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:
Zachary Tong’s “Cobbled Together” Laser Lithographic Etching Machine Draws One-Micron Lines
Built from 3D-printed parts, a cheap diode laser, and extruded aluminum this impressive build can pattern down to a one-micron feature size
https://www.hackster.io/news/zachary-tong-s-cobbled-together-laser-lithographic-etching-machine-draws-one-micron-lines-2085139f3e55
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kotikellarista voi tehdä säteilysuojan imurilla ja ämpäreillä, neuvoo 90-luvun turvaopas – fysiikan professorin mukaan niksi jopa toimii
Tilapäisen suojan voi kunnostaa esimerkiksi omakotitalon kellariin. Fysiikan professori sanoo, että pölynimuri suodattaa ilmasta radioaktiivisuutta paremmin kuin tavallinen koneellinen ilmanvaihto.
https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-12372384
Tomi Engdahl says:
A 100 LED Oscilloscope
100 square LEDs and discrete components were used to make lonesoulsurfer’s low-resolution oscilloscope.
https://www.hackster.io/news/a-100-led-oscilloscope-911a9f0dbac8
Tomi Engdahl says:
Are Using 3D Printed Omniwheels in a Robot Worth the Effort?
https://blog.adafruit.com/2022/03/25/are-using-3d-printed-omniwheels-in-a-robot-worth-the-effort/
Tomi Engdahl says:
THIS AXIAL-FLUX MOTOR WITH A PCB STATOR IS RIPE FOR AN ELECTRIFIED WORLD
It saves weight, energy, and space
https://spectrum.ieee.org/axial-flux
Tomi Engdahl says:
A DIY Tracker Tough Enough for the Arctic Satellite navigation and comms gets wave data back from the crushing ice
https://spectrum.ieee.org/remote-sensing-in-ice
Tomi Engdahl says:
Free Standing VR Support Rig
https://hackaday.io/project/184516-free-standing-vr-support-rig
This rig doesn’t require bolting to the ceiling or wall. Works with my VR shoes to keep the user in the same spot as they walk in VR.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Minimal Watch
An ATmega328 powered watch with OLED screen
https://hackaday.io/project/182364-minimal-watch
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vacuum System for Deposition
https://hackaday.io/project/190-vacuum-system-for-deposition
I have been putting a system together for the past few years to do different kinds of deposition.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Y.A.R.M. Yet Another Router Mill
https://hackaday.io/project/184582-yarm-yet-another-router-mill
A CNC router mill that can be made using simple tools.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Macropad 4chord MIDI
https://hackaday.io/project/181967-macropad-4chord-midi
Compose with just four chords using Adafruit’s Macropad
The Macropad 4chord MIDI is built to play simple chord progressions as a MIDI device. You can connect the Macropad to any studio recording software that accepts MIDI devices, such as GarageBand.
Once you power on the Macropad a default progression is restored, with the root on middle C (I’m a assuming middle C is on the fourth octave). The root note is at the top left, with the major (or minor) third and perfect fifth on the middle and right keys. The key and octave can be changed by rotating the encoder dial, going up or down the chromatic scale.
As you go down the keypad, the notes follow the four chord progression listed on the screen. By default this is a I-V-vi-IV progression, so with the root at C4 you will have G4, A5, and F4 as you go down the keypad. You can rotate through some four chord progressions by pressing down on the encoder button while rotating the dial.
Includes a drum pad mode so you can add backing beats to your chords.
