This week on Maker Update: a fiber optic starry sky ceiling.
Neopixel Audio Spectrum Display, confetti shoes
workshop inspiration, and lamps that look like artichokes and butterflies.
Hi. Welcome to Maker Update. I'm Becky.
Back again to guest host.
I hope you're enjoying your equinox, whether it's spring for you
in the northern hemisphere or fall in the southern.
I know for me the change of season can bring about a new motivation.
Let's start off with the project of the week.
Lindsay Zuelich revamped her boring hallway ceiling into a fiber
optic starry sky.
This is one of those projects that looks much more fun to watch
than to actually build.
So I'm living for the detailed build video on Lindsay's YouTube channel.
Fiber optics seem awesome in theory, but it's not too common for somebody
to share all the hard work that goes into doing it right
Lindsay shares the techniques and planning required to wrangle
the hundreds of strands into an opulent, starry sky.
She also added a round door to the attic crawl space and dress it up like the moon.
The moon is CNC milled and filled with glow in the dark epoxy.
And installed with a strip of LEDs for backlight and magnets to keep it in place.
I was one of those kids with a sky themed ceiling in my room
as a teenager, you know, with the glow in the dark stickers.
Maybe that's part of why I connect so much with this project.
Lindsey's project takes that concept to such an impressive new level.
Check it out.
On to some news, It's Maker Faire season.
Y'all and the schedule is poppin.
Be sure to check out local events coming up in Asheville, Calgary,
Pilsen, Palm Beach, Sarajevo, Turin, Delft, Long Island and more.
And don't miss the Maker Music Festival taking place online.
More Projects!
Over on Instructables, member Pyrograf posted this impressive audio spectrum display.
The microcontroller is an ESP 32 and the LEDs are
WS2812Bs, also called neo pixels,
which are edge lighting pieces of thick acrylic.
I think it looks so cool, futuristic and retro at the same time.
In his Instructable member, Mattwach
shares his process for creating this E paper clock, including a
home etched circuit board and custom enclosure designed in an openSCAD
The video shows a good amount of detail for each part of the process,
and it's fun to see the combination
of tools and techniques that bring this project together.
Also on Instructables member Lucasz.tuz
posted this beautiful butterfly lamp he made for his daughter.
The wings are segmented to provide different areas for the LEDs to diffuse
through, and the animations can be changed using the built in touch sensor.
The tutorial is very thorough and this concept
could be applied to whatever shape you can think up.
Speaking of lamps on her YouTube channel
Amy Makes Stuff posted a process video building a gorgeous laser
cut lamp inspired by an expensive designer chandelier.
It assembles like a 3D puzzle with slotted ribs to hold the outer fan pieces.
She goes into detail about getting the best results with her
laser engraver and shows off her all around competent building skills.
Go and give Amy's channel a look.
Also on YouTube,
the Kids Invent Stuff channel build some shoes that launch confetti.
The project is so fun and silly, and yet there are some really good nuggets
of engineering you can glean from watching Ruth and Shawn put them together.
They embedded spring loaded confetti cannons into the built up platform
sole of a sneaker triggered by a lever on the side of the shoe.
And now for some tools and tips If you're looking for workshop motivation,
check out Xyla Foxlin's new workshop build from painting to redoing the floors
to organizing all her supplies and installing some big new tools.
You're sure to come away with fresh energy to improve your own space.
Give it a watch.
And on his channel, Chuck Hellyebuyck shares a flip up repair table
for working on his 3D printers without creating another surface to collect junk.
There are some fun 3D printed goodies in this build, too,
including spacers for pegboard that improve the installation experience.
So clever and practical.
For this week's Digikey Spotlight.
Check out the vast library of reference designs available on the Digikey site.
These designs are great for jumpstarting your own projects without
starting from scratch.
You can search and filter through hundreds of reference designs.
With more added each week
And that's it for this week's show.
Be sure to like and subscribe and please consider sharing this video with a friend.
Sign up for the Weekly Maker Update newsletter
so you never miss a thing and thanks for watching.