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:
Shmoocon 2016: Reverse Engineering Cheap Chinese Radio Firmware
http://hackaday.com/2016/01/19/shmoocon-2016-reverse-engineering-cheap-chinese-radio-firmware/
Every once in a great while, a piece of radio gear catches the attention of a prolific hardware guru and is reverse engineered. A few years ago, it was the RTL-SDR, and since then, software defined radios became the next big thing. Last weekend at Shmoocon, [Travis Goodspeed] presented his reverse engineering of the Tytera MD380 digital handheld radio. The hack has since been published in PoC||GTFO 0×10 (56MB PDF, mirrored) with all the gory details that turn a $140 radio into the first hardware scanner for digital mobile radio.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hacking a USB Port Onto an Old Router
http://hackaday.com/2016/01/26/hacking-a-usb-port-onto-an-old-router/
Sometimes hacks don’t have to be innovative to be satisfying. We thought that [daffy]’s instructions and video (embedded below the break) for turning an old WRT54G router into an Internet radio were worth a look even if he’s following a well-traveled path and one that we’ve reported on way back when.
The hack itself is simple. [daffy] locates unused USB data lines, adds in a 5V voltage regulator to supply USB bus power, and then connects it all to a USB sound card. Hardware side, done! And while he doesn’t cover the software side of things in this first video, we know where he’s headed.
The WRT54G router was the first commodity Linux-based router to be extensively hacked, and have open-source firmware written for it. If you’re using OpenWRT or dd-wrt on any of your devices, you owe a debt to the early rootability of the WRT54G.
Our favorite WRT54G hack is still an oldie: turning a WRT54G into the brains for a robot.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Interesting Kickstarter: Electronic Hobby Projects Delivered to Your Door
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=216&doc_id=1328760&
Imagine each month an orange box arriving at your door containing the components and instructions to build that month’s electronic hobby project.
As I’ve mentioned on many an occasion, I’m very much enthused by the Maker movement in general, and by bringing younger folks like high school kids into the Maker community in particular (see also Mega-cool computer-controlled 3D carving machines).
Thus, I was jolly excited to hear about This Kickstarter Project, which was launched by the folks at Thimble Electronics.
The idea behind Thimble is that it’s a monthly subscription service. Every month, an orange box will be delivered to your door. Each box contains the components and instructions to build that month’s project (they are also going to offer tool kits and suchlike on the main Thimble website for absolute beginners who don’t have anything to hand).
They also have a learning app that provides step-by-step tutorials detailing the construction of each project. Speaking of which, the first project is going to be a Wi-Fi robot. In the case of older kids, they could simple pick this up and run with it (I would have given anything to have this sort of thing to look forward to each month when I was ~15 years old). For younger members of the community, this is would provide an excellent vehicle (no pun intended) for some parent-child quality time.
The second kit is going to be an RGB LED cube with an integrated 9DOF (nine degree-of-freedom) sensor featuring a 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis gyroscope, and 3-axis magnetometer. As each new kit leaps onto the scene, the mobile app will be updated with a new tab, so you will use the same app to control all of your Thimble projects.
http://www.thimble.io/
Tomi Engdahl says:
DIY Pick and Place
A cartesian PNP machine using Rails/Carriages for high speed and accurate part placement. Affordable pick and place is on the way.
https://hackaday.io/project/9319-diy-pick-and-place
Tomi Engdahl says:
Artificial glow fish
Glows like a living bio-luminescent deep sea creature in a miniature fish tank!
https://hackaday.io/project/9312-artificial-glow-fish
A lot of deep-sea creatures —including fish, shrimp, coral, and anemones— have been found to make their own light. Today we synthesize an artificial species of luminescent creatures, based on 5-Amino-2,3-dihydro-1,4-phthalazinedione, better known as luminol…
Tomi Engdahl says:
I Built Myself a 16×20-Inch Camera in 10 Hours
http://hackaday.com/2016/01/27/i-built-myself-a-16×20-inch-camera-in-10-hours/
[Giles Clement] was avoiding work in a bar, nursing a pint, and doodling a sketch for a camera. He looked at his sketch, thought, “gee, that looks better than answering emails,” and called his friend. An hour later they were at home depot buying supplies, and ten hours of furious work later, they had a camera. Nothing gets a project done like avoiding work!
The camera is built around a 500mm f/4.5 Goerz Dogmar lens from around 1918 and was apparently used for aerial recon out of blimps. The frame of the camera is pine and plywood. [Giles] had heard that building the bellows for these cameras had taken other hobbyists months and thousands of dollars. Rather than elaborately folded fabric, he supported his 6 mil plastic bellows on telescoping rigid rods. To view the image while he’s focusing it, he sanded a plate of glass with 100 grit sandpaper to serve as a view screen.
Once the camera was completed, they prepared the plates and exposed photos.
I Built Myself a 16×20-Inch Camera in 10 Hours
http://petapixel.com/2016/01/19/i-built-myself-a-16×20-inch-camera-in-10-hours/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Augmented Reality Ultrasound
http://hackaday.com/2016/01/27/augmented-reality-ultrasound/
Think of Virtual Reality and it’s mostly fun and games that come to mind. But there’s a lot of useful, real world applications that will soon open up exciting possibilities in areas such as medicine, for example. [Victor] from the Shackspace hacker space in Stuttgart built an Augmented Reality Ultrasound scanning application to demonstrate such possibilities.
But first off, we cannot get over how it’s possible to go dumpster diving and return with a functional ultrasound machine!
As soon as the ultrasound scanner registers with the VR app, possibly using the image taped to the scan sensor, the scanner data is projected virtually under the echo sensor
Augmented Reality Ultrasound
http://shackspace.de/?p=5339
Now Victor reported back in. The machine is working and he managed to implement his idea: augmented reality ultrasound!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cheap WiFi Devices are Hardware Hacker Gold
http://hackaday.com/2016/01/27/cheap-wifi-devices-are-hardware-hacker-gold/
Cheap consumer WiFi devices are great for at least three reasons. First, they almost all run an embedded Linux distribution. Second, they’re cheap. If you’re going to break a couple devices in the process of breaking into the things, it’s nice to be able to do so without financial fears. And third, they’re often produced on such low margins that security is an expense that the manufacturers just can’t stomach — meaning they’re often trivially easy to get into.
