Tindie

Many amateur scientists, engineers, and researchers are interested in detecting the movement and vibration of objects around them. From detecting earthquakes to measuring the vibration of moving components on a vehicle, vibration sensors can measure across a wide range of forces, from as little as milli-Gs to well over 10G (which is very extreme for humans, but not uncommon for mechanical components). The PicoQuake USB is a low-cost design using a really powerful chip from TDK InvenSense — the ICM-42688-P — which can deliver 18/19-bit motion data and has programmable digital filters to help isolate particular data you are searching for.

The device is housed in a very nicely made, compact case and includes a zip-tie as well as a holder for the zip-tie to tension against. This keeps it well in place and ties it to whatever item you want to measure. Keep in mind that how you mount devices like these can be very important — certain mounting methods might dampen certain frequencies or exacerbate others. Of course, observing a system will always change it, but this can be reduced to acceptable levels with testing and modelling.

If you want to detect the P- and S-waves that precede earthquakes or want to see if your device’s mounting hardware can meet a certain vibration spec, a sensor like this can make the job much easier. Having high-accuracy, low-noise data logged can allow you to refine physical models, or you can analyze the data using open-source tools like Octave.

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For hackers into model railways, customizing every detail and having full control over locomotives is paramount. A standard serial protocol for communication with model trains called DCC allows control over multiple locomotives on the same track. It uses modulation on top of the voltage rail to communicate and send commands. The OpenDec02 board not only decodes DCC packets, it also has a PID motor control loop for maintaining speed under varying loads. Auxiliary outputs are available for controlling on-board lighting.

The OpenDec02 is a 4-layer board with power planes, which help heatsink the motor controller. It can drive motors at up to 2.8A continuously, as long as the heat is dissipated. Being based around the venerable RP2040 dual-core ARM Cortex-M0+ chip, there is plenty of power and a huge number of existing libraries to incorporate and play with! The project is entirely open source, so you can modify the existing firmware to add any features you might want. The latest firmware comes flashed onto the 8MB flash so you can get started right away. Simply hook up the board to the locomotive’s motor and power supply, and it will start decoding DCC packets!

The project is based on a project by Gabriel Koppenstein but the layout has been updated and you can buy them pre-made instead of DIY fabrication. If you’re looking for a locomotive control board for your model railway, definitely take a look at the OpenDec02!

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Somewhere, in my neglected drawer of Nintendo chiptune kit from maybe 15 years ago, I have a Nanoloop cartridge I built into an all-white game shell from a weird donor game. That was about as far as I got with game cartridge modifications. Cutting to today there are loads of options for aftermarket game shells making re-casing a simple task. If you want to go one step further though this Tetris DX replacement board allows you to swap the components of your original Tetris DX cartridge onto this gorgeous full-colour custom PCB.

You may wonder why you might ever need to crack open an older Game Boy cartridge — well, it’s pretty likely that vintage cartridges will at some point need the SRAM battery replaced. The batteries were used to keep the save states of your game alive in memory and, while that draws incredibly little current, those batteries don’t last forever. This new PCB adds a battery holder which makes it much easier to replace the battery in the future.

It’s fair to say removing all the old ICs off of the classic cartridge board and placing them onto the new board is not a beginner-level soldering project. It’s the kind of project that lots of people will use lots of different techniques and approaches for so even a competent solderer might want to look around the Game Boy modding communities a little to see others approaches.

The PCB itself though is glorious. It has a great full-colour print design and looks crisp. Pair it up with an aftermarket clear case and you have a Tetris DX cartridge that your Tetris compatriots will be jealous of!

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For those of us into computer overclocking and performance tuning, keeping an eye on important stats like CPU temperature, utilization, and clock speed can be important. However, when running a full-screen game or other stress tests, it can often be difficult to see live updates of CPU/GPU statistics. Introducing the bbMonitor, an analog meter panel that can display 8 different data points, including CPU usage, GPU usage, free/used memory, CPU/GPU temperature, and network performance!

