Just like the garage computer explosion of the 70’s through the 80’s, which brought us such things as Apple, pong, Bill Gate’s hair, and the proliferation of personal computers, the maker movement is the new garage hardware explosion. Today, 135 million adults in the United States alone are involved in the maker movement.
Enthusiasts who want to build the products they want, from shortwave radios to personal computers, and to tweak products they’ve bought to make them even better, have long been a part of the electronics industry. By all measures, garage-style innovation remains alive and well today, as “makers” as they are called continue to turn out contemporary gadgets, including 3D printers, drones, and embedded electronics devices.
Making is about individual Do-It-Yourselfers being able to design and create with tools that were, as of a decade or two ago, only available to large, cash-rich corporations: CAD tools, CNC mills, 3D printers, low-quantity PCB manufacturing, open hardware such as Arduinos and similar inexpensive development boards – all items that have made it easier and relatively cheap to make whatever we imagine. For individuals, maker tools can change how someone views their home or their hobbies. The world is ours to make. Humans are genetically wired to be makers. The maker movement is simply the result of making powerful building and communication tools accessible to the masses. There are plenty of projects from makers that show good engineering: Take this Arduino board with tremendous potential, developed by a young maker, as example.
The maker movement is a catalyst to democratize entrepreneurship as these do-it-yourself electronics are proving to be hot sellers: In the past year, unit sales for 3D printing related products; Arduino units, parts and supplies; Raspberry Pi boards; drones and quadcopters; and robotics goods are all on a growth curve in terms of eBay sales. There are many Kickstarter maker projects going on. The Pebble E-Paper Watch raises $10 million. The LIFX smartphone-controlled LED bulb raises $1.3 million. What do these products have in common? They both secured funding through Kickstarter, a crowd-funding website that is changing the game for entrepreneurs. Both products were created by makers who seek to commercialize their inventions. These “startup makers” iterate on prototypes with high-end tools at professional makerspaces.
For companies to remain competitive, they need to embrace the maker movement or leave themselves open for disruption. Researchers found that 96 percent of business leaders believe new technologies have forever changed the rules of business by democratizing information and rewiring customer expectations. - You’ve got to figure out agile innovation. Maybe history is repeating itself as the types of products being sold reminded us of the computer tinkering that used to be happening in the 1970s to 1990s – similar in terms of demographics, tending to be young people, and low budget. Now the do-it-yourself category is deeply intertwined with the electronics industry. Open hardware is in the center in maker movement – we need open hardware designs! How can you publish your designs and still do business with it? Open source ecosystem markets behave differently and therefore require a very different playbook than traditional tech company: the differentiation is not in the technology you build; it is in the process and expertise that you slowly amass over an extended period of time.
By democratizing the product development process, helping these developments get to market, and transforming the way we educate the next generation of innovators, we will usher in the next industrial revolution. The world is ours to make. Earlier the PC created a new generation of software developers who could innovate in the digital world without the limitations of the physical world (virtually no marginal cost, software has become the great equalizer for innovation. Now advances in 3D printing and low-cost microcontrollers as well as the ubiquity of advanced sensors are enabling makers to bridge software with the physical world. Furthermore, the proliferation of wireless connectivity and cloud computing is helping makers contribute to the Internet of Things (IoT). We’re even beginning to see maker designs and devices entering those markets once thought to be off-limits, like medical.
Image source: The world is ours to make: The impact of the maker movement – EDN Magazine
In fact, many parents have engaged in the maker movement with their kids because they know that the education system is not adequately preparing their children for the 21st century. There is a strong movement to spread this DIY idea widely. The Maker Faire, which launched in the Bay Area in California in 2006, underlined the popularity of the movement by drawing a record 215,000 people combined in the Bay Area and New York events in 2014. There’s Maker Media, MakerCon, MakerShed, Make: magazine and 131 Maker Faire events that take place throughout the world. Now the founders of all these Makers want a way to connect what they refer to as the “maker movement” online. So Maker Media created a social network called MakerSpace, a Facebook-like social network that connects participants of Maker Faire in one online community. The new site will allow participants of the event to display their work online. There are many other similar sites that allow yout to present yout work fron Hackaday to your own blog. Today, 135 million adults in the United States alone are involved in the maker movement—although makers can be found everywhere in the world.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Mini Hacker Breaks Down How To Build It
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/03/mini-hacker-breaks-down-how-to-build-it/
I read the other day that the hot career choice for kids these days is: YouTuber. That means every kid — yes, including mine — has two or three attempts at a YouTube show on their account and then they get into the next big thing and forget about it. On the other hand, sometimes you find someone who has a lot of ideas to share, and the dedication to keep sharing them.
[Kevin Zhou], an 11-year-old from Indonesia, has filmed around 70 videos in the past couple of years, with a fantastic variety of nerdy projects ranging from Mindstorms to Arduino to wood shop projects, and even a Blender tutorial. His projects show a lot of complexity, with serious, real-world concepts, and he shares the technical details about the various components in the project, and he walks you through the code as well.
https://www.youtube.com/user/KevinWilliamgZhou/videos
Tomi Engdahl says:
Optogenetics for 100 Euros
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/03/optogenetics-for-100-euros/
Larval zebrafish, Drosophila (fruit fly), and Caenorhabditis elegans (roundworm) have become key model organisms in modern neuroscience due to their low maintenance costs and easy sharing of genetic strains across labs. However, the purchase of a commercial solution for experiments using these organisms can be quite costly. Enter FlyPi: a low-cost and modular open-source alternative to commercially available options for optogenetic experimentation.
