hsmag.

cc October 2022 Issue #59

VORON

Oct. 2022
Issue #59 £6 3D PRINTINGWhy your next printer should be a Voron

Relays Vinyl cutting

Plus

Etch designs into glass,

Carrie
Like transistors,
but steampunk PCBs, and more

Sundra

Aquaponics
Build an indoor salad farm
Alpenglow:
Pixels with
purpose

KEYBOARD LEGO SHADOWS BRICKS [Link]

 WELCOME EDITORIAL
Editor
Ben Everard
[Link]@[Link]

Welcome to Features Editor

Andrew Gregory
[Link]@[Link]

HackSpace magazine Sub-Editors

Nicola King, Phil King

DESIGN
3D printing is different things to different people. For some Critical Media
people it’s a hobby in and of itself, for some people it’s a tool [Link]

Head of Design
to create parts for their projects, and for others it’s a way of Lee Allen
giving form to their artistic ideas. This month, we’re looking Designers
Sam Ribbits, Olivia Mitchell,
at Voron printers, which should appeal to all three. For
Ty Logan
tinkerers, there’s no other printer on the market that offers Photography
the same amount of potential geekery. For people who use Brian O’Halloran

them as tools, no CONTRIBUTORS

Jo Hinchliffe, Marc de Vinck,
Whether or not you’re on the lookout for a new other printer can Andrew Lewis, Mike Bedford, Phil
King, Rosie Hattersley, Brendan
spit out parts as fast,
machine, the work Voron is doing now is sure Charles, PJ Evans
and, for artists, the
to shape the future of 3D printing, so let’s see quality of the prints
PUBLISHING
Publishing Director
what tomorrow might hold is unsurpassed.
Russell Barnes
russell@[Link]
Whether or not Advertising
you’re on the lookout for a new machine, the work Voron is Charlie Milligan
[Link]@[Link]
doing now is sure to shape the future of 3D printing, so let’s
DISTRIBUTION
see what tomorrow might hold. Seymour Distribution Ltd
2 East Poultry Ave,
London EC1A 9PT
BEN EVERARD
+44 (0)207 429 4000
Editor [Link]@[Link]
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Unit 6, The Enterprise Centre,
Kelvin Lane, Manor Royal,
Got a comment, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 9PE

50
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This magazine is printed on
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[Link] forests. The printer operates an
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h
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h
 ackspacemag HackSpace magazine is published
by Raspberry Pi Ltd, Maurice Wilkes
Building, St. John’s Innovation
ONLINE Park, Cowley Road, Cambridge,
CB4 0DS The publisher, editor, and
[Link] contributors accept no responsibility
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Except where otherwise noted,
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under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-
ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-
SA 3.0). ISSN: 2515-5148.

3
[Link]
Contents 104
06 SPARK 35 LENS
06 Top Projects 36 The future of printing
Creativity knows no bounds We’ve seen the future, and it’s a Voron

18 LEGO pendulum 52 How I Made: Ceres-1 Portable

A classic engineering project with a LEGO spin A tiny Raspberry Pi laptop

22 Objet 3d’art 58 Interview: Carrie Sundra

Feel the precision in this camera build Unicorns, politics, and LEDs

24 Meet the Maker: Kathy Hinde 66 Improviser’s Toolbox Bricks

Sound and vision creatively combined Bricks: like rocks, but rectangular

30 Letters
Promising signs regarding the chip shortage
Tutorial
32 Crowdfunding now Laser cutting
MNT Pocket Reform

Cover Feature
VORON
VORON

NEXT GEN
3D PRINTING 72 Cut out awesome designs
with a simple K40 laser cutter

Why your next 3D printer 06

should be a Voron

36
4
 CONTENTS

110
Tutorial
Aquaponics
76

24
Interview
Carrie Sundra
22
86 Grow food, provide housing
for fish-shaped friends

71 FORGE
72 SoM Laser cutting
How to cut round irregular shapes

76 Tutorial Build a robot

Back to basics with simple robotics
58 Anyone can learn electronics – you
just need a glorious golden unicorn
80 Tutorial Vinyl cutting
Build switches with copper tape

86 Tutorial Aquaponics
103 FIELD TEST
92
Create an ecosystem for fish and salad crops

Tutorial Relays 104 Best of Breed

52
Meet the bigger, louder cousin of the transistor Adaptation to get through the chip shortage

98 Tutorial Soft start 110 Review Mechanical keyboard

Switch on power tools the gentle way A tiny typing gadget from PocketType

Some of the tools and techniques shown in HackSpace Magazine are dangerous unless used with skill, experience and appropriate personal protection equipment. While we attempt to guide the reader, ultimately you
are responsible for your own safety and understanding the limits of yourself and your equipment. HackSpace Magazine is intended for an adult audience and some projects may be dangerous for children. Raspberry
Pi Ltd does not accept responsibility for any injuries, damage to equipment, or costs incurred from projects, tutorials or suggestions in HackSpace Magazine. Laws and regulations covering many of the topics in
HackSpace Magazine are different between countries, and are always subject to change. You are responsible for understanding the requirements in your jurisdiction and ensuring that you comply with them. Some
manufacturers place limits on the use of their hardware which some projects or suggestions in HackSpace Magazine may go beyond. It is your responsibility to understand the manufacturer’s limits. HackSpace mag-
azine is published monthly by Raspberry Pi Ltd, Maurice Wilkes Building, St. John’s Innovation Park, Cowley Road, Cambridge, CB4 0DS, United Kingdom. Publishers Service Associates, 2406 Reach Road, Williamsport,
PA, 17701, is the mailing agent for copies distributed in the US. Application to mail at Periodicals prices is pending at Williamsport, PA. Postmaster please send address changes to HackSpace magazine c/o Publishers
Service Associates, 2406 Reach Road, Williamsport, PA, 17701.

5
[Link]
Top Projects

REGULAR

James Webb mirror

By The Cellar Nerd [Link]/JamesWebbMirror

I
f you’re in any way interested in science, you’ll be
fascinated by the first images that are being beamed back
from the James Webb Space Telescope. Nebulae, planets,
stars, galaxies… it’s familiar, but the improvement in the level
of detail is utterly fantastic.
As a tribute to this latest of NASA’s huge accomplishments,
the Cellar Nerd has built a Raspberry Pi-powered image displayer.
Surrounded by 18 metallic-finish wall-tiles, he’s used an old laptop
screen, a Raspberry Pi 2 Model B, and a black plywood frame to
hang it all on. You might think it odd to use such an old, relatively
low-powered Raspberry Pi as the centrepiece of this build, but all it’s
doing is displaying images, so processing power isn’t crucial.

Right
The mirrors on the
real James Webb
Space Telescope
are made from gold-
plated beryllium

6
 SPARK

7
[Link]
Top Projects

REGULAR

Portable tube amp

By ThomasH358 [Link]/MiniTubeAmp

T
his beautiful build is a portable push-pull tube
amp. In the tradition of audio equipment, this won’t
work on its own – you need a speaker cabinet to plug
it into, plus a guitar, and maybe even enough talent to
be able to play the thing.
What makes it stand out is the sheer amount of
electronics packed into such a small space. It’s built into a
Hammond 125B enclosure measuring around 120 × 65 × 40 mm;
that enclosure is also typically used in guitar effects pedals, so
packing a while amplifier in – and one that uses three full-sized
vacuum tubes – is seriously impressive.

Right
This is not a project
for a beginner – for
that, try building a
fuzz pedal instead

8
 SPARK

9
[Link]
Top Projects

REGULAR

10
 SPARK

Concrete lava lamp

By MattGyver92 [Link]/ConcreteLavaLamp

I
f you can use a 3D printer, you’re not limited to making
things out of hot plastic. If you have the imagination to
design the inverse of the shape you need (or if you can
locate the right setting in your design software), you can
use your printer to create moulds for papier mâché, food (as
long as you’re using food-safe materials)… anything really,
including concrete.
MattyGyver92 has used this fact to design and build this lava
lamp. It’s a blend of space-age Soviet visuals with brutalist raw
concrete, and we love it. There’s no microcontroller involved;
everything is old-fashioned analogue electronics but, despite that,
it’s still a complex build. Did you know, for example, that the wax
used in lava lamps is paraffin wax, which floats in water, and so, in
order to use it, the maker is obliged to add tetrachloroethylene in
order to make it more dense?

Left
Chemistry, brutalism,
and electronics: this
build has it all

11
[Link]
Top Projects

REGULAR

Laser-cut
Bluetooth speaker
By SiddharthS141 [Link]/LaserCutSpeaker

W
e tend to think of Fusion 360 as a design
tool primarily for 3D printing, but it’s useful
for all sorts of digital fabrication. This
laser-cut speaker cabinet, for example, was
designed in Fusion 360, enabling the maker
to tweak elements of the plans multiple times
without having to throw everything out of the window and start
again from scratch.
This build uses repurposed electronics – namely a Bluetooth
headphone set fed through an amplifier, and finally out through the
speakers – and an original enclosure built out of ⅛-inch plywood.

Right
Laser-cut plywood
looks good,
sounds great, and
smells fantastic

12
 SPARK

13
[Link]
Top Projects

REGULAR

Dual-screen
games console
By mw33212 [Link]/DualScreenConsole

A
ccording to the creator, Reddit user and
woodworker extraordinaire mw33212, this build
is “a small, largely impractical dual-screen
games console.” We don’t mind that; games are
by their nature impractical.
It’s built out of 10 mm walnut and houses a
Raspberry Pi 4, two fans, two screens, and assorted other
electronics; with the angles involved, we can imagine that the
glue-up was on the tricky side.

Right
Apparently, this shape
is a tridiminished
rhombicosidodecahedron

14
 SPARK

15
[Link]
Top Projects

REGULAR

Thérrarium
By Samuel Gidoin [Link]/Therrarium

O
ver-complicated Heath Robinson devices
are wonderful, doubly so when they involve
making cups of tea, and quadruply so when
they take design inspiration from The Lord
Of The Rings. This wonderful laser-cut machine
makes tea with aplomb, controlling water
temperature, the amount of tea added to the brew, the length of
time that the tea leaves are immersed in the water, and has room
for three varieties of tea, for when you get bored with Yorkshire
Tea and want to branch out into Earl Grey (hot).
This completely original build took four years in total – you can
see the intricacy that’s gone into the laser-cut elements.

16
 SPARK

Left
A lovely cup of tea
is just the thing to
revive you when
you’ve just walked
all the way from The
Shire to Rivendell

17
[Link]
Inverted pendulum

REGULAR

Inverted pendulum
Newton and his absurd, pathetic laws of gravity mocked
by LEGO and a Raspberry Pi Zero W

BY ROSIE HATTERSLEY

A
rchitecture students are often reaction wheel will self-manage and ensure the whole
challenged to design a chair; for thing can propel itself and remain upright. In other
aspiring physicists and engineers, words, it’s classic control theory in action.
the classic test is the inverted With a ‘medium-sized’ collection of plastic bricks
pendulum suspended on a robot worth more than 8000 euros, software engineer
chassis. The self-balancing Brick spends his free time in Finland coming up
motorised vehicle is expected to propel itself and with ingenious builds using LEGO Technics and
manage corners and other tricky manoeuvres, such posts YouTube videos of his inventions on his Brick
as changes of direction. Unless you get the balance, Experiments Channel ([Link]/BrickExperiment),
angles, weight, and measurements exactly right, the as well as a blog where he discusses some of his
whole thing will just fall over, leaving the maker builds and their progress. Having first encountered
looking less than clever too. If you get it right, the the pendulum challenge 20 years ago, he decided

Right
Witchcraft, or
physics? We think
it’s a bit of both

18
 SPARK

to revisit it in LEGO, with a Raspberry Pi spin. This CONSTANTLY MOVING PARTS

proved a smart move: the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 Aside from the electronics, LEGO parts were used Above
Brick used an
W handles the data and provides a control loop, exclusively in this build. Brick began by assembling a OKYSTAR
along with PID (proportional integral derivative) LEGO pendulum arm weighing exactly 29 g, and TB6612FNG
motor driver
controller output calculations. The PID’s auto- inserted a frictionless pin (part ID 32556) to give a
correction is used to adjust the motor speed and very delicate rotational inertia of just 0.0012 kg/m2.
direction, providing the active control needed to To create the reaction wheel, two sets of four curved
keep everything upright. The pendulum is powered LEGO gear rack pieces each form a 16.8 cm circle to
by a 240 rpm LEGO EV3 medium motor, while which a cross brace is added and sandwiched
its angles are measured by an Elecrow three-axis between them.
gyroscope and accelerometer. Torque is generated This reaction wheel was then connected to the
by rotating the wheel, which in turn changes the LEGO motor and Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, which
pendulum’s angle. This creates instability and keeps processes the gyroscope and accelerometer readings
the wheel moving. and provides the Python code needed to keep the
wheel spinning at the required
rate and angle. There was a
certain amount of educated
guesswork involved in
working out what angles of
rotation were needed and
changes to the parameters in
Python. An initial version of
the design, using a small
wheel, was only able to
correct angle errors of less
than four degrees, but a larger,
heavier wheel improved
things such that 28-degree
angle corrections were
possible. Realising that the
motor itself was causing

19
[Link]
Inverted pendulum

REGULAR

Right
If you want to try this
yourself, you’ll need
an accelerometer to
measure the
movement of
the pendulum

some resistance, Brick measured the background

resistance using an EMF reader and further refined
the settings to compensate for it. After a fair amount
of trial and error, things were set up to his satisfaction.
The first iteration of the LEGO inverted pendulum
ran “rather restlessly”, says Brick, with issues arising
from the reaction wheel coming up against the limit
of how fast it could run. Essentially, after two
seconds it would reach peak velocity and then fall
over, having failed to correct its operational angle
sufficiently. To overcome the speed limitations Brick
switched to a more powerful LEGO EV3 medium
motor with a built-in tachometer. He specified that
the tachometer should count each rotation, or
instance of the wheel either rising or falling. He also
experimented with the angles of velocity, speed
parameters, and the motor resistance, having read a
paper that suggested using the PID controller and a
constantly changing target angle. Although he’d
always planned to use a PID for the project, here the
PID needed to do more than simply adjust the
wheel’s angle. Footage on the YouTube video shows
the Raspberry Pi Zero coming into its own by
producing graphs that show just how effective this
constantly shifting target approach would prove.

20
 SPARK

Although far from the only inverted pendulum

”
project to feature online, Brick’s LEGO experiment
project provides an instructive and minutely Brick experimented with the angles of velocity,

”
documented masterclass in how to work through a
problem and come up with a working version that you speed parameters, and the motor resistance
refine and iterate until it operates smoothly and to
your satisfaction. Of the many admiring (and
constructively instructive) comments on his YouTube
video, documenting the notion that Brick “could use
this as a balancing system to make a LEGO robot that
does tightrope walking” sounds like the advanced
challenge we’d be keen to see him tackle.

Above
Early tests needed a
certain degree of
safety equipment to
protect the
precious LEGO

21
[Link]
Objet 3d’art

REGULAR

Objet 3d’art
3D-printed artwork to bring more beauty into your life

S
ometimes when you’re
working on a custom bit of
electronics, only a custom case
will do. This 3D-printed remote
Raspberry Pi Desktop/Camera/
Server by Mukesh Sankhla marries a
Raspberry Pi 4, a Raspberry Pi High Quality
Camera with a 16 mm telephoto lens, plus a
5 V fan into a device that records and
streams stills, video, and time-lapse images.
Mukesh designed the 3D-printed parts in
Fusion 360, and has made the STL files
freely downloadable at the link below.

[Link]/3DPrintedCamera

22
 SPARK

23
[Link]
Meet The Maker

REGULAR

Meet The Maker:

Kathy Hinde
Combining graphics and sound to make art

K
athy Hinde is an audio-visual artist projections for music, so I could play the visuals like in
whose work often features a range an instrument. That was my first encounter with using
of technologies familiar to many any sort of tech. Before that, I was kind of making
readers, including Raspberry Pis, stuff, as in I was working with sculptural installations,
servos, and solenoids. She uses these but using light and slide projection and things like that.
to create immersive experiences that So, I’ve kind of always been a maker in terms of, like,
have been featured in galleries and festivals around physicality of making, but I’ve always also had a kind
the world. We caught up with her to find out how she of a sound music strand to my work. And then this
creates these works. was starting to work in video.
The piece that I made that shifted my practice into
HackSpace: Audio-visual artist isn’t the sort of job the work I do now is called Piano Migrations. I had a
that my career advisor at school told me about. piano soundboard – I play piano and have a normal
How did you end up doing this? piano, but was given a soundboard. I thought it was a
beautiful visual, as well as [an] interesting way of
Kathy Hinde: I actually sort of studied a joint degree playing the instrument. The piece that I ended up
in visual art and music, and [have] just been always making with it is: I made a film of birds taking off and
Below
Each bellow makes a really interested in combining those disciplines, which landing on telegraph lines, which look like a musical
different note and led me down all kinds of routes. One of the routes score. I was really interested in automatic ways of
together they make
Morse-code-like words was getting really involved in making live video playing pianos, so I decided to combine this digital
score made by birds by projecting it directly onto the
piano, and then using a computer vision patch, made
by Matt [Olden], which looked for movement in parts
of the video, and converting this into solenoids tapping
directly on the piano strings. The impression is that

24
 SPARK

wherever the birds are fluttering, they’re actually moths or bats. They hang in a tree and they’ve got
touching the strings and making a sound. It combined two wings like bellows, and I use a servo motor with a Above
These birds survived
lots of the things that I’m interested in – playing kind of ratchet and cog system to pull the bellows in the rain, but struggled
when the temperature
musical instruments in interesting ways and and out. And then I’ve used salvaged accordion reached minus 18
combining visual art and music so one isn’t overriding bellows from broken accordions to create sound. They
the other. The piano is like a sculpture with this visual light up when they move – they’re kind of like little
on it, but also, it’s a piano. There’s also this idea of bird-like squeeze-boxes that light up, and each wing
working with a behaviour. I worked with different makes a different note. It’s called Chirp & Drift
videos of birds, and the piano’s got different nuts and because they work with this kind of musical
bolts in it to change the sound. It’s this idea of having

”
something that has its own behaviour. It’s completely
controlled by the birds and how they were moving at It’s called Chirp & Drift because they work
the time. I’ve just defined the framework for
something to play out in. I think that was a turning with this kind of musical translation of

”
point in my work, and those key elements come back
in other pieces.
Morse code
It was also the first time I’ve worked with solenoids,
and a MIDI-to-voltage system. It was quite challenging
technically for me at the time, but the result is a very translation of Morse code. And it’s really abstracted –
direct relationship – you get it straight away. There’s you wouldn’t necessarily pick it up if you just came
not too much unpicking of what’s going on. across the piece. But basically, they’ve got their own
little language. I was kind of interested in birdsong – is
HS: Awesome. I saw a video of your work that it music, is it language? Are they communicating? Are
was instruments hanging in trees. What was birds talking to each other? Are they having a nice
happening there? time, like, making music together and improvising?
And I mean, it’s a whole combination of things. I liked
KH: It is like a series of these instruments that I made this idea of these little bird-like machines using Morse
to look a bit like birds, but some people call them code, but it’s a bit, almost kind of undecipherable.

