Category: Tech

Electronic Affirmation Mirror

Written for HackSpace magazine issue 30

When you look in the mirror, who couldn’t use a few words of encouragement? Build a display inside a mirror to scroll custom affirmations you can read over your own reflection. This polished project comes together easily with a store-bought shadow box frame and some see-through mirror material. You can build a simple version with a basic Arduino or compatible, or level it up using a NodeMCU (ESP8266 WiFi board) in order to add more positive quotes to the mirror over the internet.

For this project, you will need:

Read the full tutorial on HackSpace.

Affirmation mirror v1 Arduino codeDownload
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Hakko Wire Strippers Review

Many pairs of wire strippers have come and gone in my life, but these wire strippers by Hakko has remained throughout. They’ve stayed sharp over years of frequent use, and this flared part of the handle makes them a joy to hold and use.

The rubber grips have a powder mixed into the rubber to give them a sturdy, really nice feeling grip, even if your hands are slippery with motor oil.

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Olfa 5003 Ratchet-Lock Heavy-Duty Utility Knife Review

Every maker needs a reliable utility blade, and my favorite, my Old Faithful, is the Olfa 5003 ratchet-lock heavy-duty utility knife. It’s the most versatile option in a standard class of tools that includes these cheapo box cutters and these more industrial utility knives. Its biggest upside is the shaped metal blade holder at the tip, which keeps the blade from wobbling back and forth. When the ratchet mechanism is clamped in place, there is no play in the blade whatsoever.

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My Experience Getting Licensed in Ham Radio

I just got my ham radio license! I started studying for my ham radio test at the suggestion of my friend David, who was also studying for his first license at the time. He made a strong pitch to my technological curiosity and urban survivalist interests by suggesting we could potentially communicate with each other without the assistance of the power grid or cell tower networks.

I bought the spiral-bound Technician Class manual, and its corresponding question book, and began reading. Since I’m already familiar with basic electronics, some of the concepts were easy to grasp.

Other topics were completely new to me, like ham etiquette and the regulatory stuff. Wave behaviors stood out as particularly fun and novel to me– here’s an awesome video about wave behaviors that helps illuminate the subject beautifully:

I picked up a portable radio that I’ve seen commonly recommended as a first radio: it’s a BaoFeng UV-5R (3rd generation) (with an upgraded antenna). I looked up the times and frequencies of some nets in my local area and tuned my radio to listen in. I found it helpful to pick up a programming cable, so I could program my local repeaters and stations into my radio’s memory.

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Garmin Fenix 6S Pro Smartwatch Review

The Garmin Fenix 6S smartwatch is the first watch I’ve worn since the Moto 360. It’s hailed as the ultimate sports and adventure watch and includes maps and onboard music storage. I was skeptical about wearing a watch at all, but wanted the fitness tracking features of an activity tracker in an attractive package I could wear everywhere. This isn’t a short-sighted review: I’ve been wearing the watch for almost six months at the time of this writing. Timing is one factor that lead me to Garmin, since the Fenix 6S made one minor change over the Fenix 5 series that makes a big difference to me: the lug-to-lug distance.

Size on my tiny wrist

Previous 42mm Garmin watches were a little longer from lug-to-lug, so even though the screen’s the same size, the Fenix 6S fits a smaller wrist like mine. I like how easy it is to change to different bands, especially because I can’t stand the sticky feeling of the included silicone one. I picked up two different replacement bands:

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What’s In My Bag

The “What’s in my bag” newsletter was kind enough to ask me to participate in their series highlighting bags and their contents. Read my submission here or in their online edition.

About the bag

The Fraction backpack by Mission Workshop

I love this backpack. It’s waterproof, which is great for city commuting by any method, and it holds a lot of stuff, but can take on a smaller profile when it’s mostly empty. I bought mine in 2015 and use it for everything from day-to-day laptop toting to overnight trips, and I even sometimes use the top flap to strap something big and awkward to it, like a bag of plush stuffing.

What’s inside the bag

Wet Ones antibacterial wipes

I keep a pack of these antibacterial wipes in just about every bag I have. They’re great for wiping away germs after using the subway railings, or for sanitizing your airplane tray table. I also use them to disinfect my phone.

Paracord zipper pull

You never know when you’re going to need a small bit of strong cord! I made a tutorial for these paracord zipper pulls a few years ago and attached one to every jacket and bag. Not only are they effective as zipper pulls, they can be untied to become a useful length of strong cord.

BaoFeng BF-F8HP 8-Watt ham radio

I recently got my ham radio license, but without an antenna on the roof, I’ve got to be outdoors (preferably up high) to make contact with other hams. This 8-Watt radio is ubiquitous in the ham community because it’s small, affordable, easy to program. I did upgrade the antenna to get better performance.

