More Tensegrity Beans. Made two more tendules. A little wobbly because I ran out of stretchy string for the side support loops. Will fix soon.
Directions via Make Mag http://makezineblog.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/wp_nerdornaments.pdf
Dymax-O-Lantern (Breadboarding done. Interior Shell Structure Start.)
I am now putting her all together, slowly. There is still some light architecting and constructing to do as I am figuring out the interior design as I go. I cut the power jack off my RBBB board as planned and it fits nicely although the double pointed pentagon structure I built (connected at the points [ like this: >< ], with a toothpick through the middle of the two) to hold up the board is a little higher than I wanted because I didn’t take into account the soldering sticking out of the bottom of the board. I’ve also started building the mount for the 7-segment display which, I’m sure, will present it’s own challenges. But the code is pretty much there! I ripped a bunch off from Ahmad’s ThermoLamp code which saved loads of time. I added a dimmer mode (which I probably should have used while photographing the breadboard) and I probably still have to clean up the code a bit but for now I’ll be concentrating on building the interior, the shade covering, and the power circuit (I have to build my own holders for 2x3v disc batteries - and it would be cool to do some transistor / photocell kind of thing but I’ll probably just have a switch).
(Source: jamiegilmartin.com)
Dymax-O-Lantern (shell)
This is still in the works. It’s an idea for a night light with a thermistor that changes a tri-color LED based on the temperature ( inspired by baby sleeping temp recommendations ). Funnily enough, my friend Ahmad had the same idea way before I did. He gave me his code and convinced me to add a 7-segment display which I am working on now. But here is the geodesic shell that I made from toothpicks and glue. I’ll keep updating as I go.
(Source: jamiegilmartin.com)
Last year’s garden when she was first starting out. I really miss chomping on those Borage leaves… ( that Borage went crazy later on in the summer )
More notes (lest I forget):
- Arugula kept dying. Even the one we bought at the union sq. farmer’s market but that was my fault - watering issue - fried in the sun. But I’m determined to try and grow from seed again this year. In fact, I am going to plan a new strategy for all lettuces and such.
- Chamomile also didn’t take, saw about four flowers, will try again.
- Borage was awesome! But I must have plans to make something with it next year. I was overwhelmed how fast it grew and how much it yielded.
- Tomato was very ambitious for our space. The few fruits it did yield were amazing though.
- Kale is still growing.
- Thyme was also difficult to get going.
- All around need more herbs for our cooking habits, especially basil, mint, and parsley.
Plan for 2012 garden in later post.
My Arduino Solar Tracker (my first real Arduino project) is based off of one from ScienceOnline A.K.A. http://hilaroad.com but mine uses a RBBB kit from Modern Device. I’ll be adding to it / recreating it soon, I hope…. and maybe I’ll even get around to going out in the sun to do some proper testing one of these days. Latest code at github.
