We're giving away a Bioloid Expert Kit ($3500)
Make a profile and describe a project to enter.
Contest closed, winner announced
Curious Inventor - HowTo Guides, Tools, Parts and Kits for DIY'ers - Make your own technology.
by scott 4 days ago
New Stribe1 Max/MSP + Arduino software gives more control directly within Max. The video shows cursor and bar control for 8 daisy-chained Stribe1s, brightness control and full display animation. An Arduino with 8 inputs would normally be required, but here we use a 6 analog input Diecimila multiplexed with a 4051 chip. Get the code here.
Stribe1 x 8 + new max/msp software demo from CuriousInventor on Vimeo.
by scott 5 days ago
The Spy issue of MAKE (16) has an article on surface mount soldering that's a short version of our SMT Soldering Guide. The MAKE editors did an amazing job of condensing the material.

by admin 10 days ago

The winner of our Bioloid Giveaway contest is shabadoo52. The project he entered was Beirut Robot.

We are contacting him now. If we don't get a response we will draw again in a few days.

We compiled a list of all the accepted projects and picked a random number using random.org, which uses atmospheric noise somehow to generate numbers. We couldn't think of a good way to guarantee to you that our raffle was truly fair... feel free to leave suggestions for future drawings.

The projects are all amazing, let us know if you'd like to see features added.

Some rules highlights: one entry per person, no one already in biz with us, project had to have a pic and a description of how it worked. Almost all projects submitted with pics were accepted, and those accepted have a little star by their inventor profile name. Decisions are final.

by scott 13 days ago

We started a new showcase section of our website where you can post projects and find others doing similar things. To promote it, we're giving away a $3500 Bioloid Expert Kit to a random person who submits a project (at least one project picture required). There are two days left and the odds are still great. The first 50 get $10 off coupons, too.

You can see a collage of pictures from projects already submitted at the projects page.

We originally added the inventors section to showcase people who were having kits manufactured by us, but thought it'd be useful to open it up to anyone that wants to show off anything from a class project to a commercial product. Links out to other blogs and pages are fine and encouraged.

Some awesome projects are being submitted:

My_Full_Sized_R2-D2

Bipedal_Walking_Robot_in_PVC

Beirut_Robot

by scott 14 days ago
Who knows how this will last, but IPC (a trade organization that publishes solder and electronics standards) has demos of thousands of dollars of all their training material available. This includes picture books of good and bad joints for both lead and lead-free solder (dull and grainy OK for lead-free!) as well as low-res versions of their DVDs, which cover everything from hand soldering techniques, to ESD safety and even PCB manufacturing.

The through-hole and SMT picture books are great references, in particular. The DVDs have great up-close video (and cheesy music).

These standards were the primary source for our soldering guides and videos.

by scott 16 days ago

We just received a TGIMBOEJ in the mail, that's a The-Great-Internet-Migratory-Box-Of-Electronics-Junk in long form. Our box included a huge, old LCD panel, a mini 6GB hard drive, a GPS something or other, some super old style capacitor can, a power supply, an old relay and a bunch of other little odds and ends. The box started in Canada at ogi lumen (the prettiest nixie pictures on the net), and then went to uCHobby.com. We'll be sending it to moderndevice.com next.

The idea is that you take what you want out, put in what you want from your own junk pile, and then pass it on. We're going to nab the power supply. The rest of this entry has more pics.


by scott 22 days ago

Each Stribe1 has a touch strip and double column of LEDs that can display and control music and video programs. Multiple Stribe1's can be daisy-chained together to form a low-res, multi-touch display. Use with Max/MSP or other software to adjust track volumes with VU meters, make a sequencer, control synth params and pitch, "scratch" through sounds, etc.

Designed by Josh Boughey as a modular version of his original 8 strip Stribe (which won two editor's choice awards at the Austin maker faire!).

The Stribe1 kit page


Stribe1: Touchstrip + LED Bargraph Display from CuriousInventor on Vimeo.
by scott 26 days ago
If you're in Atlanta, we'll be demoing some kits at the launch event for Georgia Tech's new Center for Music Technology. We'll have all the music related kits, including the Voice of Saturn line, MIDIATOR and a soon to be released Stribe.