Case in point: [q3k] sent in this hack of a tiny WiFi-enabled SD card reader device that he and his compatriots [emeryth] and [informatic] worked out with the help of some early work by [Benjamin Henrion]. The device in question is USB bus-powered, and sports an SD card reader and an AR9331 WiFi SOC inside. It’s intended to supply wireless SD card support to a cell phone that doesn’t have enough on-board storage.
The hack begins with [Benajmin] finding a telnet prompt on port 11880 and simply logging in as root
From here [q3k] and co. took over and ported OpenWRT to the device and documented where its serial port and GPIOs are broken out on the physical board. But that’s not all.
Nice hack!
Hacking the Zsun WiFi SD Card Reader
https://wiki.hackerspace.pl/projects:zsun-wifi-card-reader
The goal of this project is to learn as much as possible about the Zsun WiFi card reader and run OpenWrt on it to turn it into an awesome wifi device.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AND!XOR DEFCON 24 Badge
Building our own electronic badge. ARM Cortex M3 and Arduino based
https://hackaday.io/project/9064-andxor-defcon-24-badge
We’re building our own electronic badge. Goal is to provide some great hardware and a free tool chain for easy hacking.
Basic features include LEDs, RF, and an OLED screen plus anything else people want to add.
Building a hackable, open badge for use at DEFCON and other conferences. Purpose is to put some really awesome hardware around the necks of a bunch of hackers and see what they come up with. The badges will have blinky lights, an awesome MCU, RF, and lots of IO.
Hardware and software will be published as we finish functional testing components and start prototyping.
As a stretch goal, we want the badge to interact with other badges such as HADGE and the DEFCON 24 badge.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Flowing Pixels of Time Wait for No Man
http://hackaday.com/2016/01/28/the-flowing-pixels-of-time-wait-for-no-man/
The hourglass dramatically depicts the flow of time; gravity pulling grains of sand inevitably downward. So it is with the Bits of Time project by [Frank Andre]. The pixels drop, stopping only when the battery dies. Or, when your eggs are ready.
http://fab4u.de/en/projects/bits_of_time/start
Tomi Engdahl says:
Super Slick, Super Portable Styrofoam Slicer
http://hackaday.com/2016/01/28/super-slick-super-portable-styrofoam-slicer/
Starting with a simple PVC tubing frame to form the bow of the cutter, the rig ends up looking a little like a scroll saw when [Random] is done with it. A generous work surface sits atop a wood frame, which houses the electrics. A light dimmer and step-down transformer control the cutting wire’s temperature, and the bow even pivots to allow the wire to make miter cuts.
How To Make The “Styro-Slicer”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2n_EbRzZ0g
Tomi Engdahl says:
Move Over Red Bull, Hot Wire Foam Cutter Now Gives You Wings
https://hackaday.com/2015/05/14/move-over-red-bull-hot-wire-foam-cutter-now-gives-you-wings/
Not many people will argue with flying RC airplanes is super fun. One big bummer is when a crash damages a part beyond repair. Sure, the RC pilot could keep buying replacement parts but doing so will add up after a while. RC plane builder and general guy with a cool name, [HuckinChikn], decided to build a hot wire foam cutter so making replacement wings would be quick and cheap.
DIY Hot Wire Foam cutter build!
http://www.flyinggiants.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51562
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rube Goldberg PC/Console Game Hack
http://hackaday.com/2016/01/28/rube-goldberg-pcconsole-game-hack/
There’s no holy war holier than establishing whether PC games are superior to console games (they are). But even so, there’s no denying that there are some good console titles out there. What if you’d still like to play them using a mouse and keyboard? If you’re [Agent86], you’d build up the most ridiculous chain of fun electronics to get the job done.
Now there is an overpriced off-the-shelf solution for this problem, and a pre-existing open-source project that’ll get the same job done for only a few bucks in parts. But there’s nothing like the fun in solving a problem your own way, with your own tangle of wires, darn it all! The details of the build span four (4!) pages in [Agent86]’s blog, so settle down with a warm cup of coffee.
Here’s the summary: an Xbox 360 controller is taken apart and turned into an Xbox controller. The buttons and joysticks are put under computer control via a Teensy microcontroller. GPIOs press the controller’s buttons, and digipots replace the analog sticks. Software on the Teensy drives the digipots and presses the buttons, interpreting a custom protocol sent over USB from the computer, which also gets some custom software to send the signals.
So if you’re keeping score: a button press on a keyboard is converted to USB, sent to a PC, converted to a custom serial protocol, sent to a Teensy which emulates a human for a controller that then coverts the signals back into the Xbox’s USB protocol. Pshwew!
Using a Mouse and Keyboard for Console Games
http://www.withoutthesarcasm.com/using-a-mouse-and-keyboard-for-console-games/
I play games everywhere – on PC and on consoles. I appreciate both the flexibility of the PC, and the no-nonsense simplicity of console gaming. However, sometimes I really want to use a mouse and keyboard to play games that are only available on consoles! In this article, I’ll show you how I modded a controller to allow me to use a mouse and keyboard with my Xbox One.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Old School Gauges Let You Know Which Way the Wind Blows
http://hackaday.com/2016/01/27/old-school-gauges-let-you-know-which-way-the-wind-blows/
Old School Analog Meters Tell you the Weather
http://hackaday.com/2015/12/07/old-school-analog-meters-tell-you-the-weather/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Building The Novena Laptop
http://hackaday.com/2016/01/30/building-the-novena-laptop/
The latest hardware project from [Bunnie] is the Novena, a truly open source laptop where nearly every part has non-NDA’d datasheets. This is the ideal laptop for hardware hacking – it has an FPGA right on the motherboard, a ton of pin headers, and a lot of extras that make interfacing with the outside world easy.
While the crowdfunding campaign for the Novena included a completely custom laptop, it was terribly expensive. That’s okay; it’s an heirloom laptop, and this is a DIY laptop anyway. With the Novena now shipping, it’s time for people to build their laptops. [Ben Heck] is the first person to throw his hat into the ring with his own build of the Novena laptop, and it’s fantastic.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Handheld Electronic Test And Measurement Lab
https://hackaday.io/project/9395-handheld-electronic-test-and-measurement-lab
Dual input 24 bit Multimeter with USB interface, single channel 10 bit USB oscilloscope, PWM out, 2 Ch Data-logger, R, C, Digital sniffer.
