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.
6,822 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Polymorphic Hardware
https://hackaday.io/project/11191-polymorphic-hardware
Applying polymorphism to hardware enables users to do more with their devices while avoiding IoT pitfalls.
Polymorphism is traditionally defined as the ability of a piece of software to process objects differently depending on their data type or class. Effectively this allows a function to do different things depending on what is passed to it.
Polymorphic Hardware will apply the concept of polymorphism to traditional embedded hardware. This will enable a single electronic device to fulfill multiple functional roles by allowing the user to run multiple firmwares and applications with said device.
Polymorphic Hardware is an extension of open source hardware and is intended to be a more consumer ready derivative. Because of its open nature it will also avoid many of the pitfalls of traditional IoT devices that are dependent on a single host cloud service.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Arduino compatible Machine Vision dev board
https://hackaday.io/project/10323-arduino-compatible-machine-vision-dev-board
HICAT.Liver it’s powerful cam platform which embed professional webcam solution and atmel mcu: 1.100% Arduino competiable2.ARM based Linux
Tomi Engdahl says:
DIY Jigsaw Table Makes Cutting Wood Even Easier
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/21/diy-jigsaw-table-makes-cutting-wood-even-easier/
[Yonatan] needed a bandsaw for one of his projects, and not being overly confident in his jigsaw skills (the tool he did possess), he decided to upgrade it, by building a jigsaw table. Still not quite a bandsaw, but almost.
The entire hack is actually very simple.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Mover Kit: A Wearable Kids Make & Code Themselves
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=216&doc_id=1329702&
In addition to being an ideal toy to get kids up and moving and doing “stuff,” it’s also a wearable that’s designed to take full advantage of their imaginations.
I find it strange (verging on suspicious) how synchronicity seems to pop up all over the place in my life these days. Just yesterday evening, for example, my wife (Gina the Gorgeous) and I were chatting about how we used to spend so much time playing outside when we were kids — running around, riding our bikes, climbing trees, falling out of trees — and how we worry that the youngsters of today are spending too much time indoors “socializing” in the form of text messaging and playing online games.
All I can say is that I think the Mover Kit is a brilliant idea. It includes a round circuit board, rechargeable battery, case, lanyard, and wrist snap-band. The board features eight tri-colored LEDs, a pushbutton switch, a motion sensor (accelerometer) and a compass (magnetometer). It works out of the box — after the kid has “built it” (clipped it all together) — but kids can also use the supplied USB-micro cable to connect the device up to a host computer to create their own games.
The main thing for me is that this is an ideal toy to get kids up and moving and doing “stuff.”
Mover Kit – The first active wearable that kids make & code
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/techwillsaveus/mover-kit-the-first-active-wearable-that-kids-make
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Print It Or Fix It?
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/22/3d-print-it-or-fix-it/
Twister™: a play on MIDI controllers
https://hackaday.io/project/8027-twister-a-play-on-midi-controllers
Music is play, let’s put game controls into the performance!
Atari paddle knobs & arcade buttons make a great show of MIDI knob twiddling!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: Open Source Electrospinning Machine
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/21/hackaday-prize-entry-open-source-electrospinning-machine/
Electrospinning is a fascinating process where a high voltage potential is applied between a conductive emitter nozzle and a collector screen. A polymer solution is then slowly dispensed from the nozzle. The repulsion of negative charges in the solution forces fine fibers emanate from the liquid. Those fibers are then rapidly accelerated towards the collector screen by the electric field while being stretched and thinned down to a few hundred nanometers in diameter. The large surface area of the fine fibers lets them dry during their flight towards the collector screen, where they build up to a fine, fabric-like material. We’ve noticed that electrospinning is hoped to enable fully automated manufacturing of wearable textiles in the future.
[Douglas Miller] already has experience cooking up small batches of microscopic fibers. He’s already made carbon nanotubes in his microwave. The next step is turning those nanotubes into materials and fabrics in a low-cost, open source electrospinning machine, his entry for the Hackaday Prize.
Electrospinning Machine
https://hackaday.io/project/10599-electrospinning-machine
Bring an open source electrospinning machine to the hobbyist level. Made with easily sourced and inexpensive materials.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why I Go Through So Many Arduinos
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/23/why-i-go-through-so-many-arduinos/
I make things for people that can’t be bought off a shelf, and in the past several years I have gone through a lot of Arduinos. More and more, they are simply the right tool for both the job and the client. This wasn’t always the case; what changed?
My clients today still include startups and other small businesses, but more and more they’re artists, hobbyists venturing into entrepreneurship, or people who make one-offs like the interactive displays you find in museums or science centers. The type of people I work for has changed, and because of this, the right tool for their job is almost always an Arduino.
If Not Arduinos, What?
I was chatting with some new people at a local hackerspace, and we were talking about what we do. I told them I spent a lot of time making one-off devices, prototypes, or small production runs for people who know what they need, but can’t buy it off a shelf. I mentioned that I go through plenty of Arduinos as a result.
“What would you be using if it wasn’t an Arduino?” I was asked.
I thought for a moment and replied something about how I’d probably use an AVR on a board I designed, and roll that out when I needed a microcontroller to do things.
The Arduino is the Right Tool for Their Jobs
A lot of my work looks like this: the client comes in with an idea but it’s not quite there, and it needs some development before it can become a product. First I build a proof of concept, but then we often move to iterative prototypes where we do a lot of testing and measuring. What is learned from one prototype is rolled into subsequent prototypes in a continuous flow of learning and refinement.
Eventually, we reach the end of what’s possible with the Arduino and readily available components. Then it’s time for the engineers to design a solution: something focused directly around exactly what was discovered, with minimal waste. That engineered solution is not very likely to include an Arduino.
But until we hand the job off to the engineers, the Arduino was part of the solution. And a big reason for that is the comfort level of the client during this phase of iterative refinement. A lot of clients would throw up their hands at an AVR-ISP or a hex file but they know what an Arduino is. They are often comfortable uploading sketches and making changes to them, or even following a wiring diagram. They probably even prototyped their idea with an Arduino. Using an Arduino allows them to remain hands-on with the development of their idea, even as they outsource some of the work to consultants.
