This week on Maker Update, an RC strandbeest that shoots fireworks, Raspbian gets an update, a shape-shifting dragon drone, motorized cocktail umbrellas, warped audio boxes, cardboard techniques, the Adafruit Feather M4 Express, making custom LEDs, and does Bob Clagett have too much glue?

Show Notes

Project of the Week

Strandbeest Rocket Launcher by Jeremy S. Cook
https://www.hackster.io/JeremySCook/strandbeest-rocket-launcher-fireworks-143d44

News

Raspbian Update
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspbian-update-june-2018/

Flying Dragon Robot by JSK Lab at the University of Tokyo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjsTzWXPBLM
https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/drones/flying-dragon-robot-transforms-itself-to-squeeze-through-gaps

More Projects

Cocktail Parasol A board with 160 moving cocktail parasols by Alain Haerri
https://www.hackster.io/alain_haerri/cocktail-parasol-2f204c

SONIC MIRROR AUDIO REACTIVE INSTRUMENTS By Scott Tooby
https://www.instructables.com/id/Sonic-Mirror-Audio-Reactive-Instruments/

Tools/Tips

Cardboard Fundamentals by John Park
https://learn.adafruit.com/cardboard-fundamentals

ITP @ NYU Fabrication guide
https://itp.nyu.edu/fab/

Making it in Fabrication
https://itp.nyu.edu/fab/making-it-after-itp/

Adafruit Feather M4 Express
https://www.adafruit.com/product/3857

Adhesives Overview by Bob Clagett
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En3_byxVxsc

MAKE YOUR OWN CUSTOM LEDS USING HOT GLUE! by Alex Bate
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/homemade-custom-leds-using-hot-glue/

MagPi 71 is available
https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/issues/71/

Maker Faires

Maker Faire Hong Kong Hong Kong
Kuala Lumpur Mini Maker Faire Petaling Jaya
Alameda Mini Maker Faire Alameda, California

Cool Tool of the Week

The Joy of Digital Calipers

Transcript

This week on Maker Update, an RC strandbeest that shoots fireworks, Raspbian gets an update, a shape-shifting dragon drone, motorized cocktail umbrellas, warped audio boxes, cardboard techniques, the Adafruit Feather M4 Express, making custom LEDs, and does Bob Clagett have too much glue?

Hey I’m Donald Bell and welcome to another Maker Update. Happy fourth of July! And thank you everyone for your likes and shares last week. I’m so happy to see people are into this show, and hopefully you’re into this one too. There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get started with the project of the week.

What could be better for the fourth of July than this fireworks shooting strandbeest robot from Jeremy S Cook?

Jeremy took an inexpensive Strandbeest model kit and linked the two sides into a 3D printed body that hold the electronics and motors, allowing him to drive it around remotely and trigger the firework cannons from a safe distance.

Inside, there’s an Arduino Nano, driving two relays, attached to the gearmotors that move the strandbeest legs. There’s also a Bluetooth module in here allowing you to control it all using a smartphone.

For the firework cannons, Jeremy has two bits of conduit ziptied to the top that hold the fireworks. When he loads them up he places a small section of nichrome wire near the fuse, which is like toaster wire. A remote command within the code, sets the voltage high on the nichrome wire, lighting the fireworks.

Definitely a fun project, but obviously one you need to be careful with, and not attempt without adult supervision if you’re a kid, and keep that fire extinguisher nearby.

It’s time for some news. A new update for the Raspberry Pi operating system, Raspbian, went out last week. The update includes an improved setup wizard, a new recommended software download manager, a new version of the Chromium browser and a new PDF viewer.

Fan of the show, Tommy Guo saw last week’s roundup of robot news and emailed me one I’d missed. The University of Tokyo recently showed off this segmented flying robot called DRAGON, capable of changing its shape as it flies. This feature allows it to squeeze through small gaps or use the end links as a kind of flying robot gripper.

I have a few more projects to share quickly. Alain Haerri shows off how he animated this grid of 160 cocktail umbrellas using and Arduino Mega, 160 servos, and 10 16-channel Adafruit servo drivers. The effect is mesmerizing, and the sound is this incredible, shimmering hiss of gears and paper.

Another project for awesome, unreal sounds is this sonic mirror audio box by Scott Tooby. Using a Raspberry Pi, a custom mic, and an amplified speaker, Scott’s project picks up nearby sounds, runs them through a patch in SuperCollider that twists and delays the audio, and then spits it back out through the speaker. I love the effect and also the custom, lasercut enclosures.

There are a lot of tips to share this week. First, on Adafruit, John Park has a great guide on the fundamentals of working with cardboard. He goes over types of cardboard, tools, techniques, and adhesives. There’s lots of photos, and I guarantee you’ll come away with something you didn’t know.

Looking through John’s list of resources I came across the ITP at NYU Fabrication wiki. I’d seen it before and it’s a big, deep resource of maker how-to guides. But there’s also a new guide up by Ben Light called Making it After ITP that is full of practical advice on how to make a career in fabrication.

If you ever freelance your work, or have thought about it, this is essential reading.

Back on Adafruit, there’s a new Feather project board coming out called the Feather M4 Express. It’s incredibly fast, Circuit Python and Arduino compatible, and runs $23.

Bob Clagett from I like to Make Stuff has a great short overview on adhesives. Epoxy, contact cement, wood glue, CA glue, he goes through them all and their general applications.

Another glue tip comes from the Raspberry Pi blog, surprisingly. Alex Bate goes over how to create custom LED shapes using hot glue and silicone ice cube molds.

I also noticed while I was there that issue 71 of MagPi is out. The main feature is running Android on Raspberry Pi. The issue is available as a free PDF download.

Maker Faires! There are 3 coming up this weekend, including Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, and my hometown of Alameda, CA. If one’s near you, don’t miss out.

And that’s it for this week’s show. Be sure to subscribe, leave a thumbs up, or leave a comment. Get on the Maker Update email list if you want a email with each week’s video and show notes, plus bonus projects and tool recommendations.

And I volunteer to do this show because I love it. If it’s something you also look forward to, consider buying me a coffee using the link down here. You guys are awesome. I won’t see you next week but I’ll be back after that. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you soon.