I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my time in the workforce. At one job, I had the nickname “Becky Four Times” because that’s what it took to get things right. What follows are some of my most mortifying work experiences. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they are mostly about money. In writing them here, I hope to help you, dear reader, but also to free myself from the burden of my past mistakes, knowing I’m a better person for having learned from them. Please go easy on me!
This tutorial walks through the process of combining Arduino sample sketches to make a working project prototype. Developing the code for your project can be the most intimidating part, especially if you haven’t done it a thousand times already.
First, and this may seem obvious, but write out the main purpose of the project idea. If it has multiple functions, decide which features are needed versus those that would be nice but aren’t necessary at first. See also my previous tutorial about common Arduino mistakes including biting off more than you can chew. Keep it simple at first; you can always add to it later.
I first met Becky Stern back in 2011, when she appeared on the Engadget Show as a blogger for Make Magazine. At the time, she was showcasing a hoodie capable of turning TVs off an off when zipped. It was pretty standard fare for the maker — a project that explored the cross section of art and fashion. Stern left that gig the following year for a gig at open-source hardware company Adafruit, where she served as the head of wearable electronics. These days, she’s a content creator at Instructables and Autodesk, while teaching her trade at New York’s School of Visual Arts. We sat down to discuss the state of the maker community, the pluses and minuses of launching a startup and having garbage knees in the era of uncertain health care.
I embroidered this portrait of my friends Randy and Jenn as a wedding gift!
An embroidered portrait of the happy couple is a perfect wedding gift! I made this one for my friends Randy and Jenn and would like to share the process with you (with their blessing).
An important part of this project is selecting the right type of stitch and line weight for different parts of the portrait. If you are an embroidery beginner, check out our free Instructables Embroidery Class, written by master stitcher Jessy Ratfink, to get you up to speed on the fundamentals.
We’re renters in NYC who needed some more storage space beyond what our kitchen cabinets and closets could provide. This guide details the construction of our storage cabinet solution, made entirely of 3/4″ plywood. The design has 12 shelves, one of which we left open, which can be used for a cat tower or fish tank.
How do you fiddle with a 1975 Honda CB200? Let Becky show you!
If you’re the hands-on, DIY type of person, here’s a rider and YouTuber you should definitely get to know. Becky Stern is a lovable, craftsy blogger who discovers new ways of doing things and takes you along on her own journey to figuring out how to make things work. She literally has a tutorial for everything on her channel: martinis, a pedal shutter for your camera, a solar USB charger, beaded jewelry, etc. And of course: bike stuff! The best tutorials of all? Learning how to fiddle with a 1975 Honda CB200.
Becky has quite the portfolio of things she modifies and builds from regular household objects, but the project we’re most excited about is obviously her sharp-looking, original CB200. She doesn’t shy away from admitting that she’s on a learning journey to figure out how to properly care for her vintage bike and she shares her learning process with us, giving the notion of tutorial a very different and interesting twist.
From tuning her Honda to fixing a fuel line to replacing the throttle cables and overhauling the motorcycle’s saddle, she takes the viewers through every useful step. If some of her fixes are more specific to the model, others can apply to any bike out there. Just like we have to do the first time we tackle the maintenance of a motorcycle, she learns from books and from the Internet. The only difference is that she puts her learning process on camera for us to learn from. We get to hear her share the wealth of information she has gathered from her readings and from her own experience and we even watch her make mistakes so there’s one less we’re likely to make when we tackle the task ourselves.
When she’s not busy building something or fiddling with her bike, Becky jumps in the saddle, straps a GoPro to her helmet and takes us on a ride with her. Aside from her videos and fun YouTube channel, Becky’s a product manager at Instructables where all her tutorials are featured. She explains that her main goal is to inspire and empower women to take on any project they desire and find satisfaction in making their dreams become reality. Now I feel like I should buy a Honda CB200 like editor Jason did and get my hands a little dirty.
It’s simple to create your own ramp for moving motorcycles in and out of vehicles with a few pieces of lumber and special ramp bracket. The hinged design makes a compact, sturdy, portable ramp that folds out to 16 inches wide. We use ours to transport our bikes to and from our winter storage facility and also when they break down.
