The Open Heart kit V2.0 is a matrix of individually addressable LEDs that allow you to create customizable animations when connected to your favorite micro controller. Attach it temporarily to fabrics with headers that you simply push through, or sew it into a project with conductive fabric for a more permanent setup.

How does it all work? Charlieplexing!

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Do you want to learn the fundamentals of electronics in a fun and experiential way? Not sure where to start, or what tools you might need? We have taken care of all the questions with our Deluxe Electronics toolkit from the Maker Shed. Add the Make: Electronics Book for only $10 more!

About the toolkit: We took the trouble out of searching for all the right tools for the job. This kit includes everything you need to get started in the wonderful world of kit making! We even included your first kit, the WeeBlinky, and a Maker's Notebook to help you document your next project. Included in the kit: (1) 30w adjustable soldering iron (1) Deluxe Solder Stand & sponge (1) 1/4 lb Spool of rosin core solder .031" (60/40) (1) 5ft Solder wick (1) Digital Multimeter (1) Wire strippers (1) Deluxe Wire cutters (3) 25ft spools of solid core 22AWG wire (1) Deluxe Needlenose pliers (1) 5 piece miniature screwdrivers kit (1) Desolder pump (1) Panavise Jr for holding PCBs Added Bonus: (1) WeeBlinky Kit - Requires soldering (1) Maker's Notebook

About the book: Start working on some excellent projects as soon as you crack open this unique, hands-on book. Build the circuits first, then learn the theory behind them! With Make: Electronics, you'll learn all of the basic components and important principles through a series of "learn by discovery" experiments. And you don't need to know a thing about electricity to get started.

Deluxe Electronics toolkit from the Maker Shed

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It's spring. The sun's out. Why not harness that energy to power your own solar robot? The 6-in-1 Educational Solar Robotic Kit is an excellent beginner building kit designed to teach how solar power is used to drive a small motor. Kids use the 21 snap-together parts (no tools required) to build 6 different working models including an airboat, car, windmill, puppy, and 2 different airplanes. Solar building kits teach children the benefits of solar energy, while they create a toy that's fun to play with and requires no batteries. Educators, science museums, and hobbyists will surely appreciate the durability, educational value, and endless hours of amusement for children and adults too! Ages 10 and up.

Features Makes 6 different solar electric toys No batteries required! 1.2V DC motor 75mA solar panel

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Check out the newest robot in the Maker Shed: the Boe-Bot Robot Full Kit is now available with a USB-compatible Board of Education. The "Robotics with the Boe-Bot" text includes 41 new activities for the Boe-Bot Robot with structured PBASIC 2.5 source code support and bonus challenges with solutions in each chapter. Starting with basic movement and proceeding to sensor-based projects, quickly learn how the Boe-Bot is expandable for many different robotic projects. No previous robotics, electronics or programming experience is necessary.

The Boe-Bot Robot is built on a high-quality brushed aluminum chassis that provides a sturdy platform for the continuous rotation servo motors and BASIC Stamp's USB Board of Education. Many mounting holes and slots may be used to add custom robotic equipment or off-the-shelf Parallax add-ons. Following along in Robotics with the Boe-Bot, users quickly learn about embedded projects, from wiring and components to programming and mechanical dependencies.

Get one in the

Look, it's not an iPad! It's the Maker's Notebook!! No need to stand in line to purchase one, nor to engage in debate with tech pundits about its closed ecosystem. David Letterman is highly unlikely to come to your house and lick it. (No guarantee implied.)

From the creators of MAKE magazine comes the Maker's Notebook. Put your own ideas, diagrams, calculations, and notes down in these 150 pages of engineering graph paper. We've also included 20 bonus pages of reference material, from useful stuff like electronics symbols, resistor codes, weights and measures, basic conversions, and more, to really useful stuff like the amount of caffeine in different caffeinated beverages and how to say "Hello, World!" in various computer languages. The covers of this hardcover book are printed in cyan "Maker" blue with a white grid debossed front and back.

