Searching For Alien Life With The Sun As Gravitational Telescope

April 21, 2020 by Moritz v. Sivers 19 Comments

Astronomy is undoubtedly one of the most exciting subjects in physics. Especially the search for exoplanets has been a thriving field in the last decades. While the first exoplanet was only discovered in 1992, there are now 4,144 confirmed exoplanets (as of 2nd April 2020). Naturally, we Sci-Fi lovers are most interested in the 55 potentially habitable exoplanets. Unfortunately, taking an image of an Earth 2.0 with enough detail to identify potential features of life is impossible with conventional telescopes.

The solar gravitational lens mission, which has recently been selected for phase III funding by the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, is aiming to change that by taking advantage of the Sun’s gravitational lensing effect. Continue reading “Searching For Alien Life With The Sun As Gravitational Telescope” →

A Thermal Camera With A Vintage Twist

April 17, 2020 by Moritz v. Sivers 10 Comments

Nowadays we often value the superb design of vintage technology. It is, therefore, laudable when a broken piece of old electronics is given a new purpose. These types of builds are exactly [Martin Mander’s] cup of tea as he confirmed by turning a 1979 Apollo microwave monitor into a thermal camera (video embedded below).

Intrigued by its unique design, [Martin Mander] picked up the original microwave monitor at a secondhand sale, although the device was not exactly in mint condition. Supposedly this type of detector was used to monitor the exposure of personnel to microwave radiation in an industrial environment.

After removing all the guts, he replaced them with a Raspberry Pi Zero W, Adafruit thermal camera, 1.3″ TFT display, and a USB battery pack. It is especially nice that [Martin Mander] was able to mount all the components without relying on 3D prints but instead, he hand-carved some custom panels and brackets from waste plastic.

The software is based on Python and automatically uploads the captured images to an Adafruit.IO dashboard. With 8 x 8 pixels the resolution of the sensor is not great but by using bicubic interpolation he was able to convert it to a 32 x 32 image which was enough to take some interesting pictures of his cat and other household items.

It is also worthwhile to check out some of [Martin Manders] other retro-tech mods like his cassette Pi IoT scroller.

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The Three Shell Mystery Finally Solved!

April 16, 2020 by Moritz v. Sivers 9 Comments

While we certainly acknowledge the valuable contributions of the open hardware community that help to mitigate the coronavirus crisis, we are also looking forward to the days when people start going back to building other things than 3D-printed face shields, pandemic trackers, and automatic soap dispensers. However, this handwash timer by [Agis Wichert] is a very creative version that also tries to solve the long outstanding mystery of how to use the three seashells. Unfortunately, in contrast to those in the original movie, these three seashells do not replace toilet paper which many people are seemingly so desperate in need of at the moment.

The build is quite simple and requires only a few off-the-shelf components including a Neopixel strip, IR proximity sensor, and an Arduino Nano. The plastic seashells were taken from the classic German “Schleckmuschel” candy, thereby giving the project an extra retro twist. As shown in the video embedded below, the timer works by consecutively dimming the LEDs located under each seashell until the recommended duration of 20 seconds has elapsed which is indicated by shortly flashing all LEDs.

Handwash timer projects do not always have to be visual as this one playing your favorite Spotify tunes proves. What we really would like to see though is someone building a toilet paper dispenser that is triggered by swearwords.

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Don’t Let Your PLA Filament Hang Loose With This 3D-Printed Surfboard

April 13, 2020 by Moritz v. Sivers 8 Comments

People always tend to push the boundaries of what is doable with a 3D printer. This is also true for [AndrewW1977] when he decided to 3D print a full-sized functional surfboard.

With just over nine full days of printing time, 95 individual pieces, and using 3.1 kg of PLA (not counting all the test prints), this is certainly a monumental project. One of the bigger issues [AndrewW1977] had to solve was avoiding air pockets inside the board. Ideally, you would want to end up with only one continuous hollow chamber in order to easily vent all the air inside the board when it heats up. [AndrewW1977] chose to overcome this problem by using zero infill for each individual piece. The pieces were then connected with the help of alignment pins that have a central hole thereby connecting all hollow chambers.

By using a triangular shape, he managed to print all pieces without using supports. After gluing them together the whole board was covered with fiberglass and epoxy resin similar to traditional surfboard building. Unfortunately, due to the current situation with Covid19 [AndrewW1977] remains short of showing us the board in action. In case you have a 3D printer at home and lots of spare time during lockdown, [AndrewW1977] has published all files for his surfboard on Thingiverse.

