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A Visit to Seattle’s Hackerspace: Metrix Create Space

John / January 13, 2012 / 3D Printing, Hacking, Travel / No Comments

During the recent holidays, I spent a few days in Seattle. One of the things I’ve wanted to do there for awhile is visit Metrix Create Space, Seattle’s hackerspace.

Conveniently, they have a regular 3d printer night on Thursdays and that happened to be the night I had free to visit.

Upon arriving, I was greeted by Matt, the owner of Metrix and he gave me a tour. It’s definitely a maker’s dream space with lots of room, tools and even a sushi place upstairs that delivers to nerds in need.

There is an array of cool tools to use including 3d printers, a laser cutter, a giant CNC machine and lots of soldering/laptop workstations.

One of the things I had read about Metrix is that they have been making clonedel parts for 3d printers which are basically molds that you use to create objects out of whatever material you pour into the molds. It was cool to see the setup in person and check out the quality of the parts:

There was also a couple of reprap printers built with the clonedel parts:

They also have a vending machine filled with arduino microcontrollers and other geeky toys, snacks (including MREs!) and electronic kits. I ended up buying a bunch of things for myself from the machine:

Since this was a 3d printer night, Matthew brought down his CupCake:

(aka a FakerBot since it was a copy of Makerbot’s open source design that they made at Metrix) which he had modified to make it quite similar to my beloved Thing-O-Matic in how the Z stage operates.

I brought some of my prints and we compared parts. His modified CupCake was printing incredibly well…just as good as my Thing-O-Matic and much better than the output I had seen from stock CupCakes, thanks to his mods (which he posted on Thingiverse shortly after my visit).

I love how the CupCake has all the electronics and wiring on the OUTSIDE…so much more accessible:

It was a very fun way to spend a Thursday night in Seattle…I highly recommend checking out Metrix if you’re in Seattle as they offer lots of interesting workshops and a really cool atmosphere.

Android installed on HP TouchPad

John / November 11, 2011 / Hacking, Technology / No Comments

Last night I successfully installed Android (Cyanogen Mod 7) onto my HP TouchPad.

I followed the very thorough tutorial on PCPro so I won’t be going over the steps in this post. I did use Windows 7 for the install since the tutorial specified it. Not sure if there is Mac tutorial out there but the steps involved should be doable on a Mac, just like the Preware hack I did previously.

The nice thing about this hack is that you still retain WebOS and have the choice upon booting to pick which operating system the tablet will use.

I’ve only played with it for a little while but despite the alpha build status, it seems to function pretty stabily and fast. In fact, just as good as any Android phone I’ve owned. Emphasis is on phone here since the Android build being used isn’t the tablet (Honeycomb) version, so the TouchPad feels like a big phone. But you can access the Android Marketplace (make sure you do all the steps in the linked tutorial to enable this). Upon logging into my Google account, it even synced all my apps down that I had loaded on my Nexus S.

I’m looking forward to see how this hack evolves and makes use of a decent hardware platform like the TouchPad which many people were able to scoop up for cheap during the recent fire sale when HP exited the tablet business.

There is also a bunch of people interested in using Android to control their RepRap 3D printers and there are a few projects working on that right now. My TouchPad would be perfect for that so I’ll be keeping a close eye on this aspect.

Update: Looks like an alpha of Ice Cream Sandwich (aka Android 4.0) has been released.

Adventures in 3D Printing: the Prusa Mendel

John / August 19, 2011 / 3D Printing, Hacking, Technology / 2 Comments

As part of my continuing adventures with a 3D printer, my next project is printing an actual 3D printer, the opensource Prusa Mendel, a Reprap derivative. Well, printing a good portion of it anyways.

Aside from a larger build platform which utilizes a slightly different way of printing from my MakerBot (both the extruder and build platform move at the same time vs just the build plafform on the MakerBot), I’ll use it to print with PLA filament which is corn based instead of ABS plastic. As well, I’ll be using a smaller, thinner filament size (1.75mm vs the 3mm ABS I’m using with the MakerBot). PLA smells like candy when it’s being extruded and is bio-degradable too! Unfortunately, it’s not food grade so you can’t print candy..yet!

During the recent Vancouver Maker Faire, I got to see a number of Reprap printers up close, including those built and maintained by Wade himself, the man behind the geared extruder design I’m going to be using.

Hardware and motors have already been ordered. Just need to print all the parts for the frame & extruder (the green/red items in the illustration) and decide on a hotend and electronics package.

