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:
Defocused Laser Welding Fabric Proves There’s Many Ways To Slice It
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/27/defocused-laser-welding-fabric-proves-theres-many-ways-to-slice-it/
Laser cutters are certainly a Hackerspace staple for cutting fabrics in some circles. But for the few fabrics derived from non-woven plastics, why not try fusing them together? That’s exactly what [Dries] did, and with some calibration, the result is a speedy means of seaming together two fabrics–no needles necessary!
The materials used here are non-woven goods often used in disposable PPE like face masks, disposable aprons, and shoe coverings. The common tool used to fuse non-woven fabrics at the seams is an ultrasonic welder. This is not as common in the hackerspace tool room, but laser cutters may be a suitable stand-in.
https://wikifactory.com/+ctc/stories/laser-welding-and-cutting-synthetic-non-woven-fabrics?fbclid=IwAR2DT0oLLtfED_Z_S_6AzyMuzRscvrTU59EetR2p_H_aFob1Nlt64wicy8A
Tomi Engdahl says:
15 Sensor Techs Turn Users into Superheroes
Tech enhancements to the 5 basic sensors give people superhero powers.
https://www.designnews.com/sensors/15-sensor-techs-turn-users-superheroes?ADTRK=InformaMarkets&elq_mid=13014&elq_cid=876648
Tomi Engdahl says:
20 Weird Life Hacks That Surprisingly Work
https://brightside.me/wonder-curiosities/20-weird-life-hacks-that-surprisingly-work-653160/?utm_source=fb_brightside&utm_medium=fb_organic&utm_campaign=fb_gr_seen_everything
https://brightside.me/wonder-curiosities/20-weird-life-hacks-that-surprisingly-work-653160/?utm_source=fb_brightside&utm_medium=fb_organic&utm_campaign=fb_gr_seen_everything
Tomi Engdahl says:
A 3D-Printed 7DOF Robotic Arm!
https://www.hackster.io/news/a-3d-printed-7dof-robotic-arm-13900fcd63fe
Skyentific is building a brushless robot arm capable of moving with seven degrees of freedom
Skyentific, a YouTube sensation and roboticist, has developed a 7-axis, 7-degrees of freedom robotic arm. Despite the backlash and durability issues, Skentific decided to build the robotic arm with 3D-printed components instead of using cables. The plastic gears tend to wear out quite easily, so he’s not a big fan of them
To start things off, he uses two Multi-Star 9235 100KU motors, which produces 4.7 meters of torque. However, there is a drawback when using this motor: it can heat up very quickly without a super-efficient cooling system. It’s capable of rotating 20 to 60 degrees in just 30 seconds with a cooling system.
It has two different types of reduction: a belt and planetary gearbox reduction with a ratio of over eight.
includes a large 48V power supply, which is used for the drive and provides enough power for two motors. It also contains a small 5V power supply for the Teensy 3.6 board. There are a lot of serial outputs that allows for the controlling of many drive modules simultaneously. This arm will need control from four drive modules to control seven motors, which ensures the arm has 7 degrees of freedom.
Skyentific used 3D-printed parts to put the axis together and changed the pulley to tension the belt. He also created a cover for the base of the axis and made four iterations of the pool. Afterward, he put the cover on by inserting the embedded nuts into the corresponding holes on the top and sides of the cover.
The encoder will need to be fixed onto the magnet plate.
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://gijs.gieskes.nl/dirtyexpress/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.hackster.io/p5g41tmlx/rgb-lighting-for-macro-photography-d12fd5
Tomi Engdahl says:
Diod.Design’s Music-Visualizer LED Driver Bundles a Teensy 3.6 and ESP32 Devkit
https://www.hackster.io/news/diod-design-s-music-visualizer-led-driver-bundles-a-teensy-3-6-and-esp32-devkit-037d0744818c
Designed to drive up to three strips of LEDs, the Teensy 3.6 Music-Visualizer taps an audio adapter and an ESP32 for wireless connectivity.
Tomi Engdahl says:
RX-Modulus Is a Completely Modular Mouse with Interchangeable Parts
https://www.hackster.io/news/rx-modulus-is-a-completely-modular-mouse-with-interchangeable-parts-8070034fd592
This open source, fully customizable mouse allows for all sorts of configurations with interchangeable modules.