25
[Link]
Meet The Maker

REGULAR

The words chirp and drift are both terms used to names of those local birds into Morse code. And then
describe Morse code when it gets distorted create a composition that has one note for a dot and
in transmission. more than one note for a dash. It’s a really broad
I was interested in how I’d read an article about spectrum and there’s a lot of creative licence there.
how birds might re-pitch their song to a different pitch But you can work it out if you really try.
because of urban noise. Originally in the ecosystem, They’re all playing this Morse code. And because
each species would have its kind of bandwidth to it’s all sealed in a Peli case, it’s just got an outdoor G4
communicate on because they’ve evolved to kind of plug on it. When it’s all set up and ready, you just have
have this balance. And there’s loads of really exciting to plug it in, and it all just starts up and runs. On the
research on that. I’m also bellows, I’m using this

”
interested in using Tyvek paper which is like
Morse code to refer to
communication
When it’s all set up and a waterproof paper – it’s
used in roofing. I’ve
bandwidths and noise, ready, you just have to plug laser-cut all the parts and
and not being heard or then painted them and
misunderstood. That was it in, and it all just starts up oiled them, so they’re

”
kind of the background
and runs weatherproof enough. I
of the idea of the piece. have to re-oil them, and
I set it up on night things like that. I’ve used
trails, or it just needs to Delrin cogs – I’ve tried to
go in a really nice tree. I’ve got a Pelican case, with make everything fairly weatherproof, but it is a
a Raspberry Pi, an Arduino, a DMX lightbox inside, temporary piece. I’ve had it up for like six weeks in a
and some drivers for the LEDs. And that’s all sealed botanical garden in Edinburgh running every day. And
Below in a box. you know, that was fine. After 18 months of showing
The modified
record players can Each time I do the piece, I work with different texts. it off, I had to start replacing a few parts.
lift the needles up, Sometimes it’s from workshops, or sometimes it’s The bellows started to go when I took it to Helsinki
as well as restarting
the tracks just the local birds from where it is. So I’ll translate the in the winter. Everything just got massively snowed

26
 SPARK

on – and it did survive. We decided we had to leave it crack and so I had to replace that. There’s always
Above
on all the time, so it wouldn’t freeze, so it’s always new challenges showing things outside. I’ve had to The solenoids twang
moving a little bit. deal with rain a lot – obviously showing stuff in the the strings when
movement is
But when it came back from there, I realised that UK, I’ve kind of got quite good at working out how detected
a lot of the seals were broken on the bellows to make things that are fine in the rain. But I had
because I’d laser-cut them to make them easier to never had to do something that was going to be OK
fold, and then lined them with sticky-back plastic in minus 18.
so that they were airtight. I was so worried about
the servos stopping working and all the reeds HS: I think you’ve recently come back from Mexico.
getting frozen, but the actual thing that ended up What was the piece you were exhibiting there?
being a problem was the bellows actually
developed some little gaps because of them being KH: It’s a series of twelve individual record players. I
frozen and then moving the plastic. It started to was very interested to work with this 15th century
choral mass called the Earthquake Mass, because it
was composed around a piece of literature around the
Earth moving. And the last movement of that piece, it
was discovered incomplete, as if it was returning to
the Earth, it was kind of rotting away. I wanted to take
this incomplete movement and work in collaboration
with partners in Mexico, which is obviously a place
that’s got a lot of seismic activity. I worked with a
Mexican choir and, with this last movement, recorded
each singer individually singing each part, and then
pressed those to vinyl.
The idea was to then use seismic data to somehow
interfere with the playback of this piece. I wanted to
use vinyl because I liked the idea of physical

27
[Link]
Meet The Maker

REGULAR

sound-waves being engraved into a surface, a bit like and I wanted to use that data to sort of fragment this
Above seismic waves engraving their way through the kind of choral piece. So, I worked with the shape of the
A repurposed sound
board forms the basis core of the Earth. And also, I’ve just also been seismic data and adapted all the record players so that
of Piano Migrations
fascinated with the physicality of sound and how it there was a little motor that lifted the needle up and
moves through materials. down. But then also a sensor and a motor that would
Of course, this is exactly the same as seismic then move the needle back to the beginning so each
waves, but it’s very, very low frequency waves vocal part could play forever. I wasn’t playing any of
moving through the Earth. There are a lot of parallels them straight from beginning to end. When there’s
with how sound behaves – resonant frequencies like, really, really high seismic activity, I was
and reverberation; things like that also apply to fragmenting the piece really heavily – lifting the needle
seismic activity. up and down a lot, so it’s granulated but physically.
I had all these things pressed to vinyl and I chose to The nice thing about that is you can see the needles
use the seismic data from the 2017 earthquake that going up and down and touching the record and
hit Mexico City. It was a really devastating earthquake, making a tiny sound, and going back up, and you get

28
 SPARK

Left
You can find out more
about Kathy’s work at
[Link]

the sound of the motor, and it gets phased out you do completely chop it up and put it back together
scratching and disjointed. in like a really random order, you still get a flavour of
You might get like longer bits of the voices singing, that piece of music.
but like fading in and out, not all of them together. And I wanted to kind of completely fragment it and put
so I was basically following the data and giving it it back together and in a completely different way,
trigger points, like thresholds for triggering different but it still has a relationship to the original piece
types of behaviours and activities. So there are of music.
multiple types of behaviours. And one was how up I showed it in Mexico City, and I’ve shown it in the
and down the needle goes, building in tolerances so UK as well. And it was interesting getting responses
they wouldn’t all be the same. because I felt like there was quite a big responsibility
You can set the maximum and minimum amount of to do something sensitive, especially with showing it
time that you can play, and then another behaviour is in Mexico City, because of the history of the effects of
how many record players are actually active. So rather that earthquake. I had some really interesting
than scoring it out exactly, you might say there’s five responses – some people found it quite disturbing, but
record players active, but not say which ones they are,

”
so you’re always gonna get different combinations of
voices. So you might have three basses and a soprano.
Then I kind of have this repeating, but because of
You can set the maximum and minimum
this way of working with it, it doesn’t repeat. Every amount of time that you can play, and then
time it kind of cycles through the data, it’s different.
And because it’s choosing different records all the another behaviour is how many record players

”
time, and different amounts of how much it plays,
then they get completely out of sync. It was running
are actually active
for six weeks, so you know, you’re gonna get different
combinations of bits of the piece.
That style of music from the 15th and 16th said it brought some things back, but then it also,
centuries – polyphonic choral music – has got really because the type of music that it is, is quite
static harmonies, it doesn’t change in harmony very meditative and quite calm and [you] got this sense of,
quickly. So this whole movement has a very similar like, long durations of time. People also found it kind
harmonic base. But when it’s performed normally of helpful to be immersed in that space for periods of
from the score, the interest is in the canons and the time. And to think about these histories, these difficult
way the voices weave together. What that means is, if histories, that have happened in Mexico City.

29
[Link]
Letters

REGULAR

Letters ATTENTION
ALL MAKERS!
If you have something you’d
like to get off your chest (or
even throw a word of praise
in our direction) let us know at
[Link]/hello

PKE METER
Ghostbusters is one of the finest films Ben says: It’s great, isn’t it? There’s
ever made. It’s up there with any work something magical about seeing your
of art of the 20th century. It’s perfect. I own passions reflected in the work of
am so, so glad that the people who others, whether that’s a favourite film, a
loved the film when it came out in 1984 video game, or any other kind of shared
(or more likely, who watched it on experience. And the easier it gets to
home VHS in the following years) are make things, the easier it is to make
now skilled enough with a soldering things that really reflect us as people.
iron to make tributes to the film. People Which in our case is Egon, Ray, Peter,
like Kevin McAleer, whose PKE meter/ and Winston.
WiFi strength indicator build is totally
silly and only just useful enough to be
worth making. I take my hat off to him!

David
Hertfordshire

30
 SPARK

CHOCOLATE PRINTING
Ellie Weinstein, creator of the chocolate
3D printer, is a genius. I don’t care if I’ll
never try it myself, I just love the idea
that someone’s out there doing crazy
stuff like 3D-printing shapes out of
edible chocolate. The fact that different
infills taste different is the icing on the
(chocolate) cake.

Robert
Hamburg

Ben says: We’ve seen a few food-based

3D printers: pancake mix and squeeze
cheese come to mind. The difficulty
with chocolate is that when it leaves
the extruder it has to be liquid, then it
has to cool quickly into a solid, all while CHIP (NUMBERS)
staying within a temperature range ARE DOWN
that won’t make the final product go Get your crystal balls out chaps:
mushy. It looks like Ellie’s cracked that when is this chip shortage going
conundrum, and we look forward to to end? It’s been an absolute pain,
seeing chocolate Benchys, woodworking finding projects on the internet, finding
jigs, Dungeons and Dragons figures, the bill of materials, and then realising that
and all the rest of the classic 3D the parts are either non-existent or stuck on a
printing repertoire. slow boat from Shenzhen. On the upside, I did get
my hands on a Raspberry Pi, so I’ll get that weather
station built in time for next year’s planet-scorching
summer temperatures.

Paul
Peterborough

Ben says: This seems like a timely moment to remind

you that you can get a Raspberry Pi Pico W when you
take out a subscription to HackSpace magazine — turn to
page 50 for the full details. Other than that, we noticed
recently that used cars are getting cheaper, which
indicates that more new cars being made, so car
manufacturers must be sourcing components from
somewhere. That’s our bellwether: if Volkswagen is
getting chips now, mere humans like us should be
allowed a few crumbs from the factory floor in a few
months. That’s what we’re hoping anyway!

31

[Link]
Crowdfunding now

REGULAR

CROWDFUNDING
NOW
MNT Pocket Reform
Open hardware for your (large) pockets

From TBD [Link]/pocket Delivery: TBD

T
here was a time when a computer came essentially a very small laptop running Linux on an
in a box that you could open. Inside Arm processor. Similar devices have popped up in
this box, there were parts that you the past and have found a cult following, but have
could actually buy upgrades for. rarely found commercial success.
Desktop PCs still are like that, The MNT Pocket Reform is
but the vast majority of computers these powered by the same quad ARM
days are laptops, phones, and other Cortex-A53 processor board
portable devices. These are usually not as the MNT Reform,
designed with user servicing in mind. which makes it
You might be able to get some an interesting
replacement parts, but fitting them option for reusing
is usually tricky and upgrades existing modules
are often just a dream. if you upgrade an
The original MNT MNT Reform (if,
Reform project aimed and when, other
to solve this problem processor modules
for laptops with an become available).
open-source design We love the idea of an
and replaceable parts, open-hardware portable, and
and now the MNT Pocket anything that helps us, as a
Reform is taking aim at smaller society, move away from
devices. The MNT Pocket Reform touchscreen keyboards is – in our
is a slightly unusual form factor, being opinion at least – a good thing.

32
 BUYER
BEWARE !
When backing a crowdfunding
campaign, you are not purchasing
a finished product, but supporting
a project working on something
new. There is a very real chance
that the product will never ship
and you’ll lose your money. It’s
a great way to support projects
you like and get some cheap
hardware in the process, but if
you use it purely as a chance to
snag cheap stuff, you may find
that you get burned.

Above
Is the world
ready for a tiny,
ortholinear
laptop?

33
[Link]
Join us as we lift the lid
on video games

Visit [Link] to learn more

LENS
HACK MAKE BUILD
Uncover the technology that’s powering the future
CREATE

PG
36 VORON
VORON

NEXT GEN
PG

52
HOW I MADE:
CERES-1
PORTABLE
3D PRINTING
Why your next 3D printer
Take a Raspberry Pi, a mechanical
keyboard, and make some magic should be a Voron

PG

58 PG

66
INTERVIEW: IMPROVISER’S
CARRIE TOOLBOX:
SUNDRA BRICKS
The head honcho of Who knew that baked mud
Alpenglow Industries on could be so useful as a
politics, art, and mountains weekend play medium?

[Link]
Next Gen 3D printing

FEATURE

VORON
VORON

Why your next printer

should be a Voron

36
 LENS

I
t can feel like the world goes in cycles. The hobbyist 3D printer
community started off with homebrew designs built from
off-the-shelf components and 3D-printed parts. Then, for a few
years, it became standard to get printers almost fully assembled
(or at least as custom-made kits). Now the circle is starting to
complete itself as more and more makers are building their own
printers from off-the-shelf parts and 3D-printed parts, thanks to Voron
Design and its selection of high-quality, open-source designs.
Voron has built up a reputation for fast, good-looking printers that
follow the DIY, open-source ethos, similar to the RepRap project that first
spawned the world of hobbyist 3D printers. These new printers are a
step away from the classic i3 design that dominates the scene currently.
Utilising CoreXY kinematics and Klipper firmware, these machines are on
the very cutting edge of what’s possible with off-the-shelf technology.
Is there really still a need for homemade machines? Can community
designs compete with commercial machines? We decided to see what
all the fuss was about, so built ourselves a Voron printer, and had a chat
with the team behind the machines.

37
[Link]
Next Gen 3D printing

FEATURE

MAKS ZOLIN The man behind Voron

Above
Maks Zolin, aka
RCF, started the
Voron project

38
 LENS

V
oron is an open-source project where printers are
designed, tested, and documented by volunteers, so how
does this project produce printers that are getting more
attention and acclaim than almost any 3D printer
company? We caught up with Maks Zolin (aka Russian
Cat Food / RCF) to find out more about how the project
started and how they design printers.

HACKSPACE How did the Voron project get started?

“
MAKS ZOLIN The Voron project began as part of MZ Bot, the 3D
printing company that I started 2015. The original goal was to make
extruders for 3D printers. I saw there was a market for lightweight
extruders, and I felt like I could fill a niche in this space. And then that EVERYBODY
kind of grew into, ‘I would like a printer that I designed that is better than
things that I can buy right now off-the-shelf.’ And that’s how the first BUILT
Voron prototype began. I posted this prototype on, like, a RepRap forum
on Reddit, in 2015. People got excited. From there, I got inspired to VORONS.
streamline it, and eventually it was released as a fully open-source thing
in 2016. Then the community started growing on Reddit. People showed ALL OF A
up and built printers, and there was a demand for kits. I still had the
company going so I said, ‘Oh, I’m gonna do kits, that’s gonna be great.’ SUDDEN,
So I did the initial run of 18 kits. I think most of them are still in operation,
which is kind of remarkable. WE
So we went through a couple of revisions of the original Voron printer.
And in 2017, I kind of decided I don’t want to really do consumer space STARTED
any more. I really want to focus on the commercial space. One client
came and approached me about scaling up a Voron to humongous GETTING
dimensions, 24 inches by 24 inches by like, 600 by 600 millimetres. I
said, ‘actually, I have a better idea’ because Voron 2 was already in KITS
development, at least on pieces of cardboard in my shop – pen and paper
basically. So that’s how Voron 24 was born. It’s an old metal machine; I ARRIVING
built two of them. One was kind of like my prototype machine basically
to tinker with, and then one that’s like, super, super-clean, and all the OUT OF
stuff got put on to that. And then it got shipped to Minnesota. And there
it lived for a long time. NOWHERE
Eventually I realised I couldn’t keep my full time job and do a side job,

”
and have any kind of meaningful family life. My daughter was born in
January of 2016. And Voron was released in March of 2016. Voron is
really kind of the closest thing I’m ever going to have to a second child.
In 2018, I made the decision to dissolve MZ Bot, but I loved what I did
as part of the Voron project. So the entire endeavour got redesignated as
Voron Design, which is not really a company, it’s just a project effectively.
Then 2020 happened. And everybody built Vorons. All of a sudden, we
started getting kits arriving out of nowhere. The popularity just basically
went like vertical, kind of took us by surprise.
Honestly, as far as the admin team, we were not really prepared for
that kind of inrush of people but, thankfully, for the most part, we
managed. I was imagining complete meltdown of our communities, but
we did OK.
So the stationary bed, the flying gantry stuff, all came out of the
Voron 24.

39
[Link]
Next Gen 3D printing

FEATURE

That was when we discovered Klipper, and Klipper really made Voron 2
possible because this machine needs a minimum of seven stepper
drivers to work, and getting an off-the-shelf board that runs Marlin well,
with seven steppers going all at the same time. It’s kind of horrible. And
expensive, cost-prohibitive – let’s go with cost-prohibitive. Klipper really
solved the problem for us because we could literally take off-the-shelf
RAMPS boards from the olden days and plug as many of them as we
wanted into a Raspberry Pi. Klipper ran on a Raspberry Pi and then you
can have, theoretically, unlimited drivers. And that’s when Raspberry Pi
became a core thing inside of Voron, because it basically powered the
entire printer. So, Klipper plus Raspberry Pi solved a huge development
issue for us, basically, and actually made it affordable. It was cheaper for
you to buy Raspberry Pi and a whole bunch of controller boards than find
a standalone like seven- or eight-driver board.
Above
The first
HS So that takes us to the Voron 2. How did the project progress Voron prototype
after that?

MZ So yeah, I mean 2020, we actually released three printers that year.

We were gonna go to Midwest RepRap festival and, like basically, unveil
a whole bunch of stuff. And none of that happened because of
unmentionable illnesses and pandemics. So we just did a whole live
stream where we’re like, ‘Oh, there’s this printer’ which was an update
to one which basically was one with V2 gantry on it. It was an update to
Voron 2 to 2.4, which is actually the current printer that we have right
now. And Voron 0 was released in 2020. That was a huge, huge hit for us
honestly. And then later that year, I did Switchwire as a Christmas
present, which was that CoreXZ.
Yeah. And then we did a partnership with E3D recently, where we
basically approached them to design a better heatsink for the V6 hot end.
And then Sanjay kind of dropped in and said, ‘Well, we got a new thing
going on here’ – we had no idea. Revo Voron was born out of that.
We started working with LDO, and a whole bunch of other companies
trying to vet what they do and make sure that our community gets the
best products, and really we became like champions for open-source
hardware. Because we are not financially involved in any of this, we are
really good at generating other people a whole bunch of money. But we
trade in fun. I love what I do, I love doing this. It’s truly my passion. And I
am truly lucky to be surrounded, in my community, by people that also
feel the same way. Especially the development team and stuff. And
yeah, it’s effectively my second home.

Above
The Voron
Stealthburner
print head

Right
Trying to connect
enough motors to
a RAMPS board

40
 LENS

Left
Voron printers
are brought to
you by a team
including (from top
to bottom) Doc
(Adam), Eddie,
Nemgrea, Steve,
and Tim

“
IT’S RUN A
LOT LIKE
Above
The Voron 1.0 ANY OTHER
printer that
started it all
OPEN-
SOURCE
HS How do you organise the work with a team of volunteers?
PROJECT.
MZ We have a few people that kind of, like, take over a product line,
so to speak. Nemgrea is basically in charge of all the V0 stuff. Steve PEOPLE
recently took over the V1 line, and basically we transitioned it to Voron
Trident. Steve also did the recent R2 update to V2. And now we’re COME IN
working together on Switchwire a little bit. People kind of come and go,
people get burned out, they want to do something else, they kind of, AND DO
you know, go away and come back. And it’s not really like, ‘Oh, this is
the dev team’. It’s run a lot like any other open-source project. People A BUNCH
come in and do a bunch of pull requests, and I stay around and do this
for like six years. OF PULL
HS How long does it take to design a new Voron printer? REQUESTS

”
MZ The longest it’s ever taken, I guess is V2, because it was a good
three years – I mean, for something that people actually want to build,
which is one of these things [gestures at printer]. The 2.0 was never
released at all, because it was horrible. V2.1 was the first V2 line. The
shortest – we actually have pipelined that quite a bit now -- Switchwire
as an example, took three months, from zero to: here is a list of parts,
here’s all the printed parts, here’s a full manual, and here’s the sourcing
guide for all the things. Then I think six months later, LDO turned around
and started releasing kits for it, which was fast.
We’ve cut it down quite a bit now, simply because we have a lot more
processes and tools in place. We try really hard not to make it feel like a
job. Because people get super-twitchy about, you know, getting tasks
assigned to them. Yeah. So we’re just pretty basic, like here’s all the
stuff, we throw it out on the table. Somebody walks by and picks it up.
‘Oh, I want to do this’ and then eventually it happens.