FlyPi is based on a 3D-printed mainframe, a Raspberry Pi computer, and a high-definition camera system supplemented by Arduino-based optical and thermal control circuits. FlyPi features optional modules for LED-based fluorescence microscopy and optogenetic stimulation as well as a Peltier-based temperature simulator for thermogenetics. The complete version with all modules costs approximately €200 with a layman’s purchasing habits, but for those of us who live on the dark side of eBay or the depths of Taobao, it shouldn’t cost more than €100.
The €100 lab: A 3D-printable open-source platform for fluorescence microscopy, optogenetics, and accurate temperature control during behaviour of zebrafish, Drosophila, and Caenorhabditis elegans
http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.2002702
Tomi Engdahl says:
Using Analog Meters in Your Projects
https://www.eeweb.com/blog/max_maxfield/using-analong-meters-in-your-projects
Quite apart from anything else, using analog meters gives your hobby projects a certain sense of ‘je ne sais quoi.’
These days, we are used to deploying sophisticated displays in our electronic systems, such as full text (with multiple, easy-on-the-eye fonts) and full graphics liquid crystal displays (LCDs). In the not-so-distant past, however, display technologies were much more limited.
Prior to the arrival of the first visible spectrum light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in the early 1960s, the majority of displays were either analog, in the form of meters, or digital, in such forms as on/off indicator bulbs or — if you really wanted to be flashy (no pun intended) — Nixie Tubes (see also Outrageously Awesome Nixie Tube Clocks and The Art of Hand-Crafting Nixie Tubes).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Arduino Goes Hybrid, Flexible
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1332113&
Flexible hybrid electronics are poised to enable the Maker movement with flexible Arduino microcontroller boards.
A new generation of products is emerging based on low cost printed electronics with embedded silicon ICs and sensors. By eliminating the need for rigid enclosures, flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) will reduce system footprints with devices that conform to most 3D surfaces so they can be mounted in difficult-to-access spaces.
FHE attaches bare die to a flexible substrate without the need, cost and size penalty of a standard package. Systems become bendable, using wafer and die thinning techniques already in volume production for 2.5D and 3D chip stacks.
Compare for example at an open source and wildly popular Arduino Mini (inset at half size in the picture below) to its flexible, hybrid equivalent. The conventional 30x18mm double-sided board can be shrunk with FHE to a flexible 26x16mm, that uses single-side component placement.
The most commonly used substrate in FHE systems is polyethylene terephthalate (PET). It has a maximum process temperature of 140°C, below the requirements for typical board assembly and packaging processes. Although FHE also uses polyimide (PI) substrates, this material comes at a significant price premium compared to PET.
Low-cost, flexible and easy-to-deploy sensor platforms like these can bolster the growing Maker movement benefitting entrepreneurs and industrial giants alike.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Maintain Temperature with a DIY Laboratory Dry Bath
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/05/maintain-temperature-with-a-diy-laboratory-dry-bath/
[abizar] lucked into some aluminum blocks, one of which had test-tube-sized holes in it–just the thing to turn into a dry bath for his biology projects.
He stuck a 100W positive temperature coefficient heater into the bottom of the block using silicone glue, and the heater heated the block up in around half an hour. He connected a temperature controller to maintain the temperature at an ambient 95C, with a controller monitoring a thermistor to keep the block within the pre-determined range. The heater has an auto shutoff if it got too hot, so [abizar] felt safe keeping the dry bath on, unmonitored.
Laboratory Dry Bath
http://www.instructables.com/id/Laboratory-Dry-Bath/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ink-Filled Machine Badges Score Respect for Your Gear
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/05/ink-filled-machine-badges-score-respect-for-your-gear/
Remember the good old days when machines had a stout metal badge instead of cheap vinyl decals, and nameplates on motors were engraved in metal rather than printed on a label with a QR code? Neither do we, but these raised brass labels with color filled backgrounds look great, they’re surprisingly easy to make, and just the thing your gear needs to demand respect as a cherished piece of gear.
The process is very straightforward — a brass plate is cleaned and coated with lacquer, which is then removed by the laser in the areas that are to be etched. The plate is dipped in an electrolyte solution for etching, cleaned, and powder coated. After curing the powder coat with a heat gun rather than an oven — a tip worth the price of admission by itself — the paint is sanded off the raised areas, the metal is polished, and a clear coat applied to protect the badge.
How to Make Ink Fill Brass Machine Plates! WW156
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68-QAwB8TdI
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Best Product Finalist: PewPew
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/06/hackaday-prize-best-product-finalist-pewpew/
For his entry into the Best Product finals, [Radomir] is working on a game machine. Consider this an educational toy. Game programming is hard, and some talent is required to go from the main loop to handling buttons to pushing pixels. This project is the minimal game machine. It’s a FeatherWing for Adafruit’s family of micro dev boards meant to teach PyGame programming.
On this board is an 8×8 matrix of bi-color LEDs, a few switches, resistors, and a chip that turns those LEDs into something that can be memory mapped. It’s simple, but that’s the point: it’s a minimum viable product to teach game programming.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Make a Tesla Coil Winding Rig with K’Nex
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/06/make-a-tesla-coil-winding-rig-with-knex/
Instructables user [birdycrazy] built a winding rig from a PVC pipe and a bunch of K’Nex. He had recently started a Tesla coil project and needed an efficient way to wind the secondary coil. All of the designs for DIY winding rigs he found on the Internet required parts he didn’t have or simply cost a bunch of money. Then he realized he’d been building with K’nex a lot, and why not build a tool to help him?
He ended up investing only his K’nex elements and a length of 4” PVC pipe for the project. He used a K’nex 12V motor because it plugs in rather than requiring batteries. After the coil had been completely wound he set it to rotate the assembly over a period of several days while the varnish coating dried.
