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.

 

6,787 Comments

  1. Tomi Engdahl says:

    A No-Solder, Scrap-Bin Geiger Counter for $15
    http://hackaday.com/2017/01/18/a-no-solder-scrap-bin-geiger-counter-for-15/

    Scenario: your little three-hour boat tour runs into a storm, and you’re shipwrecked on a tropic island paradise. You’re pretty sure your new home was once a nuclear test site, but you have no way to check. Only your scrap bin, camera bag, and hot glue gun survived the wreck. Can you put together a Geiger-Müller counter from scrap and save the day?

    Probably not, unless your scrap bin is unusually well stocked and contains a surplus Russian SI-3BG miniature Geiger tube, the heart of [GH]’s desert island build.

    $15 Geiger-Muller Counter for Beta/Gamma/XRay
    https://hackaday.io/project/19479-15-geiger-muller-counter-for-betagammaxray

    An inexpensive Geiger counter that can detect several kinds of ionizing radiation using a surplus Soviet tube and a one-use camera circuit

    Reply
  2. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Use A Brushless Motor As A Rotary Encoder
    http://hackaday.com/2017/01/18/use-a-brushless-motor-as-a-rotary-encoder/

    The electric motor is the fundamental building block of almost all robotic projects but, without some form of feedback, it lacks the precise positional control required for the task. Small servos from the modelling world will often use a potentiometer to sense where they are on their travel, while more accomplished motors will employ some form of shaft encoder.

    Commercial shaft encoders use magnets and Hall-effect sensors, or optical sensors and encoder discs. But these can be quite expensive, so [Hello1024] hacked together an alternative in an afternoon. It uses another motor as the encoder, taking advantage of the minute changes in inductance as the magnet passes each of its coils.

    Use a DC brushless motor as a rotary encoder to measure angles
    https://github.com/Hello1024/brushless-encoder

    he project is currently beta, and as such has limitations:

    It must be manually tuned for each type of motor/power supply/controller (see instructons below)
    It makes an annoying buzzing sound.
    It cannot produce accurate results when the motor is turning fast (1 rad/s max on my motor)
    It has 1500 counts per turn

    All of these are removable limitations – patches welcome!

    Reply
  3. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Lean Thinking Helps STEM Kids Build a Tiny Windfarm
    http://hackaday.com/2017/01/18/lean-thinking-helps-stem-kids-build-a-tiny-windfarm/

    When we see a new build by [Gord] from Gord’s Garage, we never know what to expect. He seems to be pretty skilled at whatever he puts his hand to, with a great design sense and impeccable craftsmanship. You might expect him to tone it down a little for a STEM-outreach wind turbine project then, but when you get a chance to impress 28 fifth and sixth graders, you might as well go for it.

    Kidetic Energy Manipulation
    https://gordsgarage.wordpress.com/2017/01/10/kidetic-energy-manipulation/

    Reply
  4. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Forrest Mims, Radio Shack, and the Notebooks that Launched a Thousand Careers
    http://hackaday.com/2017/01/18/forrest-mims-radio-shack-and-the-notebooks-that-launched-a-thousand-careers/

    There was a time when Radio Shack offered an incredible variety of supplies for the electronics hobbyist. In the back of each store, past the displays of Realistic 8-track players, Minimus-7 speakers, Patrolman scanners, and just beyond the battery bin where you could cash in your “Battery of the Month Club” card for a fresh, free 9-volt battery, lay the holy of holies — the parts. Perfboard panels on hinges held pegs with cards of resistors for 49 cents, blister packs of 2N2222 transistors and electrolytic capacitors, and everything else you needed to get your project going. It was a treasure trove to a budding hardware hobbyist.

    But over on the side, invariably near the parts, was a rack of books for sale, mostly under the Archer brand.

    And like many of that vintage, one of the first books I picked up was the Engineer’s Notebook by Forrest M. Mims III.

    I learned so much from that book, and as I used it to plan my Next Big Project I’d often wonder how the book came about.

    Those of you that have seen the book and any of its sequels, like the Mini-notebook Series, will no doubt remember the style of the book. Printed on subdued graph paper with simple line drawings and schematics, the accompanying text did not appear to be typeset, but rather hand lettered. Each page was a work of technical beauty that served as an inspiration

    Luckily, Forrest Mims recently did an AMA on reddit, and he answered a lot of questions regarding how these books came about. The full AMA is worth a read

    https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/5b3a09/science_ama_series_im_amateur_scientist_and/

    Reply
  5. Tomi Engdahl says:

    [Marla]’s New Arm
    http://hackaday.com/2017/01/19/marlas-new-arm/

    It is especially rare to see coverage in the mainstream media that involves a hackspace, so it was a pleasant surprise yesterday when the local TV news where this is being written covered a story that not only highlighted a hackspace’s work, but did so in a very positive light.

    recent advances in 3D-printed prosthetics lowering the bar to access for those like [Marla] born without a limb. Last month [Marla] received her new 3D-printed arm, and she did so courtesy of the work of [Andrew Lindsay] at Newbury and District Hackspace.

