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.
7,076 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/11/clock-testing-sans-oscilloscope/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Is Your Tape Dispenser Radioactive?
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/11/is-your-tape-dispenser-radioactive/
Do you have anything radioactive in your house? Most people will say no, but they are probably wrong. A host of things ranging from glow-in-the dark timepieces to smoke detectors have some amount of radioactivity. But as [Wheeler Scientific] points out, so do some old Scotch tape dispensers. You can watch the video, below.
The dispenser in question is the C-15 which was very common around offices, military bases, and homes for years. They were made up until the 1980s. You have to wonder why a tape dispenser would be radioactive, and [Wheeler] has the explanation.
When you pull tape from the dispenser, you don’t want the dispenser to slide around the desk, so it needs to be heavy. But no one wants to have a giant dispenser nor do you want to pay for one made from a dense metal. So the plastic dispenser contains a ballast to make it heavier. In the case of the C-15 that ballast is thorium-containing monazite sand.
The Radioactive Tape Dispenser C-15
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnTkUPp_1vY
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scientific Glassblowing Ep:1 Torch set up, and operation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYErXaWAZJw
In this video, I go over how to work and set up an oxy-propane torch used for Scientific glass work.
Scientific Glassblowing Ep:2 How to Cut and fire/flame Polish Glass
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc1D86I6QzU
This video shows how to cut and flame polish glass tubing while going over tips and tricks.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/15/tech-in-plain-sight-tough-as-nails/
Tomi Engdahl says:
ApocaPi Now Is A Cyberdeck For What Comes After
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/15/apocapi-now-is-a-cyberdeck-for-what-comes-after/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Simple Arduino Build Lets You Keep An Eye On Pi
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/15/simple-arduino-build-lets-you-keep-an-eye-on-pi/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rotary Phone MIDI Controller Still Makes Calls
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/15/rotary-phone-midi-controller-still-makes-calls/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/16/the-nine-dollar-laser-bed/
https://hackaday.io/project/184408-multibot-laser-bed
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/17/open-source-farming-robot-now-includes-simulations/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/17/tracked-rc-vehicle-is-mostly-3d-printed/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/17/3d-printed-parts-let-you-assemble-your-own-biggest-fan/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Open-Source Farming Robot Now Includes Simulations
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/17/open-source-farming-robot-now-includes-simulations/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Modular Multi-Input Macro Keypad Integrates Mouse And Joystick
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/18/modular-multi-input-macro-keypad-integrates-mouse-and-joystick/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sensor Playground Keeps Track Of Indoor Air Quality Through The Cloud
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/19/sensor-playground-keeps-track-of-indoor-air-quality-through-the-cloud/
Tomi Engdahl says:
These Mind-Controlled Cat Ears Move With Your Mood
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/19/these-mind-controlled-cat-ears-move-with-your-mood/
Tomi Engdahl says:
World’s Smallest Hair Straightener For Fixing Old LCD Ribbons
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/19/worlds-smallest-hair-straightener-for-fixing-old-lcd-ribbons/
[Stephen] writes to us about an LCD repair tool he has created. We’ve all seen old devices with monochrome LCDs connected by thin film, where connections between the PCB and the LCD have deteriorated and the LCD would no longer show parts of the picture. This is a connection heating gadget, that [Stephen] affectionately dubs as World’s Smallest Hair Straightener, made specifically to bring cool old tech back to life.
https://tinkerdifferent.com/threads/worlds-smallest-hair-straighener.983/
Tomi Engdahl says:
ElectronBot: A Sweet Mini Desktop Robot That Ticks All The Boxes
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/20/__trashed-6/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Home Made Scanning Electron Microscope Shows Some Potential
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/21/home-made-scanning-electron-microscope-show-some-potential/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Your Vacuum Cleaner Follows You
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/21/your-vacuum-cleaner-follows-you/
There are several projects you can imagine where it would be useful to have a robot follow you. For example, we’ve always wanted luggage that would trail us at the airport and we’ve seen several coolers that will follow you. [Madmax95] apparently dream of having a medical cart following a patient, though, and that’s good too. But how do you do it? [Max’s] method was to strip down a Roomba and build a work table and electronics on it. An Arduino controls the motor and communicates with a PC. The PC reads video from a Kinect camera on the robot and uses special tracking software to follow the patient.