41
[Link]
Next Gen 3D printing

FEATURE

CORE X-WHY
WHY
What’s the technology behind the project?

Left
It can be a bit
tricky to follow the
belt path, but the
key thing is that
both motors stay
still while the print
head moves

Left
Each belt loops
around both the
Y and X axes

42
 LENS

C
ompared to the majority of consumer-grade 3D printers,
there are a couple of things that make Voron printers
stand out. Firstly, they use the CoreXY motor setup, and
secondly, they use Klipper firmware. Let’s take a look at
what this means.
All Voron printers use CoreXY motor configuration (except
the Switchwire which uses CoreXZ, but this is just CoreXY rotated 90
degrees). To understand what this means, first, let’s quickly look at the
alternative, which is usually Cartesian configuration. In Cartesian printers,
each motor controls the motion in one axis. So, to move the print head in

“
the X axis, you run the X axis motor. There may be two motors on a
single axis, but each motor is only ever attached to a single axis.
On a CoreXY machine, the Z axis operates just as it does on a
Below Cartesian machine (on the Voron machines, typically the bed moves THE KEY
You can see four
belts attached to
down rather than the print head moving up, but this doesn’t really change
the print head; on
each side, there’s
the kinematics), but the X and Y motors work a bit differently. The X axis ADVANTAGE
one connection is typically a gantry that’s free to slide around the Y axis, and then the
from each motor drive belt from one motor goes along the Y axis, loops around the end OF THIS
and comes back down the Y axis before going along to the print head.
The other motor is a mirror image of this along the Y axis on the other SETUP
side of the machine. In this way, both motors are directly connected to
the print head. All movements (even straight-line movements along a IS THAT
singe axis) require both motors to work together.
The key advantage of this setup is that neither of the X or Y axis NEITHER
motors has to move anything heavy. On a Cartesian printer, one of the
motors has to move either the print bed (typically in the Y axis as in a OF THE X
Creality Ender 3 or Prusa MK3S – aka bed slingers) or the entirety of one
of the other axes (such as how the Y axis moves the entire X axis OR Y AXIS
assembly on an Ultimaker).
The CoreXY, in contrast, can keep all its motors stationary, and moving MOTORS
the print head doesn’t require moving any heavy things around. This
means that you can have much higher accelerations without either HAS TO
skipping steps or ‘ringing’. One motor still has to move the heavy print
bed, but only in the Z axis where generally movements are less critical. MOVE
A second advantage, particularly over the ‘bed slinger’ type design, is
that they have a small footprint. Any printer that moves the print bed in ANYTHING
the Y axis needs to have a lot of desk space to allow for this movement.
This is a problem if you want a lot of them, and it’s also a concern if you HEAVY
want an enclosed printer. The CoreXY machines allow much smaller

”
enclosures for a given print volume, which means it’s easier to enclose
them and easier to have hotter enclosure temperatures.
While none of the Voron machines have heated enclosures that you
need for some of the more really exotic engineering filaments (the
limiting factor being the plastic parts holding the printer together – if you
push the chamber temperature too high, then these are liable to melt),
they can hold a reasonably high temperature with the heat from the hot
end and print bed.
CoreXY isn’t unique to Voron machines – there are plenty of
commercial machines set up this way (and a few that claim to be but
aren’t). However, Voron machines are among those which embrace the
advantage of CoreXY designs as much as possible, allowing for really
fast printing.

43
[Link]
Next Gen 3D printing

FEATURE

THE PRINTERS Which is the right Voron for you?

Voron 2.4
This is perhaps the flagship Voron printer. It’s
a big, solid, capable printer, but it’s also
expensive and time-consuming to build. You
can customise the build volume from
250×250×250 up to 350×350×350, so it’s
potentially a large printer. It prints quickly and
has some features you may not expect in a
consumer 3D printer (such as four-point
gantry trimming). This does make it the most
complex and expensive of the Voron printers.

Voron 0
This tiny little printer has a build volume of just
120×120×120, which makes it not just the smallest
Voron, but one of the smallest printers around. It’s
also one of the most popular Voron machines, and
the one we chose to build. We suspect we chose
it for the same reasons a lot of other people have
chosen it: most of the parts we want to print will fit
on this (but we do have a larger printer should we
need it). It’s small enough to fit on a shelf, meaning
it’s a great ‘home’ machine (for this author who
has separate workshop machines. If it was going
to be our only machine, I’m not sure I’d go with
this option).
Simple physics makes smaller printers more
forgiving as well. With everything closer together,
there can’t be any levering to apply large forces to
joints. If you don’t need a large printer, why
introduce these potential problems?

44
 LENS

Voron Trident
This has almost the same build volume as
the 2.4 (while the X and Y axes both go
between 250 and 350, the Z height is
limited to 250).
It’s less complex and cheaper to build
than the Voron 2.4, but also a bit less
feature packed. This makes it a sort of
middle ground printer. It’s at least as big as
most hobbyist machines and is still a fast,

“
capable machine, but it’s not quite the
same level of investment of time and
money as the Voron 2.4.
IT PRINTS
QUICKLY
AND HAS
SOME
Switchwire FEATURES
While not an easy or cheap printer to build by most standards,
the Switchwire is probably the easiest and cheapest of the YOU MAY
Voron machines.
This is the only Voron printer that’s not CoreXY – it’s CoreXZ NOT EXPECT
instead. This means that it looks a lot more like a Prusa MK3S or
Ender 3, with the bed sliding back and forwards under a frame. With IN A
the heavy bed sliding back and forth, you don’t get the same speed
advantages as you do with CoreXY, but you do get solid Voron design. CONSUMER
While the Switchwire can be built from scratch (as most Vorons
are), the design does lend itself to conversions. You can take a Prusa 3D PRINTER
MK3 apart for parts and there are community mods to convert an
The future
”
Ender 3 into a Switchwire-like machine.
We asked Maks about what
new models of Voron
machine we might see in the
future. While he didn’t give
anything away about new
printers, he did rule a couple
out. We won’t be seeing a
Voron Delta printer any time
soon, as the wasted Z height
means it’s not space-efficient
enough to make the Voron
grade. He also ruled out (for
the time being) a Voron resin
printer – the part availability
at the moment means it
doesn’t make sense.

45
[Link]
Next Gen 3D printing

FEATURE

BUILDING A
VORON 0
Getting a tiny printer for our workshop

Left
You’ll start with a
big box of screws,
nuts, and other
fixings, but it’ll be
empty by the time
you’ve finished

46
 LENS

B
uilding a Voron is an involved process. To be perfectly
honest, it was a lot more involved than we expected it to be.
That’s not to say it’s difficult (there’s plenty of information and
advice about what to do), but that it not only takes a lot of
time, it also takes quite a bit of brain power.
This starts right at the beginning. What printer are you
going to make? What options are you going to select? How are you going
to source the manufactured parts, and how are you going to get the
3D-printed parts?
We’ll ignore the first two questions there for now because we’ve

“
looked at them a bit already, but there are quite a few ways of getting
hold of the bits for Voron machines, and they can have quite a big impact
on how the build goes.
By far the simplest way of getting the bits is just to buy them THERE’S
pre-selected. You can get hardware kits with all the bits you need (usually
excluding the 3D-printed parts). If you’re starting from scratch, then this QUITE A BIT
is probably a good bet. If you’ve got some bits already lying around (such
as an old printer that can donate bits), you might be able to save money INVOLVED
by getting just the bits you need. If you don’t opt for this, you’ll need to
cut, drill, and tap quite a lot of extrusion yourself. IN JUST
One of the fiddlier tasks of building a Voron printer is crimping the
wires. You can out-source this by buying a wiring harness. Like plenty of GETTING
things, it’ll save you some time but cost you some money. Whether or
not this is a good trade-off is up to you. THE BITS
Note that most of the time, a kit will come with all of the electronics
other than a Raspberry Pi (though do check your exact kit to make sure it FOR YOUR
has what you’re expecting). You can use any model of Raspberry Pi board
(other than Pico or Pico W), but Raspberry Pi 1 or Zero will have VORON,
performance issues. If possible, a Raspberry Pi 3 or better is preferred.
All Voron printers are built with parts printed in ABS. You might BUT DON’T
wonder if you really need to do them, and if maybe you could use
another type of filament. There’s a detailed explanation on the website, LET IT PUT
but the short version is yes, you really do need to print them in ABS.
ABS isn’t the easiest material to print – it’s particularly sensitive to YOU OFF
chamber temperature and drafts. It is technically printable on most

”
consumer printers, but you will need at least an enclosure. This can
be as simple as a cardboard box over your printer. If you’re not used
to printing ABS, it’s worth factoring in a bit of time to get to grips with
the filament, particularly for the parts with fine detail (such as screw
threads or overhangs).
If you don’t already have a printer, or not one capable of printing ABS,
then you can get hold of a printed set of parts. There are some people
selling them, and there’s also a Print It Forward scheme where Voron
owners print parts for people looking to get started. Take a look at their
website: [Link].
Left
This is most of the As you can see, there’s quite a bit involved in just getting the bits for
printed parts for
a Voron 0.1 – yes,
your Voron, but don’t let it put you off. Remember that we said it was
they take a long involved but not excessively difficult? There’s plenty of guidance on the
time to print
Voron website (and people in the Discord channel willing to help). The
result of all this choice is a very flexible printer. There aren’t many models
of printer around that you can size to fit in the exact space you have, or
even that you can pick the exact colour you want them to come in.

47
[Link]
Next Gen 3D printing

FEATURE

Once you’ve sourced your parts, it’s time for the build. We’re not going
to go through how to build a Voron printer here, because the build guides
available on the website are excellent and would fill up the entire
magazine. However, here’s our experience of building a Voron 0.1.

FRAME
The first thing you’ll build is the mechanical assemble: the frame and
suchlike. Compared to most consumer printers, most Vorons have very
solid frames – a consequence of them being made of a lot of parts. This
means you can print fast, but it’s a slow build.
The Voron 0, like all the other Voron printers, is based around
aluminium extrusions with captive nuts. Building with these isn’t a
complex process, but can be fiddly. Expect to spend a lot of time
sliding nuts into slots and then attaching screws – or, if you’re not
careful, turning the extrusion over and sending a shower of nuts Above
across the workshop floor. You can pick which
hot end you want
in your extruder
ELECTRONICS
If you’ve opted to buy a wiring harness, then the electronics are pretty
straightforward. If you’re building it from scratch, it’s going to take some
time. You’ll need a crimping tool and some patience. Put on some music,
get a comfortable working environment, and it can be quite relaxing.
Once you have the correct wires, it’s just a case of plugging everything
in and keeping everything tidy and as tucked away as possible. There is
some mains wiring, but it’s fairly painless as it’s just getting power from
the socket to the power supply which will then output lower voltages to
the rest of the parts.

Above
As well as the
manual, there’s
guidance on
the website

Left
There’s a huge
range of
compatible driver
boards, including
this RP2040-
powered board
from Big Tree Tech

48
 LENS

Right
An online
configurator will
create a custom
bill of materials
for your printer

SOFTWARE
Voron printers use the Klipper software, which comes in two parts:

“
there’s the part that runs on the microcontroller board and the part
that runs on a Raspberry Pi. Voron printers support a wide range of
different microcontroller boards, but each one needs setting up a little
differently, so take a look at the manufacturer’s website for details of THE END
the firmware for them. This may be a download or it may require you
to compile it for yourself. RESULT
On the Raspberry Pi side, Klipper will do the actual control of the
printer, but you probably want something running on top of that to give it WILL BE A
a nice user interface. The main options are Fluid and Mainsail. They both
work well, but have different user interfaces. OctoPrint is another option 3D PRINTER
and while this isn’t recommended by Voron, it does work and gives you

Below
the benefit of the vast plug-in library. However, OctoPrint requires THAT
The Voron 0.1 significantly more CPU power and memory to keep up with a Voron
manual is 159
pages long, and
printer than the other options. OPERATES
the most detailed
3D printer manual
we’ve seen
TUNING BETTER
Some of the tuning of a Voron is the same sort of tuning that every
printer requires – getting the belt tension right, etc. However, the Klipper THAN ANY
firmware also enables a lot of software tuning, including input shaping.
We found this took a little time to get right, but it increased the quality of OTHER
our parts once we did.
HOBBYIST
ENJOY YOUR PRINTERS
Yes, there’s quite a lot involved in building a Voron machine, but the end MACHINE
result – if you follow the process carefully – will be a 3D printer that

”
operates better than any other hobbyist machine that we’re aware of.
They can print fast and produce high-quality parts. What’s more, As
you’ve lovingly sourced and assembled every part of it, you’re in a great
position to keep it running should any problems befall it.

49
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VORON

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Inventor Robot Beer

0

1 1

2040 W Roundup BBQ

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44%
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Wireless dev 0 1
0

Make your Turn a keg into

PICO W
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PROJECTS
Oct. 2022
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ar
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ie
thE
Build your projects Custom-made
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Sept. 2022

C H O C O L AT E S C A L P E L H I N G E S M U S I C
Aquaponics
Build an indoor salad farm
LASER
AlpenglowCUTTING
:
Pixels with
purpose
KNITTING WELDING DOGS

KEYBOARD LEGO SHADOWS BRICKS

[Link]
How I Made: Ceres-1 Portable

FEATURE

HOW
I By Brendan Charles

MADE C omputers used to be enormous

machines the size of entire
rooms, made exclusively for
governments and industry.
Then they became small enough
to serve as fixtures inside the home.
Eventually, somewhere in the 1980s, they
were small enough to become portable
devices that you could take with you nearly
anywhere. At this point, the possibilities of
productivity and creativity were practically
limitless. It’s this feeling of limitless potential
and portability that inspired me to create my

CERES-1
portable PC project.
Taking some mid-1980s portables as a
point of inspiration, I looked at two specific
models: the Dynamac and the Grid

PORTABLE
Compass. Both have a certain sense of rarity
and mystique to them (the Dynamac being a
limited release Macintosh conversion, and
the Compass being the computer of choice
A retro-inspired laptop for NASA engineers). The two models were
also aesthetically pleasing in both opened
and closed positions.
I originally wanted to use an old PC case
for the body of my computer, but quickly
realised that, with the price collectors pay for

52
 LENS

compact keyboard (for an iPad case) that I

thought might fit into the body of the PC. Above
The donor
When I finally received the Talking Whiz machine: a 1980s
these relics, it wasn’t going to fit my budget. Kid, it felt like Christmas morning. The first toy computer

So, I started looking at retro toy computers thing I did was open it up and (carefully) take
instead. Luckily, I discovered the Talking out all the original components. Then, I used
Whiz Kid made by VTech in 1987. It looked a Dremel to cut out any plastic pieces or
like an old computer, had plenty of room to parts that weren’t needed any more. This
fit a small screen, a Raspberry Pi, and other gave me a better idea of how much room I
components and, even better, it was only had for all my parts, and the exact size I had
about 30 bucks. So I bought the one in the to work with. I had two big revelations at
best condition for the best price, and moved this point: first, that I could use the original
on with my project. VTech speaker if I got an amplifier board for
While I waited for the body to ship, I my Raspberry Pi, and second, the iPad
began making mock-ups in
SketchUp. I got
measurements of the body
online, and started to plan
where the components were
“ THE FIRST THING I DID WAS
OPEN IT UP AND TAKE OUT ALL
going to go. There was a lot of
guesswork at this stage, but I
was comfortable enough to
commit to a 7-inch screen
made by GeeekPi for the
THE ORIGINAL COMPONENTS”
display. I also bought a

53
[Link]
How I Made: Ceres-1 Portable

FEATURE

Right
Mocking up my
design in CAD

keyboard I bought was not going to work. onto a PCB. I must have made every
If I wanted to plug the keyboard in while mistake you could possibly make. I soldered
using it, the wire was going to stick out diodes in the wrong direction, installed the
awkwardly from the side and would be too microcontroller upside-down, and bridged a
large for the case. couple of switch pins. Eventually, I was able
I now ran into my first major blocker of to troubleshoot all these issues away and,
the project: the keyboard. I spent months along the way, learned even more soldering
looking for the perfect keyboard to fit inside skills, like applying flux and desoldering
this small case, and finally came to one using a sucker. I also came to the realisation
daunting conclusion: I was going to have to that, if the keyboard was going to fit, I was
make a custom mechanical keyboard. going to need to add a layer of Plexiglas to
Having never soldered anything in my life, the bottom of the case and then drop the
this was an intimidating prospect, but was keyboard into it. Otherwise, the keyboard
looking like the best option. The smallest would be too high and the top of the case
keyboard I found was a PB Gherkin, a tiny wouldn’t close. After all this work, I had
30-key kit that fit perfectly in my case. I also made a fully functioning mechanical
had to buy an inexpensive soldering iron to keyboard, complete with custom keystrokes
Below get the job done. and macros to account for the small size.
Keyboards aren’t
complex, but do To construct the Gherkin, I had to solder My second biggest obstacle for the
involve a lot diodes, key switches, and a microcontroller project was the battery and power system.
of soldering
Not being an electrical engineer, some of the
inner workings of power draws, currents,
and amperage were lost on me, and
probably still are. However, using the many
resources online, I was able to learn that I
was going to need a few things to make this
setup work: a battery with a high enough
capacity to run the PC for a couple hours, a
power boost module to provide a stable
enough current at the right amperage, and
good wires to connect everything together.
Since my Raspberry Pi would be powering a
screen, keyboard, audio amplifier, and small
fan, it was really important to get the most

54
 LENS

Left
The new keyboard
and screen in place

power from my battery as possible. I chose to make a 5×10, but had to leave the
learned most of this information from top row of keys empty in order for
Adafruit and their many guides, and ended everything to fit in my case.
up buying the battery and wires directly After already having one under my belt,
from them. I purchased the power boost the second was much easier to assemble
module from another manufacturer called than the first. Though I’ll admit it was not
DFRobot, which was able to supply a little without its own challenges. This keyboard,
more power to my build. After
a bunch of trial runs and
refunding wires for slightly
better ones, I finally got my
entire setup to work solely off
“ I MUST HAVE
MADE EVERY
battery power.
As I progressed through the
build and started using the
keyboard more for trial runs,
I realised I could do a whole
MISTAKE”
lot better. Even though I
practically pulled my hair out
trying to figure out my Gherkin, the for example, used a different microcontroller
experience I got from building it made (an Arduino Micro) which was slightly more
me realise there were other, better difficult to get working than the last one (a
options. So, I went back to the chalkboard Teensy). When the keyboard was finally
and found another keyboard that worked complete, it fitted into the case much better,
even better. and I had an extra row of keys for the
The 5×5 keyboard was a modular project numbers at the top.
that allows you to connect PCBs of five As I was going down the checklist of
Above
The internals keys by five keys together, to make a features I wanted in the build, only one thing
before gutting configuration of 5×5, 5×10, or 5×15. So I was missing: I wanted to add a built-in

55
[Link]
How I Made: Ceres-1 Portable

FEATURE

to complete the project. So, unfortunately, I

had to settle on using a Bluetooth wireless
Left mouse when in the Raspberry Pi OS.
Paint hides a Now that I had solidified my complete
multitude of sins
setup, I dry-fitted my components into the
case to confirm that everything worked
properly. With the help of my 3D printer,
I made some brackets to fit the display
into, a clip for the ribbon cable, and a front
panel for the top of the case to leave room
cursor to the case. After doing some more for the keyboard and hold down the screen.
research and ordering some more parts, I It was pretty satisfying to see everything
found two modules that might work: a working and enclosed in the body of the PC
ThinkPad-style trackpoint (red ball) and a that I’d spent many months cutting and
trackball made by Pimoroni. While both cramming parts into.
made really good cursors when I tested The last major step in the completion of
them on a normal PC, I ran into problems my portable PC was painting it. I uninstalled
using them with my Raspberry Pi. The all my components once again and did a few
problem seemed to be in my power coats of spray paint, sanding in between
distribution. Since my each layer. I ended the process with a
Raspberry Pi was already couple of light coats of spray polyurethane

“ I FOUND TWO
powering so many different to seal everything up and protect from stains
things, it had reached its limit and smudges.
for what it could do with the Seeing my finished project boot up for the

MODULES THAT battery. I might have been

able to make it work if I
first time was a magical moment. There
were some flaws in my execution of the

MIGHT WORK”
upgraded the battery or build that stuck out to me, but probably
power boost module but, if weren’t so noticeable to everyone else. The
I’m being honest, I didn’t biggest issue was a small sealed-up hole on
have the know-how to pull it one side from where I was going to place
off, and I also really wanted the built-in trackball. On the whole though, I

Right
Old and new in one
hybrid build

56
 LENS

which, with a little research, I discovered

was an existing line of computers made by
ETH Zurich in 1987. While I wasn’t aware of
the existing models, the fact that these
computers existed in the same era I drew
inspiration from was kind of validating.
As happy as I was with the final
product, I was even happier
with all the skills I learned
along the way. Prior to the
project, I had never
touched a soldering iron,
made a custom keyboard,
or dealt with many of the Below
All finished and
components that I used in looking new, well,
this build. With the help of old. You get the idea
YouTube tutorials, message
boards, and different Discord
servers, I was able to navigate my way
through these unknowns and build myself a
cool PC that not only worked, but brought
back the nostalgic feeling of retro PCs that
inspired me.

