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:
WiSci: Wireless Spectrometer
https://hackaday.io/project/13422-wisci-wireless-spectrometer
Portable Wireless Spectrometer that lets you explore the world around you.
We have build a portable, wireless spectrometer that talks to it’s companion android application via bluetooth and have used it for non-destructive testing of fruit ripeness
Now we want everyone to build this device and start exploring the world around them. We are open sourcing all the build instructions, codes and design files required to build the device.
Spectrometer is an instrument used for studying interaction between matter and electromagnetic radiation. Spectrometers operate over both optical and non-optical wavelengths like gamma rays and X-rays. In general any particular spectrometer will operate over a small portion of electromagnetic spectrum only because of the different techniques used to measure different portions of the spectrum. Mostly these instruments measure wavelengths and their respective intensities, which upon detailed study reveals various information of the material under study.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Forging the USB Armory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsK2V_iO9Z4
The availability of modern System on a Chip (SoC) parts, having low power consumption and high integration of most computer components in a single chip, empowers the open source community in creating all kind of embedded systems.
The presentation illustrates the journey that we have taken to develop an open hardware board first of its kind: the USB armory, an open source hardware design, implementing a flash drive sized computer for security applications.
The security features of the USB armory System on a Chip (SoC), combined with the openness of the board design, is meant to empower developers and users with a fully customizable USB trusted device for open and innovative personal security applications.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bring Doping, Mirofluidics, Photovoltaics, and More Into the Home
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/10/bring-doping-mirofluidics-photovoltaics-and-more-into-the-home/
Can you make a spectrometer for your home lab all from materials you have sitting around? We might not believe it from a less credible source, but this MIT course does indeed build a spectrometer from foam board using two razor blades as the silt cover and a writable CD as the diffraction grating. The coolest part is removing the metal backing of the CD.
Nanomaker
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-s079-nanomaker-spring-2013/index.htm
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: Characterizing LED and Laser Diodes
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/09/hackaday-prize-entry-characterizing-led-and-laser-diodes/
Needless to say, we’re fascinated by LEDs, laser diodes, and other blinkies. Although we can get just about any light emitting thing, the data sheets aren’t always accurate or available. For his Hackaday Prize entry, [Ted] is building a device to characterize the efficiency, I/V curve, and optical properties of all the blinkies. It’s a project to make glowy stuff better, and a great entry for the Hackaday Prize.
The inspiration for this project came from two of [Ted]’s projects, one requiring response curves for LEDs, and laser diodes for another. This would give him a graph of optical output vs. current, angular light output distribution, and the lasing threshold for laser diodes. This data isn’t always available in the datasheet, so a homebrew tool is the only option.
The high-level design of this tool is basically a voltmeter and ammeter measuring a glowy diode, producing IV curves and measuring optical output. That takes care of all the measurements except for the purely optical properties of a LED. This is measured by a goniometer, or basically putting the device under test on a carriage attached to a stepper motor and moving it past a fixed optical detector.
Automated LED/Laser Diode Analysis and Modeling
Analyze LEDs and LDs to create electrical (SPICE) and optical models.
https://hackaday.io/project/12874-automated-ledlaser-diode-analysis-and-modeling
Tomi Engdahl says:
Careful Crafting Makes DIY 7-Segment Display Shine
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/10/careful-crafting-makes-diy-7-segment-display-shine/
[MattB] decided to go the DIY route for some 7 segment displays that were several inches tall, but he had some particular requirements. He wanted precisely shaped elements that were as cleanly and evenly lit as possible, with no obvious points of illumination from LEDs and no visibly uneven edge lighting. To do this, he used the tools and materials he had on hand and carefully handcrafted each segment. The result is awfully close to his ideal!
DIY Large Seven Segment Display
http://www.mjblythe.com/hacks/2016/06/diy-large-seven-segment-display/
I had an idea for a cool project, but for it to work well, I needed some large 7-segment displays…like 3-4 inches tall. Unfortunately, the only ones I could find for sale on-line were absurdly expensive. I remembered seeing several folks make their own 7-segment displays, so that inspired me to try my hand at making my own.
Tomi Engdahl says:
An Xiao Mina / Fusion:
How online platforms such as WeChat, Jindong, and Alibaba’s eBay-like Taobao have boosted Shenzhen’s already-thriving hardware startup ecosystem
‘Created’ in China: Shenzhen is making hardware like Silicon Valley makes apps
http://fusion.net/story/338939/created-in-china-shenzhen-hardware-startups/
Based in Shenzhen, China, Gao lives and works near the city’s Huaqiangbei electronics neighborhood. Centered in the world’s largest and increasingly most famous manufacturing environment for hardware, Huaqiangbei is likely where the selfie stick and the hoverboard saw some of their early buyers. A visit to the market now offers a peek at future tech crazes of 2017: karaoke mics that plug into apps that rate your singing voice, computers the size of a USB stick, solar panels that suction cup to your window, and mini robot friends.
But Huaqiangbei is just one entry point for hardware. Often, new ideas see life online before ever entering physical stalls. Thanks to the networking potential of the internet, the physical products being made in Shenzhen are now starting to go viral on the web in the same way that Silicon Valley apps and popular YouTube videos do. In China, we’re seeing the rise of what a recent McKinsey report called wired companies: ones that use the internet in key aspects of their business. Connectivity helps them manage supply chains, access more diverse sources of financing, and reach an array of consumers.
Production culture here points at a world of networked manufacturing, as physical objects become as internetworked as our digital ones. Already, makers can develop and ship hardware products almost as quickly as they can develop and ship ideas. And this time frame is expected to shorten dramatically in coming years.
China is amidst a massive transition from a country primarily of manufacturers to one of makers. Lei Gao is part of this new generation that uses the internet’s agility to augment what the city has to offer. Within days, he had what he needed to experiment with his idea.
Gao and his team make up Imlab, one startup amongst over a million small and medium-sized companies in Shenzhen. Hardware startups across the city can readily pull together a working prototype in a day, test it, and quickly figure out where to go next.
