This week on Maker Update: superhuman jumping shoes,
a ball of LEDs, kinetic sculpture, a gingerbread condo,
a screw drive tank, controlling pitch with voltage.
A bird feeder for people and Raspberry Pi turns ten.
Welcome to make your update. I'm Becky.
Back to guest host again.
Let's start off with the project of the week.
Guy DuPont hacked his car's backup alarm to play custom sounds.
Everybody should know how annoying piezo buzzers are and never to subject anyone
to that much suffering and maybe that's why this build is so satisfying.
The previously headache-inducing squealing has been replaced with a less intense
audio that entertains as it informs.
The design uses an optocoupler to read the alarm's 12 volt input and use it to trigger
a microcontroller pin and select playback of the appropriate file
on the audio module.
Depending on the distance from the obstacle.
I think it's hilarious and so, so clever and the build video is super thorough.
On to some news!
it was Raspberry PI's 10th birthday this week.
Eben Upton recounts its origin story on the Raspberry Pi YouTube channel,
hoping to bring the joys and inspiration of computing to young people everywhere.
Speaking of inspired kids, the Maker
Music Festival just announced its young music maker competition
this year focused on circuit bending projects by kids ages 12 to 16.
The deadline is April 4th in advance of the virtual festival happening
May 14th and 15th.
Check out the press release on the Maker Music Festival website.
More projects.
Natasha from Techno Chic and her husband
Matt process a recent tragedy in a truly maker way.
after discovering their new condo is prone to flooding with sewage.
They carried out their detailed architectural plans in gingerbread instead
and took their feelings out on it. Afterward.
We get a tour of the Dream Cookie condo,
complete with LED features and detailed interior decorating.
In a time when we're all feeling some Weltschmertz
Natasha's video hits home.
What a creative way to channel that grief
On a lighter hearted note,
Check out the giant birdfeeder for people by Kids Invent Stuff.
Ruth and Shaun made a sturdy tree swing filled with sweet
treats dreamed up by 11 year old Kit.
I love how their channel lifts kids ideas up
and shows that engineers can look all sorts of ways.
You can read more about Kids Invent Stuff in the latest Hackspace magazine.
and if you haven't caught the latest on Ruth's personal channel,
you're going to love her anti-swear box. Powered by an audio effects board,
The box suggests alternatives to swear words
so your kids don't learn to repeat your foul language.
On Instructables DIY MVB shares Their PVC Screwdrive RC Tank.
This thing uses nails to create a helix on each axle covered by some aquarium
tubing and was entered in the PVC speed challenge.
Back over on YouTube, Kikomoda has another impressive cardboard project to share,
this time using it as a substrate for these large concrete vases.
You'd never know by looking at them that they aren't solid concrete.
This is a clever conservation of materials,
since you can use recycled cardboard for the interior, then coat
the outside with a layer of concrete resulting in a lighter weight object.
And less work hauling large volumes of concrete around.
Ian Charnas has a new video on his channel about these superhuman jumping shoes.
He shows off his signature
competence zaniness in this collaboration with Tyler Qatari
with pneumatic pistons bolted
directly to the boots and plenty of parts made on a water jet cutter.
Tyler was able to jump four feet in the air.
This is one of those builds that brings me joy just watching it and gets me excited
to experiment with air power, albeit perhaps in a less dangerous context.
JBV Creative shows off this impressive mechanical sculpture
that launches ping pong balls in the air.
It reminds me of Arthur Jansen's kinetic artwork, if perhaps he had at
Access to a 3D printer.
This thing continually recycles its queue of ping pong balls
with the clever mechanism inside.
And last but definitely not least, Carl Bugeja shows off an impressive,
flexible PCB design for a tiny LED sphere
with 242 GB LEDs.
The core is 3D printed and the flower shaped PCB wraps around it.
He also has an accelerometer to trigger a color change when it's hit.
Carl discusses the missteps and challenges encountered along the way.
And now for some tools and tips.
Jeremy Fielding shares helpful tips about prototyping
by sharing the journey of designing a yard painting robot.
I love Jeremy's approachable attitude and tips about what kind of mindset
will get you through engineering challenges that arise during any project
on her channel.
Liz Blitz City DIY explains how 1V Oct works
to control pitches on a synthesizer.
Each note has its own voltage.
The higher the voltage, the higher the pitch of the note.
I loved this casual explainer video and walkthrough of how Liz is using it.
Over on Hackaday, Peter Micenko shares his coin cell eliminator circuit
which fits into a coin cell holder,
allowing you to power the device over USB instead.
I personally would find these so useful for prototyping battery
powered projects without wasting a bunch of time and batteries.
The handy device is for sale on Tindie.
Bitluni published a mesmerizing video about phased arrays
demonstrating their power and usefulness in many everyday applications.
And he builds a sonar scanner in the process.
This is a helpful lesson in some pretty complex physics.
On the simpler side of things,Makerneer on
Instructables made a special funnel for filling up pockets in a DIY
weighted blanket.
I never imagined how these things
were made before, but after seeing this, I'm feeling inspired to make one.
Lastly, I want to share a tip from the latest video on my channel.
Did you know that you can use canned air to quickly clear your hot glue?
This trick is a great timesaver when you're prototyping any material.
The pressurized air is cold as it exits the nozzle,
applying a strategic and intense chill.
And that's it for this week's show.
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