We could easily imagine all of this project except the tracking. That depended on a service called Nuitrack. There is a free version that only works for 3 minutes, but it costs if you want to use it practically. However, it would still be cheaper than rolling your own if your time has value.
https://www.instructables.com/Easy-Follow/
Tomi Engdahl says:
IR Remote Transforms To RF
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/21/ir-remote-transforms-to-rf/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The New-Phone Blues: A Reminder That Hackers Shouldn’t Settle
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/22/the-new-phone-blues-a-reminder-that-hackers-shouldnt-settle/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Old Printer Becomes Direct Laser Lithography Machine
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/22/old-printer-becomes-direct-laser-lithography-machine/
What does it take to make your own integrated circuits at home? It’s a question that relatively few intrepid hackers have tried to answer, and the answer is usually something along the lines of “a lot of second-hand equipment.” But it doesn’t all have to be cast-offs from a semiconductor fab, as [Zachary Tong] shows us with his homebrew direct laser lithography setup.
This machine makes patterns smaller than a human hair.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ9w7DjI_Bc
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tune Your Dish Antenna Like A Pro
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/22/tune-your-dish-antenna-like-a-pro/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Breathe Easy With This LED Air Sensor Necklace
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/23/breathe-easy-with-this-led-air-sensor-necklace/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/23/air-football-looks-pro/
Tomi Engdahl says:
OpenCV Brings Pinch To Zoom Into The Real World
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/24/opencv-brings-pinch-to-zoom-into-the-real-world/
Tomi Engdahl says:
You Draw It, CNC Cuts It
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/24/you-draw-it-cnc-cuts-it/
[Jamie] aka [vector76] hit us with a line-tracing plugin for OctoPrint that cuts out whatever 2D shape you draw on a piece of wood. The plugin lets you skip the modeling step entirely, going straight from a CNC-mounted webcam that reads your scribbles and gives you a Gcode toolpath in return. The code is on GitHub
https://forum.v1engineering.com/t/another-octoprint-plugin-line-tracer/31997?u=jeffeb3
Tomi Engdahl says:
Custom Controller Ups Heat Pump Efficiency
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/25/custom-controller-ups-heat-pump-efficiency/
Heat Pumps are an extremely efficient way to maintain climate control in a building. Unlike traditional air conditioners, heat pumps can also effectively work in reverse to warm a home in winter as well as cool it in summer; with up to five times the efficiency of energy use as a traditional electric heater. Even with those tremendous gains in performance, there are still some ways to improve on them as [Martin] shows us with some modifications he made to his heat pump system.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLMBLgCQdnU
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/24/lego-sorting-vacuum-defeats-the-problem/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Label Your SMD Tapes With An Inkjet Printer
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/25/label-your-smd-tapes-with-an-inkjet-printer/
If you’ve ever had to use SMD components on tape outside the realm of the automated assembly machines for which they were designed, you’ll know that one tape looks very like another and it can be very annoying to keep track of which is which. We can’t help admiring [Yvo de Haas’] inkjet printer for SMD tapes then, which efficiently prints whatever identifying marks you need on the back of your tapes.
https://ytec3d.com/hp45-example-smd-tape-printer/
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Robot Game To Open Your Hackerspace
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/25/a-robot-game-to-open-your-hackerspace/
Tomi Engdahl says:
DIY Prony Dyno Properly Displays Power Production
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/25/diy-prony-dyno-properly-displays-power-production/
When hackers in the US think of a retailer called Harbor Freight, we usually think of cheap tools, workable but terrible DVM’s, zip ties, and tarps. [Jimbo] over at [Robot Cantina] looked at the 212cc “Predator” engine that they sell and thought “I bet I could power my Honda Insight with that.” And he did, successfully! How much power did the heavily modified engine make? In the video below the break, [Jimbo] takes us through the process of measuring its output using a home built dyno.