Tomi Engdahl says:
RX-Modulus (Completely Modular Mouse)
Finally a mouse that can be freely changed, fixed and upgraded suit the user.
https://hackaday.io/project/171196-rx-modulus-completely-modular-mouse
Tomi Engdahl says:
Teensy 3.6-Powered PoCoPo Puts Motorized Pins in the Palm of Your Hand for VR Haptic Rendering
https://www.hackster.io/news/teensy-3-6-powered-pocopo-puts-motorized-pins-in-the-palm-of-your-hand-for-vr-haptic-rendering-3d66e754e0cd
PoCoPo drives a series of plastic pins as a means of creating a 3D representation of an object touched in virtual reality.
Tomi Engdahl says:
MIT’s 3D-Printed CurveBoards Are Breadboards for Wearable, Unusually-Shaped Project Prototyping
https://www.hackster.io/news/mit-s-3d-printed-curveboards-are-breadboards-for-wearable-unusually-shaped-project-prototyping-85282b9a0b0a
Printed in flexible silicon, MIT CSAIL’s 3D breadboards are integrated directly into physical objects.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Sweech Aims to Bring Zero-Draw Standby Functionality, Alarm Wakeup to Almost Any Circuit
Running from a single coin-cell battery, the Sweech uses a real-time clock to provide timer wakeups to an external circuit.
https://www.hackster.io/news/the-sweech-aims-to-bring-zero-draw-standby-functionality-alarm-wakeup-to-almost-any-circuit-4140cbcba4f5
Tomi Engdahl says:
Simple, Low-Cost Dynamometer Setup for Motor Testing (Part 1)
https://www.electronicdesign.com/power-management/whitepaper/21127182/simple-lowcost-dynamometer-setup-for-motor-testing-part-1
Properly designed, low-cost dynamometers are ideal for testing motors. Part 1 of this two-part series discusses the design decisions made by a University of Texas student group in developing a dynamometer using InstaSPIN-MOTION Lab 12b.
A dynamometer is a testing device that helps engineers collect data for various mechanical loading conditions that a motor or engine might encounter in a particular application. Other than testing the motor itself, a dynamometer helps engineers test how their motor-control algorithms and motor-driving power electronics respond to these conditions. In my role as an applications engineer at Texas Instruments (TI), I needed a better way to test various loading conditions on small motors.
This dynamometer had to operate at low speeds, provide accurate torque, and produce torque profiles like ramps and square waves. The torque profiles would be helpful for verifying the performance of motors and driver ICs when driving a varying mechanical torque load. It also had to look nice in case it’s ever taken to a customer or a tradeshow for a product demonstration.
Eventually, the team decided to use a motor for the active load, but we needed to decide what kind of motor. Brushed dc motors are the easiest to control. Torque is directly proportional to the current in the motor
However, when the MTTB team tested a few brushed dc motors on prototype setups, we saw large ripples in the current waveforms and the motors were noisy. The noise is likely due to torque ripple from the brushed dc motor.
Torque ripple is something we needed to minimize for smooth torque profiles. This meant that we should also avoid using a stepper or a brushless dc (BLDC) motor
A stepper motor is a “doubly salient” motor and would have high cogging torque since it has teeth on the rotor and the stator
A BLDC motor will have torque ripple from cogging torque and the trapezoidal shape of the back EMF due to the winding geometry.5 The shape of the back EMF indicates the shape of the magnetic field created by the stator windings in the air gap. The magnetic field will also have a trapezoidal shape and will not be smooth since individual coils are wound around individual stator teeth.
However, a surface-mount permanent-magnet synchronous machine (PMSM) is similar to a BLDC motor with minimal cogging torque and a sinusoidal shape for the back EMF.
The control algorithm required to drive the motor is just as important as selecting the motor itself. For the PMSM, field-oriented control (FOC) is the best way to smoothly control torque
From this initial investigation, the MTTB team decided to implement the active load of the dynamometer using a PMSM controlled by FOC. In the second article, I discuss their final implementation, including component selection, hardware, software, and where to find their open-source files.