“Since its inception, Shenzhen was a site of experimentation,” says Silvia Lindtner, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Information who has been studying China’s maker scene and community since 2010. “Shenzhen is place that’s open and different from other places in China.”
As with much of the country, the government has played a key role in making Shenzhen what it is today. During the economic reforms under Deng Xiaoping, China established the city as the country’s first Special Economic Zone in 1980. As people moved there seeking economic opportunity, the small Hakka fishing village across the border from Hong Kong transformed rapidly.
Shenzhen has the geographical footprint of Los Angeles, but a population three times its size at 12 million people.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Building An Electric Longboard From Scratch
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/11/building-an-electric-longboard-from-scratch/
Step one to most electric longboard builds is typically the acquisition of a foot operated longboard, with step two being the purchase of a ready-made motor bracket to electro-convert the strenuous vehicle. Not so [Matt Carl’s] scratch-built electric longboard, which starts out with four 1/8″sheets of baltic birch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbJTwgC24yI
The assembled result of [Matt’s] woodworking, CAD and 3D printing efforts is a slick and very capable electric longboard with a top speed of 20 mph and a range of 10 miles. Not bad for a mere $400 budget! Worried about the longevity of the 3D printed parts? Carbon-fiber-reinforced 3D printing filament has you covered.
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/07/3d-printering-xt-cf20-carbon-fiber-filament-review/
Tomi Engdahl says:
A 3D Printed Camera (Including The Lens)
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/10/a-3d-printed-camera-including-the-lens/
Barring the RepRap project, we usually see 3D printers make either replacement parts or small assemblies, not an entire finished product. [Amos] is the exception to this rule with his entirely 3D-printed camera. Everything in this camera is 3D printed, from the shutter to the lightproof box to the lens itself. It’s an amazing piece of engineering, and a testament to how far 3D printing has come in just a few short years.
35mm film is the most common film by far, and the only one that’s still easy to get and have developed at a reasonable price. This 3D-printed camera is based on that standard, making most of the guts extremely similar to the millions of film cameras that have been produced over the years.
The fun starts with the lens. We’ve seen 3D printers used for lens making before, starting with a 3D print used to create a silicone mold where a lens is cast in clear acrylic, 3D printed tools used to grind glass, and an experiment from FormLabs to 3D print a lens.
SLO: 3D Printed Camera
http://amosdudley.com/weblog/SLO-Camera
Tomi Engdahl says:
Super-small Robotic Joints Don’t Exist? They Do Now!
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/12/super-small-robotic-joints-dont-exist-they-do-now/
[Tim] needed very small, motorized joints for a robot. Unable to find anything to fit the bill, he designed his own tiny, robotic joints. Not only are these articulated and motorized, they are designed to be independent – each containing their own driver and microcontroller.
Custom Articulated Joint
https://hackaday.io/project/13398-custom-articulated-joint
I’m building a robot which requires small, articulated joints. Unfortunately I couldn’t buy any, so I made my own.
Each joint consist of four pieces:
1. The 3D printed joint
2. A 3D printed gear/chain assembly to move the joint
3. A tiny motor to move the joint.
4. An Arduino-based pcb to control the joint.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bewegungsfelder Is A Wireless IMU Motion Capturing System
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/13/bewegungsfelder-is-a-wireless-imu-motion-capturing-system/
For several years, hackers have been exploring inertial measurement units (IMUs) as cheap sensors for motion capturing. [Ivo Herzig’s] final Diploma project “Bewegungsfelder” takes the concept of IMU-based MoCap one step further with a freely configurable motion capturing system based on strap-on, WiFi-enabled IMU modules.
The Bewegungsfelder system consists of multiple, ESP8266-powered standalone IMU sensor nodes and a motion capturing server. Attached to a person’s body (or anything else) the nodes wirelessly stream the output of their onboard MPU6050 6-axis accelerometer/gyroscope to a central motion capturing server.
Bewegungsfelder Inertial Motion Capture (2016)
http://herrzig.ch/work/bewegungsfelder/
Bewegungsfelder is a mobile & customizable inertial motion capture system for skeletal animation. The system is mainly a software to capture and record skeletal animations and standalone IMU sensor modules based on the ESP8266 Wifi SoC.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Path to Craftsmanship: The Art of Being Wrong
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/12/path-to-craftsmanship-the-art-of-being-wrong/
Every technical person knows, unlike artists and politicians, that they can be provably wrong; at least to a degree. Math tells the truth. Coupled with this knowledge is an ego which is often entirely based on our output. If our mechanism works, we feel good because we are provably good.
Despite the risk that the nature of the things I’ve learned will reveal exactly what kind of arrogant sod I am, I’ll give it a go anyway. I’ve made many mistakes, and I have many more to make, but these are some of the things I’ve learned. I’ve learned them all in technical fields, so I’m not sure how broadly the advice applies, but luckily this is Hackaday.
Accept Responsibility Regardless
Hindsight is 20/20. Sometimes there simply was no way to avoid the mistake. Sometimes, even though the failure fell on your desk, it was actually the fault of a coworker’s negligence. However, if it was your responsibility to get it right, there is nothing helpful to anyone in dodging it. It wasn’t your parents fault. It wasn’t your coworker’s, your fender bender, new medicine, or the rain. Excuses are, ultimately, annoying. Redemption is found in everything but.
There May Be a Punishment, Resign yourself to It
My experience has been, much to my surprise initially, that there is rarely any punishment at all for a properly and maturely dealt with mistake. This is important to note: Often there is no punishment.
However, if integrity is anything to be had at all, then there will occasionally come a day where a mistake has a punishment attached. Perhaps it’s a loss of trust. Perhaps it’s a loss of position. If we’re lucky we’ll never make one of the terrible mistakes. For most of us, it’s simply a loss of pride.
Avoid Senseless Stubbornness.
