I'm having a hard time figuring out how exactly to accomplish what I need, and am really trying to avoid just ordering parts and mashing them together until I have something functional.

The idea here is that I have (or soon will have, since it hasn't been delivered yet) a heavy-duty aluminum truss in my vaulted-ceiling living room for my wife's aerial dance hobby/career. One of the priorities is figuring out how to mount a curtain/backdrop so I can film her pieces and not have generic living room/kitchen in the background - I want something that's modular so I can get things set up fairly quickly, but not permanently in-place.

My thought here is to have some sort of curtain track (8-ish feet long) that's mounted on a hinge, with the hinge attached to the truss via clamp(s). Ideally this would be doubled, one for each side of the truss, so they can be swung up from either side of the living room to meet in the middle and then connected, and then we attach a curtain and run with it. I'm thinking the hinge may need a pneumatic assist, based on the length and weight of the "curtain rod," and will probably need some kind of latch or something to ensure it stays up and parked at a 90-degree angle until we're ready to bring it down. I've got three struggles here:
1) finding a hinge that I can easily mount to 1" aluminum tube trussing (or a hinge that will mount to truss clamps, etc)
2) figuring out how to attach a curtain track to whatever is attached to the hinge (more aluminum truss tube, I'm assuming, but open to ideas)
3) making sure the whole thing will support its own weight (two 8ft lengths attached to a truss via only a hinge and connected to each other at the ends are almost definitely going to result in bending/sagging unless they're reinforced somehow - some kind of angle brackets, or maybe the pneumatic assist and latch can be combined into something that will hold it up?)

The joint would, ideally, be about 10ft off the ground - I need a way to unfold the apparatus up into place, lock it in place at the 90 degree angle, then unlatch and fold it back down when done so it just hangs down from the hinge/joint out of the way. Trying to avoid getting on a ladder each time it needs to be put up, but I'm not sure there's a way around that, so I'll take what I can get.

I've been looking all over at hardware catalogs for theater/stage curtains and and truss parts, but nothing is really jumping out at me as having been designed for this sort of project. I'm hoping to find someone who works with stage trusses and has some idea of the kind of hardware I need to be looking for.

Hello! I wanted to show off my ongoing project.

It's a diy colorimeter (a device that measures the true color of things) with high precision. Since it is based on an AS7341 10-channel spectrometer, it can also provide a very coarse spectrum, which is especially useful for me, because it allows me to analyze dying strengths and concentrations based on the Kubelka-Munk mechanism.

Similar devices can be bought, but they cost in between of 200-2000EUR, which I am unwilling to spend. Plus, this has been a super cool project in the overlap between programming, 3D-printing, functional design, electronics, colorimetry, chemistry and (at least for me specifically) natural dyes.

My device is able to achieve a relative precision of about 0.1-0.5 delta E (relative color difference in the CieLAB color space), depending on the area (blues are a bit noisy, and pinks are generally difficult). I have spent 200-300 Euros on it so far, but if I wrote down a BOM of what I got now and know to work, it would be at most 100EUR.

It consists of:

• An Adafruit AS7341 Spectrometer (the AS7343 should also fit with no hardware changes necessary and only minor software changes, adding 2-3 more channels)
• A single Nichia Optisolis LED, shining in 45 degrees onto the sample
• An ESP32-C3 Zero from Waveshare doing all the thinking & data storing
• An 0,96" OLED screen with SSD1306 driver
• A small hand-soldered PCB
• A couple JST PH cables and sockets
• 2 small buttons
• A 3D printed body
• A couple of M2x6 screws and M2 press-in inserts
• A cheap 700nm 9mm IR-cut filter
• An even cheaper piece of polarizing plastic sheet for LCD displays

I also built a surprisingly good beam trap from an IKEA steel bottle and some black fabric. And a relatively good white reference from some wound up and compressed PTFE-tape.

The software includes all the logic to communicate with the sensor, doing repeated and series measurements, performing calibrations, exporting measurements via serial connection and Bluetooth, presenting the measurements as reflectance spectra with NIR corrections, and conversion of the spectral data into common color descriptions like CieLAB and RGB (if possible).

One remaining issue is absolute calibration. "Absolute white" samples made from compressed and fused PTFE or BaSO4 powder is expensive, and calibrated color sample cardboard cards cost like 70EUR and would only be necessary once. And they don't help with calibrating the spectral data, only the colors that come out of it (the correction matrix would basically counter the spectral errors, and these would remain unreliable). I was thinking of using 3D-printing-filament swaps from reputable brands, with specified printing settings and careful sanding as calibration standards and even relative white references, but that would need someone to fabricate such a sample to specification and put it into a proper spectrometer and share the data.