Simple, Low-Cost Dynamometer Setup for Motor Testing (Part 2)
https://www.electronicdesign.com/power-management/whitepaper/21130416/simple-lowcost-dynamometer-setup-for-motor-testing-part-2?utm_source=EG+ED+Analog+%26+Power+Source&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CPS200501048&o_eid=7211D2691390C9R&rdx.ident%5Bpull%5D=omeda%7C7211D2691390C9R&oly_enc_id=7211D2691390C9R
The wrap-up article for this two-part series reveals the steps that went into creating the dynamometer with the help of the team from the University of Texas at Dallas.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Some Strings Attached: Electric Tenor Guitar Built From Scratch
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/01/some-strings-attached-electric-tenor-guitar-built-from-scratch/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Lost Art Of Component Scavanging
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/02/the-lost-art-of-component-scavanging/
With the easy and cheap availability of parts by Internet mail order, it’s easy to forget that acquiring electronic components was once a more tedious process, and it was common to use salvaged parts because they were what you had. Scouring a panel from a dumpster-find TV for the right resistor may now be a thing of the past, but it’s not entirely dead. [Ryan Flowers] was lucky enough to score a box of old CB radios at a garage sale, and takes us through a teardown in search of parts he can use to make a QRP amateur radio rig. Delving into aged electronics is right up our street!
https://miscdotgeek.com/salvaging-old-cbs-for-qrp-parts-part-1/
Tomi Engdahl says:
DIY Ribbon Controller For A DIY Synth
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/03/diy-ribbon-controller-for-a-diy-synth/
Whenever you’re ready to have some next-level fun, try making controllers for your DIY instruments. Synthesizers of all stripes are often controlled with various types of potentiometers. While it would definitely be an interesting exercise to make your own standard twist-style potentiometer, [lonesoulsurfer] shows that making a ribbon controller is relatively easy.
https://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Ribbon-Controller/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Start Printing From Film For Around £100
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/03/start-printing-from-film-for-around-100/
For the vast majority of readers, the act of taking a photograph will mean reaching for a mobile phone, or for a subset of you picking up a digital camera. A very small number of you will still use chemical film for its versatility and resolution, and we’re guessing that more would join those ranks if some of the cost barriers to doing so could be reduced.
It would be near-impossible to reduce the cost of a chemical photograph to the infinitely repeatable click of a digital camera shutter, but at least if the cost of a darkroom is intimidating then [Sroyon Mukherjee] has an interesting post over at 35mmc about how a darkroom for black-and-white printing from negatives can be equipped for less than £100 ($123). It’s a fascinating read even if your photography remains firmly in the digital, because along the way it explains some of the mysteries of the process. Few people had this type of equipment at home even in the days when most of us took our films to the drugstore, so as time passes this knowledge is concentrated among an ever narrower group.
https://www.35mmc.com/06/04/2020/darkroom-technique-part-1-how-to-build-a-darkroom-for-100-or-less-by-sroyon-mukherjee/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Go The Extra Mile For Your LED Driver
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/04/go-the-extra-mile-for-your-led-driver/
Addressable RGB LED strips may be all the rage, but that addressability can come at a cost. If instead of colors you expect to show shades of white you may the find less flickery, wider spectrum light from a string of single color LEDs and a nice supply desirable. Of course there are many ways to drive such a strip but this is Hackaday, not Aliexpressaday (though we may partake in the sweet nectar of e-commerce). [Niklas Fauth] must have really had an itch to scratch, because to get the smoothest fades for his single color LED strips, he built an entire software defined dual 50W switched-mode AC power supply from scratch. He calls it his “first advanced AC design” and we are suitably impressed.
Providing control he has the ubiquitous ESP-32 to drive the control nodes of the supply and giving the added bonus of wireless connectivity (one’s blinkenlights must always be orchestrated). We can’t help but notice the PCBA also exposes RS485 and CAN transceivers which seem to be unused so far, perhaps for a future expansion into wired control?
https://twitter.com/FauthNiklas/status/1246770867050291206
230V main LED smps. 2x30W Constant Current.
https://github.com/NiklasFauth/esp32-led-smps
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/02/cheap-smartwatch-hacking-to-run-your-own-code/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/02/a-hackable-drone-without-all-the-wiring/
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Smart DIY Metal Detector
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/02/a-smart-diy-metal-detector/
If you ever thought about becoming a treasure hunter this simple DIY metal detector by [mircemk] may be a nice project to start with.
The design is based on an opensource metal detector called Smart Hunter. This Very Low Frequency (VLF) metal detector uses transmitter and receiver coils in so-called Double-D geometry. The transmitter coil is driven by a signal generator module that operates at its resonant frequency of 4.74 kHz.