The Clients have Changed
Sticking with what the client knows and expects is often the right move but there’s another, deeper reason that an Arduino is even involved in the first place. Without the Arduino and the whole ecosystem of open and accessible hardware and tools that has grown along with it, many of my clients would probably never have even begun to develop their ideas. They certainly would never have gotten to the point of hiring me for my help.
The observation that I was going through a lot of Arduinos also made me realize that my clients had changed. I now work more with artists who are incorporating electronics into their work in ways that weren’t accessible just a few years ago, basement inventors who are taking the plunge to see if their idea will fly, people who need small production runs of 10-100 in a world where “small” often means thousands, and stage magicians who need someone to help them make the next great trick happen. (I hadn’t expected that last one, but you better believe that market exists.)
There’s one more advantage to working with these types of folks: when people have experience with developing their own solutions and experience running into the roadblocks, they usually also have some understanding of and appreciation for the kind of time, work, detail, and costs that go into development. Those of you who have done professional development work will recognize what a boon that is.
Tomi Engdahl says:
16 Megapixel Outdoor Security Camera on the Cheap
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/23/16-megapixel-outdoor-security-camera-on-the-cheap/
Looking for a high quality security camera? Despite digital cameras continually getting better, and less expensive, security cameras haven’t seemed to follow the same path. So? Better make your own.
[donothingloop] was looking for an outdoor, network capable camera of high resolution. He Some people might have thought about using the Raspberry Pi camera module, but let’s be honest — it’s not great. Instead, he found a pair of used Nikon Coolpix L31 cameras, and he only paid $15 for the both of them.
To control the camera, he’s still going to be using a Raspberry Pi
16 Megapixel Outdoor Network Camera on the Cheap
http://blog.wq.lc/16-megapixel-outdoor-network-camera-on-the-cheap/
I always wanted to have a network camera that provides a good image quality but does not cost a fortune. Modern network cameras that have a resolution of 4K cost upwards of 4000$. There are some cheap cameras that actually cost less, but their image quality is most often not that great.
My idea was to connect the cameras to a Raspberry PI and use gphoto2 to take pictures and send them back to a sever over the network. The only thing I needed was a outdoor weather-proof enclosure. I found a suitable one at a local hardware store.
The enclosure I used is actually the body of an halogen spotlight used on construction sites. It is perfectly suited for this purpose as it is IP44 protected and has a glass front through which the camera can take pictures without being exposed to the elements.
Tomi Engdahl says:
“It’s solutioneering: Take something that exists just fine and make it digital and somehow we’re all supposed to believe it’s better.”
Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/yes-we-scan?utm_term=.iaXzbgk7o#.bc5j7gyJb
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: Industrial Servo Control On The Cheap
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/23/hackaday-prize-entry-industrial-servo-control-on-the-cheap/
[Oscar] wonders why hobby projects ignore all the powerful brushless motors available for far less than the equivalent stepper motors, especially with advanced techniques available to overcome their deficiencies. He decided it must be because there is simply not a good, cheap, open source motor controller out there to drive them precisely. So, he made one.
Stepper motors are good for what they do, open-loop positioning along a grid, but as far as industrial motors go they’re really not the best technology available. Steppers win on the cost curve for being uncomplicated to manufacture and easy to control, but when it comes to higher-end automation it’s servo control all the way. The motors are more powerful and the closed-loop control can be more precise, but they require more control logic. [Oscar]’s board is designed to fill in this gap and take full advantage of this motor control technology.
The board can do some pretty impressive things for something with a price goal under $50 US dollars. It supports two motors at 24 volts with up to 150 amps peak current. It can take an encoder input for full closed loop control. It supports battery regeneration for braking.
ODrive – High performance motor control
https://hackaday.io/project/11583-odrive-high-performance-motor-control
Hobby brushless motors are incredibly cheap and powerful. However we need a way to make robots out of them. ODrive is that way.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Engineering Pop Culture!
Open Hardware, Software & Minds
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=28&doc_id=1329647&
The people who attended the 2016 Annual Gulu Technology Camp found a doorway to future that they had never seen before — who knows where it will lead them?
Imagine a camp for 10 to 18 year-olds that combines robotics, microcomputers, pcDuino, video game design with Unity, self-defense training with an international kickboxer, Samsung’s virtual reality gear, Android app design, musical performances, quadcopters, and Legos. Now imagine this camp took place in previously civil-war-torn northern Uganda.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Compact Controllers Automate Window Blinds
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/24/compact-controllers-automate-window-blinds-on-the-cheap/
Commercially available motorized window blinds are a nice high-end touch for today’s automated home, but they tend to command a premium price. Seems silly to charge so much for what amounts to a gear motor and controller, which is why [James Wilcox] took matters into his own hands and came up with this simple and cheap wireless blind control.
[James] started his project the sensible way, with a thorough analysis of the problem. Once COTS alternatives were eliminated – six windows would have been $1200 – he came up with a list of deliverables, including tilting to pre-determined positions, tilt-syncing across multiple windows, and long battery life. The hardware in the head rail of each blind ended up being a Moteino on a custom PCB for the drivers, a $2 stepper motor, and a four-AA battery pack. The Moteino in one blind talks to a BeagleBone Black over USB and wirelessly to the other windows for coordinated control.
DIY motorized blinds for $40
http://snorp.net/2016/05/20/blinds-controller.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
An Experiment to Combine Lego and Snap Circuits
https://hackaday.io/project/11845-an-experiment-to-combine-lego-and-snap-circuits
Trying some different ideas to combine Snap Circuits with Lego.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: Worldwide Educational Infrastructure
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/24/hackaday-prize-entry-worldwide-educational-infrastructure/
The future of education is STEM, and for the next generation to be fitter, happier, and more productive, classrooms around the world must start teaching programming, computer engineering, science, maths, and electronics to grade school students. In industrialized countries, this isn’t a problem: they have enough money for iPads, Chromebooks, and a fast Internet connection. For developing economies? That problem is a little harder to solve. Children in these countries go to school, but there are no racks of iPads, no computers, and even electricity isn’t a given. To solve this problem, [Eric] has created a portable classroom for his entry into this year’s Hackaday Prize.
