Just like the garage computer explosion of the 70’s through the 80’s, which brought us such things as Apple, pong, Bill Gate’s hair, and the proliferation of personal computers, the maker movement is the new garage hardware explosion. Today, 135 million adults in the United States alone are involved in the maker movement.
Enthusiasts who want to build the products they want, from shortwave radios to personal computers, and to tweak products they’ve bought to make them even better, have long been a part of the electronics industry. By all measures, garage-style innovation remains alive and well today, as “makers” as they are called continue to turn out contemporary gadgets, including 3D printers, drones, and embedded electronics devices.
Making is about individual Do-It-Yourselfers being able to design and create with tools that were, as of a decade or two ago, only available to large, cash-rich corporations: CAD tools, CNC mills, 3D printers, low-quantity PCB manufacturing, open hardware such as Arduinos and similar inexpensive development boards – all items that have made it easier and relatively cheap to make whatever we imagine. For individuals, maker tools can change how someone views their home or their hobbies. The world is ours to make. Humans are genetically wired to be makers. The maker movement is simply the result of making powerful building and communication tools accessible to the masses. There are plenty of projects from makers that show good engineering: Take this Arduino board with tremendous potential, developed by a young maker, as example.
The maker movement is a catalyst to democratize entrepreneurship as these do-it-yourself electronics are proving to be hot sellers: In the past year, unit sales for 3D printing related products; Arduino units, parts and supplies; Raspberry Pi boards; drones and quadcopters; and robotics goods are all on a growth curve in terms of eBay sales. There are many Kickstarter maker projects going on. The Pebble E-Paper Watch raises $10 million. The LIFX smartphone-controlled LED bulb raises $1.3 million. What do these products have in common? They both secured funding through Kickstarter, a crowd-funding website that is changing the game for entrepreneurs. Both products were created by makers who seek to commercialize their inventions. These “startup makers” iterate on prototypes with high-end tools at professional makerspaces.
For companies to remain competitive, they need to embrace the maker movement or leave themselves open for disruption. Researchers found that 96 percent of business leaders believe new technologies have forever changed the rules of business by democratizing information and rewiring customer expectations. - You’ve got to figure out agile innovation. Maybe history is repeating itself as the types of products being sold reminded us of the computer tinkering that used to be happening in the 1970s to 1990s – similar in terms of demographics, tending to be young people, and low budget. Now the do-it-yourself category is deeply intertwined with the electronics industry. Open hardware is in the center in maker movement – we need open hardware designs! How can you publish your designs and still do business with it? Open source ecosystem markets behave differently and therefore require a very different playbook than traditional tech company: the differentiation is not in the technology you build; it is in the process and expertise that you slowly amass over an extended period of time.
By democratizing the product development process, helping these developments get to market, and transforming the way we educate the next generation of innovators, we will usher in the next industrial revolution. The world is ours to make. Earlier the PC created a new generation of software developers who could innovate in the digital world without the limitations of the physical world (virtually no marginal cost, software has become the great equalizer for innovation. Now advances in 3D printing and low-cost microcontrollers as well as the ubiquity of advanced sensors are enabling makers to bridge software with the physical world. Furthermore, the proliferation of wireless connectivity and cloud computing is helping makers contribute to the Internet of Things (IoT). We’re even beginning to see maker designs and devices entering those markets once thought to be off-limits, like medical.
Image source: The world is ours to make: The impact of the maker movement – EDN Magazine
In fact, many parents have engaged in the maker movement with their kids because they know that the education system is not adequately preparing their children for the 21st century. There is a strong movement to spread this DIY idea widely. The Maker Faire, which launched in the Bay Area in California in 2006, underlined the popularity of the movement by drawing a record 215,000 people combined in the Bay Area and New York events in 2014. There’s Maker Media, MakerCon, MakerShed, Make: magazine and 131 Maker Faire events that take place throughout the world. Now the founders of all these Makers want a way to connect what they refer to as the “maker movement” online. So Maker Media created a social network called MakerSpace, a Facebook-like social network that connects participants of Maker Faire in one online community. The new site will allow participants of the event to display their work online. There are many other similar sites that allow yout to present yout work fron Hackaday to your own blog. Today, 135 million adults in the United States alone are involved in the maker movement—although makers can be found everywhere in the world.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Cordless Drill Sprouts Wings And Takes Flight
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/16/cordless-drill-sprouts-wings-and-takes-flight/
Tomi Engdahl says:
A DIY Bench-Sized Milling Machine
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/15/a-diy-bench-sized-milling-machine/
Tomi Engdahl says:
DIY Video Microscopy
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/16/diy-video-microscopy/
He settled on the Raspberry-Pi route. The Pi and a hard disk were attached directly to the frame of the microscope, and a VGA display connected via a converter. Finally, the Pi camera was jury-rigged to one of the eyepieces using some foam. It’s a quick and dirty hack, and not the best solution, but it works well for [voidnill] since he wanted to keep the original microscope intact.
