My Second design of a small geometric sculpture that explores the battle between cake and pie

This is a PCB design for 6 leds which can be attached to the extruder nozel head via the 2 threaded bolts. This is a derivative of the printable Makerbot light ring.

The circuit is a simple one, however there is an added function.

This is designed to be wired into the extruder motor connectors 1A and 1B, therfore when the motor runs forward, it lights 3 LEDs (White) When it reverses, it illumiates the Blue LED's.

Check out my video for an example here: youtube.com/watch?v=lRiLqAD1rlk

and in actual use (Pinting PrintruderV2) youtube.com/watch?v=VoPX63fTHiw

Alternativly, use this pcb and add the LED's all the right way wound and have this as a circuit just to illuminate! its like potatoe waffles - lovely and versatile!

This is a board that allows you to power a Mk4/Mk5 Plastruder, Heated Build Platform, etc. using external mosfets (and an optional relay). It can be directly connected to a stock Extruder Controller without any modifications. The input lines connect to the '-'(GND) terminals on the EC.

After already burning out one EC mosfet, and hearing that you might need to use a relay board to power the Mk5, I finally decided to design and build this board. The IRF520 mosfets I used in the prototype should be able to power a Mk5 Plastruder without any problems, and do it silently ;). They support PWM heating code as well, for better temperature management. All the outputs are protected with flyback diodes, so they can drive inductive loads as well (motors, other relays, etc).

Using this board to power the Plastruder/HBP reduces the current going through the mosfets on the Extruder Controller down to ~10ma per mosfet. Your EC mosfets should not heat up or burn out. If you do happen to burn out a mosfet on this board, it is a lot easier to fix/replace than the ones on the Extruder Controller.

It also reduces the current going through the Cat5 cable going into the EC, which could help reduce communication errors that can occur.

I've only tested this with my Mk4 Plastruder and HBP, but the current capability should be there to support a Mk5 (IRF520 = 10A). Since it is not part of the extruder controller, it is much easier to add other cooling solutions (i.e. fans), or even use other types of mosfets. I mounted large TO-220 heatsinks to the IRF520's to help keep them cool.

This is the first 'big' circuit I've designed, so there might be errors in the schematic. If there are errors, or if anyone know of ways to improve the design, please leave a comment.

Future plans/ideas:
1. Try using higher pull-up resistors (100K instead of 1.2K)
2. Add a master/emergency cutoff switch
3. Design/order/test an actual PCB

A small PCB that breaks out SSOP-08 packages to a standard 0.1" pin spacing. This allows you to use these SMD devices with bread boards and strip boards. I created this board so that I could use a PCA9306 I2C level shifter in a prototype, but it'll work with any SSOP-08 device.

This thing drives 4 stepper motors synchronously.
I designed it for the BigRep thingiverse.com/thing:8609 which has 4 Stepper motors for the Z-axis.

One Step, Dir and Enable signal gets split up and serves 4 Polou A4983 stepper carrier boards.

As the stepper motors i use (180Ncm) pull 2A per coil, each driver has its own 12V line and connector. Mounting holes (50x50mm) for a fan are provided also.

I've got a Panavise model 381. It is a smallish vise, but much bigger and heavier than a third-hand.

I wanted to try to take advantage of this rotating vise head and make a simple modification to allow it to hold a printed circuit board for stability while soldering.

PCBArmAndBase.stl contains a full set of parts. I thought that the depth of the pcb guide slot was too deep.

PCBArmAndBase2.stl also contains a full set of parts. The pcb guide slots were squared off and an angle was applied to the base to give the arms a slight tilt in.

The Rev C MakerBot Safety Cutoff Switch operation depends on the E-stop cable to function. If the cable is unplugged or fails then the safety cutoff is unable to interrupt the power to the heater element. This modification allows the Safety Cutoff Switch to operate without the E-stop cable, ensuring that the heater will be shut off if required.

This mod also adds a snubber diode to the relay coil to reduce power surges when the relay shuts off.

NOTE: These instructions are ONLY applicable to the Rev C Safety Cutoff Switch.

Some time ago, a friend of mine asked me to make her a pair of mind-controlled cat ears, and I said, "Oh sure! I can do that."

In my defense, I'd had a bit to drink that night, and didn't think she was serious.

She was.

(Oh, dear.)

On sober reflection, I became curious about whether I could do it. All the pieces seemed to be present:

* The Neurosky headset had just been featured in Make Magazine.

* The arduino microcontroller makes doing simple robotics like this relatively easy.

* The Makerbot and reprap printers make it possible to iteratively design custom hardware, which was going to be really important.

So instead of completely and utterly insane, the idea turned out to be merely odd. But doable.

Anyway, if you've ever woken up and said to yourself, "I'd like to strap a pair of robotic cat ears to my head, and interface them with my brainwaves," your wish has now come true.

Prototype 1

The first prototype is complete. It's imperfect, a bit fiddly, and bulky, but it held up long enough for us to put it on and walk around downtown Boston with it.

Here's a video of the first prototype in action. It showcases the ears drooping, standing upright, and wiggling at different levels of mental activity:

vimeo.com/32018607

Who should make this?

Let's be honest, this is a lot of work to do in order to make some kitty ears. The purpose of this thing was to learn how to do it and have fun. And I'm releasing it here because I'm curious what else people could make based on it.

Make Something Different

I'm very interested to see what can be made with this toolkit beyond cat ears.

The servo mounts can be used to attach motors to the MindWave headset, which was a bit of a tricky mechanical problem. Now that that's solved, what else could you do? Some suggestions for things you could make to mount on your head:

* other ears, like dog or rabbit ears
* antennae
* spikes
* fricking laser beams

It's hard to make derivatives of .STL files, so I'll be uploading the Solidworks files for people to tinker with, as soon as I have a chance to clean them up a bit.

Special Thanks

Many people helped me bring this project to completion. Some tried (vainly) to maintain my sanity. Others helped by listening to me rant like a madman (and didn't back away quickly enough). Some others contributed directly, and I'd like to thank them here.

Miriam Byroade designed and sewed the fabric for the ears and the holster holding the electronics.

Jeff Cutler contributed significantly to the arduino code, and is single-handedly responsible for the MoveToPosition(); function.

Amber Ying dared me to make the ears, modeled them, and has patiently tested three versions of them, all the while waiting for a working set.

Thanks again to all of you, and to the others I haven't mentioned. I promise to bother you more as I work on the next prototype.