This week on Maker Update: a maritime matrix,
an LED Katana, a Nerf dart that fires itself,
and a floppy disk with its own file browser.
Hey, everybody, I’m Donald Bell
back from my break and back with another Maker Update,
our little show where we update you on cool things makers are making.
How's everybody doing?
I've got a fun show for you.
Let's get started with the Projects of the Week.
Through the Hackaday blog, I learned about Will Gallia’s Sea of Segments.
You're looking at a panel made up of white 7-segment displays.
Technically with the decimal point on each of these, there are eight segments
per digit for a grand total of 12,288 segments.
But the magic here is that instead of numbers, we're looking at waves
crashing on the beach or the gentle, shimmering ripples of pond water.
How the heck is he making this happen?
I mean, it's one thing to wire up all these digits
and get the addressing right the switch a segment on or off,
But Will's got gradients going on here.
Using custom driver board,
each segment is capable of a five bit range of grayscale display.
A sheet of smoked acrylic in front also helps smooth and diffuse the light
to direct all the data that trickles out to those LED drivers,
Will is using a pocket beagle board.
The board runs a program written in C that listens for video frame data
coming over a wireless connection.
For the actual video processing,
Converting standard video files into brightness values for each led segment,
Will created his own custom application using a free open
source framework called Cinder.
Finally, notice how there are no wires,
no plugs, no AC adapter, bricks dangling off this thing?
He's routing all the power through the same
two steel cables used to suspend the frame.
Not only is that a cool trick for keeping the wiring tidy,
but you have to appreciate
how far upstream Will had to figure out that design detail.
From the arrangement of the bus bar to the PCB design
that pulls power in through the standoff holes.
It's beautiful inside and out.
You can find a link to Will's blog for more details.
Now for a quick bit of news.
The third annual Maker Music Festival has been scheduled for May 20th and 21st.
They've opened their Call for Makers and applications are due by April 16th.
It's an online showcase so makers can join in
from all over the world with examples of their DIY instruments.
I always enjoy participating and I find it’s a great low-stakes
opportunity to take on a new project.
You can find more information at MakerMusicFestival.com.
More Projects! on their channel Svetlana and Benni from Kamui Cosplay
show how they made this awesome LED lit 3D printed cosplay katana.
The design is based on the Karakuri katana from the game Wild Hearts,
internally though, is based on a light saber design
the Ruiz brothers created for Adafruit a few years back.
The advantage of the Ruiz Brothers design
is that it combines both LED animations,
sound effects and gesture interactions, using a combination of electronics
that can be easily concealed in the hilt of the sword.
In this video though, you get to see how they traced and modeled
the sword design in blender, printed it out in multiple sections
and then carefully glued it all together, filling gaps along the way
and reinforcing sections with metal and fiberglass rod.
After sanding and some skilled paint work, it looks incredible,
but with the addition of the sound effects,
how do you not just spend all day swinging this thing around the room?
On his channel, Joel of Joel creates
details all the highs and lows of his quest to create a self firing Nerf dart.
The end is a resounding success.
I won't give away how he did it, but I will say that you'll
never look at capacitors quite the same way.
But the real chicken soup for the Maker’s soul here is seeing all the failed designs he overcame.
Pneumatic darts, explosive darts,
different mixes of propellants.
The path to success was paved with toasted artillery
Over on Adafruit,
Anne Barela shows her guide
on making this floppy disk-shaped thumb drive with a built in touchscreen
you can use to browse the files that are stored on it.
It's a fun clash of modern and retro computing styles.
It's also a very quick project to pull together.
The casing is 3D printed and the only electronics you need
are a stock Adafruit PyPortal board.
Drag the included code, assemble the case and you're all set.
Now for some tips and tools, on Makezine,
Caleb Kraft and Dale Dougherty
share a list that they've compiled of AI tools that makers can use right now
It's sorted by the kind of output you're looking for.
From image generation to text, video, audio, music.
There's a section on code generation, which is what I'm most curious to explore.
I know it's a complicated subject matter and not without
some justifiable controversy.
But if you're ready to tinker around with the potential of these tools,
this looks like a great place to start.
On YouTube,
Mr. Innovative shares a video along with the code and 3D
printing files for this peristaltic pump design.
Granted, there are some affordable pumps you can probably buy for less
than the cost of rolling your own, but maybe you're after more
precise control or a custom diameter of tubing, or just more overall
control over the design and materials used in your project.
Understanding how to make your own custom solution could come in handy.
Speaking of rolling your own, check out this wave motion
robot designed by Zarrouk Lab.
There are a few examples of this design on their channel, ranging from roughly
RC-car size to miniature concepts intended for surgical procedures.
I'm considering this more of a tip than a project
because I think the killer feature to take note of here is the motor design.
It's just a single motor with a corkscrew running out the back
contained within a series of flat tracks.
Those tracks translate the spiral motion
into a wavelike motion that propels it back and forth.
I just haven't seen
anything like it before, and it doesn't look that difficult to replicate.
Maybe it's an idea that unlocks something for one of your projects.
For this week's Digi-Key Spotlight, learn some techniques
for removing and neutralizing corrosion from old batteries.
With the power to make stuff comes the responsibility of fixing stuff,
Sometimes that means pulling out some nasty batteries
and getting the compartment and contacts back to a usable condition.
Check the link in the show notes for some useful tips
and some corrosion cleaning solutions you can make from household ingredients.
And that does it for this week's show.
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A big thanks to did you for making this whole show possible.
And thank you for watching. I'll see you soon.