The standard Pi camera has a wide angle lens. It is designed to capture a large image and converge it on to the small sensor area. Converting it to macro mode is possible, but requires a hack. The lens is removed and ‘flipped over’, and fixed at a distance away from the sensor – usually with the help of an extension tube. This allows the lens to image a very small area and focus it on the (relatively) large sensor. This hack is used in the “OpenFlexure” microscope project
EDUVAL 4 DDR Mikroskop mit Raspberry Pi Update
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehU6QjHHMfw
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printed Microscope Stage Offers Precise Movement
https://hackaday.com/2019/01/26/3d-printed-microscope-stage-offers-precise-movement/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lane Keeping RC Car Uses OpenCV
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/16/lane-keeping-rc-car-uses-opencv/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/16/the-smallest-homebrewed-ttl-cpu-in-the-world/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Open-Source Arm Puts Robotics Within Reach
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/17/open-source-arm-puts-robotics-within-reach/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Worried About Bats In Your Belfry? A Tale Of Two Bat Detectors
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/17/worried-about-bats-in-your-belfry-a-tale-of-two-bat-detectors/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Miss Nothing With A Hacked 360 Degree Camera Trap
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/18/miss-nothing-with-a-hacked-360-degree-camera-trap/
Tomi Engdahl says:
A DIY Retrocomputer Programmed In Pure Rust
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/21/a-diy-computer-programmed-in-pure-rust/
Can you generate VGA and handle a PS/2 keyboard with a Cortex-M4 in Rust? That’s precisely what [theJPster] wanted to find out with Monotron, a 1980s style home computer programmed in pure Rust.
In order to run embedded Rust without a working operating system, some tools are necessary: an LLVM back-end for generating machine code, a target file for specifying memory sizes and other configs, and a pre-compiled libcore as a substitute for a compiler when running an operating system. Rust takes the place of C running on top of the board support package (BSP) and hardware abstraction layer (HAL), and peripheral access crates (PACs) that specify the hardware and allow the code to be portable across different chips.
https://hackaday.io/project/160791-monotron
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/21/open-hardware-month-hack-chat/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Turn Your Old-school CRT Into A YouTube Media Player
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/20/turn-your-old-school-crt-into-a-youtube-media-player/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/20/maker-spirit-alive-and-well-at-the-philly-maker-faire/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/20/making-a-robot-cleaner-even-smarter/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/perler-printer-pushes-pixel-art-like-no-sprite-artist-could/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/24/light-emitting-logic-gates-built-from-scratch/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/26/its-a-tv-scope-guitar-amplifier/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/25/build-your-own-plasma-ball/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/25/giant-leds-ruby-lasers-hologram-displays-and-other-cool-stuff-seen-at-maker-faire-rome/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/27/a-dancing-cowboy-nixie-tube/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/31/building-an-open-hardware-ebook-reader/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/30/syringes-becomes-rockets-in-this-flying-build/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/30/protect-your-batteries-before-you-wreck-your-batteries/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2019/11/02/the-3d-printers-scanners-and-art-robots-of-maker-faire-rome/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2019/07/10/old-cds-create-a-haunting-rainbow-vortex/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/02/faux-neon-sign-says-what-auf-deutsch/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Building a Faux Neon Sign Using LED Strips (Part 1)
https://noniq.at/0019/faux-neon-sign-1/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/04/the-ultimate-guide-to-artisan-usb-cables/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Brain Computer Interface w/ Python and OpenBCI for EEG data
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgo7F-lpyYE
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why Buy Toys When You Can Build Them Instead?
https://hackaday.com/2019/11/08/why-buy-toys-when-you-can-build-them-instead/
Like many creative individuals who suddenly find themselves parents, [Marta] wanted to make something special for his children to play with. Anybody can just purchase an off-the-shelf electronic toy, but if you’ve got the ability to design one on your own terms, why not do it? But even compared to the fairly high standards set by hacker parents, we have to admit that the amount of time, thought, and effort that was put into the “Marta Musik Maschine” is absolutely phenomenal.
https://martamusikmaschine.com/
Marta Musik Maschine is a DIY, RFID enabled, multi-purpose, audio and light device for kids. It’s open source and you can build one yourself. It’s not hard at all, I promise.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Axiom, A 100+kW Motor Controller For Making Big Motors Move
https://hackaday.com/2019/11/04/axiom-a-100kw-motor-controller-fo-making-big-motors-move/
We’ve seen a lot of motor driver boards for robots and the odd electric skateboard. What we haven’t see a lot of is one big enough to drop into an electric vehicle.
