Author: Zoe Skyforest

3822 Articles

BinDayCator Lets You Know When To Take Out The Trash

January 23, 2020 by 39 Comments

Municipal waste pickup is a wonderful luxury. Typically once a week, large trucks come by and pick up bins of garbage from your residence. All you have to do is remember to put them out! In a uniquely human way, this is very hard to do. Enter the BinDayCator.

The project consists of a 3D printed model of a typical council wheelie-bin. Printed in white filament, the bin is translucent enough to glow when lit by powerful WS2812B LEDs. Having four LEDs both helps fill the entire model with an even light, as well as allows the bin to display multiple colors in different segments. This means that if it’s green bin day, the bin glows green. If it’s the day for the red and blue bins, the indicator will light up segments in red and blue.

Unfortunately there’s no global standard that councils use to serve up bin day data over the Internet, so configuration isn’t as simple as pointing the BinDayCator at your local waste authority’s website. Instead, some Node-RED code is used to scrape the council website once a day and tell the ESP8266 controlling the BinDayCator which bins are due to be placed on the roadside. A later revision has a custom calendar UI that can allow for manual configuration of the relevant days.

The BinDayCator is a cute device, and one that would likely be commercially successful if there were a simple and easy way to configure the necessary data feed. We’d love one by our front door so we didn’t miss another collection day. Visual indicators are always useful, even if its just for checking the mail. Video after the break.

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Spring Clamp Is Completely 3D Printed

January 23, 2020 by 7 Comments

Dual-filament printers may seem like a gimmick to the uninitiated, but they open up some powerful options for advanced designs. [Darren Tarbard] shows this off with a nifty spring clamp that is 3D printed in a single operation.

The clamp is similar to one you’d find at any hardware store. Standard PLA or ABS filaments can be used for the main body of the clamp, which has an integrated hinge. However, instead of having a typical metal spring, the element is instead 3D printed. The spring is created out of TPU filament, and printed in place. Different in-fill percentages on the spring component can vary the characteristics of the spring, making for a softer or firmer grip.

It’s a tidy example of the applications of dual-filament printing – and far more useful than using it to print bi-color Pikachus. 3D printers have much to offer in the world of tooling; they can even turn a bench vice into an effective press brake. Video after the break.

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Scorigami Bot Charts NFL History In The Making

January 22, 2020 by 6 Comments

NFL Football is a curious game to those who live beyond the borders of the continental United States. Its rules are many and complex, and its scoring system is built on arcane magic. This system means that there are many possible final game scores that have never actually happened in practice. For fans keen to hear of any first-time scores as they happen, Scorigami bot is here to help.

Charting and researching these is the practice of Scorigami, an idea first posited by Jon Bois, and is explored in this SB Nation video. It covers the many impossible scores in NFL, such as 1-0 and 1-1, as well as the possible-but-extremely-unlikely, like 6-1. To keep track of the state of Scorigami means following every score of every NFL game as its played. The ‘bot makes this easier; scraping the NFL livescores page with some nifty Javascript, it tracks each game live for potential first-time scores; the most recent as of writing being the Chiefs beating the Texans 51-31. Not only that, but the ‘bot estimates the most likely possible scorigami scores of games in progress, keeping fans on tenterhooks until the final whistle is blown. Or is it a siren in NFL? Inquiring minds need to know.

Code is naturally available on Github if you want to independently audit the Twitter feed; obviously the sanctity of scorigami results is absolutely paramount, and ensuring as such is a community responsibility. We’ve seen other live-score projects before, like this glowing Super Bowl football.

Paper Glows Up With This Origami Wall Piece

January 22, 2020 by 3 Comments

[Charlyn] recently found herself dissatisfied with the blank expanse of her bedroom walls. Deciding to take matters into her own hands, she set out to build this exquisite origami wall sculpture.

