Makers

Instructables user laserjocky built this function generator for a term project in school. It’s capable of producing a square, triangle, and approximate sine wave up to a frequency of around 300kHz. Op-amps are designed with negative feedback in mind and are typically slower, but they can be used for making [...]

[Will] likes Reddit so much he built this dedicated controller that lets him play the social website like a video game.

He calls it he Karma Controller. In this case, ‘Karma’ refers to ability to accumulate a large number of net up-votes on a Reddit post. The device features seven buttons which are all it takes to up and down vote, navigate up and down on the Reddit listings, toggle images, as well as open and close new tabs for the comments section. We’re wondering if it allows you to follow a link to the post source too?

One of the reasons that we’re featuring this is that it’s only [Will's] second electronics project. If you’re still reluctant to get your hands dirty we hope this acts as inspiration. He started by building the first version on a hunk of protoboard. The Digispark microcontroller seen at the top reads from his button network and communicates with the computer via USB. Once the design was proven he had some help etching this circuit board which is version 2. He shows it off in the clip after the jump.

If you just want some buttons for voting you should take a look at this project which includes a 3D printed enclosure and button covers.

Filed under: peripherals hacks

San Francisco artist and culture jammer John Law needs little introduction in the Bay Area. He was involved in the infamous Cacophony Society since its infancy and is cofounder of the world-famous Burning Man festival. He has been a mover and shaker in the Bay Area art scene for over [...]

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Working on starting a makerspace? Register now for a How to Make a Makerspace workshop, Friday, May 17 at Maker Faire Bay Area in San Mateo, CA.

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This clean-looking readout uses analog dials to display the weather. [Nuno Martins] calls it the Weather-O-Matic and after the jump he explains what went into the project.

The hardware is about as simple as it gets. Each hand has a servo motor attached to it. An MSP430 gets the weather via a serial connection to a computer (data is scraped by a Python script) and sets the dials accordingly. The microcontroller also takes user input in the form of a single button on the side of the frame. The words on the left side of the dial are Portuguese for Today, Tomorrow, and After (meaning the day after tomorrow). Pressing the button multiple times will scroll through these three words, followed by the forecast temperature high and low for that day being displayed.

The nice thing about this is that the servo motors will stay in place if you cut the power to them. We bet if he wanted to make this a permanent fixture in his house he could get it to run well on batteries by using the sleep function of the microcontroller and adding an RF transceiver to communicate with the server.

Filed under: Microcontrollers

Today we debut a new monthly video series: Projects with Ryan Slaugh. Each new episode will air on the first Tuesday of the month. The series aims to help people with their own projects by giving them ideas, techniques, and inspiration. While most projects will be electronics related, many built around Arduino and Raspberry Pi, some projects will offer insight on using specialized tools and working with different materials. The projects will range from easy to challenging and from application-based to something done just for fun. In his first video, Ryan will show us how to make an Arduino-powered, Pelican case-based mobile prototyping platform for writing code, arranging tools, and all around making.

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We usually have no problem hacking together electronics into something useful. But finding an enclosure that makes sense for the build can be a real drag. In this case [Vincent Sanders] already had a working ARM build farm that leveraged the power of multiple ARM boards. But it was lying in a heap in the corner of the room and if it ever needed service or expansion it was going to be about as fun as having a cavity drilled. But no longer. He took inspiration from how a blade server rack works and 3D printed his own modular rail system for the hardware.

Each group of boards is now held securely in its own slot. The collection seen above mounts in a server rack which has its own power supply. This image is part way through the retrofit which explains why there’s a bunch of random pieces lying around yet. Instead of printing continuous rail [Vincent] uses a threaded rod to span the larger frame, securing small chunks of rail where needed by tightening nuts on either side of them. The white and red trays are prints he ordered from Shapeways designed to secure the eurocard form factor parts.

[Thanks Thomas]

Filed under: 3d Printer hacks

Last year our first trip to Maker Faire Bay Area. My daughter Sawyer and I saw many creative projects and were inspired by the work we saw. Sawyer, who was 7, really got the bug to make things. One of our first projects was a table built out of 1-inch black steel pipe, wood 2 x 4s, and glas

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Knock Knock is a clever Arduino-controlled calculator toy, designed for small children. The user knocks out a calculation on the surface — addition, multiplication, subtraction, or division — and Knock Knock will spit back the solution, in the form of knocks, of course. It's a fun idea for a toy, but good luck trying to use this in secret during a "no calculators" test at school!

