READER INPUT
Young makers, DTV praises, a melted
museum, and a CRAFTer’s lament.
MAKE, Volume 19, is by far my favorite issue.
The only thing I like more than a week in the shed
with my tools and MAKE magazine is a week in
the shed with tools, MAKE, and my son! Not only
were there lots of projects for him and me, but he
especially enjoyed the photos of young people
who enjoy building too. (Dad says: good examples.)
My wife and I hope this continues to be a regular
feature. Great job! Thanks for remembering the
younger builders, like my son, Marty.
—Matthew and Marty Ruane, Richland, Wash.
Thank you for an incredible magazine. I love
it! In fact, we use MAKE in our museum’s Science
Center for inspiration and to design experiments
and exhibits for our visitors.
At the Science Center we have opened an exciting
and very special exhibition about global climate
change. Visitors have to put on rubber boots as the
exhibition floor is covered with 10cm of water to
illustrate the effect of increasing sea level.
Enormous melting ice cubes symbolize the
melting of the Arctic ice cap. The visitors use
remote controlled boats to visit kiosks representing different geographical places around the world.
By entering one of the kiosk’s harbors with the
boat, the visitor can start a short movie featuring
a climate witness. The exhibition is very inventive
and exciting, just like MAKE.
—Jon Haavie, Oslo, Norway
Norsk Teknisk Museum, tekniskmuseum.no
I really enjoyed the Make: television program
on how to make a DTV antenna [Episode 4 at
makezine.tv] , and I tried it. We were having problems getting TV reception on our old antenna. The
signal strength was only 18%. After building the
DTV antenna, all channels came in sharp and clear
with a signal strength of 65%.
I only made a few changes on the one I built.
Where the coat hangers crossed, I used heat-shrink
12 Make: Volume 20
tubing instead of electrical tape, and for a better
connection, I used 2 washers where the transformer
connects, sandwiching the connections between
them. Thanks for the good and useful project.
—Len Hart, Niangua, Mo.
I am one of the sad saps who received MAKE as
the consolation prize when CRAFT folded. This was
not a chance for me to experience something new,
since I was already a MAKE subscriber. I read that
MAKE had planned on expanding to satisfy what
CRAFT was doing, and for the last few issues since
the end of CRAFT, I have felt satisfied. Now, with
Volume 19, I feel like you have shaken off all former
CRAFT subscribers to return to a more digital/tech-heavy focus. As far as some constructive criticism,
here are things that I’d like to see:
• More projects that lean towards mechanical
skills to balance out the digital.
• More projects about food/alcohol/beverage
science and production.
Oooorrr, you could scrap that and just bring back
CRAFT. I would still subscribe to both.
—Emily Armstrong, Troy, N. Y.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Emily, we’re glad you’re sticking with
us and we remain committed to featuring all kinds of
making in MAKE. Naturally Volume 19, the Robots issue,
had lots of technology; we hope you’ll enjoy this
new issue focused on projects for Kids of All Ages.
And don’t forget about our content-rich website,
craftzine.com, updated daily.
MAKE AMENDS
In Volume 19, page 79, “My Robot, Makey,” the 0.1μF
capacitor is Jameco part #151116, not #15229. Thanks
to reader Joseph E. Mayer for catching the error.
Also in Volume 19, we omitted Daniel Klaussen, who
tested the instructions for the Speed Vest project,
(page 100). Thanks, Daniel, for all your help!
