Maker creates his own 3D printer for under $100

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Rather than spend thousands of dollars on a 3D printer, this Maker made his own out of a DIY CNC machine and a 3D printing pen.

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3D printers have come a long way over the past couple of years. However, even despite their ubiquity, many of these machines are still pretty darn expensive. The more impressive devices can run anywhere from $2,000, while DIY kits can still set you back a couple of hundred dollars. Instead, Tinkernut developed a way to build his own for less than $100.

How, you ask? By hacking a $45 3D printing pen and transforming it into an entire printer. 3D printers are comprised of four basic parts: a bed, filament, a hot end and an extruder. In the video below, Tinkernut elaborates upon his decision-making process as well as the steps that he had taken in bringing the project to life.

For the bed, the Maker employed parts from an old three-axis CNC router that he built out of CD drives, which is connected to a 3D printing pen for the hot end and extruder. According to Tinkernut, the pen made for a better choice than a hot glue gun, especially considering the fact that it already came with built-in extruder functionality.

Tinkernut’s pen featured three standard buttons: thickness, backward extrusion and forward extrusion. He proceeded to tear down the handheld gadget so that he could automate the latter, which would be simulated by an Arduino Uno (ATmega328) to turn the system on and off.

Admittedly, the makeshift machine is a bit restricted when it comes to the size and resolution of an object that it can print, but hey, it’s $100! You can follow along with Tinkernut’s exhaustive build here, or simply watch it in action below!

Build your own e-waste 3D printer for $120

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As the saying goes: One man’s trash is another Maker’s 3D printer.

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Electronic waste (or e-waste for short) is an interesting side-effect of our high-tech world. Sure, your Pentium II computer was still pretty cool after it survived “Y2K,” but by 2010 or so it was probably in a landfill. Making this even more wasteful is the fact that there were probably working motors and mechanical components that could have been salvaged from it. If there were a good way to collect these components, and something they could easily be used on, that might make a dent in e-waste.

Though it might not solve the world’s pollution problems, this 3D printer, made in part with e-waste, at least lets people reuse some of the good parts from old computers. Per this project’s excellent writeup: “By upcycling e-waste such as old DVD drives and PC power supplies, the Curiosity not only costs less than $150, but also educates children and adults about e-waste, environmental issues, recycling and upcycling while learning everything about 3D printing!”

The kit that they have available includes a laser-cut frame and an Arduino Mega (ATmega2560) with a RAMPS shield for print control. You, as the end-user, need to supply two DVD drives and a floppy drive, as well as a power supply and tools. I could definitely see this printer being quite a bit of work to build, since you have to “harvest” parts, but coming in at just under $150, their build kit is attractively-priced and should teach you quite a bit about how a 3D printer works.

Control this robotic wing with your ears

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::vtol:: gives you wings… well, sort of.

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Ever wonder what it would be like to give yourself wings or perhaps a tail? Well, Moscow-based artist Dmitry Morozov has. So much so that the Maker, who we’ve come to know as ::vtol::, has developed a robotized installation that does just that.

Commissioned by the Center for Art and Media (ZKM) in Karlsruhe for this year’s GLOBALE: Exo-Evolution exhibition, the aptly named wing project measures eight feet wide and is suspended 10 to 13 feet in the air. And that’s not even the most impressive part — what ::vtol::’s interactive robotic wing can do is mind-blowing.

A thin cable hangs from wing, the end of which is outfitted with dermal miographic sensors that measure the electrical potential of muscles. Visitors are encouraged to place these sensors on their heads just behind the ear and rhythmically swing the object by simply moving their ears.

“The main idea of the project is an ironical and at the same time serious research on the topic of development of new instruments and prostheses as ‘extensions’ of human body and accordingly its possibilities and potentials, which are being revealed by new technologies,” ::vtol:: explains. “At the same time, it’s an attempt to stimulate people to perceive and train the body in a different way, expanding the limits of self-control and self-organization in order to adapt to the new conditions.”

An Arduino Uno (ATmega328) serves as the brains of the operation along with a series of servo motors, linear actuators and cords. As for its software, ::vtol:: is using the Pure Data programming environment.

Intrigued? Check out the project’s official page here, and be sure to watch it in action below!