There’s nothing more annoying than someone getting defensive. We know you have failed. We know you are wrong. We have forty hours a week trapped in an office that smells of fast food, oil, and slowly off gassing polymers. The weather outside is wonderful and we are here instead. We don’t care. Let’s lay it out on the table. Let’s work through it. The work must get done. Don’t make us fix your pride on top of the problem.
Most people in the technical field who have been at it for more than a few years are extensively experienced in failure. They have been on the other side of that meeting table. They know what it’s like, and they don’t care.
Don’t be stubborn. Don’t try to save your pride. We are technical folk.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Furuta Style Inverted Pendulum Is King of Geek Desk Ornaments
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/14/furuta-style-inverted-pendulum-is-king-of-geek-desk-ornaments/
Newston’s Cradle is thought of as the most elegant of executive desk toys. But that 20th-century dinosaur just got run off the road as [Ben Katz]’s Furuta pendulum streaks past in the fast lane, flipping the bird and heralding a new king of desk adornments.
This Furata pendulum has wonderfully smooth movement
Desktop Inverted Pendulum Part 2: Control
http://build-its-inprogress.blogspot.fi/search/label/Pendulum
Tomi Engdahl says:
Open Hardware RC Radios
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/15/open-hardware-rc-radios/
A decade ago, RC transmitters were clunky, expensive and PCM. A decade before that, everything was analog. Now, RC transmitters are completely digital, allowing for hundreds of aircraft to take to the sky. They’re also cheap, thanks to engineers in China. Now, they’re open hardware, too.
Like the Turnigy 9x radio, this barebones radio module uses RF modules — backpacks that contain the radio. This is also Open Hardware, and it’s compatible with just about every radio protocol out there. It’ll talk to everything from a Hubsan quadcopter to a Spektrum DSM2 receiver, and it’s simple enough that it can be built on stripboard.
DIY-Multiprotocol-TX-Module
https://github.com/pascallanger/DIY-Multiprotocol-TX-Module
Multiprotocol is a 2.4GHz transmitter which enables any TX to control lot of different models available on the market.
AR Universal board
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2570260
ARUni and accessory set are available at http://ar9x.net
name of board has changed from “AR9x Universal” to “AR Uni”.
It has all the features from AR9x;
- Latest Ersky9x, OpenTx firmware operated
- ARM 32bit mcu
- USB, SDcard, Audio
- more detail, please refer AR9x thread.
One difference from AR9x is the size of board.
It is very small and expected to be fit into most TX’s body.
Tomi Engdahl says:
RC Car Piloting with the Blast Shield Down
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/16/rc-car-piloting-with-the-blast-shield-down/
Many of us have had a radio controlled car at some time in our youth, though it’s probable that none all of us entirely mastered it. There are memories of spectacular crashes, and if we were really unlucky, further boosts to Mr. Tamiya’s bank balance as fresh parts had to be fitted.
His build took a PS2 steering wheel peripheral with pedals and mated it to an Arduino Uno via a PS2 shield. The Uno talks to a Nordic NRF24L01 RF module, which communicates with another NRF24L01 on the car. This in turn talks to a car-mounted Arduino Micro, which controls the car servos and speed controller.
FPV video is provided by a miniature camera and transmitter from the world of multirotor flying which is mounted on the car and transmits its pictures over 5GHz to a set of monitor goggles.
First Person Driving with a Wheel
https://pauldyan.wordpress.com/2016/09/07/first-person-driving-with-a-wheel/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Prototype to Production: Arduino for the Professional
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1329708&_mc=RSS_EET_EDT&hootPostID=54f9891e55fea2b65f2eb0e5360baa2c
Jacob Beningo looks at how the humble Arduino can benefit a professional development effort.
Despite its popularity among hobbyists and electronics enthusiasts, the Arduino has become infamous among professional embedded systems developers. I must admit that for the longest time I also viewed the Arduino as so simple it was nearly useless for professional developers. But I have changed my mind.
The Arduino hardware platform
One of the most powerful aspects of the Arduino for professional developers is the hardware ecosystem that supports it. Every Arduino board and derivative has a standard hardware interface that allows custom designed electronics to be stacked on top of the processor board to flesh out the prototype of an embedded system. The custom electronic boards, known as shields as probably most developers are aware, can literally have any type of electronics onboard such as motor drivers, sensors, actuators, LEDs or whatever the application needs may be. The popularity of Arduino among hobbyists has greatly benefited embedded system professionals because the result has been a wide variety of Arduino shields for nearly every application imaginable available off the shelf.
Professional developers can also leverage the Arduino hardware platform to interface with commercial devices of interest. Using available shields for CAN, SPI, RS-485, Ethernet, and other equipment interfaces it’s possible to perform rapid prototyping activities for proof-of-concepts or one-off customer demos.
Prototype to production: Arduino for the professional
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/embedded-basics/4442018/Prototype-to-production–Arduino-for-the-professional
The Arduino shield interface is designed for low cost, low pin count microcontrollers, which can potentially be an issue for professional embedded systems developers needing more. Microcontroller companies have tried to resolve this issue by creating development boards for their more powerful processors while following the footprint for an Arduino shield. They then expanded the headers for additional functionality. By expanding their headers in the same way, developers can build their own custom shields for these enhanced development boards that utilize the extra functionality. Yet they can still also purchase off-the-shelf Arduino shields that remain compatible with the development board.
The Arduino software platform
The Arduino is more than hardware; it’s a complete hardware and software prototyping system. Its software development environment and libraries leave much to be desired from a professional developer’s point of view, but it is still useful to get a basic understanding of how Arduino handles software development.
First, a developer examining the Arduino website — arduino.cc — will discover that there is some really strange language going on when it is talking about software. Arduino has invented a concept for the general public known as sketching, which to a professional developer is “writing code”. A sketch is really nothing more than a software project but the terminology sketch comes from the fact that Arduino was originally developed as a rapid prototyping tool for individuals who knew little to nothing about software or electronics, artists for example.
Never heard of the Arduino programming language? That is because the Arduino programming language is actually nothing more than C/C++. The “Arduino language” as they refer to it is actually just a collection of libraries that provide a consistent set of APIs for controlling microcontroller peripherals.