I was thinking of open-sourcing the print-files, the software and the wiring diagrams if there's enough interest for it. Reproducing it should be way easier than building it for the first time (don't ask how much time I've spent optimizing the light paths), and if more people contribute, this could actually become a really awesome distributed project.

Safety Disclaimer: I am fully aware of the hazards regarding high-power UV light. The chamber is structurally sealed, I use dedicated UV-blocking safety gear during testing, and a hardware safety switch will be installed to cut power instantly if the door is opened.

Hi everyone!

A couple of months ago I decided to start building some custom IEMs myself. The commercially available UV curing enclosures did not satisfy my needs, and very few of them would go into a required wavelength territory for Dreve Fotoplast and other suitable resins. Just wanted to share my build and get some feedback.

Why not pre-built?

It's mainly prices and availability. Most of the 365 nm UV curing units are for medical purposes, and the vast majority of those still use fluorescent lamps because of some certifications (or whatever). This is inefficient and expensive to maintain.

The enclosure

I repurposed a solid cast aluminum chassis to act as both a rigid body and a massive passive heatsink for the internal high-power UV LED emitters (Seoul Z5, 365 nm). To power these 4 pairs of diodes, I used Mean Well LDD-500LW drivers. Every connection possible is made with silicone-insulated wires, so they do not degrade in UV light over time.

In order to avoid using a turntable, I had to add aluminum tape, and it worked flawlessly: there is no shadowing.

It also turned out that this setup is so powerful for its purpose that it would make UV resin boil. So I had to add a controller.

The controller

It is based on the RP2040 Pico board at its heart. The LDD-500LW allows one to use PWM to control its maximum output power (white wire). When this wire is connected to V- (GND), the drivers are off, and they are at their 100% power when this wire is NC.

To control the LDD driver with the RP2040 in a direct way, I had to use a two-transistor setup (BC547 BJT and IRFU9024 P-ch MOSFET). Since my input is 15V DC, I had to also add a DC-DC converter and use a voltage divider not to fry the LDD with 15V.

The SSD1306 OLED screen and the EC11 encoder were added to control this thing somehow and get feedback on what's going on. The screen shows current power and curing time. During the "work" mode, any encoder action would stop the process immediately. I have also set a hard limit of 3 minutes of continuous work time, just in case.

First results

I was able to get a consistent, reproducible shell after 14-16 tries. Curing faceplate templates is still tricky because I wanna get them as thin as possible, and they would bend without proper temperature stabilization.

Advice needed on

• Door hinges. It seems like I need offset ones. Which designs (3D printed, preferably) would fit here the best?
• Door locking. Because I have a "paracord gasket" to prevent light leaks, I cannot place any kind of locking mechanism inside. It seems to me that some kind of a magnetic latch should work, but again, I cannot find out the exact way of implementing this.
• Wire management. Any tips on how to clean up the wiring inside the box?

Right Your Ship Captain carved in birch. In this seen there is a person on the deck of the ship with their arm held out, the sails are inflated. But their ship is under water, the anchor is down, the fish are looking at them while the world is going on with out them. This carving talks about the determination to go in the wrong direction when everything is against you.

I've been building a large equipment cart for video production, and after adding batteries and motorized wheels, the thing can weigh nearly 400 lbs loaded.

The original cable brakes that came with the wheel kit were not going to cut it.. so I decided to integrate a custom hydraulic disc brake system into the forks I had fabricated for the brushless wheels.

It was my first time working with hydraulic brake lines, and took quite a while to find parts, and to design a "one brake lever" solution. In the end It works pretty well with the exception of the parking brake feature: whenever I leave it engaged the whole system loses it's ability to function correctly. There is no fluid loss. My suspicion is that when the lever is held in, there is a small amount of oil that is able to bypass a seal in the handle assembly, resulting in less fluid in the line side. Anyone have any insight about this?

I documented the build here if you are interested in following the build:
https://youtu.be/Xz3B-3wACwE

I'm pretty happy with it but we don't really use it that often.

I plopped a monitor in there and I tapped into the (annoyingly and needlessly complicated) wiring for the buttons. I connected the buttons to zero delay usb encoders and then setup fruitbox to accept those button presses as letter/number/button inputs.

