Makers

This week in the MAKE Flickr pool we saw...

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Enjoy a fun episode of “Fact or Fiction” with [Veronica Belmont], with guest [me] from Hackaday.  The show “Fact or Fiction” generally takes some popular topic and talks to experts who can shed some light on the topic. They’ve had all kinds of intelligent people on, and also me.  If you watch a few episodes you’ll see that she tends to let people talk about the science for a bit, but inevitably veers over into “can we actually make this?”, which tends to elicit an awkward and somewhat humorous response from the person being interviewed, because most of the things they’re talking about are pretty outlandish, like portal guns.  I enjoyed the one about life on mars, especially when she asks the gentleman how accurate portrayal of martians in movies are, right after he explained that we’re looking microscopic things.

On a completely unrelated note, it is a very very small world. I ran in to [Veronica] at CES a few years ago and we found that both her and her husband both worked in the same office as [Phil Torrone] when Hackaday was just beginning.

Filed under: Interviews

When the trustees of a southern prison insist that no microprocessors or transistors be used to create a new door and gate locking system, a young engineer springs into action with relays and timers.

When I visited the Intel booth at International CES in January, I was introduced to Spacebrew, a software toolkit for connecting interactive things to one another. It’s what linked up all the ultrabook screens that represented the leaves of a beautiful, metallic tree at the corner of the booth. The [...]

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The Makerbar, Hoboken’s Hackerspace, was in desperate need of a reflow oven. Hurricane Sandy did a number on a whole bunch of household appliances, so when [Kush] saw a neighbor throw out a broken toaster oven, the Makerbar crew sprung into action.

The storm waters shorted the electronics board, fried the existing controls, and basically turned the oven into a metal shell with heating elements. It was the perfect platform for a toaster oven – every part that was going to be thrown out was already destroyed.

[Zach] over at the Makerbar ordered the Sparkfun reflow toaster conversion kit along with a few arcade buttons and set to work. After plugging the heating elements into the mains power to make sure they still worked, [Zach] attached these elements to the relay on board the controller. Three arcade buttons were wired up to the controller, and a whole bunch of code was written.

With the included thermocouple, [Zach], [Kush], and the rest of the Makerbar gang now have a very accurate and reliable reflow oven. There’s also settings for Sculpey clay and shrinky dinks, just in case anyone at Makerbar is feeling a bit creative.

Filed under: tool hacks

[Thomas] wanted to play around with a few high-power LEDs and a RaspberryPi. LED controllers usually require some form of PWM to change the brightness of a LED, and unfortunately the Pi only has one PWM pin. [Thomas] could have gotten around this with a custom chip or even an Arduino hanging off the Pi’s USB port. He opted to go with software-based PWM, and did so in a way that is far superior to bit banging a pin.

Conventional wisdom says PWM without a real-time operating system is dumb – right up there with starting a land war in Asia. Turning a pin on and off in a while loop will eat up all the processor power in the Pi, so [Thomas] looked for a better way to do things. He came across the ServoBlaster project by [Richard Hirst] that creates pulses of different lengths by playing with direct memory access; [Richard] created a circular buffer that is read every 10μs. With 2000 values in the buffer, he can control eight different pins with very little impact on CPU usage.

For [Thomas], though, [Richard]‘s project wasn’t enough. It was originally written for servos and is only able to drive PWM pins up to about 12%. A quick rewrite of [Richard]‘s code allowed [Thomas] to control eight pins with PWM varying from 0% to 100% – and be able to do other things with his Pi in the process.

[Thomas] now has a 40 Watt RGB LED powered by a Raspberry Pi burned into his retina, and the satisfaction of a really clever way of giving the Pi more PWM pins.

Filed under: Raspberry Pi

If you're a maker ready to scale up to commercial production, soon you'll be asking questions about how to manage the process of sourcing parts, ordering raw materials, describing the fabrication process, and scheduling access to equipment. Software tools that help you plan and operate your manufacturing business are often called “enterprise resource planning” systems, or ERP for short. ERP systems generally include tools for managing inventory, scheduling materials and resources for production, ordering new materials when needed, and accounting systems to keep track of your expenses and revenues.