The resulting oscillating magnetic field will induce eddy currents in a nearby metal object that in turn induce a signal in the receiver coil. This signal is then fed into the microphone port of a smartphone and analyzed by a custom metal detector app. [mircemk] also included an audio amplifier and small speaker into the device.
DIY simple smartphone Metal Detector
DIY sensitive VLF METAL DETECTOR with Smartphone
https://hackaday.io/project/171177-diy-simple-smartphone-metal-detector
Smart Hunter EN
https://neco-desarrollo.es/smart-hunter
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hardware Hacker’s Marie Kondo: How Many LM386s Is Too Many?
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/02/hardware-hackers-marie-kondo-how-many-lm386s-is-too-many/
The idea is that you’re constrained to whatever parts you’ve got on hand. But at the risk of sounding like Scrooge McDuck sitting on a mountain of toilet paper, I’ve got literally hundreds of potentiometers in my closet, a couple IMUs, more microcontrollers than you can shake a stick at, and 500 ml of etching solution waiting for me in the bathroom. Switches, motors, timing belts, nichrome wire…maybe I should put in an order for another kilogram of 3D printer filament. In short, unless it’s a specialty part or an eBay module, I’m basically set.
But apparently not everyone is so well endowed. I’ve heard rumors of people who purchase all of the parts for a particular project. That ain’t me. The guru of household minimalism asks us to weigh each object in our possession and ask “does it spark joy?”. And the answer, when I pull out the needed 3.3 V low-dropout regulator and get the project built now instead of three days from now, is “yes”.
And I’m not even a hoarder. (I keep telling myself.) The rule that keeps me on this side of sanity: I have a box for each type of part, and they are essentially fixed. When no more motors fit in the motor box, no more motors are ordered, no matter how sexy, until some project uses enough of them to free up space. It’s worked for the last 20 years, long before any of us had even heard of Marie Kondo.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chat Cat Waves On Slack
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/02/chat-cat-waves-on-slack/
[Mr. Tom] wrote in to tell us about his solution, which involves a maneki-neko — one of those good luck cats that wave slowly and constantly thanks to a solar-powered electromagnetic pendulum. Now whenever [Mr. Tom] has an incoming message, the cat starts waving gently over on the corner of his desk. It’s enough movement to be noticeable, but not annoying.
An ESP32 inside the kitty looks at incoming messages and watches for [Mr. Tom]’s user ID, prioritizing messages where he has been mentioned directly.
https://medium.com/@tmjns92/meow-the-slack-bot-with-the-smart-paw-3c211763794
Tomi Engdahl says:
Measure The Speed Of A Speeding Bullet
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/04/measure-the-speed-of-a-speeding-bullet/
In the study of ballistics, you can do very little without knowing the velocity of a projectile. Whether you need to hit a target at over a mile, check if a paintball gun is safe for opposing players, or photograph high-velocity objects, you need a way to measure that velocity. [td0g] enjoys the challenge of photographing bullets impacts, and has created an open-source ballistic chronograph to help achieve this.
https://td0g.ca/2020/04/19/ballistic-chronograph-mk2-diy/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The solenoid engine RC project
Loud, fun, a mish mash of this and that and all held together with 3D printing!
https://hackaday.io/project/171301-the-solenoid-engine-rc-project
The engine is a single solenoid type(a round tubular type from ebay), and just use a microswitch and chip driver for timing. The crankshaft is 1/8 steel rod, but the offset and cam and flywheel are 3D printed as well as most of the engine. The battery holder is out of a junked toy and holds 4 AA batteries for engine power. It rests on a balsa wood frame with leftover balsa when I used to make model aircraft. The steering and throttle motors are china leftover from other projects. The tires are old dubro wheels for airplane use but I made hubs to attach the to the rear end differential made from surplus worm gears. I ended up making my own printed u joints because they just cost too much.