Despite the example image showing 8 CPU cores, you can ask for the labels to be customized (or of course, you can print out your own labels) to display whichever data points you want to see. With both classic white and modern black backgrounds and RGB LEDs for decoration or colour gradients to show out-of-spec measurements! Measurements are sent from the PC to the Arduino controlling the panel, so software can be easily customized. Currently, the host software only runs on Windows, but both Mac and Linux support are in the works. And if you have more than 8 stats you want to monitor, they can be easily cascaded to show even more information at once!

If you know someone who is really into gaming or performance tuning, this would make an amazing gift. Simply contact the seller before purchase to ask about customization options. It can take a few days for customization before shipment, but there are standard versions in stock as well. Check out the video below (make sure the subtitles are on) if you want to learn more!

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If you’re into gardening or even just have a few potted plants, then you’ve probably seen the common soil moisture sensors and thought about maybe connecting one to an Arduino to remind you when your plants need watering. Well, you can now easily step it up a notch with the PlantCell Plus monitoring board which not only has the typical moisture sensor but also has ambient light and temperature/humidity sensors so you can monitor the whole plant environment!

Easily integrate into an IoT solution using the NanoCell board available from the same seller. This ESP32-C3 board has built-in battery charging circuitry and is targeted for low-power applications, making it a great match for the PlantCell Plus. You could have the ESP32 wake up every 15 to 30 minutes, take a reading of all the sensors, and send it to an MQTT broker or use the Home Assistant integration for later data visualization. See how changes in ambient temperature and humidity affect the rate at which soil moisture decreases over time!

The correlation of all the data can tell you a lot about how your plants are doing. Are they getting enough sunlight? Are they being watered too much/not enough for the ambient conditions? Is the soil draining properly? These make a great gift for any green thumb hacker friends you know. Or contribute to your local community garden by monitoring conditions and hosting a webpage for the other gardeners to check! Make sure to check out the product page, and check out the other gardening-related projects seller Frapais’ Lab has.

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There is a huge array of timepieces out in the Tindieverse and this 7-segment LED Clock kit is the latest one to catch our eye.

At first glance, to our mind, this timepiece fits straight into the cyberpunk aesthetic with its neat display, the chunky LEDs dividing the digits and the stack of dual in-line TTL chips on board. Beyond looking great this clock kit is an excellent project to build some learning around. Firstly every component is through hole, which means it’s really suitable for those newer to soldering. It might be a good idea to do at least one smaller soldering project before this, but it isn’t a bad choice as a first solder project. Secondly, there is a heap to learn if you dive into looking at the different chips on board and how they operate. The CMOS 4000 series chips on board represent the foundations of digital logic. While it’s a long path, understanding the logic of this board is a great start in digital design and will still be useful when you are programming FPGA!

It’s supplied as a kit with the bare PCB and all necessary components. So you’ll need some soldering equipment and side cutters to assemble it. Once assembled it’s powered via a USB cable. On the product page, there is a brief mention that each digit has a set of headers and there is an optional jumbo display add-on in the pipeline — we look forward to seeing that!

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The BT110 is an incredibly innovative device, bringing a novel form of experimental sound synthesis to the handheld realm. Perfect for both coding enthusiasts and electronic musicians seeking cutting-edge sonic exploration, its stylish and modern casing houses a myriad of exciting sound tools which allow you to get hands on with a unique form of sound modulation known as Bytebeat.

Bytebeat is an emerging tool in music creation that uses very short mathematical functions to generate an infinite loop. When the loops output is formatted as raw pulse code modulated (PCM) audio, it generates interesting data patterns which sound magically melodic and musical.

The BT110 features 8 buttons and 3 dials which can be used to program entire formulas from scratch, with effortless saving and recall of previous programs. It includes a sampling mechanism which allows for dynamic manipulation of your sound on the fly, alongside controls for pitch modulation, tempo control, and prescaling of the formula.

This little device can create some incredible sounds – especially when paired with MIDI sequencing hardware. Impressively, the device even has a visualiser which translates your functions into enthralling pixel-dense animations! DOD Circuits has a live technical demonstration of the device on their youtube, used in tandem with a drum sequencer, which shows how easily it allows real-time experimentation with bytebeat code.