As [AndrewW1977] points out in the video embedded below other people have already done similar projects. From jet boats to electric hydrofoils it seems that water sports and 3D printing are a perfect match.

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Planetary Gears Tell Time In This Ornamental Clock

April 10, 2020 by Moritz v. Sivers 8 Comments

A clock is perhaps one of the the most popular projects among makers. Most designs we see are purely electronic and do not bother with the often more complicated mechanical part. Instructables user [Looman_projects] though was not afraid of calculating gear ratios and tooth counts for his planetary gear clock.

As shown in the picture, a planetary gear, also known as epicyclic gear, consists of three parts: a central sun gear, planetary gears moving around the sun gear and an outer ring with inward-facing teeth holding it all together. The mechanism dates back to ancient Greece but is still being used in car transmissions and has become quite popular in 3D printing. In his instructable [Looman_projects] has some useful inlinks including an explanation video of how planetary gear sets work and a website helping you to calculate the tooth counts for specific gear ratios. It is also noteworthy that he tried to cut the gears from aluminum with a waterjet which unfortunately failed because the parts were too small. What makes the clock visually stand out is the beautiful ornamental see-through design of the dial plate and hands made from laser-cut wood. Despite the mechanical gearbox, it is not surprising that the driving mechanism is based on ubiquitous pieces of digital electronics including an Arduino Nano, DS3231 RTC module, and a stepper motor. To avoid a cabling mess [Looman_projects] designed a custom PCB that interconnects all the electronics and says he even got some spare PCBs left for people interested in rebuilding the clock.

Actually, this is not the first laser-cut planetary gear clock that we have seen. In case you are wondering about the advantages of planetary gearboxes, you might want to check out how a 3D printed version is lifting an anvil.

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A Gambler’s Bottle Opener

April 9, 2020 by Moritz v. Sivers 11 Comments

People can certainly become creative when it comes to completing simple tasks like that of removing a bottle cap. Woodworker [Matt Thompson] has come up with a next-level bottle opener that not only does the job but also functions as a game of chance. (Video, embedded below.)

The process usually starts with a spin of his chore wheel that will surprisingly often advise you to drink a beer. While the bottle cap is removed by a standard wall-mounted opener, the fun starts when the cap falls through a wooden labyrinth of various mechanisms reminiscent of a Rube Goldberg machine. Finally, the cap goes through an arrangement of nails, known as a Galton Board which is also found in some pinball and historic gaming machines, before landing in one of two containers marked “winner” and “try again”. The former will trigger the rotating wheel of a self-built peanut dispenser to provide the thirsty person with some tasty snacks. While we would love to see a making-of video with more technical details of this project, we still appreciate the exquisite woodworking and fine craftsmanship that went into building it.

By the way, if you are ever in need of an Arduino board that can also serve as a bottle opener then have a look at HaDuino.

[Thanks to Emanuel for pointing out the proper name of the Galton Board]

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Nixie Clock Turns Boombox

April 7, 2020 by Moritz v. Sivers 12 Comments

With all the Nixie Clock projects out there, it is truly difficult to come up with something new and unique. Nevertheless, [TheJBW] managed to do so with his Ultimate Nixie Internet Alarm Clock (UNIAC) which definitely does not skimp on cool features.

Although the device does tell time, it is actually a portable boombox that streams music from Spotify using a Raspberry Pi Zero running Mopidy. The housing made from smoked acrylic, together with the IN-12A Nixie Tubes, an IN-13 VU meter, and illuminated pushbuttons give this boombox kind of a 70s/90s mashup retro look. The acrylic housing is special since it consists of only two plates which were bent into shape, resulting in smooth edges in contrast to the often used finger or T-slot design.

For his project [TheJBW] designed a general-purpose Nixie display that can not only show time and date but also the elapsed or remaining track time. He also came up with a Python generated artificial voice that reads you the current playlist. The only problem [TheJBW] has run into was when trying to design a suitable battery system for the device, as the high current draw during start-up can easily cause brownouts. Due to time constraints, he ended up with a MacGyver-style solution by taping a 12 V battery pack from Amazon to the back of the unit.

Among the large variety of Nixie projects we don’t think we have ever seen them in an audio player before except for some attempts of using them as an amplifier. However, it is known that IN-13 tubes make a great VU meter.

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