This week on Maker Update, a CNC mug plotter, the future of 3D printed shoes, Particle’s new Iot Rules Engine, a kid noise alarm, a crown for Princess Peach, a hoverboard robot, and an over-the-top trampoline mod.

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Show Notes

Project of the Week

Mug-O-Matic: A Modular Tiny CNC by Michael Graham
https://hackaday.io/project/158014/instructions

News

3D Printed Sneakers are now a Thing
https://hackaday.com/2018/10/05/3d-printed-sneakers-are-now-a-thing/
https://youtu.be/hre3UdoxbE0

Particle Announces IoT Rules Engine (Beta)
https://www.particle.io/iot-rules-engine/

More Projects

Hello Light [Sound Reactive RGBW Cylinder] by Jeremy S. Cook
https://youtu.be/hvRX9n95TBY

Princess Peach LED Crown by Ruiz Bros.
https://learn.adafruit.com/bowsette

Hoverbot: A low cost, modular, hoverboard-based, open source robot by Isabelle Simova
https://hackaday.io/project/158256-hoverbot

Interactive Trampoline – Jumping for joy by Mao Wu
https://makershare.com/projects/interactive-trampoline-jumping-joy

Coin Sorter by Andrew Bond
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3125524

Tools/Tips

Zero Stem for Pi Zero 1.3 and Pi Zero W 1.1
https://www.adafruit.com/product/3945

Gareth’s Tips of the Week
https://makezine.com/2018/10/05/tips-of-the-week-carpenters-pencil-tricks-buying-a-3dp-string-dispenser-chamfering-welds/

3D Printer Buying advice by Bob Clagett
https://youtu.be/-TzGVRWgS3g

3D Printed 9v Battery Holder Andrew Yarovoi
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2998836

LED Matrix Jigs by mohit
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3147406

Mohit on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/mohitbhoite/#

Adafruit jobs board is back
https://jobs.adafruit.com/

Silicone vs PVC Hookup Wire
https://kk.org/cooltools/silicone-coated-hookup-wire/

Maker Faires this Weekend

Denver, Colorado USA
Rome Italy
Shenzhen, Shekou, Nanshan China
Houston, Texas USA
Aarhus Denmark
Biddeford, Maine USA
Chisinau Republic of Moldova
Charlotte, North Carolina USA
Reno/Sparks, Nevada USA

Other Maker Events

Maker Music Festival this Saturday
http://www.chimeraarts.org/mmf

Hackaday Supercon Nov 2-4
https://hackaday.com/2018/10/08/everything-supercon-this-is-big/

Transcript

This week on Maker Update, a CNC mug plotter, the future of 3D printed shoes, Particle’s new Iot Rules Engine, a kid noise alarm, a crown for Princess Peach, a hoverboard robot, and an over-the-top trampoline mod.

Hey, I’m Donald Bell, and welcome to another Maker Update. We’re a little later than usual this week, but I hope you’ve been doing well. I have a lot of projects for you today, and even some news. But first, let’s get started with the project of the week.

Michael Graham has been hard at work creating this mug-mounted CNC pen plotter he calls the Mug-O-Matic.

The project is made up of mostly 3D printed parts, 3 servos, an Arduino Nano and a custom motor driver board he calls the Tiny CNC PCB.

All assembled, you can send it Gcode files, just like a 3D printer or plotter, and it will write your design to the mug. He also shows off an expansion thumbstick you can use to manually draw designs with the plotter mechanism.

It’s a silly, but fun idea. He’s got a kickstarter planned for these in November, but you can find the part files and code to get started on your own over on his Hackaday project page.

It’s time for some news. The future of 3D printed shoes might be sooner than you think. YouTuber RCLifeOn printed up this 2014 sneaker design on Thingiverse made by Ignacio Garc and found that they’re actually somewhat functional.

He printed up a version in a cushy NinjaFlex filament, similar to rubber, and another using a thermoplastic polyurethane. After giving them a test run, he found the Ninjaflex version to be more comfortable while the polyurethane offered better support.

I just think the fact that they held up at all shows a lot of potential for other designs. If we can marry up 3D printing culture and sneaker culture, there really could be a huge movement here.

In other news, IoT board maker Particle has announced a new drag-and-drop IoT application builder called Rules Engine. It’s currently in Beta, but it works like a kind of IfThisThanThat for creating interactive cloud-based applications for Particle boards.