Classrooms don’t need much, but the best education will invariably need computers and the Internet. Simply by the virtue of Wikipedia, a connection to the Internet multiplies the efforts of any teacher, and is perhaps the best investment anyone can make in the education of a child.
EduCase Portable Classroom
https://hackaday.io/project/11010-educase-portable-classroom
A self contained classroom suite in a portable case for use anywhere in the world regardless of infrastructure
The EduCase is a fully functional classroom inside a portable case. It contains multiple computers (Raspberry Pi & Android) loaded with content, tutorials, tools and information which educators can use in any area of the world.
The project is fully self contained and self-powered and also includes provisions for communication with the outside world using either cellular data or a dedicated portable satellite dish and receiver linked to the “Outernet” satellite data provider. It also houses it’s own LCD display and utilizes an LED projector enabling the entire classroom to see the content.
The EduCase can be deployed to refugee camps, rural areas, developing nations or anywhere else around the world and used to provide content, communications, courses and material we take for granted in the western world.
The EduCase can also be deployed into disaster/relief zones and used for sharing news, communication or things as simple as an impromptu movie theater.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Booths Of Hamvention
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/25/the-booths-of-hamvention/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: Robotic Prosthetic Leg Is Open Source And 3D-Printable
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/25/hackaday-prize-entry-robotic-prosthetic-leg-is-open-source-and-3d-printable/
We’ve been 3D-printing parts for self-replicating machines before, but we’ve been working on the wrong machines. Software and robotics engineer [David Sanchez Falero] is about to set it right with his Hackaday Prize entry, a 3D-printable, open source, robotic prosthetic leg for humans.
The knee is actively bent by a DC-motor and, according to the source code, a potentiometer reads back the position of the knee to a PID loop.
Drakkar – printable robotic prosthetic leg
An open source 3D printable robotic prosthetic leg.
https://hackaday.io/project/10904-drakkar-printable-robotic-prosthetic-leg
Printable robotic prosthetic leg
https://github.com/davidsanfal/drakkar
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi Cluster Build Shows How and What
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/26/raspberry-pi-cluster-build-shows-how-and-what/
Raspberry Pi clusters are a dime a dozen these days. Well, maybe more like £250 for a five-Pi cluster. Anyway, this project is a bit different. It’s exquisitely documented.
[Nick Smith] built a 5-node Pi 3 cluster from scratch, laser-cutting his own acrylic case and tearing down a small network switch to include in the design. It is, he happily admits, a solution looking for a problem. [Smith] did an excellent job of documenting how he designed the case in CAD, prototyped it in wood, and how he put the final cluster together with eye-catching clear acrylic.
DIY 5 Node Cluster of Raspberry Pi 3s
Building a Raspberry Pi 3 cluster for under £100 (£250 including five RPi3s)
http://climbers.net/sbc/diy-raspberry-pi-3-cluster/
Inspired by all the great Raspberry Pi projects out there, I thought I’d try designing & building something simple myself. The launch of the Raspberry Pi 3 in March 2016 got me enthusiastic about building my very own cluster of Pi’s (a “bramble” :;). Along the way I got to play with a 40W laser cutter, and spent more than a few hours learning basic design with the SketchUp and Inkscape applications
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: Open-Source Myoelectric Hand Prosthesis
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/26/hackaday-prize-entry-open-source-myoelectric-hand-prosthesis/
Hands can grab things, build things, communicate, and we control them intuitively with nothing more than a thought. To those who miss a hand, a prosthesis can be a life-changing tool for carrying out daily tasks. We are delighted to see that [Alvaro Villoslada] joined the Hackaday Prize with his contribution to advanced prosthesis technology: Dextra, the open-source myoelectric hand prosthesis.
dextra_handDextra is an advanced robotic hand, with 4 independently actuated fingers and a thumb with an additional degree of freedom. Because Dextra is designed as a self-contained unit, all actuators had to be embedded into the hand. [Alvaro] achieved the necessary level of miniaturization with five tiny winches, driven by micro gear motors. Each of them pulls a tendon that actuates the corresponding finger. Magnetic encoders on the motor shafts provide position feedback to a Teensy 3.1, which orchestrates all the fingers. The rotational axis of the thumb is actuated by a small RC servo.
Dextra
Open-source myoelectric hand prosthesis
https://hackaday.io/project/9890-dextra
Dextra is a printable human-sized robotic hand that is being developed as a part of a personal project aimed to develop an open-source and affordable robotic hand prosthesis. The key design points of Dextra are: adaptive grip, compact size, mechanical simplicity and ease of replication.
The main element of Dextra is the finger module. The hand is modular: the four fingers are interchangeable, and the thumb is a variation of the finger module. The finger module comprises the printable mechanical finger, the actuator and an encoder. The compact actuator uses a DC micro gearmotor to rotate a spool that winds a fishing line, converting the rotational motion of the motor into a linear motion.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Makown smartwatch
Smartwatch platform for makers
https://hackaday.io/project/11831-makown-smartwatch
Another smartwatch project inspired by many other DIY watch projects and market trends.
Make open hardware smartwatch platform. Case for building by your 3D printer or CNC router. PCB which you can etch at home by various methods. Programming in Arduino IDE or your favorite IDE with C/C++. All from programming to case construction, designed for easiest way to build it. This will give opportunities for creating your own watch with your set of sensors, functions.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mechaduino
https://hackaday.io/project/11224-mechaduino
Mechaduino is an affordable, open-source, industrial servo motor. Position, torque, velocity, and custom modes. Arduino compatible.
Engineers use servo motors to achieve the precision motion required in applications such as robotics, automation, and CNC manufacturing. Like RC servos, industrial servos actively correct for external disturbances. Unlike RC servos, industrial servos can provide very accurate motion, and often support advanced motion control modes. Unfortunately the cost of industrial servos is prohibitive to the individual maker (thousands of dollars per motor).
We’ve been developing an affordable open-source industrial servo motor, opening the door to sophisticated mechatronics applications.
We chose to use a SAMD21 ARM M0+ (Arduino Zero compatible) processor to balance cost and performance. Our breadboard prototype system verified that this processor was more than capable of executing the necessary algorithms.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: Adding HDMI to Small Displays
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/27/hackaday-prize-entry-adding-hdmi-to-small-displays/
LCDs come in a lot of sizes, and there’s a lot written about pushing pixel data out to larger displays. Smaller LCDs, like the 4, 5 and 7 inch variety, aren’t used much, because no one seems to know how to drive the things. For [Joe]’s Hackaday Prize Entry, he’s creating an open source interface for tiny LCDs, making it easy and cheap to add one to everything with an HDMI port.
