Category: News

News Tutorials

DIY Portable Bluetooth speakers

2015-08-31 Dan

Bluetooth speakers by Luke Brooks
Marginally Clever’s very own Luke Brooks has been working overtime. Not only is he designing a 3D printer, not only does he film and edit all Marginally Clever videos, not only did he help on the Giant Wall of LEDs (coming to World Maker Faire 2015), but he also designs cool portable speaker systems. Made from laser cut parts, hot glue, and determination. At a moderate volume they’ll play for nearly 10 hours. That means it will outlast your phone battery!

Get all the details and the step-by-step pictures on the Vancouver Hack Space forums.

The electronic parts used in the kit are available here:

[products skus=’elec-0031, elec-0032, ELEC-0037, ELEC-0057′]

News

Giant Tetris for Vancouver Mini Maker Faire 2015

2015-05-27 Dan

led tetris

I used the Arduino Starter Kit tutorials for building your own game of Tetris and modified them just enough to run the game with WS2811 full color LEDs.

For added authenticity I added wall kicks (turning a piece close to the edge pushes it away from the edge) and increasing difficulty (finish a row, game gets faster).

You can grab the code from the LED8x16tetris github repository I just pushed.

You can try the game live June 6-7 at the Vancouver Mini Maker Faire at the PNE fairground in Vancouver, BC, Canada. We’ll have stuff you can build, stuff you can buy, stuff you can play, and smiles for everybody. It should be a beautiful weekend, so come on out and make the most of it.

News

Vancouver Mini Maker Faire 2015

2015-05-23 Dan

Come play ginormous Tetris, make a flying light machine, and check out our awesome kits. Be early coz they’ll go fast fast fast.

https://igcdn-photos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/t51.2885-15/11330728_1845747678982873_205005943_n.jpg

Here’s a map of where we’ll be at the fair.

vmmf 2015 map

I recommend you run past everything else, screaming as you go, then leisurely stroll back towards the door.

News Tutorials

Why no one makes hypocycloid gearboxes

2015-05-19 Dan

Gearboxes can turn a weak fast motor and you need

When you buy a Marginally Clever robot kit, you don’t just get an awesome robot. You push the boundaries of science and engineering by funding my research. It’s a bit like I’m trying to run a personal Skunkworks.

You’ve heard me talk often on this site about my desire to build robot arms for less and make them for everyone. I need a gearbox so I can build the arms with affordable 3d printer electronics and hardware. Gearboxes transform weak but fast motors into slow but strong motors. Not every gearbox is right for robots. A good candidate is a hypocycloid, cousin of the harmonic gearbox.

these video’s aren’t mine. They are here to illustrate the concept.

I spent $3000 on a prototype that doesn’t work. In spite of the incredible tolerances and the top quality machining, we couldn’t get the gearbox to run without binding or jamming. More on that at the link, as well as details on my progress with the robot arm.

On the bright side, I can share my progress and save each of you a small fortune. Plus I haven’t given up. At a recent Bring-a-hack dinner after the 2015 Bay Area Maker Faire I got a number of great tips and suggestions about how to try again. They ranged everywhere from “run a kickstarter to fund more development” to “add more lasers”.

Do you have any ideas why the gearbox doesn’t work? Have you tried to make a hypocycloid or a zero-backlash gearbox? Comment below.

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