The Simplest Tesla Coil Winding Rig Built With K’nex
http://www.instructables.com/id/The-Simplest-Tesla-Coil-Winding-Rig-Built-With-Kne/
Tomi Engdahl says:
All the Hardware Badges of DEF CON 25
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/04/all-the-hardware-badges-of-def-con-25/
Hardware is the future. There is no better proof of this than the hardware clans that have grown up around DEF CON, which in recent years has become known as Badgelife. I was first drawn to the custom hardware badges of the Whiskey Pirates at DC22 back in 2014. Hardware badges were being made by several groups at that time but that was mainly happening in isolation while this year the badge makers are in constant contact with each other.
A slack channel just for those working on their own DEF CON badges sprung up. This served as tech support, social hour, and feature brainstorming for all on the channel. In the past badges were developed without much info getting out during the design process. This year, there was a huge leap forward thanks to a unified badgelife API: the badge makers colluded with each on a unified communcations protocol. In the multitude of images below you frequently see Rigado modules used. These, and some others using different hardware, adopted a unified API for command and control, both through makers’ “god mode” badges, and for wireless gaming between participant badges.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: A Six Axis Robotic Arm With Fingertip Control
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/04/hackaday-prize-entry-a-six-axis-robotic-arm-with-fingertip-control/
Cable Six Axis Robotic Arm
This six axis robot arm is controlled by hand with 6 slide controls. It is an experimental project to research movements and for challenges.
3D Meister
https://hackaday.io/project/25880-cable-six-axis-robotic-arm
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bespoke Processors Might Soon Power Your Artisanal Devices
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/04/bespoke-processors-might-soon-power-your-artisanal-devices/
Modern microprocessors are a marvel of technological progress and engineering. At less than a dollar per unit, even the cheapest microprocessors on the market are orders of magnitude more powerful than their ancestors. The first commercially available single-chip processor, the Intel 4004, cost roughly $25 (in today’s dollars) when it was introduced in 1971.
Professors [Rakesh Kumar] and [John Sartori], along with their students, are experimenting with bespoke processor designs that aim to cut out the unused portions of modern processors. They’ve found that in many applications, less than half the logic gates of the processor are actually being used. Removing these reduces the size and power consumption of the processor, and therefore the final size and power requirements of the device itself.
Bespoke Processors: A New Path to Cheap Chips
http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/design/bespoke-processors-a-new-path-to-cheap-chips
Engineers can cut size and power in half by stripping away unused logic gates from general-purpose microcontrollers
Tomi Engdahl says:
Imaging Magnetism With A Hall Effect Camera
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/07/imaging-magnetism-with-a-hall-effect-camera/
[Peter Jansen] is the creator of the Open Source Tricorder. He built a very small device meant to measure everything, much like the palm-sized science gadget in Star Trek. [Peter] has built an MRI machine that fits on a desktop, and a CT scanner made out of laser-
cut plywood. Needless to say, [Peter] is all about sensing and imaging.
[Peter] is currently working on a new version of his pocket sized science tricorder, and he figured visualizing magnetic fields would be cool. This led to what can only be described as a camera for magnetism instead of light. It’s a device that senses magnetic fields in two directions to produce an image. It’s cool, and oddly, electronically simple at the same time.
A Magnetic Imager Tile
https://hackaday.io/project/18518-iteration-8/log/64376-a-magnetic-imager-tile
A few years ago I worked to build an imager by putting together an 8×8 array of the popular HMC5883L magnetometers, spaced about 1cm apart
This has plenty of positives — each sensor is a 3-axis magnetometer, and the whole array could be read using a simple I2C interface. Some of the difficulties are that such a large board with very tight-pitched components is a bit challenging to assemble — I was only able to successfully assemble a 4×4 version, with the 8×8 (and it’s 64 magnetometers) unfortunately only working as an object d’art.
It’s been a few years since I had a go at this, and so I decided to put together another attempt:
Simpler sensors: Large-pitch analog hall-effect sensors instead of I2C sensors.
Higher density: a 4mm density using SOT-23 sensors requiring no external components
Addressable array: Analog addressing through a large array of analog multiplexers on the back of the board
Tileable: Able to create larger arrays by putting multiple boards adjacent to each other
Easy to solder: Only large pitched components, so it would be quick and easy to solder in a toaster reflow oven (for the array side) and with a hand iron (for the analog multiplexer side)
12×12: The size of the array (12×12) makes it big enough to see interesting things, and small enough to (I hope) fit on the back of the eventual Iteration 8.
I learned from my earlier attempt with the HMC5883L array that this would be a bit of a routing nightmare, and so I decided to try switching from EagleCAD to the open source KiCAD, to make use of it’s push-and-shove router.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Laser Cut Enclosures from Eagle Files
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/09/laser-cut-enclosures-from-eagle-files/
Once a project is finished, it might still need a decent enclosure. While it’s possible to throw a freshly soldered PCB in a standard enclosure, or piece of Tupperware, or cardboard box, these options don’t have the fit and finish of something custom-made. If you have a laser cutter sitting around, it’s a simple matter to cut your own enclosure, but now that process is much easier thanks to [Ray]’s latest project.
Since [Ray] was already using Eagle to design his PCBs, it seemed like a short step to using the Eagle files to design the enclosure as well. The script runs from those files and creates everything necessary to send to the laser cutter for manufacturing. Right now, [Ray] points out that the assembly time for each enclosure can be high, and this method might not be suited for large numbers of enclosures. Additionally, some of the calculations still need to be done by hand, but there are plans to automate everything in the future.