    The arm itself is a Team Unlimbited arm version 2.0 Alfie edition, which can be found on Thingiverse with full sizing instructions for adjusting to the recipient in Customizer.

    New hand opens up Newbury girl’s world
    3D-printed prosthetic makes anything possible for three-year-old
    http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/news/home/20361/new-hand-opens-up-newbury-girl-s-world.html

    THIS little girl from Newbury just can’t stop smiling after being given a 3D printed hand for Christmas.

    Marla Trigwell was born without a left hand, but now the three-and-a-half-year-old has barely taken off the printed prosthetic since she received it from Newbury and District Hackspace last month.

    The 3D printed hand – a piece of cutting-edge technology – was made specifically for her by the local community group.

    Reply
  6. Tomi Engdahl says:

    DIY Thermal Imaging Done Low-Tech Style
    http://hackaday.com/2017/01/19/diy-thermal-imaging-done-low-tech-style/

    [Niklas Roy] has always wanted to try out thermal imaging and saw his opportunity when he received one of those handheld IR thermometers as a gift. But not content with just pointing it at different spots and looking at the temperatures on the LCD display, he decided to use it as the basis for a scanning, thermal imaging system that would display a heat map of a chosen location on his laptop.

    He still wanted to to be able to use the IR thermometer as normal at a later date so cutting it open was not an option. Instead he firmly mounted a webcam to it pointing at the LCD display. He then wrote software on his laptop to process the resulting image and figure out what temperature was being displayed.

    DIY Thermal Imaging
    http://www.niklasroy.com/project/195/DIY_thermal_imaging

    Reply
  7. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Recapture Radio’s Roots with an Updated Regenerative Receiver
    http://hackaday.com/2017/01/19/recapture-radios-roots-with-an-updated-regenerative-receiver/

    Crystal radios used to be the “gateway drug” into hobby electronics. Trouble was, there’s only so much one can hope to accomplish with a wire-wrapped oatmeal carton, a safety-pin, and a razor blade. Adding a few components and exploring the regenerative circuit can prove to be a little more engaging, and that’s where this simple breadboard regen radio comes in.

    Sometimes it’s the simple concepts that can capture the imagination, and revisiting the classics is a great way to do it. Basically a reiteration of [Armstrong]’s original 1912 regenerative design

    Regenerative AM radio on a breadboard
    http://imgur.com/a/JpwJs

    This is the circuit schematic. It’s a simple AM radio which uses a regenerative topology (provided by the feedback to the tuned circuit through P1 and L3). It uses commonly available components except for three of them: the ferrite bar in which the coils (L1, L2 and L3) are wound, the variable capacitor Cv and the germanium diode.

    Reply
  8. Tomi Engdahl says:

    How to Build DIY Switches and Potentiometers from Household Materials
    http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=30&doc_id=1331204&

    By constructing homemade versions of components like switches and potentiometers, it should be possible to reduce the cost of a new Arduino kit.

    Learning all this stuff at once can be daunting, so we started with the fundamental concepts and worked our way up.

    The first thing we did was to connect a 9V battery to an 18V incandescent light bulb and observe that it had only a weak glow. We also swapped the battery leads to the bulb’s terminals and noted that the bulb lit up both ways, thereby concluding that it’s a non-polarized component. Next, we used two 9V batteries in series to present the bulb with 18V, and we observed that it glowed much brighter. All this this led us to the concepts of voltage, current, and resistance and how they are interrelated.

    The next step was to take a LED, connect it to one of our 9V batteries, and observe it glow very brightly for a very short time. This led us to the concept of current-limiting resistors.

    Using such a resistor (with a new LED), we discovered that the LED is a polarized component that has to be connected the right way round, while the resistor is non-polarized.

    Next, we introduced the concept of single-pole single-throw (SPST) and single-pole double-throw (SPDT) switches

    How to Rule the World with Arduino
    The upshot of all this is that I’ve been invited to write a collection of Libretto (“booklets”) that are designed to teach the fundamentals of electronics, microcontrollers, and computer programing. Each of these booklets will be thin and non-threatening, and each will build on its predecessors.

    The umbrella title for this series will be How to Rule the World with Arduino.

    What do you suggest?
    In addition to the Arduino and a small breadboard, I know that we’re going to have to include things like a couple of 9V battery clips, a brace of 18V incandescent bulbs, a bunch of LEDs, and a horde of resistors in the kit accompanying these books. The total cost of these parts will probably be only a couple of dollars assuming we buy in bulk.

    We could also provide things like switches and potentiometers, but the cost will start to mount if we’re not carefu

    Quite apart from anything else, it will be more educational — and it will give the reader a greater understanding and sense of achievement — if we construct these components from the ground up out of everyday objects. For example, I had wondered about creating a potentiometer around the lead from a mechanical pencil, but I fear this might be too fragile.

