Makers and open hardware for innovation

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 1990ssimilar 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.

Historically, the education system has produced graduates that went on to work for companies where new products were invented, then pushed to consumers. Today, consumers are driving the innovation process and demanding education, business and invention to meet their requests. Makers are at the center of this innovation transformation.

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

  1. Tomi Engdahl says:

    It’s Easy To Mod Your Oculus VR Headset With Prescription Lenses
    https://hackaday.com/2022/05/26/its-easy-to-mod-your-oculus-vr-headset-with-prescription-lenses/

    The Oculus brand VR headset and other similar devices allow you to view 3D worlds, but they can be blurry and unsatisfying if you’re a glasses wearer. Alternatively, you might be able to see fine, but find your glasses get in the way of a comfortable experience. Either way, you might want to integrate prescription lenses into your headset, and thankfully, there’s a straightforward way to do so thanks to [tanvach].

    The way to do so is by using these 3D-printed lens adaptors. They take standard single vision lenses as designed for the Zenni #550021 round glasses frames, and let them fit nicely inside a Oculus Quest, Quest 2, or Rift S headset. [tanvach] supplies instructions on how to order the lenses for your own prescription, and notes that the key is to get the antireflective coating to reduce glare. And, if you don’t want to print your own adapters, you can source some pre-printed instead!

    Oculus prescription lens adaptor (Quest 2, Quest and Rift S)
    https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3642004

    Reply
  2. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Sharing Your Projects With The World: How?
    https://hackaday.com/2022/05/26/sharing-your-projects-with-the-world-how/

    So you just built a super-mega robot project that you want to share with the world. Super! But now you’re faced with an entirely new and different problem: documenting the process for the world to see. It’s enough to drive you back down into the lab.

    What software should I use to create my project site?
    How deep down the rabbit hole should I go when it comes to documenting the project?
    What toppings do I want on my something-to-eat-while-hacking pizza?

    We’re not going to get into the age old “pineapple or no pineapple” debate, but it’s important to note that the topic of how to share a project with the world has as many choices as toppings, and just as many opinions. The answer will always be simple: Do what works best for you!

    The purpose of this article is to give some options to somebody considering sharing their projects online. There isn’t enough room to talk about every single option available to a hacker, so be sure to fill in your favorite options in the comments below. Let’s dive in!

    Considerations Before You Start

    Before even beginning to look into all of the options for hosting your projects, there are some basic questions that we need to answer. Consider the following:

    Who is your audience, and how will they expect to consume what you present?
    How deeply do you want to document your project, and what kind of media will you present?
    How will people find your project?

    Reply
  3. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Robotic Hand Uses Old CD-ROM Parts
    https://hackaday.com/2022/05/26/robotic-hand-uses-old-cd-rom-parts/

    Robotic arms and actuators are compelling things to watch, and as popular among the maker set as they are crucial to modern industry. [kthod2000] built a design of their own, which relies on parts salvaged from old CD-ROM drives.

    The arm itself is constructed of many components which appear to be 3D printed, with three main motors visible along its length. These look to be the eject motors harvested from several optical drives, which usefully come with a threaded screw on the output shaft that makes them perfect for a linear-drive application. Run by a TMC2208 driver via a microcontroller, the eject motors control the motion of several stages of the robot arm as it moves up and down.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X5VyPOTz5s

    Reply
  4. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Upcycled Practice Amp Build Goes To Eleven
    https://hackaday.com/2022/05/26/upcycled-practice-amp-build-goes-to-eleven/

    What do you call someone who gives the toddler in your life a musical instrument as a gift? In most cases, “mortal enemy” is the correct answer, but not everyone feels quite so curmudgeonly, and might even attempt to turn up the volume a bit. Such is the case with this wonderfully detailed practice amp for the grandkids’ electric ukelele.

    Making a Practice Amplifier
    http://www.yoyodynemonkeyworks.org/?p=607

    Two awesome guys gave the grandkids a fine bass ukulele for Christmas this year (Thanks Mike and B.J.!). It has a built-in tuner and pickup and is best enjoyed with an amplifier, so I thought I would make a practice amplifier for it using parts on hand. This is a story of that journey.

    I had an amplifier board salvaged from an old flat screen television that I had always wanted to use for something, so I decided to build it around that. It had several wires coming off it to figure out how to hook up. I used the negative terminals of on-board capacitors to establish the negative side of the power supply input and assumed the other wires on the same connector were the positive side. This left the inputs and outputs to sort out. I found the datasheet for the amplifier I.C. that the board used online and was able to dope out the remaining connections.

