This week on Maker Update, the internet of embroidery, a Mandalorian for every printer, Neopixel chandeliers, and a laser cut bite out of the big apple.

++Show Notes [Maker Update #218]++

-=Project of the Week=-

Birthday Machine Embroidery With LEDs By bekathwia
https://www.instructables.com/Birthday-Machine-Embroidery-With-LEDs/

PEmbroidery
https://github.com/CreativeInquiry/PEmbroider

Disaster Terrarium by Estefannie Explains It All
https://www.estefannie.com/blog/76u2tt4egzdrddwd1usfoerujyqqq0

-=News=-

The Festival of Urgent Reinventions
https://makezine.com/2021/01/25/tackle-the-worlds-biggest-problems-at-the-festival-of-urgent-reinventions/

-=More Projects=-

Mandalorian Helmets Using Small 3d Printers by Bob Clagett
https://youtu.be/z7rOsba3WbY

Neopixel Crystal Chandelier with CircuitPython Animations and Speed Control By Erin St Blaine
https://learn.adafruit.com/neopixel-crystal-chandelier-with-circuitpython-animations-and-speed-control/overview

Laser Cut Raised Street Map of New York by This is How I Made It
https://youtu.be/RW1ppYu7Vn8

-=Tips & Tools=-

Killer Switches Featuring the Best in 1960s Human Factors Design Practices
https://www.core77.com/posts/104543/Killer-Switches-Featuring-the-Best-in-1960s-Human-Factors-Design-Practices

Concord Aerospace Replica Switches
https://www.concordaerospace.com/

Gareth’s Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales – Issue #78
https://www.getrevue.co/profile/garethbranwyn/issues/gareth-s-tips-tools-and-shop-tales-issue-78-310308

Cheapest, Easiest Portable Bandsaw Stand
https://youtu.be/o07fOySR5AU

-=Digi-Key Spotlight=-

Basics of Brushless DC Motors
https://youtu.be/XoOThZCTDRo

Transcript

This week on Maker Update, the internet of embroidery, a Mandalorian for every printer, neopixel chandeliers, and a laser cut bite out of the big apple.

Hey, I’m Donald Bell, and welcome back to another Maker Update. I hope you’re all doing well and finding some time — even just a little time — to get creative. I found a lot of great projects to share this week, so let’s get started with the project of the week.

Both Becky Stern and Estefannie had their birthdays last week and coordinated a maker gift exchange where Becky made this framed embroidery with lights and sound.

Now, I have to admit that when I first glanced at this project I assumed it was more of a craft project. When I hear the term embroidery, my mind conjures up grandma in a rocking chair, hand-stitching inspirational pillow covers. 

That’s definitely not what this is. In fact, ignore the embroidery entirely for a minute, and appreciate that Becky’s Instructable here shows you how to make a 3D printed frame that includes capacitive touch points for triggering sound effects and music playback. That recipe alone could spin out a lot of different project or gift ideas. 

She also wires in a real-time clock module just for the purpose of automatically triggering music once a year on their birthday. That’s a nice touch.

Now, for the embroidery, Becky is using a CNC machine from Brother that she admits hasn’t seen a lot of use because of it’s software limitations. But what she found is a new open source library called PEmbroider that uses Processing software to create machine embroidery from shapes you draw or import. 

The idea of an embroidery machine that’s an extension of Processing makes me giddy. I’ve got to play around with that someday.

You put it all together and you have a fun, unique gift, with all kinds of ways you can personalize it. More than a project, I feel like Becky just made a whole new category on Etsy. 

Again, if you take the embroidery out and substitute a photo, or some Cricut cut paper art, or even a poster of your favorite movie — there’s a lot you can do with this same formula.

You also have to check out the gift Esteffanie made for Becky. It’s a terrarium with a handmade vibration motor and some springs that turns it into this hilarious little earthquake simulator. As a native Californian, this speaks to me, and I may need to make one for myself.

Now for some news. Through Make I learned about the Festival of Urgent Reinvention. It’s a free 2-day online event that starts today, February 4th. 

There should be a mix of talks, workshops, and “actionable briefs” that tackle the world’s most urgent issues, with a focus on coming up with creative solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems. I’m curious, and maybe you’ll want to check it out too.

Now for more projects. On the I Like to Make Stuff channel, Bob Clagett shows how he made this full-size Mandalorian helmet. 

The cool trick on display here is how Bob took a model of the helmet — far too large to print on any conventional 3D printer — and then sliced it into multiple pieces that he glues together later on. 

To cut up the model, Bob’s just using a feature built into his 3D printing software. In this case, it’s Prusa Slicer, and you can just drag a plane into your model where you want to place the cut.

For the glue-up he’s using 5-minute epoxy. He also printed the helmet in PETG plastic, which he says holds up better to sanding than PLA. 

For the painting, after a few coats of primer he reaches for an airbrush – which was kinda cool to see, and the end result looks fantastic.

On Adafruit, I really liked this neopixel chandelier by Erin St Blain. Her version is a bit more over-the-top fire pixie magic crystal than what I would go for, but what’s great about this project is that you can adapt it a bunch of different ways. 

At its core, it’s just an Adafruit Circuit Playground Express board that attaches out to two larger Neopixel rings and a handful of individual LEDs that you can take or leave. She uses hers to light up the crystal pendants that go up like a helix around the rings.

Each ring has its own 3D printed holder that includes places for you to route any electrical or support wiring. The bottom piece, closest to you, houses the Circuit Playground board and includes a cutout for a rotary encoder used to switch on the light with a push and adjust the lighting animations with a twist. 

On the This is How I Made It channel, there’s a great, and super thorough video on how to make a high quality, multi-layer laser cut city map that you can hang on your wall. 

Now, at this point you’ve probably seen maps like these everywhere, from etsy to your local craft faire. They’re not hard to do, but like a lot of things, making a great one that stands out means paying attention to the details. 

This video not only show you how to generate the map files, but you’ll also learn all the tricks, like filtering out smaller elements and streets that just won’t print well, or adding your own labels for different neighborhoods. Really, if you ever wanted to attempt something like this, this is the video.

Now for some tips and tools. On the Core77 blog I found this cool post about unique switch designs. Towards the bottom you get a look at these functional replica Apollo rocket switches made by Concord Aerospace. 

You can buy these new, in all their panel-ready glory, for around $40 – $60. You can also work with them to have custom labels added. Not cheap, but if this is the look you’re going for on a specific project or flight simulator, it could be worth it.

In the latest issue of Gareth Branwyn’s Tips, Tools, and shop tales newsletter, there are a bunch of useful ideas. Colin Knecht shares tips for cordless drills, the DIY Tinkerer demonstrates 10 mods for a Black & Decker WorkMate, and Gareth himself sings the praises of using disposable 2-gram tubes of CA glue. 

On the Cool Tools channel, Kevin Kelly walks you through how he made this cheap and easy stand for a Harbor Freight portable band saw. 

It’s just using plywood, a standard household lightswitch, and a single plate of ¼” hot rolled steel plate, which it turns out you can order right from Amazon for under $20.

For this week’s Digi-Key spotlight, check out their latest video explaining the basics of brushless motors. You’ll get a better understanding of the characteristics and benefits of brushless motors and what distinguishes them from the more common brushed motor design. 

And that does it for this week’s show. Be sure to subscribe, leave a thumbs up or leave a comment. You can also get on the Maker Update email list so you never miss a show. A big thanks to my Patrons on Patreon and to Digi-Key electronics for stocking all the goodies and making this show possible. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you next week.