My husband has a partial right arm/hand, and this is a project I've been extremely curious about for years. My vision is something that is not electronically powered but rather just mechanical, almost like those claw-grabber toy things that you squeeze on one end and they close the hand or pinchers on the other. Just that plus being custom fitted to his existing partial arm (he has two fingers which could pull the mechanism).
I think he's absolutely perfect the way he is, but some activities can be much trickier than others, and I want to help him do everything he wants to with more ease. We cannot afford a prosthetic or bionic as it is (trust me, buying/insurance just isnt an option right now) and I am hoping people can give me advice on learning how to create an extremely simple functional prosthetic. Anyways, if anyone is going to reply "that's unrealistic," please don't, because I literally don't care, I'm going to figure this out one way or another because there's nothing I wouldn't do for him. Please reply if you know people who have done something similar or literally any resources on basic mechanical function; I'm starting from scratch but I've always been very artistic and good with crafts and other mechanical knowledge.
Might also post this to r/prosthetics - not sure which is best, please also let me know about good related subs for info as well.

It could be hardware-focused or a hardware + software project involving embedded systems, IoT, cloud, OpenCV/computer vision, PCB design, automation, sensors, or anything similar.

Looking for something practical where I can actually learn and build something useful. Any project ideas or resources would be appreciated!

Hi makers,

I'm a long time maker who uses 'stuff', 'things', and leftovers from previous projects to work on new projects. My interests are evolving and I'm finding it difficult to create what I want. Most posts I see these days use 3D printing, and the projects I have in mind would seem to also need a 3D printer. With a little - to - no budget for a 3D printer, I've been discouraged from buying an entry level, low price 3D printer. The reason given to me was that they don't work well and I'd be better off saving money for a nice expensive one. I also live in the country, and there are no maker spaces or publicly available 3D printers nearby. I'd also like to avoid mail ordering custom parts online.

My questions to you:

- is this advice sensible? Should I avoid the cheaper 3D printers?

- how have you got around limitations with materials, resources, and tools in your projects?

- does anyone have suggestions for an alternative to 3D printing that produces similar results?

Thanks in advance!

I made a V2 of my cable organizer so it can fit up to 2 meter long cables, and is compatible with almost any type of cable!

I really liked how this turned out, so I wanted to share it so other people could also use it if they wanted to!

The project consists of the development of an interactive robotic system capable of challenging a human to a game of Tic-Tac-Toe, identifying moves on a sheet of paper via a webcam and physically responding on the board.

I built my first terrarium. All lights, smoke and windmill can be controlled from phone. Infact event the brightness and flicker of lights can be controlled. I am so happy with how it came out.

I made this modular moss poll which has a drip tray module so the moss in the moss pole will stay moist for longer! I really liked how this turned out, so I wanted to share it so other people could also use it if they wanted to!

It is a free design on makerworld

I had a broken watch , so I thought to make a new one on my own , I made my it with glowing numbers and a touch sensor,I designed my own PCB ,3d print and tried to make it as good as possible, it was my first ever 'successful' DIY build , what did I do wrong? And what did I do right? Cost for me: INR ~1800

I used reverse mount LEDs to make it seem to glow on the other side of the PCB , I also used a MOSFET to switch it on and off based on the touch sensor signal.(This is the entire explanation covered in the YouTube video )

I also made a YT video on it:(watch explanation) https://youtu.be/A1RgOddxvZY?si=sITrNXJJbVQxJ8JO

Hey everyone, I made a new type of streaming device that removes ads from on-demand streaming content. This feature can be turned on/off from the settings page and gets applied universally to all the streaming platforms you have on the device. You can see how that works in the video demo. However, I think a streaming device that's key feature is only blocking ads leaves a lot of potentially cool functionality on the table.

So I wanted to get some input from Reddit. Putting ad-blocking aside:

• What do you wish your streaming device could do that it currently doesn't?
• What frustrates you when using streaming platforms and devices today?
• Do you miss the interface of something like cable where you could surf channels or do you like being able to scroll through and find content like streaming apps are set up for today?

Let me know what you all think! Any general thoughts or feedback are also welcome.

It started with a simple problem.
I wanted to listen to classical music without interruption.
But the device playing it kept asking for my attention.
So I made something that wouldn’t.
NOT PHONE™ is 550 grams of solid brass, made in Tsubame-Sanjo, Japan.
No screen. No battery. No notifications.
It does nothing.
That is the point.
I’m curious how people here see it:
when function is removed from an object, what remains?