Total cost should be ~$500.

I found this incredibly detailed video of the process of printing with the Prusa Mendel on YouTube that should give you some more information if you’re curious about the Prusa:

Update: Already have Wade’s Geared Extruder printed:

Turned out awesome in Nuclear Green…the whole Prusa will be printed in this color of ABS. Printing the gear with 50% infill seems like a good torture test of any 3d printer:

Gameduino videogame shield for the Arduino

John / August 15, 2011 / Hacking, Hardware, Videogames / Comments Off

A while back, I participated in my first Kickstarter project by ‘funding’ something called a Gameduino:

It’s an add on module (aka a shield) for the Arduino hardware platform. It basically gives the Arduino the missing bits of electronics to be a self contained 8-bit videogame platform including VGA and sound ports to connect to your tv or computer monitor and speakers. Needless to say, it was wildly successful as a Kickstarter project and is now available from a bunch of distributors around the world.

I received my own Gameduino (each is individually numbered and tested) in short time after the Kickstarter closed and immediately had Space Invaders up and running on it:

I had this arcade style controller from the original Xbox days in my garage and thought it would make the perfect ‘host’ for the Gameduino since it has a joystick and a lot of buttons already mounted in a sturdy, wooden box.

Fortunately, it was very easy to remove the Xbox controller portion and wire in the Arduino/Gameduino:

I was even able to mount it inside using an Arduino holder that I printed with my 3D printer:

There is already a large community of people playing with the Gameduino libraries and some really cool games and remakes are coming out. Like Frogger which is the basis of one of the game design tutorials:

I haven’t had nearly as much time as I had hoped to mess around with the Gameduino but I’ve got some fun ideas to use it for beyond playing Frogger.

How to install Preware onto your HP TouchPad on a Mac

John / July 22, 2011 / Hacking, Hardware, Technology / 46 Comments

I’m a little late to the party but I was recently given a HP TouchPad by the nice folks at HP Canada and stumbled across an interesting app today called Preware. In the WebOS world (which runs the TouchPad and other Palm/HP smartphones) it’s the equivalent of Cydia for iOS devices which basically allows you to jailbreak your TouchPad and install homebrew applications like Cydia does on iPhones/iPads/Touches.

The big difference though is that HP has embraced this and even supports it’s development unlike someone else. WebOS has a large homebrew community and it appears to be quite vibrant…at least as far as the smartphones goes…it’s still very early days for the TouchPad.

Why would you want to ‘jailbreak’ your TouchPad?
To enable functionality that hasn’t yet made it to the official firmware and generally have more control over your device. The options this gives you is still in it’s infancy because the tablet only came out a few days ago but it’s already progressing at lightening speed.

The install process is quite similar on a PC or Linux but since I hacked mine with a Mac, this is what you get from me. There are a number of ways to get Preware on your Touchpad but I’m going to cover the WebOS Quick Install method that doesn’t require installing the SDK.

Let’s get started.Step 1: Enable Developer Mode
The first thing you need to do is enable Developer Mode on the TouchPad. I can’t believe that the way you do this is by simply performing a search in the “Just Type…” search box for the Konami code:

upupdowndownleftrightleftrightbastart

This will reveal a hidden app that has a slider to enable Developer Mode and set a password if you want to on this mode.

Step 2: Install WebOS Quick Install
Grab WebOS Quick Install from here and run the .JAR file

I didn’t need it but you can also grab Java 1.6 from that same link. I did this whole process on a stock Snow Leopard Mac Mini running 10.6.8.

Make sure your TouchPad is connected and ensure you click cancel on the USB drive prompt:

Allow Quick Install to install the Novacom drivers if it prompts you.

UPDATE: Someone in the comments suggested that if you’re having problems installing the drivers, use the HP SDK method instead.

WebOS Quick Install

Once you get the above screen, click on the globe icon on the righthand side, just about the phone image. This will give you the repository listing for all the apps. Type ‘preware’ in the search box (make sure you’re in the Applications tab), select it in the results list and click install.

I didn’t get any feedback that it was done…but rest assured, you should have Preware in your downloads tab on the TouchPad:

Launching Preware gives you this screen:

At the moment, there isn’t a lot of TouchPad specific apps/patches but more is being added all the time.

I installed these patches to start and can say for sure that they have dramatically sped up things on the TouchPad:

I also installed “Add Launcher Tabs” after this screenshot was posted in order to give me the “Games” and “Homebrew” tabs.