The piece was inspired by a work originally created by [Coco Sato], which she saw on Design Sponge. Materials were sourced, and [Charlyn] began the arduous process of cutting and folding the many, many pieces of paper that would make up the final piece. There were some missteps along the way, which served as a lesson to test early and test often, but a cup of tea and perseverance got the job done.

With the paper components completed, she looked to the electronics. Ten Neopixel LEDs were hooked up to a Particle Photon, giving the project easy IoT functionality. Thanks to IFTTT, the display can be controlled via Google Home, either glowing to create a relaxing vibe, or shutting off when it’s time to sleep. There’s also a smattering of flowers decorating the piece, somewhat of a [Charlyn] trademark.

The LEDs shine from behind the paper structure, creating a subtle, attractive glow. We’re big fans of the combination of LEDs with origami, and hope to see more projects using the material as an effective diffuser. You can even experiment with conductive materials to take things further. Video after the break.

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Tumble Polisher Smooths Parts With Ease

January 21, 2020 by 21 Comments

When you’re 3D printing parts, it’s easy to create pieces with all manner of complex geometry. However, you’re often stuck dealing with unsightly layer lines and other surface imperfections. [reitter_m] chooses to get around this through the use of a tumble polisher of his own design.

The polisher uses a drum made out of a glass jar sourced from IKEA. A 3D printed gear is printed to size, and then fitted around the outside. This allows the drum to be turned by a motor fitted into the base of a 3D printed cradle. A simple gear motor is used to spin the drum nice and slowly, powered by a 12 V, 500 mA supply.

It’s a build that uses readily available parts, and should be a cinch to recreate by anyone with a 3D printer. The later revision uses an even more common IKEA jar, making it even easier to copy the build no matter where you are in the world. It even uses herringbone gears which gives it a very offbeat look. We’ve seen other hacked tumbler projects too, like this one built around an old case fan. Video after the break.

Electric Unicorn Is Our Kind Of Rideable

January 20, 2020 by 8 Comments

When [Charlyn] took a unicorn rocking horse in to work, it was an instant hit. Naturally, the people wanted more, and suggested it needed electric propulsion. Naturally, she rose to the challenge, and Rocky the Unicorn got a motorized upgrade.

The build consists of a frame built out of PVC pipes, hooked up with Formufit fittings. These are a great way to build useful structures out of PVC pipe, and made the build a cinch. The frame has a footrests for the rider, and the rocking horse already has a comfortable seat. For propulsion, a hoverboard is installed in the base, with the frame sporting a pair of casters to avoid tip over. Twin PVC handles are used to interface with the footplate of the hoverboard, allowing the user to drive and steer, as well as turn on the spot. A bouquet of fake flowers round out the aesthetic and hide some of the zipties.

It goes to show that PVC pipe can be an excellent material for quick, fun projects – all you need is the right fittings to make it all happen! It’s also fun to see a hoverboard used in such a way that doesn’t end with severe injuries.  Unicorns always bring a nice flair to a project, too. Video after the break.

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Alexa Controls This Savage Pumpkin

January 18, 2020 by 6 Comments

Traditionally, pumpkins are carved during the holiday of Halloween to represent malicious and frightening beasts. Flying in the face of this is [minihannah]’s carving of Adam Savage, which she’s calling a hero pumpkin. It’s a fun twist on the custom, and of course, it’s packing WiFi too.

The build starts with a carving of the typical orange winter squash cultivar, using artwork cribbed from the cover of Mr. Savage’s biography. Inside, there’s a bunch of LEDs, all under the control of an adafruit feather M0, which talks to the broader internet over WiFi. The pumpkin can be controlled by Alexa, thanks to the combination of Adafruit.IO and IFTTT.

It’s a fun little Internet of Things build, and one that’s ready for the modern smarthome, where you’re already used to yelling at the lights to switch off. We’d love to see a similar Billy Corgan build, if only for the pun. If you give it a go, be sure to drop us a line. Video after the break.

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