Jfieldcap

I don't have a 3D printer, so I can't recommend one, but I've used some, and have some information that may be useful to you.First of all, 3D printers are very easy to use. I haven't much experience with CNC, but I think anyone could use a 3D printer, so no worries there. Usually the process is to design a model using a CAD program, export it, "slice" it (cuts it into individual 2D layers for the print head to follow), then take the G-Code from the slicer program and tell the printer to print it. There are two main kinds of consumer printers, FFF (Fused filament fabrication) printers (Imagine a fine-tipped hot glue gun on a CNC machine, capable of printing in several different kinds of materials), and SLA (Stereolithography), which uses UV light to cure a resin. FFF is the mos...

I don't have a 3D printer, so I can't recommend one, but I've used some, and have some information that may be useful to you.First of all, 3D printers are very easy to use. I haven't much experience with CNC, but I think anyone could use a 3D printer, so no worries there. Usually the process is to design a model using a CAD program, export it, "slice" it (cuts it into individual 2D layers for the print head to follow), then take the G-Code from the slicer program and tell the printer to print it. There are two main kinds of consumer printers, FFF (Fused filament fabrication) printers (Imagine a fine-tipped hot glue gun on a CNC machine, capable of printing in several different kinds of materials), and SLA (Stereolithography), which uses UV light to cure a resin. FFF is the most common technology used, and should suit your needs just fine.Now onto your second question: If you haven't heard of lost PLA casting, it works pretty similar to what you're talking about. PLA is probably the most commonly used material in consumer FFF 3D printers. For best results, you might need to burn the PLA out first, but I'll bet someone's made a different material that works better for the technique you're talking about.Hope this clears some things up!

Thanks! Glad you liked it!

This is so cool! Makes me almost want to grow my hair out just so I can have it move around and help me do stuff XDVery awesome project!

This is cool! I wonder how many of these we'd need to keep mosquitoes out of our yard... Every summer we've got them all over at dusk, and though they wouldn't be carrying any diseases here, it's annoying to put up with them and their itchy bites. I suppose with larger emitters (such as the kind used in ultrasonic sensors) and higher voltages, it'd be more effective.On the topic of testing it, I wonder how hard it would be to create a controlled environment with mosquitoes living inside (IE, find a water source that's already breeding them, enclose it), then create two distinct portions, one with an ultrasonic sensor. You'd need some way to tell roughly how many are in each room, or at least tell when the density of mosquitoes increases/decreases. Then, you could wait for a significant ...

This is cool! I wonder how many of these we'd need to keep mosquitoes out of our yard... Every summer we've got them all over at dusk, and though they wouldn't be carrying any diseases here, it's annoying to put up with them and their itchy bites. I suppose with larger emitters (such as the kind used in ultrasonic sensors) and higher voltages, it'd be more effective.On the topic of testing it, I wonder how hard it would be to create a controlled environment with mosquitoes living inside (IE, find a water source that's already breeding them, enclose it), then create two distinct portions, one with an ultrasonic sensor. You'd need some way to tell roughly how many are in each room, or at least tell when the density of mosquitoes increases/decreases. Then, you could wait for a significant amount of them to breed, then turn the ultrasonic emitter on, and observe if there is a difference in the number of mosquitoes in the portion exposed to ultrasound. It still wouldn't be entirely scientific, but maybe you'd get more definite results.

I suppose you could use an ESP8266 module instead of the teensy, as it has similar specs ram/rom/speed wise, and is a lot cheaper- Plus, built in Wifi for connectivity, that way you could even make it into a smartwatch of types... I think power consumption is about the same as a teensy as well.

You're welcome! Tell me how it goes!Those look great, I'll add them to the 'ible.Best of luck!

That would work well- I suppose people could just buy 18650 cells too, since they're not expensive.

That's true- I've been toying with the idea of an RGB LED, or/and a piezo buzzer, plus a few other minor improvements. Actually, I'll just upload the Fritzing file to the GitHub, so you can do it if you want.Next time I redesign the board, I'll probably add those, plus breakouts for all the Arduino pins, to make it easier to add your own sensors/modules. When I get time, that is... It is on my to-do list!

Yeah, I'd rather use something other than a 9V too- Eventually want to use 2xAA batteries with a boost converter- Not much more efficient, but a lot cheaper XDBy all means do! Let me know if I can help at all in any way!

Hi, sorry it has been a while, instructables doesn't always email me when people comment!It would definitely be possible, with a little extra coding. In my library, I use PORTD, which is why it uses the D0 and D1 pins (Believe me, that was a headache to troubleshoot when I was trying to figure it out!)If you wanted, you could just use digitalWrite statements for each pin, but that would be less efficient (Though, the libary wastes a lot of time with the delays anyways)Or, I'll bet you could shift the bits over two spots, write the new value to the port without modifying the bits on D0 and D1- Since the SPO256 only needs 6 pins, not the 8 total on port D. I can't recall exactly off the top of my head, but if you look at the bitshift operators and others on the Arduino reference page, yo...