Conclusions
Professional developers can leverage the Arduino ecosystem to rapidly prototype and prove out an embedded system concept. Existing Arduino libraries can be used for quick and dirty development but many developers will find the software development environment wanting and will likely choose to use their own development tools and environments. Despite the professional deficiencies in the software platform, though, the use of the Arduino shields and hardware environments offer a great opportunity to help accelerate development through the use of readily available shields. Just don’t forget that Arduino is meant for rapid prototyping rather than developing production-intent systems.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chronio
Low power Arduino based (smart)watch
https://hackaday.io/project/12876-chronio
Chronio is an Arduino-based 3D-printed Watch. By not including fancy Wifi and BLE connectivity, it gets several months of run time out of a 160mAh button cell. The display is an always-on 96×96 pixel Sharp Memory LCD. If telling the time is not enough, you can play a simplified version of Flappy Bird on it.
Tomi Engdahl says:
DIY programmable (SCPI) bench power supply
Bridging the gap between professional and DIY/hobbyist bench power supply
https://hackaday.io/project/9491-diy-programmable-scpi-bench-power-supply
Open source project of complete modular dual channel bench power supply. It started with idea to build decent device that includes BOTH hardware and software features that can be found in professional equipment. Also it would be simple or at least modular enough to be understandable without huge effort. Thanks to that its hardware parts could be easily build “as is” by anyone who has intermediate soldering skills or can be modified or partially reused in similar project.
http://www.github.com/eez-open
The software part is a firmware written using Arduino IDE and it’s supporting both AVR (Mega2560) and ARM platform (Due). Modified, it could also be used in other projects. It comes with SCPI command set that is obligatory feature of serious commercial equipment and its usually behind the marketing word “programmable”. Thanks to SCPI it’s possible to remotely program and monitor power supply. There is many commercial software suites that allows communication with various laboratory equipment, and some manufacturers such as Keysight offers entry level solution for free (e.g. Command Expert).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hacklet 125 – DIY Laptops
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/17/hacklet-125-diy-laptops/
In the old days of the 1970’s, the only way to get your own computer was to build one from scratch. Thanks to an army of hackers like [Woz], PC’s are no commodity objects that can be bought for a couple of hundred dollars. The magic of building your own still is there though – especially when we’re talking about portable machines. Laptops, notebooks, netbooks take quite a bit of skill to assemble. Stuffing a keyboard, screen, and battery into a small clamshell case takes a bit of planning.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Portable Workbench Crams An Entire Workspace Into One Box
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/17/portable-workbench-crams-an-entire-workspace-into-one-box/
Making on the go is sometimes required in today’s busy lives, and if you find yourself traveling — say, off to university like [ZSNRA] — then a convenient solution is required. To that end, a portable electronics workbench was built in the shape of a relatively nondescript plywood box.
Plywood and foam-core are the main materials used in building this maker’s bug-out box, with two fir runners along the bottom so the case is not resting on the hinges. Inside, [ZSNRA] has packed a staggering amount of hardware which results in an 11kg suitcase.
Portable Electronics Workbench
http://imgur.com/a/TeQQI
Tomi Engdahl says:
Forge Your Own Neon Signs With EL Wire
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/18/forge-your-own-neon-signs-with-el-wire/
Neon tube signs radiate an irresistible charm, which has been keeping them alive to this day. The vintage, orange glow is hard to substitute with modern means of illumination, but never trust a neon sign that you didn’t forge yourself. [NPoole] shows you how to build remarkably realistic faux neon tube signs from plastic tubing and EL wire.
After sourcing some polycarbonate tubing from a pet shop, where it’s more commonly used in aquariums, [NPoole] simply inserted some orange EL wire into the tubing. He heated one end of the tubing with a heat gun and twisted it off, sealing one end of the tube and welding the EL wire in place. [Npoole] then went on bending his neon tube to shape, repeatedly heating it up with the heat gun, bending it carefully, and blowing into the open end of the tube to prevent kinking of the tube.
T³: Pet Shop Neon
How to make faux neon signs with EL wire and rigid aquarium tubing
https://www.sparkfun.com/news/2184
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kurt Wagner / Recode:
Facebook buys Nascent Objects, a startup with tools for rapidly prototyping hardware ideas
Facebook just bought a small hardware startup called Nascent Objects
The company will join Facebook’s new top-secret hardware lab, Building 8.
http://www.recode.net/2016/9/19/12974572/facebook-nascent-objects-acquisition
Facebook has acquired Nascent Objects, a small Bay Area startup that offers what the company calls a “modular electronics platform” — essentially a software program to help expedite the process for building physical gadgets, including 3-D-printed hardware.
Nascent Objects will join Facebook’s Building 8, the company’s new top-secret hardware lab run by former Xoogler Regina Dugan, who used to run Google’s advanced technology and products team that did things like 3-D mapping and modular smartphones.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackers Offer a DIY Alternative To The $600 EpiPen
https://science.slashdot.org/story/16/09/20/055225/hackers-offer-a-diy-alternative-to-the-600-epipen
After the pharmaceutical company Mylan raised the price of a 2-pen set of EpiPens by nearly $500 over the course of 9 years, Michael Laufer and his “pharma-hacking confederates at the Four Thieves Vinegar Collective,” decided to make their own budget-friendly EpiPens. IEEE Spectrum reports:
Today they released a video and instructions showing DIYers how to make a generic EpiPen using materials that can be bought online for about $30. They call it the EpiPencil. “It functions just as well as an EpiPen,”
Hackers Offer a DIY Alternative to the $600 EpiPen
http://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/devices/hackers-offer-a-diy-alternative-to-the-600-epipen
Michael Laufer doesn’t have a life-threatening allergy to peanuts or bees. So he doesn’t need to carry an EpiPen, the automatic drug-injecting device that people with severe allergies stick into their thighs after accidental exposures.
