The more knowledge and experiences we share, the stronger and more creative our maker community becomes! In this video, Becky shares her process for documenting and sharing projects, including her photo, video, and editing workflow, how to light your videos, how to choose a camera, and tips for sharing documentation online.
Full article on DigiKey’s Maker.io – Documenting Your Electronics Projects
Becky Stern explains several methods for designing and building electronics enclosures. This includes everything from making easy prototypes with cardboard and foam core board, to designing custom enclosures in CAD for 3D-printing or CNC milling. She also shares some of her favorite ready-made enclosure options, like memorabilia cases and shadowboxes.
Full article on DigiKey’s Maker.io – Creating Project Enclosures
In this video, Becky Stern explores easy ways to connect electronics projects to the internet using WiFi microcontrollers and simple apps. She’ll cover platforms that allow you to control your LED project from anywhere in the world like WLED and CheerLights, and cloud services that help visualize sensor data including Arduino Cloud, Adafruit IO, and ThingSpeak. You can also connect your project to a vast collection of web services using If This Then That (IFTTT), giving you complete control over how and when your project interacts with the internet.
Full article on DigiKey’s Maker.io – Easy Ways to Connect your Project to the Internet
Once you have a working solderless breadboard prototype of your project, you can make it smaller, more durable, and more permanent by translating your project to a solder-type breadboard. In this video, Becky walks through the process for mapping and building a soldered circuit.
Full article on DigiKey’s Maker.io – From Solderless Breadboard to Soldered Circuit
A lot can go wrong when building an Arduino project, whether it’s your wiring, or your code, or your software settings. In this video, Becky Stern shares her troubleshooting process and walks through some of the most common errors.
Full article on DigiKey’s Maker.io – Arduino Errors and Troubleshooting
Once you’re comfortable using and modifying built-in examples, the next step in your Arduino journey is to make a working prototype of your own idea. In this video, Becky Stern walks through her process for designing and building an original project using Arduino.
Full article on DigiKey’s Maker.io – Your First Arduino Project
Learn how to read and work with code libraries – the Arduino community’s biggest superpower. Becky Stern explains how to use libraries of pre-written Arduino code to control LEDs, write to displays, create sounds, and more, including editing that code to create your own programs.
Full article on DigiKey’s Maker.io – Arduino Code Libraries
Becky Stern shows you how to use digital and analog inputs when building Arduino circuits, including controlling LEDs using pushbuttons and potentiometers.
Full article on DigiKey’s Maker.io – Arduino Input/Output
Learn to build simple circuits for light and sound without the need for any code or programming. Becky Stern shows you how to hook up some LEDs to a battery pack, and also a simple circuit for playing audio.
Full article on DigiKey’s Maker.io – Simple Light and Sound Circuits
Soldering is the process of bonding separate metal objects together with a low-melting-point alloy. When done properly, this creates a secure electrical connection. It’s not as hard as it may seem, and Becky Stern will show you everything you need to know. The main idea is to heat up both things being soldered and allow the solder to flow between them. When heated properly, the solder will wick to the surfaces, and the solder will look shiny and form concave shapes between components.
Full article on DigiKey’s Maker.io – How To Solder