Features:

Notebook are 1/8" engineering graph paper. Pages are numbered. Every page has a blank heading to list project name, date, sign or note, and a place to link project/related pages ("From Page___, to Page___). There's also a two-page ruled Table of Contents.

Featuring a pocket in the back, with 2 sheets of stickers.

Dimensions: 6 1/4" x 9 1/4" x 1/2"

Grab one today in the Maker Shed!

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Recreate the Internet sensation in your own backyard with the Diet Coke & Mentos Kit! Fresh from their performance at Maker Faire, the guys at EepyBird have hand crafted replica PVC nozzles just like the ones they use themselves. Each kit contains a variety of nozzle cuts to give you the coolest, highest shooting geysers. We'll even throw in a pack of Mentos to get you started (Diet Coke and totally sweet lab coats not included).

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Question: What's got four 7-segment displays (and driver), a temperature sensor, a PWM RGB LED, and plugs into an Arduino? Why it's the Arduino 7-Segment Shield! This is a 7-segment shield for Arduino NG/Dicimila/Duemilanove and many Freeduino boards. It has tons of cool features! Fully assembled and tested! NOTE: Does not include the Arduino board.

Features: I2C 4 digits 7-segment driver I2C temperature sensor I2C EEPROM PWM RGB LED Blue PWR LED Reset button All pins breakout

With the ability to read temperature data and display it on its four digits, this could be just the shield you need to push your kegerator project over the top.

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Got some strange screws that need unscrewing? Want to get in there and modify some gear the manufacturer didn't trust you to open? Maybe you need to pick up the new 54 Piece Bit Driver Kit over in the Maker Shed.

This kit includes a magnetized driver with metal shaft, swivel top, and rubberized grip, a 60 mm extension, a 130 mm flexible extension, and 54 bits. By iFixit.

Features:

Slot sizes 1, 1.3, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4 mm

Philips sizes #000, #00, #0, #1 (x2), #2

Spanner sizes 2, 2.2, 2.6, 3 mm

Torx sizes T3, T4 (x2), T5, T6 (x2), T7, T8, T9, T10, T15, T20

Hex sizes 0.7, 0.9, 1.3, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5, 6 mm

Posidrive sizes #0, #1, #2

Star sizes 2, 3 mm

Square sizes #0, #1, #2

Triangle size 3 mm

Tri-wing sizes #0, #1

Drop size 1 mm

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The Gakken SX-150 is one of the most popular kits in the Maker Shed, and we just got a fresh new supply! We have posted a lot of projects that involve hacking and modifying of the SX-150. We've see Arduino controlled versions, fooling around with plasma, incredible analog cassette hacks, button mods, and more! Collin did a really nice video review too! Did you hack and mod your SX-150? Are you planning on it? Let us know in the comments. Thanks!

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As part of our spring-cleaning sale in the Maker Shed we're offering FREE shipping on orders over $125! (Contiguous US only) Just use the code "CLEARME" at checkout. But what about all of our international friends? No worries, we have a deal for you too! You'll get $10 off your international shipping, just use code "MAR-10" at check out.

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Hundreds of makers all over the world have built compressed air rockets since we published the project in MAKE, Volume 15 (included in the kit). Now all the parts for making your own launcher and rockets are available in the Maker Shed! Just add a bicycle pump, masking tape, and two standard 9v batteries and you are ready to blast these paper and tape rockets hundreds of feet in the air!

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Photos of the prototypes of the Make: Electronics Components Packs. Our art department is still working on lovely sticker art for the cases. Each will also come with a cool Maker Shed Electronics Cheat Sheet (with resistor code values, etc).   They've been months in the making, in fact, the robo-elves in the Shed are still putting their greasy little end-effectors on the finishing touches, but I wanted to show 'em off to you anyway. It's the Make: Electronics Components Pack 1 and Components Pack 2, almost everything you need to build the projects from Chapter 1-4 of our tech bestseller Make: Electronics (e.g. sorry but we don't provide the lemons for the lemon battery experiment -- but don't think we didn't consider it!). In fact, we carefully considered everything that goes into these kits, and what they go into -- nice, sturdy compartmented plastic storage cases.