The Axiom motor controller was a winner of the bootstrap contest and is a Finalist in the 2019 Hackaday Prize. The driver aims to deliver 300A continuous at 400V all day long. Which is a very impressive amount of power from a board that appears to be quite compact.
Axiom: 100+kW Motor Controller
High Power, High Performance 400V 300A 100+kW Motor Controller fully compatible with VESC®
https://hackaday.io/project/164932-axiom-100kw-motor-controller/
Tomi Engdahl says:
An Open Hardware Laser Engraver For Everyone
https://hackaday.com/2019/11/06/an-open-hardware-laser-engraver-for-everyone/
Right now, you can get a diode laser engraver on eBay for around $100 USD. That sounds like a deal, but it’ll probably use some arcane proprietary software, won’t be terribly accurate, and the laser itself will almost certainly be fully exposed. Of course there’s no shortage of DIY builds which improve upon this situation greatly, but unfortunately the documentation and instructions to replicate them yourself often leave a lot to be desired.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Bangle.js, an Open Sourced JavaScript-Powered Smart Watch
https://www.hackster.io/news/the-bangle-js-an-open-sourced-javascript-powered-smart-watch-6359962646c2
Internally the hardware is built around a Nordic nRF52832 Arm Cortex-M4 processor running at 64MHz, with 64kB of RAM, 512kB of on-chip flash, and 4MB of external flash. The watch has 40kB of RAM available as program memory, while the internal 350 mAh battery should provide one week of standby time.
It may be built using off-the shelf hardware, but the firmware of this JavaScript-powered smart watch is entirely open source and hackable.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ATX2AT MAKES RETROCOMPUTING SAFER, HEADS TO KICKSTARTER
https://hackaday.com/2019/11/25/atx2at-makes-retrocomputing-safer-heads-to-kickstarter/
powering vintage hardware is not always so simple or worry-free. The power supplies for old electronics are themselves vintage, and the hardware being powered can be quite precious. A power problem can easily cause fried components and burned traces on a board.
ATX2AT is a way to safely and securely replace some vintage power supplies with a standard PC ATX power supply, and adds a large number of protection features such as current monitoring and programmable reaction time for overcurrent protection. All of this can help prevent a retrocomputer enthusiast’s precious vintage hardware from being damaged in the event of a problem. It’s not just for powering known-good hardware; it can be invaluable when testing or repairing hardware that might be in an unknown state.
https://hackaday.com/2018/05/24/a-smarter-psu-converter-leaves-the-magic-smoke-inside/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Turn a Toaster Oven Into a Reflow Oven Without Modification Using PyPortal
https://www.hackster.io/news/turn-a-toaster-oven-into-a-reflow-oven-without-modification-using-pyportal-96e544ed59e3
Those with projects that require soldering surface-mounted components onto PCBs or those with hard-to-solder smaller electronics would do well to have a reflow oven, which can solder all those electronic components to the PCB at the same time. While most smaller reflow ovens are affordable, some makers prefer to build their own
“The EZ Make Oven is just that: it’s an easy to make reflow oven that requires no high voltage wiring and does not require any disassembly of the oven. The reflow oven can be put together in just a few hours with just some minimal soldering required.”
https://learn.adafruit.com/ez-make-oven
Tomi Engdahl says:
Someone Built a Physical IRL Version of Chrome’s Offline Dinosaur Jumping Game
Over a single weekend, Uri and Ariella managed to build a real-life version of the game at GeekCon.
https://www.hackster.io/news/someone-built-a-physical-irl-version-of-chrome-s-offline-dinosaur-jumping-game-a8408edef151
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to Turn a Pair of Old CD Drives Into a Simple Laser Engraver
https://www.hackster.io/news/how-to-turn-a-pair-of-old-cd-drives-into-a-simple-laser-engraver-af984c972037
You can probably find used CD drives in the dumpster behind the thrift store, use them to build an affordable laser engraver.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Build an 8 GHz Sampling Oscilloscope with Analog Devices’ ADCMP582 Comparator
Ted Yapo has designed an open source, multi-GHz sampling oscilloscope for hobbyists.
https://www.hackster.io/news/build-an-8-ghz-sampling-oscilloscope-with-analog-devices-adcmp582-comparator-46170ab456e8
https://hackaday.io/project/167292-8-ghz-sampling-oscilloscope
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Probe-Scope Is a 60MHz 250Msps Oscilloscope That Fits in Your Hand
Mark Omo has designed an open source oscilloscope in the form factor of a cable
https://www.hackster.io/news/the-probe-scope-is-a-60mhz-250msps-oscilloscope-that-fits-in-your-hand-3f0e6912d98d
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://freeio.org/
Tomi Engdahl says:
This supercapacitor-powered LED shines brightly on a single farad of charge from its USB connector.
