thing-a-module to adorn the top. Gold connectors from the edge of the circuit board finish it off.

The Blades

There are two popular ways to light up a saber. The first is EL, or electro-luminescent wire. This is a glowing wire that you power up with a high-voltage transformer. This technology provides a nice, bright even glow, and is probably the preferred method. The second common way is to use a single, 3-5 watt Luxeon high-output LED located in the hilt to light up the blade.

I used an alternate method that I learned from Instructables member jmumby. This method chains a bunch of bright LEDs wired in parallel to form the core of the blade. The result is an extremely bright blade. However, there is a slight “rope light” effect visible due to the individual points of light. This problem can be mostly mitigated through the use of a suitable diffuser.

Tip: When you order your LEDs, look for the brightest, but also look for the widest viewing angle that you can find. The wide-angle diodes look much brighter. Don’t forget resistors. Here is a neat calculator for finding the correct current-limiting resistors to match your LEDs.

Again - before you decide to build an LED blade, I would research EL wire as an alternate light source.

After soldering up the LED chain, I tied a thread to one end. Then I pulled the led array into a length of 1/2 inch o.d. milky polyethylene tubing, which I first sanded to increase it’s light diffusing properties. That tube then gets inserted into a 3/4 inch clear outer tube which received an interior sanding to further promote light diffusion.

If you plan to use your sabers for dueling, you will want to use polycarbonate tubing, as this stuff is nearly indestructible. If you don’t plan to whack anything with it, you can use the more commonly found acrylic tubing.

Wow, “the kids” really like them.

Related: The Flashlightsaber