Tomi Engdahl says:
LED Tester Royale
http://hackaday.com/2016/01/29/led-tester-royale/
What do you get for the geek who has everything and likes LEDs? A tricked-out LED tester, naturally. [Dave Cook]’s deluxe model sports an LCD screen and two adjustable values: desired current and supply voltage. Dial these in, plug in your LED, and the tiny electronic brain inside figures out the resistor value that you need. How easy is that?
An LED tester can be as easy as a constant-current power supply
The new device does the math for you by adding an AVR ATtiny84 into the mix. The microcontroller reads the voltage that the constant current supply requires, does the above-mentioned subtraction and division, and displays the needed resistor. So simple.
Selecting An LED
http://robotroom.com/LEDTester.html
When selecting an LED for a project, there are several things I need to know:
1. What is the LED’s actual color when lit?
2. How much current is needed for the desired brightness?
3. What size resistor is needed to achieve that current/brightness?
4. Which wire lead on the LED is the anode (positive) and which is the cathode (negative)?
I suppose some of that information is specified on the LED’s datasheet, assuming I have it. But, whether or not I approve of the color and brightness for a project is purely subjective. And, computing the appropriate resistor value is not as easy as it might seem, since the LED’s voltage drop varies based on current. As such, this information is usually obtained by direct trial rather than from the datasheet.
Normally, I set my variable power supply to 5 V and attach the LED via alligator clips in series with a potentiometer (variable resistor). The potentiometer is turned until the desired brightness is achieved. Then, the circuit is powered off to measure the resistance of the potentiometer using a multimeter.
All of this can be a hassle
The LED tester uses a 9 V battery as a power source, which provides portability and doesn’t monopolize my bench variable power supply.
the circuit doesn’t consume any measurable power when idle, and only uses between 2 mA and 26 mA when briefly lighting an LED
The test PCB has two large flat test pads to touch the LED against, rather than alligator clips.
By turning a potentiometer, this LED tester can be adjusted to produce a steady current from 2 mA up to 26 mA — regardless of the voltage needed by the LED.
A two-pin header on the board is normally connected with a shorting jumper, which allows the current to flow into the test LED. With the jumper removed, the multimeter probes can be attached to the header pins to allow the current to first pass into the multimeter to be measured.
I hate it when a multimeter test hooks pop off a circuit, which is why these test point loops are made by connecting two holes (like ground-to-ground) on the PCB with a piece of wire. Wire loops are inexpensive ways of providing a sturdy connection for multimeter test hooks.
LED Test Tool with LCD Display
http://robotroom.com/LED-Tester-Pro-1.html
Many years ago, I built a handy compact LED testing tool based on the LM317L adjustable current regulator.
The problem with my original LED test tool is that I need a multimeter to measure the voltage of the LED. And, then I need a spreadsheet to calculate the resistance needed for that LED voltage with a given circuit voltage.
So, I decided to make an improved LED tester with LCD display!
The adjustment trimpots are on the end of the tester. The trimpot with the thumb dial is to indicate the target circuit voltage (usually 5 V or 3.3 V). The other trimpot requires a screwdriver, because it controls current, which I usually want to keep at 20 mA.
A 9V battery sits beneath the main board. The total stack is relatively compact
This circuit is very similar to the original LM317 constant current schematic, but with additional components to support measurement.
The microcontroller side of the circuit is just as simple as the current limiter.
Atmel ATtiny84 The microcontroller performs all of the measurements and calculations, and updates the display. As you can see, most of the pins are used for the LCD.
This microcontroller has 8 KB of memory, although the program takes less than 4 KB.
The LCD can be purchased from an auction site for less than $5. Search for ’8×2 LCD’.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Shmoocon 2016: Reverse Engineering Cheap Chinese Radio Firmware
http://hackaday.com/2016/01/19/shmoocon-2016-reverse-engineering-cheap-chinese-radio-firmware/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Need a Nano-Ammeter? You Already Have One!
http://hackaday.com/2016/02/01/need-a-nano-ammeter-you-already-have-one/
[Dannyelectronics] sometimes needs to measure tiny currents. Really tiny, like leakage currents through a capacitor. He’s built a few setups to make the measurements, but he also knew he’d sometimes want to take readings when he didn’t have his custom gear available. So he decided to see what he could do with an ordinary digital meter.
For example, on a Fluke 115 meter, [Danny] found that he could read up to 60nA with a resolution of 0.01nA. A Viktor 81D could resolve down to 2.5pA–a minuscule current indeed.
The Nano-Ammeter You Already Have
https://dannyelectronics.wordpress.com/2016/01/28/the-nano-ammeter-you-already-have/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hard Drive Disassembly is Easy and Rewarding
http://hackaday.com/2016/02/03/hard-drive-disassembly-is-easy-and-rewarding/
Have any dead hard drives kicking around? Hackaday alum [Jeremy Cook] shows how easy it is to disassemble a hard drive to scavenge its goodies. The hardest part is having the patience and the tools to get past all those screws that stand between you and the treasure inside.
The case screws are frequently of the Torx variety. Any self-respecting hacker probably has one or two of these already
How to Disassemble a Hard Drive
http://www.jcopro.net/2016/01/26/how-to-disassemble-a-hard-drive/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scenes from the desktop manufacturing revolution, part 2
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/diy-zone/4441264/Scenes-from-the-desktop-manufacturing-revolution–part-2?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20160202&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20160202&elq=ad0381294d1549d19ec8a243473ff60d&elqCampaignId=26790&elqaid=30634&elqat=1&elqTrackId=657cdab2c3ef4f31bc365af1272c3f27
Although desktop manufacturing technology is still relatively immature, it’s already enabling enterprising makers to quickly prototype their designs and, in some cases, support low-volume in-house production. The milling machine featured in part 1 of this series lets designers translate moderately-complex circuit designs into a raw PCB in a matter of minutes, but there’s still the matter of placing and soldering dozens, or even hundreds of tiny ICs, connectors, resistors, and other components.