    Reply
  9. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Sentry Robot Turns Bad Cat to Good
    http://hackaday.com/2017/01/20/sentry-robot-turns-bad-cat-to-good/

    The household of [James Watts] has cats, and those cats have decided that various spots of carpet are just great for digging up with their claws. After some efforts at training the cats, [James] enlisted a robotic cat trainer with remote wireless sensors. The automated trainer does only one job, but it does that one job reliably and tirelessly, which is just what is needed in this case. A task like “automate training the cats to stop clawing the carpet” is really made up of many smaller problems, and [James] implemented a number of clever ideas in his solution.

    Cat Trainer
    Electronic Feline Warfare for Fun and Profit
    https://james481.github.io/cat-trainer/

    Reply
  10. Tomi Engdahl says:

    3D Printing Makes Electronics A Snap
    http://hackaday.com/2017/01/26/3d-printing-makes-electronics-a-snap/

    A few years back, a new method appeared: Snap Circuits. The name almost says it all. A baseboard has mounting holes for different components. All the components make their electrical connections and mechanical connections through a common snap like you might find on clothing. Even the wires are little segments with snaps at both ends.

    One problem with any system like this is how to integrate custom components. Of course, with the snaps, that’s not very hard, but [Chuck Hellebuyck] got creative with TinkerCad and worked out how to 3D print custom modules for the system.

    3D Printed Custom SnapCircuits Electronic Module using Tinkercad and Snaps
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzwHynsUClI

    Chuck uses his Tinkercad skills to design a custom Snap Circuits electronic module and then adds some Anorak snaps to make it work. The design was printed on his Flashforge Dreamer 3D printer. He shows you step by step how he designed it, printed it and assembled it.

    Reply
  11. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Paper Toy Can Save Lives
    http://hackaday.com/2017/01/22/paper-toy-can-save-lives/

    Although there is a lot of discussion about health care problems in big countries like the United States, we often don’t realize that this is a “first world” problem. In many places, obtaining health care of any kind can be a major problem. In places where water and electricity are scarce, a lot of modern medical technology is virtually unobtainable. A team from Standford recently developed a cheap, easily made centrifuge using little more than paper, scrap material like wood or PVC pipe, and string.

    Reply
  12. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Well, That Was Quick: Heng Lamp Duplicated
    http://hackaday.com/2017/02/04/well-that-was-quick-heng-lamp-duplicated/

    That didn’t take long at all! We covered a pretty cool lamp with a novel magnetic switch mechanism, and [msraynsford] has his version laser cut, veneered, a video posted on YouTube (embedded below), and an Instructable written up before we’d even caught our breath.

    For those who missed it, the original Heng lamp is a beautiful design with a unique take on a magnetic switch.

    DIY Heng Lamp
    http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Heng-Lamp/

    Reply
  13. Tomi Engdahl says:

    DIY Wire Spooler with Clever Auto-Tensioning System
    http://hackaday.com/2017/02/05/diy-wire-spooler-with-clever-auto-tensioning-system/

    [Solarbotics] have shared a video of their DIY wire spooler that uses OpenBeam hardware plus some 3D printed parts to flawlessly spool wire regardless of spool size mismatches. Getting wire from one spool to another can be trickier than it sounds, especially when one spool is physically larger than the other. This is because consistently moving wire between different sizes of spools requires that they turn at different rates. On top of that, the ideal rate changes as one spool is emptying and the other gets larger.

    GroovyNoodle Wire spooler
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvuBzIyv_8A

    Reply
  14. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Olimex Announces Their Open Source Laptop
    http://hackaday.com/2017/02/05/olimex-announces-their-open-source-laptop/

    A few months ago at the Hackaday | Belgrade conference, [Tsvetan Usunov], the brains behind Olimex, gave a talk on a project he’s been working on. He’s creating an Open Source Hacker’s Laptop. The impetus for this project came to [Tsvetan] after looking at how many laptops he’s thrown away over the years. Battery capacity degrades, keyboards have a fight with coffee, and manufacturers seem to purposely make laptops hard to repair.

    Now, this do it yourself, Open Source Hardware and hacker-friendly laptop is complete. The Olimex TERES I laptop has been built, plastic has been injected into molds, and all the mechanical and electronic CAD files are up on GitHub. This Open Source laptop is done, but you can’t buy it quite yet; for that, we’ll have to wait until Olimex comes back from FOSDEM.

    The design of this laptop is completely Open Source.

    TERES I Do It Yourself Open Source Hardware and Software Hacker’s friendly laptop is complete
    https://olimex.wordpress.com/2017/02/01/teres-i-do-it-yourself-open-source-hardware-and-software-hackers-friendly-laptop-is-complete/

    Reply
  15. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Will Your CAD Software Company Own Your Files, Too?
    http://hackaday.com/2017/02/06/will-your-cad-software-company-own-your-files-too/

    We’re used to the relationship between the commercial software companies from whom we’ve bought whichever of the programs we use on our computers, and ourselves as end users. We pay them money, and they give us a licence to use the software. We then go away and do our work on it, create our Microsoft Word documents or whatever, and those are our work, to do whatever we want with.

    There are plenty of arguments against this arrangement from the world of free software, indeed many of us choose to heed them and run open source alternatives to the paid-for packages or operating systems.

