HackSpace #53

We, as humanity, are using too many raw materials. It is simply unsustainable for us to keep producing, using, and disposing of things at the rate we currently do. We, as makers, have to be aware of our place in the wider world, and our responsibilities to the generations that follow. While it’s true that the most significant part of this consumption comes from factory-made goods, we makers have to choose whether we want to be part of the problem or part of the solution. Here at HackSpace mag, we want to be part of the solution. This doesn’t mean not making cool stuff, but it does mean being mindful of the amount of virgin material we use. It means making stuff that will stand the test of time, and…

hsmag.cc/PicoCalc It’s a cliché that the team that landed the first spacecraft on the moon did so using no more computing power than you can get in a modern calculator. One of the first things students do when they’re learning to program is to build calculator applications, so why not take that one step further and build an actual, physical calculator, like Anil has done, here? The bill of materials is small: just a Raspberry Pi Pico, some surface-mount buttons, an OLED display, a LiPo battery and charge circuitry, and a custom, single-layer PCB. Wrap it all up in a 3D-printed case and you’ve got a great physical computing build.…

hsmag.cc/ChirpingBirdPendant This tiny free-form soldering circuit by Jack Spiggle (aka NanoRobotGeek) is a masterpiece of miniaturisation. The key to this build is the KXOB25-02X8F-TB solar panel, which generates 5.5 volts in the bright Australian sunshine. As with Jack’s other builds, the solar panel charges a capacitor, which, when it’s full, activates the circuit – in this case, that’s four oscillators making a ‘chirp’ sound via a piezo speaker. We can only imagine how hard it must be to perform free-form soldering on a circuit this small and get it so neat (Jack says that working with brass is a headache, as it conducts heat away from solder so quickly).…

hsmag.cc/HappyHardwear We found these PCB charms on Tindie, and we liked the look of them, so we asked the creator to tell us about them. Here’s what they said: “Happy Hardwear is a new company making original, tech-inspired wearables out of circuit boards. We were looking for another creative outlet and started making pixel art, inspired by our nostalgia for early internet culture. “We tried placing our art on circuit boards in KiCad and quickly realised it was a perfect fit for jewellery and accessories. We’ve been thrilled with the results so far, and are very excited to keep growing!”…

hsmag.cc/CyberpunkWatch Cyberpunk 2077 had a mixed reception when it was released to an eager gaming public in late 2020. One thing that united opinion though was the game’s incredible aesthetics. In the best traditions of Blade Runner, Alien, and Red Dwarf, the world it portrayed was simultaneously futuristic and rundown, grubby and seedy, and neon-lit. And that’s why fans loved it. One such fan is Bennett Warner, who made this watch crafted in the style of the game’s Arasaka Corporation. We love it because it looks so original: who would have thought that by arranging the digits in a square, rather than a line, you’d end up with something that looks so unfamiliar?…

hsmag.cc/GlassShuttle Before it became a venue for billionaire show offs, space used to be very, very cool. The US Space Shuttle was, along with the ISS, the crowning achievement of that golden age of space hardware. Fatter than an aeroplane, it always looked to this writer as though it shouldn’t be able to fly at all. It took a series of rockets to get it into space, delivered its payload, and would then fall back to Earth, gliding down to the runway through the atmosphere, covered in heat-resistant tiles that I told myself were exactly the same as the ones in our kitchen. It’s an amazing thing, and worth recreating any way we can. This glass version of the Space Shuttle is no less awesome; it started life as a papercraft…