learnSparkle

Arduinos at Sparkle Labs

Ariel Churi — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:35:26 +0000

Arduino Microcontrollers are available in the shop.

Microcontrollers are collections of electrical components on a chip. You can program these components with a computer to behave in different ways. The Arduino UNO requires an A/B USB cable and the Arduino Software available from Arduino.cc.

The Arduino makes programming and microcontrollers surprisingly easy. It makes a great add-on to the Discover Electronics Kit. With the kit, you have everything you need to make great Arduino projects. We are busy creating lessons you can use with both the Discover Electronics Kit and the Arduino together.

New York City Dept. of Ed Vendor ID: SPA11805

Ariel Churi — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:54:40 +0000

Good news!

Sparkle Labs is an official New York City Department of Education Vendor.

Our ID number is SPA11805

Sparkle Labs at Deck the Halls designer market.

Ariel Churi — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 01:39:20 +0000

We have a cute booth at a designer’s market it Little Italy, NYC. There is a lot of nice work here and it is in this great, old school building. We are selling our maker wares but there is a lot of fashion, accessories and delicious food. Come and see if you are in the area.

http://deckthehallsnyc.tumblr.com/

November 26 is Small Business Saturday!

Ariel Churi — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 02:53:08 +0000

Take $25 dollars off of your Sparkle Labs purchase.

Get a one-time $25 statement credit when you register an eligible American Express® Card and use that Card for a purchase of $25 or more at a small business on November 26th.

American Express Small Business Saturday

Help us find Papertronics manufacturing in the USA

Ariel Churi — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 17:49:59 +0000

Well, we are running low on our Lunar Modules and we have a whole series of new Papertronics in the pipeline. Previously, we had them printed in Austin, Texas at a printer we have worked with many times. We then assembled the parts ourselves. Now that we have more coming out and an imp, building them ourselves would be a bit much. We need a manufacturer here in the US.
The most important part is the printing and die cutting. The rest is simply placing the electronics parts into envelopes and putting it all together. It would be nice to find some place to handle it all but, if not, we can have it printed, source all of the parts and then have them sent to the assembly plant. A place that does bubble gum cards might be good.
If have any leads please leave them in the comments below or send me an email at info AT sparklelabs DOT com.

Thank you,
_ariel ♠

Discover Kit 2 Flickr set

Ariel Churi — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:43:09 +0000

Discover Kit 2, a set on Flickr.

Papertronics – Lunar Modules

Ariel Churi — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:18:06 +0000

Papertronics are paper toys with paper electronic circuits in them. The Lunar Landers come in a pack of three. Spaceboy, Alien Girl and Tabula Rasa. Tabula Rasa is blank and can be designed by you.
Turn them into a cool night light, party lights or a fun additions to a room or desk. When the spaceships are put in their landers one way, they light up. Turn them another way and they are off. Fold them yourself- they come pre-cut. Fun DIY with paper and electronics.

With clear instructions, Papertronics are a great introduction into making and hacking as well as basic electronics. Available for sale here.

LunarModules, a set on Flickr.

Here is a video of one being built:

Mouse Squad

Ariel Churi — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 13:56:10 +0000

Welcome Mouse Squad!

Sparkle Labs has variety of products for educational use. Including Arduinos, USB cables, LEDs, and coin cells. We can create a bundle for your needs.

Our Discover Electronics Kit is great learning tool for an after school teaching environment.
Students and teachers can follow the online video lessons.

The kit covers basic concepts as well as lessons on the most common components and moving into more advanced circuits. Lessons are invaluable in learning the electronics that aid in using microcontrollers, like the Arduino, and with sensors and robotics.

We are working on teachers aids and we post new projects for use with the kit. Join our mailing list to keep up to date.

Our New York City Department of Education
Vendor ID is SPA11805

Contents:

Transparent, Solderless Breadboard
Speaker, 8ohm
Potentiometers – 1k, 10k, 100k
Aligator clips
556 Timer integrated circuit
DIP Switch, 4 position
Battery Holder, 4 AA, with headers and off/on switch
Prestripped jumper-wires
Photoresistors (2)
Resistors, various (70)
Capacitors, Various (26)
Transistors, NPN (2)
Diode – 1N4148
Diode – 1N4001
Button, momentary (2)
LEDs, 5mm (9, Different colors)
LED, 10mm, white, diffused
Instruction manual

Discover Kit 2, a set on Flickr.

We also have a wide variety of LEDs and other components packaged for educational use. As well as new products in the pipeline.

Please contact us at edu AT sparklelabs DOT com with questions and for educational pricing.

Discover Electronics Kit 2.0

Ariel Churi — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 20:29:46 +0000

Sparkle Labs is made up of designers and teachers. Our Discover Electronics Kit is designed to make learning electronics easy and fun. It is a curated selection of the basic parts to get started and learning right away. They are standard components and are still useful when you are ready to build your own projects. More then just a kit, it is an online, video course which you can access here: Discover Electronics Course.

The kit comes with clear, solderless breadboard and a simple battery pack. Clearly labeled parts and simple directions means you can have your first circuit up and running in minutes.

The manual explains whats going on inside. Illustrations aid in understanding.

Not just an electronics kit; online resources turn the kit into a video course pack.

Double check your work against the photographs.

We have additional projects available on this site and we are adding more projects and lessons online.
You can purchase the kit as well as other products here.

Contents:

Transparent, Solderless Breadboard
Speaker, 8ohm
Potentiometers – 1k, 10k, 100k
Aligator clips
556 Timer integrated circuit
DIP Switch, 4 position
Battery Holder, 4 AA, with headers and off/on switch
Prestripped jumper-wires
Photoresistors (2)
Resistors, various (70)
Capacitors, Various (26)
Transistors, NPN (2)
Diode – 1N4148
Diode – 1N4001
Button, momentary (2)
LEDs, 5mm (9, Different colors)
LED, 10mm, white, diffused
Instruction manual

Building giant buttons for MoMA PopRally : Part 2

Ariel Churi — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:37:38 +0000

We went through a many possible designs but with the short time frame we decided to look for a pre-made enclosure.
A quick trip to Ikea uncovered nicely colored storage containers that can fit together into a button that is 13″ tall. Next to them were some Ikea shelves which are the same size that we can use as a base.

Next we needed to choose the internal components. The most important part is the spring. We will use mattress foam for the spring. It is durable and will provide stability as you push down the plunger. We will use copper sheeting for the contacts. One contact will be glued to the top and the other will sit on top of a 4×4 piece of lumber. I think this design will be durable, look good, and play well.

The game requires four buttons. We will have the four buttons connected to one another by a wire but have them wirelessly connected to the computer.

So that is the plan. Stay tuned for our next post where we will take you through building the buttons.

Building giant buttons for MoMA PopRally : Part 1