The geardown for the motor to transmission uses those cheap plastic gears you get for a few dollars a bag off ebay. The belts are O-rings from some plumbing mess I had a few years back.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Evaluating Transistors for Bipolar Logic (RTL)
https://hackaday.io/project/170697-evaluating-transistors-for-bipolar-logic-rtl
Tomi Engdahl says:
AirLoop I © CERN-OHL
Attempt to build an ultra-low cost molecular reactor, using computer controlled recirculating air.
https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/jim-haseloff/airloop-i-5d2a72
Modern biology has exploited enzymes, which are naturally occurring nano machines, and clever reaction systems to produce an ever growing range of diagnostics, environmental assays, DNA assembly and tools for education and research. Many of these molecular reactions are cheap, but require instrumentation for precise temperature regulation, programmed control over time and quantitative readout. Commercially available instruments are expensive, usually relying on temperature-controlled milled metal blocks and designed for hundreds of samples. For example, the cost of a microplate polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machines will start at around £5, 000, and qPCR machines in the £10, 000′s. There are many cases where low cost (<<£100) reactors would be very useful
Tomi Engdahl says:
Foamboard Makes For A Light Hovercraft
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/12/foamboard-makes-for-a-light-hovercraft/
In theory, a hovercraft is pretty simple, but in practice they are not as easy as they look. For one thing, you need a lot of air to fill the plenum chamber to get lift. That’s usually a noisy operation. The solution? In this case, a hairdryer gave up its motor for the cause. In addition, once floating on a near-frictionless cushion of air, you have to actually move without contacting the ground.
Remote Controlled Hovercraft
https://www.instructables.com/id/Remote-Controlled-Hovercraft/
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Smart Bandage For Monitoring Chronic Wounds
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/12/a-smart-bandage-for-monitoring-chronic-wounds/
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Twisted Tale Of Woven Wires
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/12/a-twisted-tale-of-woven-wires/
In a recent video, [Michael Aichlmayr] walks viewers through the creation of his mesmerizing entry Wonderlandscape, which ended up taking honorable mention in the Circuit Sculpture contest for Best Metalworks. Though this is much more than just a simple walk-through of a project. Sure you’ll see how brass bar stock was artfully twisted and wrapped to create a metallic winterscape that looks like it could have come from Bob Ross’s hitherto unknown cyberpunk period, but that’s only half the story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e83CkBysqUY&feature=emb_logo
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printed Train Set Aims For Speed
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/12/3d-printed-train-set-aims-for-speed/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Robotic Open Source Puppy Needs A Home
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/12/robotic-open-source-puppy-needs-a-home/
If you are looking to adopt a robotic companion, Stanford Pupper might be a good place to start. It’s a new open source project from the Stanford Robotics Student group, a group of robotic hackers from Stanford University. This simple robotic quadruped looks pretty simple to build, but also looks like a great into to four-legged robots.
Stanford Pupper
https://stanfordstudentrobotics.org/pupper
An Inexpensive & Open-source Quadruped Robot
Stanford Pupper is a (relatively) inexpensive robot designed to help K-12 and undergraduate students get involved in exciting robotics research.
Quick specs:
Cost: $600-$900 depending if you already have any tools or parts such as a Raspberry Pi or PS4 controller.
Actuators: 12 x JX-Servo CLS6336HV
Frame material: Routed carbon fiber (you can buy the parts pre-cut here) and 3D printed PLA.
Build time: 4 – 10 hours depending on expertise. The level of difficulty is about on par to building a small quadcopter drone.
Code repository: https://github.com/stanfordroboticsclub/StanfordQuadruped
Build instructions, bill of materials, and CAD: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ofrtlmh0dQoEvRji5PUVH9bgwHnR-8KkTXR1eMLzXh0/edit?usp=sharing
Tomi Engdahl says:
Open Source Raman Spectrometer Is Cheaper, But Not Cheap
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/12/open-source-raman-spectrometer-is-cheaper-but-not-cheap/
Raman spectrography uses the Raman scattering of photons from a laser or other coherent light beam to measure the vibrational state of molecules. In chemistry, this is useful for identifying molecules and studying chemical bonds. Don’t have a Raman spectroscope? Cheer up! Open Raman will give you the means to build one.
The “starter edition” replaces the initial breadboard version which used Lego construction, although the plans for that are still on the site, as well. [Luc] is planning a performance edition, soon, that will have better performance and, presumably, a greater cost.
Looking at the bill of materials, it looks like it would well over $2,000 to build, with the bulk of the cost being for the optical parts of the device. That doesn’t include the cuvette which holds the sample will set you back another $250 or so.
