Raspberry Pi Smart Magic Mirror

Here’s an easy smart mirror powered by Raspberry Pi. I’m using the MagicMirror2 software with features for weather, my calendar, public transit, and any other of the hundreds of available IoT modules. I installed an old computer monitor on an articulated mount with a piece of two-way mirror glass.

Thanks to Digi-Key for sponsoring this video! Check out this project on maker.io.

Materials and Supplies

For this project, you will need:

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3D Enclosure and Felt Knobs for the Bitty

The Bitty is a pocket drum machine by Curious Sound Objects. I 3D printed an enclosure to help it sit flat on the table, and I encased the knobs in felt so they are soft and squishy.

Thanks to Digi-Key for sponsoring this video!

Supplies & Tools

For this project, in addition to a Bitty, you will need:

To keep up with what I’m working on, follow me on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and subscribe to my newsletter. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases you make using my affiliate links.

I used Tinkercad to sketch out my idea, which is basically a box the same shape as the Bitty, with openings for the switches and knobs. It’s flat on the front to print with that side to the build plate. I punched out the Curious Sound Objects logo from the speaker area. You can grab the file on Tinkercad.

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Homemade Robots Book Review

This is a quick review of my friend Randy Sarafan’s book, Homemade Robots: 10 Simple Bots to Build with Stuff Around the House.

I built several of the bots from the book– I’m credited as the technical reviewer.

Randy’s bots all use modified servos wired and mounted in clever ways to produce unique movements from easy-to-find household materials.

After removing the control boards, servos become just geared DC motors, capable of producing a lot of torque for their size, and eliminating the need for a microcontroller or coding of any kind. You’ll learn the basics of soldering and how to make this simple modification to the motors yourself, then apply them in 10 fun bots.

I only used six motors total and took apart some bots to build others. Most of them use zip ties or nuts and bolts to hold everything together.

To keep up with what I’m working on, follow me on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and subscribe to my newsletter. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases you make using my affiliate links.

Amazon Halo Band Teardown

Welcome back for another gadget teardown. This time we’re taking a look at the Amazon Halo Band, a fitness tracker that also provides tone of voice analysis. I teamed up with David Cranor and Vanessa Hill/Braincraft on this one! I also have txyz.info on Hackaday.io to thank for all the reverse engineering in their own, more thorough teardown.

Thanks to Digi-Key for sponsoring this video!

Here’s a list of tools we used:

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My Ikea Greenhouse Cabinet

This is how I made my Ikea greenhouse cabinet. 

First I put together my cabinet and added some LED grow lights with a built-in timer, and a humidifier in the bottom. The whole point is to keep my rain forest plants happy, which like things warmer and more humid than the normal conditions in my apartment.

Supplies:

Shop my whole Windowsill Garden idea list on Amazon.

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I mist my air plants and anthuriums once a day and keep an eye on the temperature and moisture levels with a little meter.

Hot Dog Robot for Colin Furze

This year I’ve been invited to join YouTube Makers Secret Santa, where we all make each other personalized gifts. And the name I drew at random is the inimitable Colin Furze.

I want to give Colin a truly American gift, something that transports him across the pond to right here in New York City. And now that Colin’s been a food judge on British TV, what better way than to share a local culinary tradition– the sidewalk hotdog cart. So for Colin, I’m building a New York Hot Dog Experience Machine. Also: Estefannie and Ruth helped me come up with the idea.

I found some “hot dog robots” online but all they did was pick up the dog, never put the toppings on, which is mostly what you see happening at a NYC hot dog cart. So I started my quest to build a toppings machine, and figured it might as well look the part too.

Now I know we were supposed to stick to a small materials budget for this project, but sponsored parts don’t count and this project is sponsored by Digi-Key. I was able to easily source all the electronics parts for this build and they ship super fast.

Electronics supplies (also available as a saved cart on Digi-Key):

Other materials and tools:

Check out all my favorite electronics tools and supplies.

