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    of 100
    WORLD’S CUTEST GO-KART CUSTOM DASHBOARD COMPUTING Make. — BUILD A WORKING BB-8 Spray Point Techniques ube Choose the Right Battery \ Work with Sheet Metal \ Know Your Rivets 3D PRINTED R/C RACECAR MILLION COLOR FLASHLIGHT ‘WATER BALLOON CANNON makezine.com | makerfaire.com | makershed.com Vol. 46 August/September 2015 (intel) what's inside PLANTS WITH THE INTEL EDISON Learn to enable sensors on Intel's tiny computer and help your plants flourish ‘Whitten By Make; Editors ADVERTORIAL The Intel® Edison module is a powerful single board computer that runs Linux out of the box. And thanks to the software that Intel developed and preinstalled on the Edison module, you'll be able to use 2 modified version of the Arduine IDE, just as you would when you work with an Arduino Uno. Any Intel Edison can behave like an ‘Arduino, but for this project you'll need the Intel Edison Kit for Arduino. This breakout board allows traditional Arduino shields to quickly connect physically with Edison module — enabling easy hardware compatibility to augment the software solutions already mentioned. ‘Accessing sensors in Linux is not always straightforward, but intel Edison sidesteps that thanks to its leveraging of Arduino simplicity. To connect our plant-monitoring sensors, we'll use the Seeed Studia Grove breakout board — an Arduino shield that simplifies wiring of sensors. Rather than wrestling with bundles of wires, the Grove system combines four wires — power, ground, and signal tines — in one handy ‘connector. Snap one end of the connector into the sensor and the other end into the breakout board. Simple! 1. Intel Edison Hardware Setup Orient your Arduino breakout board for Edison module flat ona table with the Intel Logo facing you. Guide the Ecison module nto the screw mounts, press the board David Sthettems dow unti it is snug in the Hirose connector, and tighten the included nuts so the Edison module doesn’t fall off the breakout board Connect the Grove shield to the breakout board just as you would an Arduino shield and secure the connection between the two boards, E Intel Edison Software and Firmware Setup Before writing the project source code, there are two software packages you need to download: the latest firmware for Intel Edison and a customized Arduino IDE for your computer. Conveniently, there is @ Windows installer for both here: sottware.intel.com/en-us/ iot/hardware/edison/downloads. I'you use 08x or Linux, simply download the Yocto ‘complete image from the Board Firmware Software section an the same page. The second download you need to grab isthe custom Arduino IDE for your OS, which can be found on the main IDE landing page. software intel.com/iot/downloads. Connect the Intel Edison board using two separate USB type A to micro cables, and also make sure that the SWI switch is toggled toward the micro USB ports. Follow the instructions in the Windows, installer, then skip to step 5. For Mac and Linux users, on your computer, extract the firmware zip file that you downloaded and ‘copy the contents of the folder to the Edison drive on your desktop, 4. Finishing the Flash To.complete the flashing process you't need to log into the Edison using a terminal program and execute «command Grab a copy of CoolTerm and install it on your computer — freeware the-meiers.org Set the baud rate for 115260 and the port as usbserial-* and be aware thatthe * willbe a string of characters, but itis system dependent. Initiate a connection with Edison by clicking the connect button. Wait afew seconds and hit return a few times. You should see the activity lights TX and RX flashing in CootTerm: ‘ter Linux fully boots, you will be presented with a login prompt. Type in root ‘and hit enter. By default there is no password set for the root user an an Edison. Then type in the command: reboot ota This command will overwrite al ofthe files ‘and configuration scripts on your Edison, 50 make sure you've made backups of any specialized customizations you've made. Once you press return, the system will reboot and load the new version of the firmware. You can verify the changes by cat Jetc/version 5. Grove Starter Kit Grove sensors are an easy way to add data into an Intel Edison project. You'll be using temperature, light, moisture, and UV sensors inthis build. All four of these are analog sensors and will connect to pins A0-A3, Go ‘ahead and plug them in now. 6. Fire up the Arduino IDE toCode Load the Intel version of the Arduino IDE that you download in step 2, You'll be writing all the code for the garden minder in this IDE. Make sure the Intel Edison board is not mounted asa drive in your file system. Transferring sketches fram the IDE to Edison simply will not work unless the drive is unmounted 7. Writing the Sketch Since there are four sensors that report trnigue values, there are four primary sections of code, AS with all Arduino Sketches, you will ned to configure inputs and variables in your setup() function 8. Monitoring the Plant While the Inet Edison board i stil connected to your computer and the Arduino IDE is running, select the Serial Monitor fromthe Tools menu and watch your plant's environmental conditions Now that you are comfortable usin the four analog sensors and reporting values to the Serial Monitor to extend the features ofthe project. Try creating a graphical interface, or an auto-weet function oF teven adding a servo to ett water tse The cptions are tmitess ~ experiment and have fun.@ CONTENTS COLUMNS SPECIAL SECTION Reader Input 06 Welcome 08 Made on Earth 10 lore the aang wo FEATURES Space Chase 18 te fu bon 0 desert dlaunck Maker Pro Q&A 26 Mad Hacks 28 Maker's Dashboard 40 bike, mod therm nt World's Cutest Go-Kart 30 Electro-fy Your Bicycle 42 Making the Switch 34 Final ke conversion tha Build the Switch electric vehicle — educa Bottle-Cap Bike Light 46 Uneyele sada bottles to make t Evolutionary EVs 35 1g, water n t ele big boy Inside the Monowheel 47 own Your Car 3% Tips on fabricating this un and uni tt by Ghdmosce-scandowith | Cycle Chaser Bike Projector 48 thairvehie Shine fun ani street Jepending on your speed 2 makershed.com makezinecomv/46 Dt, SKILL BUILDER Tips on Batteries, Rivets, Spray Paint, and More the tools and techniques y PROJECTS Building Your Own BB-8 Chukudu Wooden Scooter Build the burly Congolese work 2 haul hundreds o Million Color HSL Flashlight Bring fun back tc Arduino and fullecolr 3D-Print a Badass RIC Race Car SOS = vee 3 F~ Semi-Automatic Amateur Scientist: Toy Inventor's Notebook: | QVER THE TOP ree Lieasaal Be Might Thang Rockets Fore ane, , ABrief History of 21st dam Sheree [sched pa se desgs Century