Videos

Singapore’s Mini Maker Faire had a bunch of unforgettable projects. Check out improvised instruments, PC-controlled toys, a Twitter controlled blimp, the banana piano, a DIY Aquaponics system, and a sling shot controlled Angry Birds clone.

Visit the major electronics shops in Singapore, and get a guided tour of the Singapore hackerspace. This weekend we were in Singapore for the Maker Faire, so we took a day to do a geek tour. This kicks off the second season of our Global Geek Tours.

We got tired of using integrated cam mics for our videos so we bought a Zoom H1 v2 recorder ahead of our Singapore Maker Faire visit. This quick workshop video tests our new sound setup.

Are you sick of beige project boxes that hide your cool board and hard work? Wouldn’t it be cool if your project was case ready from the first revision?

Sick of Beige cases are simple protectors and enclosures for hobby electronics project. Design your project with our standard PCB templates and it’s ready for an enclosure.

EEVblog brought up the Bus Pirate LCD adapter this week, so we though it was a good time to talk about the latest v3 hardware revision and do a simple demo. This is a small board that has everything needed to control and test common HD44780 LCD character displays with the Bus Pirate.

Voltage measurements with the Bus Pirate ADC pin are easier than working with a separate multimeter on an analog project. We read a voltage from an MCP4725 I2C digital to analog converter in the demo using the d and D (continuous) voltage measurement commands.

While USB is all around us, the humble (virtual) serial port is still everywhere. Today we explore the serial interface on the Infrared Toy, Bus Pirate, and Logic Sniffer. See a demonstration of the binary interfaces and commands normally used only by software utilities. Grab some terminal software like Tera Term, and Hercules and follow along.

Old ATX computer power supplies are cheap-to-free, and make great lab supplies if you’re willing to add a resistor and short a few wires. Sjaak whipped up an ATX breakout board as an easier way tap and control an ATX supply without any messy hacks.

Flux is a wonderful goo that makes soldering faster and easier. In previous videos we compared different types of commercial flux (Flux off 1, Flux off 2), but did you know it’s possible to make a simple and effective flux at home? We’ll get you started, and don’t miss the giveaway at the end of the video.

We look at the four common ways open hardware is commonly manufactured, and show the package of files we send to get our stuff made.

Here’s some new and extended project interviews from Bay Area Maker Faire 2012. These took place at the setup, faire, and after party. Generally a few people bring projects to show us, so we interviewed them right at our own table.

Experience the Bay Area Maker Faire from the perspective of a presenter. Veteran Makers talk about their projects, and give advice on preparing for your first Maker Faire. We also take you inside the ‘exclusive’ maker-only pre and post parties. You’ve never seen a Maker Faire video like this.

This week we are visiting the Bay Area Maker Faire, so here is a video to explain how we prepare for Maker Faires. You can also check out our Maker Faire tips post, or the wiki version.

Today we play around with the latest USB POV Toy hardware and firmware. The POV Toy is a persistence of vision (not division…) device, but we added some special features. First, a USB connection makes it effortless to upload new patterns. Second, an inexpensive accelerometer actively detects the waving motion and syncs the pattern.

This week the flux-off solder flux comparison returns. Our everyday Edsyn FL-22 goes head to head with two AMTECH syringe fluxes in the TQFP arena. Just for fun, we also tried to solder with shards from a solid rosin block. Find out which flux reigns supreme.

The Part Ninja identifies electronic components like transistors and FETs, and measures basic specifications. Get an overview of this new project in this week’s workshop video. If you’re at Bay Area Maker Faire next month please stop by and see it in person.

Dangerous Prototypes tours the biggest electronics market of all, the Hua Qiang Bei market in Shenzhen, China. This is the third and biggest market on our Global Geek Tour. Be sure to check out Akihabara in Tokyo and Cheonggyecheon in Seoul too.