++Show Notes [Maker Update #212]++

-=Project of the Week=-

Ice Cold Husky Bed From PC Water Cooling Parts by Naomi Wu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKYzdqoyPN4

-=More Projects=-

Controlling Bongo Cat with PicoPlanet by Liz / Blitz City DIY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZcdZGo-rLo

Building An Electric Sleigh With Present Launcher by Kids Invent Stuff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adzafQx9uio

3D Printed Hot Wire Foam Cutter by Elite Worm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu-eiGxpc9k&feature=youtu.be
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4670285

Making a Hidden World Book Nook Diorama by Jen Schachter on Tested
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmoB4tds0dM

Bent Plywood Mantle Clock by Ethan Carter Designs
https://www.instructables.com/How-to-Make-a-Bent-Plywood-Modern-Mantel-Clock/

FreeTouchDeck by Dustin Watts
https://www.instructables.com/A-Bluetooth-ESP32-TFT-Touch-Macro-Keypad/

-=Tips & Tools=-

Why the Teensy is the Best Arduino (although it’s not) by Zack Freedman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75IvTqRwNsE

3D Printed Sketchbook Templates by Sophy Wong
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bn5baWig0w

-=Product Spotlight=-

Olfa 5003 ratchet-lock heavy-duty utility knife
https://youtu.be/k9z3Ej7qo1g

Transcript

This week on Maker Update: A thermoelectric doggy cooler, PicoPlanet plays Bongo Cat, an electric sleigh for Santa, a 3D printed foam cutter, a kerf-bent plywood clock, and notebook templates for thumbnail sketching.

Hi, I’m Becky Stern, here for the first time hosting Maker Update. I hope you’re all doing well.

Let’s get right into it with the project of the week.

Naomi Wu built her husky dog a cooling bed so she can chill out in hot Shenzhen.

This is an impressively thoughtful build made mostly from parts usually used for water-cooled PCs. It’s like a doggie heatsink. The cooled aluminum plate provides a spot for Momo the rescue dog to self-serve a cool down after being overheated.

Momo has an implant that can report her body temperature via a handheld reader device, so Naomi is able to accurately measure the effects of various exercise and cooldown activities.  And the video is full of fun thermal imaging too. Naomi goes over all the considerations she made regarding practicality, safety, and material choices for the thermo-electrically cooled DoggieDock.

The radiator and other components fit inside a custom enclosure made from aluminum extrusion and laser-cut acrylic panels. It’s an informative build to watch, and also great for general inspiration that’s useful beyond the project itself.

And it satisfies what we all always hope will happen, that our pets will actually use the projects we make for them.

More projects! On YouTube, Liz on her channel Blitz City DIY shows us how she connects a PicoPlanet microcontroller to the Bongo Cat website. 

PicoPlanet is an Arduino- and Python-compatible SAMD21 board with beautiful generatively designed space graphics that act as capacitive touch inputs. It was created by BleepTrack, who sells them on Tindie.

It can act like an HID keyboard, so Liz did what makers do naturally and made it play memes on the internet. Her detailed video includes all the details you need to make your own, inducing the disastrously hilarious telling of what happens when you accidentally create a runaway keyboard device. Been there and I feel ya, Liz.

Also on YouTube, over on the Kids Invent Stuff channel, Ruth and Shawn built an electric sleigh for Santa from a concept by 10 year old Isaac.

Using mostly recycled bike parts, welded steel tubing, and plywood, they constructed what is basically a Christmas-themed recumbent trike. And it has a present launcher on top. We’ll have to wait until next week to see it in action but for now check out the build video.

This week, Elite_Worm on Thingiverse posted this hot wire foam cutter made mostly from 3D printed parts.

Although I’m sure the pieces take a while to print, this looks like a fun achievable weekend project once all the components have been gathered.

The files are free to download and print yourself, and the build video clearly demonstrates every step of the process. Not only does it look fun to build, but it’s also a handy tool for working on models and miniatures.

Speaking of miniatures, Jen Schachter on the Tested YouTube channel has a new video on creating a hidden world diorama inside one of her laser-cut Book Nook kits.

A lot of what she shows in her detailed video is good advice for any laser-cut plywood project and for anybody who wants to make miniatures and dioramas.

The lights come on when you open the doors, revealing a view into the tiny hidden world behind a little coat closet.

Over on Instructables, Ethan Carter created a bent plywood mantle clock. 

He goes over every step of the process in the video and guide, from cutting the kerfs to accenting them with epoxy and building the form to make the final shape. He cleverly used a tiedown strap to clamp the curve in place while the epoxy dried.

Also on Instructables, David Watts published a guide for his FreeTouchDeck, a hotkey macro interface that aims to be an inexpensive DIY alternative to the commercially available Stream Deck hardware.

David used an ESP32 development board and a TFT display, housed in a 3D printed enclosure. The video walks you through all the configurations and demonstrates a use case controlling his streaming software, and the Instructable links out to github and thingiverse for the files you’ll need to build your own.

And now for some tools and tips. On his YouTube channel, Zach Freedman explains the Teensy microcontroller, from why it’s so useful to how to configure your Arduino software to work with it. 

If you’ve noticed Teensies showing up in projects all over the place and wondered what the fuss is about, Zach’s video gets right to all the points that matter, from the perks and pitfalls to the essential but understated improvements that Paul and the Teensy contributors have made to the Arduino ecosystem over the years. 

Sophy Wong’s also got a helpful new video out this week, all about creating notebook templates for thumbnail and storyboard sketching. She’s got files available so you can make your own, and also shares the process in case you want to design ones to fit your specific notebook. 

I love how she improves upon her laser-cut design by moving to 3D and adding a bevel to the pencil hole, which makes it usable with a wider variety of writing implements

Sophy even includes some tips and advice for thumbnail sketching to help generate new ideas at the beginning of your process. She teaches you this classic design school technique that really helps maximize creativity and motivation.

For this week’s product spotlight I’m bringing you my favorite utility knife, the Olfa 5003. I go into more detail in the review video on my channel, but basically, it’s got the best qualities of a beefy box cutter combined with the best qualities of a precision craft knife. The ratchet-lock wheel makes an incredibly satisfying sound as it secures the position of the snap-off blade, and the metal guide holds the tip of the blade firmly in position. Nobody doesn’t need one or more of these, which makes it a great holiday gift.

And that about wraps it up for this week’s show. Be sure to like and subscribe, and let me know how I did in the comments. Sign up for the weekly Maker Update newsletter so you never miss a thing, and thanks for watching.