BattleMechs gmall-batch ou walk ou vere a Me Water Balloon Cannon 14243: Realistic simple PVC aireannon toon Duct Tape Rose help you win the water war TOOLBOX eyourswoetieariwih | 44243: Custom Tool Reviews 2 ; “— Soda Cooler nique end useful Mak Remaking History: Summ Sow ¥ sera on . Henry Bessemer and make a custom kee NewMaker Tech “i the Age of Steet : On the horizon for ele arn how to heat-treat an Howtoons an cesses gre he met hat Const aneasytomemase | Books nna er Electronics Fun & Pixel Pals odside table vote Fundamentals: The Learn how to solder Chip and| 3D Printer Review : Greenest Delay Timer re Pee er aoe, Me w timer circuit roughly teste : ‘makezine.com 2 Make: Gregg Brockway Todd Stkiewicr “if you don’t know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else:"— Edel ‘Yos! Berra Mike Senese Elise Tarkan, Keith Hammond Donataett Davidscheltema Jordan Bunker Nathan Hurst Craig Couden Laurie Barton Marty Martin Sophia Smith Nicole smith “aor Ase, ab Boe [awa ergo” ee Suliann Brown ‘im Burke Hep Svadja ‘Tyler Winegarner varocnaen Heckathorn Beate Fritsch Josh Wright ‘lair Whitmer Bill Oteon, David Beauchamp Rich Haynie Matt Abernathy tier iiinaece sagen Louise Glasgow Dale Dougherty ‘Vickie Welch PROSRAM DIRECTOR erg 608 NE Sabato Sue Pack Mccarthy Bridgette petmacen re trick MeCarthy Vandertaan ‘Schumann Printers, inc. Heather Harmen COST OM as Sat Nensuies Cochran cose dmes acre rooms Micelle Hubinka fisgewota -StzanneHeston custome Mar eee SOREon Beha reer lane Narteevincent — sarcernoevewts Ryan Austin commence CourtneyLente i sonaWong—eateWa ae Koreas = sssocartenooxin Ertan fepsan driana Black Pichete Von Ruten conrriaurors {7 you were going to build your own transportation solution, what would tbe? ma] fm as Benjamin 5 Nikos ZacharyT. Preston Neewiadomski | Mavrivakis | Nguyen Boossivemieoe | vgye tthe | Myint | Iwouldmakea | ret Taputgabie | peornegeced | wouldbea peace | bieyatrame : hiphwaysrstem | Gesictetiles framveodend | jgwoysdream ‘relate im Sign Valley so! seaplatirm Aavveanatrom | plsepeulsion ssoroteage, | Raton Ingccoonthat rubbish, esting | pfeanerctings frowesyour. | sluminamand” | Sconetucings Eodrwinevery. | plstceutst | {incstoget thingitreces zo | Waterbottesand_ | Untge anges tor yovsrrvereedy Tadacanstorthe scdacanstorthe | Ghtogrphs. @ makershed.com B= ENGRAVE IT. CUT IT. MARK IT. ae 4 { From creating and personalizing 3D models, to engraving photos, to marking high- tech gadgets, ou laser systems create the produ you see here and more! Whether /- noun tv wxe si, piper re bt antigo ie aa ‘systems precisely cut and etch the components you need. Contact Epilog Laser today for a laser system demo! MADEINUSA PRCT ES eeu TDD Ae et PCC UROL + High-speed router included: great too! The next big thing is this little tool. production, and user-friendly CAD/CAM asily from get to work. Expand your ability to make any custo Available exclusively at handibot.com/store roject with the Handibot' pls Ot ome |handibot vowwehandbet com | Smart power tool =~ driven by READER INPUT Drawing Inspiration from GROWING UP WITH MAKER FAIRE My son, Chris, was 8 atthe first Maker Faire. He's now graduating high school and has been accepted universities [Duke, Ketting, University of Utah, and BYU) Field of study? Manufacturing and engineering, Why? Well mostly because of Make: magazine (have them al from the beginning), Maker Faire we've been to7 ofthe 10), and abit of| stuffin between that we got involved in because of the ideas and inspirations from the blag and the magazine. ve appreciated our partnership over the years. -Mike Johnson, Rocklin, Cai ‘THE REAL COST OF APROJECT In issue 44 of Make: magazine, Mark Harrison tells us how to build a noodle copter! The article [page 42] saysit cost $8 to buy all the materials, but my dad says it will cost over $100. Can you please tell me the actual cost of the copter so mybrother and can buildit? Trank you very much, Max lexander age 10 Max, sorry about any confusion with the Noodle Copter — the $8 price we posted is just for building this as the airframe. The electronics are separate, and yes, will cost about $100-$200 to get off the ground. I wish they didnt cost this much, but ‘thankfully the prices are constantly dropping. We'll be mere clear in the future rmakershed.com op Sale Ree TN oad) Eda AVL 3 in Se cet on ea ea a much creat Peau looking for Sarr ady ey aE Cee Ponte een inating. a Ce en aioe een aE eens) pet errr! el eae Se ee es nor 2014, Looking forward tone eee ea a = they are asking eee ee res ae aa ae net ater ae es haust ee een fabulous people that we're planning on contacting we been ould : Amends Make: he LibraryBox ng You" [page 70) g 2 rife. Our apologies, Jason! credited to Tormach Personal CNG PONG 1100 Serise 9 CNC Ming Machine TTermach PENC mils are the ultimate maker machines. Whether youre a maker, fabber S8as0 innovator, or builder, a Tormach PCNC will ; aan) ‘enable your ideas with real CNC capability { a | and precision. Sean the QR code below with F your smartphone to see what other Tormach ‘owners are making on their PCNC mills! Don't let your tools hold back your innovation = visit www.tormach.com, Fae i AK Be BND at ON 1 MAKER(ESTIVAL FOR MAC’ | NOVEMBER 14-15, 2015 | MACON, GEORGIA| MAKERS, SPEAKERS, INNOVATIVE ART & TECHNOLOGY (8 LARGER-THAN-LIFE ATTRACTIONS APPLY ONLINE NOW THRU AUG 15™ MAKE-END.COM yfats Re-Inventing the First Text Message System makezine.com/46 Set the ay, Page mot nd expences frum student at kine com/8/welae BY DALE DOUGHERTY, founder ard Bcutve Chairman ot Male Meda ON AVISIT TO SUTHERLAND MIDDLE SCHOOL IN ALBEMARLE. COUNTY, VIRGINIA, I SAW GROUPS OF STUDENTS BUILDING ‘a motor out of 3D-printed and laser-cut parts plus coat-hanger ‘wire. Upon the screen atthe front ofthe class was a 30 simulation ofthe motor. The teacher, Robbie Munsoy, explained that the students were re-creating a Page motor, named after its inventor, Chartes Graton Page, and that the invention was patented in 1854 “Looking at historical inventions isa way fr students t intaract with technology and understand it” says Munsey, who, dissatisfied vith the science curriculum, wanted to employ more hands-on learning. Page motor makes it clear wnat a motor does and how itworks, and actualy building it brings this home to students, Initially, Munsey struggled with hard to obtain supplies for more ‘complex projects, He met Glen Bulla professor at the Curry ‘School of Education atthe University of Virginia, who was talking about 30 printing see Make: Volume 41, “The Lab inthe Class- room’). "He let me borrow a really old 3D printer,” says Munsey. ‘Glen said take ithhome and see what you can doit with it.” He cd, ‘and discovered