This week on Maker Update, a magic mirror, Norwegian arm, pixels for your pocket, and dialing for songs.

++Show Notes [Maker Update Ep.274]++

-=Project of the Week=-

Raspberry Pi Smart Magic Mirror by Becky Stern
https://beckystern.com/2022/03/06/raspberry-pi-smart-magic-mirror/

-=News=-

Sci-Fi Contest by Hackaday and Digi-Key
https://hackaday.io/contest/184314-sci-fi-contest

-=More Projects=-

Lazy Susan 2.0 (Sushi Train) By Garage Avenger
https://www.instructables.com/Lazy-Susan-20-Sushi-Train/

Sketch Drawing Toy with CircuitPython By Ruiz Brothers
https://learn.adafruit.com/sketch-drawing-toy

Touch Tone Phone Dial-a-Song By John Park
https://learn.adafruit.com/touch-tone-phone-dial-a-song

90s Payphone Boombox Hack By Fuzzy-Wobble
https://www.instructables.com/90s-Payphone-Boombox-Hack/

-=Tips & Tools=-

Complimentary Curves Router Technique by Stumpy Nubs
https://youtu.be/tJJ8qCdnsLY

MIDI for Makers By Liz Clark
https://learn.adafruit.com/midi-for-makers

-=Digi-Key Spotlight=-

555 Timer Calculator
https://www.digikey.com/en/resources/conversion-calculators/conversion-calculator-555-timer

-=Transcript=-

This week on Maker Update, a magic mirror, Norwegian arm, pixels for your pocket, and dialing for songs.

Hey, I’m Donald Bell, and welcome back to another Maker Update, a show where we show you cool stuff makers are making. It’s good to be back. Let’s get started with the project of the week.

For years, I’ve been curious to try making a smart mirror. I just figured the longer I wait, the better options I’ll have.

Well, that time might be now, because Becky Stern has a great guide on how she put one together.

The core of the project is a Raspberry Pi running the free, open source MagicMirror 2 software, which has hundreds of user contributed modules you can configure.

I also like that she added these two strips of LED lights behind the 2-way mirror glass. That’s a nice touch that also feels relatively futuristic to me and my humble expectations around mirrors.

I think another reason why magic mirror projects appeal to me is that they’re a great way to repurpose an old monitor or TV. I see these on the curb all the time and wonder what I could use them for. A magic mirror seems like a great answer. Go check out Becky’s video and see if it’s right for you.

Now for some news. Hackaday and Digi-Key have teamed up for a Sci-Fi project contest. Three winners will win a $150 shopping Digi-Key spree.

All you need to do is design and submit a project that’s sci-fi themed and somehow electric.

The deadline is Monday, April 25th. You can find all the contest details using the link in the description.

Now for more projects. On Instructables, the Garage Avenger shows how he made this motorized Lazy Susan in an attempt to neutralize what he calls “Norwegian Arm”.

To hear it from him, his Norwegian family has a tendency to unapologetically reach across the table to grab food. This CNC cut plywood conveyor belt should address the problem, logically. But you’ll have to watch the video to see how it turned out.

This one really got me thinking of additions and modifications you build into. I think it would be neat to have some touchless sensor people could use to start and stop the conveyor, so it doesn’t have to run all the time.

But with all that stopping and starting, you’d need to build in some kind of acceleration curve so things don’t go crashing off.

Maybe it could play a little song while it goes around. Maybe you could make it respond to voice commands. I don’t know, but it seems like it’s ripe for someone to come in and take it to the next level.

There’s also a great pair of new project guides on Adafruit. The first is this one from the Ruiz Brothers on making a digital etch a sketch.

What I love about this project is that it’s a great one for beginners and has a little bit of everything.

There’s the 3D printed, snap-fit enclosure, which looks like an easy, satisfying print.

There’s a little greatest hit of components – two pots, a momentary button, and a toggle switch.

The code is in Circuit Python and is extensively commented to make it easy to customize.

It all runs on an Adafruit Feather M4, which allows you to drag and drop your code right to the board – no Arduino IDE to mess with.

And then in the end you get this unique little pocket gizmo. And sure, it’s not going to keep you entertained too long – but it’s cool enough to show off because no one else is going to have one.

So if you’re a beginner or know someone who’s looking for a project that’s a step beyond the typical micro:bit classroom stuff – this looks like a fun, low stakes project to sink your teeth into.

For something more involved, I really enjoyed John Park’s guide on turning an old touch-tone phone into a mini jukebox.

Here’s another one of those objects you’ll come across (or maybe you’re already hoarding one) and you wonder what to do with it.

Not only does John show you how to rewire an old matrix keypad like this, and connect it to a Feather RP2040 microcontroller, but he goes on to show how to wire up the earpiece and the cradle switch so you can really make full use of the old hardware.

The project reminded me of one of my old favorites, Fuzzy Wobble’s Payphone Jukebox hack, which I’ll also link to. But in John’s, everything has been simplified – especially since the RP2040 can handle native playback of wav files.

Now, I can’t imagine you can fit a lot audio on here – but if you wanted a simple way to turn an old phone into an escape room prop, or have a few recorded messages or sounds – this is clear and direct way to accomplish that.

Now for a couple quick tips and tools. On YouTube, Stumpy Nubs has a great video on how to cut complimentary curves on two pieces of wood stock, and get them to match up perfectly, with no gaps.

With just a little extra prep, some templates, and a few different sizes of bearing for your flush trim bit, you can eliminate the gaps that are common with this type of joint.

And back over on Adafruit, Liz Clark offers a great resource for anyone interested in creating a Circuit Python project that interacts with MIDI.

Whether you want to create your own MIDI keyboard or controller or sequencer, for triggering music – or if you want to take MIDI signals and translate them into motor, solenoid, or servo movement – this multi-part guide covers it all. It also links out to all of the great MIDI projects that Liz has created over the years. It’s a terrific resource worth bookmarking.

For this week’s Digi-Key spotlight, I went digging through all of Digi-Key’s useful online tools and found one I hadn’t noticed before. It’s a calculator for dialing in the exact output pulse you want from a 555 timer chip.

Just replace the resistor and capacitor values until you get the pulse width you’re looking for. The calculator includes a toggle for monostable and astable modes. It seems like a handy tool to know about.

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 email list, so you never miss a show. A big thanks to Digi-Key electronics for making this show possible. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you soon.