Comments on: I've always wondered how to make a fart machine....

I've always wondered how to make a fart machine....

jessamyn — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 07:34:21 -0800

Instructables for showing what you make and how to make it. Not just any DIY site, the creator Saul Griffith has an impressive pedigree. The site comes with all the things you'd expect from a new collaborative widget including Creative Commons licensing options and of course tags. From the about page: "We like to think about the physical world as something that is programmable. We like to think of objects or stuff you make as 'code'. In other words, we are approaching the physical world as something that is describable and replicable." Dive in and learn how to make a pimped out megaphone helmet, Hungarian bookshelves or canned applesauce. (via)

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 07:39:43 -0800

I love the Hungarian bookshelves because they scare me, and I hate horror movies so I have to get scared where I can. Precariously housing my books is as good a way as any. Nice site.

By: Divine_Wino

Divine_Wino — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 07:40:39 -0800

F R E S H ! Just the megaphone helmet alone is going to make me happy all day. Thank you very much, jessamyn.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 07:41:49 -0800

I went to the site originally looking for the one-page Scrabble printout, but alas it is no more.

By: crunchywelch

crunchywelch — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 08:44:50 -0800

what are these tags everyone keeps talking about?

By: Optimus Chyme

Optimus Chyme — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 09:27:01 -0800

This is pretty sweet; nice find, j.

By: Doohickie

Doohickie — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 10:07:47 -0800

BEST MEFI LINK IN A LONG TIME Yes, I'm shouting... from the rooftops! Thanks, jessamyn!

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 13:38:48 -0800

Has some serious potential.

By: nTeleKy

nTeleKy — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 14:16:57 -0800

I checked in here a little while back and there weren't many projects; I'm glad to see a good number have been added since then. Although I realize it's not a flaw of the site itself, many of the projects are poorly described. For instance this one starts off with "Align the laser so that its beam passes through the cylindrical lens, creating a vertical line rather than a point, and projects onto your target. Initially, the lens was the stem of a wine glass, but in this picture I use a cylindrical piece of acrylic. Position the video camera at a small angle (~15 degrees) from the laser." ...What are suitable materials for a cylindrical lens? What is the acceptable range of angles, and are there benefits from certain ones? What resolution is needed for the video camera? And then it says to make an avi and run an edge-detection MATLAB script on it. First off, MATLAB is pretty expensive, but more importantly: Is that script made for the rotational velocity he used or any? Does it model a full 360 degrees or only a section (as shown)? I don't mean to be overly critical, but I'm a pretty intuitive guy with electronics and mechanics and quite a few of these left me confused. Criticism: One really essential thing (in my mind) that it's missing is a built-in is a parts list. It would be awesome if at the top you could mouse-over or click on "parts list" and it would bring up a nice itemized and linked list so you could see at a glance what resources you'd need and how much they'd be. Also, a FAQ would be really nice - it took me a minute to realize that the rectangluar highlighted sections had mouse-over sections (and they're often very important). Maybe if I used flickr more I would've recognized it, but in either case, I don't think the interface is so self-evident as to not need any explanation - I'm probably still missing some stuff. A wiki would be nice as well (though perhaps balanced with a static page of the original contribution) so that the authors wouldn't have to constantly check back and make spelling corrections, updates, etc. It has lots of potential, though - hopefully it'll keep improving as much as it has.

By: nTeleKy

nTeleKy — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 14:25:21 -0800

A (semi-response) to my FAQ complaint: How to document a project using Instructables. Also, once you're logged in, there's a (unfinished) help section linked at the top.

By: arto

arto — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 16:03:15 -0800

Related: WikiHow. Personally, though, Instructables looks way cooler. Wiki-style collaborative editing and a "parts list" feature would totally improve it, though.

By: es_de_bah

es_de_bah — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 16:47:18 -0800

awesome, thanks!

By: marc1919

marc1919 — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 07:13:22 -0800

I've been a big fan of these guys for a while. They have the right idea: everything in this world is moddable and hackable - it's just a matter of knowing how. They are related to MAKE, who shares this DIY ethic.

By: Elsa

Elsa — Sun, 20 Nov 2005 11:07:54 -0800

Oh, this is promising. Thanks, jessamyn.

By: terrapin

terrapin — Sun, 27 Nov 2005 19:11:22 -0800

Love the site and the thread title.