HackSpace #64

Got a comment, question, or thoughtabout HackSpacemagazine get in touch at hsmag.cc/hello GET IN TOUCH hackspace@raspberrypi.com hackspacemag hackspacemag ONLINE smag.cc This cover feature comes to you thanks to multiple requests. Soldering is a regular feature of our articles in HackSpace magazine, and there are a huge range of soldering irons out there, but we’d never spent much time really sitting down and comparing the options. We’ve looked at a few in reviews over the years, and some others have come across our workbench for various reasons, but when people came to us and asked ‘what soldering iron should I get?’, we honestly struggled to provide a good answer. So, we decided to get our hands dirty and find out about the good, bad, and ugly of hobbyist soldering irons. We’ve…

instagram.com/gazzaladradesign We found this model, by gazzaladra, on Printables. It’s functional, it’s decorative, it’s designed and printed tightly enough that it’s watertight, and it’s perfect for any plant lover who spent their childhood being dragged around medieval fortifications. Our favourite feature of this is the moat, which holds excess water so that the roots of your plant don’t get drowned. It’s a playful, functional detail, and we love it.…

hsmag.cc/MarioPomodoro This 3D-printed block from the Mario games hides a Pomodoro timer, an essential tool for users of the Pomodoro Technique (a time management method), whereby practitioners break up their day into 45-minute bursts of productivity interspersed with 5-minute breaks to make a cup of tea, walk around the block, or anything that will make them more productive when they get back to work. CoderOK listed the functionality he needed, then found a Mario block on Thingiverse, with enough space inside for the Arduino Pro Mini, piezo buzzer, real-time clock, battery, and the wiring that the project needed. He tweaked the 3D model to add holes for the button on the lid, and the 4-digit display that shows the time remaining, how many successful Pomodoro sessions you’ve achieved, and a…

Instagram @JackAndTheOther Writing about music is like dancing about architecture, as a wise man wrote; so to describe this beautiful musical cyberdeck, we’re going to ask the person who built it. Take it away, Jack: “My brother and I converted this old briefcase we found at a thrift store into a control centre for the rackmount PC we use during our band Jack and the Other’s live gigs. I’ve always loved the cassette futurism (aka retro-futurism) aesthetic portrayed in TV shows like Maniac and Severance, and wanted to create something similar with this. The briefcase contains a 10” touchscreen display, a midi controller which doubles as a computer keyboard, a trackpad mouse, and an LED VU meter (a type of audio decibel meter) with a 6.35mm audio line-in jack that…

hsmag.cc/StairClimbingRobot Robots can do all sorts of things, but they’ve always struggled with stairs. Master robot builder James Bruton decided to change this, with a robot that can climb a carpeted staircase and, eventually, bring him a cup of tea. It’s split into three vertical lifting sections powered by hefty motors and ball screws, with bearings and motors held in place by chunky 3D-printed parts and extruded aluminium. There’s a sliding section at the back that extends via a 3D-printed rack and pinion, and there’s also a weight that moves towards and away from the middle section of the robot to keep its centre of gravity in a sensible place for climbing stairs. It’s hard to explain, but it makes perfect sense once you see it in motion – head…

hsmag.cc/OddlySatisfyingClock This project embodies the spirit of the collaborative internet. Reddit user ragusa12 saw a GIF of a clock with the digital time represented on vertically sliding indicators, liked it, and made one himself. It’s a little slower than the animation, and it makes a sound like (in the maker’s own words) a full glass of water being pushed across a table. Nevertheless, it works, and when the digits all arrive where they’re supposed to be at the same time, the effect is… satisfying. The clock uses an Arduino Nano, four stepper motors, a 12-volt power supply, some LEDs, and a few more components. There isn’t a circuit diagram, as ragusa12 worked it out as he went along rather than following a plan, but the project files can all be…