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The first model of the NES wasn’t all that great; just ask any one of the millions of six-year-olds who independently discovered blowing on a cartridge made it work. The second NES hardware revision, the top loader, was better but only had RF video output. These are the only two pieces of hardware that can play every single NES game, and even with years of hacking NES-on-a-chip devices, there’s still much to be desired.

[low_budget] over on the AtariAge forum decided he’d had enough of these hardware compromises and decided to build the first new NES hardware revision in 20 years. It’s got all the best features from both of its predecessors and a few new features not seen on any existing NES. There’s support for composite and RGB video generators, new and better amplifiers for the audio, no lockout chip, and a top loading cartridge slot to prevent bent pins on the 72 pin connector.

While [low_budget]‘s prototype works, it only does so by salvaging the CPU and PPU from a working NES. There’s still much work to be done on the prototype, but even if we’ll have to destroy our beloved NES, we’d love to get our hands on one of these improved consoles.

Filed under: classic hacks, nintendo hacks

Before assuming that the title should be “web crawler,” just shush your shussins’ and check out the video after the break. The Pinoccio, as previously noted, is a board in development as a sort of web-enabled by default Arduino. This makes it perfect for a project like this one where a little rover is controlled from 10,000 Kilometers away, or around 6000 Miles for those of us that dwell in the US.

This setup uses a cell-phone accelerometer in Brazil to allow control of this robot in Nevada. Although close, the control isn’t quite real time, so that has to be accounted for. Something like this could be easily used for a telepresence ‘bot.

If you want to build your own, the assembly time is estimated at 1 hour. Instructions, as well as source code can be found on their page after the video. Although the Pinoccio board won’t be available until at least this summer, maybe this will give someone inspiration to try something similar in the mean time!

Filed under: iphone hacks, ipod hacks, wireless hacks

Now that developers are getting a chance to play around with the new Leap Motion, we're seeing some interesting experiments. Stephane performs a tune where the sounds of instruments are altered using this new motion-based controller.

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Using an Arduino Uno equipped with an Ethernet Shield and an LCD Keypad shield, MAKE reader Kedume demonstrates how to create a simple text display for the number of likes on any Facebook page. I think that this is a great project for an Arduino beginner because all you need [...]

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Recently, we acquired a LulzBot AO-100. It was given to us, free of charge.  After having it for about a week, I’ve figured out enough that I feel I can finally share my thoughts, impressions, and experiences.  I will be completely honest about the machine. It was given to us, which is insanely awesome, but hey, I have to share the real information with the readers.

When we first started looking for a printer, we decided we didn’t want to build one from scratch. While that might seem initially to be the opposite of Hack a Day, there is a reason. I simply can’t build every tool I use from scratch.  I have projects in mind that could benefit from a 3d printer, and I want to work on those.  This meant that I was looking for a pre-assembled unit. Many people asked for an article on getting a reprap going, so we started to consider reprap based kits as well.

When LulzBot contacted us, I was initially skeptical. I mean, the name is lulzBot. Is this an internet troll? Is this somehow connected to Lulzsec, the hacking group? Did they seriously name their printer LulzBot? Well, as it turns out, they are legitimate. Not only that, we’ve seen them before, they are also AlephObjects, who sent in the video of the wall o’ printers working. Why did they name it LulzBot? The answer was basically, for the lulz. It is worth noting that [Jeff] has been a strong proponent for free software for a long time and that Lulzbot is built from the ground up to be completely open and shareable. You can go to the website right now and download the list of parts as well as all source code and configurations.

As you read further, please remember that the model they sent me was not their newest. They don’t even sell this model any more. Technically speaking, it is roughly 2 generations behind.

The LulzBot arrived in two packages. One was the printer itself and the other was a box full of spare parts, including 15 pounds of filament for printing and a complete and fairly extensive toolset. The printer was packed very nicely. They had some kind of expanding foam that conformed to the shape of the printer and held it very tightly. It had an inspection slip, list of included parts, and a sample print that I assume was from this very machine in the box with it. That’s a nice little touch.

