In this project we create a miniture diorama in the form of a book nook! We use several techniques, as infinity mirrors and peppers ghost to create the feeling of an infinite library inside our bookshelf!
External News
Inside the SuperStryfe
Joseph Murphy opens up the SuperStryfe to show you the insides and explain how it works.
Top 10 3D-Printed Gifts No One Asked For
Stores are shut and the mail is clogged, but you can still print breathtaking DIY gifts. If you have a Prusa, an Ender 3, or any modern 3D printer, consider this your ultimate Christmas gift guide. I hand-picked these prints specifically for gifting.
You don’t need anything except filament and common household objects, you can make any of them in a day, and none of them are difficult to print or build. Most importantly, all ten are dramatic, exciting, functional prints that your giftee will love.
3D Printing with VHS tape filament
If you have a pile of old VHS tapes collecting dust in your attic or basement that you know you’ll never watch again, either because all of those movies are available on DVD or a streaming service, or because you haven’t had a working VCR since 2003, there might be a way of putting them to good use in another way. With the miles of tape available in just a few cassettes, [Brother] aka [Andrew] shows us how to use that tape as filament for a 3D printer. (Video, embedded below.)
The first step of the build is to actually create the filament. He uses a purpose-built homemade press to spin several tapes into one filament similar to how cotton or flax is spun into yarn. From there the filament is simply fed into the 3D printer and put to work. The tape filament needs to be heated higher than a standard 3D printer filament so he prints at a much slower rate, but the resulting product is indistinguishable from a normal print except for the color. It has some other interesting properties as well, such as retaining its magnetism from the magnetic tape, and being a little more brittle than PET plastic although it seems to be a little stronger.
Zack Freedman Built a Tiny RaspberryPi Gaming PC That Plays Crysis!
Miniaturized gaming PCs are all the rage right now and Zack Freedman’s Coccolith is one of the best we’ve seen.
There is a fun trend going on right now with people using single-board computers (SBCs) to create tiny, functional scale models of their full-size desktop gaming PCs. These aren’t capable of reaching anywhere close to the performance of their larger brethren, but that isn’t the goal. The objective is to recreate all of the details as faithfully as possible, all the way down to itty bitty RAM sticks and hard drives in some cases. Zack Freedman wanted to get in on the fad, but took things to the next level by miniaturizing his entire computer setup. The result is “Coccolith,” which is a 1/4 scale model of his main “Monolith” PC, complete with monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
Turn A RaspberryPi 4 Into A PLEX Media Server
In this video, we show you how to turn a Raspberry Pi 4 into a PLEX Media Server for Streaming Videos, Movies, Music, and Photos from the Pi4 to any other device that supports PLEX like an Nvidia Shield Amazon Fire stick, Android TV android tablets or phones and even iPads and iPhones. This method is pretty simple and along with your Raspberry Pi PLEX media server, you also have access to a full desktop operating system Ubuntu 20.10 or higher.
Arduino-based machine makes cutting and stripping wires easy
If you need to strip a wire or two, that’s easy enough. However, what if you need tens or hundreds of wires stripped to the exact same length? Such a task would quickly become tedious, but with Mr Innovative’s Arduino Nano-based machine all you have to do it pop in a few numbers and it takes care of the rest!
The automated device uses a 3D printer-like stepper mechanism to feed wire though a flexible length of tubing, which comes out on the other side positioned under a wire stripper. A servo is employed to aim the tubing and wire at either the cutting or stripping portion of the tool, which clamps down via a stepper and linkage setup. User interface consists of a 2.8″ touchscreen, allowing one to define the wire and stripped lengths, as well as how many individual wires are required.
Inside a cheap set of eBay digital calipers
For such a lightweight plastic measuring device, the resolution of 0.1mm or 0.01″ and repeatability is quite astonishing. Whilst not being suited to a professional machinist, these units are ideal for ordinary measurements, including designing 3D printed components.
It should be noted that the quiescent current of these devices is around 18uA, even when off (the display goes off until movement is detected). Some users are reporting a very short battery life, but a typical 100mAh (0.1Ah) button cell should be able to supply 0.00002A for a very long time. (Theoretically 100’s of days.)
Hackboard 2 Is a $140 Windows 10 Pro Single-Board Computer
The Raspberry Pi continues to be the most-popular choice for single-board computers, especially considering the very low price point. But what if you want a single-board computer capable of running Windows 10? The Hackboard 2 offers just that for a surprisingly low price.
Hackboard 2 was created by a team spread across Austin, London, and Shezhen. As The Hackboard website explains, the idea was formed very early in the coronavirus pandemic when Quantum Engineering CEO Mike Callow came up with the idea of “creating a small, low-cost, Windows-powered and Intel-based computer for children, parents, and educators who wouldn’t normally be able to afford one.”
Debra Ansell Is Quickly Becoming the “Go-To” Authority on Great-Looking LED Lighting!
It’s almost a guarantee that if you haven’t yet incorporated the ubiquitous WS2812x ‘NeoPixel’ or APA10x ‘DotStar’-style “digital” LEDs into a project, you will no doubt have seen the myriad works of many a maker, ranging from blinking, bedazzling digital jewelry to drive-in scale digital LED video walls.
No matter the form factor, getting these bare LED emitters to look their best can sometimes take quite a bit of work! A range of factors, from ensuring that you have provided an adequate power supply to diffusion of the light emitted from these devices — and everything in between! — means that there is usually a direct trade-off between the amount of thought that goes into the incorporation of these LEDs, and how fantastic the final product looks!