A Guide To Laser Cutting Metal, If You’ve Got The Cash

September 19, 2024 by Al Williams 9 Comments

While many of us now have laser cutters — either a K40-style machine or one of the newer high-output diodes — you probably don’t have one that cuts metal. True, some hobby lasers now offer IR laser heads with modest power to engrave metal. The xTool S1, for example, accepts a 2 W IR laser as an option, but we doubt it would cut through anything thicker than foil. However, there are a growing number of fiber and carbon dioxide lasers that can cut metal at semi-reasonable prices, and [All3DP] has a primer on the technology that is worth a read.

According to the post, CO₂ lasers are less expensive but require gas assist, can’t work with shiny metals well, and are finicky because of the mirrors and glass tube inside. Fiber lasers cost more, but don’t need gas, work on more materials, and have fewer parts that need maintenance or may be prone to damage. There are other kinds of lasers, but the post focuses on these, the most common ones.

Machines that can cut metal aren’t cheap. They start at about $10,000. However, prices are dropping and we remember when $10,000 would buy you what would today be a terrible oscilloscope, so maybe there’s hope for an impulse-buy metal-cutting laser one day.

It isn’t that diode lasers can’t cut metal at all, but the results are not terribly useful. What would you rather have? A metal cutter or a metal 3D printer?

Simple PCB Agitator Gets The Job Done

September 13, 2024 by Lewin Day 17 Comments

These days, PCB fab houses are just about everywhere, and you can’t go buy a taco without walking past eight of them. Still, some out there still like to etch their PCBs at home. If that sounds like you, you might see some value in [Chris Borge]’s PCB agitator.

The design mostly relies on 3D printed parts, including the main body. It has a heavy base which is filled with concrete to keep it nicely weighed down on the table. A table for holding a PCB and fluid tank is then installed on top, via a bearing which allows it to pivot in one axis. An Arduino Nano commands the agitation of the table top, and hence the PCB etching tank, with a servo used to actually shift the table back and forth.

It’s a simple design — far simpler than some of the advanced coffee-making hardware we’ve seen recently. Regardless, it gets the job done, and done well! In testing, it accelerated [Chris]’s etching jobs significantly, we’re talking hours here. Meanwhile, if you don’t have a 3D printer on hand, you could always try building one out of junk instead!

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Review: IFixit’s FixHub May Be The Last Soldering Iron You Ever Buy

September 12, 2024 by Tom Nardi 98 Comments

Like many people who solder regularly, I decided years ago to upgrade from a basic iron and invest in a soldering station. My RadioShack digital station has served me well for the better part of 20 years. It heats up fast, tips are readily available, and it’s a breeze to dial in whatever temperature I need. It’s older than both of my children, has moved with me to three different homes, and has outlived two cars and one marriage (so far, anyway).

When I got this, Hackaday still used B&W pictures.

As such, when the new breed of “smart” USB-C soldering irons started hitting the scene, I didn’t find them terribly compelling. Oh sure, I bought a Pinecil. But that’s because I’m an unrepentant open source zealot and love the idea that there’s a soldering iron running a community developed firmware. In practice though, I only used the thing a few times, and even then it was because I needed something portable. Using it at home on the workbench? It just never felt up to the task of daily use.

So when iFixit got in contact a couple weeks back and said they had a prototype USB-C soldering iron they wanted me to take a look at, I was skeptical to say the least. But then I started reading over the documentation they sent over, and couldn’t deny that they had some interesting ideas. For one, it was something of a hybrid iron. It was portable when you needed it to be, yet offered the flexibility and power of a station when you were at the bench.

Even better, they were planning on putting their money where their mouth is. The hardware was designed with repairability in mind at every step. Not only was it modular and easy to open up, but the company would be providing full schematics, teardown guides, and spare parts.

Alright, fine. Now you’ve got my attention.