Save yourself from procrastination with this lock box

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This anti-procastination box is perfect for those who are a little too obsessed with their smartphones and need to be productive.

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Technology, it seems, has advanced past the point of only being there to help us. It now helps, then takes back by wasting our time watching cat videos or checking Facebook for the fourth time in the last minute. If you need to get something done, Alexis “DigitalJunky” Matelin has a solution: his Arduino-based timed lock box.

With his box, you simply place the phone inside, set a timer for when you’d like to be disconnected from the little screen, then get to work on what needs to get done. Interestingly, Matelin was inspired by the parts available, not necessarily his need for peace and quiet. According to him, “I had a spare segment display and wondered about what I could make out of it. Hence was born the idea of the anti-procrastination box.”

Besides the display, the custom-cut box features an Arduino Nano (ATmega328), buttons, wire and various other electrical bits. Physically, locking is accomplished with a solenoid and a small piece of modeling clay for it to rest against, securing the lid.

The final result looks quite clean, and surely something like this could be more useful than the typical hack. As clever as this lock box is, we wouldn’t be surprised to see someone ripping it open if the urge for a digital fix gets too strong to resist!

[h/t Hackaday]

Open your garage door with this DIY keypad

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Tired of being locked out of your house? Build an Arduino-powered keypad.

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SamJBoz often found himself in the same predicament: he would arrive home, only to realize that he didn’t have his garage remote. Subsequently, like any good Maker would do, he decided to design a simple keypad with a four-digit access code that would grant entry to him, his family and any other friends he’d wish to give quick access whenever a handheld remote was not available.

He’s been using the system for roughly a year now, and has yet to encounter any problems. The device itself runs on a 5V Arduino Pro Mini (ATmega328), and consists of a 4×4 keypad, a small custom PCB and a few other electronic parts.

The keypad allows for up to 10 four-digit pin numbers, has a user set master pin number to create and delete user pin numbers, and flashes two-color error codes if something goes wrong.

Have you ever come home to find the door locked and your keys elsewhere? Well, luckily SamJBoz has provided all of the documentation and files on GitHub so you too can build your own and avoid finding yourself in those situations.

Building a robotic switch to automate your air conditioner

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This Maker created an Arduino-powered, servo-based device to turn his AC unit on and off. 

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If you want to control AC power with an Arduino or other platform, the simplest way is (normally) to use a relay. In Tyler Bletsch’s case, he moved into a new office with a manually-controlled air conditioning unit. As he puts it, “I’m not going to put up with a hot office in the morning, nor will I let the unit blow cold air all night and weekend when nobody’s around. Instead, I will build some crap.”

Well said. Since it’s generally a good idea to keep office equipment unmodified, this “crap” took the form of an Arduino Nano (ATmega328)-controlled servo to physically turn the switch on and off — as seen in the video below. This could, we suppose, be considered to be a very complicated form of a physical relay.

An interesting feature is that, since the horn swings out of the way when not in use, you can flip the switch manually “like a barbarian.” According to Bletsch, the bracket allows control of any U.S. standard wall switch. Because of this flexibility, you should be able to use this technique to control nearly anything, though it usually makes many folks uneasy to automatically power things when they’re not around.

Additionally, the interface consisted of a few tactile buttons and an OLED screen, which displays information like the day and time. In terms of software, he used the Time Library for real-time clock logic, the Adafruit GFX Library to show pixels, and the Native Servo Library to run the servo.

If you’d like to make your own, the Maker has made the code available on GitHub and the 3D-printable files on accessible on Thingiverse.

These ballet shoes digitally track and visualize a dancer’s movements

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This project is right on pointé!

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Designed by Lesia Trubat, Electronic Traces (E-Traces for short) are a pair of embedded pointé shoes that allow ballerinas to recreate their movements into visual sensations using an accompanying mobile app. For those unfamiliar with this particular form of ballet, pointé refers to a style of dance where dancers balance on the tip of their toes using flat fronted shoes.

Equipped with Arduino LilyPad boards (ATmega328) and three force sensitive resistors, E-Trace records the pressure and motion of a ballet dancer’s feet and transmits the signals over Bluetooth to an electronic device. The smartphone app enables the wearer to trace the data graphically, view the movements made in video format, extract images and even print them out for later use. This can certainly come in handy for those ballerinas seeking to improve their choreography and hone their skills in a creative yet elegant way, which is reminiscent of calligraphy.