    Almost all creative software comes pre-loaded with this form of content, whether it is a font, a component in a CAD library, a predefined rounded box for creating a flow chart, or a sound sample.

    Reply
  16. Tomi Engdahl says:

    DIY Thermal Camera That’s Better And Cheaper Than a FLIR
    http://hackaday.com/2017/02/08/diy-thermal-camera-thats-better-and-cheaper-than-a-flir/

    A few years ago, FLIR unleashed a new line of handheld thermal imagers upon the world. In a manufacturing triumph, the cheapest of these thermal imaging cameras contained the same circuitry as the one that cost six times as much. Much hacking ensued. Once FLIR figured out the people who would be most likely to own a thermal imaging camera can figure out how to upload firmware, the party was over. That doesn’t mean we’re stuck with crippled thermal imaging cameras, though: we can build our own, with better specs than what the big boys are selling.

    This thermal camera is built around the FLIR Lepton sensor, providing thermal images with a resolution of 60 by 80 pixels. These thermal images were combined with a VGA resolution camera to produce the very cool enhanced imagery the commercial unit will get you

    The DIY-Thermocam is a do-it-yourself infrared camera, based on the FLIR Lepton long-wave infrared sensor and the popular Teensy 3.6. http://www.diy-thermocam.net
    https://github.com/maxritter/DIY-Thermocam

    Reply
  17. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Laser Scanning Microscope
    http://hackaday.com/2017/02/08/laser-scanning-microscope/

    Remember that feeling when you first looked down on a microscope? Now you can re-live it but in slightly different way. [Venkes] came up with a way to make a Laser Scanning Microscope (LSM) with mostly off the shelf components that you probably have sitting around, collecting dust in your garage. He did it using some modified DVD pick-ups, an Arduino Uno, a laser and a LDR.

    You will need a fair dose of patience, it’s not very easy to get the focus right and it’s quite slow, an image takes about half an hour to complete, but it can do 1300x amplification at 65k pixels (256×256).

    The build difficulty level should be between the DIY Smartphone Microscope and the Laser Sequencer Super Microscope.

    Laser Scanning Microscope
    http://www.instructables.com/id/Laser-Scanning-Microscope/

    Reply
  18. Tomi Engdahl says:

    The Mother Of All Paper Cuts
    http://hackaday.com/2017/02/11/the-mother-of-all-paper-cuts/

    A Dremel is a fantastically handy tool to have around the workbench, but there is one glaring and obvious downside: you will always run out of cut-off discs. if you’re trying to break into a fancy snap-fit enclosure that has been inexplicably glued together, you’ll invariably need to run down to the hardware store to shell out some cash for a tiny tube of cut-off disks.

    [KB9RLW] has the answer to this problem. He’s cutting wood and plastic with paper discs spinning at 35,000 RPM.

    The paper used for this application is just a piece of junk mail or heavy, probably glossy card stock.

    The test cut [KB9RLW] shows us is on a plastic wall wart that’s a glued together, snap-fit mess. The paper cut-off wheel makes short work of this nigh-impenetrable brick of plastic, revealing the electronic goodies inside. This cut-off wheel will also cut through small bits of wood, like a bit of molding.

    Reply
  19. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Microscope DSLR Mount Using PVC & Heat
    http://hackaday.com/2017/02/10/microscope-dslr-mount-using-pvc-heat/

    Microscopes are a great way to see the mysteries of the universe hidden at the smaller scale. When they were first developed, scientists had to rely on illustration to convey their findings through the lens. Thankfully we can now rely on photography to help us out instead. Many microscopes come with a special port — often called a trinocular port — for mounting a camera. Using this, [Brian] developed a DSLR mount for his microscope using a hacker staple: PVC pipe.

    DIY DSLR Microscope Mount
    https://hacknbuild.github.io/blog/posts/DSLR-Microscope-Mount/index.html

    In this build, I create a DSLR microscope mount using jeweler’s loupes and PVC pipe. The mount fits over the Trinocular port of the microscope since the lenses I had available were too large to fit inside the port.

    Reply
  20. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Dummies Guide to Reverse Engineering
    http://hackaday.com/2017/02/13/dummies-guide-to-reverse-engineering/

    [Juan Carlos Jiménez] has reverse engineered a router — specifically, a Huawei HG533. While that in itself may not sound substantial, what he has done is write a series of blog posts which can act as a great tutorial for anyone wanting to get started with sniffing hardware. Over the five part series, he walks through the details of identifying the hardware serial ports which open up the doors to the firmware and looking at what’s going on under the hood.