that the printer was the answer to his supply prob- lem. “You could build anything with it, and [noticed the kids were mesmerized by i,” he says Bull imsited Munsey to join his online graduate class on edtech, ‘The next challenge in that class was to build a telegraph, and it ‘caught Munsey's interest. On his ov, he built the telegraph. Bull as ecstatic. He asked Munsey ihe thought &th grade students ‘ould build one. “Absolutely” Munsey replied, and he recruited ‘an engineering teacher, Eric Bredder, who ran Sutherland's rmakerspace, as a collaborator to make it happen. “Munsey believed that building telegraph with 30-printed parts ‘would be practical and meaningful tothe students, ltld them that the telegraph was the first text message system ever,” he says ‘Modern-day relays are plastic boxes that you cant open up. Even ifyou could open them, you wouldn't understand them. The great thing about these inventions is that we can see how they work: “Munsey and Bredder gave the students original docurnents, such asthe patent application, Rather than starting with akit or prepared instructions, students had te learn how it worked and design their ‘onm version. They built the telegraph with Autodesk 1230 and a new MakerBot. “Al of us were surprised by our success” says Munsey. Bull was so excited bythe work that he suggested they show ‘some people atthe Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. The class ‘created a presentation, ané “blew them out ofthe water,” says Munsey It resulted ina formal collaboration between the University Virgina, the Smithsonian, and Sutherland Middle School, and led toan NSF grant Later, Bullreached out to Princeton's Michael Littman, an expert ‘on historical inventions, and he joined the eallaboration, witha grad student adding 3D model simulation, ‘The next challenge was the Page motor. “Tough,” Munsey describes it. “Crazy tough” But the students succeeded again Having built the Page motor, students could learn what's great about t and what's nat so great about i.” he says. “Then lasked ‘them, what can you do to change it? What would you do to make it better? Can it look even more tke the original Page motor?” Munsey was delighted to hear the technical anguage seep into their ‘conversations — the commutators have tao much friction," “we'te pulling 3 amps, how dowe lower that?” —it was no longer a science projec: it became their own project. I never once lectured them an any ofthis. Nota single direct lesson. twasr't me pushing curriculum to them: it was them pulling the knowledge in” Munsey says. "The power of choice is so incredible. “Our kid said that by working with the original inventions and studying what the inventors wrote, they honesty felt connected toinwentors ike Morse,” Munsey says. ‘When | pointed out that these famous inventors didn't fully understand what electricity ‘was, | realized that neither do my students. The innovators and the students have holes in their understanding, and ve could talk about that” They learned about the invention, but also how the minds of, inventors work a lot tke their own. © @ makershed.com fo The shape of things to come. Pe Some litem OTe menu, Tice Utne! Brea eo Theworld of backyard technology Know/a piejectthat would be perfect for Made on earth? Emall sic for arahernecam Rogan Brown makes fo dimensional paper sculptures of microbes. He cals himself a scientific surrealist, end the fourth dimension is te. The time element the 48-year: ld antsts referring tois the four to five months ittakes to make the sculptures using his Epiloglase cutter. Brown prefers to use paper as his primary medium because i's a humble material, everyone cafiaccessit...|use a populist technique that allows the public to atcess-something that might be beyond their comprehension After living in London for many years, Brown relocated toaremote area bordering a rational park in southern France was trying to find a way into seeing what was surrounding me because the traditional art forms, of representing nature didn't appeal.” he says. He purchased a microscope and found himself captivated by the precise observations he recordedin the environment around him. “Detailed scientific drawings of nature took completely surreal.” Brown, explains, "We lve in a scientific age and artists engage in the dominant narrative Brown's micrabe exhibit, Invisible You, wil be on display for the next five years atthe Eden Project, an educational charity in the U.K. He will also be exhibiting ‘Outbreak, 2 huge installation of £800 microbes flowing out of a petri dome and crawing ove the gallery walls, at The Coda ‘Museum in the Netherlands this dune through October = Laura Rena Murray woatimcor MICRO MADE MACRO "0 makershed.com Erte Drew Ripley is full-time balloon Rea a Tats Deena ets ee ea Ree Ce aed De Cae Cee) eee ered Cee ats Ree Ee re] ee ee aed in Rochester, New York. ee eae red Adventure used more than 40,000 Pees eee ead CoE) ee! ran nonstop, and rigging was eerie et ces ented Cee ene eas Cen Dissatisfied withthe reliability and Cee ee eee eer ‘machine that was the only ‘automated equipment used in the Pe Sea a meaner) Ere) ‘some solenoids packed into plastic Ce ca Peet Peete ats See Ce ecg Poteet eet rT gohorne happy, eshausted, but stil Cr eee emcee Pee er ara Ce ea) ete ee) tenet ee See MADE ON EARTH aS ala eh ag = Pere ed eee ee ere ee Ree but the spirit persists, and throughout, the Makers continue toinspire and amaze. The 10th anniversary was no different; here, highlights from the Greatest Show & Tell on Earth. De ene ee ead ee Pree See ee ee ene CE) eee ere tre eee ee een eae nen sprout » Documenting Projects with Sprout by HP ‘GREAT PROJECTS NEVER APPEAR FULLY FORMED IN YOUR MIND; THEY TAKE WORK. Developing the idea, spending hours building it, and wrapping it all up witha nice set of photos in a blog post isn't easy. For most people, going from idea torealitys enough to tackle, but fora truly ‘great project, each step along the path should be documented. Detailed step shots and explanations make it ‘easier for people to replicate your success, and ‘even imprave on it. The best-documented projects are those that transcend a singular build and begin a life of their own. Alas, if docurnentation were that easy, then everyone would doit. We've all got our excuses... 