But Laufer was still outraged by the recent news that Mylan, the pharmaceutical company that sells the EpiPen, had gradually raised the price of a 2-pen set from US $100 in 2007 to about $600 today. So, for those who do depend on the EpiPen to routinely save their own lives, Laufer and his pharma-hacking confederates at the Four Thieves Vinegar Collective have developed an alternative.
Today they released a video and instructions showing DIYers how to make a generic EpiPen using materials that can be bought online for about $30.
Four Thieves Vinegar
Make Your Own Medicine
https://fourthievesvinegar.org/
EpiPencil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldFFJRdhVs8
How to make your own epinephrine autoinjector for about $30.
Instruction packet
https://fourthievesvinegar.org/files/EpiPencil.zip
Comment from https://science.slashdot.org/story/16/09/20/055225/hackers-offer-a-diy-alternative-to-the-600-epipen
“The issue here isn’t the materials cost of the epipen. You don’t even need an epipen to deliver the medicine, just a syringe and an epinephrine vial. Any school nurse worth her salt will know how to use a needle. If school districts wanted to give a fat middle finger to the pharma industry on this they could go and purchase them.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Absolute 3D Tracking With EM Fields
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/20/absolute-3d-tracking-with-em-fields/
[Chris Gunawardena] is still holding his breath on Valve and Facebook surprising everyone by open sourcing their top secret VR prototypes. They have some really clever ways to track the exact location and orientation of the big black box they want people to strap to their faces. Until then, though, he decided to take his own stab at the 3D tracking problems they had to solve.
While they used light to perform the localization, he wanted to experiment with using electromagnetic fields to perform the same function. Every phone these days has a magnetometer built in. It’s used to figure out which way is up, but it can also measure the local strength of magnetic fields.
Absolute position tracking using iPhone magnetometer
http://chris.gunawardena.id.au/software-development/absolute-position-tracking-using-iphone-magnetometer/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackspace Websites And The Great Software Trap
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/21/hackspace-websites-and-the-great-software-trap/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Brushless HDD Motor Driver from 9V and Painter’s Tape
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/21/brushless-hdd-motor-driver-from-9v-and-painters-tape/
Hard drives work by spinning platters full of magnetized data while a read/write head very quickly harvests or changes bits as needed. Older (or perhaps cheaper) drives spin at 5400 RPM, better drives spin at 7200 RPM
Unfortunately you can’t drive a brushless motor without a brushless motor driver. Well, of course that’s not absolutely true — and [Tommy Callaway] has certainly hacked together a crude exception to the rule. He’s using a 9-volt battery and some blue painters tape to drive a brushless motor.
Power a hard drive motor without a speed controller
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6XVDd4eHIQ
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: LipSync, Smartphone Access For Quadriplegic People
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/21/hackaday-prize-entry-lipsync-smartphone-access-for-quadriplegic-people/
For most of us, our touch-screen smartphones have become an indispensable accessory. Without thinking we tap and swipe our way through our digital existence, the promise of ubiquitous truly portable computing has finally been delivered.
Smartphones present a problem though to some people with physical impairments.
LipSync is a project that aims to address the problem of smartphone usage for one such group, quadriplegic people. It’s a mouth-operated joystick for the phone’s on-screen cursor, with sip-and-puff vacuum control for simulating actions such as screen taps and the back button.
To the smartphone itself, the device appears as a standard Bluetooth pointing device, while at its business end the joystick and pressure sensor both interface to a Bluetooth module through an Arduino Micro. The EAGLE board and schematic files are available on the project’s hackaday.io page linked above, and there is a GitHub repository for the code.
LipSync
https://hackaday.io/project/13424-lipsync
An assistive tech which allows quadriplegics to use touchscreen mobile devices using a mouth-operated joystick with sip and puff controls
https://github.com/igourlay/LipSync-Project
Tomi Engdahl says:
$50 Foot Controlled Mouse
https://hackaday.io/project/13349-50-foot-controlled-mouse
Reimagining expensive commercial accessibility solutions with new prototyping materials
ALS has deeply affected our family, and we have lost 2 friends to the disease already. 2 Years ago, a relative was diagnosed with ALS. He has slowly been losing motor function in his upper body, and thus access to the outside world. After obtaining an electric wheelchair that can be driven using foot pads, I realized that we could do the same thing with a computer.
Commercial solutions, where available, are over $600, and may require special drivers or knowledge. With prototyping technologies available now, including piezo-resistive fabrics and HID-emulating programmable boards, developing a solution at a much lower price point seemed fairly easy.
FootMouseController.ino Arduino code for the controller board. Intended for 32u4-type board.
https://cdn.hackaday.io/files/13349571123616/FootMouseController.ino
Tomi Engdahl says:
Zero Parts Thermostated Soldering Station
https://hackaday.io/project/14969-zero-parts-thermostated-soldering-station
A quick and dirty temperature controller for a soldering iron. It is made out of lab test equipment and a Python script.
Usually a dedicated soldering station is used to control the temperature of a soldering iron, but this time, a PC, a DP832 power source, a DS1054Z oscilloscope, and a Python script were all used together to control a soldering iron.
Why use $3k+ lab equipment instead of a $30 soldering station?
Because I have a few cheap ($3-$4) soldering iron handles and a bag of fake Hakko 900M tips, but no soldering station for them, and I was curious to see how well these can perform in comparison with the other type of the fake Hakko tips that I have, the T12 series.
There are some very cheap soldering iron handles available as spare parts. They usually work with 900M type tips, the heating element has 50W at 24V, and the temperature sensor is a 40uV/*C type K thermocouple integrated into the heating element.
These cheap soldering irons use Hakko 900M series type of tips, but despite their similar heating element and similar soldering tips, the temperature sensor is different between the Hakko and the clones. Hakko uses a thermistor, while the rest of the other producers are using a K type thermocouple.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hi-Tech Tool For Measuring Your Kid’s Height
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/22/hi-tech-tool-for-measuring-your-kids-height/
Tomi Engdahl says:
My Take on Assistive Tech for the Hackaday Prize
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/22/my-take-on-assistive-tech-for-the-hackaday-prize/
We’re in the last few weeks for entries in the 2016 Hackaday Prize — specifically the challenge is to show off your take on assisstive technology. This is a hugely broad category and I’ve been thinking about it for a while. I’m sure there’s a ton of low-hanging fruit that’s not obvious to everyone. This would be a great time to hit up the comments below and leave your “hey, I always thought someone should make…” ideas. I’m looking forward to reading them and it might just inspire someone to spend the next couple weeks hammering out a prototype to enter.
