This week on Maker Update, a mechanical hummingbird, the 2018 Hackaday Prize, a tour of Fab Lab Barcelona, casting metal from 3D prints, and getting started with Arduino without an Arduino. This week’s Cool Tools is 3M Virtua CCS Protective Eyewear.

Show Notes

Project of the Week

Hummingbird by gzumwalt
https://www.instructables.com/id/Hummingbird/

News

2018 Hackaday Prize Launched
https://hackaday.com/2018/03/12/2018-hackaday-prize-build-hope-design-the-future/
https://hackaday.io/prize

Fab Lab Barcelona
https://fablabbcn.org/

Cool Tools Minute

3M Virtua CCS Protective Eyewear
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00AEXKR4C/ctmakerupdate-20

Corded Reusable Earplugs
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00284DIPK/ctmakerupdate-20

Tools/Tips

Metal Parts from 3D Prints by by M. Borgatti
https://learn.adafruit.com/metal-parts-from-3d-prints

Tinkercad Circuits Arduino LED Blink
https://www.instructables.com/id/Blink-an-LED-With-Arduino-in-Tinkercad/

More Circuits Projects
https://www.tinkercad.com/learn/projects#/learn/overview/O6QUTPNJDUKI7RD;collectionId=OMOZACHJ9IR8LRE

Upcoming Events

Maker Faire NoVa, Reston, Virginia

2018 Midwest RepRap Festival 3/23-25
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2018-midwest-reprap-festival-registration-38591937524

Transcript

This week on Maker Update, a mechanical hummingbird, the 2018 Hackaday Prize, a tour of Fab Lab Barcelona, the best cheap safety glasses, casting metal from 3D prints, and getting started with Arduino without an Arduino.

I’m Donald Bell and welcome to another Maker Update. It’s good to be back, and I hope you’re all doing great. I spent the last week on vacation with my wife in Barcelona where along with doing all the touristy stuff I got a chance to take a tour of Fab Lab Barcelona, which I’ll tell you about in just a minute. But first, let’s kick things off with the project of the week.

This 3D printed, mechanical hummingbird by Greg Zumwalt is too good to believe. There’s a total of 97 3D printed components to make this work, including several gears that require precise printing and cleanup and patience to produce.

Driving it all is a 60RPM Gear Box DC Motor, connected directly to a 6vDC power adapter. So the electrical aspect of this project is relatively uncomplicated — you shove in the motor and connect it to power.

Other than that, though, there are no extra pins or screws you need to source. All the fittings are 3D printed.

What’s so beautiful about this project is the way Greg was able to simulate the compound movement of the bird’s wings both flapping and rotating in slow motion. It’s magical.

In news this week, Hackaday launched the 2018 edition of the Hackaday Prize. This year’s theme is Build Hope and includes $200,000 in cash prizes, including a $50,000 grand prize and many smaller cash prizes to motivate everyone to throw in an idea.

The separate challenges this year include Open Source Hardware Design (which is open now and doesn’t require a prototype), Robotics Module (for making modules that can plug into robotics projects), Power Harvesting (exploring new ways to harvest energy), Human Computer Interface, and Musical Instruments. I encourage you guys to give one of those a shot.

Now, just to catch you guys up on my visit to Fab Lab Barcelona. This is an amazing space that is part of the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, so you definitely get a sense that’s it’s a little more architecturally focused. But it’s also the headquarters of the global coordination of the Fab Academy program, which ties into the Fab Foundation and MIT. It’s a big deal.

I got a great tour from Marco Sanalitro who showed me models of some of the experimental structures they’ve built, along with some of the experiments they’ve done with 3D printed ceramics, miniature house building robots, and this staggering CNC milled topographical map of Barcelona.

If I had another life to live I would be all over their 6-month Fab Academy program, modeled after MIT’s rapid prototyping course. It’s basically Maker college in one of the most beautiful and affordable cities I’ve ever been to. A big thanks to Marco for the tour.

It’s time for another Cool Tools review, this week we’re taking a look at what I think are the best, low-cost safety glasses out there. These are the 3M Virtua CCS. I got them on Amazon for around $7. And by using the link in the description to pick some up, you help support my videos and the Cool Tools blog.

Because safety glasses inevitably get scratched up, I’m always looking for a newer better pair. And for me, “better” means better comfort.

Because when you’re wearing safety glasses for a long stretch they tend to dig in, or pinch your temples, or fog up.

These ones from 3M feel like they should win some kind of industrial design award. They’re ultra lightweight and conform to my head perfectly without any pressure or discomfort.

The big trick with these is that they have this lightweight molded foam gasket that prevents dust from getting in, and also cushions the nose piece. So the only place you really feel plastic touching your head is about an inch behind your ears, but it’s a light touch.

Ridges in the foam allow these to breathe just enough to prevent fogging. There’s also an anti-fog coating on the inside. But if it’s a hot day and these start to fog, you do have the option of removing the gasket completely to get better circulation. It’s also nice because you probably want to wash this gasket out from time to time.

One great feature of these that I’m not taking advantage of is that they are designed for corded earplugs snap into the sides so that you can protect your eyes and ears in one shot.

I like these so much that I’ve ordered some compatible earplugs and included a link. But even without them, for $7 these are an awesome upgrade for your old scratchy safety glasses. They feel great, they provide 99% UV protection if you’re working outside, and I think they look pretty decent too.

You can find the link for these in the video description and you can see thousands of reader recommended tools like these at Cool-Tools.org

I have some more tips to share with you. Over on Adafruit there’s a great guide by Matthew Borgatti on casting metal parts from 3D printed molds.

The process involves 3D printing a mold-ready version of your part, casting it in silicone, and then using the 2-part silicone mold to cast the part using a tin-bismuth alloy.

Like most Adafruit guides, this one is very thorough, with relevant links to all the parts and materials you’d need to try it out.

Becky Stern has been turning her attention to helping the Tinkercad team develop their interactive Circuits content. She has a new Instructable out under the Tinkercad Circuits account that covers the fundamental concept of blinking a single LED with an Arduino.

It’s a great, free, low-stakes way for beginners to dip their toe into Arduino and think about core Arduino code concepts either using the Scratch-like blocks interface, or the code itself, or looking at both side-by side.

There are a bunch of other virtual circuits to try out and Becky tells me she’s working on more Instructable documentation to helps people through them.

Maker Faires! There’s just one this weekend over in Reston Virginia. I also noticed that next weekend, the Midwest RepRap Festival takes place the 23-25th. So if you want to see the latest in 3D printing tech and you can get yourself out to Goshen Indiana, you’ve still got time to put a plan together.

And that does it for this week’s show. Be sure to subscribe and leave me a thumbs up or a comment. Get on the email list. Get yourself some comfortable safety glasses. And if you really enjoyed this particular show and got something out of it, you can buy me a coffee using the buy me a coffee link down here. That feels great! Alright? Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next week.