Life-long maker Matt Gryczan conceived of and documented the how-to for the Gyrocar in the current issue of MAKE, Volume 23, and I had the privilege of meeting him and his family at Maker Faire Detroit in July. Matt worked the MAKE booth with us all weekend, and his enthusiasm for sharing knowledge never waned despite the long hours. We recently asked him 10 questions about his inspirations, the Gyrocar design, and the future of Michigan. Here's what he shared with us.
1. Tell us about yourself. How did you get started making things?
When I was in fourth grade, my older brothers at Christmas got the Kenner toy kits for making things: the two that come to mind were the hydrodynamics set and the skyrail set. From then on, I was hooked on technology. Soon after, I followed instructions in an old book from the local library on how to build a battery and solenoid, and I've been making things from scratch ever since.
2. How did you go about coming up with and designing the Gyrocar?
I'd seen a photo of an antique toy of a jockey riding a horse that was kept upright by a string-pull gyroscope, and I thought it would be fun to make a contemporary version that was battery powered. Anyone who has played with a string-pull gyroscope knows how quickly they run down.
Here are a few of our favorite new offerings on Make:Projects. If you haven't registered yet, done a project, or posted one, what are you waiting for? Here's how to get started.
Projects from MAKE magazine and Make: Online:
Playable Pac-Man Costume
Halloween will be sneaking up and scaring the stuffing out of you before you know it. Time to get started on your costume, especially if you want it to be as epic as this playable Pac-Man costume, from the pages of our MAKE Halloween special edition.
Crooked Knife
Tim Anderson, writer of MAKE's "Heirloom Technology" column, shows you how to make your own version of a northern nomad's woodworking tool. From MAKE Volume 22.
All the northern tribes in North America and Asia have their own version of it. My farm relatives use them to trim their horse's hooves. I think that whatever wave of invaders brought horse culture to Europe must have brought this style of knife with them.
Ball-in-Cage Alarm Switch
Sean Ragan fabricates this cool mechanical switch which can be used to control an alarm (or anything else you want to be motion-triggered).
User-Contributed Projects
Origami Spinner
On the heels of our electronic origami project comes another paper-folding project -- building a 6-numbered spinner from a single sheet of paper using only folding.
There are plenty more projects, recipes, tutorials and primers to be had on Make: Projects!
Are you British? Congratulations! If you're not, that's a pity. Luckily, you have the chance to put this right! All you have to do is insert your real name and you will get your British name. My British name is Terrance Wilkinson.
Are you British? Congratulations! If you're not, that's a pity. Luckily, you have the chance to put this right! All you have to do is insert your real name and you will get your British name. My British name is Terrance Wilkinson.
Are you British? Congratulations! If you're not, that's a pity. Luckily, you have the chance to put this right! All you have to do is insert your real name and you will get your British name. My British name is Terrance Wilkinson.
Are you British? Congratulations! If you're not, that's a pity. Luckily, you have the chance to put this right! All you have to do is insert your real name and you will get your British name. My British name is Terrance Wilkinson.
Rob Cockerham--who has previously brought us spring shoes, a sweet Doc Ock costume, and How Much is Inside?, among other delights--wanted to serve a six-pack out of a solid block of ice. The block had to be cast with openings that would hold the bottles tightly but still let them slip loose when somebody wanted one. It took a bit of trial and error, but he eventually got the process figured out. The whole story is here. Rob hasn't tried it yet, but he thinks, as I do, that one of these will probably float in a swimming pool fully loaded. Nice work, Rob! [via Boing Boing]
Alan Argondizza of Ithaca, NY, wrote in to share the super cool skateboards that he builds from scratch using sheets of birch plywood cut with a jigsaw and hand-held router, then decorated by hand with paint pens, spray paint, and sharpies. Interested in making your own? Alan's provides an excellent how-to on his site.
Life-long maker Matt Gryczan conceived of and documented the how-to for the Gyrocar in the current issue of MAKE, Volume 23, and I had the privilege of meeting him and his family at Maker Faire Detroit in July. Matt worked the MAKE booth with us all weekend, and his enthusiasm for sharing knowledge never waned despite the long hours. We recently asked him 10 questions about his inspirations, the Gyrocar design, and the future of Michigan. Here's what he shared with us. 