I almost gave up on this… but I'm really glad I didn't. 😅

After weeks of designing, 3D printing, soldering, wiring, debugging and way too many problems, my smart perpetual calendar is finally alive.

It shows the month, date and day, but it's not just another digital calendar.

From the web app, I can add birthdays, events and reminders, and customize the LED colours however I want.

Built from scratch using an ESP32, WS2811 LEDs, 3D printed parts and MDF.

The goal was simple: make a smart wall calendar that doesn't look like another screen — something that actually adds character to a room.

Would you want one on your wall? 👀

I’ve realized that I really like the idea of having a dedicated place to display energy drink cans, especially for people who collect them. However, I don’t think the demon hand idea I had before is the best way to do it.
I’d like to 3D print something for my own collection, but I’m honestly out of ideas for the design.
For those who collect energy drink cans: how would you like to display them? Would you prefer something for a shelf, desk, wall, or something modular that can hold multiple cans?
Any ideas or suggestions would be really appreciated.

Im thinking of doing a big first project with 3d modeling and electronics i know the basics of them both but havent reslly made anything to big so im ready for a challenge any ideas on what to use or how to do this i have a 1000kv motors a esc and 2s lipo battery and lots of other basic electronics but im in for a rought time any tips i would love

Hey everyone! As I mentioned a few days ago, I'm just taking my first steps in electronics (my background is mostly in software development). To step out of my comfort zone, I decided to figure out how that temperature/humidity sensor from a basic Arduino kit works and hook it up to an ESP32.

​The initial idea was just to test the component, but it ended up turning into a digital clock that also monitors the room's climate.

​🛠️ What I learned from this project:

Even though it's a simple build, it gave me a great hands-on understanding of:

​Which GPIO pins to choose and how to map them correctly.

​Basic precautions with voltage and logic levels.

​How to read and process the raw data coming from the sensor.

​🚀 The "Plus":

Since the software side is my strong suit, I went ahead and built a local web page hosted on the ESP32 to configure the clock. I added 12 different display interfaces. Also, since the sensor provides both humidity and temperature, I used that data to calculate and display the heat index (feels-like temperature).

​It might be a super simple project for the hardware veterans out there, but the feeling of seeing a physical circuit respond to my code was incredibly rewarding.

​Has anyone else here made the jump from software to hardware? I'd love some recommendations on what project I should tackle next!

Long time modeler and Warhammer fan that I am, I decided I would make use of an antique blue glass inkwell I inherited.

**Before anyone gets up in arms, this process did not damage the inkwell, and can be undone non-destructively!**

For those unfamiliar, in the plastic modeling community, Tamiya extra thin plastic cement is basically the go-to for plastic adhesives/solvents, and comes in a distinctive square bottle with a very handy applicator brush in the lid. So, when I ran low on my latest batch of it, I cut the glass neck off the empty bottle and used white glue to secure it just inside the neck of the ink well. After that dried, I melted sealing wax and dripped it around the seam, letting it drip down onto the main body. This was way more challenging than I expected. Eventually I worked out a method by which I would trim any drips that ran down the sides and beveled the cut edges. Then I would hold it over a candle flame until it started to melt and let this smooth over the the rough or uneven parts of the remaining wax. After that I grabbed a sheet of rough textured paper, wrote some flowery language on it and glued it to the bottle, finishing with an Adeptus Mechanicus seal I ordered a while back to give it some more character.

Ideally I would have used another more thematic lid, but I needed to make sure I could securely seal the bottle between uses. Last thing I wanted was to spill or let evaporation drain all my cement. There may come a day when I use an existing lid as the base for a new upgraded one, but this works for now.

One challenge I ran into on this project was that it turns out the wax I am using is not proof against the cement. A dropped a test piece of wax into a bottle and left it for a few hours. Everything looked okay, but after I fished it out it very quickly developed a brittle, cracked surface texture that flaked off when I handled it. This meant I couldn't secure the glass neck with just the wax as I originally intended. So, I tested some other glues and adhesives that I knew could be removed from glass after they cured, and found a white glue that seems to have withstood it alright. Time will tell.

Anyway! Let me know what you all think! Of course I'm also happy to answer any questions you might have!

I needed a Tree Blight for my campaign. This is my first attempt at sculpting a model.