ASV Part 7

Dec 26, 2019

Marco Leo

The obstacle avoidance autonomous vessel is complete.

Football Thrower Part 8

Dec 17, 2019

Andrew Kaye

This week has been a busy one as I have created multiple designs for the metal encasing of the electronics and mechanisms.

Pin Ball Machine Part 5

Dec 17, 2019

Andrew Potenza

This week I have been focusing on combining all the elements that I have worked on separately together.

Pinball Machine Part 4

Oct 14, 2019

Andrew Potenza

This week I have focused on the playfield. I knew that manufacturing the playfield would be a challenge due to the fact that it is too big for our CNC cutter

Pinball Machine Part 3

Oct 01, 2019

Andrew Potenza

Testing the flipper and bumper relay

ASV Part 7

Sep 09, 2019

Marco Leo

Nearing the end of this project. All that is left is to finish fabricating the top portion of the hull and attach it.

Bottle Car Part 3

Aug 30, 2019

John Praleston

The original mounting bracket for the bottle cars (black) was a bit unstable down the track due to the short length. The new mounting bracket (white) is much more stable down the line due to its longer length.

Toy Car Power Wheels Part 4

Aug 30, 2019

John Praleston

Final gas pedal prints installed. Gear is installed onto the potentiometer with throttle arm pressed against it.

ASV Part 6

Aug 28, 2019

Marco Leo

This week I did some more tweaking with the code and electronics. I added the hall sensor switch, so now it rune only when the presence of a magnet is near the hall sensor.

Pinball Machine Part 2

Aug 27, 2019

Andrew Potenza

This week I mainly worked on the support structures of the pinball machine and the extra detail before constructing the full playfield.

Football Thrower Part 7

Aug 20, 2019

Andrew Kaye

The project is coming along very nicely.

Pinball Machine

Aug 20, 2019

Andrew Potenza

I am making a completely custom-built Boca Bearings pinball machine.

Football Thrower Part 6

Aug 16, 2019

Andrew Kaye

This week was a busy one.

ASV Part 5

Aug 15, 2019

Marco Leo

I have sanded the hull and started to paint it. Now all that’s left for the main part of the boat is to print out the top portion, put it all together, sand it down, and attach it to the bottom portion of the hull.

Toy Car Power Wheels Part 3

Aug 01, 2019

John Praleston

After a few weeks off, some lengthy rewiring, and a week and a half of learning Arduino coding the Audi car is operating correctly.

Football Thrower Part 5

Jul 31, 2019

Andrew Kaye

This week, I made a decision to no longer use the arduino uno and xbox 360 controller for this project due to time constraints.

ASV Part 4

Jul 31, 2019

Marco Leo

I’ve assembled the bottom portion of the hull. It is made up of six separate pieces and it’s entirely 3D printed.

Football Thrower Part 4

Jul 26, 2019

Andrew Kaye

After many attempts to screw pieces together, I found that 1 inch drywall screws worked best.

Football Thrower Part 3

Jul 24, 2019

This week has been a busy one. I cut all of the remaining pieces for the body and the base with the X-Carve

ASV Part 3

Jul 23, 2019

Marco Leo

I've been doing some testing with the ultrasonic sensors that I might implement into the ASV or future projects

ASV Part 2

Jul 17, 2019

Marco Leo

I have completed the overall wiring for the ASV

Wire Bender Project

Jul 15, 2019

Marco Leo

This week I was working on the wire bender project started by a previous intern.

Football Thrower Part 2

Jul 12, 2019

Andrew Kaye

This week, I 3D printed all of the prototypes of the pieces that will be printed

Toy Car Power Wheels Vid

Jul 08, 2019

John Praleston

Our intern John explains the modifications to his son's toy car

ASV (Automated Surface Vehicle)

Jul 08, 2019

Marco Leo

I am currently working on designing/building an ASV (automated surface vehicle) that will avoid obstacles around it

Football Thrower

Jul 08, 2019

Andrew Kaye

This week I did much needed research on the design possibilities for the launching mechanism.

Toy Car Power Wheels Part 2

Jun 21, 2019

John Praleston

There have been many updates to the design of the manual throttle setup. I wanted to insure that the pedal would not get stuck leaving my son not in control of the car.

Toy Car Power Wheels

Jun 07, 2019

John Praleston

The next steps in the Audi Power Wheels upgrade are the mounting bracketing for the gas pedal and steering potentiometer sensors.

Bottle Car Part 2

Jun 06, 2019

John Praleston

The design has been finalized using the two-part system.

Time Lapse

Jun 04, 2019

Andrew Barbosa

Recently, Prusa Printers announced their upgrade to the MK3 printer, the MK3S. The upgrade is a total redesign of the extruder and includes a new filament sensor mechanism that is much more reliable for only about $20.

Bottle Racer Launcher

May 20, 2019

John Praleston

I am working to improve and customize a bottle car racing system.

Shirogorov Multi Row Bearing System Disassembly

Apr 05, 2019

Ben Flaum

In this video Daniel will walk us through disassembly of the multi row bearing system (MRBS) in a Shirogorov 95 series folding knife.

Candy Sorter - Project Update 4

Mar 20, 2019

Andrew Barbosa

After making a list of all the needed changes to the sorter PCB I got to work redesigning the board. As I began working, I realized...

Candy Sorter Project - Update 3

Feb 21, 2019

Andrew Barbosa

After setting up the board I was able to get the feeder motor spinning. It seemed like it was not behaving in an expected way so I began debugging by...