4" don't want to stop what fm doing to take pictures” «"Idon't have the right equipment...” ««Lalways forget to Documenting a project adds a whole additional layer toan already complex process, and as a result, most people don’t bother to dot. Its sad to think of al the fantastic build that we've never seen, simply because people didn't pick up a ‘camera and snap pictures along the way ‘So how can we turn dacumentation into an activily that is practical for everyone, and that they rmight even enjoy? The best approach isto make itas seamless and easy as possible. If we all had ‘machines that made it simple to plan, photograph, ‘and share our build process, we'd al be much more likely to show the world what we've made. “Thankfully, the Sprout by HP i the perfect tol for the job, and we're here to show you how to use it DEVELOPING YOUR IDEAS Most projects start as a scritble on a napkin, a sketch ina notebook, ora collection of post-it note oodles. Its important to capture your ideas with wihateveris nearby vihen inspiration strikes, but itcan be tricky to keep track ofthe results. With the Sprout though, keeping al of your ideasin one place is a snap, no matter where they happen. In the Create app, you can build a virtual project makezine.com 15 sprout » i ADVERTORIAL board to collect notebook sketches, inspirational images from the web, and draw new designs on the fy. The Sprout allows both digital and physical plans to live together inthe same place. Having single place to track al of your plans helps you organize your ideas. CAPTURING THE PHYSICAL AS DIGITAL Opening the Create app will bring you toa blank ‘workspace. To scan in the contents of your notebooks, tap the camera icon in the upper left ‘corner to open the Capture feature, and then place your notebook on the Touch Mat. Tap the large camera con onthe touchscreen, and a photo willbe taken. If you're satisfied with the resulting picture, click the check mark. The image vill be placed on it's own layerin the workspace, ‘as well as inthe image gallery for later use Of course, you're not limited te capturing just sketches or nates. You can also place parts ‘and materials in your project board to help develop ideas further. Hit can fit on the mat, the Sprout can snap a picture oft and placeit in the workspace. IMAGES FROM THE WEB inspiration strikes while browsing the web, you ‘can simply copy and paste images directy into the workspace. Any image in the workspace can ‘also be selected and rotated or resized with the standard multi-touch pinch, om, and rotate {gestures you're used to. Tapping on the Edit tools inthe menu on the righ, you can even crop, ‘remove the background, or punch out a shape in an image. These built-in tools make iteasy to Quickly modify the image just the way you want it DRAWING YOUR IDEAS: ‘The Sprout comes with a stylus pen that makesit ‘any to sketch or take notes directly on the Touch Mat. Tapping the paintbrush icon will show the Ink tools. Here you can choose yaur pen style, the color you'd like to drawin, and the line width The pencil wll create lines of uniform thickness, while the calligraphy pen will produce a line of varying thickness based on the angle that you draw. And just asin the physical world, the highlighter wilt create areas of partial transparency for emphasis. BUILDING ‘Once you begin building, the real work begins. Thanks tothe durability ofthe Touch Mat, you can ‘Work on mast small projects without worry. The Touch Mats ultra-resistant coating deflects spills, cuts, glue, and ink, s0itwill stand up to mst mishaps. ‘Working directly on the Touch Mat lets you take ‘advantage ofthe Sprout’ Capture application {for mid-build photographs. When you start your project, open the Capture app and you'll be {greeted witha large view from the camera above 1s makershed.com ~*~ the Touch Mat. For the projects that are too large for the Touch Mat, you can switch to the camera in the touchscreen bezel by tapping the arrow icon in the bottom right corner of the screen. TAKING PICTURES To snap a photo of your project-in-progress, simply tap the camera icon on the touchscreen, ‘When a photo is taken, by default the Sprout will separate all ofthe objects in the picture. Thisis ‘great to capture all ofthe tools and materials sed atthe beginning of a build, but selecting the “separate objects" icon an the left side ofthe screen can disable the separation feature. Tepping the + symbol wil save the picture and allow you to take another picture, wile tapping the check mark will save the current picture and ext the ‘app. All saved images are conveniently placed in the Gallary for later use CUT THE LIGHTS: Keeping the Capture app open wil keep the Touch Mat display on, which might be distracting wile you're working, Thankfully, turning the projection off is easy. Simply press and hold the touch- ‘sensitive Touch Mat symbol onthe siver base ‘ofthe Touch Mat, and the Touch Mat display wil be disabled, Toturn itback on, press the same symbol and the display will come back on right ‘here you left off in the Capture app, ready to take ‘another picture. Asan added bonus, if you'd ke ‘some sot lighting while working, ou can tap the front ofthe Illuminator arm to turn on the built-in ‘overhead lamp. ‘SHOWING YOUR STEPS Having shots ofa project in progress can be Useful, but tohelp people understand the process, ‘adding a description of what was done in the pictures even better. When you're creating a set ‘of steps for others to follow when replicating your build, the Sprouts Create app has al the tools you'll need to help you show your work. ‘With the Create app open, you can open the image gallery on the touchscreen and swipe ‘through the pictures you took earlier during the build To add an image from the gallery to your ‘workspace, just swipe it down toward the Touch Mat, and it will appear within the workspace of the Create app. Alter resizing the image, you can Use the Ink tools to draw and annotate directly on top of your image, or use the Text tools to add 2 ‘description of what you were doing in the photo. ‘When you're done, simply use the drop-down ‘menu in the top right corner to save the fleas a JPEG, POF, or PNG, and open a new document to ‘start designing the next page in your build steps. For many people, project documentation isa pain, but it doesn’t have to be. The Sprout makes it easy — even fun — to take great photos during your build, and create beautiful instructions for ‘sharing your project with the world. @ FEATURES | CARBON ORIGINS MOVED TO THE DESERT TO LAUNCH ROCKETS. IT WAS HARDER THAN THEY EXPECTED. THE FOUNDERS OF 0 Kale Star, sana Ti, = dani aifen nd Aogha iangajan pose wth Caron Orgs Proeni0.3 >) ‘estodet on te > ring fit fist — and ast — launch, makezinecorvs you follow Aerospace Highway ‘orth out of Mojave, California, take a small road off tothe east, continue asit becomes gravel, and then sand, and pass a dry lake bed, you'll end up at the Friends of Amateur Rocketry (FAR launch site, These 10 acres of bare desert nestled between mountains and bordering California desert tortoise