Tindie

Take a look at Tindie’s thriving sound section and you’ll see there is no shortage of people making their own electronic music. These devices take many forms, and one interesting take on sound creation is the OKAY 2 Synth DIY Kit. At face value it features 2 octaves of keys, a built-in amplifier along with a 1/4″ line out, and knobs to select the octaves that you’d like to play — but it gets more interesting under the hood.

What makes it unique by today’s standards is that it doesn’t use any sort of computer or microcontroller, but instead produces sound using an LM555 timer along with other discreet components for monophonic sound. Given its small size, you could use two at once, perhaps combining them via the line out to be further modified in your synth setup!

In case you’re wondering, the original—or nearly so as it’s version 1.1.1—OKAY is also available. It works largely the same as the OKAY 2, but features only a single octave of keys, and doesn’t have an audio output jack.

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Spacehuhn is everyone’s favorite WiFi-hacking chicken. The mascot for the originator of the ESP8266 WiFi deauthentication suite has already been featured on its own stickers, which are pretty neat. On the other hand, it’s hard to beat the DIY goodness of something like the Tindie blinking hardware badge for DIY/hacking promotional value.

The Tindie mascot badge now has some competition, courtesy of the blinking Spacehuhn badge. The device features blinking eyes, and the form of a chicken in a space helmet in the appropriate colors. It’s around 5cm x 5cm or 2in x 2in, and as you might suspect, can be pinned to clothing as you so desire.

The build is a product of Tindarian Davedarko meeting Spacehuhn’s alter ego Stefan Kermser at the 34th Chaos Communication Congress and collaborating to “hatch” this new product. It’s great to see people combine talents to make something awesome, and if you have an idea to make a Tindie product better, or want to collaborate, don’t be afraid to reach out to other Tindarians. Sellers are happy to hear from other electronics and hardware-minded individuals.

On a related note, if a chicken in space somehow seems familiar, you might remember Spacehuhn’s possible grandfather, Astro Chicken, from Space Quest III!

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You might assume tracking people’s location indoors would require a smart marker, be it a smartphone or something dedicated to the task, or alternatively a computer vision setup, but the Xetal wireless sensor system takes an entirely different approach, using an array of five infrared sensors to triangulate where a person or people are indoors. While the system needs at least two sensors to operate in a room—and normally four are used—in many cases sensors are not needed everywhere in a building, as one can infer locations indirectly from the lack of a person’s presence in another area.

As shown in the video below, this is extremely useful for care of the elderly or medical patients who shouldn’t walk unattended, allowing caregivers to intervene before a fall occurs. It’s actually been tested in around 100 care facilities, and the system is currently being tried out in different industries like bank security and school monitoring.

There’s also a wired version of this sensor array available, which is somewhat easier to set up as you only have to worry about two sensor packages and a base unit. A demonstration of how that version is mounted is seen in the video below:

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It’s been over 2 months since we last explored the the Tindie Flea Market. This is the home overstock and gently used hardware so dig through your inventory and put up a listing for interesting gear you’re no longer using. Here’s a brief sampling of what’s up for sale this month!

IN-28 ИН-28 IN28 ИН28 Nixie Tubes

What could be more “Tindie Flea Market” than a pair of vintage Russian Nixie tubes? As with any of this type of indicator, be sure you’ve got the needed 170+ volts available to power them.

Collector’s Item? Intel Galileo Board

Remember when Intel was part of the Maker Market? That came to an end last summer when they discontinued their Joule, Galileo, Edison, and Arduino 101 boards. It’s hard to say if these will become collectible but it’s hardly taking a risk to pick up an almost-new Galileo board for $1.

2017 Hackaday Superconference Badge

Beloved for one glorious weekend, Desiredusername is making sure this unique hardware doesn’t go unused. This camera badge can take still images and low framerate video. On board hardware for this badge includes a 128×128 color OLED display, an accelerometer, camera, SD card, and a variety of other equipment for your hacking pleasure. If you didn’t get to go to the conference, here’s your chance to own a piece of history! And if that doesn’t work out, here’s a separate listing… So two chances.

Glowing Electronic Car Sign

Do you ever want to talk to the car in back of you? Sure, there are “ways” to do this, but they tend to be quite limited and generally hostile. This electronic car sign allows you to choose from one of three designs that you program into it. It could certainly be useful, but be sure to comply with any local automotive sign restrictions.

Kururin Skill Toy

This interesting wooden toy features a weight on each end. As shown in the video, it can be flipped and balanced, reminiscent of the way that a weighted boxing dummy always rises to its feet. Perhaps these will be the next spinner craze!

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So you want a Nixie tube clock, but they seem too expensive and/or complicated? The good news is that you can buy them fully assembled, or you can get one of these MSP430 kits for under $50.

After writing it up at the end of 2016, along with a subtle hint, I received one for Christmas 2017. Naturally, I just had to record the build process shown below. The build took me somewhere around 4 hours, which I cut down to just under 9:00 in the video to keep it somewhat watchable. At the end, I show how it was installed, including placing it high in my shop in order to avoid exposure to the relatively high voltages experienced some parts of the PCB.

It looks like Robg is out of stock on this kit right now, but they have been so popular we’re sure he’s scrambling to pull together more kits. Put yourself on the waitlist and you’ll be notified when they’re once again available.

You may have previously seen my PCB assembly/filming work in this badge post. Since then I’ve make a few improvements, including filming at 4k for better zooming ability, and added another light. The improvement should be quite visible, and you can find these and other tips about filming an awesome product video in this post.

