This week on Maker Update: new tricks for an old game controller, 3D printed muscles, a pocket-sized LED cube, and an unbeatable bot.

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This week on Maker Update, a breathing computer, building bots out of trash, 3d printed art, lego tables, fractal vises, and a wind powered car that’s faster than the wind.

++Show Notes [Maker Update Ep. 240]++

-=Project of the Week=-

Breathing computer by DIY Perks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3GKe7eXbPE

-=More Projects=-

Anatomical cross-section sculpture by Norm Chan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oClWPnCphfA

Beating Battlebots with Trash by Allen Pan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ex1F6k3OVs

Upcycled Lego table by On A Budget
https://www.instructables.com/Upcycled-LEGO-Table/

Impossible Wind vehicle by Xyla Foxlin and Veritasium
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUgajGv4Aok

-=Tips & Tools=-

3d Printing for outdoor use by Mike in the Woods
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbrBuoKMbgc

Fractal Vise by Hand Tool Rescue
https://youtu.be/QBeOgGt_oWU

Measuring Resin by Weight by TotalBoat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkN-tOdZkP0

Tips, Tools & Shop Tales by Gareth Branwyn
https://www.getrevue.co/profile/garethbranwyn/issues/gareth-s-tips-tools-and-shop-tales-issue-92-651285

-=Digi-Key Spotlight=-

Boards Guide by Makezine
https://makezine.com/comparison/boards

-=Transcript=-

This week on Maker Update, a breathing computer, building bots out of trash, 3d printed art, lego tables, fractal vises, and a wind powered car, that’s faster than the wind.

Hello and welcome back to Maker Update! I’m Tyler Winegarner, I hope you’re doing great, I know last week I told you I was obsessed with those jigs to turn power hand tools into benchtop tools but in reality, I’ve been obsessed with that Pico-powered oscilloscope! I ordered my pico, I got it wired up, and it’s crazy! I have an oscilloscope for like… ten bucks! I still need to learn how to use it, but Its a testament to getting obsessed and stuck in, and with that, let’s check out the project of the week.

I don’t know that I’d normally feature a custom PC build on this show. But this breathing PC by Matt from DIY Perks is just something else. Everyone who uses a powerful desktop PC wants the computer to be as silent as possible. The fans needed to keep the CPU and GPU cool are a constant source of auditory stress. But what if you didn’t need fans at all?

Matt’s PC is cooled by a fairly constant stream of air moved by this massive bellows. There’s plenty of ways you could move this thing, but again, the idea is to build a computer that’s as silent as possible, so traditional methods like motors and pulleys wouldn’t do. Instead, he’s using a magnet that is suspended within this horizontal tube. Fluid pressure moves the magnet from one side of the tube to the other thanks to a series of water pumps. The bellows itself is moved by a ring of magnets that latch onto the actuated magnet, and guided by a set of linear rails.

To prevent the PC from being cooled by its own exhaust, he built a set of valved louvres to ensure that only cool air was being forced through the radiator. At this point I really need to call out Matt’s approach to design – from a distance, this all looks like high tech fabrication. But the louvres are made from foam core, and the seals are just lengths of twine – cheap materials with a good finish and meticulous attention to detail.

When installing the bellows into the final case, disaster struck. The Tube that housed the magnet that moved the bellows shattered. This was a huge problem because the tolerance between the magnet and the tube made the whole system work – and it was just dumb luck that they were as tight as they were. He bought over 40 replacement tubes and none of them matched the same tolerances. The solution? He used electroplating to slowly build up the outer dimensions of the magnet with nickel until he found a suitable match with one of his tubes.

In the end, he installed the PC components,added the bellows, and ran some benchmarks to see if his system effectively cools the PC. With the CPU and GPU at full chat, they both hold steady temperatures of 60 degrees celsius. Sure the case is massive, and there’s a slight thump every time the vents close, but it’s a fully functioning, powerful PC, that’s just mesmerizing to look at.

More Projects! On Tested, Norman Chan has been playing around with the artistic potential of the simple tools in meshmixer – yes, meshmixer! You know that software you use to repair files that just won’t print? He’s using the split tool to bisect anatomical models – and then using the boolean tools to add details like skulls to them. The real magic comes when he subtracts skulls from the head shapes of transparent prints, and then paints the inside shape with gold pigment. What you see from the outside is the transparent model, but with a gold skull seemingly suspended within. Its an incredible effect, and I can’t wait to see other interpretations of this.