preserve are scarred with blast marks from hundreds of experimental rocket launches. It here, ana ho, sunny Sunday in April, that Carbon Origins, a startup consisting of four recent Case Western Reserve University engineering students, has set Up Phoenix 0.3, a 10-oot-long, 4-inch- diameter silver and black needle of a rocket. Inside are six commercial fight controllers, plus three oftheir unique, custom-built boards designed to track the racke's light, past Mach 2.5 and up to 43,000 feet. Disassembled, the rocket fits in the back of Danna Torio’s Toyota Highlander, which is how Carbon Origins got the rocket out to the FAR site from their house/eorporate headquarters in nearby California City ‘Amogha Srirangarajan stands beside the rocket on the platform, arming the electronics manually. They beep through the fiberalass body in acknowtedgment. “She'll be dented and seratched when she comes back," he says, affectionately few feet away, Kailey Shara makes sure the GPS units locked onto satellites. Then everybody retreats to a nearby bunker, and Srirangarajan video-calls Peter Dixon, their fourth co-founder, who could not be present. Nobody slept last night, Srirangarajan says, but Torio and Jaimie Hadden, who volunteered atthe launch, admit to catching raps in the car. ‘The countdawn begins, rom 10. It reaches zero, and nothing happens. AHOUSE IN THE DESERT Carton Origins can trace its trajectory tothe rocketry club at Case Western in Cleveland, Srirangarajan founded the group, which ‘expanded into one of the most popular clubs atthe university The club went to Utah to launch an 18+ foot, two-stage rocket. It blew up. More: than $23,000 worth of school, sponsor, and personal money went up in smoke, and they didn't know why because the fight. controller sensor array the rocket needed to tell them what happened didn't yet exist Eventually they pieced it together, based (on footage ofthe launch and an exhaustive process of picking up the scattered debris, The first stage lifted of fine. At best guess — {an educated guess, bt still not completely certain — the flight contrller, which ignites the second stage, dd so before stage 1 was finished. Itwrecked the bod, says Shara, The engine blew right threw it “itwas a pretty ambitious 2-stage rocket she says. “twas kind of pushing the capabilities ofthat fight controller: ‘Some in the club thought they could do better. Srirangarajan, Shara, Dixon, and Toro split off to start Carbon Origins, with the dual goals of makingit easier for citizens to explore space and building the tools, including that missing fight controller, that would help thern do that. The flight controller became a custom, durable, Arduina-compatible device called Apall. ‘That was the point at which we sai, this is more than a hobby,” says Srirangarajan, whois president and CEO of Carbon Origins. “From the ashes was born another rocket {and a company. “Thatis our single goal, space, and we'l do evarything we can to make sure that people ike us, when they get to universities, and when they get toa part in their fe Where they have the basic skills to do something cool, they have this resource to put stufin space,"he says. Inthe summer of 2014 they moved to California City rented a four-bedroom house with a rocky yard and heavily taxed air conditioner, and set up shop. Literally they built shop inthe lving room, witha dri press, shop vac, MakerBot, a big monitor for CAD, bright work lights ‘on stands, and abig bank of drawers Containing bolts and other small parts. ‘There are five whiteboards covered in - calculations and diagrams, plus a fridge with three faces covered in dry-erase markings. Five more whiteboards decorate the walls ‘makezine.com 17 FEATURES ‘Space Chase ‘ofthe garage, which has been converted to a white-walled office with fluorescent lights. There, the crew hasa Farm! printer, vinyl cutter, UI Phantom, cases of Red Bull, and inward-facing desks, Uke the bridge ofa star cruiser. There's no garage dear opener; the door itself has been insulated to resist the desert heat and sealed around the edges, though sand and bugs tend to slip in. [But maybe the mast important feature of the house stands next tothe kitchen. It isa 1.8 scale model of apayload-carrying ‘space-bound, two-stage rocket that is their ultimate goa. They don't know what go a eae init butts purpose ito make easier for RCE akerstotaunch tut nto space. We but There's a lot of effort going this so we could have @ physical reminder of EE hat yore aiming tor says Toro figured their resources were Nearly everything you'd need to build PIER rocket roses inthe house wih them the rockets, and outsourcing Weds euchenieame | “Having an apartment tke this, where you TEEN covckeupandvatk sroaho your Siewpurmenligui Stop. tats cede: anys Serongaraon. I Tes rray ren ned to eve Tor’ cr Re i. ortynetreyhoe and Scrangrsen / Somcrcompeeduinan || sayshe seldom carries swale —its { Seana agent to pronde rare that an expenditure ist related tothe ae : 3 2 SSrelra epoiebuy, bese tam f Cabo ign mt sued globo. Sune domes, | Theleckot dracon sa bigpartat why, | " those teneaese | they moved 0 California iy, population pratt wiles 16,120, They don’t exactly have a otto do SESE there, socially speaking, They go fying in Liquid Propetint a Liquid Brepetante G8) Cessna 172 Dixon has been fying since WepevseummiiNangedser | he was 16). They take trips to Home Depot pea race go-karts, plot quadcoptes, or just hig engines biteanbere: | crveinto the desert in diferent directions to Meedisswelistivees TT) cee wats there. They order rom Jesse's Hybrid Typical te fot ‘one oftwo pizza joints in town. And the SE pumps naleuing oe peopl they do socialize with tend tobe iniombumenatiesting |) Space enthusiasts aswell Mojave is a whole other world” says Srirangarajan. “Every other person you 2 meets into space. There isan actual ‘spaceport where we can golaunch rackets into space if we wanted to, tomorrow: “ROCKETS ARE HARD" Mode rocetryhas been an educational staple for decades. Take a cardboard tube, Se slick on some fins, a nose cone, and an engine, and you've gota rocket. Wade rockets use the same basic materia that have avays been used, js David Reimen, aresidentof LUNAR, the Livermere California] Unio the (2) makershed.com makezine.com/space-chase National Association of Rocketry. “The two rocket open and eject the drogue parachute, big changes are the complenty and size This smaller chute will allow the rocket af the electronics available today and the to descend quickly to an atitude of afew availabilty of motors thousand feet, where a main chute will, For at-home model rocketry, many of deploy to soften the landing. By the time those motors come from Estes Rockets. ittouches dawn it should be going ance, They're the lle light-brown cylinders, ‘ay, 10mph. around the size ofa roll f pennies, filled ‘That wasn't quite howyit worked out for ‘ith solid, pressed black powder rocket fuel [predecessor Phoenix 0.2, Launched in June ‘alco known as gunpavider. 