This week on Maker Update, an LED screen guitar, the Pi 3 Model A+, VLC for Raspbian, Kodak’s
3D Printer, a Pizza Slice Stream Controller, making Lithopanes, and testing servos.
I’m Donald Bell and welcome to another Maker Update.
I hope everyone’s doing great as we head into December.
It’s a big show today with a lot to cover, so let’s get started with the project of
the week.
Over on Sparkfun, Andy England posted this update to his animated LED guitar project.
In part one he shows you how the guitar was modified with LEDs and fiber optics.
In part two, he talks about how he turned those LEDs into a video screen.
What’s special about the way he’s doing this is that he’s using an industry standard
lighting control protocol called DMX and sending the visuals over Wi-Fi.
This allows him to use VJ software to play with the visuals in real time, and maybe even
respond to what he’s playing.
It looks incredible.
It’s time for some news.
I was off last week, so I didn’t get a chance to catch you up on the new Raspberry Pi board
that was announced.
This is the Pi 3 Model A+.
It’s a slightly smaller footprint than the common B+ model, but now has many of the same
specs, including the processor and built-in Wi-Fi.
With the A+ you sacrifice an Ethernet port and you have only a single USB port.
But you save $10 over the cost of a Pi B+ without sacrificing performance like you would
with a Pi Zero.
It’s available now for $25.
The Pi Foundation also announced an update to their Raspbian operating system.
The update includes a fully hardware-accelerated version of the VLC media player, making it
easier to play audio and video files from the desktop interface.
The update also includes the latest version of the Thonny editor for coding in Python.
In 3D printing news, Kodak has announced the availability of their own 3D printer called
the Kodak Portrait.
The printer is priced at $3,499, and features dual 1.75mm extruders.
And while the hardware isn’t anything we haven’t seen before, the selling point is
their IT-compliant 3D Cloud software for managing files over a network.
So, it may be a good fit for a business or a college lab.
I have some more projects to share.
On Instructables, Broken Antler Workshop has a great guide up on making this video stream
controller box shaped like a slice of pizza.
The project is essentially a demonstration on how to use an Arduino Pro Micro to act
as an HID keyboard device.
Each of the arcade button inputs are defined as different hotkeys on the keyboard in the
Arduino code.
Hook up this pizza slice to your computer over USB, and your computer will see it as
a keyboard.
I also liked this guide by Dave Astels on Adafruit showing you to make your own servo
testing rig.
His design uses an Adafruit Feather board, a small OLED screen, a logic level shifter,
and a rotary encoder.
With it you can dial in a specific angle, or define a range for the servo to sweep through.
The code is written in Circuit Python.
You can find cheaper ways to test a servo, but this one is pretty nice and the readout
and features on this one are useful.
I have bunch of tips to share.
First, Gareth’s latest Tips of the Week covers prop making with foil and duct tape,
making the most from a cheap airbrush, and more ideas on reusing old 3D printer filament
spools.
Last week I experimented with 3D printing images using the Lithopane technique where
light and dark areas are created using thicker or thinner buildup of plastic.
I came across a free site called Image to Lithopane that makes it easy to try it out
for yourself.
Jimmy Diresta has two new tips videos out.
One is on using a reciprocating saw and the other is for using a circular saw.
Both are full of great advice.
The annual Desktop Fabrication issue of Make Magazine is out.
It’s always one of my favorites, full of reviews and info on 3D printers, laser cutters
and CNC routers.
I recommend picking up a copy.
Bob Clagett has a new video up on how to use a multimeter.
These things still confuse me, so it always helps to have them explained from another
perspective.
Adafruit has a new soil moisture sensor out called the STEMMA soil sensor.
It’s $7.50, and it’s a capacitive sensor instead of the more common resistive style.
Best of all Lady Ada herself writes about why capacitive is the way to go and why those
forked, metal plated sensors don’t hold up.
Through the Adafruit blog I learned about a site called DIY Walkers.com.
If you’ve ever wanted to build your own Strandbeest style linkage system for a small
robot, or giant kinetic art piece, this site has tons of examples and advice, and even
software for simulating your designs.
It’s a great, nerdy rabbit hole to fall into.
And if you’re looking for a useful, inexpensive servo tester to play with, I’ve got a video
up on the Cool Tools channel looking at a $10 option from Amazon.
It’s a quick way to prototype with servos without getting hung up on code and microcontrollers.
Maker Faires!
We have two this weekend including Los Angeles, and Ogaki Japan.
If one’s near you, go check it out, or head to Makerfaire.com to find out when your local
faire is happening.
And that does it for this week’s show.
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Alright?
Thanks for watching and I’ll see you next week.