    The I.C. is an NXP TDA8932B Class-D audio amplifier, which is very efficient and runs cool without any heatsink other that the circuit board itself. It was configured for stereo, but using the datasheet’s reference designs, I was able to modify the board to use it in Bridge Tied Load (BTL) mono configuration for a maximum of 30 watts of output power. This require removing some components and adding some surface mount resistors and wires. I used test points on the bottom of the board as a location to add these modifications, so you don’t notice much change from the top side.

    Reply
  5. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Bottoms Up: Soda Can Help With Almost Any Project
    https://hackaday.com/2022/05/26/bottoms-up-soda-can-help-with-almost-any-project/

    If there’s any one thing that the average hacker is short on at a given moment (besides chips), it’s transient small part storage. Just as new projects are built from small parts, diagnostics and teardowns of commercial equipment invariably result in small parts. We think [amenjet] may have the answer — small parts holders made from the bottoms of soda cans.

    Soda can parts tray
    https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3112105

    Reply
  6. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Color Vector Display Controller Brings Arcade Classics Back To Life
    https://hackaday.com/2022/05/26/color-vector-display-controller-brings-arcade-classics-back-to-life/

    If you’ve been reading Hackaday long enough, you’ve probably come across a few hacks where someone made simple animations or even video games on an analog oscilloscope screen. Those hacks generally use vector graphics, where the cathode ray tube’s electron beam directly draws geometric shapes onto the screen. This gives the image a unique look that’s quite distinct from the pixel-based raster displays used on TVs and most computer monitors.

    Vector displays were also used in several arcade machines of the early 1980s, including classics like Tempest, Gravitar and Star Wars. In order to emulate these games more faithfully than would be possible on a raster monitor, [Robin Champion] designed the vstcm: a color vector monitor controller to easily drive RGB vector monitors.

    VSTCM – the v.st Colour Mod – a colour vector graphics generator
    https://github.com/english1234/vstcm

    The vstcm is a PCB which can generate colour vector graphics which can then be displayed on an oscilloscope or vector monitor (such as Amplifone, Wells Gardner WG6100 and Electrohome G05, as used in Star Wars, Tempest, Gravitar, etc.).

    Reply
  7. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Personal Solar-Powered Desalination Unit Forgoes Filters
    May 26, 2022
    Controlled by a smartphone, researchers leveraged electronics and chemistry to build the self-managed system that removes particles and salts to the point where it exceeds WHO standards.
    https://www.electronicdesign.com/industrial-automation/article/21242807/electronic-design-electronics-drive-personal-solarpowered-desalination-unit-that-forgoes-filters?utm_source=EG+ED+Analog+%26+Power+Source&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CPS220524016&o_eid=7211D2691390C9R&rdx.ident%5Bpull%5D=omeda%7C7211D2691390C9R&oly_enc_id=7211D2691390C9R

    What you’ll learn:

    The shortcomings of conventional desalination units.
    How a new approach was developed and tested, using advanced electronics and chemistry.
    The performance achieved by this unit in field tests.

    Reply
  8. Tomi Engdahl says:

    3D Print A Colour TV
    https://hackaday.com/2022/05/27/3d-print-a-colour-tv/

    The oldest form of television used a spinning disk with a progression of holes — a Nipkow disk — to slice the image into lines for display. They’re surprisingly simple machines and capable of unexpectedly high-quality images despite their relatively low resolution. Even better, in an age of microcontrollers and bright LEDs, making one that works is not the chore it might once have been. [Markus Mierse] has created one that uses an Arduino Mega and a set of 3D printed parts, so there’s no excuse for not having a spinning disk TV on your shelf.

    The Arduino Mega is chosen because it has enough lines to drive three six-bit DACs for each of red, green, and blue. The disk is driven by a PWM motor controller, and synchronization is taken care of by a piece of reflective tape and an IR proximity sensor.

    https://spectrum.ieee.org/mechanical-tv

    Reply
  9. Tomi Engdahl says:

    I BOUGHT A CHURCH ORGAN Part 2 The First Sounds in 25 years!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWACB04iKT8

    I Bought A Church Organ, Follow along on this project!