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This cool mapping system created by MIT uses a Kinect motion tracker, a laser range finder, GPS, and inertial sensors to map out the interior of a building. [via Beyond the Beyond] Filed under: Computers & Mobile, Science

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To get the most efficient use of solar electric energy, you must keep your solar panel pointed at the sun. Manually moving the solar panel is impractical. An automated solution may be beyond the reach of many green energy enthusiasts or anyone who just wants to keep the lights on without developing robotics expertise. Hoping to fill that need is technology savvy Jay Doscher, with his prototype solar tracking robot. His tripod mounted, GPS steered solution is portable and could be used for emergencies, camping or any time off-grid power is needed.

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The new Lilypad MP3 board is out and it looks pretty sweet! Lilypads are washable Arduinos designed for wearable electronics. You can sew them onto your clothing and wire them up with conductive thread. The new MP3 board is basically an Arduino — it’s got the standard ATmega 328p with [...]

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Drone Dudes are a team of filmmakers and designers who use RC copters to capture stunning aerial cinematography. In this video we interview Andrew Petersen and Jeff Blank, who operate a radial octocopter capable of lifting cameras up to 12lbs. on a 2- or 3-axis gimbal. All the gear stows away inside their Transit Connect, which doubles as a camping vehicle when they are on the road.

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The Maker Faire Bay Area brings in Makers from around the world, like 15 year-old Gabriel Diaz Yanten, who is coming all the way from Chile along with his animatronic dinosaur puppet, Anacleto. Anacelto is a 12.8 feet tall and 8.2 feet long T-Rex that Gabriel designed and built with the help of his uncle, a mechanic.

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We're impressed with the BioLite CampStove, a fan-stoked, twig-fueled rocket stove with a thermoelectric module that converts heat into electricity to charge your cell phone or other device.

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Our mouth is still agape after digging through [Tom's] watchmaking blog. This gentleman spent several years designing and machining his own mechanical wristwatch. A dozen years ago or so [Tom] answered an ad for an apprentice watchmaker. He worked on watches and came across a book that detailed how timepieces are made. He was told that no-one does it like that anymore, which only fed his curiosity. What he came up with is, to his knowledge, the first timepiece every made in Australia.

It’s no secret that we have a thing for clocks. But we feature digital timepieces almost exclusively. We’ve love mechanical watches too but don’t see them as hobby projects very frequently. After looking at what goes into the mechanism it’s not hard to see why.

[Tom] was faced with a variety of challenges along the way. One of the biggest was having to come up with tools that would let him perform the precise milling work necessary to achieve success. You’ll want to read through his movement design and manufacture posts. He laid out the plan in CAD, but ended up using some hacked together milling tools to get the job done.

[Thanks Amit]

Filed under: clock hacks

"If you come, we will build it." From the editors of MAKE magazine, the Maker Pro Newsletter is about the impact of makers on business and technology. Our coverage includes hardware startups, new products, incubators, innovators, along with technology and market trends. Please send items to us at makerpro@makermedia.com. Click here [...]

Applications are now open at Haxlr8r. Joining a growing contingent of hardware accelerators vying for companies and ideas.

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Scottish designer Patrick Stevenson-Keating made these innovative lamps using Bare Conductive's nontoxic electrically conductive Bare Paint suspended in oil for the 2012 Milan Furniture Fair. Tilting the lamps so that the Bare Paint makes contact between the two electrodes extending from the bulb turns the lamp on.

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Annika O'Brien works full time making cool robots. She also founded the popular LA Robotics Club, which has over 1,200 members including high school students, hobbyists and professionals who share an interest in building robots. The club meets in real space to work on projects and participate in presentations, as well as holding classes as part of their community outreach to under-served teens. Annika's boundless enthusiasm and outspoken demeanor jumped right through the screen at me as we met via video chat to discuss her experience on SyFy's ground breaking show, Robot Combat League, where teams control giant humanoid robots duking it out in an arena. "It's like WWE wrestling with robots. It was a concept that no one had actually done before," she said. "It was a helluva lot of fun."

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