A 3D-printed talking milk jug with a speech bubble that says 'glug'.

Talking Milk Jug Says Glug-Glug-Glug

August 25, 2024 by Kristina Panos 7 Comments

Children can be a great source of daily inspiration, especially when they are just beginning to speak in full sentences and starting to let their little personalities show.

[Franklinstein] has the cutest toddler, and she loves her toy espresso machine, especially the little milk carton that came with it. Well, one day, Daddy made a glug-glug sound that delighted her, and he was inspired to build an entirely new milk jug that would make that special sound whenever it was turned over.

In order to keep the build relatively simple, [Franklinstein] used a sound module with an SD card and a tilt switch to activate it. There’s not much else to the build, really — just the usual suspects like a boost converter, a charging module, and a speaker, of course. In case you couldn’t tell, the enclosure and the internal skid that the electronics assemble onto are 3D printed.

This is really cute, and [Franklinstein]’s daughter seems to love it. Everything is available, including some nice instructions if you want to make one of your own. Be sure to check out the neat build video after the break.

The things we do for kids. Seriously.

Continue reading “Talking Milk Jug Says Glug-Glug-Glug” →

Make A Catch With A 3D Printed Rod

August 15, 2024 by Jenny List 7 Comments

When we think of fishing rods, the image brought to mind is one of a tweed-clad fisherman in his waders in a wild salmon stream, his line whipping about as it guides the fly over the surface of the water. Angling is a pursuit with a heritage, and having a lengthy rod seems an essential for its enjoyment. But perhaps your tackle needn’t be such an important factor, and in that spirit here’s [3dcreation] with a tiny but fully functional 3D printed fishing rod.

If you’ve ever seen a fisherman working through a hole in the ice, you may have some idea of the type of rod in question, it’s a stubby affair half handle and half rod, with a rudimentary reel in the middle. In the pictures it’s loaded up with line, weight ready to go, so we can see how it’s supposed to work. We’re not anglers here though, so the question of whether it would indeed work is one for your imagination.

Perhaps surprisingly, few anglers find their way onto these pages. One of the few that has, used a drone.

Help The LEGO Camera Become A Reality

August 15, 2024 by Jenny List 9 Comments

Some time over a year ago, we told you about a camera. Not just any camera, but a fully-functional 35mm film camera made entirely of LEGO, and with a pleasingly retro design into the bargain. It’s the work of [Zung92], and it can be found on the LEGO Ideas website.

You might now be asking why we’re talking about it again so soon, and the answer comes in its approaching the deadline for being considered by LEGO for a set. Projects on the Ideas website move forward when they achieve 10,000 supporters, and this one’s just shy of 8,000 with a month to go. We like this project and we think it deserves to see the light of day, and perhaps with your help it can.

When we covered this project last time we lamented the lack of technical detail, so we’re pleased to see a glimpse inside it as part of a manual uploaded to the updates page. We’d be the first to remark that with its LEGO part plastic lens and quarter-frame pictures it won’t be the best camera ever, but that’s hardly the point. Cameras like this one are a challenge, and it seems as though this one is perfect for the competition with a difference.

Stemfie, The 3D-Printable Construction Set

August 13, 2024 by Lewin Day 2 Comments

Construction kit toys are cited by many adults as sparking great creativity and engineering talent in their youth. LEGO, Meccano, K’NEX, Lincoln Logs—these are all great commercial options. But what about printing your very own construction kit at home? Meet Stemfie.

Fundamentally, Stemfie isn’t that different from any other construction kit you might have seen before. It has various beams and flat plates that are full of holes so they can be assembled together in various ways. It also uses bolts, spacers, and small plastic nuts that can be tightened using a special hand tool. Think of a mixture between LEGO Technic and Meccano and that will get you in the ballpark. It includes neat motion components too, including gears, wheels, and even a large flat spring!

What can you build with it? Well, as every construction kit toy says, you’re only limited by your imagination! However, if your imagination is especially small, you can just use the Stemfie 3D YouTube channel for inspiration. It features everything from a ping pong ball catapult to a rubber-band driven car. Plus, since it’s all 3D printed, you can simply scale up the parts and build even bigger designs. Like a giant catapult that can hurl entire water jugs. Fun!