An EagleCAD Script for Creating Laser-Cut Project Enclosures
http://rayshobby.net/eaglecad-script-for-laser-cut-enclosures/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Super Simple Hydraulics Using Syringes
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/09/super-simple-hydraulics-using-syringes/
When making a toy excavator arm, or any robotic arm, the typical approach is to put motors at the joints, or if there isn’t room, to put the motors somewhere else and transfer the force using fishing line and pulleys. [Navin Khambhala] chose instead to do it more like the real excavators, with hydraulics using syringes. And we have to admit, the result it pretty elegant in its simplicity.
The syringes do the job of single-acting hydraulic actuators, one at the motor and the other where the force is needed. In between them, what appears to be clear vinyl tubes carry the fluid between syringes. 12 volt DC motors with bolts on them move nuts attached to the syringe pistons to push and pull the pistons.
How to Make a Remote Control Hydraulic Excavator / JCB at Home
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrgeOfFyGLI
Tomi Engdahl says:
Silicone Molds for Stove-Top Metal Casting
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/09/silicone-molds-for-stove-top-metal-casting/
Casting metal parts from 3D-printed plastic or Styrofoam models is all the rage these days, and for good reason — casting is a way to turn one-offs into mass-produced parts. Seems like most of the metal casting projects we feature are aluminum in sand molds, though, so it’s refreshing to see a casting project using silicone molds to cast low-melting point metals.
Don’t get us wrong — sand-cast aluminum is a great method that can even be used to build a lathe from scratch. But not everyone wants to build a foundry and learn the sometimes fussy craft of creating sand molds. [Chris Deprisco] wanted to explore low-melting point bismuth alloys and set about making silicone rubber molds of a 3D-printed Maltese falcon. The bismuth-tin alloy, sold as a substitute for casting lead fishing weights, melts on at 281°F (138°C) and is cool enough for the mold to handle
Easy, Reusable and LOW TEMP Metal Casting from 3D Printed Parts!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=770cSWbmBRg
Easily cast real metal parts using 3D printed parts, an air compressor and a pressure vessel. If you do try this, be careful! It’s not crazy hot but still enough to burn you badly. Also make sure whatever you use for a pressure vessel is rated for the pressure you will be using!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Convert Temperatures the Analog Way
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/10/convert-temperatures-the-analog-way/
Everyone knows how to convert from Celsius to Fahrenheit, right? On a digital thermometer you just flick the little switch, on a weather app you change the settings, or if worse comes to worse, you let Google do the math for you. But what if you want to solve the problem the old-fashioned way? Then you pull out a few op amps and do your conversions analog style.
We’ve seen before how simple op amp circuits can do basic math, and the equation that [Kerry Wong] wants to solve is even simpler.
Converting Celsius to Fahrenheit – The Analog Way
http://www.kerrywong.com/2017/08/06/converting-celsius-to-fahrenheit-the-analog-way/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Handheld Gimbal with Off-The-Shelf Parts
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/10/handheld-gimbal-with-off-the-shelf-parts/
For anything involving video capture while moving, most videographers, cinematographers, and camera operators turn to a gimbal. In theory it is a simple machine, needing only three sets of bearings to allow the camera to maintain a constant position despite a shifting, moving platform. In practice it’s much more complicated, and gimbals can easily run into the thousands of dollars. While it’s possible to build one to reduce the extravagant cost, few use 100% off-the-shelf parts like [Matt]’s handheld gimbal.
Handheld Camera Gimbal
For Mirrorless and Mid-Size DSLRs.
https://hackaday.io/project/25740-handheld-camera-gimbal
Tomi Engdahl says:
CNC Mill out of a Building Set
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/10/cnc-mill-out-of-a-building-set/
I have some aluminum building-set parts on hand and just got a second rotary tool, so I thought I’d try my hand at making a light-duty CNC mill—maybe carve up some cheap pine or make circuit boards. This post explores some of the early decisions I’m facing as I begin the project.
Of primary importance is the basic format of the mill’s chassis. Gantry configuration or put everything in a box of girders? How will the axes move–belts or racks? How will the Z-axis work, the assembly that lowers the tool onto the material? Finally, once the chassis is complete, or perhaps beforehand, I’ll need to figure out how I intend to control the thing.
Actobotics CNC Mill
I’m working on a light-duty CNC mill that I’d custom-build out of Actobotics parts.
https://hackaday.io/project/26167-actobotics-cnc-mill
Tomi Engdahl says:
A DIY Pharmaceutical Revolution Is Coming—If It Doesn’t Kill Us First
http://gizmodo.com/a-diy-pharmaceutical-revolution-is-coming-if-it-doesn-t-1796865404
As Mixael Laufer tells it, the vision came to him in El Salvador. Laufer was visiting Central America as a human rights envoy, touring a tiny, rural mountain town with the Marin County Peace and Justice Coalition. When he arrived at the town’s medical clinic, it had just run out of birth control.
“I thought to myself, ‘This is a country where there are there are methamphetamine and ecstasy labs everywhere. Birth control isn’t that much more complicated,’” Laufer told Gizmodo. “‘Why aren’t these people just making their own birth control?’”
This, it turned out, would be his life’s big “aha” moment, and the beginning of an obsession. The world is already rife with Walter Whites, cooking up highs at home. Laufer wondered why he couldn’t take the same approach to drugs that are legal.
Laufer has a doctorate in mathematics, not medicine.
“This stuff should be no more difficult than Ikea furniture to put together.”
In 2015, he founded the Four Thieves Vinegar collective, a loose consortium of hackers and scientists aiming to kickstart a DIY revolution for legal drugs.
“People should be able to take control of their own health choices,” he said.