If you want to get your ham radio license, I recommend checking out Ham Radio Prep’s excellent courses. Get 20% off at hamradioprep.com with code BECKY20.

Bi-fold small parts organizer

When I teach electronics prototyping to design grad students at SVA, it’s useful to have some small parts on hand to demonstrate with and lend to my students. I love this double-sided parts organizer for transporting small things like switches, sensors, LEDs, and small microcontroller boards.

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Pavlok Teardown

Welcome to the new teardown series on my channel, where I take apart gadgets and share what I find inside. First up is the Pavlok, a shocking wearable designed to help you break bad habits.

The Pavlok comes with the main device itself, as well as two silicone wristbands.

The Pavlok pairs over bluetooth with your phone to control the settings through an app, which is also designed to keep you motivated to use the device in the most effective way possible. You can deliver an electric shock to yourself via the app or by pressing the top of the device. It also can supposedly detect when you move your hand to your mouth, say during smoking or nail biting, which are two of the habits its designed to help break.

To take it apart, I started cutting the plastic around the little metal nubs. The tricky thing about taking this thing apart, at least before the battery’s died, is that it is easy to shock yourself while holding it in place. It’s so small that one of the only flat surfaces by which to grip it is also the activation button. So I had to use the phone to make sure it was on a low setting, and try to avoid pinching it while cracking open the plastic.

The electrodes are also the case, which makes for a straightforward three-piece case. I was also able to put it back together again, which is a rare occurrence in one of my teardowns.

My friend David Cranor, an electrical engineer, came over to help examine the circuit and research the parts we could identify.

Here’s a list of tools we used:

Read on to discover the components we found…

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Rode Procaster Microphone Setup for Voiceover Recording

It’s time for a change. What follows is my Rode Procaster mic setup.

For the last decade, the microphone I used for voiceovers was the Zoom H4N, connected to my computer as a USB audio device. It’s been great, don’t get me wrong, but I’m ready to go to the next level with my voiceover recording, so it was time to get a professional quality microphone and the right accessories to bring out its best.

I picked out the Rode Procaster dynamic microphone because, in my research, it would be good for female voiceover recording (me) in places with background noise (pretty much everywhere in NYC). Since I just got it I can’t pass judgment on those factors yet and don’t have its competitors to compare it to, so this isn’t a review– the proof will be heard in my YouTube channel’s voiceover quality, so you be the judge!

Here’s a list of all the bells and whistles that go with a microphone like this, in case you’re looking to create a similar setup yourself.

But that’s not all that’s needed to make this mic work for home recording into a computer…

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Cat Food Access Control with ESP8266

This project goes over the process I used to create an automated cat food bowl, for my elderly diabetic cat Chaz. See, he needs to eat breakfast before he can get his insulin, but I often forget to pick up his food dish before I go to bed, which spoils his appetite and throws off his insulin schedule. This dish uses a servo motor to close a lid over the food between the hours of midnight and 7:30am. The NodeMCU ESP8266 microcontroller’s Arduino sketch uses Network Time Protocol (NTP) to control the schedule.

This project may not be suitable for younger, more active cats. Chaz is so old and frail, he isn’t inclined to try to pry the bowl open, but it is possible.

Tutorial: https://www.instructables.com/id/Cat-Food-Access-Control-ESP8266-Servo-Motor-3D-Pri

If you’re new to the Arduino or the ESP8266, you may enjoy the following prerequisite guides:

Supplies:

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3D Printed Parts

The cat food bowl holder is based on Ardy Lai’s design on Thingiverse. I made it bigger to accommodate my cat’s bowl, and also made it shorter since scaling it up had made it too tall. I added a holder for a micro servo motor, and a couple of holes for cables to route to the inside.

File on Tinkercad: https://www.tinkercad.com/things/49HoW04XYVq-cat-food-access-control-bowl

I modeled a simple lid using Tinkercad, designed to attach to the horn of the micro servo. You can grab my design directly from Tinkercad, and/or download the STLs attached to this step.

I printed the parts on my Creality CR-10s Pro printer with gold PLA filament.

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Best Gift Ideas for Makers 2019

I’ll admit, I’m proud of my small-but-efficient workshop, and it’s thanks to some key items I can’t live without. Here are my suggestions for what to get the maker in your life this holiday season.

Canary Box Cutter

The Canary box cutter is safer than a utility knife for opening boxes and cutting cardboard, and allows you to cut curves in cardboard more easily than a regular blade. I like the versatility of the Canary and find myself reaching for it more often than any other cutting tool. While it is still possible to cut yourself with its serrated edge, it’s much more difficult.

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