OLI (Open LCD Interface)
https://hackaday.io/project/11447-oli-open-lcd-interface
Open Source interface to connect LCD’s (5″ and 7″) to any Board/Micro-controller using HDMI and SPI
OLI consists of two parts, a main board with the LCD, power circuitry, GPIO interface to a microcontroller and a connector to attach a video module board that has the HDMI video controller or the SPI video controller. The other part are the individual video controllers, the design is made such as you can remove the HDMI video controller and connect the SPI and vice versa to adapt the LCD to the development board / microcontroller that you are using.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Pong In Real Life, Mechanical Pong
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/28/pong-in-real-life-mechanical-pong/
[Daniel Perdomo] and two of his friends have been working on a mechanical version of Pong for the past two years. We can safely say that the final result is beautiful. It’s quite ethereal to watch the pixe–cube move back and forth on the surface.
PONG PROJECT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTBcxr9KBuQ
Tomi Engdahl says:
iPad Control for Guitar Pedals
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/28/ipad-control-for-guitar-pedals/
Tearing into his EHX Pitch Fork pedal, [gutbag] discovered that all of the external knob controls were being read by ADCs on the chip that did all of the processing. He replaced all of the controls with a DAC and some analog switches, coded up some MIDI logic in an ATmega328, and built himself a custom MIDI-controlled guitar pedal. Pretty slick, and he can now control it live with his iPad, or sequence the knobs with the rest of their MIDI system.
EHX Pitch Fork Remote Control
http://zaardvark.blogspot.fi/2016/05/ehx-pitch-fork-remote-control_22.html
The EHX Pitch Fork is a very compact and flexible pitch shifter, and I use it in various ways with Zaardvark: octave up/down/both, 50% wet/dry blend. 100% wet, sometimes latching footswitch, sometimes momentary. The number of different permutations gives me a headache during gigs. I have to follow the notes on my setlist very carefully and it always seems to take too long.
Comment from page:
A friend of mine does this, except he skips all the effect pedals. he just uses VST’s in reaper with touchOSC. Yes he uses reaper as a live audio processing setup. The entire band runs live through reaper and they all can control any EFX they need from tablets or phones.
Tomi Engdahl says:
CNC Clock Mills Itself, Displays The Time
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/28/cnc-clock-mills-itself-displays-the-time/
[Christian] wrote and sells some CAM/CNC controller software. We’re kinda sticklers for open source, and this software doesn’t seem to be, so “meh”. But what we do like is the Easter egg that comes included: the paths to mill out the base for a clock, and then the codes to move steel ball-bearings around to display the time.
Now usually we feature clocks that are built by CNC machines, so it’s refreshing that here the CNC is the clock.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D-Printed Water Distillation Doodad
https://hackaday.io/project/9573-3d-printed-water-distillation-doodad
This doodad transforms a 2L pop bottle and a .5L plastic bottle into a solar distillery for drinkable water.
Great for your post-apocalyptic adventure, this thingamabob can extract safe drinkable water from anything containing moisture; pond water, mud, moss, your sweaty socks, rotten fruit, any live plant matter, etc…
Speed of distillation entirely weather dependent.
Inspired by http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:464463, this doodad transforms a 2L pop bottle and a smaller 300mL to 500mL bottle into a solar water distillery. The smaller bottle is screwed directly into the doodad. The 2L bottle is cut latitudinal.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Making Springs At Home
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/29/making-springs-at-home/
[This Old Tony] teaches us how to make springs on a lathe in this video done in the style of How It’s Made. Mixed in with snark, in his usual style, is a lot of useful information.
Making Springs At Home
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAawhg6JtyY
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dragging Teletypes Into The 21st Century
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/29/dragging-teletypes-into-the-21st-century/
Teletypes may have disappeared from the world of trade, but there are a surprising number still in private hands. Enthusiasts collect and restore them, and radio amateurs still use digital modes based on their output. The problem facing today’s teletype owner though is that they are becoming increasingly difficult to interface to a modern computer. The serial port, itself an interface with its early history in the electromechanical world, is now an increasingly rare sight.
[Eric] has a project which addresses the teletype owner’s interfacing woes, he’s created a board with all the necessary level shifters and an Atmega32u2 microcontroller to translate the teletype’s output to USB.
Teletypes have a serial output, but it’s not the TTL or RS232 we may be used to. Instead it’s a high-voltage current loop designed to operate electromagnets
teletypes speak 5-bit ITA2 code rather than our slightly newer 7-bit ASCII.
USB-teletype
http://heepy.net/index.php/USB-teletype
Unlike most USB serial adapters, this one uses a general purpose microprocessor rather than a dedicated interface chip like FTDI, CP2102, etc. This allows features like onboard translation between ASCII and 5-level code, selectable auto-newline, unshift on space, and others. The yellow LED flashes in sync with data sent from the computer to the teletype loop, and the green LED flashes in response to data coming from the loop. The two LEDs are inverted in sense so that on a half duplex line one will show mark and one will show space.
On initial power-up, the interface’s teletype side is set to 45.45 baud and will translate between teletype 5-level code (ITA-2, Baudot) and ASCII bidirectionally, so that from the point of view of the computer, it looks like a plain ASCII terminal. ASCII codes sent to the interface which have no teletype code equivalent are ignored and not forwarded. The interface keeps track of LTRS/FIGS shift and sends the appropriate shifts as necessary.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smart Lock
Keyless entry system compatible with european door locks
https://hackaday.io/project/11917-smart-lock
Main idea is to build a cheap and secure key-less entry system compatible with European door locks.
Europe door lock standard is different compared to the door lock standard of North America. Basically there is no door handle outside of the door. From the outside, the door can only be opened by using the key. Therefore, European doors have a single lock cylinder that is used to locks and open the door. Because of that, the mechanism I’ve built has to be rotating more than 1000 degrees which is about 2.5 turns. And also cylinder needs enough torque because of the internal mechanics and springs of the lock itself.
