This week on Maker Update, a 100 foot slip and slide, two kinds of zoetrope, an open source test tube rocker, car lock pinball, a new issue of Make, diffusing LEDs, and a chance to win one of my favorite maker books.

Show Notes

Project of the Week

How to Make a Giant (100ft) Slip N Slide by Bob Clagett
https://youtu.be/YHJnAAhBl-0

Project guide
https://www.iliketomakestuff.com/giant-slip-n-slide/

More Projects

Paper Craft Zoetrope with Crickit by Dano Wall
https://learn.adafruit.com/paper-craft-zoetrope-with-circuit-python

Stroboscopic Zoetrope by John Park
https://learn.adafruit.com/strobe-zoetrope

Open Source Laboratory Rocker by Akshay Dhamankar
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2948680

DIY Pinball the Cheap Way by Chris Mitchell
https://hackaday.io/project/27816-diy-pinball-the-cheap-way

Tools/Tip

New issue of Make, Vol. 64

Control Make’s Office Robot
https://letsrobot.tv/robocaster/Make_magazine/

13 IDEAS FOR DIFFUSING LEDS By Becky Stern
https://www.instructables.com/id/13-Ideas-for-Diffusing-LEDs/

Clamp Tips by Bob Clagett
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4og5wp4GeDA

Cool Tools podcast with Hackster’s Alex Glow
http://kk.org/cooltools/alex-glow-hackster-io/

Book Giveaway Contest

Submit your best, uncommon maker tips to donald (at) makerprojectlab.com and the top 3 I choose will be sent a free copy of Gareth Branwyn’s Tips and Tales from the Workshop: A Handy Reference for Makers.

Or, just buy the book here: https://amzn.to/2JlmGW1

Maker Faires

Kingsport Mini Maker Faire Kingsport, Tennessee
Hangzhou Mini Maker Faire Hangzhou
Wichita Mini Maker Faire Wichita, Kansas
Sheboygan Mini Maker Faire Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Dublin Maker shoutout July 21st http://www.dublinmaker.ie/

Transcript

This week on Maker Update, a 100 foot slip and slide, two kinds of zoetrope, an open source test tube rocker, car lock pinball, a new issue of Make, diffusing LEDs, and a chance to win one of my favorite maker books.

Hey, I’m Donald Bell, and welcome to another Maker Update. I hope everyone’s doing well. I have a great show for this week with a lot of projects and tips, so let’s get started with the project of the week.

Bob Clagett continues to kill it this summer with another great project. This time it’s this 100ft. Slip N’ Slide.

Bob’s video walks through the entire build process, most of which involves the PVC pipe spray bar at the top of the slide. In addition to the water, there’s a custom hopper full of kid’s shampoo to keep the slide lubricated.

The project introduced me to C-PVC pipe, which uses a different sizing system that can create a snug fit into standard PVC. It’s also handy because it can be easily adapted to fit onto a garden hose.

What I love most about this project is that it’s one that you can share with your friends and community. You can find a link to Bob’s video and blog post in the show notes.

More projects! Over on Adafruit there’s not one—but two zoetrope projects. Both of them use Adafruit’s new Crickit project board. The first is a motorized paper zoetrope project by Dano Wall.

Using a Crickit, a Circuit Playground Express, and a small gearbox motor, the project walks you through how to create and mount a paper zoetrope directly on the motor. Paper templates are included, and the code is set up to spin the motor at just the right speed and start and stop by pressing a button on the Circuit Playground.

John Park offers a different take on the zoetrope project, using essentially the same hardware. For his version, John uses the neopixel leds on the Circuit Playground to create a strobe effect. For his demo, he spins a handful of ping pong balls with different faces on them and hits them with the LED strobe to create the animation.

It’s super cool. And there’s a lot of potential for scaling this up by adding more neopixels.

For something a little more practical, Akshay Dhamankar created this design for an open source, 3D printed laboratory rocker. The project uses a single NEMA stepper motor, an arduino, a knob for adjusting the speed and some bearings to create a smooth, reliable movement. The rocker is used for mixing things in test tubes. It could be a great tool for a DIY bio lab.

And if you’ve ever wanted to design your own pinball machine, Chris Mitchell has a guide on Hackaday for creating a working playfield using 3D printed parts and cheap car door lock actuators.

I covered this project last year when it was just getting off the ground. But Chris has updated it with a new flipper design and new drop targets that are reset with little hobby servos.

I have a bunch of tips to share. First up, the new issue of Make is heading out to newsstands and includes a feature on this DIY robot here called Let’s Robot. It’s a little rover that people can control over the Internet and see through the camera. This one’s running in the Make office most days and I’ll leave a link in the show notes where you can drive it around.

Over on Instructables, Becky Stern has a super useful guide on her experiments diffusing leds with different materials. Hot Glue, thermoplastic, paper, plastic tubing–you can see it all and consider what might work best for your project.

Bob Clagett is back with another Bits video. This one is all about clamps and walks you through different options and their best uses.

Maker extraordinaire Alex Glow from Hackster is on the latest Cool Tools podcast and runs through some of her favorite tools. There’s also a recent interview with Becky Stern.

And for for the ultimate guide on maker tips and stories, you have to check out Gareth Branwyn’s latest book Tips and Tales from the Workshop. I’ll leave a link to it in the show notes, but I also have 3 to give away. Email me a great, uncommon maker tip and my 3 favorite will get a copy of the book mailed out to them. I’m donald@makerprojectlab.com.

Maker Faires! This weekend we have Kingsport, Tennessee; Hangzhou, China; Wichita, Kansas and Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Also, Jeffrey Roe emailed me to get a plug in for the Dublin Maker event in Ireland, July 21st. If none of those are near you, head to MakerFaire.com and find out when your local faire is happening.

And that’s it for this week’s show. Be sure to subscribe, leave a thumbs up, or leave a comment. I love hearing from you guys. Get on the email list to have show notes sent to you automatically. You can buy me a coffee if this episode really did something for you. And I’ll be gone again next week, but I’ll be back. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you soon.