Tindie

Here’s a wonderful looking device from South America, aimed at bringing you petite electronic rhythms in a vibrant and colourful container. The Hanan Cumbia is a tabletop drum synthesizer, with four sounds and four sequences which are triggered and played using the arcade buttons and control knobs. Let’s jump into this colourful vortex!

The Hanan Cumbia comes as a completed unit and houses a bleep drum which is an indie drum machine developed by Bleep Labs. The sounds include a Kick, Guiro, Cow Bell, and Conga – the latter having pitch controls. It has an on board sequencer to record and play your own patterns and can be synced to external devices. It’s a project which is a collaboration between Yeffry Ruta Mare (Graphics), Los Laberintos (Screen Printing) and Oficina De Sonido to deliver this visually striking unit.

A build guide and further instructions (available in Spanish) are on their website. It has a very retro feel, similar to early 90s drum machines and can provide a sparse and minimal background to your music. See the video below to hear the Hanan Cumbia in action:

The Hanan Cumbia is the second device produced by Oficina De Sonido who are based in Mexico.

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As we’ve seen time and time again, electronics engineering and PCBs are more than capable of being works of art. Whether it’s the superb circuit sculptures we’ve seen, or the application of a solder-mask and silkscreen on a PCB to create a durable and unique decoration, there are plenty of options out there.

The RedOfShawshank Micro Decoration caught my eye as it brings to mind a very relevant and positive message I think we could all benefit from in the year 2020. The inclusion of a message that reads “Hope is a good thing,” emphasizes the message behind the illustration.

The decoration itself is a transparent solder-mask on a black base with a white silkscreen. The surface finish is ENIG golden and the size is 50x50mm, hence the classification as a “micro decoration.” A pair of M3 Hex Spacers are also included for standing it up.

If you haven’t seen the film that inspired this project, please do yourself a favor and check it out. Stay safe out there, fellow makers!

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My first experience with E-paper and E-ink was the original Amazon Kindle, but even back then the concept of electronic paper that mimicked the look and feel of the real thing was incredibly interesting. From a reading perspective, it took out the eye strain of reading something on a screen with a backlight, but the possibilities go far beyond that.

This Arduino Micro Compatible E-paper E-ink board takes the technology and shrinks it down to a smaller scale, just 35x45mm with a micro USB port. The board is compatible with EPD and GxEPD libraries, which you can download and add to Arduino. It also ships with the Arduino bootloader installed, meaning you can connect it via USB and start programming right away.

Included in the purchase is the board itself and a 1.54″ two color (black and red) E-paper display. Something to consider is that when you’re working with E-paper displays larger than 2.9″, RAM memory limitations become a factor with the ATMEGA32u4 since this design doesn’t include separate RAM.

Shipping times are longer than normal as well due to COVID-19, but those looking to start working with E-paper will know that a kit like this is well worth the wait.

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In the badgelife world, SAOs (a tongue-in-cheek name stands for Shitty-Add-On, there are small, artistic, light up circuit boards) are a household name. They come in all shapes and sizes, usually reference jokes or pop culture, and just all around offer a cool way to expand and enhance badges you have.

I’m a little biased here because I personally met TwinkleTwinkie at Supercon 2019 and purchased that year’s Christmas ornament (which is amazing by the way), but all it takes is a pair of eyeballs to see the care and craftsmanship that goes into TwinkleTwinkie designs.

Enjoy those and many others with the SAO Badge 2020, which is the kind of news I like to see in this year of years. This badge is a simple 2 SAO holder with the option to power it via USB C or 2 AA batteries. It has the requisite 2×3 Keyed Female connector for SAO v1.69bis and is compatible with the SAO 2×2 design.

The toggle switch lets you move between USB and battery power, doubling as a power switch when the other is not in use. The attention to detail also comes down to how you show it off. An M4 hole in each corner lets you mount it to something or wear it on your person.

Since many badges don’t support SAOs on their own, this simple design lets you display your add-ons without too much hassle. As a bonus, you can even add on a few SAOs with your purchase on the store page! There are some classics there, so I would recommend grabbing a few on your way to checkout.

Here’s hoping this SAO badge will brighten your day in a year that puts the “S” in SAO. Stay safe everyone!

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The first thing you need when you start making a modular system is a case to house everything in and there’s already a huge selection to choose from! Luckily, the Eurocase is here to make that decision a simple one, with an affordable design which is solid, easy to make and sizeable enough for all of your eurorack endeavours.

The Eurocase is a tabletop-style home for modular synths and sound devices, with enough HP space to store a good selection of units – the finished article measures 46cm x 17cm and is 19cm high. It’s simple and sleek design lends itself to be customised with stickers, pens or spray paints to add a personal touch and a splash of colour.

The Eurocase comes flat-packed in six pieces,which slot together to form your new case. Full build instructions have been provided on the Wesemane GitHub page – requiring just a hot glue gun and a few minutes to construct. It comes cut from medium density fibreboard (MDF) or can be laser cut yourself using the DIY section of their build instructions. Once the case is complete, it will require rails, tapped strips and fixing brackets to mount your modular toys.

The Eurocase is a superb first product from Wesemane Industries who are based in Germany.

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Most of the time when I think of a nightlight I think of an overly bright and plain light that serves as a beacon to the bathroom in the middle of the night. However, this unique light is anything but plain or boring!

The Wooden RGB Mood Night Lamp, created by Woodoonics, is a beautifully crafted wooden light that changes color. The lamp features an image of a butterfly that lights up when turned on. This lamp can be used as a desk lamp, mood lighting, an art display, or a fun night light for kids and adults alike.

