arduino nano

166 Articles

Arduino Watchdog Sniffs Out Hot 3D Printers

June 18, 2018 by 23 Comments

We know we’ve told you this already, but you should really keep a close eye on your 3D printer. The cheaper import machines are starting to display a worrying tendency to go up in flames, either due to cheap components or design flaws. The fact that it happens is, sadly, no longer up for debate. The best thing we can do now is figure out ways to mitigate the risk for all the printers that are already deployed in the field.

At the risk of making a generalization, most 3D printer fires seem to be due to overheating components. Not a huge surprise, of course, as parts of a 3D printer heat up to hundreds of degrees and must remain there for hours and hours on end. Accordingly, [Bin Sun] has created a very slick device that keeps a close eye on the printer’s temperature at various locations, and cuts power if anything goes out of acceptable range.

The device is powered by an Arduino Nano and uses a 1602 serial LCD and KY040 rotary encoder to provide the user interface. The user can set the shutdown temperature with the encoder knob, and the 16×2 character LCD will give a real-time display of current temperature and power status.

Once the user-defined temperature is met or exceeded, the device cuts power to the printer with an optocoupler relay. It will also sound an alarm for one minute so anyone in the area will know the printer needs some immediate attention.

We’ve recently covered a similar device that minimizes the amount of time the printer is powered on, but checking temperature and acting on it in real-time seems a better bet. No matter what, we’d still suggest adding a smoke detector and fire extinguisher to your list of essential 3D printer accessories.

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Robot Dances To The Beat Of New YouTube Subs

June 4, 2018 by 8 Comments

Sure, you could build some kind of numerical counter to keep track of new YouTube subscribers. But does an increasing digit display truly convey the importance of such an event? Of course not. What you need is something that recognizes this achievement for what it is and celebrates it with you. Something like Subby, the Interactive YouTube Subscriber Robot.

Whenever [brian brocken] gets a new subscriber, Subby’s little TV screen face lights up, and he either dances, salutes, or does another move within his impressive range of motion. [brian] wrote a Visual Basic app that searches his channel’s page for the subscriber count and sends it to the Nano’s COM port over serial every thousand milliseconds. [brian]’s got the VB app and all the STL files available on IO through Dropbox. Moonwalk past the break to watch Subby get down.

We like that Subby is too focused on celebrating each new subscriber to care about the total number itself. Maybe he could be programmed to do some extra special moves whenever the channel hits a milestone.

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Gaming System Built With Kite, The DIY Android Kit

May 29, 2018 by 8 Comments

As a gamer, [Lexie Dostal] dreamed of a smartphone that was a viable gaming platform: something with enough power to run the games and emulators he was interested in, with the controls to make playing them feel natural. So when he got his hands on an early version of Kite, the modular open hardware platform designed to be hacked and customized, that’s exactly what he decided to build. The Kite kit would provide the touch screen and Android-equipped motherboard, he just needed to design a case and integrate controls to make it a real gaming device.

The case design [Lexie] came up with is inspired by the bottom half of the Nintendo 3DS, and ended up only a few centimeters wider than the stock case from the Kite kit. Unfortunately, his delta 3D printer wasn’t large enough to fit the device’s case, so he ended up having to break it into five separate pieces and glue them together. With the case in one piece he worked his way from 220 to 400 grit sand paper, filling any voids in the print with glue as he went. A few coats of primer, more sanding, and a final matte texture spray give the final case a very professional-looking finish.

Not only was the Nintendo 3DS an inspiration for the device, it was also a donor for some of the parts. The directional pad, analog “nub”, and buttons are replacement 3DS hardware, which is interfaced to the KiteBoard with an Arduino Nano. When he couldn’t find springs small enough to use for the shoulder buttons, he bought some thin music wire and wound them himself. Talk about attention to detail.

There’s quite a bit of gear packed into the case, but [Lexie] thinks there’s probably still room to make some improvements. He could free up some room by dropping the connectors and soldering everything directly, and says he’d like to come up with a custom PCB to better interface with the 3DS’s hardware to cut down on some of the wiring required. With the extra room he thinks the battery, currently a 3200 mAh pack designed for the LG V20 smartphone, could probably be replaced with something even bigger.

Readers may recall that the Kite is currently in the running for the 2018 Hackaday prize. Seeing Kite already delivering on the promise of making it easier to develop powerful Android devices is very exciting, and we can’t wait to see what else hackers will be able to do with it.

Animated Bluetooth Bike Turn Signals

May 24, 2018 by 40 Comments

Tired of risking his life every time he had to signal a turn using his hands while riding his bicycle in rainy Vancouver, [Simon Wong] decided he needed something a bit higher tech. But rather than buy something off the shelf, he decided to make it into his first serious Arduino project. Given the final results and the laundry list of features, we’d say he really knocked this one out of the park. If this is him getting started, we’re very keen to see where he goes from here.

