This week on Maker Update, a modular smartwatch, resin printing gets a speed boost, saving Ferris, sorting candy, and robot archery.

++Show Notes [Maker Update Ep. 238]++

-=Project of the Week=-

The Singularitron: My Massive, Modular Smartwatch by Zack Freedman
https://hackaday.com/2021/06/11/a-massive-modular-smartwatch-to-match-your-sci-fi-fantasies/

-=News=-

New Prusa SL1S SPEED Is the Fastest SLA 3D Printer on the Market
https://blog.prusaprinters.org/introducing-sl1s_fastest_desktop_sla_3d_printer_51436/

-=More Projects=-

Ferris Bueller’s Intercom by Aaron Newcomb
https://youtu.be/9Vd-yOBCuxE
https://github.com/aaronnewcomb/esp-now-doorbell

Arduino M&M Color Sorter By Jackofalltrades
https://www.instructables.com/Arduino-MM-Color-Sorter/

Robot Archer by Kamal Carter
https://hackaday.io/project/179680-robot-archer

-=Tips & Tools=-

Mount Head Zip Ties Review
https://youtu.be/6Xt0m29sa58

How to wirelessly plot with the AxiDraw by Monokai
https://monokai.medium.com/how-to-wirelessly-plot-with-the-axidraw-f9e0a872138e

Adam Savage’s Guide to Workshop Hammers!
https://www.tested.com/making/tools/adam-savages-guide-to-workshop-hammers/

15 Tips That’ll Improve Your Woodworking! by David Picciuto
https://youtu.be/WbkZLHWl0po

-=Digi-Key Spotlight=-

The Great Search: Finding An Eval Board For Your Chip!
https://blog.adafruit.com/2021/06/15/the-great-search-finding-an-eval-board-for-your-chip-thegreatsearch-digikey-digikey-adafruit/

Transcript

This week on Maker Update, a modular smartwatch, resin printing gets a speed boost, saving Ferris, sorting candy, and robot archery.

Hey, I’m Donald Bell, and welcome back to another Maker Update. I hope you’re all doing well and maybe making some time for some projects. I’m not exactly sure what my next thing’s going to be, but maybe this show will provide the answer. So let’s get started with the project of the week.

The Singularitron is a big honkin’ smartwatch made by Zack Freedman that he freely admits, mostly fails as a watch. I can look past it though, because there are a ton of inspiring design ideas here.

The coolest thing, in my opinion, is how he’s integrated these modular cartridges. Depending on what the situation calls for, he can load up an IR thermometer, laser pointer, environmental sensor, SD card reader, or a flashlight. He’s also working on a breathalyzer module.

Each cartridge has its own circuit board with a unique identifier so that the main unit can recognize it, know what to do with it, and display the appropriate information on the screen.

Speaking of the screen, Zack figured he’d complicate things for aesthetic reasons by using a 4-line vacuum fluorescent display, or VFD. It’s fragile and requires a relatively high voltage considering that the whole thing is battery powered — but man, does it look cool.

And that’s actually my favorite part of this project, conceptually, because Zack embarked on it as an excuse to use a bunch of the random, cool components that were cluttering up his workbench.

How many of us have boxes and boxes of cool stuff, either ordered on an impulse, or leftover from other projects, that are just gathering dust. Instead of waiting for the perfect project, why not challenge yourself to make something with what you already have and let the components lead the project.

Sometimes the tastiest meals come from the leftovers.

NEWS

Now for some news. The market for SLA resin 3D printers has become super competitive over the past few years. It’s led to some amazing deals on SLA printers, but aside from build volume, I haven’t heard a lot of exciting features to distinguish one printer from the other.

Prusa is hoping that the killer feature is speed. Last week they announced a new version of their SL1 printer called the SL1S Speed. They claim that it’s the fastest desktop SLA printer on the market, in some cases up to 3 times faster than the competition, without sacrificing quality.

That said, priced at just under $2,000, it’s not a cheap machine, especially as the market seems to be racing towards capable printers under $500. Still, I’m excited to see some innovation here, and that someone’s pushing the ball forward on speed and resolution.

Now for more projects. Remember the scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, where the principal comes to check in on Ferris, rings the doorbell, and then talks to a tape recorded message Ferris rigged up to the intercom system?

Well, Aaron Newcomb created an updated homage to this prank using an ESP32 board and an inexpensive MP3 player breakout board loaded up with the original audio clips from the movie.

To complete the look, Aaron even found the same model of intercom used in the movie, and repurposed it as the enclosure.

It’s a fun project for any Ferris Bueller fans.

On Instructables, Jack of All Trades shows off this Arduino-based M&M sorter.

Now, I have seen some fairly sophisticated ways to do color sorting, even some that use AI or sensors created specifically for measuring colors. But what I think is brilliant about Jack’s design, is that it’s relatively low tech, but super clever.

The design loads a single candy into a chamber, flashes a pattern of red, green, and blue light at it from a single RGB led, and then measures the light pattern reflected back using a basic photo resistor. The pattern reflected back identifies the color, determining which channel the candy is placed in the jar.

Jack includes all the files needed to recreate this project. I think it would be a fun one to show off at a party, now that parties are like, a thing again.

For a more potentially lethal party novelty, check out this robotic archer created by Kamal Carter.

Kamal is using a toy bow and arrow set here, but the math involved is definitely not for children.

An Intel Realsense camera detects the target pattern and the distance to the target, which sounds simple enough. The trick then becomes, how do you calculate the amount of tension on the string, or the angle of the shot, so that it hits the target every time.

It’s a challenging project, but it looks like a lot of fun once you have it working.

Now for some tools and tips. On the Cool Tools channel, I take a look at a type of zip tie called a mount head zip tie.

These are used in construction and AV installation. It’s basically a zip tie with a thick ring on the clasp that allows it to be easily screwed or nailed to a wall.

They’re great for cable management, but really, they’re great for anything you want to mount to your wall. With these, if you can zip tie it, you can put it on your wall. I think they’re great.

If you’re into pen plotters, Monokai has a guide on how to use Raspberry Pi to wirelessly send an image to an AxiDraw machine.

It’s cooler than it may sound, because the solution gives you a UI that you can drag and drop SVG images to, and hit go. There’s no Inkscape. It scales images automatically and optimizes your SVG paths. It sounds like a cool way to go.

On Tested Adam Savage has a video out on his collection of workshop hammers. Standard hammers, phenolic hammers, thwackers, replaceable tip hammers, non-marking, mini sledge, ball pein, non-sparking hammers, jewelers hammers — you’re bound to see encounter something you haven’t seen before, so check it out.

Same goes for this video by David Picciouto on 15 woodworking tips. As a non-woodworker, I appreciate that a lot of these are hacks for efficiency, or covering up mistakes. Definitely worth a watch.

For this week’s Digi-Key spotlight check out Lady Ada’s guide on finding evaluation boards for different chips.

Many chip manufacturers create maker-friendly evaluation boards for their flagship designs. But it’s not always clear what the board is called, or if it’s relevant to the specific chip that you’re interested in using.

Lady Ada offers some great advice on tracking down an eval board that gets you what you need, and what features to look out for if you have a few choices.

And that does it for this week’s show. Be sure to subscribe, leave a thumbs up or leave a comment. You can get on the Maker Update mailing list so that you never miss a show. A big thanks to my patrons on Patreon and to Digi-Key electronics, for being awesome and making this show possible. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you soon.