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The Apple Watch As An Ammeter

September 10, 2024 by Jenny List 3 Comments

Your shiny new personal electronic device is likely to be designed solely as an app platform to run the products of faceless corporations, so the story goes, and therefore has an ever smaller hacking potential. Perhaps that view is needlessly pessimistic, because here’s [JP3141] with an example that goes against the grain. It’s an Apple Watch, being used as an ammeter. How it does that comes as the result of a delicious piece of lateral thinking.

Like many mobile devices, the device comes with a magnetometer. This serves as an electronic compass, but it’s also as its name might suggest, an instrument for sensing magnetic fields in three axes. With a 3D printed bobbin that slides over the watch, and a few turns of wire, it can sense the magnetic field created by the current, and a measurement can be derived from it. The software on the watch is only a simple proof of concept as yet, but it applies some fairly understandable high-school physics to provide a useful if unexpected measure of current.

We’re surprised to see just how many times the Apple Watch has appeared on these pages, but scanning past projects it was a cosmetic one which caught our eye. Who wouldn’t want a tiny Mac Classic!

3D Print Yourself These Mini Workshop Tools

September 6, 2024 by Lewin Day 27 Comments

Kitting out a full workshop can be expensive, but if you’re only working on small things, it can also be overkill. Indeed, if your machining tends towards the miniature, consider building yourself a series of tiny machines like [KendinYap] did. In the video below, you can see the miniature electric sander, table saw, drill press, and cut-off saw put through their paces.

Just because the machines are small, doesn’t mean they’re not useful. In fact, they’re kind of great for doing smaller jobs without destroying what you’re working on. The tiny belt sander in particular appeals in this case, but the same applies to the drill press as well. [KendinYap] also shows off a tiny table and circular saw. The machines are straightforward in their design, relying largely on 3D printed components. They’re all powered by basic DC brushed motors which are enough to get the job done on the small scale.

They look particularly good if tiny scale model-making is your passion.

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Two tools for placing magnets with ease, one for each polarity.

An Attractive Magnet Insertion Tool

September 1, 2024 by Kristina Panos 9 Comments

Magnets are pretty nice little tools. [EmGi] has used them in many a cool 3D printed build with great success. But getting them where you want can be really tricky. More often than not, you end up with glue all over your fingers, or the magnets fly out of place, or they stick together when you don’t want them to.

Well, [EmGi] created a mighty fine magnet insertion tool that you can print for yourself. It’s finger-operated and uses a single embedded magnet to place magnets wherever they’re needed.

This thing went through several designs before [EmGi] ever printed it out. Originally, there were two magnets, but there was an issue where if the tool wasn’t lifted off perfectly, it would send the magnet flying.

But now it works great, and [EmGi] even deposited an array of 64 magnets without using glue to test it out before printing a second one to handle the other polarity. Check out the build/demo video after the break.

While you’re printing and placing magnets, why not make yourself a couple of magnetic switches? You can even make ’em for keyboards.

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Walking The Plank: Add-Ons For The Bus Pirate

August 29, 2024 by Tom Nardi 4 Comments

The Bus Pirate multi-tool has held a place of honor in many a hardware hacker’s toolbox for years, and the latest generation of the gadget powered by the Raspberry Pi RP2040/RP2350 offers significantly enhanced capabilities over the original PIC versions. We took a look at the new Bus Pirate when it started shipping back in February, and while the firmware was still in the early stages back then, it was already clear that creator [Ian Lesnet] and his team had put together a compelling product.

Over the last several months, the Bus Pirate software has improved dramatically. New features have started showing off the hardware’s capabilities, and the user experience is far improved over where it was at release. Following the firmware development is a roller coaster ride, with [Ian] sometimes pushing out several updates a day. Luckily, like the Pi Pico itself, updating the new Bus Pirate only takes a second.

But as impressive and important as those software updates have been, that’s not what we’re talking about today. In this post, we’ll take a look at one of the most exciting aspects of the new Bus Pirate — the ability to easily develop add-on modules for it.

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