Pack 1 has over 200 components, Pack 2, over 100. And because nearly all of the projects are breadboarded, when you're done doing the experiments in the book, you'll still have nearly 300 components and two cases to get you off and running in your newfound electronics hobby. We say nearly 300, because some of the parts are intentionally harmed in the conducting of these experiments. But not to worry, none of the expensive ones. What are a few fried resistors amongst friends?

Component Pack 1 sells for $99.95 and is available for pre-order now and will be available mid-March. You can sign up to be alerted to Component Pack 2's availability and price. It too should be available mid-month.

Wanna get free shipping on the Component Pack 1? The Shed currently has a deal. Until the end of February, get free shipping on all orders over $125! Just enter coupon code FEBSHIP to your cart prior to checkout. Prior to entering the code, make sure your cart totals at least $125; free shipping will then be pre-selected from the drop-down shipping option.

And don't forget, Maker Shed also offers the Deluxe Toolkit, which includes the tools you need for the book (and getting started in electronics in general), a copy of Make: Electronics itself, and the newest edition of our popular Maker's Notebook.

In the Maker Shed:

Deluxe Make: Electronics Toolkit Our Price: $124.99 Do you want to learn the fundamentals of electronics in a fun and experiential way? Not sure where to start, or what tools you might need? We've taken care of all the questions with our deluxe tool kit from the Maker Shed, featuring our best-selling book, Make: Electronics.

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I am over the moon with excitement for these new Saga guitar (and banjo, mandolin) kits the Maker Shed is now carrying. I've been ogling such kits ever since Steve Lodefink did a kit-guitar project on his blog. These instrument kits require just enough work that you feel like you've really accomplished something, and you get bragging rights for having built your own axe. The customizing possibilities are also exciting. My credit card started trying to sweet talk its way out of my wallet the second I saw these in the Shed. I think I've sweet talked the Shed into sending me a kit to assemble and document for the site. Editorship has its privileges (that and a lot of unseemly begging).

A bunch of MAKE staff members are being similarly seduced by their pocket plastic and the call of these kits. I smell MAKE staff DIY jam band at the next Maker Faire! Move over Spinal Tap!

The kits come in a variety of guitar styles, from flying V to double cut-away, and range in price from $179 - $259. There are two bass models (at $195), two mandolins (one electric, one acoustic), and two banjo kits.

One of the things I'm most excited about is coming up with some amazing veneer or finish and a design for the peghead. Not to mention the creation of my own nameplate to attach to it.

Then my next DIY music project after that will be re-learning how to play the guitar! I haven't played since high school.

In the Maker Shed:

DIY Music section Offering acoustic and electric stringed instrument kits, synth kits, and sound generators.

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I love watching Makers Market filling up each day with amazing new work, with offerings that run the gamut from inexpensive geeky gadgetry to one of a kind pieces of art. One of the discoveries I've recently gone gaga over is the wire and wood tree sculptures by Kevin, dba "kaitrees."

As he explains in the above video, the wires he uses to sculpt the trees are continuous, from root to branches and leaves. The wires in the 21" sculpture above started out at six feet in length! Kevin humbly describes his creations as "funky metal trees." Some of them take over a hundred hours to complete. The above piece he estimates at about 160 hours.

Makers Market: Kaitrees

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Drawdio is an electronic pencil that lets you make music while you draw! Essentially, it's a very simple musical synthesizer that uses the conductive properties of pencil graphite to create different sounds. The result is a fun toy that lets you draw musical instruments on any piece of paper. It's a lot of fun to hack too!

