HackSpace #50

You might be familiar with the Gartner Hype Cycle. The basic idea is that when technologies are young, they get a lot of media attention, but they’re not yet mature enough to be actually useful. This inevitably leads to disappointment as the wild claims made about the technology don’t miraculously come true quickly. However, after the media attention has died down, the technology quietly matures without much fanfare. As time goes on, it gradually becomes more and more useful, and this time, excitement grows with actual usefulness. It’s this latter stage that machine learning is now in. Ten years ago, it was all hype and of little practical use. Now, the tools and techniques have moved on to the point where it’s possible for a moderately technical person, with a bit…

hsmag.cc/Marblevator We love simplicity, but we also love the whirr and click of moving parts working exactly as they should. That’s why this build by Greg Zumwalt stands out: it’s just so precise. This circus-themed marble run comprises 50 unique 3D-printed parts, many of which fit into confined spaces, needing very precise alignment. Because of that, Greg used the Engineering Profile in Ultimaker Cura to slice his models, and did a dry run before he glued anything together. Mechanical parts include a motor, power supply, 32 3×1.5mm neodymium magnets, two 6×1.5mm magnets, and two 8mm ball bearings. Greg’s made all the design files available, so if you feel like a challenge, have a go yourself!…

hsmag.cc/MoonPhaseClock James Mabon wanted a project for his new 3D printer, and to give himself an excuse to learn Fusion 360. So here’s what he created: a clock that, as well as telling the time, shows you the phase of the moon. This wasn’t just a 3D printing challenge: astrophysics is notoriously difficult, and James made a few simplifications to the mathematical model he used, ignoring the way the moon wobbles on its axis, as well as a couple of other things. Nevertheless, the gear train he’s used to show the constantly shifting phases of the moon is astonishingly accurate, having a deviation of less than one minute in 25 years.…

hsmag.cc/MicroMac Californian computer company Apple now houses its machines in machined aluminium, but there was a time when, like all other computer makers, they housed their wares in a rich shade of beige. If you miss those primitive days, you can now print your own very small Macintosh computer on which you can play Lemmings, surf the web, and do whatever else you can do on a Raspberry Pi Zero W. You’ll need – no surprise here – a Raspberry Pi Zero W, plus the headers to attach to the GPIO pins, a power supply, and a mini HDMI to HDMI cable (for setup). The most important component however is the screen: this design uses a 640×480 LCD display; if you can’t find one of these, or if the screen you use…

hsmag.cc/FibonacciClock Some of the builds we see are fiendishly complicated, full of moving parts, CAD, and advanced techniques that we promise ourselves we’re going to learn about one day. Some builds, in contrast, are so beautifully, brilliantly simple that we know we could replicate them right away, but there’s no point, as the original is perfect. This clock, inspired by the Fibonacci series of numbers, is one such example of simple perfection. Bushra’s creation uses the guts of a standard wall clock, which he’s mounted to a single piece of stainless steel, bent so it’ll stand up. He’s kept the minute hand, but the hour hand has been replaced by a spiral modelled after the Fibonacci curve, which tells the time as it turns by overlapping markers placed on the steel.…

hsmag.cc/QuantumDeathMachine If you had a background in quantum physics, what would you build? A time machine? A teleporter? Or, a box that detects the presence of a human, then tells them how they’re going to die (based on utterly nothing)? Maker Gocivici decided to do the latter, and here it is: the Quantum Death Machine. It’s an audacious exercise in overengineering, using IBM Quantum – an online quantum computer that can provide truly random data (randomness is something that computers struggle with on their own). It also uses a Raspberry Pi 3, an Adafruit thermal printer, an Arduino Nano, and a fingerprint sensor. In use, the clever quantum computing is hidden away: the user sticks a finger into the opening where the sensor is mounted, the machine registers that you’re there, then it…