In high-volume PCB assembly environments, a silk-screen-type stencil is used to apply a dot of solder paste to the raw PCB wherever it will contact a surface-mounted component’s lead. Next, high-speed robotic “pick-and-place” machines plop down the components onto the appropriate blobs of paste. The boards are then whisked into a “reflow oven” where the solder paste is heated just long enough to form secure connections between leads and circuit traces. In maker spaces and startups, a modified toaster oven often substitutes for a commercial unit but, until recently, the absence of an affordable alternative to commercial pick-and-place machines ($50K-$500K) meant that component placement was often painstakingly done by hand. If you are building complex prototypes with a few hundred components, this can be especially challenging because it’s hard to put down much more than 100 components per hour by hand and the solder paste typically has a maximum working life of three or four hours.
This frustrating situation is changing, however, as a growing number of determined hobbyists and business-minded tinkerers adapt many of the technologies already being successfully used in 3D printers to the challenges of creating an affordable pick-and-place machine. While neither as fast nor as capable as their commercial counterparts, these maker-class machines provide all of the basic functions needed to perform in-house PCB assembly for a small fraction of the cost of a commercially-sourced machine.
Scenes from the desktop manufacturing revolution, part 1
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/diy-zone/4440655/Scenes-from-the-desktop-manufacturing-revolution–part-1-
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vacuum? No, Tonight We Go To War Against the Dust Mite
http://hackaday.com/2016/02/01/vacuum-no-tonight-we-go-to-war-against-the-dust-mite/
For those of us lucky enough to own a Roomba, it makes taking care of dust in your house a breeze — but it could be better. Which is why [Marcel] spent his weekend upgrading his Roomba — or should we say, Doomba.
He started out with modest intentions.
I Don’t Vacuum. I Go to War With Dust.
http://www.marcelvarallo.com/i-dont-vacuum-i-go-to-war-with-dust/
People like to do very different things to relax. Not everyone’s the same. I’ve found that I enjoy building or trying any very silly ideas I may have had in passing though the day.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fully Printed CNC On an IKEA Table
http://hackaday.com/2016/02/02/fully-printed-cnc-on-an-ikea-table/
It seems that many 3D printer owners just aren’t getting the same buzz they used to off their 3D printers, and are taking steps to procure heavier machines. And making them in their home laboratories with, you guessed it, their 3D printers.
Following the pattern, [Michael Reitter], designed a 3D printable CNC around a IKEA MALM table.
We’re not certain how much plastic this build takes, but it looks to be a lot.
rBot – fully 3D printed CNC
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1195229
Tomi Engdahl says:
Joysix, Six Degree of Freedom Mouse Made From Retractable Key Rings
http://hackaday.com/2016/02/02/joysix-six-degree-of-freedom-mouse-made-from-retractable-key-rings/
[Nicolas Berger] submits his six degree of freedom mouse project. He hopes to do things like control a robot arm or fly an alien mothership.
We thought the construction was really neat; suspending a wooden ball in the middle of three retractable key rings. By moving the ball around you can control the motion of a cube displayed on the computer. We first thought this was done by encoders or potentiometers measuring the amount of string coming out of the key fobs. However, what’s actually happening is a little bit cleverer.
Joysix
A 6DoF electromechanical human-machine interface from key reels
https://hackaday.io/project/9354-joysix
By moving a wooden ball, you can manipulate a 3D cube on the screen.
May also be used to control a robotic arm, a quadcopter or a massive alien mothership.
This project explore a minimalistic build of a 6 DoF joystick. It also contains all the calculation to solve the kinematics.
The wooden ball is attached to the strings of three key reels. The potentiometers of the joysticks measure the angle formed by each string. The resulting values are transmitted by the microcontroller to the laptop via usb. A python program calculate in real time the exact position of the wooden ball from these values.
The result is a position that encode the rotation and the translation of the object.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Adding Position Control To An Open Source Brushless Motor Driver
http://hackaday.com/2016/02/04/adding-position-control-to-an-open-source-brushless-motor-driver/
Brushless motors are everywhere now. From RC planes to CNC machines, if you need a lot of power to spin something really fast, you’re probably going to use a brushless motor. A brushless motor requires a motor controller, and for most of us, this means cheap Electronic Speed Controllers (ESC) from a warehouse in China. [Ben] had a better idea: build his own ESC. He’s been working on this project for a while, and he’s polishing the design to implement a very cool feature – position control.
VESC – Open Source ESC
http://vedder.se/2015/01/vesc-open-source-esc/
Features
The hardware and software is open source. Since there are plenty of CPU-resources left, the customization possibilities are almost endless.
STM32F4 microcontroller.
DRV8302 MOSFET driver / buck converter / current shunt amplifier.
IRFS7530 MOEFETs (other FETs in the same package also fit).
5V 1A output for external electronics from the buck converter integrated on the DRV8302.
Voltage: 8V – 60V (Safe for 3S to 12S LiPo).
Current: Up to 240A for a couple of seconds or about 50A continuous depending on the temperature and air circulation around the PCB.
Firmware based on ChibiOS/RT.
PCB size: slightly less than 40mm x 60mm.
Current and voltage measurement on all phases.
Regenerative braking.
DC motors are also supported.
Sensored or sensorless operation.
Interface to control the motor: PPM signal (RC servo), analog, UART, I2C, USB or CAN-bus.
Wireless wii nunchuk (Nyko Kama) control through the I2C port. This is convenient for electric skateboards.
Optional PPM signal output.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tinijet — Affordable Waterjet Cutting At Home
http://hackaday.com/2016/02/04/tinijet-affordable-waterjet-cutting-at-home/
While laser cutting remains the dominant force for rapid prototyping anything made of plastic, MDF or wood, the real holy grail is the ability to cut metal — something most laser cutters are just not capable of.
In the industry, this is done using extremely high-powered laser cutters, plasma cutters, or water jet cutters. All of which are very pricey equipment for a hacker. Until now anyway. Introducing the Tinijet, the missing tool for affordable water jet cutting.