We dyno test a modified 212cc predator and the results are amazing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeAnmhw2qp8
Tomi Engdahl says:
Get GitHub Tickets IRL With A Raspberry Pi And A Receipt Printer
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/25/get-github-tickets-irl-with-a-raspberry-pi-and-a-receipt-printer/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/26/inspiring-hacks-unfinished-hacks/
Tomi Engdahl says:
AI-Generated Sleep Podcast Urges You To Imagine Pleasant Nonsense
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/26/ai-generated-sleep-podcast-urges-you-to-imagine-pleasant-nonsense/
Tomi Engdahl says:
ATtiny85 Snake Game Is A Circuit Sandwich
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/26/attiny85-snake-game-is-a-circuit-sandwich/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Peltier Cloud Chamber Produces Some Lovely Trails
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/27/peltier-cloud-chamber-produces-some-lovely-trails/
Cloud chamber contruction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDrznoU0nGw
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/27/tiny-pinball-is-as-cute-as-pi/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/26/reverse-engineering-your-own-bluetooth-audio-module/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/25/a-robot-game-to-open-your-hackerspace/
Tomi Engdahl says:
PiSpy, The Camera Setup Designed To Make Biological Observations Better
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/24/pispy-the-camera-setup-designed-to-make-biological-observations-better/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Geiger counter with Z1A tube
Radiation measurement device (with Raspberry Pi Pico for HV generation)
https://hackaday.io/project/184266-geiger-counter-with-z1a-tube
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to make small Induction heater
https://hackaday.io/project/184566-how-to-make-small-induction-heater
A heater similar to commercial one and made for low end tasks. Like PVC or plastic cutting or to heat small knifes and cutters.
Tomi Engdahl says:
SLS4All – Affordable SLS 3D Printer
https://hackaday.io/project/184506-sls4all-affordable-sls-3d-printer
Design, development and build of fully functional SLS 3D Printer.
Tomas StarekTomas Starek
Tomi Engdahl says:
Active Guitar Cable
https://hackaday.io/project/184396-active-guitar-cable
Build active guitar cable to improve sound quality when using cable over 10 feet in length.
Using long guitar cable, over 10 feet, results in the signal degradation of the high range of audio spectrum. This is due to the combination of high output impedance of the guitar pickup coil, the capacitance of the cable and impedance of the next connecting stage. Two possible solutions to this problem are to update guitar with active pickups or to add amplifier to the input of the cable. This project shows how to embed tiny amplifier, powered by the button cells, into the one end of the cable.
This modification consists of adding small pre-amplifier board to the guitar side of the cable. This modification is intended for long guitar cables (over 10 feet) and if you using active guitar pickup this mod will not be beneficial to you.
Amplifier specification:
Input Coupling DC
Input Impedance ~500kOhm
Maximum Input Level +2 dBu, <0.1% THD, at 1.4V battery Voltage
Output Coupling AC
Output Impedance 50 Ohm
Max Output Level +2 dBu, 20-20 kHz, 100k ohms, <0.1% THD, at 1.4V battery Voltage
Maximum Gain 2
Frequency Response 20Hz – 20kHz, -0.1, -0.1 dB
THD+N 0.005%, 1kHz at -6dbu, 20kHz BW
Residual Noise 20Hz to 20kHz BW, < -80dBu
Power Requirement Two Zinc-Air batteries, 1.4V, 600mAh
Battery Life Dependent on battery type and usage (3months)
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printed Forge For Recycling
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/27/3d-printed-forge-for-recycling/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tube Tumbler Provides The Perfect Culture
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/27/tube-tumbler-provides-the-perfect-culture/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Low Power Mode For Custom GPS Tracker
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/28/low-power-mode-for-custom-gps-tracker/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Old School Mechanical Pong Still Amazes
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/23/old-school-mechanical-pong-still-amazes/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Open Source ASICs Hack Chat Redefines Possible
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/18/the-open-source-asics-hack-chat-redefines-possible/