“Dancers can interpret their own movements and correct them or compare them with the movements of other dancers, as graphs created with motion may be the same or different depending on the type of movements executed and the correction of the steps and body position,” the Maker explains.

While ballet shoes may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the IoT, Trubat has set out to put a modern spin on a rather traditional art form which dates back to 16th century. Although the E-Trace system is merely a prototype at the moment, it could soon be implemented across all disciplines of dance and training.

Intrigued? You can tip-toe on over to the project’s official page here.

Syncing sensor data with video to create an onscreen display

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Build a ‘black box’ data logger for adding onscreen display gauges to your highlight videos. 

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If you enjoy motorsports, mountain biking or “extreme tricycling” (aka riding a drift trike), you may take videos of your rides. This kind of presentation can be interesting by itself, but how much cooler would it be if you could display stats like speed, altitude, or even the temperature outside?

Well now you can, using an Arduino Mega (ATmega2560) equipped with several sensors, including a GPS and accelerometer. Instructions for making your own can be found on Fluxaxiom’s Instructables post on this ‘black box.’ The parts list is fairly involved, and although it doesn’t look like a ridiculously-hard build, you’ll definitely spend some time soldering components.

Once everything is soldered together, it’s attached to an anti-vibration mount reminiscent of something that would be used on a quadcopter. The assembly is then inserted into what is physically a clear box. Since it’s important (or at least less confusing later) for the box to be kept in a known orientation, the box is labeled with X, Y and Z direction labels.

After the data is obtained, it can be combined with your video using software called “Race Render 3.” There are other possible solutions to put this kind of data onscreen, but Fluxaxiom has gotten good results with it — as seen in the drift trike video below.

This alarm clock slaps you in the face to wake you up

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Always seem to hit the snooze button? Well, this alarm will hit you instead. 

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A teeth cleaning helmet, check. A breakfast feeding robot, check. So what’s the next morning routine Simone Giertz has set out to automate, you ask? Getting you out of bed. Let’s face it, there’s nothing worse than waking up from a sound slumber. How many times have you hit the snooze button or dismissed an alarm only to shoot up hours later and realize that you accidentally slept in? To help avoid situations like these, the always innovative (and hilarious) Maker decided to build an alarm mechanism that literally slaps you in the face with a rubber arm to jumpstart your day.

In order to accomplish this, Giertz picked apart an ordinary alarm clock, wired it to an Arduino Uno (ATmega328), and controlled a 165rpm brushless DC motor through a relay.

Those wishing to get into more detail will be happy to learn that she has provided an elaborate overview of the project in the first video below, and followed it up with a demonstration of the system. Don’t feel like being slapped in the face? You can always get ejected out of bed instead… just sayin’.

13-year-old Maker builds his own pair of smart glasses

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Pedosa Glass is a pair of DIY smart glasses — powered by Arduino and built by a 13-year-old app developer.

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Hong Kong resident, app developer and 13-year-old Jordan Fung has, according to him, developed “the coolest project [he has] ever made.” This new project, dubbed Pedosa Glass, is essentially a smart glasses attachment powered by an Arduino Nano (ATmega328) that shows him data and control information via a tiny FLCoS (Fast Liquid Crystal on Silicon) display.

As of now, the display has three buttons that can select one of two apps or go to an “about” page. Though it might not have all the bells and whistles of Google Glass, the two apps, a timer and a flashlight could be quite useful in real life. Fung admits that the timer could be a bit more accurate, but the small LED flashlight looks quite bright.

Menu and data display are accomplished using an Arduino TV output library running on the Nano. This seems to work well for his application, even though the resolution is limited to 120 x 96 pixels and displays in black and white.

This device is currently in a prototype state, and Fung plans to eventually make a 3D-printed case for it to hide the electronics. Another improvement would be to get rid of the USB power cable in exchange for a battery. Beyond that, further enhancements include Bluetooth connectivity and more applications. In true Maker spirit, the 13-year-old is asking for suggestions on this or anything else people think he should added to his build.

Feeling InspEYEred? Fung has made the project’s instructions, though limited, available on his Instructables page. Or, you can see what it’s all about in the video below.