According to the spec sheet, the working area is only 300x300mm but it is capable of cutting up to 6mm aluminum, and 4mm thick steel or titanium. The operating pressure is a whopping 17,000 PSI or 1200 bar.
http://www.tinijet.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
This is How You Run a Hackathon: Tech Valley Center of Gravity
http://hackaday.com/2016/02/04/this-is-how-you-run-a-hackathon-tech-valley-center-of-gravity/
What’s not to love about a hackathon? The junk food and caffeine that fuel the weekend; the highs that come with success and the lows that come when the blue smoke is released; the desperate search for inspiration as the clock ticks away; nerve-wracking pitches to the judges, hoping against hope that everything works in the demo. Hackathons are the contact sport of the hacker world, bringing in top competitors and eager upstarts, and when done well you just might attract interested “civilians” and other newbies that will catch the hacking bug from what they witness.
Such was the scene at the Tech Valley Center of Gravity in Troy, NY over the last weekend of January. New for 2016, the CoG is hosting a series of four hardware hackathons this year, each with a different theme. This event’s theme was “Internet of Things”, and the call went out to any and all to come compete for bragging rights and over $1,000 in prizes. Incentives to compete included some big name corporate sponsors, like AT&T, and judging and mentoring provided by the likes of SparkFun’s [Jeff Branson].
Such above-ground working conditions might disquiet a few hackers, but I could instantly see the benefit to the arrangement: people just walk in off the street and look around to see what all the hubbub is. There’s immense value in that connection to the community, both in terms of recruiting new dues-paying members, but also in “normalizing” the public perception of hacking.
What if They Held a Hackathon and No One Showed Up?
CoG did well with their PR efforts in the run-up to the hackathon. [Erica Iannotti], the CoG’s board chairperson, headed the effort to get the Hackathon noticed, which included reaching out to Hackaday early in the run-up to the event.
Local media coverage was key to the event’s success as well. Not only were news outfits invited in during the hackathon, but there was good coverage beforehand too. The local morning TV news show set up a remote the day before to do cutaways every half hour,
Thirteen Teams, Five Awards
Thirteen teams formed up for the competition. Some of these were ad hoc teams where people just sort of showed up and pulled other folks in to work on ideas that were only half-baked at the start of the event. Some teams had a good idea of what they were going to work on and even had a bit of kit put together to start.
The big winner of the night was Flame Warden, which won the award for “Best Smart Building Solution” and “Most Likely to be Commercially Successful”. Inspired by the recent tragic carbon monoxide deaths
Basically an amped-up smoke detector with a suite of sensors, Flame Warden would watch a room for signs of fire – CO levels, smoke particles, and image analysis of visible flames.
Another of my favorites and winner of the “Best Smart Transportation Solution” was the 4G Earth Rover by the one-man team of [Drew Pilcher].
Other awards were the “Best Smart Healthcare Solution”, awarded to [Chris] and [Robert] for their Photon-based WiFi-enabled air quality monitoring system; “Best Smart City Solution” for [Amanda], [Arsal], [Htoo] and [Gab] for their “Noisy or Nice” street noise monitoring device;
Tomi Engdahl says:
Build Yourself an Awesome Modular Power Supply
http://hackaday.com/2016/02/06/build-yourself-an-awesome-modular-power-supply/
You may think you’ve built a power supply for your bench. Heck, we all do. But until you check out [Denis]’s bench power supply build, you may not even know what you’re missing.
[Denis]’s design is nearly entirely modular and targeted to the intermediate builder. It’s built on easily available parts and through-hole components. It’s got an Arduino running as the brains, so you’re going to be able to hack on the code when you feel like tweaking it. But easy doesn’t mean light on features.
http://www.envox.hr/eez/bench-power-supply/psu-introduction.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Another Use for Old Hard Drive Parts: Anemometer
http://hackaday.com/2016/02/07/another-use-for-old-hard-drive-parts-anemometer/
So you’ve just taken apart a hard drive, and you’re looking at all the pieces on your desktop. You’re somehow compelled to use them all in different projects. Why not pull out that very high quality bearing that keeps the platters spinning at high RPMs and build this simple anemometer with it? That’s what [Sergei Bezrukov] did, and it looks like a perfect el cheapo project.
Building an Anemometer
http://mcs.uwsuper.edu/sb/Electronics/Wind/
This project will use PIC to measure wind speed, air temperature, and humidity. We start with some mechanics and build a device for catching wind and converting its speed into a series of impulses, whose frequency is proportional to the wind speed.
I found the ping-pong balls used as cups in some projects are too fragile and won’t survive strong winds that we sometimes get here at the Great Lakes Shore. The Easter Egg hulls are more reliable, but I could find any in stores at this time (August). However, there are plenty of semi-sphere shaped items in any grocery store.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Thermaltake Gets On The 3D Printing Bandwagon
http://hackaday.com/2016/02/08/thermaltake-gets-on-the-3d-printing-bandwagon/
We’re interested by a move from Thermaltake, a manufacturer of computer cases, fans, and power supplies. Thermaltake has released a computer case designed to be modded by those with a 3D printer. They released a set of models that fits the new case. These are all hosted on a service much like Thingiverse. So if you want a single SSD or a whole rack, print the model. Watercooling? There’s a model for that. In concept, it’s very cool.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Local Hacker Discovers Card Edge Connectors
http://hackaday.com/2016/02/08/local-hacker-discovers-card-edge-connectors/
When [turingbirds] was looking around for the absolute minimum connector for a JTAG adapter, he wanted something small, that didn’t require expensive adapters, and that could easily and reliably connect a few JTAG pins to a programmer. This, unsurprisingly, is a problem that’s been solved many times over, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement. [turingbirds] found his better solution by looking at some old card edge connectors.
Instead of 0.1″ pitch pin headers, weirder and more expensive connectors, the Tag Connect, or even pogo pins, [turingbirds] came up with a JTAG adapter that required no additional parts, had a small footprint, and could be constructed out of trash usually found behind any busy hackerspace or garage. The connector is based on the venerable PCI connector, chopped up with a Dremel and soldered to a JTAG or ISP programmer.
https://github.com/turingbirds/con-pcb-slot
Tomi Engdahl says:
Headers or No Headers?
Some surprising findings about a recent product release
https://www.sparkfun.com/news/2027
The boards sell for the same price, but our own engineers design PCBs and most often prefer boards without connectors populated, as they need to solder in connectors or wires in any orientation they need. A number of SparkFun production techs are expert solderers and can solder as well as most of us walk and never have to endure the pain of having to remove pins and solder from a board.
There are also a multitude of 0.1” spaced headers out there, and that often factors into our decision not to include headers. By leaving the vias open, we give the customer the freedom to use the headers they feel will best work for them.