If you’d like a more thorough run through of how this is assembled, you can also check out the video below by 12voltvids. It is over 50 minutes, so you may want to grab some popcorn! Additionally, there’s a video of it in use on the product listing, so if you’re more interested in how it functions when assembled, be sure to check that out.

Of course I like showing off my creations, and I just happened to find the 12voltvids version when browsing. However, I’d love to feature more content by other Tindarians.

Tell Us About Your Tindie Builds!

If you have a video that involves a product you purchased through Tindie, we want to hear about it. Be sure to message us about it @Tindie on Twitter. You can also ping me directly @JeremySCook!

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Batteries: they’re both the thing that makes most modern electronics possible, and a constant challenge. For example: phones need to be plugged in every night, disposable batteries make their way into landfills, electric cars have a limited range, and they’re quite difficult to place elegantly in wearable devices.

While the LiPoly curved rechargeable battery won’t solve all of those problems, it does present an excellent solution if you need to power a smart watch/bracelet of some sort. They come in two sizes, a smaller unit that’s 30mm  in length when curved and stores 41mAh of charge, and another that is 41mm that stores 90mAh. The curve of these batteries is fixed, and the images in the listing include a scale to allow you to get a good idea of how it would fit in your application.

For another take on interesting battery uses, be sure to check out the nearly 100 projects submitted for the Hackaday.io coin cell challenge. You’re sure to be inspired!

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You’ve heard of Nixie tubes, and perhaps even have one hanging in your shop or office. While beautiful, they have one major disadvantage in that they require 170+ volts for operation. Numitron tubes, as described in this clock listing, have the same sort of orange glow as Nixie tubes, but operate at only 5 volts, making them simpler and safer to use. They function as a 7-segment display with tiny incandescent filaments, instead of using individually formed digits.

This particular clock display uses four IV-9 Russian Numitron tubes, manufactured by Reflektor, the company that also made many of the Nixie tubes popular today. The device comes with an ATMega328 processor, which comes programmed for timekeeping. However, the source code is annotated and can be modified, so if you want a clock that’s all your own, this can be made to function as you like.

For an intro to this type of tube, check out the video below, featured here on Hackaday.

One interesting note in this listing is that the packaging has been improved after hearing feedback from users. While everyone hopes to ship a perfect product the first time, it’s great to see buyers and sellers interacting in order to resolve any difficulties and improve the product.

Certainly don’t be afraid to leave a review when you buy creations on Tindie — a good review can really make someone’s day. You can even message the seller directly with praise, questions, or concerns. If you do have ideas for improvement, polite and specific feedback can benefit everyone!

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When 3D-printing an object with a fused deposition machine, your extruder pulls filament through it, melting and depositing it in place to produce a nicely formed part… if everything is set up correctly. Enrico Miglino observed that the forces at play are not always constant. Besides the position of the extruder itself, one variable that necessarily changes during a long print is the weight of the filament roll you’re using.

Miglino noticed that heavy rolls can cause maintenance issues, and breakage issues tend to pop up when the roll becomes half done. To combat these issues he came up with a device that turns the spool automatically, taking the strain off of the filament and removing the resistance from the movement of the extruder. His solution is, of course, 3D printed!

It uses an Arduino Uno or XMC1100 board to control the stepper motor that powers the device via a TE94112LE DC motor shield, and senses how much of the roll is left using a load cell. It’s a clever setup that can be seen working away in the video below. You can also see how the kit is assembled in this instructables writeup.

If that seems too complicated for your liking, you might like to take advantage of a ball bearing roller assembly to help reduce friction. You can get just the filament roller assembly by itself here. Finally, if this setup looks familiar, his roller/weight monitor was covered in this post. It has the ability to sense how much filament you have left in each roll to keep you from running out, but doesn’t implement an automatic unrolling device.

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Arduino boards, and specifically the Arduino Uno, have helped engineers and hackers get started with electronic DIY projects for many years and remain extremely popular. This popularity is due in some part to people’s familiarity with the board, and the ecosystem of shields and programming resources that surround it.

If you search around you’ll find a large number of clones that use the same design and function in largely the same manner. The Maker UNO, however, provides a different take on this, as a board that’s not so much a clone, but an enhanced sibling.

The device looks roughly—but not quite—like a standard Uno, and importantly maintains the same footprint for shields, along with the ATmega328P microcontroller. To cut down on price, they stripped off the voltage regulator and DC power input jack, as most beginner projects use USB power. They replaced it instead with a piezo buzzer, allowing it to play sounds with no extra hardware. Additionally, each digital I/O pin, along with 5V, 3.3V, Tx, and Rx have their own LED indicator, allowing you to see what output is functioning at a glance.

Finally, the device forgoes a standard USB-B connector in favor of the common USB micro-B connector. Be sure to check out the demonstration of this excellent board in the video below:

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What do you call something that spins when exposed to sunlight or even indoor lighting? A solar spinner of course! While it looks nothing like the spinners that you see people playing with everywhere, as seen in the video below, the name is certainly accurate. It uses a tiny motor attached to a similarly tiny PCB to spin itself back and forth when suspended by a string.

The device is powered by a solar panel and there is no battery. You simply hang it in a sunlit room, or even outdoors where it’s mostly protected from the elements. It behaves as an oscillator, spinning in one direction for a bit before slowing and then spinning in the other. It’s the kind of geeky art piece that we here at Tindie fall in love with. Be sure to check it out in action in the video below!

For a more “traditional” take on spinner distractions, several can be found in this post. For something a bit more unusual, the SpinnerDrone, or this programmable RGB POV spinner are both worth a look.

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