I pulled it out, set it on my kitchen counter and thumbed to the section in the manual that explained the unpacking and set up process. It really only involved removing a few bits that held things in place for shipping, and assembling the filament spool holder.

At this point, I’ve already noticed that the bulk of the parts connecting the frame are 3d printed. This isn’t new, we’ve seen this tons of times, but the 3d printed multi-piece adjustable filament holder suddenly made me very excited. Here was a complete tool, made by a machine exactly like the one in front of me. Not just a part, a complete tool with moving parts.  Once assembled, I installed the prerequisite software for the Arduino, Gslicer, and PrintrFace.

After the quick assembly, all that is left is to level the bed, set the z-home, and load new filament into the extruder. Loading the filament was quite easy. All that was required was that I loosen a couple bolts, pull the temporary one out, and stuff the end of the new one in.

Setting the Z-height is simple. Hit the Z-home button and watch the nozzle drop. There is a fat thumb screw on one side of the z-axis that the z-stop switch hits when it comes down. A small twist of this can adjust the home position of the nozzle accurately. The manual had pictures showing roughly how close it should be.

Next, I had to level the bed. I load a file that was on their site available for download. The file prints a square and a big pattern on the entire build surface. This allows you to see where the bed might be a fraction of a millimeter to low or high. Adjusting is done by four small bolts on the corners.

Then I began printing things.

At this point, I could have stopped! That’s all there was. Easy as can be.

However, if you recall, this isn’t the newest model. There is a list of things I could upgrade on this to get better quality. I couldn’t just leave it alone, I had to start messing with it.

I chose to print a few items that I had previously printed on a Makerbot Replicator for comparison. It is worth noting that the LulzBot ships with a .5mm nozzle and the replicator I used had a .35mm nozzle (I think, possibly .4).

The initial prints were pretty good. Especially when I got my Z-height smashed down the way it should be. [Jeff] gave be a slightly newer config file that made a pretty big difference too.

Here’s a timelapse video showing an early print. You’ll notice I didn’t set my height low enough and it caused one of the tentacles to pop up. This isn’t a huge deal, and a minor adjustment has resolved it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FYitYeVyM

I was actually a little frustrated with some peculiar fluctuations I had found in my prints. My z-axis just seemed to need constant adjustment and wasn’t reliably returning to home each time. I ultimately found that this was just a couple loose screws on a z-axis guide rail, I problem I should have noticed on visual inspection when I took it out of the box.

x-Axis carriage mount lower piece upgrade.

[Jeff] suggested I download the lower piece of the x-axis carriage mount. This upgrade gives some more stability and should reduce wobble. I downloaded it and printed it out. To mount it, I had to disconnect the large Acme screws from the z-axis motors. This upgrade got put back to stock in the next step.

z-axis-acme-adapter upgrade.

I quickly became annoyed at the z-axis-acme-adapters. They had recessed holes for their bolts, but he holes weren’t the exact size of the bolt, so it spun freely in the indention. Since it was indented, I couldn’t put a wrench on it either. I ultimately ended up putting super glue in the hole which, once dry, gave the nut enough friction to stay still.  During this process while I was explaining my frustration with [Jeff], he pointed out I could print newer better ones, like they use in the new model. I should point out that I’ve seen this used other places, not just the lulzbot. For tiny nuts, it is a bad idea.  The flat surface is just too small to grip. The plastic has too much flex.

I had to fight these back on the printer, then print the new ones.  Again, I was struggling with the fact that the nut would spin freely, so I couldn’t get it tight enough. The motor kept spinning in the mount because it was too loose.  Not only that, but I noticed the new fancy x-carriage mounts were hanging all the way down far enough to interfere with the z-axis-acme adapter. I didn’t have the linear bearing this mount was supposed to hold, so I ended up just putting the stock ones back on.