Concept uses a remote device to trigger the lock cylinder to be turned 360 degrees to both lock, unlock or open the door by using an geared motor which is attached to the inner face of the door.
In order not to modify the lock cylinder, I decided to use a cylinder with a handle on it. So I can still use my key from the outer face of the door.
Basically continuous rotation servo is the best available option since it is affordable, small and it does not need any external drivers for controlling its speed or direction. And also there are servos which can produce torque from 1 kg to 25 kg.
When I’m looking for a cheap way to position servo accurately, I’ve realized that I don’t need to know the position of the servo. I only need to know when lock cylinder is triggering the mechanism of the lock.
A hall effect current sensor uses electromagnetism to calculate the current.
I choose ESP8266 module on NodeMCU Devkit because it handles all connectivity features that I need for this project on an single chip. It is small, cheap, it has internal ADC on it and there are ton of libraries available on the net.
My device should look like an accessory of the door, therefore enclosure is a very part of this project.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Motorized Music Box Cranks Out Stairway to Heaven
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/31/motorized-music-box-cranks-out-stairway-to-heaven/
[Bokononestly] found a lil’ music box that plays Stairway to Heaven and decided those were just the kinds of dulcet tones he’d like to wake up to every morning.
[Bokononestly] decided to drive the crank of the music box with a geared DC motor from an electric screwdriver. After making some nice engineering drawings of the dimensions of both and mocking them up in CAD, he designed and printed a base plate to mount them on. A pair of custom pulleys mounted to the motor shaft and the crank arm transfer motion using the exact right rubber band for the job.
https://www.reddit.com/r/engineering/comments/4l54ko/motorizing_a_hand_crank_music_box_with_my_3d/
Tomi Engdahl says:
STMicro hooks up with Arduino to serve Maker community
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/about-embedded/4442099/STMicro-hooks-up-with-Arduino-to-serve-Maker-community?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20160530&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20160530&elqTrackId=e4c77d3c374d49c889a3c91e90314995&elq=165449aa0b4948fdae4d6e4d2cf6dfa1&elqaid=32434&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=28340
Once dismissed as dilatants, the Makers of the world are starting to gather serious interest from microprocessor vendors. Vendors have created their own modular development boards, like mbed and BeagleBone, with an eye toward attracting Makers as well as the traditional professional market. But vendor interest in Arduino has been limited (save Atmel, of course) to leveraging the shield ecosystem by making sockets on their development boards pin compatible. Now, ST Microelectronics has gone the whole way by creating an STM32 development board that is a full-fledged member of the Arduino family.
Arduino and STMicro call their new blended family STAR (for ST and Arduino), and its first member is the STM32F469-based STAR Otto baseboard. The board has Arduino Uno, Due, and Mega connectivity as well as a connector that provides a MIPI DSI display interface. So all of the Arduino shields are compatible with Otto. Further, STMicro has announced it will be creating new shields in the coming months for DSI display, NFC reading, and sensors. STMicro Nucleo expansion boards for environmental sensing and proximity detection have also been ported over to work with Otto.
But this is not just another development board that accepts Arduino shields. This is an Arduino. It just uses a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M rather than an 8-bit AVR. Otto has the full Arduino legacy IDE and online Arduino Studio IDE support, so all the Arduino libraries are available for developers.
What Otto brings to the Maker party is power. It is a full 180-MHz, 32-bit processor with 2M of Flash, 384k of SRAM, and 16M of SDRAM, as well as a microSD slot for further expansion. The module also has 802.11 b/g/n 2.4 GHz WiFi built in, two MEMS microphones, and camera, speaker, and headphone connectors.
ST, Arduino team to expand maker access
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4442119/ST–Arduino-team-to-expand-maker-access?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20160530&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20160530&elqTrackId=10d88632d11a4a3b8fcd2927cd945cf4&elq=dc461471b4cb4115aec74eebcbab1e07&elqaid=32432&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=28338
STMicroelectronics and Arduino have forged an agreement that brings STM32 MCUs and a wide array of ST sensors and other components to the Arduino maker community. The first product of the joint STAR (ST and Arduino) program is the STM32F469-based STAR Otto baseboard.
The STM32F469 32-bit ARM Cortex-M microcontroller includes the Chrom-ART graphics accelerator and MIPI DSI display interface, along with an open-source software graphics library. In addition to the MCU’s 2-Mbyte flash memory and 384-kbyte SRAM, the board packs 16 Mbytes of SDRAM, 128 kbytes of EEPROM, and a microSD slot.
An integrated WiFi 802.11 2.4-GHz link allows wireless communication, complemented by a USB host interface.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Prototype to production – High-level project requirements
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/embedded-basics/4442034/Prototype-to-production—High-level-project-requirements?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20160530&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20160530&elqTrackId=fe2cdbff115949148fb894cb7c4a01a9&elq=165449aa0b4948fdae4d6e4d2cf6dfa1&elqaid=32434&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=28340
For the reasons just stated, here are five high level “requirements” for the IoT industrial controller that will be prototyped in upcoming articles.
Requirement #1 – Simple to program without specialized tools
A generic IoT controller that can be used in any number of possible applications needs to be easy to program and update without the use of specialized tools or knowledge. This already presents a challenge.
Opening up a device to access a JTAG port, for instance, is time consuming and potentially dangerous depending on the application. Programming a device through a bootloader could be a possibility,
One possible solution would be to design the system such that the program files can be easily dropped onto the controller like it was a thumb drive. Some development kits that use OpenSDA
An interesting alternative would be to have the controller run Python
Requirement #2 – Contain typical industrial communication interfaces
There are many different types of interfaces that can be found on an industrial controller. General input and output with isolated and non-isolated signals is fairly common. The ability to control at least a single H-Bridge for motor control is useful as well. The more interesting communication interfaces in use are CAN, Ethernet, and Modbus. Occasionally some controllers will even bring out SPI and I2C. Many or most of these should probably be included in this project.
