This week on Maker Update: a new spin on an old label maker
making skateboards from recycled plastic, a tepe-less tape deck
and an eyepatch controlled prosthetic tail.
Hey, everybody, I'm Donald Bell.
And welcome back to another Maker Update
the show where we update you on cool stuff makers are making.
It's good to be back. I hope you're doing well.
Let's get started with the project of the week.
Not sure how many of you
are familiar with old school manual embossing label makers.
They're painstaking to use compared to modern options,
but there is something endearing about the look and texture of these things.
Andrei Speridião thought so too.
And he bought himself a new, inexpensive model which promptly broke.
But instead of chucking it into the past where it belongs,
he took it apart and grafted it to the future.
The result is an automatic embossing label maker
that takes its input from a smartphone.
Inside, Andrei has the original embossing wheel spinning on a stepper motor,
providing some awareness of where the letters are.
Then a servo provides the leverage to emboss
each letter and cut the tape when it's finished.
Running the show is an ESP32-based
NodeMCU board along with some break out drivers for the motors.
Not only does the code handle
the mechanical instructions, but it also hosts a custom web app.
by navigating to the web app on any locally connected smartphone,
You can enter the text you want printed and hit go.
This project checks a lot of boxes for me.
It's both retro and futuristic, but in some ways
it's also a product repair story gone wild.
It's also one of those projects where the end result is something
I've never seen before; a product too weird and risky for a company to manufacture.
That makes it unique.
But because it's handmade with this level of detail and craft,
it crosses over into the rarefied world of bespoke design.
It's a great, weird but oddly practical project,
and you can find the 3D design files, the bill of materials
and the code all on the product page listed down in the description.
More projects! On Hackaday,
Jason Knight shows how he made this skateboard deck from
100% recycled plastic.
That's the simple way to put it.
But what he's really done here is actually more amazing.
He shows you,
part-for-part how to make your own
injection molding machine for manufacturing these skateboards.
As a champion of the DIY plastic recycling movement, he's
not here to inspire you to do another one and done project.
He wants to give you a whole business making skateboard from plastics
diverted from the landfill.
The hour long video he made showing how to create your own
mold is not your typical flashy DIY viral video.
It's a literal nuts and bolts walkthrough of every step needed
to create your own manufacturing grade injection molding rig.
It's inspiring.
Another project with the same retro-futuristic,
nostalgic flair as the label maker is this portable
MP3 player by Max.K
Made to emulate the look and simplicity of a 1980s portable tape deck,
This thing features a 3D printed case, mechanical transport keys, a volume
knob, headphone jack and a screen where the cassette would normally go.
It can run for 20 hours off four AA batteries.
Media is stored on a micro SD card that you can load in on the side.
The circuit board is custom, but the GitHub repo
includes everything you'd need to recreate the project,
including the code, the PCB layout, and the 3D design files for the enclosure.
For something completely different, check out this
animatronic tail designed by peng fei zhang.
This one is just wonderfully weird.
It also includes some beautiful documentation.
Since it was made as part of a master's program at the University
of Stuttgart, I can't explain everything going on here.
There's an eye patch that tracks your blinks.
There's an accelerometer attached to your hand.
Somehow it all gets translated through an Arduino
to generate tail movement using servos and pulleys.
All I'm saying is if you're planning some kind of Halloween costume
or cosplay with a tail, there may be some elements here worth integrating.
Now for some tips and tools on printables, Shinsaku Hiura shares
this design for a 3D printed ratcheting driver knob.
It's a print in place design and handy enough to justify printing out on its own,
but I think it could also be something cool to adapt to other designs.
I mean, there's just something so satisfying about that ratcheting feedback.
You kind of want it everywhere.
On YouTube, Anika's DIY life demonstrates
different methods for covering up the edges of plywood projects,
including iron-on edge banding and this adorable little iron.
I personally love a nice bare plywood edge, but I'll give edge
banding a try just to have an excuse to get this little iron.
On Thingiverse, Techno Bumble offers up this 3D printed guide for creating
tight corners out of three wire led strip.
It's based off an older four wire design by Marvin Lu.
It seems like a handy thing to have bookmarked.
Liz at Blitz City DIY has a great video
on creating your own tape loops from standard cassette tapes.
I've always wondered about this, and after seeing Love Hulten's Synth
from last week's show, I'm interested in exploring the mechanics of tape delay.
Finally, I realize
a lot of you may be masters of Arduino, but for those of you just getting started,
or for people like me who are resilient idiots
who just need to learn something a million times before it sticks,
check out the Free Arduino Masterclass series by Programing Electronics Academy.
There's just something about the way it's presented that hits a sweet spot
for me that, the guy sounds like a real human being, and for me
it feels more like a friend explaining something over my shoulder than a teacher
giving a presentation.
I'm curious to know what you think.
For this week's Digikey spotlight, check out their latest video
on adapting Surface Mount Components for prototyping.
I wasn't aware of this, but apparently there are all kinds of bare
boards out there made for adapting common surface mount components
for breadboard hole spacing.
These days with parts supplies being what they are,
It's useful to know that you can use adapters like these
to make the most of what you already have.
Check out the video or head directly to the digikey.com/adapterboard
to look through some of the thousands of options available.
All right.
And that does it for this week's show. Be sure to subscribe,
leave a thumbs up. Leave a comment.
Big thanks to Digikey Electronics for making the whole show possible.
And thank you for watching. I'll see you soon.