A board without headers is also ultra-thin and lightweight, and can more seamlessly fit into a completed project.
For these reasons, we have come to believe that a majority of our maker audience prefers to hand solder pins according to their own specifications.
However, we do understand that beginners can get into a mess as they learn how to solder, and can even fry a few boards along the way.
Another reason we make some boards with headers is to make prototyping (and breadboarding) easier. Boards with headers are good for those who want to plug in shields without any soldering.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Calling all Designers, Makers, and Clever Thinkers
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/now-hear-this/4441350/Calling-all-Designers–Makers–and-Clever-Thinkers?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_funfriday_20160205&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_funfriday_20160205&elq=8d49be7a299c4823a09ece4026cd4c8a&elqCampaignId=26858&elqaid=30709&elqat=1&elqTrackId=ebcc9ea986cd42d68dba2392a90d29a9
Designers of Things is coming to New York in June–Will you be in the audience or at the podium?
Wearable tech, 3D printing, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are coming into their own, and we’re all hearing about new, inventive ways to use these emerging technologies. Help to further the speed of innovation by sharing your experiences at Designers of Things (DoT) on June 16, 2016, a day of focused content within the Atlantic Design & Manufacturing conference at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.
The DoT Call for Proposals just opened.
http://dotnyc.c4p.eesubs.com/?_mc=WE_EDN_EDT_TEXT
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Triumph of Open Design and the Birth of a FormLabs Aftermarket
http://hackaday.com/2016/02/10/the-triumph-of-open-design-and-the-birth-of-a-formlabs-aftermarket/
Whilst designing hardware, it’s easy to shut the doors, close the blinds, and bury ourselves deeply into an after-hours design session. Although it’s tempting to fly solo, it’s likely that we’ll encounter bugs that others have handled, or perhaps we’ll realize that we forgot to add a handy feature that someone else could’ve noticed before we sent the darned PCB files out for fab. All that said, if we probe the community around us and ask for feedback, we can produce a project that’s far more functional and feature-complete in less time than if we were to design solo. Who knows? With enough eyes giving feedback on your project, maybe others will get excited enough to want one for themselves! [Andrew Werby] and [Zak Timan] on the FormLabs forums did just that: through months of iterative design and discussion on the FormLabs forums, they’ve created the first 3rd party glass resin tank that’s altogether sturdier, longer-lasting, more scratch-resistant, and less distorting than the original resin tank. And guess what? After months of trials through a few brave customers, you too can be the proud owner such a tank as they’re now up for sale on [Zak’s] website.
https://www.zvatindustries.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Women devs – want your pull requests accepted? Just don’t tell anyone you’re a girl
Did you pull last night? … Code. We’re talking about code
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/11/female_devs_experience_discrimination/
A new study has found that women are more likely than men to have their open-source software contributions accepted – but only when their gender is hidden from project leaders.
The study from North Carolina State University and Cal Poly examined code committed by more than 1.4 million GitHub users and their contributions to various open-source projects on the source-code repository service.
The researchers found that women have their pull requests (or suggested changes to code) accepted by project owners more often than men overall across all programming languages, with one important caveat: acceptance rates for women drop lower than those of men when their gender is made known.
The researchers noted that familiarity plays a major role in showing the bias. When contributions from “insiders” who were known and trusted within a project were analysed, the gender differences disappeared.
In short, as a whole women contribute more successful submissions to GitHub than men do, but when faced with the choice between the submissions of a man and a woman, a project leader is more apt to use code from a man.
As a result, the researchers suggest that overall, the women contributing code to GitHub are more competent than their male counterparts, with the theory being that higher attrition rates for women in the lower levels of STEM careers lead to higher levels of average training and experience.
Tomi Engdahl says:
BluBEAM – a scanning laser microscope
Imaging at micrometer resolution using a Blu-ray drive
https://hackaday.io/project/9205-blubeam-a-scanning-laser-microscope
Tomi Engdahl says:
BluBEAM – a scanning laser microscope
Imaging at micrometer resolution using a Blu-ray drive
https://hackaday.io/project/9205-blubeam-a-scanning-laser-microscope
Confocal microscopy is a standard tool (especially in biology and the life sciences) to image at the diffraction limit.
If you have got a microscope at home, you probably know that reaching the theoretical resolution of about 200nm isn’t going to work. High-end research-grade machines are needed for that.
We are circumventing the problem by building a scanning confocal microscope from easily available components, such as a Blu-ray drive, a microcontroller, some steppers and a micro-positioner. Once finished, we will be able to take pictures of things at micrometer resolution.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Simple Headphone Bracket Shows Off Carbon Fiber Basics
http://hackaday.com/2016/02/12/simple-headphone-bracket-shows-off-carbon-fiber-basics/
The carbon fiber look is a pretty hot design element for things these days. Even things that have no need for the strength and flexibility of carbon fiber, from phone cases to motorcycle fenders, are sporting that beautiful glossy black texture. Some of it only looks like the real stuff, though, so it’s refreshing to see actual carbon fiber used in a project, like this custom headphone rack.
A homemade CNC router carves the two-piece mold out of Styrofoam, which is then glued up and smoothed over with automotive body filler. The epoxy-soaked carbon fiber mats are layered into the mold with careful attention paid to the orientation of the fibers, and the mold goes into one of those clothes-packing vacuum bags for 24 hours of curing. A little trimming and sanding later and the finished bracket looks pretty snazzy.
Carbon Fiber Headphone Mount
http://imgur.com/a/2xUiA
Tomi Engdahl says:
Constant Innovation and Useless Ducks
http://hackaday.com/2016/02/09/constant-innovation-and-useless-ducks/
[Mike]’s hacks aren’t breathtaking in their complexity, but they got a good chuckle out of us. [Mike], the CEO of The Useless Duck Company, lives in a hub of innovation somewhere in Canada, where he comes up with useful gadgets such as a Fedora that tips itself, or a door that locks when you’re shopping for gifts for your wife and you’re in incognito mode.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Learn Resin Casting Techniques: Duplicating Plastic Parts
http://hackaday.com/2016/02/09/learn-resin-casting-techniques-duplicating-plastic-parts/
Resin casting lets you produce parts that would be otherwise impossible to make without a full CNC and injection molding set-up. It costs about as much as a 3d printer, 300 to 600 US dollars, to get a good set-up going. This is for raw material, resin, dye, pressure chamber, and an optional vacuum degassing set-up. A good resin casting set-up will let you produce parts which are stronger than injection molding, and with phenomenal accuracy, temperature resistance, and strength. I will be covering various techniques from the simple to advanced for using resin casting from a hacker’s perspective.