2014, ts chutes deployed while it was stil ‘Business is good. I's still very popular, ‘accelerating. The nyfon strap tore through butithas changed,” says Mike Fritz, Estes the aluminum body, and the rocket came director of product development. “Today's 3 down ballistic — in fee fall. They recovered ‘consumers seem tobe alte mare the warped, crumpled bod, which stands interested in, got an hour, what can you ‘near their kitchen beside the scale model. give me? The light controller showed that the ar Estes sells rocket engines up to size 6. | __ pressure remained constant, suggesting The engine inside Carton Origins’ Phoenix that the small holein the rocket that Q3is size 0, sourced from Cesaroni allows pressure to equalize asit ties might Technology, an industrial manufacturing hhave gotten plugged somehow. When the ‘company in Canada, Since each letter altimeter can't read the pressure change, increment represents a doubling of rocket itdoesn’t know when the racket peaks, and power, the Phoenix 0:3 more than 8,000, therefore when to release the chute. times more powerful than the one you Ukely Rockets are hard,” says Shara, nating launched in middle school ‘that in Phoenix 0.3, they've included ‘Any mator larger than a 6 requires . ‘redundant fight controllers and parachute certification from the National Assaciation ejection charges. af Rocketry or the Tripoli Rocket Association, Phoenix 0.25 crash was just one of many though Fritz points out that, at thet lev! things that can go wrong with rockets. The you're probably firing rockets beyond what FAR site is run bya group of mentors from you can see. Thats one ofthe reasons the rocketry industry, who allow university anboard electronics can be useful. A radio clubs to use it, and companies to launch for ar GPS for tracking means once it goes ‘a small fee. Kevin Baxter, FAR's president, cut of your sight, is nat gone for good. And hholped buy the tand after he saw aneed for an altimeter [usually barometric} can tell ‘a place students could goto launch rockets. you exaclly how high itwent, something The site lies under the Edwarts Ar Force ‘else that quickly ets prety hard to Base umbrella, so there are no commercial distinguish by eye. flights going over. In 2003, FAR was founded ‘An O motor provides up to 40,260 newton f 288 a nonprofit, seconds of thrust, The 0 in Carbon Origins Students from all over southern Phoenix 03s just over the cutoff from N California, the Southwest, and even as far as size, with 21,042 newton-seconds — alot for ‘Annapolis, Maryland, launch twice a month 2 634-pound rocket. Enough according to atthe ste Failures, sometimesineluding thei calculation, to blast ito tat £3,000 92 spectacular explosions, happen frequently. foot, Mach 2.5 goal 2 = “Failed launches are simply learning The engine doesn't push the rocket the : i experiences and they area common ‘whole way; at around 6 seconds into the ‘occurrence at FAR;” says Baxter. “Hence the Aight, says Srirangarajan, it should run viewing trenches and blockhouse.” ut of fuel, But it stillbe traveling more (On Saturday, about 24 hours before than twice the speed of sound, and that Caron Origins was scheduled to launch, momentum will carryita great deal further arrocket crashed. It was siver, ed, for another minute or mare. As itreachesits and white, liquid oxygen-fueled, with 2 peak, the onboard controller will recognize 3D-printed engine and a wide setof fis. It that ar pressure has stopped changing, ited off stowly mast hovering in midair. and deploy the CO charge that will pop the Ittipped sideways into the wind, flew afew ‘makezine.com 21 FEATURES ‘hundred feet, and hit the ground with a thud ‘and a plume of dust. Other rocket engineers were quick to ppoint out what may have gone wrong, The launch rail was shart, one said, especially in relation tothe large fins, With a short ral, the rocket doesn't achieve as much speed before it's free, and with larg fins, it’ able toil nto the wind, lke a weather vane, Isa problem with stability, whichis primarily dependent on the distance between the center of mass (determined bby weight] and the center of pressure {determined by airflow over the shape of the rocket, especially the fins). The farther the two are apart, the more stable the rocket ‘The large fins meant the wind had a greater influence on that part ofthe rocket, thus bringing the center of pressure toward the rear, far from the center of mass, ‘and causing the rocket to be dangerously ‘overstable” Boom, BUILDING A BETTER BOARD Originally, Carbon Origins just wanted ta make the best rocket they could. But they realize that that rocket needed a brain that wasn't available yet. So while other space ‘Space Chase startups and racketeers are experimenting primarily with engines and the rockets themselves, to Carbon Origins the rocket is the vehicle — tterally and metaphorically, says Shara — by which to launch the Apollo controller. (A mailing list currently allows yout reserve one, and more than §,000 people have done so, Tao versions are planned, entry-level and pro.) "The electronics such a huge part cof launching @ high-power rocket,” says Shara. Its not important in ttle rockets, ‘but in big rackets its all about tracking and data and all of the diferent equipment and electronics and cameras on the rocket Its a very extreme environment, it really gave us an opportunity to build something ata very high level,” she continues. "We're building something that can exist and work nan environment that would be probably beyond a lt of people's projects The board is built with flanges that draw heat tothe gold-plated edges, making Apollo act ike its own heat sink and RF shield in one. Sensors are delicate where heat is concerned, so this layout means ‘components can be placed closer together, allowing them to mash 11 sensors onto the tiny board, ‘A2-bit ARM Cortex-M3 processor runs GPS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, as B well as accelerometer, magnetometer, | pressure sensor, infrared and ultraviolet light sensors, and more. The face ofthe % spproximately 1°x2" board is largely covered byan OLED screen anda trackball to toggle ‘through apps.and data. With its tiny size and myriad of sensors, ‘Apollo is unique within rocketry, but its also unique among boards in general — it has attracted potential users far outside rocketry, including wearables, drones, and Internet