Laufer has the air of an anarchist preacher, albeit one who sometimes wears a tie to work. His speech is grand and always very serious, an unyielding stream of dramatic platitudes. “If you work within an external regulatory structure, you have no choice,” he said. “It is a black box you cannot audit.”
Last fall, when the price of a two-pack of EpiPens ballooned to more than $600, Laufer published instructions for how to make a version of it for about $30, hacked together using needles, a syringe and an autoinjector for insulin readily available on the web. When he grabbed headlines amidst the EpiPen pricing scandal, the FDA issued a strongly worded warning against the use of his DIY version.
“It’s essential to remember that epinephrine auto-injectors are life-saving products, and it is critical that they are made to a high standard of quality so patients can rely on them to work safely and effectively,” an FDA spokesperson told Gizmodo.
In Laufer’s mind, though, the bigger threat is capitalism, and the lack of accessibility to healthcare that it can create. His revolution does not stop at cobbling together an off-brand epinephrine auto-injector from a few disparate parts you can order on the internet. His vision is something far grander—and more dangerous. Laufer wants to design an Easy Bake Oven for prescription drugs, and then offer anyone who wants to try their hand at life-or-death chemistry the instructions for how to build their own at home. The revolution will not take place in the streets, but in the kitchens of self-taught scientists seeking affordable prescription pills.
“This stuff,” he said, “should be no more difficult than Ikea furniture to put together.”
Everything, Laufer is careful to say, is still very much a work-in-progress. In the coming weeks, he plans to debut a beta version of the MicroLab, one that, after partnering with a UX designer and employing more sophisticated hardware, will be truly as easy to build as a Malm bed.
“It will be really Ikea-like,” he said. “There is a list of parts to order, and then you just have to 3D-print this one part. You can just upload the design and order that part online.” (When asked to review the code and instructions for the alpha version of the Apothecary MicroLab, a biohacker familiar with it called it “bullshit” and laughed. A professor who had seen a demo of the later version expressed strong skepticism that it would really work.)
Eventually, Laufer plans to release instructions that make building your own mini pharma-factory extremely simple, along with instructions for manufacturing five other drugs at home, including Solvadi, a hepatitis C drug; Glaxo’s HIV prevention pill, GSK-744; and mifepristone and misoprostol, the two pills that together can induce abortion.
An FDA spokesperson stressed to Gizmodo that it is a very, very bad idea.
While the FDA has no real say in whether you whip up your own aspirin or birth control at home, an FDA spokesperson stressed to Gizmodo that it is a very, very bad idea. “Using unapproved prescription drugs for personal use is a potentially dangerous practice,” the spokesperson said. “Neither the FDA nor the American public have any assurance that unapproved products are effective, safe or produced under current good manufacturing practices. Unapproved drugs may be contaminated, sub-potent, super-potent or counterfeit.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Best Product Finalist: Reconfigurable Robots
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/12/hackaday-prize-best-product-finalist-reconfigurable-robots/
Reconfigurable robots have been around for ages. One of the first and most popular reconfigurable robots came out of the MIT Media Lab, and last year, DTTO, a modular snake-like robot, won the 2016 Hackaday Prize. There’s a lot that can be learned from a robot that can turn from a walker to a swimmer to something that clambers over rough terrain, and [Salvador]’s EMME does just that. It’s a 3D printed robot and controller that’s the closest you can get to, ‘the Lego of robots’. All you need to do is plug some wheels into a controller and you’re off to the races.
Already, [Salvador] has on-road wheels for EMME, off-road wheels, above-water wheels, and submersible accessories. This is already an all-terrain robot that’s easy to put together and easy to control, but [Salvador] isn’t done yet. he’s working on new hardware based on the ESP32
EMME “Technology is not complicated”
https://hackaday.io/project/25462-emme-technology-is-not-complicated
He is a 3D printed robot and an example of a prototype who represents a new form of sketching, design, and create
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wooden Domino Laying Machine
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/12/wooden-domino-laying-machine/
[Matthias Wandel] has come up with another awesome machine, this time a machine that sets up neat rows of dominos. If you’ve followed [Matthias]’s work over the years then you’ll know that this is a wooden version of one he made out of LEGO® back in 2009.
In true [Matthias] fashion he uses just the one motor both for moving the machine along and for pushing the dominos in place.
Wooden domino row building machine
http://woodgears.ca/domino/wooden.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Turning and Burning with a CNC Pyrography Machine
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/11/turning-and-burning-with-a-cnc-pyrography-machine/
With CNC machines, generally the more axes the better. Three-axis machines with a vertical quill over a rectangular workspace are de rigueur, and adding an axis or two can really step up the flexibility of a machine. But can only two axes be of any use? Sure can, as witnessed by this two-axis CNC wood burning machine.
I made a CNC Wood Burner with Raspberry Pi
https://imgur.com/gallery/ATy69
Tomi Engdahl says:
Do You Have An Endangered Craft?
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/11/do-you-have-an-endangered-craft/
It is probably fair to say that as Hackaday readers, you will all be people with the ability to make things. Some of you can make incredible things, as your writers we are in constant awe of the projects that pass through our hands. But even if you feel that your skills in the maker department aren’t particularly elite, you’ll have a propensity for work in this direction or you wouldn’t be here.
Most of the craft we feature involves technologies that are still very modern indeed to the majority of the population. We for example know that the first 3D printers were built decades ago and that we take them for granted on our benches, but to the Man In The Street they are still right up there with flying cars and time-travelling police telephone boxes.