While inspecting the new z-adapters, I noted that they had the same recessed nut area. The theory here is that the nut will fit snugly and not turn, in practice I found that they do turn if they are small enough. Larger ones do not have this issue.  To resolve this, I just put the head of the bolt in that section which left the nut on the surface of the opposite side. Since the bolts have an allen socket head, this worked fine.  This was a really annoying problem with a ridiculously easy solution.

The new adapters were much nicer, having a keyed hole on the bottom that fit the motor’s rotor very snug.  I put everything back together, tightened everything as tight as I dared, loaded the smaller .35mm nozzle and began to print. The corners were tighter, details finer, but I also had this new and annoying wavyness.

After some quick research I found that my lack of experience with the repraps had sent me in the wrong direction. It appears that the z-axis motors/acme screws aren’t all supposed to be as rigid and tightly mounted as possible. They’re supposed to be able to wiggle a little bit so that the slight imperfections in mounting angle, or screw straightness won’t have enough force to push the whole carriage off course by a fraction of a millimeter.

I loosened the new adapters. This was rather easy now that I had reversed the mounting of the bolts that tightened them. I backed the motor and the acme screw out so that they were barely inside the adapter and tightened it back down. This allowed for more wiggle. My print improved!

Some very nice folks on the #reprap channel in IRC suggested that I try rubber tubing as a coupler instead. It has enough squash stretch to eat up most of the inconsistencies. Sure enough, a couple pieces of rubber tube worked fine!

at this point, I have detail and quality. It is humming away right now printing some fun stuff.

a big issue with an easy fix

My son got really excited when he saw all the gear related files on thingiverse. Naturally, I downloaded a simple one and printed it it. I chose this simple planetary gear set. Unfortunately, even though it looked good, the gears didn’t fit in the outer ring. Everything was slightly too large. I could force it in, but the pressure was so much that it wouldn’t spin.  I then tried a gear heart, which I happened to have an example of from another printer. I could assemble it, but something was wrong and the gears wouldn’t spin like they’re supposed to.  I was quite frustrated, since this meant that nothing very precise I would print would work.

I contacted [Jeff], who took the same file to their machines and printed it. He said that the file worked for them. We went back and forth for quite a while before [Jeff] figured out that I had loaded the wrong configuration files. Even though I have the AO-100, I needed the configuration files for the AO-101 which were correct for the newest version of slicer.

After that update, my parts were meshing just like they are supposed to! I am quite happy.

Too scared to reprap

While talking to a few people, I’ve found that the biggest issue with repraps are, well, that you have to build them yourself. When you look at the detail they achieve, then consider that maybe you’ve never built something that is that precise, it can be daunting. One great way to overcome that trepidation would be to go to a build party. There are folks out there that throw parties where groups of people all come together and build their repraps all at once. When I spoke to [Sonny] who does these parties, he said that everyone goes home with a functional reprap for under $1k.  You get help and expertise from the whole group. Hackerspaces will sometimes organize these events as well, so be sure to find your local hackerspace and ask. In fact, there’s one at the Hacker Consortium in Nashville on Feb 15th and one at LvL1 in Louisville KY, on March 9th.

Of course, you can always just get a machine that is pre-assembled like we did.

Filed under: 3d Printer hacks

Watch a video showing how quickly the chemical element Argon (Ar, 18) turns from solid to gas, in this experiment conducted by Andrew Marmery from The Royal Institution in London.

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Hobby electronics from 1982

[Lennart] came across one of his projects from several decades ago. It’s a twinkling star which blinks LEDs at different rates using some 7400 logic chips and RC timers.

Solder fume extractor

We’re still blowing the solder fumes away from us using our mouth, but this might inspire us to do otherwise. It’s a large PC fan mounted on a lamp goose neck. It clamps to the bench and is quite easy to position.

Ultrasonic liquid level measurement

Wanting a way to measure the liquid in these tanks without submerging a sensor, [JO3RI] turned to an Arduino and an ultrasonic rangefinder. His method even allows the level to be graphed as shown in his Instructible about the project.