    Practical Reverse Engineering Part 1 – Hunting for Debug Ports
    http://jcjc-dev.com/2016/04/08/reversing-huawei-router-1-find-uart/

    Reply
  21. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Wood and Rubber Band Pinball
    http://hackaday.com/2017/02/12/wood-and-rubber-band-pinball/

    As pinball has evolved, it has gone from a simple gravity based game to an electromechanical one. As the 20th century came to a close, pinball games added digital elements as well, matrix displays replaced electromechanical scoreboards, and LEDs replaced incandescent bulbs. While the game got more creative as new technologies became available, the basics of the pinball never changed – keep the ball alive using your skill with the flippers (and the occasional nudge.) [Garagem Fab Lab] has taken the basics of the pinball machine and, with some wood and elastic bands, has created a very nice desktop pinball machine.

    http://www.instructables.com/id/Pinball-Minmax/

    Reply
  22. Tomi Engdahl says:

    DIY Electric Vehicle from Recycled Parts
    https://hackaday.io/project/4649-diy-electric-vehicle-from-recycled-parts

    Converting a car to electric drive using recycled and salvaged EV and hybrid components.

    “EV’s are expensive” – The car was purchased with a bad transmission, the engine will be resold, and the salvaged components are relatively cheap. The goal for this project is 110 mile range and respectable performance for less than $10k (including the car!)

    Reply
  23. Tomi Engdahl says:

    my DIY CNC milling machine
    precision light duty 3 axis vertical milling machine
    https://hackaday.io/project/3557-my-diy-cnc-milling-machine

    Reply
  24. Tomi Engdahl says:

    MetaBoard
    https://hackaday.io/project/18755-metaboard

    It’s possible! A wireless breadboard!
    metaboard.com.au

    MetaBoard includes a controller board, with a microcontroller, and a stackable switch board, with a matrix of switches. With software, developers can form and break connections between the IO pins and the channels on the breadboard. Thus, eliminating the need for wires.

    Reply
  25. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Golem
    https://hackaday.io/project/19737-golem

    Robotic platform that doesn’t need a computer/programmer/compiler. Just move it how you want it to move and it will copy those moves

    This is a simple robot platform that can have new programs loaded without the need to recompile and reload every time you want to change something. Just move it how you want and it’ll do the rest. Uses minimal parts for cost savings and simplicity.

    So this project is basically a simple way to get into building things without all the need to get complicated. You build your creation, move it how you want it to move.

    Reply
  26. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Tiny LED Earrings are a Miniaturization Tour de Force
    http://hackaday.com/2017/02/12/tiny-led-earrings-are-a-miniaturization-tour-de-force/

    Light up jewelry is nothing new – we see wearables all the time here. But home brew, self-contained, programmable LED earrings that are barely larger than the watch batteries which power them? That’s something worth looking into.

    assembly5Settle back and watch [mitxela]’s miniature wizardry in the video below, but be forewarned: it runs 36 minutes. Most of the video is necessarily shot through a microscope where giant fingers come perilously close to soldering iron and razor blade.

    CharlieStar, the Lilliputian Glowy Thing
    https://mitxela.com/projects/charliestar

    Reply
  27. Tomi Engdahl says:

    3D Printed Rockets are a Gas
    http://hackaday.com/2017/02/12/3d-printed-rockets-are-a-gas/

    We’ve probably all made matchstick rockets as kids. And around here anything that even vaguely looks like a rocket will get some imaginary flight time. But [austiwawa] is making some really cool 3D printed rockets that use common CO2 cartridges as a propellant.

    https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2083869/#files

    These rockets are designed to snugly hold 12g CO2 cartridges and are launched out of 3/4″ schedule 40 PVC pipe. For more information visit my YouTube channel!

    Reply
  28. Tomi Engdahl says:

    A Micro RC Plane Builder Shares His Tricks
    http://hackaday.com/2017/02/10/a-micro-rc-plane-builder-shares-his-tricks/

    There are individuals who push tools, materials, and craftsmanship to the limit in the world of micro RC aircraft, and [Martin Newell] gives some insight into the kind of work that goes into making something like a 1:96 scale P-51 Mustang from scratch. The tiny plane is 100% flyable. It even includes working navigation lights and flashing cannons (both done with 0402 LEDs) and functional, retractable landing gear. It weighs an incredible 2.9 grams.

    Reply
  29. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Building a Replica of an Ultraluxury Watch
    http://hackaday.com/2017/02/14/building-a-replica-of-an-ultraluxury-watch/

    In the world of late-stage capitalism, unchecked redistribution of wealth to the upper classes has led to the development of so-called ultraluxury watches. Free from any reasonable constraints on material or R&D cost, manufacturers are free to explore the outer limits of the horological art. [Karel] is an aspiring engineer and watch enthusiast, and has a taste for the creations of Urwerk. They decided to see if they could create a replica of the UR202 watch with nothing more than the marketing materials as a guide.

    [Karel]’s first job was to create a model of the watch in CAD.

    Through careful analysis of photos and watching videos frame-by-frame, they managed to recreate what they believe to be a functioning mechanical model within their CAD software.

    It was then time to try and build the timepiece for real. It was then that [Karel] started hitting some serious stumbling blocks.

    In the end, [Karel] was able to get just the tumbling hour indicator working. The telescoping minute hand, compressed air turbine winding system, and other features didn’t make it into the build. However, the process of simulating these features within a CAD package, as well as manufacturing a semi-functional replica of the watch, was clearly a powerful learning experience.