Hi, sorry it has been a while, instructables doesn't always email me when people comment!It would definitely be possible, with a little extra coding. In my library, I use PORTD, which is why it uses the D0 and D1 pins (Believe me, that was a headache to troubleshoot when I was trying to figure it out!)If you wanted, you could just use digitalWrite statements for each pin, but that would be less efficient (Though, the libary wastes a lot of time with the delays anyways)Or, I'll bet you could shift the bits over two spots, write the new value to the port without modifying the bits on D0 and D1- Since the SPO256 only needs 6 pins, not the 8 total on port D. I can't recall exactly off the top of my head, but if you look at the bitshift operators and others on the Arduino reference page, you should be able to figure it out. I did a lot of bitshifting and modifying partial registers without modifying the other bits in my SAA1099 project, and those were invaluable.I've been thinking for a while that I should update the library so as not to use up time while waiting for the delays, and to add some features and such. This is another good addition that I may add, when I get the free time... xDHope this helps! Let me know how it goes!

It's here, in case you haven't seen it (I haven't gotten the programming instructable done yet, but this one has all the building and soldering)https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-the-ProtoBot-a-100-Open-Source-Super-/

Yup! A little more expensive, but still pretty awesome for the tiny package/price! They can be found for about $9 with the encoders on eBay.

Thanks!

No problem, my pleasure! Thank you!

Thanks! I certainly plan to.

Perfect! XD

It looks super cool, but we need a video! ;)

This has to be one of the nicest minecraft-inspired projects I've seen- I like minecraft myself, but often it seems that the (mine)crafts people do are just... Not great XD This was not so! Well done!

I see no reason it couldn't be, s the Pro Mini is the same chip as the Uno, just in a different form.

Somehow I missed this comment, but yeah- It was 6$ at a thrift store a few years back. The bottom screen didn't work though, so that might explain why.

Just a note: You mixed up the names for the Arduino Nano and Micro in your parts picture tags.

Np! Thanks for commenting!

You're welcome! That's cool that it works much better. I've seen those sensors on eBay, never tried them. For my project, I need to make stuff as cheap as possible, thus why I made my own sensors rather than using pre-made ones.

Yup! That was a quick contest entry, but there's gonna be a fully fledged instructable soon (Been working on it as we speak ;P)(Also, thanks, I've been wondering if that still shows up on my page... Can't figure out how to delete it, and the contest entry thing had no formatting options so it's a mess... Oh well)

Thanks for the comment! I've been using these in a project for little educational robots, as line following and edge detection sensors. Out of curiosity, are they the E18-D80NK sensors? I've seen them online and they look like a good solution for more rugged larger applications.

Hahaha, yess- Wonder if anyone's made one of those yet... It's on my ideas list XD

Well, whatever the cause, glad my instructable caused a little mirth! XD

Awesomeness! Looks great! (Now people will be asking you where you got it XD)

That is a really neat wood stand... And you say it came with the calculator? Things just aren't made with the same quality these days XD

Thanks for the tip! I'll have to try it on something sometime.

Yep! And DIP packages, too!

Ignore what I said about there being one on eBay- Just looked closer and it's not the same one. Pretty similair, not the same :P

No problem- The instructable is under the CC Attribution liscense, so go ahead and do whatever you want with them XD

Wow, that's cool! If you want one, I looked and there's one exactly like it on eBay for $25 plus about $4 shipping, with a case and manual! More than mine came with! (Though I payed about $3 for it XD)

For US pennies, everything after 1982 is zinc plated with copper. Funny to see that you Canadians also have us coins mixed in like we have yours XDNice Ible, overall!

Love it XD - Voted

Awesome! My first though was that it was made of multiple sections of, say 1/2" by 6" by varying lengths and colors. Not quite a natural edge, but could look very cool too. Thanks for some inspiration!

Now, someone needs to make one mounted on top of some sort of small vehicle. 'Course, you might get in trouble for driving it down the road...

Yep- I did XD- So I dunno where you could use it. Still, it'd be fun...

Thanks! Sounds like me- All the awesome ideas in the world, and so little time!

Well then! Good to hear! I (Sit) corrected! ;D

Very cool! This should definitely win a contest or two. (Or three) Like many others, I've got some questions- Does raising the voltage make it able to lift heavier objects? Does size or shape effect how it lifts? If raising the voltage does increase power, is there a limit to the amount of power you can run through it (Probably limited by the transducers themselves)? Maybe I should just read the papers and then build one myself to find out. Thanks for sharing this as an instructable!

Very neat! The one thing I don't like- It looks like you can see an edge of the screen (I know, it's my problem, call me a perfectionist if you will). If I was to build something like this, I think I'd use an OLED display, and maybe add some more functionality. Even better, combine this with the raspberry pi Amazon Echo project in this instructable, and get an awesome art-deco personal assistant! Oh, if only I had time and money for all these awesome ideas. ;D

Awesome! I was just thinking recently how fun it would be to make something like a google glass- Internet capable and with earpieces, perhaps with some slightly more 'spy' oriented features such as the ability to amplify whatever coming over the built in mic, or night vision, or just a cool HUD display of things like weather or time. Perhaps it could have voice recognition through an android smartphone, and the ability to send texts or answer calls, or read emails. I guess I'm describing a smartwatch, but on your head. XD

Very interesting! Have you compared the performance to an actual amazon echo? I'm wondering if the extra microphones make a difference. I'm also wondering- How customizable is the software? Could we make it listen for some other key word than Alexa? Also seems like you could get much better audio quality if desired, or add batteries and or wireless charging... Lots of possibilities!

Well, so am I. Good luck with with this year's game!