Above
A layer of varnish
helps protect
the finish
was very happy with the way it turned out.
From this point on, I focused on the
software. I installed the system to boot
into RetroPie, where I also installed Kodi
for media, and a short cut to the PIXEL
desktop environment for coding and
word processing.
For a while, I didn’t know what to name
my portable computer, except I knew I
wanted it to have a space-related name. So,
I started looking at celestial bodies and
stopped on Ceres, a dwarf planet in our solar
system. It’s small, and so is my PC, and I
liked the wordplay of Ceres-1 (instead of
Series 1). So the Ceres-1 Portable was born,
and I’ve been having fun with it ever since.
A fun coincidence happened after I posted
my creation online – I received a comment
from someone asking if my project had
anything to do with the Ceres Workstation,

57
[Link]
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Carrie Sundra

Cn
INTERVIEW

HackSpace magazine meets…

Carrie Sundra
Art, LEDs, and a political message or two

C
ontrary to what the liars at
school told you all those
years ago, swearing is
big, clever, and funny. So,
when we saw the FUnicorn
display by Alpenglow
Industries, we just had to talk to its
creator. What does it mean? Why make
everything so pointlessly beautiful?
What’s all this about wanting people to
vote anyway, and why does it matter
if more people get into electronics?
These are the questions that we put to
Carrie Sundra.

58
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LENS

nd
[Link]
Left
Carrie Sundra,
of Alpenglow
Industries

59
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Carrie Sundra

Cn
INTERVIEW

HackSpace Morning Carrie! So who are being the only technical engineer in like people like you in the space and doing
you, and what do you do with Alpenglow? the room most of the time, to being in a cool things.
woman-dominated industry where We’re also doing live streams. We’re a
Carrie Sundra I’m Carrie Sundra, and I something like 95% of the other business little bit on a hiatus right now – we’re
have a very small company called owners and customers were women. going to start back up again in late
Alpenglow Industries. I am an engineer by There was a little bit of whiplash there September, early October – but we had
training. I went to Harvey Mudd College but, like, I remembered how to be human almost a year of them. I’m not super-
and graduated with a degree in again. I dyed yarn for a few years, but I comfortable on camera, so I started it just
engineering. At Harvey Mudd, they only didn’t really love it enough to build that to kind of challenge myself. It’s like
give out general engineering degrees, so I up to what it needed to be. I kind of got anything else: to get more comfortable at
have a pretty broad educational sucked into a crazy startup that a friend it, you just need to practise. So I started
background in, not only several different of mine was doing and did that for a
types of engineering disciplines, but also little while.
science in general, because we had to all But really, I did miss engineering. I
take classes in biology, chemistry, physics, missed building things. I missed
computer science, math, and engineering electronics and that challenge. I really
as part of a core curriculum. liked laying out circuit boards – there’s a
Mudd has a philosophy that engineers fun puzzle aspect to it that my brain really
and scientists should know a lot about a enjoys. And so, I started doing some
wide variety of subjects, and specialise consulting, and I also started to make the
later if they choose to, which has set me tools that I had always wanted to have as a
up very well for the path that I took. I yarn dyer. And so Alpenglow first started
ended up working pretty much as an out as Alpenglow Yarn… I was dyeing yarn
electrical engineer in the UAV [Unmanned with natural dyes. Alpenglow Yarn turned
Aerial Vehicle] industry for a dozen years into making tools for other yarn dyers, and
back in its infancy in the late 1990s and now Alpenglow Yarn is a DPA under
early 2000s. We were doing things with Alpenglow Industries, which, you know,
electronics that would horrify people – we has two pretty different product lines. One
were taking pressure sensors and milling is the yarn tools that are for other yarn
them down in order to shave grams off of businesses; the other is maker electronics:
them, because electronics were still really helpful little tools for engineers and
big. And weight is really important in tiny makers. What I’m really passionate about
aeroplanes, and we didn’t have the type of is just getting more people into electronics
lithium-ion batteries that are common and playing with circuits, and hopefully
now. We were using nickel cadmium just helping to create a world where the
batteries and lithiums were, like, just next woman electrical engineer won’t be
coming out. the only woman in the room.
So anyway, it taught me a lot about
doing stuff with minimal resources. At HS Your website says that you support
that point in time, autonomous flying other women and marginalised folks?
aeroplanes were still just kind of a dream How do you do that?
instead of something that you can buy off
Amazon. After maybe a dozen years, I was CS In a variety of different ways. And
super-burned out. And so, I just decided to we’re always thinking about how we can
dye yarn for a little while. do better, because there’s no perfection,
there’s no magic recipe for this, right?
HS That’s an absolutely dreamy You just you do the best you can. The
career move. first thing is that visibility is super-
important. If women see other women in
CS I was really into knitting and the space, that is inspiring – I know that
crocheting and yarn and fibre, so I decided I have personally been inspired by other
to do that. I went from being the only women in electronics like Limor Fried. It
woman in the room many times, and makes it feel more possible when you see

60
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live-streaming, putting together soldering
kits, because we had a bunch of kits
around the shop that were languishing,
and I was like, ‘Let’s just start soldering
them up live and see what happens.’ And
then we started reaching out to some
other makers who were making cool kits
and having them on. So we really try to
reach out and feature a lot of diverse
people in tech on the live streams, and
give other people that visibility too.
The two other things that are the
biggest points, in my mind at least, are to
just be welcoming, and not questioning
and not assuming of other people’s skill
sets, or lack thereof.
When people ask questions, just answer
them as best you can, from wherever they
seem to be coming from. I really do try to
share my experience and my knowledge
as much as I can, whether that’s online
on Twitter, having conversations with
And then the other thing is the whole
issue of gatekeeping and jargon. When
you’re new to anything, even if it’s
knitting, right… I could go off about
knitting. And I could use a whole bunch of
words, and you would be like, ‘I have no
idea what you just said.’ That’s not very
LENS

other people there, or on the live streams,

or on various Discord channels, just trying
to help other people out in the way that
I can.

nd [Link]
Left
Carrie used cursive
writing for the swearing,
so anyone under 40
won’t be able to read it

61
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Carrie Sundra

Cn
INTERVIEW

helpful if I’m trying to get you excited by that? I’m not familiar with that term.’ to play with and experiment with. There
about knitting! Normalising that kind of attitude, and are people doing some really awesome
So, I really tried to simplify my having people actually converse with things with just colourful LEDs. Like
language and make it a little bit more you is key to being welcoming. Deborah [of Geek Mom Projects] – she
relatable. And when I do use jargon, I They do say that there is no such thing makes all sorts of super-cool wearables
try to explain what the heck it is I’m as a silly question, but that is a two-way that are all LED-based. Jason Coon is
talking about. I think a lot of the time process, and it requires the person who is doing these amazing Fibonacci displays
people tend to be kind of insecure and being asked to be on board with that. that you could just happily look at
use jargon to make themselves sound for hours.
accomplished. It’s a real gatekeeper kind HS You do a lovely line in cute circuit I think beauty is one more way that
of thing, like, ‘Oh well, if you don’t know boards. But why? Why make them pretty, electronics can speak to us, and get
what I’m talking about, then you don’t when most other makers just make others interested in them.
deserve to be in this space.’ I really want them functional? If you just look at a circuit board for a
to do away with that whole attitude. computer, a motherboard or something,
There are plenty of times that people CS It’s a good question. Why make art yeah, it looks really cool to a super-
use jargon that I don’t know about. And of any type, right? Because you like it! hardcore electronics nerd. And that is
I used to freeze and pretend that I knew Because other people like it, because beautiful in its own way.
what they were talking about. But now I it’s fun to look at that kind of thing. But for somebody without a lot of
just come out with: ‘What do you mean Anything with LEDs and colours is fun experience, who’s not already really into

Below
Circuitboards
don’t have to be
boring green

62
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it, you know, it’s kind of like, ‘Oh, that
looks like a lot of chips and stuff and it’s
kind of boring, right?’
If you can make something a little bit
more interesting, then I think there’s an
extra hook of making people want to
learn about it, and just getting a little bit
of that interest and just making it more
engaging to people who will want to
interact with your thing.
It opens a bigger door towards having
CS Yeah, I got a lot of experience in
jobs with doing that. And especially at
that time it was such low volumes of
anything; we were doing anything from
single wacky prototypes of these small
aeroplanes to making ten demos to get
interest in them. Even the first production
quantities that I worked on were just a
few hundred a month, so nothing in a
grand consumer electronics context. It
was all really low volume, small batch
class was that you had to make ten of
something. And I think that that class
taught me more about manufacturing
LENS

metallurgy. The project at the end of the

and what that is actually like than any

other class for sure.

HS What’s your favourite thing that

you’ve made?

CS I think it’s the FUnicorn. It’s a nice

d
somebody maybe take another step and stuff. That’s what really most of my little tidy package of my personality. I
learn a little bit more about it. experience is in, and that’s what I’m initially made it for a white elephant gift
pretty good at: figuring out how to make exchange at a place that I used to work at.
HS Have you had to teach yourself a lot hundreds or low thousands of something, Everybody brings the present, you put
of industrial processes to step up from and still make the numbers work out. it in a big pile, you all take numbers, the

n
hobbyist to manufacturer, or did you It’s definitely not something that I first person picks a present, but then the
already have a pretty solid grounding in learned in school, though I did do this one second person has the option to either
that from making stuff that flies? great class called manufacturing and pick a new present or to steal the first

63
[Link]
 ar
Carrie Sundra

Cn
INTERVIEW

add other sensors to it. I had one that started with the message: the
a graphic designer draw me message was first, and then the board
like a nice unicorn, because design was second.
I love making cool-looking
circuit boards, but I HS That that brings us on to your ‘I
personally don’t possess voted’ badge. Is there a place for politics
artistic drawing skills. in tech?
So, I am always looking
to collaborate with others CS I definitely think so. It’s really hard for
that can help beautify me to think about politics as a separate
the boards. thing from life. Because at least right
Of course, when you now, in the US, you know, there are a lot
have this big giant copper of things that are happening to take away
patch on the circuit board, the rights. When that starts happening, that
obvious thing to do is make it a is my life, and my well-being and that of
capacitive touch button. So I added my friends that you’re talking about, and
that, made it Arduino-compatible, put a that’s no longer politics: that is a human
shield footprint on the back… so you can rights issue.
add stuff that’s I2C, and UART SPI is kind I feel pretty strongly in standing up
Above
The FUterus: circuit design as a form of protest of shared with programming and stuff. for bodily autonomy and freedom of
But anyway, a lot of the digital I/O just expression and equal treatment for
person’s present. By the time you get to are not available because they are busy everyone, and providing equal
the last person, it’s just all sorts of blinking lights. But we did do things like opportunities for everyone.
stealing, going back and forth. And you know, when Covid started, we made [With the ‘I voted’ badges] we encourage
nobody knows who brought any of this social distancing version with an absolutely everybody to get out and vote.
the presents. ultrasonic sensor, so you walk in front of Even if you’re not voting the same way
So you have your typical bunch of it and it flashes. we are, you still should get out and vote,
smart alecs who will bring maybe sex Doing stuff like that is really fun. So because that’s the way our country
toys, funny inappropriate things; then many people I’ve talked to are like, ‘Well, decides things. But the second part of
other people would bring stuff like bottles you know, I have an Arduino, but I just that is that I also use it as an opportunity
of booze. And toys – toys were also very don’t know what to do with it’ or, ‘Yeah, to bring light to the fact that, even within
popular because this was like a bunch of I’ve heard about Arduino. I just don’t the United States, there are still some
engineering nerds. really get them, like what is it useful very unequal voting rights. I grew up in
I wanted to actually make something for?’ When you show somebody the the Caribbean on the Island of St John in
for it one year. And I don’t know if there FUnicorn, it immediately gets a laugh; a US territory called the US Virgin
was an actual specific event that this was it provides some context. We have Islands. And a lot of people who are
a response to, but wanted to make a one that is hooked up to a Raspberry stateside don’t realise that people in
funny way of saying F-you, and then it Pi with the AIY Google kit. It’s a voice- territories have practically no
just grew from there. I wanted to make activated FUnicorn, which is probably my Congressional representation. They do
something that lights up and it says favourite version. have Congressional representatives, but
F-you, and it’s kind of a surprise, right? they can’t vote on legislation.
And I thought, well, it should be classy, HS Don’t you have another similar design People who live in US territories also
though. And so I decided that it would be you’re working on? cannot vote for president – you are not
in cursive script – because who doesn’t allowed. People tend to kind of write this
want to manually lay out 120 0603 LEDs CS Yes! Right now the FUterus is half-ish off, as it’s only a small number of people
in cursive? designed in KiCad, so it’s not super- – the old ‘it doesn’t apply to me’ kind of
And then I decided to add the unicorn, far yet. And we’re pretty busy getting thing. Oh, well, maybe those people
because unicorns are super-classy. And ready for our first in-person shows and aren’t citizens, or have a different class
what if it was solid gold? So yeah, it conventions that are coming up in a few of citizenship, right? And that’s really
started with that. weeks. So, I probably won’t have time to not the case. Any US citizen, no matter
The first prototypes were pretty simple, bring it out for, like, about another month where you were born, no matter you
but I really liked it, so I set about making or so. It’s probably going to be a relatively where you live, if you move to a territory,
it Arduino-compatible so that you could simple, no-frills blinky thing. That was you would be stripped of your right to

64
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vote for president – it doesn’t matter if
you were born there or not; if you live
there, you can’t vote for president. And
that’s pretty messed up. I would like to
see that change.
So yeah, anytime that there is a
national election, I try to talk about that a
little bit. And then, of course, the other
thing about the territories is that it is
mostly people of colour there, and so
there are absolutely partisan efforts going
HS Do you find that your products
reach people who don’t, maybe, have an
educational background with electronics?

CS I do find that people who don’t know

anything about electronics or soldering, or
whatever, will see some of our boards and
see some of our kits and they’ll be like, ‘Oh,
that’s kind of cool.’ And that’s exactly what
we’re trying to do.
I think there’s also this image of who
any time you want. Any old time with any
kind of background, and you don’t need
calculus in order to get started with it,
you know.
That’s what we’re trying to do. We’re
trying to approach electronics from this
perspective that it’s fun and cool and
interesting. And it’s just like any other
LENS

skill: if you wanted to start trying to build

your own workbench or something
like that, and you didn’t have any

d
on to block people from having you have to be in order to successfully woodworking skills, you would probably
representation in Congress, because if use electronics, or work with electronics, look online for some videos, start
you add a few more Senate seats, you will or understand electronics. You have to learning about it, and maybe talk to
probably get Democrats in there. have gone to school for it; you have had some friends who have done something
to have played with electronics kits since similar. Electronics is exactly the same.

n
HS That is baffling. you were a kid in order to really be into It is a skill that anybody can pick up a
it or understand it. And that’s really not little bit of, and then dive as deep into as
CS I think one of my favourite ways that the case – you can get into electronics they want.
I’ve heard it in a short little bite was that
we’re still on democracy 1.0 and the rest
of the world is at least on 2.0. Some are
Below
on 4.0. We’re like the Windows NT, or One of the other
strings to Carrie’s
something, of democracy. bow: Alpenglow
Yarn’s Skein Twister
HS How did you come up with the
name Alpenglow?

CS I picked the name Alpenglow back

when I was dyeing yarn. Another thing
that I’m pretty into doing is climbing.
I really love being in the mountains,
and the Sierra Nevada in California are
probably my favourite mountains in
the world.
There’s this amazing light effect
that happens in the mountains called
alpenglow, and it happens at sunrise and
sunset, when you have like these really
long, reddish wavelengths of light. It just
lights up the entire landscape in a very
different way. And especially when it hits
the Yosemite granite, it lights up orange,
like it’s on fire. You have this grey granite
that suddenly just has all of this colour
and it’s literally glowing.
It’s just such a fantastic and beautiful
thing. One of the things that I was trying
to do with my business at the time was to
get a little bit more flexibility so that I
could actually take trips and go to the
mountains. And here I was, like, creating
these amazing colours on yarn.