So if you wanted a temperature sensor to trigger a text message, or a web app to trigger a relay switch that turns a device on or off — this new system allows you to map all that out visually.

I have more projects to share with you. Jeremy S. Cook made this interactive sound level meter that blinks when the volume level gets too high. The idea was to make something so his kids could see when they’re being too loud. Of course, Jeremy points out, it also acts as a fun game for kids to test how loud they can be.

Honestly, I just love the look of this project. Jeremy is using a sandwich of plywood and clear acrylic — both cut on a CNC router. But I can also imagine getting close to something like this with a hole saw.

Inside, you’ve got an Arduino Nano, a small microphone breakout board, a power switch, rechargeable battery, and a stip of addressable LEDs. There’s also a DIP switch in there that allows you to change into different modes, including one that’s just to look pretty.

The Ruiz Brothers have a new cosplay project up. It’s a 3D printed Princess Peach crown with light-up jewels. A $10 Gemma M0 board, a small rechargeable battery pack, and some of those big, gummy style LEDs are all you need for electronics.

The crown design includes a fitting for a 3D printed headband to keep the tiny thing on your head. There’s also an optional set of horns you can print to turn this into a Bowsette crown.

On Hackaday, Isabelle Simova has a guide on making a DIY robot based on those motorized hoverboards that were all the rage a few years ago.

She calls this the Hoverbot, it involves stripping the Hoverboard parts from its frame and creating a new one. You’ll also need to connect up a Raspberry Pi and a USB webcam. A clean-looking Javascript application controls the whole thing.

You can find everything you need on the projects hackaday and Github pages. I just think it’s cool to see old Hoverboards put to good use.

On Maker Share, Mao Wu posted a guide on making this interactive trampoline that includes multiple rows of lights and a touch screen with sounds and games that respond to the jumping. It’s a cool crazy rig, and the guide is light on details, but it’s a cool concept you can build on.

Finally, Andrew Bond has a design for this coin sorter over on Thingiverse. It’s a multi-part build that will take some time to print and assemble, but you get a useful payoff at the end.

I have a bunch of tips to share with you this week.

Adafruit has a new product in stock that’s pretty unique. It’s called the Zero Stem and it’s a little $6 adapter for your Pi Zero that turns it into a USB dongle. It can pull power over the connection, and more importantly, with a little coding you can make your Pi act as a USB device.

On Makezine, Gareth Branwyn’s Tips of the Week column includes a bunch of Bob Clagett tips, including advice on choosing your first 3D printer. There’s also a great one from See Jane Drill on using a carpenter’s pencil as a ruler.

On Thingiverse I found this 3D printed 9v battery holder by Andrew Yarovoi. If you have a bunch of jumper wires handy, this design lets you just snap them in as battery leads for a simple 9v battery pack.

Also on Thingiverse, Mohit Bhoite has posted a design for a LED jig that allows you to create these beautiful, copper wire matrix designs. And if you’re not already following Mohit on Instagram, get on it. His work is gorgeous.

The Adafruit jobs board is back up and running, with postings for engineering and maker-related jobs. It’s free to use and free to post.

And over on the Cool Tools blog, I have a video up comparing the differences between standard PVC coated hookup wire, and silicone coated wire. I even do a fun little torch test. Check it out.

Maker Faires! A ton of faires this weekend, including Denver, Colorado; Rome, Italy; Shenzhen, China; Houston, Texas, Aarhus, Denmark; Biddeford, Maine; Chisinau, Republic of Moldova; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Reno/Sparks, Nevada.

There’s also the Maker Music festival in Sebastopol this Saturday at Chimera Arts.

Also, coming up on November 2nd-4th, there’s the Hackaday Supercon in Pasadena CA. It looks like a great lineup of talks and workshops. If you’re in the area or you can swing it as some kind of professional development for work, don’t miss it.

And that’s 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 to have these show notes emailed out to you automatically each week, with a few bonus projects thrown in.

And just a reminder, I am not a Make employee. I do this show as my way of giving something to the maker community. My wife thinks I’m crazy, but if you don’t, consider joining my Patreon and supporting this show for as little as $.25 cents a show. I super appreciate it. Alright? Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next week.