    How One Guy Made A Shockingly Good Urwerk UR-202 Watch Homage
    http://www.ablogtowatch.com/one-guy-made-shockingly-good-urwerk-ur-202-watch-homage/

    Reply
  30. Tomi Engdahl says:

    God of Papercraft Builds Working Organ Used for Own Adulation
    http://hackaday.com/2017/02/14/god-of-papercraft-builds-working-organ-used-for-own-adulation/

    There’s a wide world to explore when it comes to papercraft, but we reserve special praise for fully functional builds. [Aliaksei Zholner’s] working papercraft organ is a stunning example of what can be achieved with skill and perseverance.

    The video is short but covers some finer touches

    Working paper organ
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cD1NPvRNLQ

    This organ is completely made of paper and cardboard, except of one transparent plastic side to view internals.

    Reply
  31. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Create Your Own Interactive Furniture
    Liven your living space by creating interactive furniture that doubles as a puzzle game.
    https://www.designnews.com/gadget-freak/create-your-own-interactive-furniture/80152610347453?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20170214.tst004t

    Reply
  32. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Chronio DIY Watch: Slick and Low Power
    http://hackaday.com/2017/02/15/chronio-diy-watch-slick-and-low-power/

    [Max K] has been testing the battery life of his self-designed watch under real-world conditions. Six months later, the nominally 3 V, 160 mAh CR2025 cell is reading 2.85 V, so the end is near, but that’s quite a feat for a home-engineered smart watch.

    Why? It looks sweet, it plays a limited version of Flappy Bird
    and six month’s on a button cell is a pretty great accomplishment, considering that it’s driving a 96×96 pixel LCD display.

    The Chronio is more than inspired by the Pebble watch

    Chronio
    Low power Arduino based (smart)watch
    https://hackaday.io/project/12876-chronio

    Reply
  33. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Porygon V2 – but not the evolution of Porygon
    https://hackaday.io/project/19819-porygon-v2-but-not-the-evolution-of-porygon

    I have everything in 123D Design, I can start hollowing out the parts and add some LEDs and servos to make it move around and spit out those funky 12Hz red and blue LED pulses

    Mad props to: #The Original Low-Poly Pokemon

    The Original Low-Poly Pokemon
    There is no record of this print causing seizures. I’ll have to work on that.
    https://hackaday.io/project/4032-the-original-low-poly-pokemon

    Reply
  34. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Robotic Hand
    https://hackaday.io/project/19791-robotic-hand

    This project is to make a robotic hand, inspired by Open Bionics and their desire to make low cost, open source prostheses.
    Written in a blog style, rather than instruction so expect some rambling. I will also leave every step of the process in, including mistakes, so you can learn from them, if you choose.

    Reply
  35. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Hackaday.io Passes 200,000 Registered Users
    http://hackaday.com/2017/02/14/hackaday-io-passes-200000-registered-users/

    Hackaday.io just welcomed the 200,000th registered user! We are the world’s largest repository of open hardware projects and Hackaday.io is proving its worth as the world’s most vibrant technology community.

    Reply
  36. Tomi Engdahl says:

    SparkFun Gets Back To Their Roots With SparkX
    http://hackaday.com/2017/02/15/sparkfun-gets-back-to-their-roots-with-sparkx/

    Way back in the before years when there were still interesting concepts for reality TV, Nate Seidle blew up a power supply in his dorm room. Instead of finding replacement parts, Nate decided to start a company. For the last decade and a half, SparkFun has grown immensely, been an incredible resource for makers and engineers alike, and shipped out hundreds of thousands of their iconic red boxes.

    Being the CEO of a company means you need to do CEO stuff, and a few summers ago Nate the CEO became Nate the Engineer once again. SparkFun is still doing great, but now we know what Nate has been up to these last months. He’s getting back to SparkFun’s roots with SparkX. This is the newest stuff SparkFun has to offer, there is zero documentation or support, and they’re only developing products because Nate wants to.

    In a series of blog posts on the SparkFun blog, Nate goes over what is involved in building a new brand for the latest and greatest SparkFun can produce.

    https://www.sparkfun.com/sparkx/blog/2291

    Reply
  37. Tomi Engdahl says:

    5 Engineering Myths Busted
    https://www.designnews.com/content/5-engineering-myths-busted/30263947352466?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20170214.tst004t

    Former MythBuster Jamie Hyneman, perhaps unintentionally, laid out some truths of engineering that counter often presumed — and incorrect — statements on engineers and engineering.

    Myth: The end goal of engineering is to solve a problem.
    Hyneman: Often the goal of engineering is to, indeed, solve a problem. But it’s not the end. “Once I figure something out, it’s time to move on,”

    Myth: Engineers are about facts and numbers, and are not creative people.
    Hyneman: “I don’t think people appreciate how creative engineers are,”

    Myth: Failure is bad. Engineers cannot fail. Doing so is expensive and a waste of time.
    Hyneman: “Failure is a wonderful thing,” Hyneman said. “There is advancement made without failure but of you fail at something the ultimate goal is to cherish what just happened because now you’ve got the possibility of making something new. If I didn’t fail at something I was working on, what was the point of doing it?