Requirement #3 – Support popular connectivity interfaces
The real point of an IoT industrial controller is to gather data and control hardware remotely. That is what makes the whole connected device idea so intriguing. There are a couple of very obvious communication interfaces for the connectivity, such as WiFi and Ethernet. An alternative might be cellular
Bluetooth Low Energy would be an interesting interface for local control. The use of Zigbee could be used
Requirement #4 – Use HTTP and or JSON to communicate with the cloud
A quick Google search reveals that there are many possible protocols to use with an IoT device. Lots of them are competing, and only God knows which will survive in the long run.
Http and JSON are two options that could be considered to connect a device to the Internet and stream control and acquisition messages.
Requirement #5 – Be hardware expandable
A general controller is never going to be able to fit every possible imaginable need. The ability to add on hardware through Modbus or remotely via a mesh network would be intriguing.
Conclusion
The actual list of requirements that would be associated with an IoT industrial controller would be quite large and impossible to discuss in much detail in a blog.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entries: Inventing New Logic Families
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/30/hackaday-prize-entries-inventing-new-logic-families/
Using diodes as logic elements has been around since the first computers, but these computers had a few transistors thrown in. While it is possible to make AND and OR gates using only diodes, a universal logic gate – NANDs and NORs – are impossible. For the computers of the 1950s, that means tubes or transistors and DTL logic.
For the past few years, [Ted] has been working on a diode-only logic family, and it appears he’s solved the problem. The new logic family includes a NOR gate constructed using only diodes, resistors, and inductors.
The Diode Clock
https://hackaday.io/project/11677-the-diode-clock
A digital clock built with Diode-Diode Logic (DDL), a quirky new logic family using only common diodes and passive components.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Path to Craftsmanship: The Art of Throwing It Away
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/31/path-to-craftsmanship-the-art-of-throwing-it-away/
Some hackers build sharp, mildly toxic nests of parts, components, and thrifty finds around themselves. These nests, while not comfortable, are certainly comforting. They allow the hacker’s psyche to inhabit a locale as chaotic as their minds. Within these walls of stuff and clutter, stunning hacks pour out amid a small cloud of cursing. This article is not for them.
Very few of us can actually function in a workplace such like that of the venerable Jim Williams
For the rest of us, clutter is a Zen destroying, seemingly unconquerable, monster that taunts our poor discipline and organizational skill from the dark corner of our minds. However, there is an easy solution that is oft overlooked. Somewhat obviously, most organization problems can be solved by simply not having things to organize.
It’s taken me a very long time to realize the source of my clutter woes. My first tactic was to blame myself for my inability to keep up with the mess. A more superior human would certainly be able to use their effortless discipline to keep a space organized. However, the clutter was a symptom of a problem completely separate from my actual ability to keep a space clean.
5S
“Wow! It is really file-system-consistency-checking nice to work in a space without all that useless crap lying around!”
So, things must be gotten rid of, but how? There’s not just an economic aspect to hoarding things, there’s definitely a psychological aspect as well. Understanding the real impact of both these things are the first steps to taking control of your space.
Anytime you buy or keep something you don’t need right now, you are gambling that “future you” needs it enough that the cost of locking the capital in now and using space up for storing it, is less than that future reward. Very rarely does this bet pay off. This is counter-intuitive to the natural state of the hacker mind.
At least in my experience, keeping things I don’t need has been more about making myself feel good, than about actually doing the work.
What Should I Keep?
Keep:
1. Set of M3 nuts and bolts. I keep a stock of these. I’m always using them in my various constructions, and I take the box out at least once or twice a week.
2. Tools: I consider tools to be enablers of work. If possible I do not throw away a tool. However, I do throw away redundant tools. For example. I have one ruler, not two.
3. Glue, Tape, Lubricants, and Chemicals: I have two boxes of glues, tapes, and useful chemicals. I open the boxes at least once a week. Occasionally I’ll sort through the boxes and throw away items that I haven’t used in a long time.
Good Planning is Better than Keeping Spares.
As mentioned in the previous section, don’t buy what you don’t need for a project. I always had a tendency to buy three springs if I need two.
Sort: Remove the Unnecessary.
5S (methodology)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5S_%28methodology%29
5S is the name of a workplace organization method that uses a list of five Japanese words: seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu, and shitsuke. Transliterated into Roman script, they all start with the letter “S”.[1] The list describes how to organize a work space for efficiency and effectiveness by identifying and storing the items used, maintaining the area and items, and sustaining the new order.[2] The decision-making process usually comes from a dialogue about standardization, which builds understanding among employees of how they should do the work.
In some quarters, 5S has become 6S, the sixth element being safety.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Barb Makes Things
Custom DIY projects in high speed, every Tuesday.
https://hackaday.io/project/8882-barb-makes-things
This is a series of videos showing my process of making a new project every week, using a wide variety of media, including electronics, 3d printing, wood, concrete, shrink plastic, gingerbread, etc.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Exquisite LED Handbag in the Wild
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/31/exquisite-led-handbag-in-the-wild/
There is a lot of spectacle on display at Maker Faire. But to be honest, what I love seeing the most are well-executed builds pulled off by passionate hackers. Such is the case with [Debra Ansell]. She wasn’t exhibiting
she build a handbag with an LED matrix and did it so well you will scratch your head trying to figure out if she bought it that way or not.
She laid out the LEDs, cut leather strips to perfectly space out each of the APA102c pixels, then proceeded to weave, sew, and glue the assembly together.
An Adafruit Feather board, with an optional Bluefruit LE, drives the display. It’s a sweet solution because it gets [Debra] the cellphone connectivity all in a single board.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to Fail at Laser Cutting
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/31/how-to-fail-at-laser-cutting/
Laser cutters are CNC power tools, which means an operator uploads a job digitally and then pushes START to let the machine do all the work while they lie back in a hammock sipping a margarita, occasionally leaping out in a panic because the sound coming from the machine changed slightly.
Like other power tools, laser cutters are built around doing one thing very well, but they require an operator’s full attention and support. The operator needs to handle all the other things that are go on before, during, and after the job. It’s not too hard to get adequate results, but to get truly professional and repeatable ones takes work and experience and an attention to detail.