There will also be some other interesting technology, including a robotic drummer and marimba player, some other modular synths, and some computer assisted / generated performances. The event goes from 4 to 6:30pm.
by scott Oct 16 2008
We'll be at the Austin Maker Faire doing all sorts of surface mount soldering demos, including toaster ovens, skillets, a "$24 hot air tool":http://www.curiousinventor.com/store/product/228 , fine pitch, QFN (leadless chips), inexpensive solder paste stencils (from ohararp.com), chipquik, schmartboards and more... all without microscopes. Some new kits will be used in the demos, including some blinking "fireflies" that sync with each other and a bread-board module that acts as a power supply and USB serial port. We'll also have a bunch of our music kits there to play with. Travis will be there with his Voice of Saturn kits, and Josh, a new collaborator, will be demoing a new affordable version of his "Stribe":http://www.curiousinventor.com/projects/The_Stribe touch-strip musical interface. There will be a drum machine that you can play with a playstation 2 controller and our MIDIATOR.
by scott Oct 07 2008
The new firmware version of our MIDIATOR Kit lets you map any button or joystick to any note or controller, including button pressures. For instance, you could make the vertical axis of the left joystick go from 89 at the bottom to 34 at the spring-returned center, to 5 at the top. We made a new video showcasing this along with the Jomox XBase09 drum module, which is just insanely fun to play with.



Some practice wouldn't hurt...
by scott Sep 26 2008
This set of tutorials will cover some essentials to designing circuits and pcb layouts using kicad (link goes to author's site + download), an open-source tool for circuit (board) design that's free and has no restrictions on number of layers or size (like Eagle). We'll focus more on the unintuitive things as well as tips & tricks rather than re-write the manual.

kicad tutorial
by Evan Sep 22 2008
We got our hands on one of the $3500 Bioloid Expert Kits and took it for a gentle test ride. This post goes over some of the notable features as well as some of the drawbacks. We're also giving it away as a promotion for the new inventors section of our website. Here are the contest rules.

by scott Sep 19 2008
We now have some monome faceplates and cases available. We used the t-nut solution to make the case assemble-able straight from the laser cutter without tapping or machining (idea came from David at uChobby.com.

by scott Sep 18 2008
Scroll or hack sawing through acrylic can leave a cloudy edge, but a few passes from a butane torch will quickly clear it up. Click the post title to see before and after close-ups. Laser cutting guru Ryan at ohararp.com gave us this tip.

free stuff for links!
Generate a link to anything on our site from a page with a Google pagerank of 2 or higher and we'll send you a free PanaVise Junior Clamp. (outside the 48 states we'll give you a $25 gift certificate to our store, but you'll have to cover the shipping). Links from lower page ranks get $5 coupons. Let us know about your link by emailing feedback[ a t ]CuriousInventor.com
from the guides: Is 63/37 better than 60/40 solder?
63/37 refers to the weight ratio (tin / lead) and is a eutectic mix as opposed to 60/40 solder. A decade or so ago, most of the manufacturers paid an increase of about 5% in cost to switch over to 63/37 (more tin is more expensive). We've been told that the switch was done mainly to achieve better yields with mass-scale surface mount soldering, but is it any more effective for hand soldering? Chime in on our forum thread.

phase diagram of tin lead solder eutectic mix
What is a eutectic mix? One where the entire mixture solidifies at the same temperature. Unlike water, 60/40 solder solidifies over a range of temperatures where it becomes a "pasty" mix of solids and liquid. This can lead to a longer freezing time when it's important to keep a joint from moving to avoid leaving cracks. Is the increase in freezing time significant for hand soldering? Even in a freezing cup of eutectic water, there is a mixture of solids and liquids as the colder portions freeze first.

more info in our intro soldering guide (click expand at alloy).
about:

We're a few mechanical and electrical engineers from GaTech trying to make it easier to make and sell inventions. We write how-to guides, sell cherry-picked parts and tools, and also manufacture kits. If you've got an idea you'd like to sell, but don't want to deal with kit bagging, shipping, machining a case, or simply don't have the cash to buy in bulk, let us know!

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