    “Generally if you are manufacturing something for [your] company, you don’t want to fail and cost them money. But somewhere in there is a newer, better product. It’s also your job to make newer, better products,”

    Myth: Engineering is a nice safe cubical job.
    Hyneman: Immediately dispelling such a myth, the former MythBuster started the fireside chat by showing a series of video clips from the hit show highlighting the many, many explosions that took place over its run.

    Myth: Engineers know what they want to do in life, they have a plan.
    Hyneman: “I tend to follow things that caught my attention and just go with it,”

    Reply
  38. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Talk of tech innovation is bullsh*t. Shut up and get the work done – says Linus Torvalds
    A top life tip, there, from the Linux kernel chieftain
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/02/15/think_different_shut_up_and_work_harder_says_linus_torvalds/

    Linus Torvalds believes the technology industry’s celebration of innovation is smug, self-congratulatory, and self-serving.

    The term of art he used was more blunt: “The innovation the industry talks about so much is bullshit,” he said. “Anybody can innovate. Don’t do this big ‘think different’… screw that. It’s meaningless. Ninety-nine per cent of it is get the work done.”

    “All that hype is not where the real work is,” said Torvalds. “The real work is in the details.”

    Torvalds said he subscribes to the view that successful projects are 99 per cent perspiration, and one per cent innovation.

    The Linux kernel is perhaps the most successful collaborative technology project of the PC era.

    The project is structured so people can work independently, Torvalds explained. “We’ve been able to really modularize the code and development model so we can do a lot in parallel,” he said.

    Technology plays an obvious role but process is at least as important, according to Torvalds.

    “It’s a social project,” said Torvalds. “It’s about technology and the technology is what makes people able to agree on issues, because … there’s usually a fairly clear right and wrong.”

    But now that Torvalds isn’t personally reviewing every change as he did 20 years ago, he relies on a social network of contributors. “It’s the social network and the trust,”

    Reply
  39. Tomi Engdahl says:

    RFID Stethoscope Wheezes and Murmurs for Medical Training
    http://hackaday.com/2017/02/16/rfid-stethoscope-wheezes-and-murmurs-for-medical-training/

    You’d think that with as many sick people as there are in the world, it wouldn’t be too difficult for a doctor in training to get practice. It’s easy to get experience treating common complaints like colds and the flu, but it might take the young doctor a while to run across a dissecting abdominal aortic aneurysm, and that won’t be the time for on the job training.

    [Chris Sanders] and [J Scott Christianson] from the University of Missouri developed an open-source RFID stethoscope to simulate patient findings.

    This is one of those “why didn’t I think of that?” ideas. A cheap stethoscope is fitted with an Arduino, and RFID reader, and a small audio board. RFID tags are placed at diagnostic points over an SP’s chest and abdomen. When the stethoscope is placed over a tag, a specific sound file is fetched from an SD card and played over earbuds. The student doesn’t have to ask, “What am I hearing?” anymore – the actual sound of bruits or borborygmi are heard.

    We can easily see expanding this system – RFID tags that trigger a faux ultrasound machine to display diagnostic images, or tiny OLED screens displaying tagged images into an otoscope.

    RFID Stethoscope for Medical Sim
    http://www.instructables.com/id/RFID-Stethoscope-for-Medical-Sim/

    Reply
  40. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Digital stethoscope can record, playback, and analyzer heart sounds
    https://hackaday.com/2012/05/11/digital-stethoscope-can-record-playback-and-analyzer-heart-sounds/

    It’s somewhat amazing how these rather inexpensive electronics can augment the functionality of a common stethoscope. This digital stethoscope is using audio processing to add the features. A standard chest piece feeds a condenser microphone which is fed through a pretty standard OpAmp circuit which supplies the ADC of an ATmega644. After being digitized, the heart sound can be recorded in ten second increments to a 1 Mb flash memory chip. The data can also be fed to MATLAB via a USB cable in real-time.

    Digital Stethoscope
    A portable, electronic auscultation device
    http://people.ece.cornell.edu/land/courses/ece4760/FinalProjects/s2012/myw9_gdd9/myw9_gdd9/index.html

    Reply
  41. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Pint-Sized, Low-Cost CNC Machine
    http://hackaday.com/2017/02/16/pint-sized-low-cost-cnc-machine/

    A little MDF, a little plywood, some bits of threaded rod – put it all together and you’ve got this low-cost desktop CNC build using very few parts you’d need to go farther afield than the local home center to procure.

    The end result is a desktop CNC for about €200 with a work area large enough to fabricate small wooden and plastic parts, or to mill foam blocks for use as casting molds.

    http://thimov.com/projects/desktop-cnc/

    Reply
  42. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Make schematic symbols understandable
    http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/anablog/4457641/Make-schematic-symbols-understandable

    It is important you make your schematic symbols understandable. Sometimes, the pre-packaged symbols in you CAD (computer aided design) package will work. Most times they won’t. Make sure you have a package that makes symbol creation easy, since you will have to re-draw every single part, as well as create the new parts you use. The tens of thousands of included symbols your CAD package brags about are simply a starting point for you to redraw them all.