Assistive technologies
https://hackaday.io/prize/details#five
Tomi Engdahl says:
Building Pneumatic Actuators With 3D Printed Molds
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/23/building-pneumatic-actuators-with-3d-printed-molds/
Pneumatic actuators offer interesting perspectives in applications like soft robotics and interaction design. [Aidan Leitch] makes his own pneumatic actuators from silicone rubber. His actuators contain embedded air channels that can be filled with pressurized air and completely collapse to a flat sheet when no pressure is applied.
Flat Soft Actuators From Images
http://www.instructables.com/id/Flat-Soft-Actuators-From-Images/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Pressure Plate LED Coasters!
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/24/pressure-plate-led-coasters/
Looking to use up some more of his flexible LED strip, Hackaday alum and Tindie writer [Jeremy Cook] tried for a funky accent to his dinner or coffee table: light up coasters.
Using his CNC router to carve out two pieces of translucent plastic to house four 3V CR2032 batteries, four pieces of LED strip, and some wire, [Cook] had created a pressure plate circuit that activated once a drink is set on it.
Light Up Drink Coaster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9idrDSooZlQ
Tomi Engdahl says:
See a Cheap Smoker get an Automation Power Up
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/24/see-a-cheap-meat-smoker-get-an-automation-power-up/
Jason] learned a lot by successfully automating this meat smoker. This is just the first step in [Jason’s] smoker project. He decided to begin by hacking a cheaper charcoal-fed unit first, before setting his sights on building his own automatic pellet-fed smoker. With a charcoal smoker it’s all about managing the airflow to that hot bed of coals.
Digitally Controlled Meat Smoker
http://blog.jhambone.com/index.php/2016/09/22/digitally-controlled-meat-smoker/
“hey I bet I can make something like that”, which is what I typically tell myself right before I get in way over my head with a new time-consuming, costly endeavour (my wife calls them projects).
So, here are the details of my journey to build an automated smoker.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Hackaday Prize: An Open Electric Wheelchair
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/26/the-hackaday-prize-an-open-electric-wheelchair/
[Irene Sans] and [Alvaro Ferrán Cifuentes] feel that electric wheelchairs are still too expensive. On top of that, as each person’s needs are a little different, usually don’t exactly fit the problems a wheelchair user might face. To this end they’ve begun the process of creating an open wheelchair design which they’ve appropriately dubbed OpenChair.
OpenChair
Make your chair YOUR chair
https://hackaday.io/project/13347-openchair
OpenChair focuses on taking a manual wheelchair and converting it into an electric one with enhanced capabilities, but most importantly, in which the user has the power to modify both the firmware and design to fit their needs.
Details
Wheelchairs are one of the most used accessibility devices worldwide, however, the prices for electric wheelchairs are still too high (starting at about 1000€) and they are certainly not open for the user to hack.
With this project we intend to build an open-source, affordable electric wheelchair the user can modify to suit their needs.
After searching for a combo of motors, drivers and battery+charger powerful enough to transport an adult for more than ten minutes, we came to the conclusion that taking advantage of mass production was the smartest thing to do and went ahead and got a hoverboard. For about 270€ new (and with the huge number of sales, probably a lot less in a second-hand store) you get 2x350W brushless motors and a 36V 4400mAh LiPo battery, giving you a range of up to 20km per charge.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Electronic Message In a Bottle
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/26/electronic-message-in-a-bottle/
We remember going to grandfather’s garage.
. Inside of a simple glass bottle was something impossible. Carefully, ever so carefully, he would use his custom tools to twist wire. He would carefully place each lead. Eventually when the time was right he would solder. Finally he’d place it on the shelf next to the others, an LED matrix in a bottle.
https://twitter.com/kosamari/status/779468237872455680?s=03
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Healthy Maker: Tackling Vapors, Fumes And Heavy Metals
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/26/the-healthy-maker-tackling-vapors-fumes-and-heavy-metals/
Fearless makers are conquering ever more fields of engineering and science, finding out that curiosity and common sense is all it takes to tackle any DIY project. Great things can be accomplished, and nothing is rocket science. Except for rocket science of course, and we’re not afraid of that either. Soldering, welding, 3D printing, and the fine art of laminating composites are skills that cannot be unlearned once mastered. Unfortunately, neither can the long-term damage caused by fumes, toxic gasses and heavy metals. Take a moment, read the material safety datasheets, and incorporate the following, simple practices and gears into your projects.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Line Follower with No Arduino
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/27/line-follower-with-no-arduino/
There’s hardly a day that passes without an Arduino project that spurs the usual salvo of comments. Half the commenters will complain that the project didn’t need an Arduino. The other half will insist that the project would be better served with a much larger computer ranging from an ARM CPU to a Cray.
[Will Moore] has been interested in BEAM robotics — robots with analog hardware instead of microcontollers. His latest project is a sophisticated line follower.
Looking at how [Will] used simulation to devise a PID with opamps and a PWM generator is illustrative.
Analog Line Follower
http://www.will-moore.com/analog-line-follower
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Real Turn Off
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/27/a-real-turn-off/
[Newbrain] had a small problem. He’d turn off the TV, but would leave the sound system turned on. Admittedly, not a big problem, but an annoyance, none the less. He realized the TV had a USB port that went off when it did, so he decided to build something that would sense when the USB port died and fake a button press into the amplifier.
