HackSpace #62

The fact that it seems ordinary now is a testament to how effective Raspberry Pi has been in making the technology accessible to so many people Raspberry Pi computers have changed the landscape of making in many ways. They were the first widely available, cheap, small computers with accessible GPIO pins. This meant that for a relatively small amount of money, you could embed a Linux computer in your builds, and get it to control the electronics. This might seem like an ordinary thing now, but it wasn’t until Raspberry Pi did it. It was revolutionary. The fact that it seems ordinary now is a testament to how effective Raspberry Pi has been in making the technology accessible to so many people. This issue, we’re celebrating this seismic shift in…

hsmag.cc/Rota This thing is unbelievably beautiful. What does it do? The best answer is that we don’t care; truth is beauty, beauty truth, nothing else matters. But if you must insist on more information, it’s a device for counting. The maker built the first one as a gift for a duck hunting lodge, but since then, he’s had interest from many more people, and has improved the design up to the current iteration, version 3. The device uses a few esoteric parts: at its heart is an AVR64DD28 microcontroller; it also uses three IN-12B Nixie tubes, an NCH8200HV Nixie power supply, and an Automatic Electric Type 24 rotary dial. There are a range of kits with varying amounts of components included, and they’re selling like hot cakes.…

hsmag.cc/VFDClockKit lf, like us, you have a box of Soviet-era VFD tubes that you bought on a whim from a man in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, you could spend ages deciphering the pinouts, assemble the right power supply, and work out the logic of making data appear on the gorgeous glowing seven-segment displays. Or, you could buy a kit such as this one by Bolt Industries. It’s sold as a kit, and looks to us like it’s not for beginners. Which is fine, because we’re not. The display technology may be of the Cold War era, but you get a choice of control options: the kit comes in a TTL (Transistor–transistor logic) edition that uses only 7400 and 4000 series integrated circuits, or a Raspberry Pi Pico-based version that runs on software.…

hsmag.cc/BulbasaurMiniMod There are many benefits to using open-source hardware: one is the knowledge that even if the company you bought it from ceases production, there will always (as long as someone is willing) be repairs available. You can take your open-source hardware to bits and learn how it works without voiding the warranty, you’ll never have interoperability issues, you know you’re buying quality rather than a branding ‘experience’… and, if you want, you can always modify your device to look like a Pokémon character. That’s what Neil Hengist has done with his Prusa MINI. The modifications are entirely aesthetic, so the operation of the printer is unchanged. There’s no need to move switches or any electronics, but Neil does recommend having a couple of spools of Pistachio Green PETG on…

hsmag.cc/ServoWordClock This word clock is different to others. Where the traditional approach is to light up the words in order to spell out a phrase that tells the time, this version has all the letters lit at the same time – but not in focus. Each letter is lit from behind by an RGB LED mounted onto a linear actuator. To display the letter, the actuator brings that letter into focus; to stop displaying it, it moves the LED so that it’s not in focus. So it’s simple in theory, but in practice, it uses 114 servos, 320 3D-printed parts, a custom PCB for the main electronics, a laser-cut acrylic case, and a whole lot of engineering precision.…

hsmag.cc/PneumaticEngine As countless dads around the world will tell you on Christmas morning, LEGO Technic™ is not just for kids. This device is a seriously grown-up pneumatic engine, which converts a two-bar air supply into rotation motion via a single pneumatic cylinder and some ingenious switching techniques. Rather than spark plugs or valves, the maker has chosen to control the flow of air within the engine by using adjustable cams that press on flexible rubber pipes, closing and opening the air supply to affect the engine’s air supply and timing. The video by Nico71 is a mesmerising watch, and he’s made full build instructions available for a very reasonable €10.…