https://www.adafruit.com/product/5128
Tomi Engdahl says:
Gravity-Water-Air Powered Engine
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/28/gravity-water-air-powered-engine/
Tomi Engdahl says:
PCB Thermal Design Hack Chat
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/28/pcb-thermal-design-hack-chat/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Say Friend And Have This Box Open For You
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/28/say-friend-and-have-this-box-open-for-you/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/30/solar-harvesting-is-better-with-big-capacitors/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/30/a-new-wrinkle-on-wooden-ribbon-microphones/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/30/fancy-wire-loop-game-is-a-beauty-in-brass/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/29/building-a-diy-flight-yoke-for-flight-simulator/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/29/cute-oscilloscope-uses-leds-for-display/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/29/you-can-turn-soft-drink-bottles-into-handy-solar-lamps/
https://www.instructables.com/DIY-Solar-Bottle-Lamp/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/29/converting-your-bike-to-electric-why-you-should-and-when-you-shouldnt/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/29/led-kaleidoscope-uses-induction-power-magic/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/31/cnc-toolpath-visualisation-with-opencv/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Retro Portable Computer Packs Printer For The Trip
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/28/retro-portable-computer-packs-printer-for-the-trip/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Old Boat Becomes Toasty Floating Sauna
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/28/old-boat-becomes-toasty-floating-sauna/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/28/raspberry-pi-creates-melody/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.electronicslibrary.org/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/29/fifty-motored-paraglider-partly-flies-partly-glides/
Tomi Engdahl says:
High-Speed Video Uncovers Weird Stuff In Popular Impact Driver (See Comments)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYc3zrJsVY0
Today we dive into (literally) the Metabo HPT WH36DBQ4 36V Triple hammer as well as the 18V WH18DBDL2 impact drivers. There’s a lot of mysticism when it comes to these tools regarding their unique design, but we haven’t seen anyone dive into them to try and learn more. We get more than we bargained for today with oddities that only high-speed footage would resolve. This is by no means a “hit piece” we like the tool, but it’s something people buying one should probably know about it if true.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/31/texture-map-gcode-directly-in-blender-with-nozzleboss/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/31/watching-a-spacewalk-in-real-time/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tracer, A Platform For All Things Movement Logging
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/01/tracer-a-platform-for-all-things-movement-logging/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Knobby: a little remote, a lot of possibilities
https://hackaday.io/project/184630-knobby-a-little-remote-a-lot-of-possibilities
Spin the knob to browse 5,000+ genres of music along with your own playlists. Knobby is a distinctive remote control for Spotify and more.
Knobby is a remote made for discovering new music and rediscovering your own collection. It’s the perfect companion to a smart speaker, allowing you to browse playlists, see what’s playing, and control playback without interrupting anything. Preloaded with thousands of genre and country playlists from everynoise.com, it encourages you to explore unfamiliar music and puts all of Spotify on shuffle.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Livestock and Pet Geofencing
An autonomous system that monitors animals within a zone.
https://hackaday.io/project/183741-livestock-and-pet-geofencing
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/31/making-windshield-wipers-rock-to-the-beat/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rural Hacker De-Crufts And Rebuilds Hydroelectric Generator
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/31/rural-hacker-de-crufts-and-rebuilds-hydroelectric-generator/
YouTuber [Linguoer] has a knack, and it’s one that we don’t often see on the pages of Hackaday: rewinding and rebuilding dilapidated motors and generators. In the video below, you’ll see [Lin] take a hydroelectric turbine and generator that looks like it’s been sitting at the bottom of a lake, and turn it into a working unit, all while wearing her trademark blue and yellow denim jumpsuit.
Where as most makers would have used a MIG or TIG welder, [Linguoer] uses a simple (probably A/C) stick welder. Generator windings are calculated and wound by hand, and the carcass of what used to be the generator is sandblasted out in the open. Missing parts are fabricated from scratch using nothing more than an angle grinder. “Simple” is the order of the day.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Know Which Way The Wind Blows, Whether Weather Boosts Your Mood
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/31/know-which-way-the-wind-blows-whether-weather-boosts-your-mood/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Any gear in 10 seconds! Great DIY idea!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atI9EiSK0hU
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tracer, A Platform For All Things Movement Logging
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/01/tracer-a-platform-for-all-things-movement-logging/
[elektroThing] is building a lightweight, battery-powered board to track and measure movement of all kinds, called Tracer. Powered by an ESP32, it has a LSM6DSL 6DoF accelerometer & gyroscope sensor, and a VL53L0X Time-of-Flight sensor. A small Li-ion battery in a holder reportedly provides for 5 hours of streaming data over Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) at 100 Hz. It’s essentially a wireless movement sensor platform to be paired with a more powerful computer for data logging and analysis. What’s such a platform good for?
https://hackaday.io/project/184499-tracer-a-wearable-for-things
Tomi Engdahl says:
Parkside X20V Team Battery, Create Your Universal Adapter With Epoxy Resin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8-uJRzEecE
3D printer not required !!!
In this video, I will show You, How to Create Your Universal Adapter With Epoxy Resin for Parkside X20V TEAM PAP20A1 Battery. Use a battery for other power tools or projects.
Silicone used – RTV2025
Crystal Clear Epoxy Art Resin
0:00 intro
4:28 resin recipe
10:40 test
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Professional Plumbers BRAZE COPPER LINES
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn04V9yTvN4
Since y’all liked the soldering video so much, we decided to show y’all how I braze copper lines. Brazing, like soldering, is one of those skills that scare a lot of new plumbers but once you get it down, it’s nothing to be scared of. Also, if you learn to braze copper lines really well, you’ll really stand out from the other plumbers at your company!