Adding an ‘On’ light to save batteries

Dumpster diving yielded this electronic drum machine for [MS3FGX's] daughter to play with. The problem is that pushing any of the buttons turns it on, it doesn’t have an auto-off, and there’s no way to know when it’s on. This is unacceptable since it runs on 5 AA batteries. His quick fix adds this green On LED. We wonder if he’ll improve upon this and add an auto-off feature?

CMOS Binary Clock

This is a portion of the guts of [Dennis'] CMOS Binary Clock project from the early 2000′s. He even built a nice case with a window for the LEDs which you can see are mounted perpendicular to the protoboard.

Filed under: Hackaday links

This past week I hosted a Google+ hangout on air with members of WGBH Boston's "design squad nation." The hangout featured easy-to-build projects ideal for birthday parties or regular weekend fun and included making an air cannon, a two-wheeled balloon car, and an indoor slingshot.

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From the classic VCR Cat Feeder to the Fetch-O-Matic and the Kitty Twitty, here are 8 fun weekend projects to make for your favorite canine or feline.

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[Todd Harrison] really has our number. Like him, we don’t want to spend money when we don’t have to, and hacking our own solutions is a lot more fun anyway. This time around he’s helping out a friend who is a ham radio enthusiast. The friend’s radio didn’t come with a frequency display, and buying the add-on would cost more than the radio did. So [Todd] has set out to build an Arduino frequency counter for a Kenwood TS-520S HF ham radio.

This post (and the video found after the break) doesn’t cover the entire project. It’s rather involved just to make sure that [Todd's] initial idea is viable so he spends about 35 minutes explaining the problem, then measuring the radio outputs and testing to see that the Arduino can read them accurately. Because the radio has a very large range of operation, [Todd] will need to add external component to facilitate this. That extra circuit design will be the topic of the next project segment.

Filed under: radio hacks

After reading about an initiative between NASA and Boeing to develop lights for the International Space Station [Rasathus] decided to give it a go at building his own. The project uses RGB pixels to build a circadian rhythm light installation. Without the normal rise and fall of the sun the sleep wake schedule for the astronauts can be pretty rough. This uses color and intensity of light in a well-defined schedule to help alleviate that. [Rasathus] is trying to bring his project in well under the $11.1 million mark which was established for the ISS.

The light modules he’s using are from a strand of LEDs from Adafruit. Each is driven by a WS2801 controller, a common driver used for easy and complicated projects like this huge ball of light which our own [Jesse Congdon] tackled. The board above is the start of an adapter board for interfacing with the Raspberry Pi GPIO header. [Rasathus] wanted to make certain he didn’t fry the control electronics so he built some protection into this adapter. The control software is covered in the second portion of  the write up. We’ve embedded the video from that post after the break.

Filed under: led hacks, Raspberry Pi

Last night MAKE's Maker-in-Chief Sherry Huss accepted the San Mateo Mayor's award from Mayor David Lim. Mayor Lim had kind things to say about Maker Faire and its impact on the Bay Area community and beyond. He shared a story about taking his 7-year-old daughter to Maker Faire and how important it is to her. Maker Faire also received recognition from Congresswoman Jackie Speier Congresswoman Jackie Speier, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, and both houses of the state legislature. Thanks! Congratulations to the Maker Faire Team and makers everywhere.

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[Mark] is just starting off on his own 6502 computer odyssey. He was inspired by some of the other projects we’ve seen around here, like [Quinn Dunki's] Veronica Project, but with a spin that leverages modern processors to alleviate some of the messy work. As you can see above, there’s an Atmel chip perched above the 65C02 processor. This chip not only feeds the processor data (through all those slightly diagonal yellow wires) but also provides the clock signal and operates the reset and bus enable lines.

This is more of a hello world post for [Mark]. The chip is simply running NOP commands right now. But it shows that the basic idea works, and the video after the break lets us see another time-saving aspect of the circuit. He’s using a character LCD to display memory location and data values. The plan is to get a blog going, which he’s hesitant to do as it takes valuable hacking time away from the project. We disagree. The write-up (although incredibly fun for us to read) ends up being a reference manual for him once the project starts to get really hairy.

Filed under: computer hacks