    Reply
  10. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Soil moisture measurement device
    Visual control of soil moisture (with Raspberry Pi Pico)
    https://hackaday.io/project/178522-soil-moisture-measurement-device

    This is a simple and cheap soil moisture measurement device showing a double-digit value on two 7-Segment-Displays.

    A probe (either resistive ME-110 or capacitive HW-390) delivers an analog value representing the soil moisture, the Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller converts the sensor signal into a 16bit digital value (that then is mapped to a 0-99 range).

    Excluding the µC and the probe itself, the material costs can be as low as 2€ (I bought a whole bag of 7-Segment-Displays on discount for around 3€, for example). With a custom made PCB, a capacitive sensor and the Pico around 12€.

    This device is fairly easy to modify dependent how much money one wants to spend, e.g. running several sensors simultaneously (Pico has one onboard ADC with four multiplexed inputs), changing the method of display entirely (e.g. 16×2 LCD, OLED) or adding IoT-capabilities (using an ESP8266).

    Reply
  11. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Cheap RC Car : upgrade
    Make it faster (no) and improve its range (yes) without breaking the bank
    https://hackaday.io/project/178146-cheap-rc-car-upgrade

    Upgrade a cheap (€7.00), low quality RC-car using stuff from AliExpress.
    Sorry for the bad quality of the pictures.
    Without the upgrade this car would have found its end in the electronic waste collection a long time ago.

    Reply
  12. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Wooden Macropad
    https://hackaday.io/project/185557-wooden-macropad

    It’s an open source electronics kit, the Adafruit Macropad, embedded in a solid block of quarter-sawn tigerwood.

    Reply
  13. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Hacking DVD for Sensing 0.000000001 to 1.1 Newton
    https://hackaday.io/project/185604-hacking-dvd-for-sensing-0000000001-to-11-newton

    Conventional force-sensing instruments have limited sensing ranges. This hack enables nano, micro, milli- to 1.1 Newton sensing.

    Reply
  14. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Ultra Light VORON X-Beam Milled From Aluminium Tube Stock
    https://hackaday.com/2022/05/31/ultra-light-voron-x-beam-milled-from-aluminium-tube-stock/

    When it comes to 3D printing using fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology, there are two main groups of printers: Cartesian and CoreXY, with the latter being the domain of those who wish to get the fastest prints possible, courtesy of the much more nimble tool head configuration. Having less mass in the X/Y carriage assembly means that it can also move faster, which leads to CoreXY FDM enthusiasts to experiment with carbon fiber and a recent video by [PrimeSenator] in which an X-beam milled out of aluminium tube stock that weighs even less than a comparable carbon fiber tube is demonstrated.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C3JBshHhgc

    Reply
  15. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Structural Shapes Ranked and Reviewed – Which one Wins?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgLnADEfm6E

    There are many structural shapes and for the most part, they all have at least one feature that is more advantages compared to the other shapes. Deciding on which one is the best structural shape is not straight forward (and probably not possible) since being able to resist high loads is only the beginning of the analysis. In this video, we (attempt to) analyze and rank the most common structural shapes. Our analysis takes a fixed area to compare various shapes in terms of bending, buckling, torsion, symmetry, and workability.

    00:00 – Intro
    00:58 – Analysis Criteria
    04:01 – I-Beam (Wide Flange)
    05:34 – Rectangular
    07:47 – Circular
    09:57 – Channel
    11:17 – Tee
    12:04 – Angle
    12:59 – Analysis Results and Discussion
    14:13 – Sponsorship!

    Reply
  16. Tomi Engdahl says:

    30,000 RPM Eraser
    “Franklinsteined” pencil eraser spins at 30,000 RPM.
    https://www.hackster.io/news/30-000-rpm-eraser-0b578339f6dc

    Reply
  17. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Engineer Hacks and Redesigns a Dead DT71 Tweezer DMM, Saving It From a Landfill
    Patterned after an HP 970, this 3D-printable repair reuses most of the DT71′s electronics.
    https://www.hackster.io/news/engineer-hacks-and-redesigns-a-dead-dt71-tweezer-dmm-saving-it-from-a-landfill-1b600cb6501a

    Reply
  18. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Why Tensile Strength Matters When Seeking the Strongest Zip Ties
    https://www.nelcoproducts.com/blog/cable-ties-tensile-strength/

    When you need high strength zip ties to hold a particular object or heavy wiring bundle, the most important factor to consider is tensile strength.

