Category: General

While on holiday I got to fly my quadcopter a little before I dropped it into the ocean. 2021 rebuild here I come.

So far this year has been eventful. With Covid making our lives harder atleast some projects completed. With me being at home having time to complete some small weekend projects

Rage 2019

Cosplay was fun but never got the LEDs working. Power issues… meh.

3D Printing

I finished the rebuild of the MK2 Prusa clone

Quad copter FPV Freestyle

I have been getting into FPV freestyle and a little bit of racing on my own. It is allot of fun and makes me think of pod racing.

PC Upgrades and modding

With my pc showing its age I have dug into my wallet and upgraded PC.

With the case also showing its age I started modding the case also.

This year is still not done and many projects still in the works.

So cables came loose and stupid me tried to fix it by pressing it back with a screw driver.So I blow the electronics…

So instead of just fixing the Ramps 1.4 I am doing that and super sizing it. yeah!

So at rAge each year I wear something silly. This year I am going to cosplay.
I mean I have a huge printer so can make anything I need.

The work is still top secret so cannot share much….except C-137.

Getting a 3D Printer can be expensive and not always what will work for you. So instead of getting a kit why not make one?
That is exactly what me and some friends over at MakerLabs did. We selected a frame on www.thingiverse.com and started from there.

First we got a frame assembled. We used 20×20 aluminum extrusions for the frame.

We then created  prototypes some parts to see which will wok best for the frame and design.

Then finalisation of parts in main colour. Even then it kept changing as is expected with prototyping.

Then I got most of my parts and started the real build.

Then when almost done with the build I started with calibration which took a week or two.

Now with the control unit sitting next to it and holding the ramps 1.4 and Raspberry Pi 3 B+, the build is almost done.

Building your own printer can be daunting but is extremely rewarding in what you learn and you save a little on cost also.
Unless your like me and burn out electronics because you don’t read specifications :p

Printed on a Prusa clone at 0.2mm layer height. Time 26 hours

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2245289
Fused filament fabrication, FDM Printing, 3D Printing

Weather balloon payload development and having a fun time doing it.

MakerLabs is going to participate more directly in the next weather balloon launch that Binaryspace launches on 4 August 2018 @ Deneysville. The callsign is Binary04.

MakerLabs’s payload has two components. Radio repeater and a community goal of a data acquisition module. The payload will include a temperature and humidity sensor that will store data using a data logger module. Everything will be controlled using a Arduino nano and powered with a LiPo 3.3v battery.

Optional sensors that can be included depending on how many participants assist in the build can include:

• altitude,
• voltage probe,
• solar cell.

Anyone that wants to participate in the project join us at MakerLabs and learn about electronics, robots, additive manufacturing, ham radio and even some magic the gathering if you feel brave.

So join us next time and have a blast doing learning all kinds of maker stuff.

Find us on meetup for regular meeting details.

We at MakerLabs are preparing to participate in the next weather balloon launch. This will include a science payload that still needs to be finalized.

So far we are going to either record temperature and humidity. Alternately we will record solar power performance at as it goes up so we would need a solar panel, power probe and altitude sensor.

Let’s see how it goes.

The previous launch was fun.

Payload

Prep

Release

Tracking

Recovery