Candy Sorter Project - Update 2

Feb 19, 2019

Andrew Barbosa

This week in the shop I focused on the Candy Sorter. When we last left the project, I had designed a PCB to be manufactured and early this week it arrived.

Wire Bender Project - Part 1

Feb 15, 2019

Andrew Barbosa

For this project we are going to be building upon the fantastic foundation that was provided here by Dejan over at How to Mechatronics.

Solar Panel Light Tracking Project: Update 3

Feb 11, 2019

John Praleston

I have updated the solar panel system design and corrected the wiring schematic errors...

Candy Sorter Project - Update 1

Feb 08, 2019

Andrew Barbosa

This week in the shop I continued working on the improving the Candy Sorter. I noticed that the project did not have a formal schematic, so I began by creating that using Fritzing.

Solar Panel Light Tracking Project: Update 2

Nov 30, 2018

John Praleston

Two LDRs will be used in this solar tracking system. They have a barrier wall between them to block the sunlight from an angle. If the solar panel...

Solar Panel Light Tracking Project: Update 1

Nov 28, 2018

John Praleston

I am designing and building a single axis solar panel system that will track the movement of the sun. An Arduino will be controlling the servo and reading the...

Workshop Weekly Update 19: Maker Faire Preparation

Nov 01, 2018

John Praleston

We are preparing for the upcoming Maker Faire and have multiple projects to finish up. I am making a new gear for the gear puzzle machine. Sketched in Solidworks and...

Lew's Speed Spool Upgraded with Boca Bearings

Oct 17, 2018

Ben Flaum

This video shows how to upgrade the bearings in a Lew's Speed Spool Fishing Reel.

Project Rocket League - Part 1

Oct 10, 2018

John Praleston

Last year at Maker Faire we brought an arcade motorcycle that controlled a remote-controlled car. This car would be viewed from a virtual reality headset that streamed from a mounted camera.

RC Boat Project: Update 9

Oct 05, 2018

Ryan Kwaterski

The initial water test with Kilo was in a pool and went well, but not as well as I had hoped. The turning radius was fine and it didn’t take on any water, but...

RC Boat Project: Update 8

Oct 03, 2018

Ryan Kwaterski

This week the electrical components were installed in Kilo. The servo and electric motor mounts were glued into place using BSI Maxi-Cure and BSI Insta-Set as seen in...

Power Wheels Racer 2.0: Update 4

Sep 26, 2018

Ryan Kwaterski

PVC was used because it is not only cost effective but lightweight and durable. After the PVC was cut to size it was assemble into...

Autonomous Submarine Project: Part 5

Sep 19, 2018

Michael Denny

After a lot of trial and error and testing I can conclude that trying to make the sub water tight while producing the same power and rpm of a human is very difficult. The rotary seal has a lot of...

RC Boat Project: Update 7

Sep 12, 2018

Ryan Kwaterski

The cleats, gas cap and other accessories were glued on using DAP Rapid Fuse all-purpose adhesive as seen in figures 1 and 2. A tiny dot was used for each piece in order to avoid any discoloration in the paint.

Autonomous Submarine Project: Part 4

Sep 10, 2018

Michael Denny

More bench testing was done, I found out that the motor needs to be mounted perfectly straight to be strong enough to turn the shaft. So now...

How to prepare for an F1 in Schools Competition with Team Divignite

Sep 05, 2018

Amanda Chan

It's one month until the 2018 F1 in Schools (F1iS) Nationals and Team Divignite is all set for the competition! Today's update will outline what we have accomplished thus far.

Autonomous Submarine Project: Part 3

Sep 03, 2018

Michael Denny

This week I completed the electrical and software part of the sub. Unfortunately, while trying to test all the wiring together one of the motors shorted out and broke. The motor was not powerful enough to turn the shafts...

3D Printed Ford Flathead V8 Engine Working Model

Aug 31, 2018

Bryan Carter

The Ford Flathead V8 Engine model took a bit over 200 hours of total print time. A kit is available for about 95 dollars, and contains all the hardware you need to build the engine.

Autonomous Submarine Project: Part 2

Aug 29, 2018

Michael Denny

The original plan was the use the L298N Dual Motor Controller to control the motors for the rudders and dive planes, and a mosfet, diode, and...

RC Boat Project: Update 6

Aug 27, 2018

Ryan Kwaterski

This past Monday kicked off a busy week of painting the RC boat (now named kilo due to the fact that its net weight is 2.2 lbs.). I decided to go with...

Autonomous Submarine Project: Part 1

Aug 15, 2018

Michael Denny

For the autonomous sub I got the other u-bracket and the fins assembled. The dive plane fins are removable and have a 3 mm bolt through the fins and...

Power Wheels Racer 2.0: Update 3

Aug 13, 2018

Andrew Barbosa

For the mechanical side of the power wheels project, the brake was bent a little more to have the handle in a more convenient location. A rubber grip was also...

RC Boat Project: Update 5

Aug 10, 2018

Ryan Kwaterski

The electric motor mount along with a battery mount were 3D-printed using PLA as seen in figure 1. Epoxy will be used to glue the...

Workshop Weekly Update 18: Submarine Hull

Aug 08, 2018

Michael Denny

For my little autonomous submarine, I assembled the second half of the hull and made ribs from to help keep it together. I also cut out slits in the...

RC Boat Project: Update 4

Aug 06, 2018

Ryan Kwaterski

More sanding and resurfacing was done this past week. More 3M Acryl-green putty was used to spot treat any last remaining rough patches.

Workshop Weekly Update 17: Power Wheels Racer Steering

Aug 02, 2018

Ryan Kwaterski

This week the team put in a new steering column and handlebars. The handlebars were assembled from...