DOD Circuits are an independent electronics designer based in Nantes, France. Bringing such an exciting product as their first ever design shows the huge potential of their store, so keep an eye out for their next projects!

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The Turing Machine MKII Eurorack Module is a versatile random looping sequencer designed for composing evolving electronic music. Utilizing a 16-bit memory circuit called a shift register, this module produces a symphony of randomly changing control voltages that lock into loops ranging from 2 to 32 steps.

What really makes the Turing Machine such an engrossing instrument is its complex relationship with randomness. When synced to a CV clock signal, it transforms white noise data into spontaneous sonic sequences, controllable via onboard encoders or external CV sources. Its central knob twists to the right to catch these random pitches into a loop, which will repeat at a length specified by its second encoder.

Its most exciting feature is its ability to incrementally add elements of randomness back into sequences, creating an evolving musical composition almost entirely independently. With a little bit of input from the musician, this entertaining way to produce loops creates exciting, refreshing, and bouncy arpeggios!

Described by DivKid as the ‘real beating heart of a system’ in his video for Music Thing Modular, the Turing Machine infuses your Eurorack patches with captivating melodies and complex polyrhythms. Its intuitive interface gives you hands-on control over rhythm and pitch, creating a fast-paced and enjoyable platform for musical experimentation.

The Turing Machine MKII is produced by Synthrotek, a prolific creator from Washington, USA. It is available in DIY kits and fully assembled versions, and the Synthrotek store hosts a variety of complementary equipment to enhance your setup!

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There are many fields where precise weights are important. From laboratory science experiments to cooking and baking, knowing how much something weighs can be extremely important. Getting high-precision weight measurements typically requires a quality load cell and a high-performance instrumentation amplifier to measure the change in resistance across the cell as weight is added. The HX711 is an integrated circuit containing both a load cell front-end amplifier as well as a good-quality ADC to digitize the results. This acrylic-encased load cell comes with an HX711 breakout so you can quickly integrate the scale into whatever application you desire!

The clear acrylic look fits well in both home and office environments. Acrylic is easy to clean in case measured items get spilled onto the scale. With this device and a microcontroller system of your choice, you can get precise weight measurements up to 40kg (about 88lbs). You can easily calibrate the system yourself if desired to increase measurement precision using standard weights and a calibration routine. Add an OLED or LCD display and a few buttons, and you’ve got a great, DIY scale system. Or, you could use this scale in an automated system, for example, an automatic cookie machine or a bartending robot.

For the price this is an excellent buy — there are Arduino libraries that can get you up and running very quickly, but you can also build your own load-cell front-end if you want to really get every last decimal point out of the system! This would make a great first microcontroller project for someone just learning C/C++ or Micro/CircuitPython. Check out the seller’s store for lots of cool breakouts and gadgets!

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In full disclosure, I’m not a huge gamer! That said I absolutely love seeing the huge range of hacks and mods the gaming community, particularly handheld game fans, come up with to enhance and expand the lifetime of older devices. This PSVSD-Micro SD adapter for example enables a PS Vita 3G to have an internal micro SD card, allowing for mass storage of your titles.

“Hang on,” I hear you cry, “couldn’t you use an SD card and adaptor in the Vita game cartridge slot?” Well yes, you can but the PSVSD has some advantages over that approach if you are willing to strip your Vita down and fit it. There are 2 main advantages. First is that with an internal SD card, you have the standard game cartridge unoccupied meaning you can still use it with original game cartridges. Secondly, it’s faster and more stable than the old SD2VITA style adapters. The PSVSD is fitted by removing the 3G modem in the PS Vita, the 3G PSVita modem is obsolete nowadays so this makes better use of the slot.

It’s reasonably straightforward to fit, although it’s fair to say that the PS Vita is quite a complex assembly so it’s definitely worth checking out the video guide over on the product page. You’ll only need a screwdriver and the PSVSD is supplied fully assembled with 2 small screws used to retain the device in the slot.

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