This week on Maker Update, Astable Exhalation, Raspberry Pi 400, FlexFrog, defextiles, and pepper’s ghost in your book nook.

++Show Notes [Maker Update #207]++

-=Project of the Week=-

Astable Exhalation by Bornach
https://hackaday.io/project/175570-astable-exhalation

-=News=-

Raspberry Pi 400
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspberry-pi-400-the-70-desktop-pc/

-=More Projects=-

FlexFrog Robot Frog Prototype made from a flexible PCB by Carl Bugeja
https://hackaday.io/project/175657-flexfrog

Making an Infinite Library in my Bookshelf by Nerdforge
https://youtu.be/oR80TuOCoic

Half Square Triangles LED Art By andrei.erdei
https://www.instructables.com/Half-Square-Triangles-LED-Art/

Magnetic Hat Decals By mikeasaurus
https://www.instructables.com/Magnetic-Hat-Decals/

-=Tools/Tips=-

The “Underextruding” Technique for 3D Printing Flexible Fabrics
https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/defextiles/overview/

Tool Vac Auto Switch review by Sean Michael Ragan
https://kk.org/cooltools/tool-vac-auto-switch/

Making a Perfect Table Top – The Easy Way by Laura Kampf
https://youtu.be/jycXYcFAigY

-=Digi-Key Spotlight=-

How to Identify Common Schematic Symbols
https://youtu.be/Y3s6uY4oO5w

Transcript

This week on Maker Update, Astable Exhalation, Raspberry Pi 400, FlexFrog, defextiles, and pepper’s ghost in your book nook.

Hey, I’m Donald Bell, back again with another Maker Update. I hope you’re doing well and being kind to yourself this week. I know there’s a lot going on out there, but it’s also happens to be an exciting week for maker stuff. So let’s get started with the project of the week.

There are only a few weeks left in the Hackaday Circuit Sculpture contest, and there are some real gems coming through. 

My favorite recent submission is this freeform circuit from Bornach. He calls it Astable Exhalation, and it’s an all-analog representation of a person breathing in and out.

There’s no microcontroller, no integrated circuits — just brass wire, LEDs, resistors, capacitors, and transistors. He first worked out the circuit on a breadboard, getting the resistor values just right for the fading effect. Then, piece-by-piece, he moved each component over into the sculpture, working the wire by hand.

Power is coming in from a 5v battery pack, which got me thinking that this whole thing is just a solar circuit away from being a BEAM-style self-sufficient project, or what’s also called a pummer.

Still, it’s a stunning piece of freeform circuit work, and as Bornach points out, the subject matter of breathing has been a recurring theme this year for too many reasons.

You can find the full instructions and part list for the circuit on Hackaday.

Now for some news! Big news from Raspberry Pi. They’ve got a new product out called the Raspberry Pi 400. It’s essentially a Pi 4 shoved into a full sized keyboard. You connect up a mouse, a monitor, and a power supply and you have yourself a very capable, and extremely hackable computer (in a good way).

The 400 is available now, though like any Pi, it’s bound to be scarce due to demand. On its own, it will cost you $70. You can also find it in a $100 bundle, which comes with a mouse, a power supply, an HDMI adapter cable, a book, and a pre-burned SD card with the Raspberry Pi OS already on it. Basically, everything but the monitor, though you could also plug this straight into your TV.

I think it’s a slam dunk for kids, but I have to admit that I kind of want one just for the efficiency of setting up a Pi 4 without dragging out my keyboard. I’m lazy that way. You can find more info in the show notes.

Now for more projects. Carl Bugeja (Boo – Jay – Ha) has made an update to his jumping flex PCB design we featured a few months ago. He calls his latest version the FlexFrog, and it’s able to be completely self contained with it’s own battery. 

This version also has four magnetic coils instead of one, giving it some extra power and stability, which it needs to work against the extra weight of the battery.

After some trial and error Carl is able to get the frequency just right to get it moving. It’s not perfect, but it still looks promising. You can find the PCB design and software on Hackaday.

On the Nerdforge channel Martina takes the book nook project idea to another level by adding in a Pepper’s Ghost illusion.

Now I don’t want to discount how awesome the nook is in it’s own right. It’s scratch-built with cardstock and foamcore, glue and paint, and more patience and talent than I can imagine. It’s kind of a medieval library theme, and it also makes use of a two-way mirror reflection to achieve an infinite hallway effect.