We use 3D printers and microcontrollers because they are the tools of our age, but how different might our crafts have been if we’d been born a few centuries ago? Apprenticed to a master craftsman as teenagers, we (well, at least you boys!) would have learned a single craft to a high level of expertise, making by hand the day-to-day products of life in those times.
the Heritage Crafts Association in the UK has published a list of dying crafts
http://heritagecrafts.org.uk/redlist/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: FabDoc is Version Control for Project Images
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/11/hackaday-prize-entry-fabdoc-is-version-control-for-project-images/
FabDoc is an interesting concept that attempts to tackle a problem many of us didn’t realize we had. There are plenty of version control systems for software, but many projects also have a hardware element or assembly process. Those physical elements need to be documented, but that process does not easily fit the tools that make software development and collaboration easier. [Kevin Cheng] sums FabDoc up as “a system to capture time-lapse pictures as pre-commits.”
With FabDoc a camera automatically records the physical development process, allowing the developer to focus on work and review later. The images from the camera are treated as pre-commits. Upon review, the developer selects relevant key images (ignoring dead ends or false starts) and commits them. It’s a version control and commit system for the physical part of the development process.
FabDoc – Version Control Tool for makers
https://hackaday.io/project/21458-fabdoc-version-control-tool-for-makers
Simplify the way of documenting projects in software and hardware, based on Raspberry Pi Zero and camera module
Tomi Engdahl says:
Origaime (Cardware-bis)
https://hackaday.io/project/20876-origaime-cardware-bis
An educational system designed to bring AI and complex
robotics into the home and school on a budget.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Idunn Goddess
DIY and How-To
http://idunngoddess.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
FabDoc – Version Control Tool for makers
https://hackaday.io/project/21458-fabdoc-version-control-tool-for-makers
Simplify the way of documenting projects in software and hardware, based on Raspberry Pi Zero and camera module
We are all facing a lot of works of documentation beyond making, especially when we would like to share and collaboratively develop “hardware” projects.
There are too many version control system (VCS) tools for “software” projects so that we could fortunately join any large-scale software projects, such as Linux, if they are open source. But what happen to “hardware” projects? Can we enlarge the scale of these projects with VCS tools?
There are too many physical details (materials, machines, parameters…) which should be well-documented before cooperating, but unfortunately cannot be easily digitized into documentation or VCS.
We are trying to hack the way of documenting for all of makers’ projects, simply with Raspberry Pi + camera module, and an experimental platform.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Pouring 1200° Tea: Foundry in a Fire Extinguisher
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/15/pouring-1200-tea-foundry-in-a-fire-extinguisher/
Let’s face it — the design of most home foundries leaves something to be desired. Most foundries are great at melting metal, but when it comes to pouring the melt, awkward handling can easily lead to horrific results. That’s why we appreciate the thought that went into this electric melting pot foundry.
The body is a decapitated fire extinguisher, while the crucible appears to just be a length of steel pipe. An electric stove heating element is wrapped around the crucible, PID control of which is taken care of by an external controller and solid state relay. Insulated with Pearlite and provided with a handle, pours are now as safe as making a nice cup of 1200° tea.
DELUXE ELECTRIC MELTING POT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooVUir_V2DM
Tomi Engdahl says:
A gas model made of magnets
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/15/a-gas-model-made-of-magnets/
Magnets are great stuff and everyone loves them, there are so many things you can do with them, including creating a model of the crystalline structure of solids, just as [Cody´sLab] did using a bunch of magnets inside a pair of plexiglass sheets.
Modeling a Gas With Magnets
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNCIp3fm7V0
Tomi Engdahl says:
Celebrating the Engineer
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1332161&
You would think my inbox would be flooded with stories of unsung engineers who have done cool things. Nope.
I probably get at least a dozen pitches for new products every work day. It’s rare any of them mentions the individual engineers and the a-ha! moments behind them. Instead I hear a lot about companies and their achievements.
Products and the companies that produce them are fundamental to electronics. But so are the people. And as much as we love gadgets — God knows where I’d be without the iPhone I wrote the first draft of this article on! — people are even more interesting.
I know these days products are designed by teams of teams, often extending across supply chains of companies. Still, each engineer along the way has a story to tell, and more of them ought to be heard.
Tomi Engdahl says:
GuitarBot Brings Together Art and Engineering
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/15/guitarbot-brings-together-art-and-engineering/
Not only does the GuitarBot project show off some great design, but the care given to the documentation and directions is wonderful to see. The GuitarBot is an initiative by three University of Delaware professors, [Dustyn Roberts], [Troy Richards], and [Ashley Pigford] to introduce their students to ‘Artgineering’, a beautiful portmanteau of ‘art’ and ‘engineering’.
GuitarBot
http://www.instructables.com/id/GuitarBot/
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Great Way to Make Quick and Easy Knobs
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/16/a-great-way-to-make-quick-and-easy-knobs/
Here’s a great way to quickly and easily make attractive and functional knobs with no tools required. All you need is some casting resin (epoxy would do in a pinch), a silicone mold intended for candy, and some socket head bolts. With the right preparation and a bit of careful placement and attention, smooth and functional knob ends are only minutes away. Embedded below is a short video demonstrating the process.
These may not replace purpose-made knobs for final products, but for prototypes or to use around the shop on jigs, clamps, or furniture they certainly fit the bill. With a layer of adhesive fabric or rubber, they might even make serviceable adjustable feet for low-stress loads.
Quick / Easy Knobs (using epoxy)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBBqvF8koJI
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: InspectorBot Aims to Look Underneath
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/17/hackaday-prize-entry-inspectorbot-aims-to-look-underneath/
Why bother crawling into that tiny sewer tunnel and getting coated in Cthulhu knows what — not to mention possibly getting stuck — when you can roll a robot in there instead? That’s what InspectorBot does. It’s [Dennis]’ entry for The Hackaday Prize and a finalist for our Best Product competition.
