Maker Meetup #186: Crystals, USB Power Switch, and the Shaper CNC-mill

As a highlight of this month's Maker Meetup, we had a small demo of the Origin Shaper that is now again a functional part of our Fab Lab. On first glance, it looks like a hand-held router. However, through optical tracking of the workpiece and precise controls of the drill bit, it allows you to use it like a CNC mill. You can load milling files (e.g. svg-files), place them somewhere on your workpiece, and start to mill them out. You just have to follow the lines roughly: The Shaper will correct your movements in a certain window, allowing you to cut perfectly straight or round objects by hand. Everybody who wanted got to try out this great addition to the Fab Lab tools.

Lennart brought a USB inline power switch that runs via Matter of Thread, allowing for easy integration into smart homes. He designed the PCB himself, ordered it from Aisler (a local PCB producer), and assembled it using the reflow oven of our Fab Lab. It can measure current, switch it on and off, and support both USB-A and USB-C.

Andreas brought a classic experiment you might remember from your chemistry classes: Copper crystals made from Copper(II) sulfate.

He also brought some magnets and a small piece of diamagnetic pyrolytic graphite. And in the right configuration, it is levitating! If you look closely at the shadow of the magnets, you can see the shadow of the plate levitating over it, with light passing in between. Very cool!

Thorsten brought an older resin-printed model of a train, which he plans to paint (someday!).

Julian (that is me writing this report) brought some mechanical 7-segment displays powered by one servo motor each. Soon, he will have a physical, digital, and very loud clock.

Doğa showed us that you can use solder to put highlights onto accessory pieces.

As a regular occurrence, Jan Borchers brought his Sinclair ZX Spectrum Next, an FPGA-based modern version of the classic ZX Spectrum home computer he had as a kid in the 80s. It was running modern 8-bit retro games.