He posted a few ideas online and, honestly, the discussion was at least as interesting as the final project. The common thread was to use an optoisolator to sense the 5 V from the USB port. After that, everyone considered a variety of ICs and discretes and even did some Spice modeling.
http://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/tiny-weekend-project(s)/
Tomi Engdahl says:
OpenLD: Lucid Dreaming Research Platform
https://hackaday.io/project/13285-openld-lucid-dreaming-research-platform
An open source platform to help induce and explore the realm of Lucid Dreaming for Research and Personal Well-being
The 2016 Hackaday Prize
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This project was created on 08/23/2016 and last updated 37 minutes ago.
Description
Lucid dreams are awesome: they can be used for scientific research, mental therapy, and personal welfare. The Lucid Dreaming Research Platform (OpenLD) is an open-source project that aims to bring the world of lucid dreaming to the Hacker community. This tool aims to assist in inducing lucid dreams and act as a means of communication between the dream and the outside world. This project utilizes an 8-channel EEG acquisition device, with an on-board ARM microcontroller, along with an accompanying software that performs real-time brainwave analysis.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Arduino Glasses for BT Multimeter
https://hackaday.io/project/12211-arduino-glasses-for-bt-multimeter
Building an HMD with no special parts, to make work easier and safer
The challenge is, that It should be constructed out of common materials that can be found easily.
The project is more about how to build the optical system for this HMD
I have a few ideas and one of them is to connect it to a Multimeter over Bluetooth to get the Data right in front of my eyes.
The lens was a tricky thing.
The best working lens is an Acrylic Plano convex lens with a focal point of 100mm. If you place the screen at a distance of 73mm from the lens away, you will get a virtual image at a distance between 27-30cm. The magnification factor is x3
That’s perfect, because another important thing is, that your eyes can only start focusing things at +-25 cm
Tomi Engdahl says:
Taking a U2F Hardware Key from Design to Production
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/29/taking-a-u2f-hardware-key-from-design-to-production/
Building a circuit from prototyping to printed circuit board assembly is within the reach of pretty much anyone with the will to get the job done. If that turns out to be something that everyone else wants, though, the job gets suddenly much more complex. This is what happened to [Conor], who started with an idea to create two-factor authentication tokens and ended up manufacturing an selling them on Amazon. He documented his trials and tribulations along the way, it’s both an interesting and perhaps cautionary tale.
[Conor]’s tokens themselves are interesting in their simplicity: they use an Atmel ATECC508A specifically designed for P-256 signatures and keys, a the cheapest USB-enabled microcontroller he could find: a Silicon Labs EFM8UB1. His original idea was to solder all of the tokens over the course of one night, which is of course overly optimistic. Instead, he had the tokens fabricated and assembled before being shipped to him for programming.
Designing and Producing 2FA tokens to Sell on Amazon
https://conorpp.com/2016/09/23/designing-and-producing-2fa-tokens-to-sell-on-amazon/
I made a two factor authentication token and have made it available on Amazon. In this post I’ll talk about the design, how I produced it affordably, and some metrics about selling on Amazon. If you’re interested in doing something similar, you can copy everything as it’s all open source.
It uses the U2F protocol, which is a standard developed by the FIDO Alliance and Google. U2F uses challenge response for authentication and is based on the P-256 NIST Elliptic Curve. FIDO additionally provides U2F standards for transports like USB, Bluetooth, and NFC which makes a project like this ideal.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Testing the Speed-of-Light Conspiracy
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/29/testing-the-speed-of-light-conspiracy/
There are a number of ways to measure the speed of light. If you’ve got an oscilloscope and a few spare parts, you can build your own apparatus for just a few bucks. Don’t believe the “lies” that “they” tell you: measure it yourself!
OK, we’re pretty sure that conspiracy theories weren’t the motivation that got [Michael Gallant] to build his own speed-of-light measurement rig, but the result is a great writeup, and a project that includes one of our favorite circuits, the avalanche transistor pulse generator.
Speed of Light with an IR LED
http://www.jensign.com/sol/index.html
The speed of light has been measured many different ways using many ingenious methods. The following note describes a method which is conceptually easy to understand and fairly easy to implement. The technique is the simple time-of-flight optical pulse delay method using a short (20 nanosecond) intense infrared LED optical pulse, a high speed photodiode and preamplifier and an oscilloscope with a bandwidth between 50 – 100 MHz.
A high-speed and intense infrared LED is most convenient for the optical measurement. High speed means that shorter optical pulses can be created facilitating shorter delay paths. High intensity means that optical alignment and focusing is easier. A Vishay 870 nm IR LED (TSFF5210) was chosen with a bandwidth of 25 MHz with tr/tf ~ 15ns. A high speed high current avalanche transistor (2n2369a) pulser circuit was used to drive the LED with 25 ns 600 mA peak current pulses with a duty cycle of 0.2% which is within the specifications for this LED.
A Vishay BPV10 high speed Si pin photodiode with a bandwidth of 200 MHz was used to detect the light pulses. The photodiode was reverse biased at 15V to increase speed and lower capacitance.
It is important to optimize the optical collection since an LED source is not well collimated.
The image below shows both the beamsplit and delayed pulses, showing a very clean separation of the two optical pulses. The beamsplitter was adjusted to ensure that both received optical pulses were of comparable amplitude to minimize any possible source of intensity dependence of pulse shape.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Weatherproof Circuits With a Pouch Laminator
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/29/weatherproof-circuits-with-a-pouch-laminator/
[Nick Poole] over at SparkFun was playing with some force resistive strips. He wanted to use them as a keyboard input. It occurred to him that the office laminator could feasibly laminate a sheet of paper and the resistor into one sealed piece.
He put the assembly inside the pouch, ran it through the laminator, and it worked! After this success he built on it to make a full resistive keyboard. Then it occurred to him to ask, as it would to any good hacker with access to expendable company property “what else can I laminate”? Basically everything.
T³: Laminating Circuits
https://www.sparkfun.com/news/2100
Experiments in weatherproofing electronic circuits by forcing them through an unmodified document laminator.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Boombox Doorjam Plays Your Theme Song When You Step in the Ring
http://hackaday.com/2016/09/29/boombox-doorjam-plays-your-theme-song-when-you-step-in-the-ring/
Although it’s not quite the same as entering a wrestling ring, [Matt]’s latest project will have you feeling just as good whenever you enter a room to your own theme song.