People often focus on success stories, but learning from failures is much more educational.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rubber Bands Can Get You In Real Trouble
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1329813&
Rubber Band Engineer, a book by Lance Akiyama, is just what you need to shoot projectiles and get yourself in trouble.
http://www.quartoknows.com/books/9781631591044/Rubber-Band-Engineer.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Netbook Finds New Home in a Jaguar Dashboard
http://hackaday.com/2016/06/04/netbook-finds-new-home-in-a-jaguar-dashboard/
For obvious reasons, lots of computers make it into hackers’ dashboards, whether they be Windows like this one, Samsung tablets or Nexus tablets running Android, and even phones. But [Rich]’s build is top notch, and takes in-car integrations to the next level.
Fitted a PC into a Jaguar X-type (x-post from /r/cars)
http://imgur.com/a/Kiflf
This is what I’m starting with. It’s an 8.9″ Atom netbook with wifi and bluetooth, which I’ve upgraded to 2Gb RAM, a 64Gb SSD, and a USB 3.0 express card. Not bad for $15.
First thing to do is separate the screen from the netbook. Eventually they’ll be 5 meters apart.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Autonomous Plant Watering Thingamajig
http://hackaday.com/2016/06/03/autonomous-plant-watering-thingamajig/
[Eitan] is one of those guys whose plants keep tottering between life and death. Can’t blame the plants, because he just keeps forgetting when to water them. But keeping them hydrated requires him to get off his butt and actually water them. Surely, there had to be an easier solution which needed him to do nothing and yet prevent his plants from dying. Being lazy has its benefits, so he built his own super simple Autonomous Plant Watering Thingamajig.
He needed a water pump, but all he had was an air pump. So he hooked it up to force air in to a sealed container and push the water out. To make the setup autonomous, he connected the pump to a WiFi-enabled wall socket and then programmed it to dispense water at regular intervals.
Autonomous Plant Watering
https://blog.monotonous.org/2016/05/25/autonomous-plant-watering/
This setup has a few advantages over other pump setups:
It is cheap. So far the bill of parts is around $12.50.
It offers predictable water throughput.
You can connect any sealable container. Don’t want to refill the water after 32oz of watering? Get a gallon jug.
If the reservoir runs dry the motor won’t catch fire. That apparently is a thing water pumps.
Since the water is only going through a simple tube and not an expensive motor, you can pump a nutrient solution. If you want to pamper your plants, we don’t.
I made a stupid pump. Why is that cool? Because with a WiFi plug it becomes smart! It is now a Connected Device™. I plugged it into a Bayit WiFi socket, and set it to turn on for 20 seconds each Monday afternoon. That will feed our plants about a 1/2 a cup a week.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: Germanium Vision
http://hackaday.com/2016/06/03/hackaday-prize-entry-germanium-vision/
The first digital cameras didn’t come out of a Kodak laboratory or from deep inside the R&D department of the CIA or National Reconnaissance Office. The digital camera first appeared in the pages of Popular Electronics in 1975, using a decapsulated DRAM module to create fuzzy grayscale images on an oscilloscope. For his Hackaday Prize project, [Alexander] is recreating this digital camera not with an easy to use decapsulated DRAM, but with individual germanium transistors.
Phototransistors are only normal transistors with a window to the semiconductor, and after finding an obscene number of old, Soviet metal can transistors, [Alex] had either a phototransistor or a terrible solar cell in a miniaturized package.
The ultimate goal of this project is to create a low resolution camera out of a matrix of these germanium transistors. [Alex] can already detect light with these transistors by watching a multimeter, and the final goal – generating an analog NTSC or PAL video signal – will “just” require a single circuit duplicated hundreds of times.
Germanium Vision
https://hackaday.io/project/11105-germanium-vision
Low-resolution video camera with a lot of opened germanium transistors used as light-sensitive elements
Tomi Engdahl says:
What is Drawdio?
http://web.media.mit.edu/~silver/drawdio/
Imagine you could draw musical instruments on normal paper with any pencil (cheap circuit thumb-tacked on) and then play them with your finger. The Drawdio circuit-craft lets you MacGuyver your everyday objects into musical instruments: paintbrushes, macaroni, trees, grandpa, even the kitchen sink…
Drawdio brings to life the everyday interconnections between people and environment, encouraging you to use your sense of touch, and letting you hear otherwise invisible electrical connections by creating, remixing, and playing.
Now you build one
http://web.media.mit.edu/~silver/drawdio/make.htm
Tomi Engdahl says:
FR4 Machine Shield Is A CNC Milling Machine From FR4 PCB
http://hackaday.com/2016/06/04/fr4-machine-shield-is-a-cnc-milling-machine-from-fr4-pcb/
The people behind the PocketNC heard you like CNC PCB mills, so they milled you a PCB mill out of PCB. They announced their surprising new open source hardware product, a pocket sized 3-axis CNC machine entirely made out of FR4 PCB material, aptly named “FR4 Machine Shield”, at this year’s Bay Area Maker Faire.
We know the concept from quadcopters, little robots, and generally things that are small enough to make use of their PCBs as a structural component. But an entire CNC machine, soldered together from a few dozen PCBs certainly takes it to the next level.
As you might expect, most of the wiring is embedded into the FR4 frame construction, and to squeeze the maximum value out of the PCB material, the motor driver boards interface via card edge connectors with the (currently Arduino based) controller board.
There is no doubt that 2mm thick fiber reinforced epoxy can be surprisingly rigid, although the Achilles heel of this method might be the solder joints.
In addition to the milling head, which features a brushless DC motor and a tool coupler, the team wants to develop heads for circuit printing, microscopy, pneumatic pick and place, hot air reflow, and 3D printing.
May 2016 Update: Maker Faire and the FR4 Machine Shield
http://www.pocketnc.com/blog/2016/5/26/may-2016-update-maker-faire-and-the-fr4-machine-shield
The FR4 is a kit machine that we are hoping to launch on Kickstarter in June at a price point around $400. The structure of the machine is cut out of an entire panel of circuit board, ready to be soldered together into a machine of your choice.
We are working with an Arduino as we develop the machine but it is hackable for BeagleBone and Raspberry Pi as well. Oh yeah, did we mention it’s open source?