Open RAMAN
Low Cost, High Performances, 100% Open Source Raman Spectrometer
http://www.open-raman.org/
Educational Series: What is Raman Spectroscopy?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBDtIY5vCIo&feature=emb_logo
Tomi Engdahl says:
Open Source Pick And Place Has A $450 BOM Cost
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/11/open-source-pick-and-place-has-a-450-bom-cost/
Printed Circuit Board Assembly (PCBA) have gotten closer to reality for the home shop; with some models diving below the $10,000 mark. But if you’re not doing it professionally, those are still unobtanium.
The cost of this one, on the other hand, could be explained away as a project in itself. You’re not buying a $450 shop tool, you’re purchasing materials to chase the fever dream of building an open source pick and place machine. There are two major parts here, an X/Y/Z machine tool that can also rotate the vacuum-based parts picker, and the feeders that reel out components to be placed. All of this is working, but there’s still a long road to travel before it becomes a set and forget machine.
The Index – An Open Source Pick And Place
https://github.com/sphawes/index
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtZcnIEi710&feature=emb_logo
Tomi Engdahl says:
Making A Gorgeously-Twisty Sculpture, Using Only Flat Pieces
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/11/making-a-gorgeously-twisty-sculpture-using-only-flat-pieces/
Tomi Engdahl says:
eForth for cheap STM8S gadgets
Turn cheap modules from AliExpress into interactive development kits!
https://hackaday.io/project/16097-eforth-for-cheap-stm8s-gadgets
Tomi Engdahl says:
Printed Jig Is A Welding Rig
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/13/printed-jig-is-a-welding-rig/
[NixieGuy] was scheming to build robots with cable-driven joints when the pandemic hit. Now that component sourcing is scarce, he’s had to get creative when it comes to continuous cables. These cables need to be as seamless as possible to avoid getting caught on the pulleys, so [Nixie] came up with a way to weld together something he already has on hand — lengths of .45mm steel cable.
The 3D printed jig is designed to be used under a digital microscope, and even clamps to the pillar with screws. Another set of screws holds the two wires in place while they are butt welded between two pieces of copper.
[Nixie] adds a spot of solder paste for good measure, and then joins the wires by attaching his bench power supply set to 20V @ 3.5A to the copper electrodes.
https://electronicmercenary.wordpress.com/2020/04/24/tales-from-the-lo%cc%8ao%cc%8ap/
Tomi Engdahl says:
If you don’t have a bench supply, you might be able to get away with a battery-powered spot welder, depending on your application.
Testing A Battery-Powered Mini Spot Welder
https://hackaday.com/2019/03/25/testing-a-battery-powered-mini-spot-welder/
Did you ever see a thin metal tab bonded to a battery terminal with little pock marks? That’s the work of a spot welder. Spot welding is one of those processes that doesn’t offer much in the way of alternatives; either one uses a spot welder to do the job right, or one simply does without. That need is what led [Erwin Ried] to purchase a small, battery-powered spot welder from a maker in Korea and test it out on nickel strips.
Testing aulakiria’s portable spot welder for DIY batteries, etc
https://erwin.ried.cl/post/179478075477/wonderful-korean-mini-spot-welder
https://blog.naver.com/aulakiria/220992039512
Testing aulakiria’s portable spot welder for DIY batteries, etc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saZNlUlOspE&feature=emb_logo
Tomi Engdahl says:
Clever 3D-Printed Switch Designed Around Bent Paperclip
https://www.hackster.io/news/clever-3d-printed-switch-designed-around-bent-paperclip-a49a7c1464fd
Aside from its plastic housing, this switch only requires about half of a large office paperclip for the conductive components.
When you “3D print” an electronic device, this generally means printing the body and perhaps some internal mechanical bits. Components that actually regulate the flow of electricity, however, are generally purchased. And why not, they’re available at a very reasonable price, and few of us have the skills to make them well anyway.
The project is ingeniously simple, with two segments of paper clip bent to fit the three-part printed switch housing and slide.
3D-Printed Electric Slide Switch (Using Only a Paperclip)
https://www.instructables.com/id/3D-Printed-Electric-Slide-Switch-Using-Only-a-Pape/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Water paint technology
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2600net/permalink/2728726720683769/
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Microwaving Grapes Makes Plasma
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wCrtk-pyP0I&feature=youtu.be
A bisected grape in the microwave makes plasma. But how does it work? A grape is the right size and refractive index to trap microwaves inside it. When you place two (or two halves) close together the fields interact with each other creating a maximum of electromagnetic energy where they touch. This creates heating, sparks, and plasma, which is further fed with energy directly by the microwaves.