The core of the build consists of a boom box with an auxiliary input. The boom box is fed sound via a Raspberry Pi which also serves as the control center for the rest of the project. It runs Node.js and receives commands via websockets from a publicly accessible control server. The Pi is also running Spotify which allows a user to select a theme song, and whenever that user’s iBeacon is within range, the Pi will play that theme song over the stereo.
Doorjam
https://ideas.redpepper.land/doorjam-47f1a5bce2fd#.4cdq14lwv
Have you always dreamed of walking into a room to your own theme song? Us too—so we made a thing to do that! We call it Doorjam and it’s a boombox that plays your very own Spotify theme song when you walk through the door.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Conductive Paint Turns Pizza Box Into DJ Mixing Station
http://hackaday.com/2016/10/02/conductive-paint-turns-pizza-box-into-dj-mixing-station/
Conductive paints and inks have been around for quite sometime, and the internet abounds with examples of cool projects you can use them for. They’re well suited to quick and fun prototypes, educational workshops, and temporary toys. But, as cool as conductive paint is, it’s not usually the kind of thing that gets people excited at parties.
Well, until now that is. Adafruit has published a dope guide for building a bomb-diggity DJ mixing station out of a pizza box, conductive paint, and a Circuit Playground board.
https://learn.adafruit.com/circuit-playground-pizza-box-dj-controller
Tomi Engdahl says:
Multimeter Probe Goes Full Circle
http://hackaday.com/2016/10/02/multimeter-probe-goes-full-circle/
You’ve probably seen tweezers act as test probes for a multimeter or other instrument. Some electronics testing tweezers even have the multimeter built right in. Tools like these are especially handy for working with surface mount components. [Bweed2] found a probe made by E-Z hook that kept a fixed distance you can set with a thumbwheel. It looked good, but the $70-$80 price tag seemed too much.
Employing hacker ingenuity, he turned to a drafting compass. You know, the tool you use to draw circles.
DIY Variable Spacing Multimeter Probe from Drafting Compass
http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Variable-Spacing-Multimeter-Probe-From-Draftin/
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Desk Lamp Solder Fume Extractor
http://hackaday.com/2016/10/02/a-desk-lamp-solder-fume-extractor/
Those of us who have spent a lifetime building electronic projects have probably breathed more solder smoke than we should. This is not an ideal situation as we’ve probably increased our risk of asthma and other medical conditions as a result.
It has become more common over the years to see fume extraction systems and filters as part of the professional soldering environment, and this trend has also started to appear in the world of the home solderer. As always, where commercial products go the hardware hacker will never be far behind.
Desk lamp smoke extractor
http://www.instructables.com/id/Desk-Lamp-Smoke-Extractor/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday Prize Entry: Tongue Vision
http://hackaday.com/2016/10/03/hackaday-prize-entry-tongue-vision/
Visually impaired people know something the rest of us often overlooks: we actually don’t see with our eyes, but with our brains. For his Hackaday Prize entry, [Ray Lynch] is building a tongue vision system, that will help blind people to see through one of the human brain’s auxiliary ports: the taste buds.
Low Cost Tongue Vision
https://hackaday.io/project/13446-low-cost-tongue-vision
A sensing device for blind people that builds a visual image by stimulating the surface of the tongue
In the absence of normal eyesight, the human brain can learn to use the visual cortex to interpret unusual sensory stimulation as “sight”. I intend to address the challenge by creating a low cost device that provides visual information by stimulating the tongue, which is particularly sensitive, using an array of electrodes to create a low-resolution image.
This “vision” device will help the user build up a mental picture of the surroundings, as well as provide cues to aid orientation and spacial awareness.
This is a concept that I first read about a few years ago. At the time I made some plans to build one using a couple of AVR microcontrollers, a VGA CMOS camera and a dual-port RAM, but I never followed it up. It’s easier now to use a Raspberry Pi to capture and convert video data, simplifying the custom circuitry needed.
There is a commercial “tongue vision” device available, but it costs $10,000. I aim to create something similar using low-cost hardware, with all design information freely available, so that anybody can make one. The total hardware cost will be less than $100.
The project will consist of the following elements:
Interface lollipop – the user will place this inside their mouth, against the tongue. The lollipop will have a rectangular array of contacts on one side that provide electrical stimulation to the tongue.
Wearable camera/control unit – this will connect to the lollipop via a thin wire. The unit will send a stream of live pre-processed image data to the interface lollipop. It will also provide power to the lollipop and include controls to adjust the image intensity. As a wearable device it could be incorporated into an item of clothing , such as a hat.
Inside the camera/control unit, the Raspberry Pi will run software to process video data from the camera, convert it into a suitable low resolution format and send it to the interface lollipop.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackaday in Portland this Week for Open Hardware Summit
http://hackaday.com/2016/10/04/hackaday-in-portland-this-week-for-open-hardware-summit/
Open Hardware Summit 2016 | Portland | Oct 7
http://2016.oshwa.org/
The Open Hardware Summit is an annual event hosted by the Open Source Hardware Association.
The Open Source Hardware Association aims to be the voice of the open hardware community, ensuring that technological knowledge is accessible to everyone, and encouraging the collaborative development of technology that serves education, environmental sustainability, and human welfare.
Tomi Engdahl says:
$12 Quadcopter Frame from PVC Pipe
http://hackaday.com/2016/10/04/12-quadcopter-frame-from-pvc-pipe/
Flying ready-made quadcopters is fun. Eventually, though, most hackers get the urge to build their own. One of the most challenging parts is building a robust airframe. [Thomas Jarrett] has an interesting approach: he uses schedule 21 PVC pipe to build a sturdy airframe that is inexpensive and can house the craft’s electronics to boot.
http://www.instructables.com/id/The-Ultimate-PVC-Quadcopter/