This week on Maker Update, an off-grid Pi recovery kit, Hackaday Grand Prize, a chorus of Billy Bass, improving old toys, a transforming bike, viewing Gcode, painting R2, and hydro-dipping.

++Show Notes++

-=Project of the Week=-

Off-Grid Cyberdeck! The Raspberry Pi Recovery Kit by Jay Doscher
https://back7.co/home/raspberry-pi-recovery-kit

-=News=-

FieldKit Wins 2019 Hackaday Grand Prize
https://hackaday.com/2019/11/16/fieldkit-is-the-grand-prize-winner-of-the-2019-hackaday-prize/

Chicago bar installs over 70 Big Mouth Billy Bass to sing popular songs in unison
https://wgntv.com/2019/11/14/chicago-bar-installs-over-70-big-mouth-billy-bass-to-sing-popular-songs-in-unison/

-=More Projects=-

Make Old Toys Awesome Again By lonesoulsurfer
https://www.instructables.com/id/Make-Old-Toys-Awesome-Again/

Transforming Bicycle! Tall Bike to Chopper Bike By rachl009
https://www.instructables.com/id/Transforming-Bicycle-Tall-Bike-to-Chopper-Bike/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7Lqr_9u7jg&feature=youtu.be

-=Tools/Tips=-

Online Gcode Viewer
http://gcode.ws/

Making R2-D2 Part 3 by Bob Clagett
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-LjcBdbyiA

USC Spraymax Matte Clearcoat 3680065
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0178ABUVM?tag=ilik-20

Easy How To Hydro-Dip Tutorial by TheCrafsMan SteadyCraftin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maFcp9IbueA

Gareth’s Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales – Issue #25
https://www.getrevue.co/profile/garethbranwyn/issues/gareth-s-tips-tools-and-shop-tales-issue-25-208889

-=Product Spotlight=-

How to Send Data Over Bluetooth in DK IoT Studio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB1sX3Ds9DY

-=Transcript=-

This week on Maker Update, an off-grid Pi recovery kit, Hackaday Grand Prize, a chorus of Billy Bass, improving old toys, a transforming bike, viewing Gcode, painting R2, and hydro-dipping.

Hey, I’m Donald Bell and welcome to another Maker Update. I hope you’re all doing well. I’ve been staying busy with all kinds of makevember projects, including a new cocktail robot that I’ll be chipping away at for a long time. I’ll have more details on that soon, but for now, let’s get started with the project of the week.

On his site, back7.co, Jay Doscher details the construction of this off-grid cyberdeck. It’s a portable, Raspberry Pi-based all-in-one computer system built into a waterproof Pelican case. 

The system uses a custom mechanical keyboard that fits in the lid, along with the official Raspberry Pi 7-inch touch screen to eliminate the need for a mouse. 

He’s also crammed in an Ethernet router, and a GPIO breakout board, wired to these mil-spec connectors. The 3D printed panel also includes switches for each of the components to help manage power and switch between running from the internal battery or an external battery. 

Also, can we just take a minute to admire the wiring on this. Each bundle is exactly as long as it needs to be, all color coded, with connectors protected in heat shrink. Each bundle is gathered and zip-tied. What could easily be a rat’s nest of wiring no one would ever see, is executed with an impressive level of consideration. Go check it out.

Now for some news. This year’s Hackaday Challenge Grand Prize winner was announced last weekend. The winning project is FieldKit, an open-source, modular sensor system for conducting research in harsh environments. The team takes home $125,000 in prize money and a Supplyframe DesignLab residency. 

Also announced were five other Best-of-category winners and 5 honorable mentions, all worth checking out.

For something a little silly, but honestly pretty impressive, I saw a news story this week about a Chicago bar that installed and networked 75 Big Mouth Billy Bass fish in their stairwell. 

With engineering help from New York’s Studio Quasi, the toy fish are orchestrated to perform one of three songs — “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees, “Once in a Lifetime” by the Talking Heads and “Choices” by E-40. 

As someone who’s no stranger to Billy Bass hacking, I have to tip my hat to this project. This is the kind of crazy I hope to reach someday.

Time now for more projects. On Instructables, LoneSoulSurfer has a guide on taking old toys and upgrading them with lights and sound effects. He’s using dirt cheap parts, 555 timer chips, flashing LEDs, and basic electronic components. The end result will probably drive parents crazy, but make a fun gift for kids. With the holidays coming up, it could be a great excuse to create a one-of-a-kind toy for a kid in your life.

Speaking of one-of-a-kind, check out this transforming chopper bike by Rachel 009. The guide on Instructables is from 2015, but it resurfaced on Hackaday this week and I’d never seen it before.

Rachel shows how to extend a bike and add in gas shocks, allowing it to transform from a tall bike, down to a low rider. Engaging the shocks is done just by shifting your weight back to lower them, and standing up to raise it back. 

I don’t think I’m cool enough to pull off a bike like this, but I might need to make one just to find out.

Now for a few tips and tools. Last week, I had a GCode file for my 3D printer, but I couldn’t remember what it was from the file name. I’m sure there are a lot of solutions to this problem but my instinct was to turn to the internet, where I found gcode.ws. 

It’s a free GCode file analyzer. You drag and drag your file, and it’ll show you what it looks like in 2D and 3D. It also shows you some stats on layer info and retraction speeds and locations, that could help you troubleshoot printing quality. 

On YouTube, Bob Clagett published the thirid part of his R2-D2 build. It’s great to watch an R2 come together, but there’s also a great tip in here on using a two-part spray clearcoat to create a super hard protective finish on painted parts. 

Bob uses this Spraymax coat on the aluminum R2 parts he paints blue, to prevent them from chipping. The one drawback to be aware of is that once you mix the two-part formula, you have a limited window of time to use the spray before it all hardens up. 

So for Bob, he had to get all his blue parts painted, masked, and laid out before applying the coat all in one shot. At $24 a can, you’re not buying another one just for touch ups or one little piece you forgot to paint. 

Also on YouTube, the CrafsMan has a new video up on hydro-dipping with oil-based spray paint. It’s a cool technique to know about, but I have to admit, I can’t get enough of the way he narrates his videos. 

And in the latest issue of Gareth Branwyn’s Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales, he’s got some great tips on charging up SLA batteries, learning to approximate measurements with your hands, and using paint primer as a low tack glue for holding down small things on a paint stick that you can move around for careful paint job.

For this week’s Digi-Key spotlight, check out this new video on how to get your project to send data over Bluetooth using the DK IoT Studio. This is Digi-Key’s online platform for coding and editing your IoT projects. 

In this case, they’re using the Adafruit Huzzah32 board, which can make use of Bluetooth Low Energy signals.  

BLE is a convenient way to receive data from local sensors, as well as send data up and down from nearby computers or phones. If you’re curious, go check it out.

And that does it for this week’s show. Be sure to subscribe, leave a thumbs up, or leave a comment. Get on the Maker Update email newsletter to get show notes sent out to you each week. A big thanks to my patrons on Patreon and to Digi-Key electronics for making this show possible. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next week.