Tomi Engdahl says:
An Ingeniously Simple Brushless DC Motor
This 3D-printed motor runs on a single coil, controlled only by a reed switch and magnets.
https://www.hackster.io/news/an-ingeniously-simple-brushless-dc-motor-9018fcd92527
Tomi Engdahl says:
The crazy story of how a classic calculator was revived.
This Classic Calculator Was Literally Reverse Engineered From the Bare Metal
https://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/hands-on/this-classic-calculator-was-literally-reverse-engineered-from-the-bare-metal
Was the Sinclair Scientific calculator elegant? It certainly was a hit, gracing the cover of publications like Popular Mechanics after its release in 1974. Cleverly written firmware dragooned its limited processor, intended only for basic arithmetic, into performing way beyond specifications. This allowed Sinclair to sell a scientific calculator to countless folks who otherwise could not have afforded one. But it was also slow and sometimes inaccurate, provided barely enough mathematical functions to qualify as a scientific calculator, and was difficult for the uninitiated to use.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ANAVI’s Open Source Extractor Helps Keep Solder Fumes in Check
Defeat solder smoke on the cheap.
https://www.hackster.io/news/anavi-s-open-source-extractor-helps-keep-solder-fumes-in-check-f8bd48aa2c56
Breathing solder smoke (or flux) can be hazardous to your health, and just like spray painting, it’s best to have some kind of airflow to dissipate those fumes. ANAVI Technology has designed a small smoke absorber to help capture those solder fumes and is certified by the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA) with UID BG000060.
ANAVI describes their Fume Extractor as “an open source smart solder smoke absorber that’s driven by a Wi-Fi development board with an ESP8266, an 80 mm fan, and a replaceable carbon filter.”
The Fume Extractor is outfitted with a Tensilica L106 32-bit processor (ESP8266), Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, and an 80mm 5V DC 0.25A with a replaceable carbon filter. It packs an MQ-135 for monitoring air quality
https://blog.anavi.technology/?tag=anavi-fume-extractor
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dave Darko Has Designed a Fully Through-Hole Feather Board, and Isn’t It Ironic?
https://www.hackster.io/news/dave-darko-has-designed-a-fully-through-hole-feather-board-and-isn-t-it-ironic-883e9cd8f691
This frustration-free Feather board makes for a beautiful build that is suitable for all ages!
Tomi Engdahl says:
See What’s Going On with Your CNC Using a Parallel LEDinator Diagnostic Tool
https://www.hackster.io/news/see-what-s-going-on-with-your-cnc-using-a-parallel-ledinator-diagnostic-tool-9ad268abe06d
This PCB visualizes exactly what signals are being sent over a DB25 parallel connection.
Tomi Engdahl says:
PasswordPump Can Manage Credentials for Up to 250 Accounts
https://www.hackster.io/news/passwordpump-can-manage-credentials-for-up-to-250-accounts-29703eed4fef
This USB device features two removable EEPROM chips, which store credentials locally, and uses AES-256 encryption to keep them safe.
Tomi Engdahl says:
This Surgery Robot Is the Most Terrifying Use for Technology That We Can Imagine
Dr. Reeves will see you now…
https://www.hackster.io/news/this-surgery-robot-is-the-most-terrifying-use-for-technology-that-we-can-imagine-d182ea537f77
Tomi Engdahl says:
PIC Web Server Schematic
http://www.edcheung.com/awards/pic2k/code.htm
Tomi Engdahl says:
This Build Puts a Basic Digital Storage Oscilloscope in the Palm of Your Hand
While limited — particularly in being unable to read any voltage below 0V — Creative Lau’s project is simple, cheap, and quickly assembled.
https://www.hackster.io/news/this-build-puts-a-basic-digital-storage-oscilloscope-in-the-palm-of-your-hand-182d26b90007
Maker Creative Lau has published a guide for building a simple miniature digital storage oscilloscope (DSO), powered by a DIP-packaged STC Micro STC8A8K64S4A12 microcontroller installed onto prototyping board.
“This is a simple oscilloscope made with STC MCU,” Lau explains of the project. “You can use this Mini DSO to observe waveform [with a] time interval [of] 100us-500ms, voltage range [of] 0-30V, [and a] draw Mode [of] vector or dots.”