A Supercapacitor USB LED Flashlight
https://www.hackster.io/news/a-supercapacitor-usb-led-flashlight-3e3c97f3b661
This supercapacitor-powered LED shines brightly on a single farad of charge from its USB connector.
Tomi Engdahl says:
This Holiday Card Features a Working Guitar Amplifier Built Into the Cardstock
YouTube maker Fran Blanche has built a Holiday Card Guitar Amplifier that literally fits inside of an envelope
https://www.hackster.io/news/this-holiday-card-features-a-working-guitar-amplifier-built-into-the-cardstock-444ee2106d95
The envelope can, however, be pushed further. That’s exactly what YouTube maker Fran Blanche has done with her Holiday Card Guitar Amplifier that literally fits inside of an envelope.
Holiday Card Guitar Amplifier With Fuzztone!!!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-DMsNxn7kBg&feature=youtu.be
HoHoHo! Sending a very personal card to Santa this year – a fully functional and Rockin’ Guitar Amp Holiday Card! Merry Merry and Enjoy!
Tomi Engdahl says:
36C3: Build Your Own Quantum Computer At Home
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/30/36c3-build-your-own-quantum-computer-at-home/
A case in point: security veteran [Yann Allain] who is in fact building his own quantum computer in his garage.
Starting with an introduction to quantum computing itself, and what makes it so powerful also in the context of security, [Yann] continues to tell about his journey of building a quantum computer on his own. His goal was to build a stable computer he could “easily” create by himself in his garage, which will work at room temperature, using trapped ion technology.
https://media.ccc.de/v/36c3-10808-build_you_own_quantum_computer_home_-_99_of_discount_-_hacker_style
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/30/image-sensor-from-discrete-parts-delivers-glorious-1-kilopixel-images/
Tomi Engdahl says:
DIY MP3 to Cassette or Instrument to Cassette Adapter
https://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-MP3-to-Cassette-or-Instrument-to-Cassette-Adap/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Build Your Own Magnetic Circuit Blocks
Made out of cardboard, these magnetic blocks can be combined to form electronic circuits.
https://www.hackster.io/news/build-your-own-magnetic-circuit-blocks-c8b4ac4747d8
Tomi Engdahl says:
EPT’s Open Source DSO 100M Offers Four Analog Channels and 80MSPS ADCs
The DSO 100M digital storage oscilloscope development system is designed to be open, flexible, and easy to modify.
https://www.hackster.io/news/ept-s-open-source-dso-100m-offers-four-analog-channels-and-80msps-adcs-80fd6814d1f2
Tomi Engdahl says:
Don’t DIY This Surgical Robot At Home
https://hackaday.com/2020/01/09/dont-diy-this-surgical-robot-at-home/
The LVL1 Hackerspace in Louisville hosted a hackathon for useless and impractical devices a couple of years ago and this makeshift Duh-Vinci Surgical Robot was one of the “successful” results. While it’s not necessarily a project that should ever be used for its intended purpose, its miniature setup is certainly an interesting one.
http://wiki.lvl1.org/Duh-Vinci_Surgical_Robot
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D-Printed Tools Turn Bench Vise Into Expedient Press Brake
https://hackaday.com/2020/01/06/3d-printed-tools-turn-bench-vise-into-expedient-press-brake/
Turn Your Vise into a Press Brake with 3D Printed Tools
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crT1QBAfgNU
Tomi Engdahl says:
Converting A Drill Press Into A Milling Machine
https://hackaday.com/2020/01/05/converting-a-drill-press-into-a-milling-machine/
Mills are a huge investment, and for hobbyists without the space to install their own personal mill, it can sometimes be a pain to have to find a facility with a mill to complete your project.
What if you could convert your drill press into a mill instead? YouTuber [Small Metalworking Machines] explores this in his video, where he takes a small Central Machinery drill press and adds a few mods. He took some steps to improve the quill, spindle, and bearings — boring down the quill, replacing the bearings, and finally turning and re-threading the spindle it at 1/2-20.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3menFwDDFOI