This week on Maker Update, an LED screen guitar, the Pi 3 Model A+, VLC for Raspbian, Kodak’s 3D Printer, a Pizza Slice Stream Controller, making Lithopanes, and testing servos.

Show Notes

Project of the Week

Glowing Guitar, Pt. 2 by ENGLANDSAURUS
https://www.sparkfun.com/news/2822

Glowing Guitar, Pt. 1 by ENGLANDSAURUS
https://www.sparkfun.com/news/2754

News

Raspberry Pi Launches Pi 3 Model A+
https://makezine.com/2018/11/15/slightly-smaller-raspberry-pi-launches-pi-3-model-a/

RASPBIAN UPDATE: MULTIMEDIA, PYTHON AND MORE
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspbian-update-november-2018/

KODAK Enters the 3D Printing Market
https://blog.hackster.io/kodak-enters-the-3d-printing-market-with-the-portrait-desktop-professional-3d-printer-14ae0edb108a

More Projects

How to Make a Rad Pizza Slice Stream Controller! by BrokenAntlerWorkshop
https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-a-Rad-Pizza-Slice-Stream-Controller/

CircuitPython Servo Tester
https://learn.adafruit.com/circuitpython-servo-tester

Tools/Tips

Gareth’s Tips of the Week
https://makezine.com/2018/11/16/tips-of-the-week-chop-saw-tips-improving-a-cheap-airbrush-and-tinfoil-duct-tape-and-toilet-paper-as-crafting-materials/

Image to Lithopane
http://3dp.rocks/lithophane/

DiResta Circular Saw Tips
https://youtu.be/em8MkkkxqfI

DiResta Reciprocating Saw Tips
https://youtu.be/rIzPD3Q22B4

Make’s Desktop Fabrication issue

Multimeters // Bits by Bob Clagett
https://youtu.be/_bccT1Ll15I

Adafruit STEMMA Soil Sensor
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-stemma-soil-sensor-i2c-capacitive-moisture-sensor

DIY Walkers
https://www.diywalkers.com/walker-abcs.html

$10 Digital Servo Tester Controller with Voltage Display
https://youtu.be/kEm5_ghp-TE

Maker Faires

Los Angeles, California USA
Ogaki, Gifu Japan

Find you local Faire:
http://makerfaire.com/map/

Transcript

This week on Maker Update, an LED screen guitar, the Pi 3 Model A+, VLC for Raspbian, Kodak’s 3D Printer, a Pizza Slice Stream Controller, making Lithopanes, and testing servos.

I’m Donald Bell and welcome to another Maker Update. I hope everyone’s doing great as we head into December. It’s a big show today with a lot to cover, so let’s get started with the project of the week.

Over on Sparkfun, Andy England posted this update to his animated LED guitar project. In part one he shows you how the guitar was modified with LEDs and fiber optics. In part two, he talks about how he turned those LEDs into a video screen.

What’s special about the way he’s doing this is that he’s using an industry standard lighting control protocol called DMX and sending the visuals over Wi-Fi. This allows him to use VJ software to play with the visuals in real time, and maybe even respond to what he’s playing. It looks incredible.

It’s time for some news. I was off last week, so I didn’t get a chance to catch you up on the new Raspberry Pi board that was announced.

This is the Pi 3 Model A+. It’s a slightly smaller footprint than the common B+ model, but now has many of the same specs, including the processor and built-in Wi-Fi.

With the A+ you sacrifice an Ethernet port and you have only a single USB port. But you save $10 over the cost of a Pi B+ without sacrificing performance like you would with a Pi Zero. It’s available now for $25.

The Pi Foundation also announced an update to their Raspbian operating system. The update includes a fully hardware-accelerated version of the VLC media player, making it easier to play audio and video files from the desktop interface.

The update also includes the latest version of the Thonny editor for coding in Python.

In 3D printing news, Kodak has announced the availability of their own 3D printer called the Kodak Portrait. The printer is priced at $3,499, and features dual 1.75mm extruders.

And while the hardware isn’t anything we haven’t seen before, the selling point is their IT-compliant 3D Cloud software for managing files over a network. So, it may be a good fit for a business or a college lab.

I have some more projects to share. On Instructables, Broken Antler Workshop has a great guide up on making this video stream controller box shaped like a slice of pizza.

The project is essentially a demonstration on how to use an Arduino Pro Micro to act as an HID keyboard device. Each of the arcade button inputs are defined as different hotkeys on the keyboard in the Arduino code. Hook up this pizza slice to your computer over USB, and your computer will see it as a keyboard.

I also liked this guide by Dave Astels on Adafruit showing you to make your own servo testing rig. His design uses an Adafruit Feather board, a small OLED screen, a logic level shifter, and a rotary encoder. With it you can dial in a specific angle, or define a range for the servo to sweep through.

The code is written in Circuit Python. You can find cheaper ways to test a servo, but this one is pretty nice and the readout and features on this one are useful.

I have bunch of tips to share. First, Gareth’s latest Tips of the Week covers prop making with foil and duct tape, making the most from a cheap airbrush, and more ideas on reusing old 3D printer filament spools.

Last week I experimented with 3D printing images using the Lithopane technique where light and dark areas are created using thicker or thinner buildup of plastic. I came across a free site called Image to Lithopane that makes it easy to try it out for yourself.

Jimmy Diresta has two new tips videos out. One is on using a reciprocating saw and the other is for using a circular saw. Both are full of great advice.

The annual Desktop Fabrication issue of Make Magazine is out. It’s always one of my favorites, full of reviews and info on 3D printers, laser cutters and CNC routers. I recommend picking up a copy.

Bob Clagett has a new video up on how to use a multimeter. These things still confuse me, so it always helps to have them explained from another perspective.

Adafruit has a new soil moisture sensor out called the STEMMA soil sensor. It’s $7.50, and it’s a capacitive sensor instead of the more common resistive style. Best of all Lady Ada herself writes about why capacitive is the way to go and why those forked, metal plated sensors don’t hold up.

Through the Adafruit blog I learned about a site called DIY Walkers.com. If you’ve ever wanted to build your own Strandbeest style linkage system for a small robot, or giant kinetic art piece, this site has tons of examples and advice, and even software for simulating your designs. It’s a great, nerdy rabbit hole to fall into.

And if you’re looking for a useful, inexpensive servo tester to play with, I’ve got a video up on the Cool Tools channel looking at a $10 option from Amazon. It’s a quick way to prototype with servos without getting hung up on code and microcontrollers.

Maker Faires! We have two this weekend including Los Angeles, and Ogaki Japan. If one’s near you, go check it out, or head to Makerfaire.com to find out when your local faire is happening.

And that does it for this week’s show. Be sure to subscribe, leave a thumbs up or leave a comment. Get on the Maker Update email list to have all these links and show notes emailed out to you automatically every week. And a big thanks to my Patrons on Patreon who make it possible for me to do this show without going broke. If you’re glad I’m out here every week collecting all the good stuff for you, consider chipping in even just a dollar a month. Alright? Thanks for watching and I’ll see you next week.