Today I will be replicating a part exactly.
Once you have your set-up together, the process is relatively straight forward. First remove the plastic part from its assembly and clean it thoroughly. The silicone will pick up amazingly small defects. You’ll replicate finger prints and dust. It’s pretty spectacular.
Most duplicated parts will need a two part mold. You’ll hold the parts in position and cast one half of the mold, then, leaving the parts in the silicone, you’ll cast the mating silicone mold on top.
Once the mold has cured, it comes time to see if all our work paid off.
Finally, Time to Cast the Part!
Set out all your equipment. The scale being the most important.
Pour the resin into the mold until it fills up, then tap the sides. The level of the resin should go down. Tap and fill until you can’t anymore. Then put the whole assembly into the pressure chamber and pressure cast again. Now we wait.
Once we have reached the demolding time for the resin (this is usually found in the datasheet) it is safe to demold.
Once the parts were finished I sewed the buttons back onto the coat.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Micro Injection Molding Machine
Building a tabletop injection molding machine.
https://hackaday.io/project/9396-micro-injection-molding-machine
The goal is to make a small injection molding machine with limited functionality. I will try to design it in such a manner that it can be easily scaled to different sizes for different parts.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Brushed DC Servo Drive
http://hackaday.com/2016/02/13/brushed-dc-servo-drive/
Brushless DC motors, and their associated drive electronics, tend to be expensive and complicated. [Ottoragam] was looking for a cheaper alternative and built this Brushed DC motor servo controller and the results look pretty promising. Check out the video after the break.
He needed a low cost, closed loop drive for his home-brew CNC. The servo drive is able to supply a brushed DC motor with up to 7 A continuous current at up to 36 V which works out to about 250 W or 1/3 HP. It does closed loop control with feedback from a quadrature encoder. The drive accepts simple STEP and DIRECTION signals making it easy to interface with micro controllers and use it as a replacement for stepper motors in positioning applications.
Brushed DC Servo Drive
Low cost PID servo drive for small CNC machinery
https://hackaday.io/project/9433-brushed-dc-servo-drive
MCU for closed loop control
An ATmega328 microcontroller operating at 20 MHz is present to read the STEP/DIR signals from the machine controller, read a quadrature encoder input and perform the calculations required for PID control of the motor position.
It also controls an indicator LED for signaling the different fault modes the device is able to detect, such as motor overcurrent and driver undervoltage.
A DRV8701 full bridge mosfet driver provides the capabilities to drive the MOSFET gates at an appropriate voltage with acceptable switching speed, while also protecting them from being damaged from heating due to insufficient gate voltage, shoot-through, etc.
The IC also provides a low side current sense amplifier that uses an external 10 mOhm power resistor to produce a voltage drop across it for the amplifier. The MCU reads the amplified voltage signal (gain is 20) easily with an 8-bit ADC.
Finally, the driver also performs a current limiting function to avoid damaging the transistors. The current level is set via two resistors in a voltage divider configuration.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Murgen
An open-source ultrasound imaging dev kit side project
https://hackaday.io/project/9281-murgen
This project is born from a fork from the echOpen project (which aims at providing a low cost, open source ultrasound tool for doctors),with a specific target of providing a technological kit to allow scientists, academics, hackers, makers or OSH fans to hack their way to ultrasound imaging.
This project is born from a fork from the echOpen project (which aims at providing a low cost, open source ultrasound tool for doctors), with a specific target of providing a technological kit to allow scientists, academics, hackers, makers or OSH fans to hack their way to ultrasound imaging.
echOpen
http://echopen.org/index.php?title=Main_Page
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hacking Hearing with a Bone Conduction Bluetooth Speaker
http://hackaday.com/2016/02/16/hacking-hearing-with-a-bone-conduction-bluetooth-speaker/
When a hacker finds himself with a metal disc and magnet surgically implanted in his skull, chances are pretty good that something interesting will come from it. [Eric Cherry]’s implant, designed to anchor a bone-conduction hear aid, turned out to be a great place to mount a low-cost Bluetooth speaker for his phone – at least when he’s not storing paperclips behind his ear.
[Eric] decided to hack a tiny Bluetooth speaker to attach to his implant and see if it would work with his phone. A quick teardown and replacement of the stock speaker with a bone-conduction transducer from Adafruit took care of the electronics, which were installed in a 3D printed enclosure compatible with the implant.
BAGS Bone Anchored Ghetto Speaker
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1341060
This is a hack of an inexpensive bluetooth speaker called a Groove Cube to create an inexpensive, small and convenient bluetooth speaker for other BAHA attract users to make and use for music/speakerphone calls.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How I Embraced my Introvert and Joined the Hacker Community
http://hackaday.com/2016/02/16/how-i-embraced-my-introvert-and-joined-the-hacker-community/
For some people to join a new group is an exciting proposal, to meet new people and interact with them to accomplish a goal is their idea of a good time. If this describes you then you’re all set to jump in there and make some new friends! There are other people who see social interaction as not such a good time. They would rather avoid that situation and go on about their normal day, I get it. In general my level of comfort is inversely proportional to the number of people with me. This is not a character trait that I chose, I’m an introvert by nature.
The stereotype depicts hackers, nerds, or geeks as people without many friends who spend most of our time alone or you might just call us “loners”.
Before I climb up on this soapbox let me say that many of you are already involved in the community and are doing a great job, in fact I’m pretty sure many of the old-timers I talk about are Hackaday readers. This article is a result of my self reflection regarding my lack of community involvement as of late. I can’t think of any reasons why I shouldn’t take myself down a peg or two publicly, enjoy.
I won’t bother with the “Ra-Ra! Team Spirit!” garbage to get you all jazzed up to be a part of the team. But I will tell you what you’re missing out on by not being active and participating.
