The Ceiling’s the Limit [Maker Update]
This week on Maker Update: a dorm room drone show, a tiny volumetric display, a new look at screen printing, and bullying robots.
Tread Gently [Maker Update]
This week on Maker Update: bringing your own baby Wall-E to life, Hackaday’s Op Amp challenge, a new twist on the video synthesizer, and adding animations to backlit panels.
Surfing with the Bern [Maker Update]
This week on Maker Update, the most expensive rip surf ever made, some huge news from Raspberry Pi, thin floating shelves, clever mechanisms, making cut lists and foaming TPU.
Counter Rhythm [Maker Update]
This week on Maker Update, a test machine gets its groove back, the winner of the 2020 Hackaday Prize, 3d printed HOTAS, Controller teardowns, perfect circles, cutting felt with a table saw.
Making the VK-01 Cocktail Machine
There’s an Instructables page up now, collecting all of the work on my cocktail machine for the 2020 Cocktail Robotics Grand Challenge.
I call it the VK-01 Off-World Bartender. It’s a Blade Runner-inspired machine that’s a mix of sci-fi and retro. Every detail I can think of is collected in the Instructable — every line of code, wiring diagram, and 3D design.
I hope it can inspire you to build your own cocktail machine. It’s been a challenging project, but one of my most rewarding yet. It was also a great motivation for becoming more comfortable with coding, 3D design, and exploring the possibilities of working with other makers and artists. I wouldn’t take back a minute of it.
Symphony of Solenoids [Maker Update #179 Adafruit Edition]
This month on Maker Update: A Robot Xylophone, Adafruit’s Open for Business, Painting with Light, Teletyping with Clue, Texting with Blinka, and the BBC MicroBit grows a tail.
Best Electronic Soldering Badge Kits For Classrooms
Learning how to solder is a right of passage for any maker. Personally, I remember holding out for the longest time, relying on alligator clips and breadboard jumpers to complete beginner projects and simple circuits. Soldering is intimidating, and the prospect of mangling a project while you learn the basics technique can compound the anxiety.
The best way I’ve found to dip your toe in to learning to solder is with a fun, inexpensive soldering badge kit. These come in dozens of varieties, with a wide range of cost, which I’ve outlined here.
Boil them down, they’re essentially a simple LED circuit, powered by a coin cell battery. For both students and instructors, they offer a quick project with a high payoff. Plus, you literally get to wear your new skill as a badge of accomplishment. How cool is that?
For a look at ore advanced kits for beginning makers, check out our current list of the Top 5 Best Kits for Makers.
Spider Clock [Maker Update #89]
This week on Maker Update, an LED filament clock, a pool noodle robot rover, a scream that screams back at you, a motorized Flippy crawler, 7 vintage toy robot designs you can 3D print, a project packaging generator, and a mini metal chop saw.
Wearable LED-lit magnifying glasses
Tools: LED Light Weight Magnifier with 5 Lenses
http://amzn.to/2uDdG90
Transcript
For this week’s Cool Tools review, I’m going to show off these wearable magnifying glasses. These run around $14 on Amazon, and by using the link in the video description you help to support my videos and the Cool Tools blog.
I bought these a year ago looking for a way to get a better look at soldering up small stuff. They really are perfect for those times when you’re wiring or painting or glueing up something tiny and delicate. Plus there’s a little LED on the front that helps put a little extra light on things.
Kunz 151 Flat Spokeshave Review
This time around, I’m going to show you a tool recommended by Adam Savage on episode 57 of the Cool Tools podcast. This is a spokeshave. You can get one on Amazon for around $35.