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Record Authentic NYC Audio

I wanted to help Colin feel like he was really in New York City, so I went to some different spots in Manhattan to record some audio. I’ve attached the edited OGG file, which is compatible with the audio FX sound board.

T02HOLDL.oggDownload

Electronics

The electronics for this project are based around a motor driver board to control all three servos, hooked up to a microcontroller that is also reading the photoresistor to detect the hotdog and also two manual control buttons for loading/unloading the mustard bottle.

The LED matrix is made from three smaller panels, and the LEDs are dotstars. It has its own little microcontroller so I didn’t have to worry about integrating the LED animations with the motors or switches up top. The code is easier that way.

Power is shared between this main circuit and the sound board controlling the audio, as well as the LED and its dedicated microcontroller.

I’ve attached the Arduino code for this project.

nyc_hotdog_experience.zipDownload

Mustard Squeezer

Now, mechanical engineering isn’t usually my strongest subject, and I really didn’t want to mess up this awesome idea, so I called on my friend Ruby Zoom for help– she helped design the mechanisms, and it was a blast working with her on this project. Please go check out her channel.

The mustard squeezer and onion dumper are 3D printed and have servo motors controlling their movement.

I used bits of aluminum extrusion I had kicking around to make a simple gantry for the mustard.

The squeezer has two motors. One to wiggle the bottle back and forth, and one to squeeze out the mustard.

Onion Sauce Plopper

The onion sauce plopper has one motor that spins the sauce trough to dump out the sauce.

Mini Sabrett Umbrella

Fittingly enough, the umbrella that ended up being the right scale for this project is an American Girl doll umbrella. I fitted it with some blue and yellow fabric to make it look more like the ones at the hot dog carts. I used some iron-on t-shirt vinyl and my cnc vinyl cutter to make the graphics.

Polymer Clay Pretzels

I made some polymer clay pretzels to go with the experience, but by the time it was ready to ship to Colin, my studio was such a mess I couldn’t find them. They turned up when I cleaned up, so I’ll put them on the second version of the machine I made to keep for myself.

Maker Secret Santa 2021!

All that was left to do was send Colin’s gift to him in the UK. I included the mustard, onion sauce, UK power adapter, and some instructions. Head over to Colin’s channel to watch him open it and try it out.

Best Gift Ideas for Makers 2021

It’s that time of the year! Here are my recommendations for the best gifts to get makers in 2021. To keep up with what I’m working on, follow me on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and subscribe to my newsletter. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases you make using my affiliate links.

Arduino Boards

Whenever I’m getting ready to prototype a new project, I reach for an Arduino board first. No maker has enough Arduinos, so they make great gifts. This year you can take advantage of the Arduino Black Friday sale through November 29th to get discounts on all the most popular products.

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Endless Seltzer

I upgraded my seltzer machine by hooking it up to a 50lb CO2 tank, with the help of my friend Ian. We’re calling it “Endless Seltzer”. We both really love fizzy water.

Ian Charnas is a YouTuber who does mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and computer engineering. In his videos he makes these super fun inventions and raffles them off to support good causes – so you can win almost everything you see on his channel.

Supplies

We did some research online and found this adapter you can get that connects the SodaStream to a more industrial standard type tank. That’s all that’s really required for the minimum viable product, but naturally, we wanted to add a bit more engineering so we also built an internet-connected scale that keeps track of how much CO2 is left.

Supplies and Tools:

Check out the electronics components in a saved list on Digi-Key.

Although you don’t have to build the electronics part of this project to enjoy the fizzy benefits, you must understand the dangers of working with a pressurized tank of gas. If it falls over and the valve is damaged, the whole thing could become a dangerous projectile. Basically a missile. The main precaution we’re taking is to install a tank strap to the wall. Don’t skip this step. I’m also setting up a CO2 safety monitor/alarm just in case there’s a leak.

Check out all my favorite electronics tools and supplies.

To keep up with what I’m working on, follow me on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and subscribe to my newsletter. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases you make using my affiliate links.

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