Over on Youtube, Allen Pan has a pickle. He recently called out another maker for making a project, basically out of trash. Youtube commenters weren’t having it, so he teamed up with Jake Laser to build a combat robot out of …. Trash. He harvested an electric wheelchair base and an electric chainsaw, with a ridiculously simple controller to build his bot – and then pitted it against William Osman’s own battlebot that he recently purchased.

The design looks promising but in the end the professionally built bot takes the edge. You could take this as a cautionary tale, but I see this as pure encouragement – just look at their enthusiasm when they first see it working. It’s a great tale about just bolting stuff together just to see if it works.

On Instructables, from On a Budget I saw this video about restoring an old telephone table with a fun, modern look. He’s transforming it to make it look like a piece of lego furniture. This video starts out like your typical furniture restoration, and there’s a ton of traditional skills you can learn from it. But then it just takes a left turn with the lego studs, the paint job, and the flat lego base – and of course, the drawer is used for storing lego bricks. It’s a fun result, go check it out.

I know we just featured Xyla Foxlin in the last episode, but you have to check out this collaboration she did with Derek from Veritasium to build a vehicle that makes physics professors angry. The idea is this: You have an unpowered vehicle with a huge propeller that you point downwind. Once you get it going fast enough, the force of the wind will spin the propeller, driving the wheels of the vehicle and will force it to go faster than the windspeed. It sounds crazy, but their journey of discovering how this can even work, is even crazier. Crazier still is that she shares all of her 3d printed files and bill of materials, so you can build your own car and anger your local physics teacher.

Time for some tips and tools, on youtube I found this video from Mike in the Woods about 3d printing material concerns for outdoor use. He covers a number of the most common materials for FDM printing and then addresses how they will perform outdoors – both with regard to how they weather the elements over time, and the impact they’ll have on the environment. If you’re planning a camping trip this summer and printing up some anchors or tent stakes, give this one a watch.

I love a good tool restoration video every now and again, but we don;t normally showcase them – but you need to check out this video by hand tool rescue about what they;re calling a fractal vise – just to see the tool itself. It’s this insane, recursive vise where every jaw splits and pivots so that it can hold any shape of work piece. I’m sure that machinists all over youtube will argue why a specific machined set of soft jaws is better, but in the meantime, just let us have this moment. Watch this thing, its insane and beautiful, and I love it.

Also on youtube I recently discovered this video by Total Boat about measuring resin by weight, instead of volume. Properly mixing resin is all about nailing the correct ratio of resin to hardener. The ratios are usually listed by volume – but that means you need to do measurements by eye. If you really want to get it right, you need precise scales. This video covers everything – from how to find the proper by weight ratio, to how to properly measure using your scale, all of it.

And in the latest edition of Gareth Branwyn’s tips, tools and shop tales newsletter he’s got another great roundup of stuff. My favorites is this short lexicon of maker Slang, a video from Wranglestar about tuning up a cheap axe from Harbor freight, but the real gem here is a guide from Blondihacks about what tools you should buy if you’re interested in machining but don’t know where to begin. This video should come with a content warning – its some serious ebay danger if you’re like me.

For this week’s Digikey spotlight, check out MakeZine’s annual boards guide, presented by Digikey. If you haven’t seen it before, this is their yearly roundup of all the microcontroller dev boards, single board computers, dev kits and more. This might be a little overwhelming if you’re just getting started in electronic hardware, but if you’re ready to evaluate boards based on price, functionality and compatibility, this is your one-stop-shop. Check it out.

And that is going to do it for this week’s show! Thank you so much for watching… I feel like a lot of the projects we featured this week also cme with great stories. I know every maker tale comes with challenges to overcome and those always have great stories to them. What are some of your favorites? Let us know down in the comments – and while you’re there, give us a thumbs up, hit subscribe, sign up for the maker update email list so you never miss a show. Huge thanks to every one at Digikey for having all the cool parts and making this show possible. Take care out there, and I’ll see you real soon.