InspectorBot is a low-profile rover designed to check out the dark recesses of sewers, crawlspaces, and other icky places where humans either won’t fit or don’t want to go. Armed with a Raspberry Pi computer, it sports a high-definition camera pointed up and a regular webcam pointing forward for navigation. It uses point-to-point WiFi for communication and rocks all-wheel drive controlled by a pair of L293D motor drivers.
InspectorBot
https://hackaday.io/project/25581-inspectorbot
An open source robot to inspect under vehicles, crawl spaces and any other dark dirty space you need to take a look at.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Logic Gates Under (Air) Pressure
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/19/logic-gates-under-air-pressure/
We’ve always been fascinated at the number of ways logic gates can spring into being. Sure, we think of logic gates carrying electrons, but there are so many other mechanical means to do the same thing. Another method that sometimes has a practical use is fluidic or pneumatic logic. We guess [dAcid] has a similar interest since he’s written two posts on how to construct the gates. One post covers making them with ordinary tools. The other requires an SLA printer.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lasering Axonometric Fonts
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/18/lasering-axonometric-fonts/
I am something of an Inkscape fan. If you’re not familiar with the application, it’s like an Open Source version of Adobe Illustrator. Back when I was a production artist I’d been an Illustrator master ninja but it’s been four years and my skills are rusty. Plus, Inkscape is just enough different in terms of menus and capabilities that I had a hard time adapting.
So I created some wooden lettering with the help of Inkscape and a laser cutter, and I’m going to show you how I did it. If you’re interested in following along with this project, you can find it on Hackaday.io.
While playing around with Inkscape, I noticed you can create a variety of grids, including axonometric grids. This term refers to the horizon lines in an orthographic projection. In other words, it helps make things look 3D by providing perspective lines.
Axonometric Typeface
Millable/laserable/printable lettering that looks cool.
https://hackaday.io/project/25945-axonometric-typeface
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: SafeRanger, a Roving Power Plant Monitor
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/20/hackaday-prize-entry-saferanger-a-roving-power-plant-monitor/
Engineering student [Varun Suresh] designed his SafeRanger rover to inspect oil and gas power plants for abnormal temperatures as well as gas leaks. The rover explores critical areas of the factory, and data is sent to a control center for analysis.
[Varun] built his robot around a Devastator chassis kit from DFRobot, and equipped it with a FLIR Lepton thermal camera and an MQ2 gas sensor, both monitored by a Raspberry Pi. The twin brushless DC motors are controlled by an L293D motor driver IC in conjunction with an Arduino Nano; steering is accomplished with an HC-05 Bluetooth module and a mobile app.
SafeRanger
Thermal vision and Gas sensor based rover to detect abnormal Temperature and Gas Leaks
https://hackaday.io/project/25747-saferanger
A semi-autonomous miniature multispectral diagnostic Bluetooth controlled tank based rover which can monitor heating of valves using Thermal Camera and monitor gas leaks in oil and gas power plants.
The thermal data is sent to the control center through VNC, a Wi-Fi server with which alerts or guidance can be in turn provided to the technician, so that necessary steps can be taken.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: Engine Control Units and Arduinos
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/19/hackaday-prize-entry-engine-control-units-and-arduinos/
The modern internal combustion engine is an engineering marvel. We’re light-years ahead of simple big blocks and carburetors, and now there are very fast, very capable computers sensing adjusting the spark timing, monitoring the throttle position, and providing a specific amount of power to the wheels at any one time. For the last few years [Josh] has been building a fully-featured engine management system, and now he’s entered it in the Hackaday Prize.
The Speeduino project is, as the name would suggest, built around the Arduino platform. In this case, an Arduino Mega. The number of pins and PWMs is important — the Speeduino is capable of running the fuel and ignition for eight cylinder engines.
Speeduino
https://hackaday.io/project/4413-speeduino
The Arduino ECU / EMS Project.
Open, cheap, hacker friendly engine management
Tomi Engdahl says:
Logic Gates Under (Air) Pressure
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/19/logic-gates-under-air-pressure/
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to make a real PROJECTOR Full HD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp8HIf5eUpo
DIY PROJECTOR Full HD (finish)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrORufDNgOs
Tomi Engdahl says:
Open Source Modular Rocket Avionics Package
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/21/open-source-modular-rocket-avionics-package/
Cambridge postgraduate student [Adam Greig] helped design a rocket avionics system consisting of a series of disc-shaped PCBs arranged in a stack. There’s a lot that went into the system and you can get a good look at it all through the flickr album.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Detailed Guide for 3D Printing Enclosures
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/21/a-detailed-guide-for-3d-printing-enclosures/
We’ve all have projects that are done, but not complete. They work, but they’re just a few PCBs wired together precariously on our desks. But fear not! A true maker’s blog has gifted us with a detailed step-by-step guide on how to make a project enclosure.
3D Printing an Enclosure – Finishing an Arduino Project in Style
http://www.whatimade.today/3d-printing-experiences-finishing-a-project-in-style/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: Staircane, a Walker That Takes the Stairs
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/22/hackaday-prize-entry-staircane-a-walker-that-takes-the-stairs/
[Jim]’s aunt has lived in the same house for the last 50 years. She loves it there, and she wants to stay as long as possible. There’s a big problem, though. The house has several staircases, and they are all beginning to disagree with her. Enter Staircane, [Jim]’s elegant solution that adds extendable legs to any standard walker.