    Reply
  19. Tomi Engdahl says:

    The Airman Rocket
    https://hackaday.io/project/185204-the-airman-rocket

    fin controlled rocket using PID implemented on a teensy 4.1. completely 3d printed airframe, open source educational kit

    Reply
  20. Tomi Engdahl says:

    ZeroPhone – a Raspberry Pi smartphone
    https://hackaday.io/project/19035-zerophone-a-raspberry-pi-smartphone

    Pi Zero-based open-source mobile phone (that you can assemble for 50$ in parts)

    Reply
  21. Tomi Engdahl says:

    LibreServo
    https://hackaday.io/project/182523-libreservo

    LibreServo is a project with the goal of easily converting any standard size servo into the smartest servo possible.

    In the past (more than 10 years ago), I bought more than 20 5990TG servomotors from Hitec to build my second biped robot. They were expensive, with good hardware but still as dumb as the cheapest servo.
    Years have passed and I always had a thorn in my side. Why not instead of dumb servos with excellent mechanics modify them to have clever servos with excellent mechanics? And, since we are going to design something new… why not make it in such a way that they would be compatible with future servos that I may buy?
    The idea is to design the electronics of the servomotor to turn any standard servo into the smartest one in the world.
    Text extracted from: https://www.libreservo.com/en/articulo/libreservo-objectives

    Reply
  22. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Laser device for neutralizing – mosquitoes
    https://hackaday.io/project/185652-laser-device-for-neutralizing-mosquitoes

    Low-cost device for control mosquitoes, weeds, pest etc.

    We present an innovative and effective method for remote monitoring of mosquitoes and their neutralization. We explain in detail how we leverage modern advances in neural networks to use a powerful laser to neutralize mosquitoes. The experimental low-cost prototype for mosquito control, which uses a powerful laser to thermally neutralize the mosquitoes. The developed device is controlled by a single-board computer based on the neural network and demonstrated experimental research for mosquito neutralization during which, to maximize approximation to natural conditions, simulation of various working conditions was conducted. We showed that a low-cost device can be used to kill mosquitoes with a powerful laser.
    https://github.com/Ildaron/Laser_control

    Reply
  23. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Hybrid Sim Yoke
    A 3-Axis Yoke for Space Simmers with RSI
    https://hackaday.io/project/185617-hybrid-sim-yoke

    Reply
  24. Tomi Engdahl says:

    3D Printed Protection Against “Under-Door” Attacks
    https://hackaday.com/2022/06/02/3d-printed-protection-against-under-door-attacks/

    “Under-door” style attacks are when an attacker slides a tool through the gap underneath a door, hooks the interior handle from below, and opens the door by pulling the handle downward. This kind of attack works on the sort of doors and locks commonly found in hotels, where turning the handle from the inside always results in an open door. [Michal Jirků] found himself in a hotel room with a particularly large gap underneath the door, and decided to quickly design and print a door guard to protect against just such an attack.

    Improving physical security at a hotel
    https://wejn.org/2022/04/improving-physical-security-at-a-hotel/

    Problem statement

    We’re on a family vacation and found ourselves in a hotel… where they don’t pay much attention to physical security.

    And since “under door” style attacks are a thing, and the hotel door had a huge gap under the door1… I decided to fix the problem.

    That’s a result of about 10 minutes of quality time in Fusion 360

    Followed by about 20 minutes of printing time (at the lowest possible resolution on a Prusa MK2 printer3).

    As always, the design as well as the STL file are freely available under CC – BY NC SA license

    [979] Reaching UNDER a Door To Open It? (With Deviant Ollam)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O74Q1VTz4j4

    Reply
  25. Tomi Engdahl says:

    A Rotocasting Machine Sized For The Home Shop
    https://hackaday.com/2022/06/03/a-rotocasting-machine-sized-for-the-home-shop/

    If you’ve ever wondered how large, hollow plastic structures like tanks and drums are formed, you’re in luck: [Andy] not only fills us in on the details of rotational casting and molding, but he also built this sweet little rotational casting machine to help him with his DIY projects.

    Granted, [Andy]’s build won’t be making anything too large, like a car fuel tank or a kayak. Not only is it sized more for smallish parts, but those structures are generally made with the related process of rotational molding.

    DIY Rotational casting machine
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQQomtyA5yw

    Rotational casting machine (DIY) part 2
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9c7loJ-RhM

    Reply

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