3D-Printed RC Aircraft, the Most DIY Touchpad, Mini-Mac, and Leveling Up a Robot Dog

Plus scratch-built wind turbines, a Cube of WS2812, cat food extruder, and a microbial fuel cell [Digi-Key: Get the Components You Need and Build a Better Future]( [3602421454791242043.png] Wednesday, October 9, 2019 [Pixel Badge 2 is a WS2812 on a Whole New Scale »]( Making the Wind Do the Work Wind generators are riding the crest of low-emission power generation. It's impressive to see hundreds or thousands of turbines at work in wind farms, but you almost always see horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWTs) with massive blades. At that scale there's no possibility you could build one yourself, much less stand it up in the backyard for testing. But hackers are still finding a way to experiment with wind power generation. The backyard-friendly design comes in the form of a vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) that mounts blades as if they are on a cylinder spinning around the vertical shaft that holds them above the ground. [bebaf2b0-0896-4708-8fe4-893c68a6b43e.jpg]( [Simple VAWT Wind Power Generator]( [d46cca80-7e5a-46be-aa79-7884bff1b2c9.jpg]( [Portal Point Generator]( Perhaps equally amazing to the blade fabrication in these builds is the generator design itself. Generators are made up of a set of coils and a set of permanent magnets. When the magnets move past the coils a current is induced. Check out how all of this comes together in two excellent VAWT project: BlueFlower has a [Simple VAWT wind power generator project]( entered into the 2019 Hackday Prize, and the [Portal Point Generator]( has a portable VAWT design which took third place in last year's Prize! Highlights from the IO POPULAR BITS [51e8826a-d975-467b-a8a0-d357b35f6835.jpg]( [3D-Printed RC Plane]( How much of an RC plane can be built on a 3D printer? Nearly all of it! Marius Taciuc took the traditional balsa wood process and brought CNC modeling and a printer to the party. [24e5a64f-829f-4599-b1f4-ffcbd2ed95cf.jpg]( [DIY Touchpad is Extra DIY]( When it comes to DIY touchpads, you might expect to find a capacitive touch sensor, or a repurposed consumer-grade sensing device. Not this time: Thiagesh used a combination of a wire grid and an under-mount camera. [8ff2dfa9-e845-4c5a-a683-17e8e27920ac.jpg]( [One Year of a Robot Build]( What can you accomplish with one year of intense robot building? Incredible things! Josh Pieper has been hard at work building an open source version of the MIT mini-Cheetah. Spend your weekend in awe as you see this one come together before your eyes. Hack Chat LIVE CHAT WITH LEADING EXPERTS EVERY WEDNESDAY [Today: Designing Sci-Fi Hack Chat]( When you're watching a great Sci-Fi movie, part of what makes the technology amazing is when it's visionary, yet rooted in the reality of what is possible today. That doesn't happen by accident, but is the hard work of Playback Designers. [Seth Molson hosts today's Hack Chat]( to discuss his work as a Playback Designer on productions like Timeless, Stargate Universe, and Netflix's reboot of Lost in Space. [Next Week: Hacking Diabetes Hack Chat]( Dana Lewis will host [next week's Hack Chat](. With all the advances in diabetes care over the last decade, a commercially available artificial pancreas always seems to remain five years away. Dana didn't let that stop her from hacking together her own artificial pancreas, which she now uses to control her Type 1 diabetes. Join us as we learn about the challenges and rewards of not waiting for a solution from the medical industry. Featured Projects PROJECT BITS [f051c5a9-45d8-4168-b2c1-ad02560a46f2.gif]( [Tiny Macintosh Likes Linux]( [ac13622b-09bb-44ee-ac76-a3857bb3d564.jpg]( [You Can't Print Cat Food But You Can Print a Cat Feeder]( [a5efb23e-b5ba-46df-b099-82a9209c6572.jpg]( [What's the Cube Root of WS2812?]( [c6a78a62-1f0a-45c7-9e1c-f230ed3044c2.jpg]( [Mud with Juice: Building A Soil Microbial Fuel Cell]( Live Events MEETUPS, CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS [Hackaday LA: Oct 17]( Pasadena | Top by the Hackaday LA meetup during Innovate Pasadena's "Connect Week". JT Nelson, founding member of Open Source Pasadena will present a talk, followed by a lightning talk session. [Maker Faire Rome: 18-20 Oct]( Rome | The Greatest Show and Tell on Earth visits Rome for the seventh time. Come show off what you've been building and see what everyone else has been working on too! Hackaday's Editor in Chief, Mike Szczys, will present a talk and will be on the lookout for you at the Faire so bring along your projects to show off. [Hackaday Superconference: Nov 15-17]( Pasadena, CA | The Ultimate Hardware Conference is back for its fifth year. Tickets are sold out but [you can still get on the waitlist.]( [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