Try Saying Yes to Everything
This is where you can get into a holding pattern if you aren’t careful. You don’t have to over-think this decision, next time something interests you speak up. Say: “That sounds fun, count me in!”. It’s that simple a lot of times, by voicing your interest in an area… we need an example here don’t we?
What do you call a group of introverts?
Giving Back
Getting back on the topic of collaboration on projects, how many times has someone decided not to speak up about one of our projects? How many times could I have helped someone with a problem that I myself have struggled to solve? I can deal with my own demons but when I think about people that may have been too shy, embarrassed, or intimidated to ask for help or express interest it doesn’t sit well with me. That’s what I’m really on a soap box about, paying forward all the knowledge and experience shared with us by our old-timers.
Pass on Your Knowledge; Be a Community
We’ve all been there: completely stumped, stuck, out of options and ready to give up or perhaps some of us had already given up when the old-timer walked into the room. “Have you tried the blah, blah, blah?” they said in passing, which was the equivalent of giving us one of their kidneys. It was fixed, problem solved! Circuit = YES! The kicker is that I’m not even completely sure they looked at the problem area long enough to spot my defeated spirit, but they sure as hell fixed it.
I’m suggesting we give that back. Not to the old-timers we got it from, but perhaps you’ve seen someone struggle that might appreciate a nudge in the right direction? Or consider offering some information in the form of a class at your local hackerspace. Post your how-to guides over on Hackaday.io and look around for projects that need some help overcoming a problem. Every time you can inspire someone else, or help make their path to the finish a bit less bumpy, you are making a difference and you are building and participating in the Hacker Community.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Repairing and Improving Cheap Bench Power Supplies
http://hackaday.com/2016/02/16/repairing-and-improving-cheap-bench-power-supplies/
Cheap benchtop power supplies are generally regarded as pieces of junk around these parts. They can measure well enough under perfect conditions, but when you use them a little bit, they fall over. There’s proof of this in hundreds of EEVblog posts, Amazon reviews, and stories from people who have actually owned these el-cheapo power supplies.
One of the guys who has had a difficult time with these power supplies is [Richard]. He picked up a MPJA 9616PS (or Circuit Specialists CSI3003SM) for a song. It quickly broke, and that means it’s time for a repair video. [Richard] is doing this one better – he has the 3A power supply, that sells for $55. With a stupidly simple modification, he upgraded this power supply to the 5A model that usually sells for $100.
The problem with [Richard]’s broken power supply were voltage and current adjustments knobs. This cheap power supply didn’t use rotary encoders – voltage and current were controlled by a pair of 1k and 10k pots. Replacing these parts cost about $5, and [Richard]’s power supply was back up on its feet.
9616PS Bench Power Supply Repair & Hack!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAsD2bwbyxc
Tomi Engdahl says:
It’s Alive! — Badge for Hackaday Belgrade
http://hackaday.com/2016/02/17/its-alive-badge-for-hackaday-belgrade/
Hackaday Belgrade — our first ever conference in Europe — is coming up fast. One of the really exciting things for me is the hardware badge which [Voja Antonic] designed for the conference.
Demoscene
pcb-without-LEDs-thumbWe’ve made the badge eminently hackable with one goal in mind: challenging you to come up with something cool to run on it. What we’re got in mind is a demoparty based on the Hackaday Belgrade Badge. It’s a fairly spartan, featuring an 8×16 LED matrix, four buttons, and IR transmitter/receiver components, so you’re going to have to bring the creativity. At the end of the evening, you’ll have your moment in the sun — or at least on the big screen.
Badge for Hackaday | Belgrade Conference
I have the honour to design the badge for Belgrade Conference. Here it is! Voilà!
https://hackaday.io/project/9509-badge-for-hackaday-belgrade-conference
The main part of the badge is the red 8×16 LED matrix. There is also an infrared transmitter and five tactile keys, plus RESET key. MCU is Microchip’s 8-bit PIC18LF25K50 in 28-pin case, and the power supply is made of two AAA batteries. There are two connectors: USB Mini-A and 5-pin In-Circuit Serial programming port, convenient for Microchip’s PICKIT3 or any other ICD.
The good news is that you don’t need any hardware to flash your own code in MCU program memory. There is the bootloader, so all you need is USB cable and bootloader software for PC, which is available and free. So, after the conference all visitors will be asked to write their own programs for the badge.
Tomi Engdahl says:
SAB3T – PID Loop Educational Tool
Learn how to use PID loops for fun: SAB3T – Servo Actuated Ball Bearing Balancing Touchscreen.
https://hackaday.io/project/6917-sab3t-pid-loop-educational-tool
SAB3T is short for Servo Actuated Ball Bearing Balancing Touchscreen.
A 7″ resistive touchscreen is used to sense the position of a steel ball bearing. The touchscreen is mounted to a universal joint allowing it to tilt in 2 axes. 2 small servos are connected to the touchscreen through ball and cup joints. They work together to control the tilt of the touchscreen. Touchscreen data is processed in an Arduino Nano where the data is fed into a PID loop that outputs servo movements.
STEM education is often talked about as something that needs to be improved and made more accessible. In recent years STEM has made newspaper headlines and become a political hot topic in the US. SAB3T offers a hands-on learning experience that is as equally suited for the class room as it for a tinkerer’s desk.
PID loops are a fascinating piece of engineering that are in use all around us. They move the nozzles in your inkjet printer, they keep quadcopters in sky, they keep your car cruising at 55; and with SAB3T they can balance a ball on a flat surface. They are so prevalent yet most people know little about them. With SAB3T you can watch the loop run and tune it in while viewing the actual PID data in real time. (Viewing data in real time requires a computer to run the python script)
Tomi Engdahl says:
Charles Jr
A Hardware challenge.
https://hackaday.io/project/5631-charles-jr
I was surprised when I found out that OSHPark’s minimum board size is 0.25x0x25 inches.
So, I tried to make something useful of that size.
Here it is.
This is a 3-pin charlieplexing board, so that makes n^2 – n = 6 LEDs.
This board makes use of the smallest size on OSHPark, which is 0.25×0.25 inches.
That’s ¢30, delivered. (although mine aren’t ordered yet :/ )
Tomi Engdahl says:
Attino
Open layout for modular prototyping with attiny 24/44/84′s and 25/45/85′s
https://hackaday.io/project/1387-attino