of Things devices. The Void, a virtual reality arcade neor Salt Lake City is building aVR gaming environment ina theater: Each ‘gamer wears.a vest, helmet, and gloves equipped with sensors based on Apollo to track their motion, DomeCandy Labs, a # portable speaker maker, is using Apollo's ‘communication capabilites to prototype @ Bluetooth speaker that will offer feedback. tailored toward music. Carbon Origins isso bulish on this thread that they're spinning off Carbon Labs, which will mimic Carton Origins’ approach to democratizing space, but for data sensor hubs — ie, making iteasier to use Apollo {and its components to meld the physical ‘and digital worlds and enable the Internet ‘of Things. Carbon Labs will offer custorn- built products based on Apollo architecture; ‘that i, theyll work backward from Apollo, picking the relevant parts and software foreach client, greatly reducing the time required for development, according to Srirangarajan. Both aspects, the controller land its potential use in the Internet of Things revolution) and the rockets themselves, are important to Carbon Origins’ mission, I an't choose sides,” says Srirangarajan, ' spend almost the same amount of time ‘on both, they're lke my two babies: ‘They've made it this far vithout any ‘outside investment, relying on savings land funds from other successful startups they've been involved with. “Now that we are cash-flow positive, we don't have an immediate requirement,” Srirangarajan ‘ays. “Butitis in our roadmap." Once Apollo launches asa product, they' explore venture capital 2 makershed.com makezine.com/space-chase ORIGIN STORIES let school entirely to start Carbon Origins, Unlike the Mojave, Case Western Reserve acing vce resident ofelecroics, py University's nota great place to launch You don't get great opportunities ike this rockets tl, upon arriving asa freshman, that come along very often,” she says. “t Srirangarajan quickly founded the rocketry was starting to extend beyond the scape of club, And a robot club Iwas robotics that what was possible financially in terms of first hooked him, as a boy living in India, resources, and beyond that, acceptable ina ‘here his mom was a computer engineer University setting ‘iho made him learn programming as a kid The decision wasn’t out af character — BASIC, Java, C, He used to visita friend for her. She was highly recruited by the of his grandfather's in the country, who had ‘engineering school, says dean Jeffrey bought a bunch of land ater retiring from. Duerk, who describes her as “exactly the the Indian navy. Together, they experimented type of student you want at the university” with solar pumps and irigation. “used ‘She quickly became a TAand a leader togo there in the summer, andit used to ‘among her peers. Later on, when blow my mind, the things you could do with grades flagged, he discussed it with her electronics,” says Srirangarajan. He built his ‘She said, | came here to learn, I didn't firstrobot sometime around age 11, with the ‘come here to get good grades. help ofthat friend ‘Shara has been immersed in electronics “i's kind of been part ofa pretty hard since almost before she could walk, when education system, with this insanely her father gave her a scrap circuit board. As ool outlet during the summers. That ‘soon as discovered | could find these circuit combination led me to build flame-throwing boards in everything, all the household robots and laser harps and al these really appliances, our house kind f became the cool Maker projects that not alo of my ‘e-waste central of my hometown,” she says. peers were really into” he says. That led She admires Arduino, and cites tas him to entrepreneurship: "I made stuf | inspiration for Carton Origins. "We've come sold stuff, made money that helped me such an incredibly long way, in terms of make other things.” electronics, that things that are possible Robotics led Srirangarajan to space — or would take financial inputs that only afterall, robots are frequently crucial parts governments can provide, now you can tof space missions —and space led him to basically order it on Amazon and have it on his co-founders. your doorstep in a couple of days.” Thats Torio, Carbon Origins’ C00, was born ‘hat tes the rockets tothe board: the goal in the Pilippines, and joined up simply ‘of democratizing access to space. because she loves space. “I found out realy ‘Shara and Dixon bath grew up fring little young that that’s what | wanted to do, rockets with their dads — she in Montreal, ‘wanted to be an astronaut. And that ust Canada, he in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Dixon never left me,” she says. “Going the whole coulda’ wait to move on to bigger faster, NASA route isso tedious, there's no surefire higher rockets; now he's vice president of ‘way of getting to what you want todo.” ‘aerospace for Carbon Origins. The more Rocket club was an exception t the rote advanced he go, the better he liked it, “Once tedium of PowerPoint classes: “There's you start getting into harder materials, this exciting thing that you can actualy Uike aluminum rockets, and making your participate in, actualy put the theoretical avionicsa lot more advanced, getting data stuff you've learned into practice, which off of them, tha’s when the real engineering ‘was amazing,” starts,” he says. “That's when the problern “College isntright for everyone, That solving starts. That's what really drives me. ‘was defintely the case with me — | hated Now they can relive their fights virtually, it” she says, “Im a mech-e, lgraduated as thanks to the data collected by Apollo. ‘We _amech-e, I did not see anything hands-on Uke great tools that potentially streamline Until senior year” She skipped graduation to our engineering, so we built Apollo go toa robotics competition in Florida. asa Swiss Army knife for Makers and While Tori skipped graduation, Shara developers,” says Srirangarajan makezine.com 22 FEATURES | Space Chase WE HAVE LIFTOFF After a second countdown, Phoenix 0.3 ‘achieves ignition. It roars off the launch pad, but sornewhere around 3,000 feet the tear loses ragia cantact witht It goes unstable, spiraling upward in a corkscrew fashion for 2a few seconds before breaking into pieces near the 10,000 foot mark. The heavier parts tumble dawn just outside the FAR ‘compound, while the main chute breaks away and floats off tothe south The Carbon Origins craw wanders out ofthe bunker, watching the carnage, while Dizon, sill on video, asks what happened ‘and where everyone went “That's disappointing, | suppose,” says Srirangarajan. “But | have a track on afew parts, which means data, and data is good. Its okay fallure is good, because we'l learn: Some