So what makes these turn signals so special? Well for one, he wanted to make it so nobody would try to steal his setup. He wanted the main signal to be easily removable so he could take it inside, and the controls to be so well-integrated into the bike that they wouldn’t be obvious. In the end he managed to stuff a battery pack, Arduino Nano, and an HC-05 module inside the handlebars; with just a switch protruding from the very end to hint that everything wasn’t stock.

On the other side, a ATMEGA328P microcontroller along with another HC-05 drives two 8×8 LED matrices with MAX7219 controllers. Everything is powered by a 18650 lithium-ion battery with a 134N3P module to bring it up to 5 VDC. To make the device easily removable, as well as keep the elements out, all the hardware is enclosed in a commercial waterproof case. As a final touch, [Simon] added a Qi wireless charging receiver to the mix so he could just pull the signal off and drop it on a charging pad without needing to open it up.

It’s been some time since we’ve seen a bike turn signal build, so it’s nice to see one done with a bit more modern hardware. But the real question: will he be donning a lighted helmet for added safety?

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Programmable Air Makes Robotics A Breeze

May 24, 2018 by 10 Comments

[Amitabh] was frustrated by the lack of options for controlling air pressure in soft robotics. The most promising initiative, Pneuduino, seemed to be this close to a Shenzhen production run, but the creators have gone radio silent. Faced with only expensive alternatives, he decided to take one for Team Hacker and created Programmable Air, a modular system for inflatable and vacuum-based robotics.

The idea is to build the cheapest, most hacker-friendly system he can by evaluating and experimenting with all sorts of off-the-shelf pumps, sensors, and valves. From the looks of it, he’s pretty much got it dialed in. Programmable Air is based around $9 medical-grade booster pumps that are as good at making vacuums as they are at providing pressurization. The main board has two pumps, and it looks like one is set to vacuum and the other to spew air. There’s an Arduino Nano to drive them, and a momentary to control the air flow.

Programmable Air can support up to 12 valves through daughter boards that connect via right-angle header. In the future, [Amitabh] may swap these out for magnetic connections or something else that can withstand repeated use.

Blow past the break to watch Programmable Air do pick and place, control a soft gripper, and inflate a balloon. The balloon’s pressurization behavior has made [Amitabh] reconsider adding a flow meter, but so far he hasn’t found a reasonable cost per unit. Can you recommend a small flow meter that won’t break the bank? Let us know in the comments.

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It’s Not Morning Until Green O’clock

May 19, 2018 by 13 Comments

[JohnathonT] has a two-year-old who can’t reliably tell time just yet. Every morning, he gets up before the rooster crows and barges into his parents’ room, ready to face the day.

In an effort to catch a few more Zs, [JohnathonT] built a simple but sanity-saving clock that tells time in a visual, kid-friendly way. Sure, this is a simple build. But if a toddler is part of your reality, who has time to make one from logic gates? The hardware is what you’d expect to see: Arduino Nano, a DS1307 RTC, plus the LEDs and resistors. We think an RGB LED would be a nice way to mix up the standard stoplight hues a bit.

At a glance, little Mr. Rise and Shine can see if it’s time to spread cheer, or if he has to stay in his room and play a bit longer. At 6:00AM, the light powers on and glows red. At 6:50, it turns yellow for 10 minutes. At the first reasonable hour of the day, 7:00AM, it finally turns green. In reading the code, we noticed that it also goes red at 8:00PM for 45 minutes, which tells us it also functions as a go-to-sleep indicator.

When his son is a little older, maybe [JohnathonT] could build him  a clock that associates colors with activities.

Snowboard And Skateboard So Lit You Can Wipe Out And Still Look Good

May 18, 2018 by 5 Comments

[Nate] has made snowboarding cool with his Bluetooth connected board. Using 202 WS2812 LEDs carefully wrapped around the edge of the board and sealed with a conformal coating, it’s bright and waterproof. It’s controlled with an Arduino Nano and a Bluetooth classic board, as well as a large swappable USB battery bank; he can get roughly four hours of life at full brightness on his toy.

Where it gets even cooler is with a six-axis gyro connected to the Nano, which tracks the board movement, and the lights respond accordingly, creating cool patterns based on his speed, angles, and other factors. The app used to control this intense ice-rider is a custom app written using MIT App Inventor, which has the ability to work with Bluetooth classic as well as BLE. This came in handy when he made the 100-LED skateboard, which is based on a Feather with BLE and a large LiPo battery. The challenging part with the skateboard was making the enclosure rugged enough (yet 3D printed) to withstand terrain that is a lot less fluffy than snow.

The connected skateboard is controlled by his phone and a Feather.

We’ve seen others use flashlights and a professional connected board, but it’s been a few years and we’re due for a refreshing (and nostalgic) look back on the winter.