65
[Link]
Improviser’s Toolbox: Bricks

FEATURE

BRICKS
Favoured for its durability, the humble brick is an ideal creative material as
well as an obvious construction choice, finds Rosie Hattersley

T
he walls of Jericho were skyscraper: the Empire State Building is made from
made of brick, which gives 10 million bricks.
you some idea of just how That quite so many brick buildings, from so many
long we’ve been making use civilisations and climate types, are still standing
of this invaluable building attests to their basic excellence for construction and
material. While those city walls beyond. Although we think of bricks as being clay-
Rosie Hattersley famously came tumbling down 9000 years ago, based, the basic building block variety, the common
thanks to either an earthquake or the vibrations brick, is often made from concrete; facing bricks, on
@RosieHattersley of the displeased Israelites’ horns, brick-based the other hand, earn plaudits for their attractiveness,
settlements from this period are still standing aesthetically evoking a particular architectural period
Rosie Hattersley writes
tech, craft, and life in the Jericho region. The Egyptians were also or style. Cost-wise, there’s a big difference, which
hacks and tweets brickmakers and builders, depending on the sun is why it pays to plan a project in advance and work
@RosieHattersley. to dry and harden them, a technique echoed out which bricks will be on show and how many of
contemporaneously in Mexico and central America these you need. Bricks may have replaced stone
for building adobe homes. China began firing bricks as the building material of choice because of their
nearly 6500 years ago, while the Romans used relative affordability and ease of transportation, but
portable kilns for drying bricks, bringing the art a healthy black market for stolen bricks, as well as
of brickmaking with them as their empire spread money to be made from selling popular brick types,
across Europe. The introduction of brickmaking emphasises the relativity of this comparison.
Reusing existing bricks is not only ecologically
sound, but is fairly straightforward. You can use
“Reusing existing bricks is not only wire-cutters to cut apart bricks that are currently
ecologically sound, but is fairly cemented together, and sand off any unwanted

straightforward”
mortar. Preparation advice for readying bricks
for new uses can be found online and in DIY
manuals:[Link]/CleanBricks.
Finally, should you find yourself in possession of a
factories in the late 1880s helped cement (sorry!) solitary spare brick and are at a loss as to how to use
their place in our homebuilding dreams, while their it, there’s also plenty of inspiration to be had in this
robustness also helped usher in the age of the amusing blog post: [Link]/SingleBrick.

66
 LENS

Left
This stylish coffee
table was made in
two distinct parts,
from bricks and
cement blocks

BRICK
COFFEE TABLE
S
ome people pour their energies and from cement blocks clad with hexagonal cement tiles. Project Maker
craftsmanship into woodworking or Next, a two-deck strip of bricks is created and added Stu Crompton
painting; Stu Crompton’s passion is either side of the metal bars that give the table rigidity
Project Link
bricks. Along with his detailed YouTube – a clever idea since the cement in the bricks’ holes [Link]/BrickTable
videos showing how to create stunning helps hold things tight. Having smoothed everything
walls, walkways, and patios is this gem showing how down, Stu added a layer of bricks before cladding the
to use a combination of bricks, stones, and tiles to exterior in a combination of stone, tiles, and facing
construct a coffee table around an aluminium frame. bricks. The result shows off the textures of each
A wall of engineering bricks with holes in them are material, with no fancy glazes or finishes. A good
used to form a solid table end; the other is made honest job.

67
[Link]
Improviser’s Toolbox: Bricks

FEATURE

HOUSE
BRICK FORGE
J
Project Maker oleo makes handcrafted kitchen attach to a right-angle curved piece of pipe, twisting
joleothetall utensils, tools, and knives at his forge, it into place and then tapping it to make it very snug.
and thoughtfully shared a detailed Drill several holes in the elbow piece, then firmly
Project Link
[Link]/BrickForge Instructable on how to create your attach another length of pipe to act as the fuel feed.
own small forge using a handful of Slide the pipe into position, with one end vertical in
spare bricks as the basis. While all sorts of alarm the middle of the forge. Pack the structure with sand
bells might ring when considering just how wrong and tamp it down. Add a grate with another brick
things could go in tinder-dry conditions, his detailed layer to keep it in place. Gaffer-tape the blower end
and well-illustrated instructions are reassuringly of a small bellows to the air input pipe. Stack twigs
thorough. Start with a small frame-like layout, leaving and branches into a tepee shape and light it, using
room in the middle of one side for the fuel pipe. Build the bellows to make everything hotter once the fire is
an overlocking wall of bricks three or four bricks high. established. Ensure you keep a metal bucket of water
Cut a length of pipe the same height as the wall, to hand in case anything burns that shouldn’t.

Right
Forges have been
built for millennia, so
needn’t be complex

68
 LENS

ROOT CELLAR
I
f you have a few dozen old bricks, with sites such as GroCycle offering useful guides Project Maker
you’ll find plenty of uses for them and advice on climate and what you might store. Such GroCycle
in the garden: walls for raised stores need only be as large as a shed and can be
Project Link
beds, practical walkways, and constructed from a combination of brick, timber, rocks, [Link]/RootCellar
small structures, such as a cold and old tyres. Once half-covered with earth and grass,
frame to help kick-start your growing season they become a fairly subtle addition to the garden.
([Link]/ColdFrame). Given concerns about
food security and gloomy prospects for next year’s
crops, though, it might be better to save what you
can from this year’s garden harvest and store it over
winter to tide you through. There’s a fine tradition of
this in the US, where root cellars keep vegetables
cool and dry for months. The Stone Structures
website ([Link]) celebrates some of
these historic buildings, and also features ideas to
create your own by banking up earth either side of a
rounded tunnel, reminiscent of a WWII air raid shelter.
Homesteaders have recently embraced the concept,

BUG HOTEL
Above
Like a wine cellar,
but for vegetables

A
s the long hot summer gives way to Project Maker
autumn, it’s a great time to scoop up RSPB
assorted bits of garden debris that
Project Link
could be corralled into something [Link]/BugHotel
definite. Twigs, tree stumps, leaves,
shards of terracotta flowerpot, pallets and planking
and, of course, a few bricks with holes in are ideal
materials from which to assemble a welcoming home
to everyday bugs and beetles. The RSPB’s useful
video guide advises that a bug hotel needs to be built
on level ground and should be no more than a metre
tall, with pallets and other stabilising materials used to
ensure it won’t collapse on an unsuspecting toad. If
you don’t have bricks with holes, place two half bricks
a small distance apart to form a well-fortified home
for your local wildlife. A golden rule is to site your bug
hotel well away from your vegetable patch (if you have Left
A quick and easy
one). Wildflowers planted close to the structure will project to bring life
help attract butterflies, bees, and other pollinators. to your garden

69
[Link]
3 ISSUES FOR £10
+
FREE BOOK

[Link]/hsbook
Subscribe to The MagPi, HackSpace magazine, or Custom PC. Your first three issues for £10, then our great value rolling subscription
afterwards. Includes a free voucher for one of five fantastic books at [Link]/collections/latest-bookazines
UK only. Free delivery on everything.
FORGE
HACK MAKE BUILD CREATE
Improve your skills, learn something new, or just have fun
tinkering – we hope you enjoy these hand-picked projects

PG

76 PG
72
RASPBERRY PI
ROBOTICS SCHOOL OF
Build your first bot
MAKING
Start your journey to craftsmanship
PG with these essential skills
80

CNC
72 Laser cutting

SCISSORS
Making the most of
your vinyl cutter PG

92
PG

86
PG
RELAY 98

AQUAPONICS
RACE SOFT START
Steampunk lights with Ease into machining with
Grow salad in your fish tank clack-y logic a gentler beginning

[Link]
Cutting around with a K40 and Inkscape

SCHOOL OF MAKING

Cutting around with

a K40 and Inkscape
Find out how to cut an even border around irregular
shapes using Inkscape and a K40 laser

I
nkscape and K40 Whisperer are a popular At the top of the work area, you should see the fill
choice for makers working with a K40 laser toolbar, giving you options for ‘fill by’, ‘threshold’,
cutter. It’s pretty easy to create designs that can ‘grow/shrink by’, and ‘close gaps’. These options let
cut or engrave shapes on a K40 laser, but one you control how the Flood Fill works. You can ignore
thing that isn’t obvious is how to create a close- ‘fill by’ and ‘threshold’ for now if you’re working with a
fitting border around an irregular shape. This vector image on a plain document, as any value should
Dr Andrew Lewis article shows you a quick way to generate a perfect be fine. The most important options are ‘grow/shrink
border with just a few mouse clicks. by’ and ‘close gaps’. The ‘grow/shrink by’ setting
Dr Andrew Lewis is a
specialist fabricator
Let’s assume that you want to cut out some wall causes the Flood Fill to either overfill the area, or leave
and maker, and is the decorations for a playroom, or some shaped drinks a blank gap where it detects an edge. Set this to a
owner of the Andrew coasters. You’ve sketched the design on paper and suitable size (roughly -6 mm is a good starting point).
Lewis Workshop.
scanned it into your computer. You’ve figured out that Note that you’re going to be creating a filled area inside
you can import the scanned image into Inkscape, trace the box you’ve drawn, with the image inside the box
the bitmap to create a vector image, colour the path acting like a resist. That means the ‘grow/shrink by’
Below black, and set it to raster engrave in K40 Whisperer. value will be a negative number, because you want to
In this image, you can
see the Flood Fill icon is You decide that you want to cut around the outlines create a border outside the image and inside the box. If
selected, and the Flood of the design leaving a generous border, so that your your image has lots of spiky areas or small edge gaps,
Fill menu is visible at
the top of the screen. image really stands out on the wall. What do you do you can make the Flood Fill skip over these by altering
The green box drawn
around the robot can be
now? You could always try to manually draw a path the value of the ‘close gaps’ option from ‘none’ to
deleted now that the fill to create the border, but it can be very tricky to keep ‘small’, ‘medium’, or ‘large’.
operation is complete,
and the outer red an even distance from the edges if you’re trying to do Click inside the box you drew to fill the area using
border can be deleted things freehand, and it takes quite a long time to go the Flood Fill Tool. You should see a red border appear
once the fill path has
been broken apart. This around several different images. around the inside of the box and the outside of your
will leave just the robot Thankfully, there is a quick (if slightly obtuse) way to image. You can now delete the box.
image with a contoured
border of 6 mm create the border. Start by drawing a box around the You are going to remove the outside border that
object you want to cut out. followed the contours of the box, leaving just the
The size of the box isn’t inside border that follows the edge of the image. You
critical, as long as it’s larger do this by selecting the fill object you just created
than the object you want to and selecting ‘break apart’ from the path menu. You
cut out, including the size of should now be able to select the inner and outer
the border that you want to borders independently, so just select the outer border
add. It’s best to set the box and delete it.
to have no fill, so that it’s If everything has gone well, you should now have
easier to see what you’re a neatly shaped red cutting path around your image.
doing in the next steps. Select the image and the path and group them
Select the Flood Fill tool, together for convenience. Go into your document
and then set the stroke properties, resize the page to match the content, save
colour to red (#ff0000), the document as an SVG file, and import it into K40
while leaving the fill unset. Whisperer as usual.

72
 FORGE

Above
Cutting around the edge of an engraved image
looks a little bit strange if you don’t leave a
border. A few millimetres of blank space make
a laser-cut image look more professional

73
[Link]
 THE OFFICIAL
Raspberry Pi
Beginner’s Guide
The only guide you
need to get started
with Raspberry Pi
Inside:
Now • Learn how to set up your Raspberry Pi,
includes install an operating system, and start using it
Scratch 3  • Follow step-by-step guides to code your
projects!
own animations and games, using both the
Scratch 3 and Python languages
• Create amazing projects by connecting
electronic components to Raspberry Pi’s
GPIO pins

Plus much, much more!

£10 with FREE

worldwide delivery

Buy online: [Link]/BGbook

[Link]
 Build your own robot: CamJam EduKit #3

TUTORIAL

BUILD YOUR
OWN ROBOT:
CAMJAM
EDUKIT #3
Robots are a great way to learn physical computing and lots of
fun too. Don’t know where to start? This is the tutorial for you

R
aspberry Pi computers have often in time. We’re going to start with some basic
been the controller of choice for robot components and then build on that. Of interest to
builders. Its small size, combined with us are the two motors (which will drive the robot),
the power of Raspberry Pi OS, makes it an ideal the big grippy wheels, and the castor ball, which
choice for simple ‘buggy’ projects and complex provides the rear ‘wheel’. You may be wondering
machine-learning autonomous builds alike. By what we’re going to mount these on. Well, remove
combining Raspberry Pi with a battery, you can all the components and safely store them, because
make untethered robots that can be controlled we’re going to use the box itself as the chassis!
by Bluetooth, wireless LAN, or radio. There are
literally thousands of options out there, so getting
PJ Evans started can be intimidating. We’ve hand-picked
MAKER

Prepare the brains!

PJ is a writer,
some great beginner kits, and will walk you
through them over the next few issues, starting
02 Our robot, unsurprisingly, is going to be
software engineer,
with the CamJam EduKit #3. controlled by a Raspberry Pi 4. The kit works with
and general
tinkerer. He any Raspberry Pi model, so a Zero W would also
believes no robot is work well. We recommend using Raspberry Pi OS
finished until it has Lite, but everything will work with the ‘regular’ OS
googly eyes.
Get to know your kit
[Link]/ 01 The CamJam EduKit #3 Robotics kit
too. Using Raspberry Pi Imager ([Link]/imager),
make sure you configure anything you need to
mrpjevans
contains everything you need to build your first access the OS, such as wireless LAN and SSH,
robot. Inside, you’ll find all kinds of bits and bobs. using the advanced menu. Now write the image to
Don’t be put off, we’ll go through all of these the SD card and use it to boot your Raspberry Pi.
Log in and ensure everything is up-to-date with
the following command:

sudo apt -y update && sudo apt -y upgrade

You’ll Need
Motor mounting
> CamJam EduKit #3 03 We’re going to begin with the two yellow
[Link]/edukit3
motors that will drive the wheels. Take the now-
> 4 × AA batteries empty box, then put aside the blue cover. Flip
> USB power bank the larger white portion over so you’re looking
(optional)
You can use the battery pack and Raspberry Pi 4 as ‘ballast’
at the base. At one of the shorter ends (doesn’t
at the rear. Add a power bank for true remote computing! matter which), attach the two motors on either

76
 FORGE

THE MAGPI

This tutorial
is from in The
MagPi, the official
The motors are Raspberry Pi
controlled by this magazine. Each
Raspberry Pi 4 issue includes a
using a custom huge variety of
projects, tutorials,
controller HAT Two motors power the robot tips and tricks to
forward, directly driving help you get the
these chunky wheels most out of your
Raspberry Pi.
Find out more at
[Link]
side using the supplied sticky pads. A good tip motors to be controllable, while powered by a
is to trim one down to just the size of the yellow separate power source. Looking at the underside of
section, so we have a spare sticky for the next part. the board, you’ll see three green connectors. You
The yellow base should fit into the corner on each need to connect one motor to the left connector,
side, running parallel with the longer box edge, so and the other to the right. Finally, connect the Top Tip
the black part and the wires are pointing inward, battery pack to the centre connector. Take your
and one white shaft is hanging over the edge of Make a chassis
the box.
 he wrong wiring could
T Why not try and

damage your Raspberry Pi

build your own
chassis? Maybe
Add some steering
04 To help guide your little robot on its way, a
you can upscale
some junk and
castor ball has been supplied. This makes handling time with this, as the wrong wiring could damage make it mobile?
left and right movements much easier by being your Raspberry Pi. Check the diagram for the
able to turn in any direction. You’ll need another correct wiring.
sticky pad (hopefully you’ve got a spare from the
previous step). Place the sticky pad on the base of
the castor ball holder, and mount it on the box base
Connect the controller
on the other side from the motors, in the middle,
a little way in from the edge. Place the ball in it, if
06 If you haven’t already, shut down your
not already there. Now, carefully make a small hole Raspberry Pi 4 and disconnect it from any power.
next to each motor and feed the wires through. You Place your Raspberry Pi 4 in the box towards
can now flip the box over. the rear. Later on, you can secure it with sticky
pads, but it’s best to wait until you’re happy
with the placement and everything has been
tested. Connect the controller to the GPIO, being
Wiring time
05 Motors require a lot more current than
very careful to place it on the correct pins. The
controller board should point inward to the
computers are normally able to safely handle. To Raspberry Pi PCB and, viewing with the USB and
solve this problem, CamJam has provided a special Ethernet ports on the right, be placed on the
HAT add-on for your Raspberry Pi that allows the leftmost pins (pin 1 onwards).

77
[Link]
Build your own robot: CamJam EduKit #3

TUTORIAL

Wire up the control

board as shown
here. This is the view
looking down

Top Tip
Zero friendly
This kit works with
any Raspberry
Pi model, even Empowering your robot Power up
the original. Try 07 The supplied battery pack will only serve
08 If you haven’t already, insert four AA
a Raspberry Pi
the two motors, so you need to have a think about batteries into the battery pack and double-check
Zero W which has
much lower power how your Raspberry Pi 4 will be powered. If you all your wiring from the previous step. Toggle the
requirements. want to power it from the mains, then the range of power switch to ‘on’. Absolutely nothing should
your new robotic pal will be limited by the length happen. If anything does, such as a moving motor,
of cable you can supply. For a true free-range switch back to ‘off’, and check all the wiring.
experience, a decent power bank, such as the type Carefully place the battery box and Raspberry Pi 4
Make sure that that are used to charge phones, is what you need. into the chassis box, placing them at the rear, to
the motors are
positioned as shown, Make sure it’s capable of supplying enough current provide some stability. Now, add your power source
and that the wheels
– a capable output of 3 A will be plenty. If you’re for your Raspberry Pi 4 and power up. Don’t put the
can attach without
scraping the box using a Raspberry Pi Zero W, 1 A is enough. wheels on just yet – it’s a lot easier to fix problems
if your robot cannot move!

Test drive
09 Let’s make sure Raspberry Pi can control the
motors. Have a look at the test_motors.py listing.
These few lines will simply spin up the motors for
a second. It uses the GPIO Zero library, which has
dedicated commands for controlling this robot, and
comes pre-installed with Raspberry Pi OS.
Enter the code using Thonny (or your favourite
editor) and save it in your home directory as
test_motors.py. Now run it:

python3 ~/test_motors.py

78
 FORGE

Did both motors spin? If so, you’re good to carry

on. Otherwise, go back through the steps and
test_motors.py DOWNLOAD
check everything again. THE FULL CODE:
> Language: Python 3 [Link]/testmotorspy

Back and forth

10 The next step is to check the motors 001. # CamJam EduKit 3 - Robotics
are correctly wired for backwards and forwards 002. # Motor Test Code
movement. Create a new file in the home directory 003.
called test_direction.py, and enter the code from 004. import time # Import the Time library
the test_direction.py listing. This will move the 005. from gpiozero import CamJamKitRobot # Import the CamJam
robot forwards, backwards, then left and right. GPIO Zero Library
Once you’ve got the code ready, run it with: 006.
007. robot = CamJamKitRobot()
python3 ~/test_direction.py 008.
009. # Turn the motors on
If you can’t quite see what’s going on, try 010. [Link]()
attaching the wheels and see your robot move for 011.
the first time! Feel free to play with the code and 012. # Wait for 1 seconds
013. [Link](1)

You can control the speed

014.
015. # Turn the motors off
016. [Link]()
try different timings. Just keep an eye on any wires
powering Raspberry Pi 4.

test_direction.py DOWNLOAD
THE FULL CODE:
Make a maze!
11 Try out your new robot, and give yourself a > Language: Python 3 [Link]/testdirectionpy
coding challenge by drawing a maze for the robot
to navigate. Create a new Python file, just like 001. # CamJam EduKit 3 - Robotics
before, and use the forward, backward, left, and 002. # Driving and Turning
right commands to create a series of instructions 003.
that will drive the robot around the maze. You can 004. import time # Import the Time library
control the speed of the robot by adding a value 005. from gpiozero import CamJamKitRobot # Import the CamJam
between 0 and 1 after each command. For example, GPIO Zero Library
[Link](0.5) will start the robot moving 006.
forward at half-speed. You may find this useful to 007. robot = CamJamKitRobot()
stop skidding on hard floors. 008.
009. [Link]()
010. [Link](1) # Pause for 1 second
011.
Next month 012. [Link]()
12 Congratulations! You now have a small 013. [Link](1)
robot pal. If you’d like to find out what else we can 014.
do with the CamJam robotics kit, make sure you 015. [Link]()
get next month’s issue, where we will have a look 016. [Link](0.5) # Pause for half a second
at those other components we put aside. Soon, our 017.
robot will be able to detect obstacles and follow 018. [Link]()
lines all on its own. Plus, we’ll go beyond the kit 019. [Link](0.5)
and look at how you can customise your robot to 020.
do even more. Thanks to CamJam for providing 021. [Link]()
assistance with this tutorial!