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One of the cool things about Makers Market is that each seller gets a blog where they can talk about their products, their process, or whatever else is on their minds. Here, Marketeer Dave Umlas, aka Custom Creations, talks about a furnace controller he found in a scrapyard and used to create a flame-effects control panel for his fire art. Below this blog excerpt, you'll find examples of some of the lovely CNC-cut lamps and stained glass windows that Dave is selling in his store. -- Gareth

Controller Bits!

A couple of years ago I spotted an old industrial furnace controller sitting in the corner of a scrapyard. After a bit of haggling with the manager, I was allowed to take the front panel apart. A couple of hours later, I had a big box of switches, labels, meters and buttons. These immediately went into my fire art controllers.

I still have a bunch of these parts lying around, so now you can make your own instrument controllers with them too.

I'll be posting more of them as I find em.

Above is a photo of the control panel I built to drive the flame effects for Maker Faire Austin. There is compressed air and propane running through it. It has four seperate channels that can control a fan and a spark plug.

This piece takes half of the panel above to control it. There are two kirby vacuum heads providing forced air, two spark plugs and two gas lines entering the sculpture. There are also two compressed air lines that feed metal salts into the chamber to color the flames.

  In the Market:

Wood and Glass Window $225 Stained glass and four layers of hand finished wood make up this hanging window. 23″ × 23″ × 3″ deep. This item is meant to hang inside a window in your home. Both sides have the same two layer look to them, so it will be beautiful from both inside or outside your home.

Wooden Hanging Lantern $30 Flatpack hanging lantern, made from CNC cut birch plywood and rice paper. These lanterns assemble in seconds without tools. Available with the rice paper glued in or in an envelope to allow you to finish the wood however you would like. Cord kit Included.

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The Editor's Choice bundle is a collection of four of our favorite kits from the Maker Shed, along with our Maker's Notebook. You can start by building the TV-B-Gone to help make your work area less distracting. Next, build the MintyBoost and charge up your MP3 player so you can play some of your favorite tunes. Speaking of tunes, next you should try the Drawdio and make some music while drawing in your Maker's Notebook. (time to grab your crayons and pencils) Last but not least, make the MiniPOV and tell the world what you have made! Then again, feel free to build them in any order you like!

The Editor's Choice electronics bundle includes: (1) MintyBoost (1) MiniPOV kit (1) Drawdio kit (1) Super TV-B-Gone Kit (1) Maker's Notebook

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The MintyBoost Parts bundle from the Maker Shed includes everything you need to make the RuntyBoost version of the MintyBoost! We include the MintyBoost kit 2.0, our Make Project tin, and even the AA batteries. Yes, the batteries are included too! All you need to do is some simple soldering, and a few minor mods of the project tin, and you will have a great portable charger.

Features

(1) MintyBoost USB Charger Kit v2.0 (1) Make Project Tin - Measures 3-3/4" long, 2-3/8" wide, 3/4" deep (2) AA Batteries. Yep, they're included!

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The Mystery Box kit is a clever puzzle box made by our very own John Park, host of Make: television. Here is how it works: first you assemble the laser-cut wooden box, placing a treasure inside. Next, you present the Mystery Box and its hidden contents to a friend, loved one, or enemy. Ask them to not open it, instead encourage them to cherish the Mystery Box and its contents. Maybe they will listen to your suggestion, enjoying the mystery within for generations to come. Then again, maybe they will wait until you leave and eventually figure out how to open this clever wooden box? Who knows? One thing we do know, whoever receives the Mystery Box as a gift will certainly love it!

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Last call for grabbing some great deals in our Cabin Fever sale in the Maker Shed. The sale ends tonight at Midnight (Pacific). We have a fresh re-supply of kits, and a juicy sale on lots of different items ranging from necklaces to chemistry sets; finger puppets to Erector sets. You can even pick up a shiny new Arduino at a great sale price!

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