    Good schematics have a predictable flow. This flow requires inputs to the be on the left and top, while outputs are on the right and bottom. This is not cast in concrete, but it’s pretty important if you want other engineers to be able to read your schematic at a glance.

    To this day, some companies draw their schematic symbol to mimic the pin-out of the part rather than the signal flow

    Some semiconductor companies adopted that ANSI symbol for logic, obviously invented by linear minds that need to parse, as opposed the graphical minds of analog engineers

    For multi-part packages, like many logic gates, the schematic symbols need to be broken apart, since you rarely use them all in one place in your schematic. The same applies to dual or quad op amps.

    Speaking of ground, “common” or “return” is more accurate, unless your circuit connects to the earth ground pin of your wall socket (Figure 4). I admit it is only a personal preference, but I like American-style power and resistor symbols, circles around transistors and MOSFETs with a clear indication of N- or P-channel type.

    Some semiconductor companies adopted that ANSI symbol for logic, obviously invented by linear minds that need to parse, as opposed the graphical minds of analog engineers

    The ANSI/IEEE logic symbol convention is disliked by many engineers and worse than useless. Showing the exact logic symbol is better than useless. What is useless is the way the part comes in your CAD package.

    For multi-part packages, like many logic gates, the schematic symbols need to be broken apart, since you rarely use them all in one place in your schematic. The same applies to dual or quad op amps.

    Speaking of ground, “common” or “return” is more accurate, unless your circuit connects to the earth ground pin of your wall socket (Figure 4). I admit it is only a personal preference, but I like American-style power and resistor symbols, circles around transistors and MOSFETs with a clear indication of N- or P-channel type.

    I also prefer circles on transistors, short pins, the letter N or P to make clear the type of MOSFET, and the gate pins drawn to help show that, as well as the P-channel type being flipped so that source is on the top, where the more positive power goes. I give Altium/CircuitStudio credit for showing the body diode.

    The problem with invisible power and ground pins in a modern design is you will always get burned when the layout package connects them wrongly. Always. It’s a huge problem since you might have the power on planes, so reworking the PCB, even for a prototype, is very difficult. For this reason, many of us draw the power pins explicitly.

    you can draw a simple diagram inside the symbol outline to give a hint as to what the part does. It does not have to be the block diagram from the datasheet, but a simple representation to remind you and others what the part does.

    Most engineers understand what is inside a 555 timer IC. But if you don’t, or you think the people reading the schematic won’t, then you can draw some or all of the block diagram inside the part.

    This brings up a good point. You could honor the block structure of what’s inside the part at the expense of the overall schematic, or worry less about what is inside the part and keep a clean simple schematic. My thinking is to try and draw the pertinent things inside the part, like an open-collector output. But what is important is to keep the overall schematic untangled and understandable.

    Schematic symbol preferences are like musical preferences; they are very personal. It is part of your style as an engineer. Some things like wire jumps and circles around transistors are less important. Things like inputs on the left and top, and outputs on the right and bottom are more important.

    Reply
  43. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Lindsay Craig — Teaching Tech to Help Solve the World’s Problems
    Design News’ 2017 Rising Engineering Star works tirelessly to make sure children, here in the US and as far away as Uganda, have access to technology.
    https://www.designnews.com/content/lindsay-craig-teaching-tech-help-solve-world-s-problems/46723818952529?cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20170224.tst004t

    Growing up in a small Massachusetts town, Lindsay Craig didn’t look up to sports stars or celebrities. His heroes were the likes of Nikola Tesla and Isaac Asimov.

    At age 36, one could now argue that Craig, better known as Linz to his friends, is a hero in his own right.

    Craig works tirelessly to make sure children, here in the US and as far away as Uganda, have access to technology. And, he takes the time to teach them the basic concepts of that technology.

    This is just part of the reason he was named the Design News 2017 Rising Engineering Star during the 16 th annual Golden Mousetrap Awards ceremony, held earlier this month in Anaheim, Calif., in conjunction with Pacific Design & Manufacturing.

    “The unmitigated joy on any kid’s face when they light up an LED is just absolutely amazing,” Craig said the next day during a Center Stage presentation on the show floor.

    He told the standing-room-only crowd about his frequent travels to Africa, where he teaches kids the basics of Arduino, Bluetooth, and drag-and-drop programming, among many other skills.

    “These people are capable of PCB design at the age of 8 or 9; all people in all cultures,” Craig said, adding that the kids he teaches work with wooden robotics because they simply can’t buy off-the-shelf- parts. “These are incredibly ecstatic kids who are building amazing things. These kids are literally going to turn around and provide solutions to problems in their community.”

    Reply
  44. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Pro Soldering Robot – MeArm Pi
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y-LVds2Z9g&feature=share

    MeArm Pi – A robot arm anyone can build
    https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mime/mearm-pi-build-your-own-raspberry-pi-powered-robot

    A robot kit for all ages, that’s easy to make and control. Powered by Raspberry Pi. Learn robotics, learn to code, build the future.

    Reply

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