79
[Link]
Vinyl cutting, beyond the basics!

TUTORIAL

Vinyl cutting,
beyond the basics!
Building on Part 1, let’s look at expanding our repertoire of approaches
and materials to get most use from our vinyl cutter

Jo Hinchliffe
@concreted0g

Jo Hinchliffe is a
constant tinkerer and
is passionate about all
things DIY space. He
loves designing and
scratch-building both
model and high-power
rockets, and releases the
designs and components
as open-source. He also
has a shed full of lathes
and milling machines
and CNC kit!

I
n the last issue, we looked at some basic you can create a stencil design and cut this into regular
and intermediate techniques using the vinyl sticky-back vinyl, apply the vinyl to the target object
cutter, which gave us the skills to make after weeding, and spray-paint through it. But it really
multi-layer vinyl stickers, heat transfer vinyl isn’t just limited to paint! An interesting application of
designs, and more. In this second part, we are this idea is creating a stencil to then use etchants
going to look at a few ideas building on those through to etch your design into other materials.
techniques, to hopefully show that a small vinyl cutter In Figure 2 we created a gear in Inkscape using the
Figure 1 is a valuable tool in your hacker lair, not just for crafting built-in gear generator extension. We then added a
Using multiple and scrap-booking. thick stroke to the generated gear path using the Fill
techniques and
approaches on the One of the most prevalent ideas, beyond simply and Stroke tools; finally, we converted it with Stroke to
vinyl cutter, you can making stickers, is using the vinyl cutter to create Path to give us the cut lines we needed. We then sent
make accurate parts
for projects some kind of stencil object. In its most simple form, the job to our Silhouette Cameo cutter, weeded the

80
 FORGE

resulting stencil, and then

applied the vinyl mask to a Figure 2
Etching a gear design into
piece of copper-clad PCB copper using a vinyl mask
board. We then used and ferric chloride
some (quite old and
previously used) ferric chloride solution to etch away
the exposed part of the gear stencil. This worked
pretty well, and we can imagine this being a useful
approach for etching into copper or brass, or even
other metals with a correctly identified etchant.
Another great stencil approach is to create guides or
masks for etching glass. There are a couple of
techniques, both of which are capable of excellent online, and this can be applied over a stencil to etch
results. Both the approaches are a simple case of away a layer of glass. There are numerous brands, but Figure 3
A glass jar is
creating a vinyl mask or stencil and applying it to your the one we have used is Armour Etch. masked with a vinyl
glassware. This can be a great way of creating a nice cut and the Armour
Etch is applied in an
unique design on a specific bought piece of glassware, ETCH A SKETCH even coat
or it can be a fun way to make a cool object from a Having cut a vinyl stencil and transferred it to our
used glass food jar. If you have access to sand-blasting glassware, we need to apply a small amount of the
equipment, the vinyl will resist the sand-blasting etchant evenly over the exposed glass sections YOU’LL NEED
medium really well. It actually bounces off the vinyl and (Figure 3). It should be obvious, but the etchant is
Access to a vinyl
causes very little wear, but will quickly etch any extremely dangerous if it comes into contact with skin cutter
exposed area through the stencil. If, however, you or, of course, someone’s eyes. We, as a minimum,
don’t have a sand-blasting cabinet, sand-blasting gun wore a pair of rubber gloves and some PPE glasses as Sticky-back vinyl

and a compressor, there is a simpler way! You can protection, and we also worked inside a sink with the Heat transfer vinyl
purchase small tubs of chemical etchant for glass idea that any wayward etchant could then be rinsed Transfer tape
away and diluted with copious amounts of water (as
the instructions on the etchant stated). We applied the Copper adhesive
Figure 4 tape
You can get excellent results using this method
etchant with a brush, and took care not to allow the
to upcycle used glass jars brush to flick at the end of a stroke, again to minimise Aluminium
adhesive tape
risk. The etchant needs to be applied pretty evenly and
then left to stand for around three minutes. Again, as a Thin card stock
safety precaution, we didn't leave this to stand Felt Ripstop nylon
unattended. Once the three minutes were up, we or other thin fabric
rinsed the etchant away and then peeled our vinyl cut for experimenting

off the glass to reveal our design. It’s really pleasing to A squeegee or
see the results and it’s easy to get a high-quality etch a small piece of
(Figure 4). It’s a perfect way to upcycle old glassware. stiff plastic
Earlier, we discussed etching copper, but there are A weeding tool
ways to cut very thin copper directly on the vinyl cutter. Something like
a craft knife or
A popular choice for this is to find ‘slug deterrent’ tape, fine tweezers or a
which is an adhesive copper tape that you are dental pick

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Vinyl cutting, beyond the basics!

TUTORIAL

copper tape vinyl cut and added to

flexible plastic sheet to create
flexible circuits; another area in
which it excels is for cutting
custom antenna designs. As a
torture test in cutting small things,
we cut this tiny 5.8GHz dipole
design (Figure 5).
In Figure 6, you can see a
project we built using vinyl-cut
copper tape which was added to
some laser-cut plywood
components. This is a simple
design for a switchable magnetic
LED light. The base of the design
has two plywood sides and a
centrepiece into which are glued a
couple of magnets. These are just
installed so you can attach the little
light to a fridge, or perhaps a
whiteboard. Before the base
components are glued together,

”
vinyl-cut copper tape pieces are
stuck onto the inside surfaces. Eventually, when
You need to adjust your assembled, a CP2032 battery will be inserted between
these legs and will make contact with these copper
settings and blade depth
tape sections. The arm of the light is a single piece of
for a thinner material than

”
3 mm plywood and it sits on a pivot (made from a nut
regular vinyl and bolt); this piece also has copper tape either side.
On the end of the arm, an LED is soldered onto the
ends of the copper tape. When we first tried doing
supposed to wrap around a plant pot, as an area a slug this, we wondered if the adhesive would melt or burn
will not crawl over. Adhesive copper tape is sold in a when soldering but, if you are pretty quick at soldering,
variety of widths, and we found 25 mm tape was the copper tape is completely unharmed. One side of
available very cheaply in a local garden centre – the copper tape system is designed so that it only
alternatively, we bought some wider 50 mm copper touches the lower sections of tape when the arm is
tape online. As this is a tape with a backing sheet, it bent over and pointing downwards (Figure 7).
uses the same method of cutting as regular vinyl; with Adhesive copper tape isn’t the only metal tape in
the 25 mm-wide tape, you might have to be careful to town – aluminium tape is pretty common to find in a
align the tape well on the carrier mat to make sure
your cut paths are on target. One difference is that
copper tape is very thin, so you need to adjust your
Figure 5 settings and blade depth for a thinner material than
A tiny dipole antenna
cut into adhesive regular vinyl. As discussed in the last issue, we
copper tape is about drive our Silhouette Cameo Mk1 cutter directly
at the limit of tiny
accurate work for from Inkscape using the open-source extension:
the Silhouette
Cameo Mk1
[Link]/InkscapeSilhouette. If you are running this
system as well, we found that the preset for ‘Thin
Figure 6
Combining some Media’ was a good start point for thin metal tapes. Of
laser-cut components course, copper tape makes for a nice decorative effect,
and some vinyl-cut
conductive copper so you can use it to create regular sticker-type designs.
tape to make an But, as copper is a great conductor of electricity, you
interesting, small,
switchable light can perhaps get a little more creative. We’ve seen

82
 FORGE

QUICK TIP
If you don’t have
access to a laser
cutter, the LED lamp
could easily be made
using a hand drill and
lollipop sticks.

range of sizes. Similar to the copper tape, it’s often

thinner than standard vinyls. An interesting application
for both copper and aluminium tapes is to create Figure 7
The complete
tiny gasket components for small/model engines assembled magnet
base LED light
(Figure 8). A friend was interested in this for a small
diesel engine for a vintage model aeroplane, and so Figure 8
A tiny gasket created
some experiments were undertaken. Cutting small from aluminium tape
designs in the both the copper and aluminium tapes
Figure 9
was simple and straightforward, although it required Using a 3D-printed
a steady hand to weed some of the tiny hole centres. pen-holding adapter
to turn the vinyl cutter
We then needed to remove the adhesive from the into a pen plotter
back of the gasket. Trying a few different approaches,
we settled on using a small bath of isopropyl alcohol 3D-printable adaptors for many different types of pen.
and a cotton bud to gently rub away the adhesive. Or indeed, modelling a simple pen-holding adapter is
Whilst this all takes a little time and patience, it’s a quite a nice small project to apply your CAD modelling
brilliant use for a vinyl cutter, making parts that would skills to. We have an adapter which accepts Fineliner-
be very difficult to hand-cut. style pens and has a simple bolt through the side
that clamps a pen in position. It’s fun to play with
PLOTTING ALTERNATIVES decorative ideas when set up as a pen plotter, but it
It’s fair to say that a vinyl cutter shares a lot of can also be useful when making projects to be able to
design ideas with a pen plotter, with the X and Y axis draw/indicate fold lines, or other construction marks,
movement and short raising Z axis. Indeed, Silhouette onto parts you are cutting (Figure 9).
and other companies often sell pen sets that are made Cutting fabric is another option for vinyl cutters.
to fit in the blade holder to enable them to act as a pen There are heaps of examples online of people using
plotter. This is a great idea as, with some forethought, their cutters to cut all manner of fabrics. Our first
you can create designs that you draw, and then you experiment in cutting fabric was cutting super-fine,
can exchange the tool back to a cutting blade to cut lightweight ripstop nylons. It’s exactly the same
out the design. However, the pen attachments are technique as any other sheet material. We attached
often quite expensive and single-use. Looking around the fabric to the carrier mat and loaded it into the
sites such as GrabCAD or Thingiverse, you can find machine. It cuts incredibly well and accurately.

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TUTORIAL

Obviously, as this is a cut with a blade, the edge of example, we downloaded a template to create
the ripstop is prone to fraying and, indeed, with very platonic solid objects in card from a fabulous website,
small designs cut in very fine ripstop, you run the risk [Link]/en. This is an excellent, free-to-
of pulling and warping the design simply by removing use website that has parametric generator tools for all
it from the carrier mat. With care, it's possible to kinds of card boxes and enclosures. You can select
create excellent results, but we have to confess our the box or shape you are interested in, add your own
go-to tool for cutting ripstop nylon is our CNC diode dimensions and parameters, and then you can
laser as this approach cuts and seals the edge in one download the flattened design image in a range of
go. Beyond ripstop nylon, the other material we have formats. These formats include DXF and PDF but,
good success with on the vinyl cutter is sheet felt most importantly, also include SVG, the native file
material. This material isn’t woven, so is very tolerant type of Inkscape projects. For this example, we opted
of cut edges and often doesn’t need hemming. to download the ‘Platonic solids‘ examples as an SVG.
Figure 11
Cutting and scoring Medium cutting speed with a higher pressure setting Opening the download in Inkscape, there are plans for
card using different
settings for different
works well and you can create perfectly clean cuts in lots of platonic solids, and we decided to cut and
paths in the design felt sheets (Figure 10). assemble the dodecahedron. The downloaded SVG is
One idea we love, that completely editable, so we can copy out the main
is made quite simple dodecahedron cut and fold lines, and put it in a fresh
MAT REFRESH when driving a vinyl document without any of the instructional text that is
cutter directly from included in the original file. Templatemaker puts cut
If you use your carrier mat regularly, as we have in
these articles, you’ll notice that the sticky section Inkscape, is that of lines as a pink/red stroke line, and the fold lines as a
loses its adhesion over time, as it picks up lint and allocating different blue line. The different line types are separate
dust. Sometimes we even have encouraged this by cutting settings for selectable objects in the design, so simply selecting
sticking the carrier mat repeatedly on and off a fleece different parts of a one to send to the Silhouette cutter and then the
jumper to reduce the tack. This can be really useful design. One area for other, each with different settings, is straightforward.
when you want to cut fine materials like tissue paper,
which this is really useful We mounted up an A4 sheet of thin cardstock to our
where too high an adhesion on the carrier usually
means you ruin the workpiece trying to remove it. is cutting and scoring carrier mat, and sent the cut lines through using the
Often though, you’ll want to refresh the carrier mat card (Figure 11). These ‘Cardstock 40-60 lb 90 g’ preset, and then we found
adhesion. You can often do this by washing the mat techniques open up a that a light scoreline could be made in the card if we
gently in some soapy water – this removes the dust great amount of options used the ‘Thin Media’ preset that uses a pressure of
and lint but, after hanging out to dry, shouldn’t have of things to make, whilst 2 and a speed of 10. The score lines mean that you
affected the adhesive. Eventually, you will find that
giving an amazing level can create perfectly crisp angles when folding the
you wear down the adhesive on your cutting mat.
Some people consider them a disposable item, but of accuracy when tabs and sections. The challenges of folding and
it’s really easy to rejuvenate them. Give them a wash compared to printing and gluing this all together aside, it means you are set up
and then mask-off the non sticky margins. A fine spray hand-cutting. As an to assemble a really accurate model (Figure 12).
of spray-mount adhesive over the sheet will return
the sheet to its full tackiness. Definitely cheaper, and
better than replacing them.
Figure 10
Cutting fabrics on
a vinyl cutter can
work really well

84
 FORGE

dimensions, as it fits into and onto two other tubes, so

it’s a good project for the vinyl cutter. It has a tab along
one side to glue when the card is rolled into the cone,
so we wanted to score that tab to give us an accurate
tab line to aim for. When the rocket is complete and in
flight, at one point of the flight an ejection charge (a
small explosion) occurs inside this cone and, as it’s just
very thin card, it can be useful to add some flame-
resistant material to the inside surface. Therefore, we
can use part of the same Inkscape design to cut a
copper tape panel to fit inside the cone. Along the long
curved edge, we have a curved tab that we hand-cut
into tabbed sections, and these form the joint inside
the body of the rocket tube. We are still prototyping
the design and are experimenting with different
numbers of tabs. We don’t want to weaken the base
of these tabs with a score line, therefore we used our
pen holder to quickly add a marked line to the design.
The trick with all of this is to make sure you never
TAKE TO THE SKIES unload the carrier mat when swapping between jobs
We’ve outlined a lot of different ideas and approaches on the main piece, as you will lose the accurate zero/
for a range of materials over the two articles, and it can start point which allows all the jobs to be accurately
get really interesting when you start to combine carried out on the part.
techniques and materials. As a final example of the We hope, in this two-part miniseries, that we’ve
versatility of the vinyl cutter, we used it to make a card shown just how versatile a vinyl cutter can be and
component for a lightweight model rocket build that, perhaps, they have a broader range of uses than
(Figure 1). The design of the rocket called for a previously considered. From crafting custom
transitional cone at the rear of the airframe, which gets celebration cards, to creating super-lightweight and
referred to as a ‘boat tail’. You can see an example of a accurate engineering components, a small vinyl cutter
complete version of this part made from black card in offers a lot of bang for the buck, and also doesn’t take
Figure 13. It needed to be reasonably precise in up masses of space in your hackspace area.

Figure 12
The complete
and assembled
dodecahedron model

Figure 13
Using multiple
techniques to create
a card and copper
component that
will be rolled into a
conical transition
part for a rocket

85
[Link]
Portable aquaculture

TUTORIAL

Portable
aquaculture
Create a tiny fish-fuelled farm at home

Y
ou’ve probably heard of
hydroponics, where plants are
grown without soil and are fed
with a nutrient-rich liquid.
Aquaponics uses a similar set of
technologies, but relies more on fish
Dr Andrew Lewis and natural processes than chemicals to create the
nutrient-rich liquid in which your plants will grow. An
Dr Andrew Lewis is a aquaponic setup takes months to establish properly,
specialist fabricator
and maker, and is the and you’ll need to spend time looking after the fish
owner of the Andrew and plants while the system stabilises. In the end,
Lewis Workshop.
you’ll get a tank filled with healthy fish, and a regular
crop of edibles from your farm.
Hydroponic farming is amazing, and certain crops
lend themselves particularly well to the hydroponic
process. Plants like lettuce, for example, can be
ready to harvest in just a few weeks using a
hydroponic setup. Unfortunately, hydroponic growing
can feel very sterile.
Aquaponics takes the technology of hydroponic
growing, and puts animals and animal waste back
into the mix. You’re obviously
not going to find a wetsuit big
Left enough for a cow, but fish
The cluttered look
of this tropical tank make a good alternative
is intentional. The livestock for the aquatic
ornaments provide
surface area for farmyard. In a commercial
bacterial growth and
cover to stop fish
setting, the livestock can be
getting stressed. Even part of the harvest, either as a
the poster backdrop
serves a purpose, foodstuff (like trout) or a
preventing the glass commodity for sale (like koi
sides from appearing
like a mirror. Without carp). In the home setting, the
backdrops like this, fish are more likely to be for
fish feel stressed and
will become sick aesthetic purposes. The fact

86
 WARNING ! FORGE

Water and electricity do not mix well. You need to site any
non-waterproof electrical equipment well away from your
tanks, where they cannot be affected by water. Sensors
and float switches should only ever need to run on very
low-voltage, low-current lines. Never bring high-voltage
cables or equipment near to water tanks unless they have
been specifically designed for that purpose.

Left
This diagram shows
water flow around
a typical aquaponic
system. The large
tank houses plants
like lettuce and
tomato, potted
in growth media,
and supported in
floating trays. The
shallower tray is
filled with clay
pebbles and can be
used for bringing
on plant cuttings,
micro-greens, or
leaf salads

that fish are often kept as pets makes it very easy The fish tank should provide an environment
to find the parts necessary to set up your own that fish will find comfortable, so start by adding a
aquaponic system. base layer of gravel around 10 cm deep. This layer
Regardless of scale, all aquaponic systems are of gravel will catch the waste from the fish, and
made up of the same general parts. You will have an will harbour useful bacteria that help neutralise
enclosure for the fish, deep trays or propagators for harmful chemicals.
plants, filters, air pumps, and water pumps.
WATER FLOWS DOWN
QUICK TIP

”
Next, you will add a heater (optional) and a pump
(necessary). The pump circulates water around the Aquaponics can be
Regardless of scale, all tanks. You’ll need to think very carefully about how tricky to get right,
and getting things
aquaponic systems are water flows around the system, because a blocked
wrong can harm
pipe or a leak shouldn’t be able to drain the system.
made up of the same the live fish, as

”
With a little bit of careful planning, it’s possible to set well as the plants.
general parts up a system where the fish tanks and growing tanks On a large-scale
sit on completely different levels, yet fail gracefully aquaponic setup, you
in the event of a problem. The water volume and have some time to
For a small-scale system, you can start with a height to which the water is being pumped in an correct any problems
with the system, but
regular fish tank, and add extra tanks to aquaponic system are usually more than in a simple
a small-scale tank is
accommodate the plants. Planting tanks should be aquarium. If your growing tanks are on a different much less forgiving.
black plastic if possible, as light can affect root level to your fish tank, you will need to choose a It’s important to stay
growth and the growth of algae in the water. pump with a sufficient ‘head’ to pump the water on top of things.