Most of the time, walkers serve their purpose quite well. But once you encounter uneven ground or a staircase, they show their limitations. The idea behind Staircane is a simple one: quickly extend the back or front legs of a walker depending on the situation, and do so in unison. Staircane uses one button for each set of legs.
Staircane
https://hackaday.io/project/21841-staircane
Our device will allow people who use a walker to easily climb up and down stairs with the assistance of the Staircane.
Tomi Engdahl says:
From Foot Pump Cylinders To Pneumatic Robot Fighting Arm
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/23/from-foot-pump-cylinders-to-pneumatic-robot-fighting-arm/
[James Bruton] is well known for making robots using electric motors but he’s decided to try his hand at using pneumatics in order to make a fighting robot. The pneumatic cylinders will be used to give it two powerful punching arms. In true [James Bruton] fashion, he’s started with some experiments first, using the pneumatic cylinders from foot pumps. The cylinders he’s tried so far are taken out of single cylinder foot pumps from Halfords Essentials, costing only £6.29, around $8.11 US. That’s far cheaper than a commercial pneumatic cylinder, and perfectly adequate for this first step.
Pneumatic Fighting Robot Concept | XRobots
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCZEyPXdgds
Tomi Engdahl says:
So, You’ve Never Made A Spaceframe Before
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/23/so-youve-never-made-a-spaceframe-before/
It is sometimes a surprise in our community of tinkerers, builders, hackers, and makers, to find that there are other communities doing very similar things to us within their own confines, but in isolation to ours. A good example are the modified vehicle crowd. In their world there are some epic build stories and the skills and tools they take for granted would not in any way be unfamiliar to most Hackaday readers.
As part of a discussion about electric vehicles near where this is being written, someone tossed an interesting link from that quarter into the mix; a two-part treatise on building ultra-light-weight tubular frame vehicles. Or space frames, as you might know them.
Building Ultra Light-Weight Tubular Frame Vehicles, Part 1
DIY building of very light vehicles from steel tube
http://www.autospeed.com/cms/article.html?A=112928
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mostly Printed CNC Build
This is a build log for the Vicious Circle MPCNC machine
https://hackaday.io/project/20547-mostly-printed-cnc-build
build of the famous MPCNC. I plan to use a droptable for 3D printing, and keep the CNC functionality intact as well. Check out this video to see my inspiration!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJfYTv88YvI
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printed Robotic Arms for Sign Language
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/24/3d-printed-robotic-arms-for-sign-language/
A team of students in Antwerp, Belgium are responsible for Project Aslan, which is exploring the feasibility of using 3D printed robotic arms for assisting with and translating sign language. The idea came from the fact that sign language translators are few and far between, and it’s a task that robots may be able to help with. In addition to translation, robots may be able to assist with teaching sign language as well.
The project set out to use 3D printing and other technology to explore whether low-cost robotic signing could be of any use.
http://en.projectaslan.be/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Remote Controlled Nerf Bomb
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/24/remote-controlled-nerf-bomb/
If you are a Nerf enthusiast, then you’ll appreciate [Giaco Whatever]’s CO2-powered remote-control Nerf bomb as an analogue of that Quake gravity well. It fires twelve darts at the press of a button on an infra-red remote control. The firing tubes sit in a nicely machined manifold connected via a solenoid valve to a little CO2 gas bottle.
NERF WAR: The BOMB & NERF GUNS MOVIE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2cfl3NLdtY
Tomi Engdahl says:
Custom Cut Pinwheel Makes a Useful HVAC Duct Flow Meter
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/25/custom-cut-pinwheel-makes-a-useful-hvac-duct-flow-meter/
Everyone is familiar with pinwheels, and few of us haven’t crafted one from a square of paper, a stick, and a pin. Pinwheels are pretty optimized from a design standpoint, and are so cheap and easy to build that putting a pinwheel to work as an HVAC duct flow meter seems like a great idea.
Great in theory, perhaps, but as [ItMightBeWorse] found out, a homemade pinwheel is far from an ideal anemometer. His experiments in air duct flow measurements, which previously delved into ultrasonic flow measurement, led him to try mechanical means.
Homemade mechanical air flow measure device
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZzbtLPVkeM
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Disc Shooter For When Rubber Bands Or Nerf Darts Aren’t Enough
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/25/a-disc-shooter-for-when-rubber-bands-or-nerf-darts-arent-enough/
There are times in everybody’s life when they feel the need to shoot at things in a harmless manner. For those moments there are rubber bands and Nerf darts, but even then they feel like mere toys. If that is the point at which you find yourself, then maybe [Austin]’s home-made electric disc shooter can help.
Operation of the shooter is simple enough. A stack of 3D-printed plastic discs is loaded into a tubular magazine, from which individual disks are nudged by a motor-driven cam controlled by the trigger. Once the disc leaves the magazine it reaches a vacuum cleaner belt driven by a much more powerful motor, that accelerates the disc to ejection velocity.
EPIC Homemade Disc Shooter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgaQ2l9lc0E
Tomi Engdahl says:
Design and 3D Print Robots with Interactive Robogami
http://hackaday.com/2017/08/26/design-and-3d-print-robots-with-interactive-robogami/
Robot design traditionally separates the body geometry from the mechanics of the gait, but they both have a profound effect upon one another. What if you could play with both at once, and crank out useful prototypes cheaply using just about any old 3D printer? That’s where Interactive Robogami comes in. It’s a tool from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) that aims to let people design, simulate, and then build simple robots with a “3D print, then fold” approach. The idea behind the system is partly to take advantage of the rapid prototyping afforded by 3D printers, but mainly it’s to change how the design work is done.
Robogami: 3D Printing Foldable Robots
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvNUpQWft1I