Viewer comments:
“As you can see we started out with safety in mind”
Proceeds to solder with Rubber gloves on.
The only issue I have is the gloves. As a welder, those gloves drive me crazy. If your going to be brazing or working with hot metals, DONT wear rubber gloves. Use leather gloves or no gloves at all. That rubber glove or if your wearing like mechanix gloves they will melt to your skin.
No such thing as being “bad at overcleaning copper” cleanliness is essential for brazing or soft soldering. Awesome video! Keep up the good work
Cool video, I was an i industrial hand brazer for years. Over 1 million joints brazed. You are the only video I’ve come across that doesn’t freak out and overuse flux. We always used a small % silfos and no flux, never had any issues. Only used flux for copper to steel.
I’m actually a certified brazer in a manufacturer. I braze Hair Pens on Condenser coils for 25Ton commercial units. I use a Y tip and it’s the best this to use when brazing. Heats both sides of the pipe and can have beautiful professional looking brazes. I could braze what you did in the matter of 20 seconds. But very educational video
If my boss EVER caught me using that much solder on ONE joint, and leaving big boogers like that, I’d probably lose my job.
Not after it cost him a million dollar in damages on a casino for a line blowing out because you tryed making a pretty solder jout that won’t hold
lol seriously i do med gas i rather go a little extra than try and use minimal silver.. nothing worse than trying to find a pin hole leak somewhere.
Using excessive solders, while being non-harmful in most cases, has no much benefit. The thing that prevents leakages is the tin between the two layers of coppers, not the one outside.
I’m an HVAC mechanic from CT and I do a lot of brazing but even I learned something from this video thank you for posting these …. PS I would have melted of the braze drips but like he said u don’t like to waste braze cause it’s expensive
If this was for a refrigeration system of an air conditioning system, they would use a special flow regulator to have nitrogen flowing at about 3 cfm through the copper tubing to prevent flakes from building up on the inside due to the high temperature. These flakes could interfere with the system performance.
Thank you, very helpful: Like you said early in the video – Most applications will not need so much solder (cap) Rubber gloves can melt, I would use leather or no gloves.
Ive been working as a plumber for 10+ years in Sweden, and Ive brazed a lot. Generally we didnt clean the pipes or fittings if we used new material, but always if we were to braze on an old pipe. Over here everyone use acetylen/oxygen gas welds for brazing. And I cant remember that weve done any soldering at all except for in training in plumber school.
Always be sure to braze with rubber gloves, this way if you burn yourself the rubber melts into your skin and has to be removed by the doctors…
Man I appreciate your videos I’m. A student in plumbing class and I find your videos encouraging and inspiring and I showed my teacher some of your videos and he said I really like this guy so we now use your videos in our class rhankyou….you’re awesome
yeah I like him too but trust me, that blazing was bad. not because you do something for a long time that it isnt something bad you feel me. That was almost 6times the amount of blaze needed…
Welder here.
Honestly this guy doesn’t really know what he is doing….
because plumbers rarely braze anymore. We actually solder more often. At least in Massachusetts that is
Putting a small bend at the end of the silver helped me today! Underneath an apartment complex. The last coupling was inches away from the 4in main. Praise God for a great video Was a great day! Thank you Roger!
Cool vid Roger, always been wondering about silv soldering, haven’t got that far in my career yet to learn and do it but a few years and I will be going for my med gas ticket here in Canada, good job this far on the channel to brother let the haters hate at the end of the day there just jealous you can do what they can’t!!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Build A TPM Module For Your Server
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/06/build-a-tpm-module-for-your-server/
One of the big stories surrounding the announcement of Windows 11 was that it would require support for TPM 2.0, or Trusted Platform Module, to run. This takes the form of an on-board cryptographic processor, which Microsoft claims will help against malware, but which perhaps more importantly for Redmond, can be used to enforce DRM. Part of the standard involves a hardware module, and [Zane] has built a couple of them for ASrock server motherboards.
The chip in question is the Infineon SLB9965, which with a bit of research was found to map more or less directly to the pins of the TPM socket on the motherboard. The interesting thing here lies in the background research it gives into TPMs, and furthermore the links to other resources dealing with the topic. The chances are that most readers needing a TPM will simply buy one, but all knowledge is useful when it comes to these things.