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Right
The equipment
for monitoring an
aquaponic setup
is very simple.
Most aquarium
components are
designed to function
autonomously, and
the only action that
a monitoring system
might need to take
is to cut power to a
faulty or misbehaving
system. A float switch
triggers when water
rises or falls to a
certain level, and a
simple relay board, or
solid-state relay, can
be used to cut power
to prevent flooding
if an outlet becomes
blocked. Temperature
can be monitored
using a thermistor and
an Arduino, set to turn
off the heater relay in
the event of a
thermal runaway

Below
Monitoring things
like pH (potential of
hydrogen), TDS (total
dissolved solids), and
oxygen saturation
are all relatively
easy to do with the
correct sensor. This
pH sensor can be
connected to the
analogue input of an
Arduino or Raspberry
Pi Pico, and used to
report the acidity or
alkalinity of your water
samples. A TDS (total
dissolved solids) filter
can be connected
in the same way.
Unfortunately, a
constant need for
maintenance and
recalibration means
that leaving these
sensors in situ isn’t
possible. They need to
be removed, cleaned,
and stored correctly
between each use.
Some sensors (like
oxygen saturation
sensors) use a
solution that’s held in
place by an osmotic
barrier, and over time
those sensors will
become less effective.
This doesn’t mean
that you shouldn’t
bother probing your
system to make sure
everything is OK; it
just means that you
need to think about
exposing the sensors
as briefly as possible

88
 FORGE

AIR SUPPLY
Choosing the right air pump for your tank can make
life much more pleasant. Most air pumps use a rubber
diaphragm that gets vibrated by an electromagnet to
generate airflow. These pumps are a proven technology
and work well, but they are noisy. More modern
alternatives with a piezoelectric diaphragm require less
power and are almost silent in operation. Piezoelectric
diaphragm pumps tend to be less powerful, but they
are very cheap to buy. It’s perfectly fine to use multiple
small pumps to increase O2 saturation, and it will
probably be much quieter than the alternatives. Larger
air pumps use rotary compression or cylinders to
generate air. Unfortunately, these pumps are usually
loud and, for a home aquaponic setup, the permanent
drone of a large pump is too much.

up into the tanks. A tank

heater is necessary if you
want to keep tropical fish,
but is also a great addition
from a hydroponics
perspective. Many plants grow better in warm water, plants that you’re growing. There are very few
with a temperature of 25 °C being optimal for crops considerations, other than making sure that the
like lettuce. water is free of pests and algae. In aquaponics, you
Adding an air pump is not strictly necessary, but it need to make sure that the system is growing the
serves two useful purposes that make it worth right bacteria to break down harmful waste into safer
including. Agitating the water in the tank and nutrients. This process is known as ‘cycling the
increasing the levels of oxygen in the water benefits tank’, and involves seeding and growing the bacteria
fish and plants, and it isn’t uncommon to see slowly (typically without any fish), and introducing
multiple pumps in a single system. Fish enjoy the waste that they can feed on. A popular method of
bubbles, and it’s nice to have an air-brick, even just starting a tank cycle involves adding a starter
for aesthetic purposes. bacteria from a bottle with some fish food. A few Above
After your tank has
In a hydroponics setup, you work with pure water hardy fish can be added after several days. It takes cycled, you can add
and add the nutrients you need to maintain the around six weeks to cycle a system properly, but in more fish and
plants. Fish like the
zebra danio, harlequin
rasbora, and the platy
MEDIA MOGUL (shown in the photo)
are great starter
Plants need support when they’re growing. In nature, fish, because they’re
relatively hardy,
soil supports the roots of a plant and provides nutrients. friendly, and pretty.
In aquaponics, nutrients are provided through liquid A bristlenose catfish
alone, and support for the plant is provided by a or clown loach are
also a great choice,
growth medium. Clay pellets are a popular choice for because they’re algae
a growth medium, as are rockwool and cocoa coir. It’s eaters and help keep
even possible to use regular gravel or grit as a growth the tank clean
medium, although its non-porous nature means that it Left
holds less nutrients than other media. It’s important to Perlite and
note that many of these growth media are light enough vermiculite are often
touted as a suitable
to float on the surface of water (at least initially). Floating growth medium, but
chunks of growth medium can play havoc with the the lightweight, small
plumbing and mechanical parts of an aquaponic system. pieces of rock have a
tendency to escape
Make sure that you use mesh filters and pots to contain from their pots and
the growth medium as much as possible. can cause blockages
in the pipework of
aquaponic systems

89
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TUTORIAL

rushing through the process will just end with sick or

dead fish and plants. It takes time for bacteria to
grow inside gravel and filters, and it’s a process that
FULLY FILTERED can’t be hurried.
You’re probably thinking by now that all of these
Commercial aquaponic systems use biofilters and
mechanical filters to process water. Mechanical filters
chemical levels, water flows, and temperatures
use artificial meshes or layers of different-sized gravel seem ripe for automated monitoring – and you’re
to filter out objects from the water. Pieces of plant root largely right. Mechanical aspects of the aquaponic
or leaves, dead fish, bits of grit, and food don’t do your system can be monitored and controlled using a
pump or pipework any good, and a simple mesh or foam microcontroller. Pump control, temperature
filter will remove all of these to keep your water clear. control, water level, and flow monitoring are all
Some pumps even have a mechanical filter included
ripe targets for the maker to work on, and systems
in their design. In commercial systems, a biofilter is an
essential component, but in a home system it’s possible for this have been discussed in previous articles
Above (Desktop Hydroponics, HackSpace #20, July 2019,
Not everything in your to integrate the functionality of the filter into the
aquarium has to be aquarium and grow tanks. [Link]/issue20). However, there are some
a fish. Once the tank A biofilter is just a container filled with a porous
has settled for a few
caveats that need to be understood before you get
months, you can also growth medium that beneficial bacteria can use to too invested in setting up an all singing and dancing
add crustaceans like grow in. The more bacteria you have, the more quickly
bamboo fan shrimp to control system. Most importantly, fish are living
they can process waste. Clay pebbles, gravel, and
scavenge waste from creatures and are very sensitive to certain metals
the water. Snails and plastic bio-balls in your tanks can all foster colonies of
crabs are less suitable good bacteria, making a dedicated filter unnecessary. and oxides. Keep that in mind when you are
choices because they choosing components that will be in contact with
tend to either escape
or eat their tank mates water. Plastic is the material of choice.

90
 FORGE

Low potassium is easy to spot because your plants QUICK TIP

will have brownish marks on the leaves, and the
TEST AND TRACE Moss balls and
leaves will be curling. You can fix this by dropping aquatic plants are
Regular water testing is important, but your plants attractive tank
some blackened banana peel into your biofilter. These are a great indicator if something goes wrong in the features that add
symptoms and their fixes are common to many plants aquaponic system. The nutrients your plant needs are interest for fish and
and growth systems, and a quick search of Google usually present in the food that you feed to your fish, help keep algae
will tell you everything you need to know about but sometimes those nutrients need to be processed down, and their
by bacteria before your plants can digest them. If presence won’t
identifying deficiencies in plant nutrition.
your plants are looking pale and aren’t growing well, affect aquaponic
Aquaponics is a huge subject, and trying to fit then you might not have enough nitrogen in your plant growth much.
everything you need to know into a few pages is tank. Assuming that you have a well-cycled system,
almost impossible. Hopefully, this article has shown boosting nitrogen is as simple as adding more fish to
how to set up a basic aquaponic system and populate produce more waste.
it with fish and plants. You’ve also seen how Excess nitrogen is a more serious matter, and its
effects include rapid algae growth, stressed fish,
technology can be used to monitor things like pH and
and low oxygen levels. If not treated quickly, excess
TDS, and how it’s possible to use the plants and fish
nitrogen can kill everything in your tank. The quickest
themselves to diagnose problems in the system. treatment for this is changing out a high percentage
Most importantly, you’ve seen that setting up and of the water for fresh (dechlorinated) water, while
maintaining an aquaponic tank setup is not something preventing the problem from recurring by adding
you can do quickly, or without thought for the more plants.
livestock in the system.

Left
You don’t have to
grow from seed to
get a good harvest.
Multiple cuttings from
a single plant can be
rooted in a shallow
tray (or even a mug
of water) and then
transferred into your
aquaponic system

91
[Link]
Getting hands-on with relays

TUTORIAL

Getting hands-on
with relays
Find out all about these electromagnetic
switching devices and use them in circuits

I
f you’ve dabbled with electronics, you’ll wasn’t the first device to act as a switch, and that
know that a transistor is an electronic brings us to the relay, which is our subject here. To
switch. What we mean by that is that it get our terminology right, it’s not considered a fully
can turn one electronic circuit on and off electronic component, as transistors and valves are.
by the presence or absence of a voltage in Instead, it’s an electromagnetic device. So, although
another circuit. You might have done just it allows one electrical circuit to control another, just
Mike Bedford that, for example, to control a high-voltage or high- like a transistor, it does involve mechanics as well as
current device from a Raspberry Pi or Arduino. But electrics. Here, we’ll look at how relays work, we’ll
Despite loving all things the transistor wasn’t the first electronic switch. That show you how to put them through their paces on
digital, Mike admits to
being a bit of a Luddite,
honour belongs to the valve, aka a tube, as we saw a breadboard, we’ll see how to make a steampunk-
vinyl records and all. in HackSpace #48 ([Link]/issue48) when we esque relay-based contraption, and we’ll investigate
delved into these curious glowing components of how they still have a place today – for example, for
old. Well, we now have to admit that even the valve interfacing to single-board computers.

INTRODUCING THE RELAY

So, how does a relay work? It’s not difficult to
understand, especially if we start with a diagram
(Figure 1), which is a lot easier to follow than the
ones that claim to explain how transistors work,
holes migrating across P-N junctions and all. In the
diagram, let’s start by thinking about the part labelled
‘electromagnet’, which is a coil of wire wound
around an iron core. When an electrical current is
applied to the coil, the electromagnet becomes
magnetic, and will attract iron objects towards
it. In fact, there’s an iron object just above the
electromagnet, the part that’s labelled ‘armature’,
so it will be attracted to the electromagnet.
Because the armature is angled and pivoted, this
movement causes it to move the metallic strip
Figure 1
Understanding shown as ‘movable common contact’, causing it to
how a relay works disengage from the normally closed contact (‘NC’)
is a lot easier than
getting your head and engage with the normally open contact (‘NO’).
around moving It will, therefore, have broken one electrical circuit,
holes and electrons
in transistors the one between the common and normally closed

92
 FORGE

Figure 2
We trust you’ll be
able to see that this
circuit will act as an
oscillator if the red
capacitor is missing.
And all you have to
know to figure out
how the capacitor
slows it down is that
the capacitor takes
a while to charge up,
so the relay will take a
while to switch once a
voltage is applied to it

contacts, and made another electrical circuit, the one you can buy these for about £5 each. The type we
between the common and normally open contacts. used was part number G2R-1 5DC from Omron.
It is, therefore, an electromechanical switch. And Unfortunately, the pins on relays aren’t usually
when the electrical current is removed from the coil, spaced in multiples of 0.1”, so you won’t be able to
the spring connected to the armature will return the plug them into a breadboard directly. Instead, you
relay to its initial position. need to solder some lengths of solid conductor
We’ve looked at a hook-up wires to each of

”
relay with one normally the pins first.
open and one normally If you’re using
When an electrical current
closed contact – these batteries as your supply,
are called SPDT (single is applied to the coil, the you’ll probably end up
pole, double throw) electromagnet with 6 V, so put a silicon

”
relays, but there are diode in series with the
others. An SPST (single becomes magnetic positive lead of the
pole, single throw) relay batteries to drop it to
only has the normally about 5 V. Pretty much
open contact, while a DPDT (double pole, any diode will work. Our first circuit (Figure 2)
double throw) relay has two completely couldn’t be simpler, so how about building it on a
independent sets of common, normally open, and breadboard, omitting the capacitor shown in red?
normally closed contacts. The box with a diagonal line is the relay coil,
Here, we’re going to be concentrating on SPDT although sometimes you’ll see it depicted in a way
relays, which are the most common, and which, of that looks more coil-like. The circuit to the coil
course, can also be used as SPST relays. passes through the normally closed contact so,
when you first apply power, the coil will be
SIMPLE RELAY CIRCUITS energised. This will cause the normally closed
Despite being basic electromagnetic devices, relays contact to open, which will remove the supply from
can perform most switching tasks. In fact, the coil, causing the normally closed circuit to close
computers have been made from relays. So, to again. This will continue ad infinitum, so the circuit
become familiar with relay circuits, we’re going to acts as an oscillator, with the normally open contact
suggest a couple of things you could try out on a being available to drive other components, say an
breadboard. We’re using a relay with a 5 V coil, and LED, as shown in the diagram. However, there’s

93
[Link]
Getting hands-on with relays

TUTORIAL

nothing controlling the speed at which the relay it’s an AND gate, which means the LED will be lit
Above turns on and off, other than its mechanical only if both push-buttons are pressed at the same
Because relays
don’t have contacts characteristics; the buzzing sound that you’ll hear as time. Since gates like these are some of the most
with 0.1˝ spacing, the contacts open and close suggest a frequency of, basic building blocks in even complicated digital
breadboard circuits
aren’t going to look perhaps, 100Hz. You can’t increase the frequency, circuits, the fact that computers have been built
too smart, but at although you can reduce it. To do that, wire in the from relays might not seem so surprising after all.
least they work
red capacitor, being careful to connect the negative
pin on the capacitor (assuming it’s an electrolytic A STEAMPUNK CONTRAPTION
capacitor) to the side of the coil connected to As we’ll see later, relays are alive and well today and
negative supply. A value of 1000 μF would be a good you might well find them useful in your projects.
place to start, but feel free to experiment – the larger However, it has to be admitted that they do have a
the value, the slower it’ll be. You should now hear somewhat retro look and feel to them. So, how
the relay clicking away rather than buzzing, and the about making a curious contraption that relies on
LED will turn on and off sufficiently slowly that it their quirkiness and wouldn’t look amiss adorning
won’t appear to be continuously lit. your coffee table (though other family members may
We’re not going to describe the workings of our disagree)? The device and circuit diagram (Figure 4)
second circuit (Figure 3) in detail, because you’ll are shown overleaf. It takes our single relay oscillator
easily be able to figure out how it works. However, circuit a bit further, or four relays further to be more

94
 FORGE

accurate. Because we’re aiming for a retro look, circuit. If that box is metal, as we recommend, make
we’re using tiny MES light bulbs instead of LEDs. sure the holes are a lot bigger in diameter than the
You might not be able to find 5 V bulbs, but 6 V bulbs pins and, to provide further protection against shorts, Figure 3
will be bright enough with a 5 V supply. use heat-shrink tubing to insulate the pins. All you AND gates made
from relays work in
Understanding how it works is straightforward have to do now is fix the relays to the box. You could much the same way
once it’s running, although you might puzzle over use epoxy resin, but not if you want to use the as ones made from
transistors, but they’re
what happens when you first turn it on. The answer relays for something else later, so we used a sticky a lot slower
is that, because of slight differences in the exact pad under each relay. Apart from that advice, and Below
values of the capacitors, one of the relays will turn recommending you use sockets for the light bulbs, This relay-based AND
gate lights the LED
on slightly before any others, and from then on it’s we suggest you peruse the photos and have fun only when both inputs
plain sailing. exercising your own creativity. Oh, and with all those are present. Logic
gates are the building
Wiring up the circuit is fairly trivial; making it a relays and old-fashioned light bulbs drawing a high blocks of all digital
work of art, somewhat less so. We chose to give it a current, batteries might not last too long. So, D cells circuitry, so you could
make a computer
steampunk look, so if you follow our lead, you’ll be would be better than AAs (but remember that using relays

” Solder directly to the

pins, and pass the pins
through holes in the top
surface of the box
”
spending most of your time and effort in making it
look the part. We’ll mostly leave that to you, but
here are a few things you need to know. We used
the type of relay that’s mounted on a base with a
transparent cover. You can get relays that are totally
encased in an opaque box, but since a major part of
the appeal of this project is being able to see the
relays working, we suggest you do likewise. You can
buy sockets for relays, but they cost almost as much
as the relays and they don’t look at all good, so we
suggest you don’t use them. Instead, solder directly
to the pins, and pass the pins through holes in the
top surface of the box in which you’re building this

95
[Link]
Getting hands-on with relays

TUTORIAL

Figure 4
How many lights do
you want? Expand
the circuit as far as
you like

Below, Right
Here’s our steampunk
contraption in all its
glory, clicks, flashes,
and all. In hindsight,
though, we have to
admit that we missed
a trick by not adding
gear wheels and the
odd watch face

diode we saw earlier to drop the 6 V to 5 V), although

a 5 V mains power supply would be better.

RELAYS TODAY
We haven’t taken advantage of this so far, but a
feature of relays is that they can switch much higher
voltages and currents than the ones used to
energise the coil. This is useful in a whole load of
applications, of which interfacing to single-board
computers (SBCs) is probably one that will be of
most interest to HackSpace readers.
If you’ve dabbled with connecting stuff to SBCs,
you’ll know that some components like LEDs can be
connected directly to GPIO pins, via only a current-
limiting resistor, while other components either draw
too much current or operate on too high a voltage to

96
 FORGE

Figure 5
Interfacing using a
relay is barely more
complicated that
using a transistor, but
don’t forget that diode
to protect against
back EMF

be connected directly. Commonly, a transistor is transistor, so the diode shorts out any such pulses
used in these cases. For these really high-powered that might occur, but be sure to connect it the right
devices, perhaps a high-power motor, a relay way round. Obviously, any circuit that involves mains
provides a viable solution. You can buy ready-built voltage is potentially very dangerous. While relays
relay modules, but here we’re going to look at the can switch high voltages (check the voltage rating of
principles so that you’re not always constrained to your relay, as not all can), using a relay doesn't
having to find room in your project box to house automatically make it safe. Make sure you're familiar
these modules. with the risks associated with mains voltages before
The basic interfacing circuit is shown in Figure 5. taking on any such circuit. The task is a bit easier if
As you’ll notice, we haven’t replaced a transistor you use a pre-made relay module that mounts a
with a relay, but added a relay to the transistor. The relay (and often a transistor) on a PCB. This doesn't
reason for this is that even the relay coil draws too remove all the potential problems, but does mean
much current to be powered directly from it's easy to mount safely. If you're not
a GPIO pin. However, we’re using confident with high voltages, there’s
the transistor in exactly the same still plenty of fun to be had with
way, as if we were using it to relays at lower voltages.
drive a white LED or other Who doesn't like
device that can’t be driven electromechanical
directly. Knowing that, you blinkies?
should be able to figure out
exactly how the circuit
works, except you might
be puzzling about the
which diode is
connected across
the relay coil. That’s
there because of back
EMF. In plain English, if you
remove a voltage from a coil, it
generates a short pulse of current Left
You don’t have to build your
flowing in the opposite direction to own relay circuits since HATS,
the current that formerly flowed. That shields, and modules are
available, cheaply, like this
pulse could be sufficient to burn out the one from [Link]

97
[Link]
Start soft and stop tripping breakers

TUTORIAL

Start soft and stop

tripping breakers
Use a soft-start module to protect
your workshop power supply

Y
ou’ve just got a shiny new machine ZERO TO SIXTY IN NO SECONDS
for your workshop, and you’re The problem with a lot of electrical equipment is
eager to try it out. You push the that power ratings are calculated using very specific
power button and suddenly machines formulas which don’t always reflect the actual use
stop printing, ventilation fans switch case in the real world. It’s a variation of the spherical
off, your computer powers down, cow problem described in theoretical physics. In the
Dr Andrew Lewis and the lights go out. You’ve tripped the breaker, real world, the actual rating of a device is affected
even though the machine’s power rating says that by room temperature, orientation, the thickness of
Dr Andrew Lewis is a you shouldn’t. Or maybe you’ve got a portable table any lubricants, and a thousand other things. Just
specialist fabricator
and maker, and is the saw, but you’re nervous about using it because it because the power rating on the machine says
owner of the Andrew almost does a back-flip when you turn it on. If either 2.2 kW, doesn’t mean you’re going to draw exactly
Lewis Workshop. of these scenarios seems familiar to you, then you’ll 2.2 kW all the time. When a machine is at a dead
benefit from fitting a soft-start unit to your machine. stop, it can take a lot of energy to get it moving.