Users can change light preferences by using the side button. Set the lights to cycle through all the colors or choose to have the light stay the same color by selecting one of the colors. This lamp is USB powered so you’ll never need to worry about changing out the batteries. You can use any micro USB cable to power the light.

Another neat feature is that each lamp is created from 100% recycled wood, making them eco-friendly! Grab your Wooden RGB Mood Night Lamp to add mood lighting to your space, or swap out your boring nightlight for this artsy one!

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It’s October, and that means it is Open Hardware Month! The Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA) takes each October to highlight various things in the OSHW world, and this year the focus is on Label and Certify. The Label section is about how to identify OSHW products and how OSHW manufacturers should label their hardware; the Certify section is all about the OSHW certification process — what’s required, how to apply, and what it means to be OSHW certified!

The OSHWA offers a really neat tool that they call the Facts generator. It helps you generate a nice SVG graphic that shows exactly what licenses apply to your hardware, software, and documentation. The defaults are the CERN Open Hardware License for hardware; the GNU Public License 3.0 or later for software; and Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 for documentation. It’s very easy to modify; for example, I could use this for the way I license my personal projects:

This is a great way to mark your projects as open-source. Simply take the generated code, paste it into a blank text document, and then save it with an .svg extension. You can then use a program like GIMP or Inkscape to export it as PNG for use on websites, or a tool like svg2mod to import it into your KiCAD projects, for example. Clearly stating your choice of licenses is an important step in getting your hardware project certified as OSHW!

The other focus of OHW month this year is Certify: what is required to certify a project as OHW with the OSHWA?

1. The software must be released under a license that is approved by the OSI
2. The hardware design must be released under an open-source hardware license; eg, CERN, Solderpad, TAPR, etc.
3. Documentation must be released under a Creative Commons license
4. All files must be available in the preferred format for making changes — schematics must be available in .sch format, not PDF, for example
5. There cannot be any restriction on commercial usage for any part of the project (the CC license cannot be No-Commerical, for example)
6. You must provide the OSHWA with your contact information and all relevant information about the project, as well as agree to the OSHWA Certification Mark License Agreement

Make sure you fully read and understand the Certification Process section of their website — it gives detailed information and examples of how and why you might want to make your hardware open source! The FAQ is also a great source of information.

This month, we will be highlighting various Tindie products that are OHW Certified! Take a look at the entire list of OSHW Certified Products here!

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I, like many Tindarians, love the Raspberry Pi. What I don’t like is letting it get too hot, and I find it annoying to simply leave a fan on all the time. After all, when embedded, these devices often only really do something every once in a while, so why waste wear and tear on a fan, as well as power, that other 99% of the time?

One solution is a passive heat sink, which is my preferred method in many situations. But when I found I needed to actively blow air over the processor using a fan, I didn’t find an easily available solution. So I made this one! The EZ Fan Raspberry Pi Fan Control PCB brings together a resistor, transistor, and diode (conspicuously missing in the image above), along with header pins into which you can plug your fan and the Pi. This allows it to source power from the 5V rail, and be controlled with a 3.3V IO pin.

While it’s a simple enough gadget to make yourself with a bit of soldering, this device makes things a matter of plug-and-play when you select the fully assembled option. It’s also available as a bare PCB, or as a parts kit, or even with connector wires. Finally, if you’re wondering how to actually turn it on based on temperature, the documentation includes a script for automating this task, though it only checks the status once per minute.

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7-Segment displays have been a part of hardware hacking for decades. While most can easily fit between your thumb and index finger, this dual digit display will… at least make you stretch out a little bit. The two digits together measure in at 96.5mm wide x 69.8mm high, or 82.1mm in height including the PCB. This is roughly 3.8 by 2.7/3.2inches if you’re more familiar with the US system, towering over the puny 7-segment displays that you may have used in your other projects.

The device is controlled by three data pins, meaning you don’t have to control each segment individually, and there’s also an optional PWM dimming signal. Power is provided by a DC jack, and it uses a constant current driver to supply the LEDs. This allows the unit to work without multiplexing, meaning no flickering if recorded with a camera, and a longer LED life.

If you need more than 2 digits, multiple modules can snap together, but the connector does require some support. Conveniently, mounting holes are already provided, so this should be fairly easy to integrate into your project.

Of course, this isn’t the only large 7-segment displays available at Tindie. Largish digits featured here, and here both allow for multi-colored LED output, and we’ve even seen a controller for a mechanical version.

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Creating electronics projects is, of course, a fun challenge. You figure out the overall function, along with the LEDs, microcontrollers, sensors, and the like that you’ll use, but after you’ve soldered everything together, you then need to figure out how to power it. It should be simple, but all too often it’s an afterthought that takes a bit more work than you had planned.

If you’d like to shortcut this process, Tindarian WizardTech has come up with a device that he uses “to add recharge capabilities to [his] hobby projects,” and now you can use it too! A 1S LiPo battery plugs into its JST 2.0mm PHR connector for charging, and power is supplied via a common Micro USB connector.

When connected, a red light indicates that it is receiving juice, while green shows that charging is complete. Conveniently, whether charged or not it will output 5V to your project via the output terminals. Over charge/discharge protection is included in the package, and it’s able to turn off if a short is detected. There’s even a 1000 uF Capacitor onboard to take care of what you probably neglect to put on your programmable LED projects.

Of course, if charging 1 battery at a time isn’t enough, why not check out the 6-battery gang charger that we featured here?

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