But as amazing as it is, I’ve seen it all before. What I haven’t seen is a pepper’s ghost illusion stacked on top — or rather, on the side. By leaving a phone-sized cutout on the side, Martina is able to play a video on her phone of these flames, which gets caught by a diagonally placed pane of clear acrylic.

Viewed from the front, it looks like two tiny torches in the front have these suspended balls of fire. It’s insane! And I love how it’s a double whammy to show off. Without the video flames, it’s still going to get some oohs and ahs. But then you slide in your phone and people will lose their minds.

Another great project to show off, that’s less demanding artistically, is this LED triangle art from Andrei Erdei. 

This is an Arduino-based neopixel project that fits into an 8×8 photo frame. There’s a Tinkercad-designed, 3D printed backboard that you arrange the LED strip on so that the LEDs fit perfectly behind the 3D printed grid of triangular channels that diffuse them. 

You’ll have to do a little wiring on the LED strip to get it to turn around some of these corners, but I appreciate how Andrei includes some cutouts where you can pass through the wiring that needs to connect to the Arduino. 

As for the code, he’s using the FastLED library, which I’ve been hyping up for the past few episodes. Assuming you’ve got the LEDs arranged the same way he does, you can drop the code examples right in and they should match up.

I also have to point out how cool these LEDs look with the sheet of paper and the smokey, semi-opaque acrylic on the front. It gives each triangle a texture and a color that’s far removed from the typical rainbow chase.

I also was ecstatic to see a new Instructables project from Mikeasaurus over the weekend. He has a guide on how to make these 3D printed hat decals that attach with magnets. 

Mike walks you through the process of importing logos into Tinkercad, assigning colors to different layers, and then using your slicer software to switch out filament colors at different layer heights. This way, any 3D printer can create multi-color piece.

You’ll also want to build in a spot to recess an small magnet. Mike’s doing this with some E6000 and soft jaw pliers to press the magnets into place. 

I love projects like this that are relatively simple to do and give you something you can immediately show off out in the world.

Now for some tips and tools. Jack Forman from MIT Media Lab’s Tangible Media group shows off some experiments his group did on intentionally under-extruding and stringing between areas of a 3D print. 

Typically this is a defect in 3D printing that you try to eliminate. Jack’s group flipped this flaw on its head to create flexible, fabric-like qualities in 3D printed plastic. The results are these incredible, lacey materials that can fold and collapse and stretch. 

The craziest part is that they’re just using a basic, unmodified 3D printer to do all of this. You can read his full paper on the MIT Media Lab blog and see what you can do to try it for yourself.

On the Cool Tools channel, Sean Micahel Ragan demonstrates this $35 automatic vacuum switch. 

If you have a workshop tool like a chop saw that kicks out a lot of saw dust, but an elaborate dust collection doesn’t make sense — this is just the trick. You plug your tool into the top socket and your shopvac into the other. Now when you go to use your tool, the socket detects the flow of current and kicks on the power to the vacuum to collect the sawdust. When you’re done, it keeps the vacuum on for a few seconds before automatically shutting it down. Brilliant. 

As Sean mentions, it’s also handy for automatically turning on a fume extractor when you switch on your soldering iron. Check out the video for more details.

Laura Kampf has a quick video out on a relatively quick way to create a level tabletop. Instead of creating a giant slab and running it through a planer, Laura shows a method of using a router and a sled to pass over your piece inch by inch to create a level surface. Not only is it just as effective, but it also allows you to marry together smaller boards and scraps to get unusual designs.

For this week’s Digi-Key Spotlight, check out their video on how to identify basic schematic symbols. Fritzing layouts are great, but being able to make sense of a schematic is something every maker should strive for. 

You’re going to come across projects like Bornach’s circuit sculpture where the instructions come to you as a schematic of relatively basic components. This video will help you make sense of them.

And that does it for this week’s show. Next week, Tyler Winegarner will be hosting. You’ve seen him on the Adafruit editions, and you’ll be seeing him more on here too. The week after that we’ve got Sophy Wong filling in. The week after that we’ve got Thanksgiving. So I will see you again in December. Hang in there, thanks for watching, and I’ll see you soon.