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Simple Level with Crazy Circuits

Here’s a super-easy micro:bit project that just uses a few Crazy Circuits LEDs, some Maker Tape, and a LEGO baseplate. It’s a Simple Level. Since the micro:bit has a built-in accelerometer we can easily check which way it is tilting just like an old fashioned level with liquid and an air bubble.

This project just uses five LEDs, but we outline how you could easily expand it to many more (and yes, we’ll probably build a larger one soon, as well as a multi-dimensional level.)

As always, there’s a diagram and more info as well as a look at the code. For each of these projects, if I can do a somewhat simple explanation of the code I think it’s helpful. You can certainly use the code and never dig into it, but I hope that people do. Kids (and adults) should learn to code if only for the fact that it can help understand how the world works, at least that’s how I view it.

Oh, I should mention that the Bit Board is now available via Kickstarter! And if crowdfunding isn’t your thing you can also get it direct from the Brown Dog Gadgets Shop.

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Meeting Controls

The latest fun project over at Brown Dog Gadgets is a USB device to toggle your microphone and camera on and off during video calls on your computer. Check out Meeting Controls!

We’ve got the “Business Edition” above for the adults with their serious work calls, as well as the “Fun Edition” for kids stuck in those all-day distance learning sessions.

This is a pretty simple build if you’ve got the right LEGO pieces laying around. (If you don’t a quick trip to BrickOwl.com will get you sorted straightaway.)

As always, you don’t have to perfectly replicate the LEGO build we’ve done, and it should be considered a starting point, or recommendation of one way to do it. That’s the beauty of LEGO building… it’s open ended. (Of course we do have a few tricks along the way.)

The Invention Board can be programming to work as a USB HID device, and we provide all the code you’ll need to work with Zoom, Google Meet, and even Microsoft Teams. (Webex didn’t work… blame their developers.)

Some nice touches, like the mic and camera icon, were added by using a vinyl cutter to make small stickers that are applied to flat LEGO bricks. Totally optional, but adds a bit of class and distinction to this very handy device.

As always, a wiring taping diagram and notes on the build are included in an eye-pleasing arrangement of words and images. Check out this project and more from Brown Dog Gadgets, especially if you’re an educator looking for a great invention & creativity platform that combines circuits with LEGO building.

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Crank Counter with micro:bit

I’ve got a new guide up in Brown Dog Gadgets Project Database. This time we’re using the micro:bit along with a 7 Segment Display and a LEGO-based crank circuit. I call it the Crank Counter.

We create these (free) resources in the hopes that viewers like you support our efforts by purchasing components from Brown Dog Gadgets because hey, that keeps the free resources flowing. Thank you for your support!

Typically the build guides are not a step-by-step LEGO building guide, but they don’t need to be. LEGO should be open-ended building, and we want to encourage that. Even the circuit layout with Maker Tape doesn’t need to be precise. The components must be connected properly, but where you place them, length of tape used, etc. is less important. Building a functioning circuit is the goal. (Things that need to be more “exact” like the crank connections, are called out.)

I typically try to explain the code a bit and cover a few other basic concepts that relate to the project. Some are more advanced than others, but we try to simplify and not overwhelm.

Oh, you might be wondering if we can made a version of this that counts down as well as up depending on the direction you turn the crank, and yes, that’s possible, and it’s in the works. :)

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Blink Without Pause on the micro:bit

If you’ve ever used an Arduino there’s a good chance you started with the Blink sketch, which is a great introduction to programming a physical computing device where you can see the outcome in the form a blinking LED. As you learn more and things get complex, you discover that using the delay statement in your code is not ideal as it prevents the code from continually running, so you can’t properly capture input to your microcontroller. There’s more over at the Blink Without Delay tutorial on this topic.

I’ve been doing a lot with the micro:bit lately, and my quick searches gave no equivalent for Blink Without Delay so I created Blink Without Pause.

The tutorial starts with micro:bit code for Blink With Pause (which is really just Blink) and then Blink Without Pause so you can compare the two.

For a real-world example there are two more, Blink With Pause With Button and then Blink Without Pause With Button which should clearly illustrate the value of not using pause if your code needs to do other things.

Oh, if you’re wondering where the micro:bit is in the illustrations above… it’s not there! The diagrams show the Bit Board that Brown Dog Gadgets will be releasing this fall as part of a Kickstarter campaign. Follow on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook to see some of the other projects we’ve been doing and find out when the campaign launches.

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Vinten Tripod Leg Lock

I was doing a video shoot with Ben Nelson for Brown Dog Gadgets last week and I noticed his Vinten tripod leg had an issue staying locked in place… Seems one of the leg lock pieces had broke in half. It seemed liked a perfect reason to fire up OpenSCAD and get the 3D printer spitting out a new part.

In the photo above you can see the new part in silver, and the two original parts on the other legs, in black.

It took two prints to get an acceptable fit. The first was a little too wide and wouldn’t quite fit in place. I tweaked the file just a bit and the second version worked well. I’ll walk through the process a bit below.

For an organic shape like this I usually start by putting it on a desktop scanner to get the profile. This one is curvy, and I’m not big on drawing curves in OpenSCAD, but I am big on scanning in an object and then tracing it in Inkscape. I did a few scans and even then I edited the image a bit to adjust the contrast.

I import the images into Inkscape, each layered directly on top of each other, then add another layer on top of that to do the drawing. I can then easily switch out the image below and compare things. For a symmetrical drawing like this I really just need to draw half of it, then I just dupe and flip to make the other half and combine them into one.

Once I have a vector file created I export that and then import it into an OpenSCAD file where I can extrude it changing it from a 2D shape to a 3D shape. Creating a solid object is the goal. Once I’ve got a solid object I can start knocking holes in it and adding angles by subtracting with various shapes. (The reddish parts are all subtractions or differences from the main piece.)

And yes, the above image does appear to be some sort of special forces TIE Fighter from the Star Wars universe.

Here’s our final piece, ready to be rendered, sliced, and printed. The original part had some pockets on the top and bottom, but since they were not required for functionality I left them out.

Ben installed it and briefly tested it and it seemed to work, though time will tell if it holds up under stress. (Also, this one is PLA so if he leaves the tripod in a hot car, it might soften and fail.) I’ll probably print a few more for him to keep in the tripod bag in case this one does fail in the field.

If you want to print one of these, you can grab the file from Vinten Tripod Leg Lock and have fun!