Snip, Burn, Solder, Shred is packed with fun craft and toy-making projects for geeks on a budget. Inside, you’ll find illustrated instructions for 24 quirky playthings. Part I: Kid Stuff contains child-friendly projects like the Lock-N-Latch Treasure Chest and a PVC TeePee; Part II: The Electro-Skiffle Band is devoted to homemade musical instruments; and Part III: The Locomotivated showcases moving toys, like a muzzleloader that shoots marshmallows and a steam-powered milk-carton boat. Each project costs just $10 or less to make and is suitable for anyone, regardless of experience level. As you build, you’ll learn useful sewing and carpentry skills, and the appendix offers a primer on electronics and soldering. You (and your kids) will have hours of fun making projects like: –A simple electric guitar – An oversized joy buzzer that (safely) administers a 100-volt jolt – Cool, mess-free, screen-printed T-shirts – Kites made from FedEx envelopes – Booming Thunderdrums made from salvaged x-ray film – Classic board games like Go, Tafl, and Shut-the-Box Whether you’re a mom or dad in search of a rainy day activity, a Scout leader looking to educate and entertain your troop, or just a DIY weekend warrior, the projects in Snip, Burn, Solder, Shred will inspire and amuse you. Now, roll up your sleeves and make!

Learn how to solder electronic components together and build your own devices. Readers will learn basic soldering skills, which will be useful in pursuing a variety of engineering projects. Photos, sidebars, and callouts help readers draw connections between new concepts in this book and other makers-related concepts they may already know. Additional text features and search tools, including a glossary and an index, help students locate information and learn new words.

The Arduino is a cheap, flexible, open source microcontroller platform designed to make it easy for hobbyists to use electronics in homemade projects. With an almost unlimited range of input and output add-ons, sensors, indicators, displays, motors, and more, the Arduino offers you countless ways to create devices that interact with the world around you. In Arduino Workshop, you'll learn how these add-ons work and how to integrate them into your own projects. You'll start off with an overview of the Arduino system but quickly move on to coverage of various electronic components and concepts. Hands-on projects throughout the book reinforce what you've learned and show you how to apply that knowledge. As your understanding grows, the projects increase in complexity and sophistication. Among the book's 65 projects are useful devices like: – A digital thermometer that charts temperature changes on an LCD –A GPS logger that records data from your travels, which can be displayed on Google Maps – A handy tester that lets you check the voltage of any single-cell battery – A keypad-controlled lock that requires a secret code to open You'll also learn to build Arduino toys and games like: – An electronic version of the classic six-sided die – A binary quiz game that challenges your number conversion skills – A motorized remote control tank with collision detection to keep it from crashing Arduino Workshop will teach you the tricks and design principles of a master craftsman. Whatever your skill level, you'll have fun as you learn to harness the power of the Arduino for your own DIY projects. Uses the Arduino Uno board

Making music doesn’t have to be about dropping big bucks in the guitar shop or endlessly fiddling with expensive software. You can make good noise out of bits of wood and wire, plastic and steel. When you build your own instruments, creating your own sound comes naturally. Junkyard Jam Band is a step-by-step guide to making a full array of complete musical projects—no previous carpentry or electronics experience required. Each build includes tips on how to coax the best sounds out of the instrument and encourages you to mod the project to fit your own style. Learn how to: –Bust up your old tape decks for a handheld old-skool Scratchbox –Give your voice a robotic makeover with the Droid Voicebox –Circuit-bend unsuspecting childhood toys into mutant glitching jazz-punk machines –Transform cigar boxes into thumb pianos and electric ukuleles –Build a crackling, multifunction Mud-n-Sizzle Preamp to attach to any electric music machine Along the way, you’ll explore the physics behind wind instruments, discover how harmonics work, and get your feet wet with some music theory. To top it all off, the back of the book includes a soldering primer for total beginners, along with extra circuits to customize your instruments even further. Build your own band your way!

Making music doesn’t have to be about dropping big bucks in the guitar shop or endlessly fiddling with expensive software. You can make good noise out of bits of wood and wire, plastic and steel. When you build your own instruments, creating your own sound comes naturally. Junkyard Jam Band is a step-by-step guide to making a full array of complete musical projects—no previous carpentry or electronics experience required. Each build includes tips on how to coax the best sounds out of the instrument and encourages you to mod the project to fit your own style. Learn how to: –Bust up your old tape decks for a handheld old-skool Scratchbox –Give your voice a robotic makeover with the Droid Voicebox –Circuit-bend unsuspecting childhood toys into mutant glitching jazz-punk machines –Transform cigar boxes into thumb pianos and electric ukuleles –Build a crackling, multifunction Mud-n-Sizzle Preamp to attach to any electric music machine Along the way, you’ll explore the physics behind wind instruments, discover how harmonics work, and get your feet wet with some music theory. To top it all off, the back of the book includes a soldering primer for total beginners, along with extra circuits to customize your instruments even further. Build your own band your way!

Around the world, makers come together to share their ideas and inventions at Maker Faires. Readers will integrate visual information with text and learn technical word meanings as they read what it is like to visit these incredible events and see some of the world's most innovative new projects. They will also find out how to volunteer at Maker Faires or event plan their own maker events.