Another feature that we are really excited about is the Swap Drive. We came up with the idea to make the drivers easily swapped using a card edge connector so that when a better, faster, cheaper drive comes along it makes it easier(and less expensive) to upgrade.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hacklet 110 – Optical Microscopy Projects
http://hackaday.com/2016/06/04/hacklet-110-optical-microscopy-projects/
Humans have always wanted to make small things bigger. To see that which is unseen with the naked eye. The inventor of the original microscope happened sometime in the 1600’s, though the inventor is still contested. Some say it was Cornelis Drebbel, while others say Hans Lippershey. Galileo Galilei’s compound microscope is probably the most well-known ancient magnifier. Regardless of who created the device, hackers, makers, engineers, and scientists have used microscopes to study mysteries of biology, geology, electronics, and just about anything else you can imagine.
Tomi Engdahl says:
It’s Time to Finally Figure Out How to Use KiCAD
http://hackaday.com/2016/06/04/its-time-to-finally-figure-out-how-to-use-kicad/
KiCAD has been making leaps and bounds recently, especially since CERN is using it almost exclusively. However, while many things are the same, just enough of them are different from our regular CAD packages that it’s hard to get started in the new suite.
10 Part Tutorial On Designing/Building A PCB (Using FOSS)
https://contextualelectronics.com/gtb-kicad-4-0/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: Dave Thomas’ Desert Dryer
http://hackaday.com/2016/06/05/hackaday-prize-entry-dave-thomas-desert-dryer/
It seemed utter madness — people living in hot desert climates paying to heat air. At least it seemed that way to [David Thomas] before he modified his tumble dryer to take advantage of Arizona’s arid environment.
Hanging the wash out to dry is a time-honored solution, and should be a no-brainer in the desert. But hanging the wash takes a lot of human effort, your laundry comes back stiff, and if there’s a risk of dust storms ruining your laundry
But there’s no reason to waste further energy heating up your air-conditioned interior air when hot air is plentiful just a few meters away.
Thomas Atmospheric Dryer
15% of the population or 21 million in the US could save $100 a year
https://hackaday.io/project/11969-thomas-atmospheric-dryer
In this project I show you how to modify an old LG gas dryer to perform better than energy star, and heat pump dryers. I calculate I will be saving over $100.00 a year by using the already dry air from the arid environment outside to dry my clothes.
It also allows for the dryer to run indoors, away from the heat, dust and UV rays. Additionally I won’t be heating up and pumping my air conditioned air out of my house.
The loads that used to take 45 min in the dryer take 1:15-1:30
In fact the air leaving the dryer is cooler than coming in (due to the evaporative cooling effect). The clothes also take less of a beating without the heat, so there is not a lot of lint, and I never need to worry about designs fading or cracking or melted fabrics.
(should apply for both LG gas and electric dryers)
Tomi Engdahl says:
These 20 Projects Just Won $1000 In The Hackaday Prize
http://hackaday.com/2016/06/06/these-20-projects-just-won-1000-in-the-hackaday-prize/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Stay Scrappy, Hackers!
http://hackaday.com/2016/06/07/stay-scrappy-hackers/
A toast to all the hackers out there who like to do it scrappy, who fight hard to get your products to work, who make your own tools and testing jigs and assembly lines in your basement, and who pound the pavement (and the keyboards) to get your product out there. Here’s to you (*clink*).
I had the fortune of a job interview recently in a big faceless company that you may have never heard of but probably use their stuff all the time. They make billions. And it was surreal. This article is about what it’s like for a scrappy start-up engineer to walk into the belly of the beast of an organization that counts its engineers in the tens of thousands. For obvious reasons, I can’t go into specific details, but let me paint for you in broad strokes what you, the hacker and entrepreneur, are up against.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Customers don’t care
In general, customers don’t care about how resourceful or nice or talented the product developers are. They want the product to look great, work great, and be cheap. You, the scrappy solo engineer, are competing against Goliaths with infinitely more resources, but when placed side by side on the retail shelf (if you’re lucky enough to be able to get there), the customer has no idea. They can see one looks more polished and cheaper, so they pick that one. They don’t know about cost structures and volume pricing, or development costs or tool amortization, or fixed certification costs. It’s a classic David and Goliath battle, except the crowd doesn’t see an underdog or a mismatched fight.
So, dear hacker, let me finish this winded toast by pointing out your advantages. You move fast; you identify a problem and build a solution faster than a big company knows that there’s even a market. You know your customers and form relationships with them, few as they are. You know the ins and outs of your business and can run a tight ship with little waste. You are passionate about your products and take great pride in what you’ve accomplished. You have the potential to get rich and famous. And you are welcome here any time with your sweet hacks.
Source: http://hackaday.com/2016/06/07/stay-scrappy-hackers/
Tomi Engdahl says:
One Man’s Awesome Collection Of Projects Done Over A Lifetime
http://hackaday.com/2016/06/07/one-mans-awesome-collection-of-projects-done-over-a-lifetime/
[Robert Glaser] kept all his projects, all of them, from the 1960s to now. What results is a collection so pure we feel an historian should stop by his house, if anything, to investigate the long-term effects of the knack.
Projects
http://www.icengineering.com/n3ic/projects/#Projector
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Hacker is The Future of the Prosthetic: Hackers Helping Those In Need
http://hackaday.com/2016/06/08/the-hacker-is-the-future-of-the-prosthetic-hackers-helping-those-in-need/
In the show Full Metal Alchemist, there’s a city called Rush Valley whose main and only business are the high performance prostheses called Automail.
Of course; it’s all fantasy set in a slightly ridiculous Japanese cartoon, but while walking through this year’s Maker Faire I began to wonder if is a future that may come to be.
The problem with prosthetics is the sheer variety of injuries, body types, and solutions needed.
Unfortunately, this means that it’s often the case that larger companies only sell the prostheses people are most likely to need; the rarer cases are often left without a solution.
However, we see hackers stepping up and not just working on the problems, but solving them. One of our semifinalists last year, openbionics, inspired one of the projects we’ll be talking about later. There are robotic legs. We met a guy at MRRF who has been 3D printing hands for his son from the E-nable project.
Along these lines, we saw two really cool projects at Maker Faire this year: The first is the Motor-Assistive Glove, or MAG.
Hackaday Prize Semifinalist: OpenBionics Affordable Prosthetic Hands
http://hackaday.com/2015/09/20/hackaday-prize-semifinalist-openbionics-affordable-prosthetic-hands/