We’ve seen other projects in this vein before. One of our favorites is [Ivan Miranda]’s giant 3D printed assembly kit that he uses to build big monster toys.

Continue reading “Stemfie, The 3D-Printable Construction Set” →

RC Submarine Build Starts With Plenty Of Research

August 13, 2024 by Orlando Hoilett 19 Comments

[Ben]’s a 15-year-old who loves engineering and loves taking on new challenges. He’s made some cool stuff over the years, but the high water mark (no pun intended) has to be this impressively documented remote controlled submarine.

His new build starts off with more research than the actual building. [Ben] spent a ton of time investigating the design of the submarine from its shape, to the propeller system, to the best way to waterproof everything, keeping his sub in tip-top shape. He decides to go with the Russian-style Akula submarine, which is probably the generic look that most of us would think of when we hear the word submarine. He had some interesting thoughts on the propeller system (like the syringe ballast we’ve seen before), and which type of motor to use. In the end, he decided with four pumps that would act essentially as thrusters. ~~fill a chamber with water, allowing the submarine to submerge, or fill with air, making the submarine buoyant, allowing it to resurface.~~

However, what we found most interesting about his build is how he explains the rationale for all his design decisions and clearly documents his thought process on his project page. We really can’t do [Ben]’s project justice in a short post, so head over to his project page to see it for yourself.

While you’re at it, check out some of these other cool submarine builds that we’ve featured here on Hackaday

A painted RC plane made of cardboard. It has an orange propeller and camo-esque markings along with concentric blue, white, and red circles near the wingtips.

Cardboard R/C Plane Actually Flies

August 1, 2024 by Navarre Bartz 19 Comments

Many makers start by building mock-ups from cardboard, but [Alex-08] has managed to build an R/C plane that actually flies, out of cardboard.

If you’ve been thinking of building an R/C plane from scratch yourself, this guide is an excellent place to start. [Alex-08] goes through excruciating detail on how he designed and constructed this marvel. The section on building the wings is particularly detailed since that’s the most crucial element in making sure this plane can get airborne.

Some off-the-shelf R/C parts and 3D printed components round out the parts list to complement the large cardboard box used for most of the structural components. The build instructions even go through some tips on getting that vintage aircraft feel and how to adjust everything for a smooth flight.

Need a wind tunnel instead? You can build that out of cardboard too. If paper airplanes are more your thing, how about launching them from space? And if you’re just trying to get a head start on Halloween, why not laser cut an airplane costume from cardboard?

OSHW Model Rocket Kit Embraces The Hexagon

July 27, 2024 by Tom Nardi 19 Comments

If you’ve ever built a model rocket, you’ll know there’s not a whole lot to them. Essentially it’s a cardboard tube, a plastic nosecone, some fins, and a little clip that will keep it riding the launch rail as it accelerates off the pad. Extra points awarded if you add in a parachute, but strictly speaking, even that’s a luxury. Stick an Estes motor in that thing and send it.

But pointing out that lightweight cardboard tubes can be tricky to ship without getting crushed, [Concrete Dog] has come up with HEXA, a clever model rocket kit that uses pre-scored cardstock instead. The immediate advantage is that this allows the rocket to be shipped as flat sheets of material, but as a secondary bonus, once folded into its final shape the rocket has an awesome hexagonal cross section.

As with a traditional kit, both the nosecone and fins are plastic. Except here they’ve been 3D printed in either PLA or PETG depending on their proximity to he hot and fiery area of the rocket. [Concrete Dog] says the printed parts are largely ready to fly as-is, but that some quality time with a piece of sandpaper and a coat of paint could improve the aerodynamics a bit if you were so inclined.

Ready for the best part? [Concrete Dog] has decided to release all of the design files for the rocket under the CERN Open Hardware Licence, meaning you’re free to reproduce and modify the rocket as you see fit. In fact, on July 24th, the HEXA rocket was officially certified as Open Hardware by the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA) — a first for a DIY rocket, as far as we can tell.

Continue reading “OSHW Model Rocket Kit Embraces The Hexagon” →