Right
Soft-start modules
come in all shapes
and sizes, and simple
models cost less than
£10. Unfortunately,
most manufacturers
don’t add soft-start
modules to their
products because
they assume that
the end user will
have access to a
perfectly configured
electrical installation,
and not including
one improves their
profit margin

98
 FORGE

Left
Some users switch
out the oil in their
compressor for a
thinner alternative,
to reduce the load
on the motor when
it starts. Adding a
soft-start module
is a better solution.
Using this Draper
compressor as an
example, the soft-
start module should
be mounted between
the pressure control
switch and the motor,
so that nothing
else sits between
the motor and the
soft-start module.
The effect of the
soft-start module is
that the motor takes
an extra couple of
seconds to reach full
speed, which has no
effect at all on the
overall function of the
compressor

Inertia, friction, and lubricant viscosity all want to

keep the parts of the machine exactly where they
BREAKER TYPES
are, and it will take extra energy to overcome the Miniature circuit breakers (MCBs) have different
resistance and get the machine moving. The initial ratings, and the type of MCB you use will affect how
current drawn by the machine is known as the peak often it trips. Typically, a domestic setting will have
inrush current, and while it typically only occurs for a a B or C type MCB, which is designed to handle the
fraction of a second, it can be much higher than the sort of small motors and lighting circuits you’ll find in
a domestic setting. D and K type MCBs are designed
rated input of a machine. The fraction of a second
to handle much larger inrush currents you might find
in a workshop, like welders and transformers. They

”
are the MCB equivalent of a slow-blow fuse. However,
fitting the right MCB isn’t as simple as swapping out
The initial current the unit, and other factors like wire thickness and the
drawn by the machine is length of a cable run will play a part in making sure
that the MCB is safe and operating correctly. This
known as the peak is one of the reasons that all electrical installations

”
should always be carried out, or at least checked by, a
inrush current qualified engineer.

that the peak happens might not be long enough to

blow a fuse, but some modern circuit breakers will
Left
certainly trip. It’s very rare to find a
Assuming that your machinery is working properly house with an actual
fusebox in the UK,
and that the high inrush current isn’t being caused although some do still
exist. Most houses
by a maintenance issue like overly viscous lubricant, will have a consumer
how do you deal with a machine that keeps tripping unit with miniature
circuit breakers
your breaker? The answer is to use a soft-start instead. MCBs offer
circuit. Soft-start circuits limit the inrush current by more protection than
a conventional fuse,
gently ramping up the input power over a period of but domestic units
time. Some soft-start units are very advanced and can be over-sensitive
to some types of
will let you specify the power input curve with a electrical equipment

99
[Link]
Start soft and stop tripping breakers

TUTORIAL

QUICK TIP
Soft-start circuits
ramp input power
over time, which
means motors will
take a few seconds
to reach full speed.
This can help stop
some tools, like
table saws, from
starting up with a
disconcerting jolt.

Right
This plug and socket
are an example of what
can happen if your
device repeatedly
draws excess current.
Although the overall
current draw through
this socket was less
than the rating of the
fuse, rapid spikes of
high current eventually
caused the connections
in the socket to
overheat and melt the
plug. A proper MCB in
the consumer box and
soft-start on the
machines could have
helped to prevent this
from happening

QUICK TIP
One piece of
equipment that
frequently needs
a soft-start unit is
the compressor on
an air conditioning
unit. The motor of
a dust extraction
system is another
strong candidate.

100
 FORGE

Left
The diagram for
this soft-start
module shows how
it connects to the
AC power and sits
between the power
input and the motor

digital interface, almost like a VFD. They are more

expensive units, and for the vast majority of
workshop machinery, a simple analogue soft-start
module will be perfectly adequate.
VFD Fitting a soft-start module isn’t difficult, but it
Soft-start modules are often talked about in the same does involve working with mains electricity. If
breath as VFD (variable frequency drives), but what is you’re not comfortable or competent to do this, an
the real difference between the two devices? In short, electrician should be able to do it for you. A soft-start
a VFD is a device that can gradually increase the module fits directly onto a machine’s motor, with
speed of a motor just like a soft-start, but the VFD also the module’s inputs connected to the feed lines for
allows you to control the overall running speed of the
the motor. The outputs then connect to the motor.
motor. VFDs are useful on machines like older lathes
or drill-presses, where the VFD speed control can Often, small modules will have only three wires, two
be used to replace a gearbox or pulleys connected of which connect to the feed lines for the motor,
to a fixed speed motor by altering the speed of the while the third replaces the connection to the motor,
motor itself. A VFD offers much more control over the as shown in the diagram found on the device itself.
acceleration and speed of the motor than a simple
soft-start module, and is more useful on big machines
POWERED BY SPICY ELECTRONS
where a very slow start-up acceleration is needed.
Unlike a soft-start module, a VFD is a larger device, Unfortunately, a soft-start module isn’t a magic
often with a serial connection and an LCD display. A box, and it can’t help with every machine that
VFD would typically be mounted in an accessible spot trips the breaker. If your machine’s power rating QUICK TIP
on or near to a fixed machine, rather than inside the is higher than the breaker, a soft-start unit won’t Soft-start units don’t
machine itself. VFDs can work from a single-phase help. Some machines (like ‘old school’ non-inverter just help prevent
source, but are designed to work with a three-phase circuit breakers from
welding machines) can’t use a standard soft-
output. While it’s technically possible to use a VFD on tripping, they also
start because they rely on having power available
a single-phase AC motor, you would probably need to offer some physical
get the motor rewound. It’s most likely cheaper and immediately. However, if you’ve got an old-style
protection by
easier to just replace the motor with a three-phase transformer welder, it is possible to add soft-start reducing mechanical
version if you really want to use a VFD. with the right type of circuit, as can be found at this and thermal stress
link: [Link]/SoftStartWeld. on parts.

101
[Link]
DON’T MISS THE BRAND NEW ISSUE!

SUBSCRIBE
FOR JUST

£10!
> T
 HREE!issues
of The MagPi

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MO
DEL!

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Three issues and free Pico W for £10 is a UK-only offer. Free Pico W is included with a
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Offer subject to change or withdrawal at any time.

[Link]/subscribe
FIELD TEST
HACK MAKE BUILD CREATE
Hacker gear poked, prodded, taken apart, and investigated

PG
104

BEST OF
BREED Microcontrollers you can
actually buy

PG

110
TINY KEYBOARD
The little keyboard with real switches

[Link]
Microcontrollers – get ‘em while you can!

BEST OF BREED

ONLYTHE
BEST
Microcontrollers –
Get ’em while you can!
A collection of potentially available microcontrollers

By Marc de Vinck @devinck

R
emember when you could go to your
local electronics shop – OK, online
shop – and pick up any type of
microcontroller or single-board
computer for your next project? Yeah,
neither do we. Supply chain issues and
delays in shipping and manufacturing have made
buying electronics, especially any type of
microcontroller, difficult, if not impossible.
All is not lost. Some microcontrollers, like the
RP2040 or ESP32, do seem to be in stock, and new
boards are being released on occasion. And that is
where this Best of Breed comes into play. We’ll be
looking at microcontrollers, specifically in-stock and
new microcontrollers. Some are completely new, and
others may just be a refresh but, in either case, they
are in stock. At least for now!
We’re really looking forward to returning to the
days when stock levels aren’t much of an issue, and
innovative new boards are being released regularly.
There are signs of things getting better, but for now,
look at what is available and start planning your
next project.

104
 FIELD TEST

QT Py ESP32-S2 WiFi Dev Board

vs Teensy 4.1
ADAFRUIT $12.50 [Link] PIMORONI $31.90 [Link]

T
he QT Py ESP32-S2 WiFi Dev Board lots to love, including 4MB of flash memory and
from Adafruit combines the ease of 2MB PSRAM, a USB type C connector, and the
use of the Adafruit STEMMA QT built‑in RGB NeoPixel LED. Check out the product
connectors with the power and speed page for more information, including links to tutorials
of the ESP32-S2. Now you can quickly and downloadable code.
prototype your design, and
you won’t even need to break out your
soldering iron. Just plug and play. There are
tons of compatible breakout boards in this
ecosystem, and if there isn’t the exact
sensor you need, you can just solder one to
the conveniently located castellated edges.
The board features an ESP32-S2 that is
low-power, runs at 2.4GHz, and has native
USB. Just note that this variant of the
ESP32 is a single core, which means it isn’t
as fast as a dual core, and it doesn’t have Left
So much power in
native Bluetooth support. But there’s still such a small space

A
nyone who’s used a Teensy
before knows they are fast,
versatile, and have loads of GPIO.
The new Teensy 4.1 runs at the
VERDICT
same speed as the 4.0 board with
its ARM Cortex-M7 processor at QT Py ESP32-S2
600MHz, but it has a bunch of new features, more WiFi Dev Board
memory, and expanded I/O to name a few. Affordable
The new 4.1 Teensy includes 10/100 Mbit and small.

10/ 10
Ethernet support, a microSD socket, 35 PWM
pins, 18 analogue inputs, eight serial ports,
8MB of flash memory, and a total of 55
I/O pins. And all that packed into a
board that only measures 2.4 Teensy 4.1
inches by 0.7 inches, (61 mm When you
× 18 mm). Head on over to the need power!

9/ 10
product page to see all the upgrades
and additions that the new Teensy 4.1 Left
Teensy size, large
has to offer. processing power

105
[Link]
Microcontrollers – get ‘em while you can!

BEST OF BREED

SparkFun Thing Plus

SPARKFUN $22.50 [Link]

T
he SparkFun Thing Plus – ESP32
WROOM is another board that has
been revised and improved since its
first introduction. The board still
features the same small form factor of
the original Thing Plus, but they have
managed to squeeze in a microSD card slot,
upgraded the connection to USB-C, and added an
RGB status light, two voltage regulators, and a
Qwiic connector for solderless prototyping.
This is a very capable development board
that includes built-in WiFi and Bluetooth,
and it’s Feather-compatible too, so the
ecosystem is very robust. And best of all,
it’s in stock! If you’re not 100% sure what
project you’ll be working on next, this
would be a good board to pick up since
it can do so much.

VERDICT
SparkFun
Thing Plus
Updating the
classic board.

9 / 10
Left
The classic
SparkFun red adds
a bit of colour to
your projects

106
 FIELD TEST

Metro Mini 328 V2

ADAFRUIT $14.95 [Link]

Left
Small, 5 V, and USB-C

A
lthough Arduino-compatible boards ATmega328 integrated circuit, same pinout, same size,
VERDICT
are not as difficult to find in stock and same mounting hole locations. But, now you have Metro Mini
as a Raspberry Pi, they can still be the STEMMA port for prototyping without the need to 328 V2
challenging to source. The solder. Just snap together and get programming. They Updated and
revamped Adafruit Metro Mini 328 V2 also got rid of the old micro-USB port and upgraded to better than ever.

9/ 10
is a 5 V, 16MHz, Arduino-compatible a reliable and more robust USB-C connection. It’s
board that fits right into the STEMMA QT and Qwiic teeny, it’s tiny, it’s mini, and it’s Arduino-compatible!
Connect ecosystem. The board still features the same And it’s in stock! What’s not to love?

GALACTIC UNICORN
PIMORONI $72.50 [Link]

OK, we had to make an exception to the rule of ‘in

stock’. The Galactic Unicorn from Pimoroni is “coming
soon”, but exactly when is a bit of a mystery. We had
to include it because we really like this product and
the creators. And, since it’s powered by a Raspberry
Pi Pico W, we assume it will be in stock soon! The
Galactic Unicorn features a 53×11 LED matrix that is
coupled with a Raspberry Pi Pico W, so technically
this is a microcontroller, just with a very specific use.
And we love it! We’re looking forward to picking one
up once they ship.

107
[Link]
Microcontrollers – get ‘em while you can!

BEST OF BREED

Raspberry Pi Pico W
RASPBERRY PI £6 [Link]

A
lthough finding a Raspberry Pi
single-board computer has
become quite challenging, the
Raspberry Pi people have done a
great job keeping up with the
supply of Raspberry Pi RP2040
microcontrollers. The new Raspberry Pi Pico W
builds upon the success of the original Pico board,
and now includes wireless connectivity, thanks to the
integrated Infineon CYW43439 integrated circuit. And,
just like the original Pico, you can easily upload code
to this board using C/C++, SDK, or MicroPython.
And, just like all the other boards featured in this
Best of Breed, it’s in stock! (At least, at the time
of this article being written.) You can also buy the
Raspberry Pi Pico W with headers already soldered
on for easy prototyping, but that board is typically out
of stock. So, just break out your soldering iron and
add some header pins so you can get to building your
next project.

Right
Get yourself a
free Pico W by
subscribing to
HackSpace magazine

VERDICT
Raspberry Pi
Pico W
A great board
just got better!

10/ 10
108
 SUBSCRIPTION

200 PAGES OF RASPBERRY PI

QuickStart guide to setting up The very best projects built by
your Raspberry Pi computer your Raspberry Pi community

Updated with Raspberry Pi Pico Discover incredible kit and

and all the latest kit tutorials for your projects

Buy online: [Link]/store 109

[Link]
PocketType mini mechanical keyboard

REVIEW

PocketType mini
mechanical keyboard
Testing a teeny typing tool

POCKETTYPE $35 [Link]

By Jo Hinchliffe @concreted0g

T
iny portable keyboards are available mechanical keyboard. The PocketType is available
in various forms, and our most in two basic forms: a white kit with white PCB and
common use case for them is for a white keys, and a black PCB and key version. It’s
quick additional keyboard on the self-assembly, with all the components being through-
desk, often plugged into a half-built hole mount, which makes it friendly to those who
Raspberry Pi project that needs some are newer to soldering. There’s a lot of soldering to
attention and scripting. That said, we aren’t sure do and we feel it could be a little overwhelming for a
that you need a defined use case for the PocketType, first soldering project, but if you have built a couple of
as they are so cute and appealing, you might just smaller through-hole electronic kits before, with this
Below want to grab one anyway! one you will be absolutely fine.
The complete
assembled The PocketType from Mechboards is a kit that, The kit consists of all the keyboard component
white version once assembled, is a 48-key ortholinear layout parts, but you need to add a microcontroller flashed
of Mechboards’
PocketType with the provided QMK firmware to
make it work. There are numerous
options for the microcontroller,
and an Arduino Pro Mini from our
collection was our choice. If you
don’t have a compatible controller
on hand, they sell a variety that will
work on the Mechboards website.
The parts are packaged well, and it’s
nice to see that there are a couple of
spare diodes, switches, and keycaps
included, should anything go wrong
or a small part gets dropped and
lost. We assembled ours following
the smallest components through
to largest components rule, so we
started with the 48 diodes. We then
did the two resistors and the LEDs
before populating the board with all its
switches. It’s a lot of soldering, but it
took us around an hour to complete

110
 FIELD TEST

what the LED marked ‘act‘ is supposed to do and,

so far, we haven’t seen it light up, despite all being Left
We found an
mounted correctly, so we’ll explore that at some alternative 3D print
point. It’s probably fair to say that this tiny keyboard is keycap online, and
printed a set
not something we’d want to write a novel on, or even
a small magazine review; however, for poking around Below
Assembly of the
and inputting a few lines of text with your fingertips, through-hole
it’s pretty good. You can also customise the QMK components into
the board is pretty
firmware mapping keys or assign virtual layers for all straightforward
kinds of keystrokes suited for your needs. As such,
it’s actually an excellent introduction to homebrew
keyboards, and it might well be a gateway into
other keyboard builds. It’s certainly a fun little device
to experiment with as a sort of macro pad with a
this part of the build. It’s also fair to say that if you lot of keys.
took two hours to solder it, you could make every We found it a little hard to keep track of the blank
diode extremely neat and aligned, rather than our keys, and we’d seen some people mark the keycaps
functional approach! with a permanent marker. We were keen to be able
We decided to to revert to the pristine

”
flash the firmware to blank keycaps and we
our Arduino Pro Mini We didn’t need to consult found an nice alternative
before soldering it into in that someone has
the build instructions whilst VERDICT
the PocketType, as it’s modelled a keycap for
A lovely little
nice to confirm a board soldering the pretty clearly these switches and
device that’s

”
is functional before uploaded the design: fun to build,
committing it to solder. marked components [Link]/PocketType. and a great
We hadn’t noticed, but We printed these up introduction
flashing the supplied in PETG on the Prusa to homebrew
firmware requires you to use the QMK toolkit which, MINI+ using a textured build plate to give the keycap keyboards.

8/ 10
when we went to investigate, is Windows 10 or surfaces a nice finish. Having replaced these onto the
macOS only. As keen Linux users, this sent us on a PocketType, we then went to town adding a legend
mission to find a Windows 10 laptop in the cupboards with a fine marker.
to make use of. Once a laptop was found, the
installation of the QMK toolkit, and the subsequent
firmware flashing, was simple and straightforward.
We didn’t need to consult the build instructions
whilst soldering the pretty clearly marked
components into the PCB, but we did have a look
when it came to adding the case components. The
case consists of a laser-cut acrylic base and an upper
section that covers the diode area. We noticed that
the supplied bolts and standoffs we had in our kit
didn’t match the documentation but, after some
head-scratching and experiments, we realised we did
have a way to correctly assemble the case, albeit in
a slightly different arrangement than described. We
then clipped on the supplied white circular keycaps
and plugged it in for testing.
Everything worked as expected. The small 48-key
keyboard has some nifty tricks and buttons to get all
the functions and characters you need on a keyboard,
and it’s worth reading around the QMK website if
you are finding it tricky to navigate. We aren’t sure

111
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