DIY TPM Module
https://zanechua.com/blog/diy-tpm-module
My three most recent builds were using ASRock Rack server boards. The two boards X470D4U and the ROMED8-2T use the TPM2-S/INFINEON module. The one that is different is the X570D4I-2T which uses the TPM2-SLI module. I looked around and couldn’t find a place to buy the TPM2-SLI module, so I decided to make my own. Since I was making one, I figured I would make the modules for the other boards too even though they were available for purchase.
I run Windows 11 on the X470D4U and ESXi on the other two. ESXi does not support the fTPM implementation for host attestation, hence the need for a hardware TPM module instead.
This proved to be beneficial for me on the X470D4U for two reasons:
The latest bios available contains the AMD AGESA of 1.2.0.0 which has the stuttering issue when the fTPM is utilized on machines running Windows 11
The GPU is inserted in the last slot of the board. The TPM2-S module is a vertical module and this would prevent my GPU from being seated into the board itself
Tomi Engdahl says:
RC Car Test Tether Takes Car Testing To New Lengths
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/05/rc-car-test-tether-takes-car-testing-to-new-lengths/
It’s fascinating to see what happens when a creative hacker is given a set of constraints to work within. [rctestflight] found themselves in a very specific set of circumstances: Free RC cars from sponsors, and no real purpose for them. Instead of just taking them apart to see what made them tick (itself the past time of many a beginning hacker), [rctestflight] decided to let the RC cars disassemble themselves, destructively, on their way to 100,000 (scale) RC Car Miles, tallying up the distance (and the carnage) in the end as you see in the video below the break.
Can an RC Car hit 100,000 (scale) Miles?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhwthSaLgh4
Tomi Engdahl says:
A 3D Printed 35mm Movie Camera
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/05/a-3d-printed-35mm-movie-camera/
Making a camera can be as easy as taking a cardboard box with a bit of film and a pin hole, but making a more accomplished camera requires some more work. A movie camera has all the engineering challenges as a regular camera with the added complication of a continuous film transport mechanism and shutter. Too much work? Not if you are [Yuta Ikeya], whose 3D printed movie camera uses commonly-available 35 mm film stock rather than the 8 mm or 16 mm film you might expect.
3D printing might not seem to lend itself to the complex mechanism of a movie camera, however with the tech of the 2020s in hand he’s eschewed a complex mechanism in favour of an Arduino and a pair of motors. The camera is hardly petite, but is still within the size to comfortably carry on a shoulder. The film must be loaded into a pair of cassettes, which are pleasingly designed to be reversible, with either able to function as both take-up and dispensing spool.
https://www.yutaikeya.com/projects/my-first-analog-movie-camera
Tomi Engdahl says:
LED Filaments Make A Retro Clock Without Any Retro Parts
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/05/led-filaments-make-a-retro-clock-without-any-retro-parts/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Handheld Readout Device(HRD) for Sensors
Readout Device for all I2C Sensors
https://hackaday.io/project/181706-handheld-readout-devicehrd-for-sensors
Tomi Engdahl says:
Audiophile-sounding DAC for almost no money
https://hackaday.io/project/27001-audiophile-sounding-dac-for-almost-no-money
0DAC – delivers engaging, immersive sound with a pricetag at least two orders of magnitude from commercial audiophile DACs
Several years ago, a blogger ‘NwAvGuy’ introduced a DAC design named ‘ODAC’. ‘O’ meant ‘objective’ because it was designed to achieve the best objective criteria (measurements, in particular THD+N). My design is the complement of that, designed entirely for listening enjoyment with little regard for measurements. The broader aim is to make audiophile sound quality a commodity so everyone gets to get off on the music. Wave a cheery ‘goodbye’ to fatiguing digital sound! The BOM cost is low (sub $10) and the circuit board area modest (75cm^2) – to keep both down it has only I2S input. The output stage is a single-ended classA buffer which can drive low-impedance headphones direct if desired.
The name of this design is 0DAC, pronounced ‘lingDAC’ (zero = ling in Mandarin).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Reusing single use vape pens.
This is a collections of small project you can make borrowing parts from used vape pens.
https://hackaday.io/project/184624-reusing-single-use-vape-pens
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to build Simplest PEMF Therapy Device
Cheap and simple magnet therapy device
https://hackaday.io/project/184563-how-to-build-simplest-pemf-therapy-device
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/05/a-simple-linear-power-supply-done-well/