of ther simulations showed accillations a little before Mach 2, Srirangarajan says as he combs the desert {or rocket parts, marking the GPS points af each one so he can re-create the debris field on Google Maps. Too much oscillation could have caused the composite body to snap, releasing the parachute, andthe drag could have cause the spiral, But thats ‘a guess; to find out, they have te locate ‘the Right controllers, which seem to have floated off wth the main chute Those three Apollas and six cémmercial flight controllers were housed partially in the nose cone, partallyin the body. But ‘when Srirangarajan finds the nose cone, it's empty, embeded tipefirst in the sand. The wreckage ofthe lower half ofthe body les not far away, black aluminum fins bent to the side, The electronics bay is there, still bbeoping, but it contained just a pair of radios and three of-the-shelf flight controllers. “This really ves you an appreciation for the strength, and the forces,” says Shara, holding it up Rockets are hard,” she says again. “It was’, certainly a complete failure.” If they ‘can recover the Apolles, the data wil tell them what went wrong, And with luck, they can sll compare the data between Apollos, ‘and from the commercial controllers to see haw accurate the boardis. It takes them more than a week to find the main chute, They spend days crossing the desert, search-and-rescue style, They ‘1 makershed.com Launch bag te toving infomation swe ona data rom ala ar other ‘ntooré computers during the tGunchof Brown 02 We have not yet rrved at ony conclusans tr detniive reason or what Rappene, says Srvangarjen, [Seconds] 10.00) tor f 25] Rocket cleared the 14 ‘Wngh nd ocertng ot Hp. DA] Th rocket saris to rall at pm, This much higher than the tape late of ere han USrpm untivengine burnout DLTBI Tranconicepoed achieves acn-delayinited. The data from thebarometere cannot be uses" flculate the situde eter this point pat recorseg gee barometer ta ae at 2.250, The racket now sccatrating 20.89, [2.08] Unexpectes temporary sxe inthrust recardes ies [2.6] 50% fut consumed [2B] ve trust ofthe rockae Engine recardes 2", 1860. Thisis bout 108; Faghr than expect T221f Avotner unexpected temporay spike in trust [2:20] lt rate now at 20rpm. [235] Highest aerodynamic stailty during boost stage reached, T2.BB) The rockets now a 212g tae Supersonic, [30] ao ate cars to decrease. Maxell ate 23 Brom, Pata) ocr 175, TBZSI ionic lengie of evack cxceees 05" Baan] mach 19 [asl] Rocket now accelerating st 239 Baal sires BBABIin ume. Pars costing up declaring Tal ach-delay it [8.30] 97.250 apogee on electronics bay em barometic data. neal MBI st game cone/main parachute cpu from barometric data. IMU data tog complex to derive ate tion rent ATVs and drive around. Finally they pragram their Phantom drone to fly ina grid pattern 150 feet above the ground. The red- striped parachute stands out bright against the desert brush, but it had drifted 6 miles ‘southwest from the launch ste ‘tached was 8 green payload board, carrying one Apollo and three commercial flight computers. Apollos talk to each other, notes Srirangarajan, so if they can get data offit, they have a successful mission after all. Butts gota cracked screen and the ‘SD card may be damaged; they can't risk ejecting it until they know for sure. Instead, they plug the board in and armitasif the rocket were sill whole, It shows up as.an external drive and they download the CSV file. Combined with high-speed video and ‘the data from the commercially available boars from the electronics bay, this gives them a picture of what happened. Only 1 second after takeoff, Phoenix 0.3 starts toro —ie,, rotate aroundiits vertical ‘axis — at more than twice the expected (.Sepm rate. It goes supersonic, and its records show greater than expected thrust. By2 seconds in, the roll rate has reached ‘20rpm. That wouldn't be such a big deal, ‘but combine roll with alittle tit and a title vibration, and you start to spiral. Ithits nearly Mach 2 before it splits apart. The parts decelerate, but continue to shoot ‘upward until about 10,000 feet, when they reach apogee and stato tumble back to Earth, It takes less than 4 seconds from launch to shred, and around 10 seconds to maximum height. “Three seconds is an eternity in rockets,” Srirangarajan says later. By the time they've put this timetine together, Carbon Origins has reached a decision, They're saying goodbye to the house, goodbye to California ity, and ‘mowing to an actual aficein Palmdale, closer to Los Angeles. They stil launch rockets atthe FAR sit, stil travel together, ‘work together, even live together, but they'Uno longer share a living room with a drill press and a shop vac. The new space will allow them to expand, recruit new ‘employees, and move on, They have a two- stage launch scheduled for September, ‘shooting for 180,000 feet. Phoenix 0.3 may nt have reached the apex they hoped fo, ‘but Carbon Origins is stil ascending. © SAE SU oa makerfaire.com Catach tig magazine fi FEATURES a ‘SUGRUIS A""MOLDABLE GLUE” THAT HAS FOUND A PLACE IN MANY MAKER TOOLBOXES. Born in Ireland, inventor and chief executive [Ni Dhulchaointigh developed the first version of Sugru in 2008 while studying atthe Royal College of Artin London. After six years of R&D, her product finally aunched in December 2009. The first batch sold aut in six hours. Sugru ow has 45 employees and hundreds of {thousands of customers worldwide, Could you have Launched Sugru before the interne! Noway. Simple answer. In the past, for companies like us, the only way to reach customers was through retail. Trying to sel ‘something as complicated as Sugru ina store is a challenge. The package has to explain alo. | don't think we would have been able to doit So Sugruis as much about communications as itis a chemical and product company. Definitely. There are two sides to Sugru; one isthe product, and one isthe culture of using it, which we producing the communication or us. Without the ‘community and the communication, none of the restis possible, Thats what creates the whole demand for Sugru, and helps us get into the retailers: the brand the | wouldn't have bathered to do that didnt think itwas important. 'm only doing it because | really believe the ‘world wil be a much better place if people have mare confidence about fixing things and making things, ‘We've lest so much in becoming a consumer society There's this rebelion new that says that's not ‘enough. That's what the Maker Movement is all about. That's wy people ae so into baking things and growing things ‘We're all realizing that’s ot enough to just buy stuf in shops, ‘makershed

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