PCBs that flex, the Raspberry Pi Spellbook, LEDs that bloom, and learn ESP8266 in three flavors

Plus custom robot motors, split keyboards, thumb keyboards, and a TDR scope add-on. [3602421454791242043.png] Wednesday, March 13, 2019 [Flexible PCB Contest sponsored by Digi-Key 60 Entries Will Have Their Design Fabbed for Free! »]( Flex Your Circuit Design Skills: Join the Flexible PCB Contest! You already know how to design a circuit board, but we bet you haven't built your own flexible boards yet. What are you waiting for? The design skills are the same and the fabrication process is as easy as sending in some Gerber files. To help get you over the hump, Hackaday is teaming up with Digi-Key for the [Flexible PCB Contest](. [60 Winners Have Their Design Made for Free!]( Under way right now, we're looking for cool designs meant for flexible circuit boards. You do not have to manufacture the board, just show off your design and tell the story behind it. We'll pick 60 of the coolest projects and give them coupons for three copies of the board made by OSH Park. [What are you waiting for]( Get to work on those wearables, folding electronics, or anything else you can imagine. [1cd199f1-b66f-4064-988b-7ad9b30aefee.png]( Highlights from the IO POPULAR BITS [b845b2fa-0872-414d-8df5-f7b23a03ea15.jpg]( [Blooming Flower of Blinkiness]( Jiří Praus put together a masterpiece of art and electronics. This touch-activated mechanical tulip is a Valentine's day gift. The circuit sculpture made of wire and LEDs has a motion element as well. A tiny servo in the base causes the petals of the flower to slowly bloom. [00c2d845-a9aa-4e7e-88be-e802d54a1b09.jpg]( [DIY a Time-Domain Reflectometer for your Oscilloscope!]( A TDR is an intriguing measurement add-on -- it's used used to test the signal path on PCBs, to detect faults or breaks in cables, and some other neat tricks. Ted Yapo built this one from an old design, but updated it with modern versions of 7400 logic. [24d3c71b-3643-4562-8861-28b21b581d47.jpg]( [Scratch-Built Raspberry Pi "Spellbook"]( Anyone can build a Raspberry Pi computer -- just mix in a keyboard, screen, and some peripherals. But Calvin took it to a new level. By pouring some time into TinkerCAD, the "Spellbook" was born. It looks like a book when closed but acts like a proper laptop all the time. The best part: you can print it for yourself! ESP8266 Tutorials Will Help You Level Up NEW TUTORIALS AVAILABLE The ESP8266 is a workhorse on a shoestring budget and now [it's easy to learn how to use it](. You can get one of these WiFi enabled microcontroller boards for just a few bucks, and they can do a lot -- from serving up webpages and driving huge LED strips, to building out home automation as the go-to boards for Internet of Things projects. [Learn ESP8266 on Arduino, Lua, or SDK](  Featured Projects PROJECT BITS [6f21ad92-5c10-43a8-ac6f-824df587e3a9.jpg]( [These Custom Motors for Walking Robots are Simply Incredible]( [6b59c7f8-0a24-40f5-9ff5-d04a899451bb.jpg]( [Thumb Keyboard Teaches Basics of Button Scanning]( [22785c5e-dbb7-45fe-8bcc-ee1eec37ed08.jpg]( [3D Printer Filament Inserts Let Unspooling Go Smoothly]( [22a3156c-f57d-4241-b728-07a1f41cdd16.jpg]( [Split Keyboard Looks Lovely; was Soldered Point-to-Point]( Live Events MEETUPS, CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS [Hackaday Shenzhen: Mar 22]( Shenzhen | Hackaday and Seeed Studio are hosting a meetup at X.Factory in Shenzhen. Join Sophi Kravitz, Mike Szczys, and Hackaday community members for talks, show and tell, and a lot of fun! [Hackaday Vietnam: Mar 24]( Ho Chi Mihn City | Bring-a-hack and enjoy a few short hardware talks on robotics and analog electronics as Sean Boyce and Mike Szczys host a meetup in Vietnam. [VCF Pacific Northwest: Mar 23-24]( Seattle | Hackaday is proud to sponsor the Vintage Computer Festival again this year. The exhibitor list has grown by 50% since the Pacific Northwest flavor of VCF was first held last year. This is a can't-miss for everyone in the area. [Cyphercon 4.0: Apr 11-12]( Milwaukee | Wisconsin has a security conference and it's the perfect place to hone your cryptography chops and get up to speed with your infosec skills. [KiCon: Apr 26-27]( Chicago | The first ever KiCon is a celebration of the well-known Open Source PCB design tool: KiCad. If you can do it with KiCad, there's probably a talk about it at this conference! [6106791452383979970.png]( [5872171452383972855.png]( [8302381452383965490.png]( [1582301482276864754.png]( [Terms of Use]( [Privacy Policy]( [Hackaday.io]( [Hackaday.com]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} [why did I get this?](    [unsubscribe from this list](    [update subscription preferences]( Hackaday · 61 South Fair Oaks Avenue · Suite 200 · Pasadena, CA 91105 · USA