TeensyStep: Fast Stepper Library for Teensy

The Teensy platform is very popular with hackers — and rightly so. Teensys are available in 8-bit and 32-bit versions, the hardware has a bread-board friendly footprint, there are a ton of Teensy libraries available, and they can also run standard Arduino libraries. Want to blink a lot of LED’s? At very fast update rates?…

via TeensyStep – Fast Stepper Library for Teensy — Hackaday

TeensyStep: Fast Stepper Library for Teensy

Maker Faire Orlando soldering kit

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We are proud to be a sponsor of this Maker Faire Orlando soldering kit:

Advanced soldering training at Maker Faire Orlando

For the past six years at Maker Faire Orlando, members of FamiLab have taught attendees how to solder with a cool little Makey pin with 2 self-flashing LEDs.  We’ve been asked for more advanced soldering training, and we responded with the addition of a PIC-microcontroller-based board twinkling several LEDs, and with a switch that can be used to change the LED display pattern.

We opted to design the board such that it can be used as a pendant on a necklace (lanyard) or as a keychain (especially for those of you who like large keychains). The design is a scalloped 2.7″ circle with LEDs on the outside circle, and a hole at the top for a keyring. Batteries are on the back of the board.

Resources

Maker Faire Orlando soldering kit

Maker Faire Orlando this weekend

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This weekend, October 21st & 22nd, is Maker Faire Orlando!Screenshot from 2017-10-17 22-22-56

Maker Faire Orlando is a non-profit, community-organized, family-friendly celebration featuring local do-it-yourself science, art, rockets, robots, crafts, technology, music, hands-on-activities, and more. It’s an event where people show what they are making and share what they are learning.

The individuals behind these exhibits are known as “Makers” and they range from tech enthusiasts to crafters to homesteaders to scientists to garage tinkerers. They are of all ages and backgrounds. The aim of Maker Faire is to entertain, inform, connect and grow this community.

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We’ve been busy prepping the Central Florida Fairgrounds & Expo Halls for Maker Faire Orlando 2017! Now you can check out the official program or mobile apps (iOSAndroid) for information about Maker Faire including featured exhibits, hands-on workshops, and schedules for Combat Robots and Power Racing.

Look for Drew Fustini (@pdp7) in purple!

 

 

Maker Faire Orlando this weekend

Hackaday Prize Entry: Giving Phones Their Tactile Buttons Back

In the before-times, we could send text messages without looking at our phones. It was glorious, and something 90s Kids™ wish we could bring to our gigantic glowing rectangles stuck in our pocket. For his Hackaday Prize Entry, [Kyle] is bringing just a little bit of this sightless functionality back to the modern smartphone. He’s…

via Hackaday Prize Entry: Giving Phones Their Tactile Buttons Back — Hackaday

Hackaday Prize Entry: Giving Phones Their Tactile Buttons Back

SAMD21G Sensor Board with Color OLED

Assembly instructions on Mike Rankin’s blog:

SAMD21G Sensor Board with Color Oled

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Design files and source are available on GitHub:

mike-rankin/SAMD21G18A_Sensor_Board_with_Color_Oled

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This Sensor Board is yet another variation of another one on my site. It is not for sale with no real purpose in mind but the design files to make your own are here. The project was created as design challenge. My full time job is pcb design work and as a hobby I enjoy experimenting with new design ideas.

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This was one of the more challenging designs I’ve worked on in a while. A few times I’d given up on routing it. Evan using four routing layers I found it tough. The idea was to hide the bezel of the display behind the board but have sensor components on that same board. It would look something like a little tiny television with all the components around the edges.

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This latest revision has fixed a few issues I found on previous versions but the design idea can possibly help others in some way. Full credit goes to Adafruit for publishing the Feather M0 design files along with the bootloader. I used the Feather design to create the schematic for my board.

SAMD21G Sensor Board with Color OLED

Hackaday Prize Entry: PaperBack Desktop ePaper Monitor

When we announced the Hackaday Prize with its Best Product category, [PK] polled his wife and co-workers about the idea of making a desktop monitor using 6″ 800×600 ePaper, which he has since built and calls the PaperBack. One such requirement for a monitor is to be able to connect to it using one of…

via Hackaday Prize Entry: PaperBack Desktop ePaper Monitor — Hackaday

Hackaday Prize Entry: PaperBack Desktop ePaper Monitor

Homemade 6 GHz Radar

The third version of [Henrik Forstén] 6 GHz frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar is online and looks pretty awesome. A FMCW radar is a type of radar that works by transmitting a chirp which frequency changes linearly with time. Simple continuous wave (CW) radar devices without frequency modulation cannot determine target range because they lack…

via Homemade 6 GHz Radar, v3 — Hackaday

Homemade 6 GHz Radar

Hackaday’s Open Hardware Summit Experience

 writes about 2017 Open Hardware Summit last week in Denver:

Hackaday’s Open Hardware Summit Experience

This yearly gathering brings together the people and businesses that hold Open Hardware as an ideal to encourage, grow, and live by. There was a night-before party, the summit itself which is a day full of talks, and this year a tour of a couple very familiar open hardware companies in the area.

I thought this year’s conference was quite delightful and am happy to share with you some of the highlights.

 

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The OSH Park table was not only showing off a PCB panel as their signage, but had our favorite SMD solder challenge boards on hand. 

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Hackaday’s Open Hardware Summit Experience