Good luck and have fun hacking your TouchPad!

Update (August 18, 2011): Looks like HP has thrown in the towel on WebOS based devices with the OS future uncertain at this point.

Thing-O-Matic 3D Printer: Part 2 – Fully Operational

John / June 27, 2011 / 3D Printing, Hacking, Hardware, Technology / 7 Comments

I spent about 15 hours assembling the Thing-O-Matic last week and on Friday night was able to make my first 3D prints!

During assembly, I really got to understand how the whole system works and through the course of trial and error over the weekend, was constantly fine tuning the machine. Part of the issues were related to using the software and others were related to my assembly of the machine. The biggest pain is dealing with the tension of the X & Y belts and the electronics bay in the bottom of the machine being incredibly tight to fit all the wires – some of which weren’t quite long enough to be routed the way the assembly instructions stated.

Eventually I was able to solve most of the issues I was having and finally printed a few things to make the printing process better, before I start printing the really fun stuff.

First up was a clip for the safety cutoff switch. The Thing-O-Matic build called for me to drill some holes in the wood cutouts and I didn’t want to do that and thankfully someone posted a simple design to just clip the circuit board onto the platform.

It printed reasonably well…except that the back and forth motion of the printing process caused some wobble in the automated build platform so it got a little smooshed on one side…it’s just a simple clip so it doesn’t matter that much.

Next up is a filament spool holder. I had my spool just sitting on my desk and it worked okay to feed the material into the Thing-O-Matic but the spool holder makes much more sense:

Here’s a video of it printing (listen to the cool noises it makes while printing):

It actually printed the best so far of anything I’ve printed…until once again, the automated build platform came into play. This took nearly 2 hours to print and towards the top (and end of the print) the bottom of the object wobbled loose from the conveyer belt and the extruder head knocked it around and out of alignment. So I stopped the print. Fortunately, it was close enough to being done to still be usable when mounted on the top of the Thing-O-Matic:

Now the filament easily feeds itself right into the extruder with no fuss…I love it when simple solutions work so well.

Here’s some more photos from my Flickr set of the assembly and operation of the Thing-O-Matic, which I’ve named TK-421:

During the assembly, I did feel a little over my head sometimes and wished I’d opted for the fully assembled version (an additional $300 to the cost of the machine) but was able to figure it out and now have the knowledge of how the whole thing works….kind of like if you bought a motorcycle in kit form. Ongoing maintenance should be easier with the assembly knowledge I gained and it was pretty fun & challenging.

So what’s next? I still have some final adjustments to make to the Y axis as well as rerouting some wires. Once I take apart the electronics bay tonight, I should be truly fully operational! I’m also expecting some LED lighting to arrive shortly that should help in taking better photos and video of the printing process once installed inside the MakerBot.

Stay tuned for part 3 once I have some decent 3D objects printed.

Bonus video – MakerBots on CNN this past weekend:

Update: Just found this cool map of all the MakerBots around the world – I added TK-421 to the list.

View Makerbot Operator Map in a larger map

Vancouver Mini Maker Faire 2011

John / June 27, 2011 / 3D Printing, Hacking, Photography, Technology / 2 Comments

This past weekend was Vancouver’s first Mini Maker Faire and even the weather cooperated.

Part carnival, part technology showcase, and part craft show, it’s definitely not your grandma’s kind of faire – you actually have to sign a waiver to gain entry due to some of the exhibits on display and their inherent dangers.

Like this truck that shoots flames:

or this giant, electric walking spider that people drove around the fairgrounds:

a somewhat safer pedal version patrolled the row of tasty food vendors:

There were lots of hands on demos for things like glass blowing, laser cutting, soldering, Arduinos(!) and spin art among a bunch of other crafts and exhibits:

as well as items for sale:

My favorite area was the 3D printing area where I got to see up close for the first time the predessor to my Thing-O-Matic, the RepRap which can actually print a good portion of it’s own parts (minus the motors & electronics):

Another Thing-O-Matic in the wild!

It was cool to see some sample prints from another 3D printer and to chat with the guys that operate them as I was troubleshooting my first prints. I was also able to connect with a number of great people at the Vancouver Hacker Space and the Victoria MakerSpace.

A Nintendo Nunchuk controlled Xylophone:

And lastly, something to use that old iMac for:

I really enjoyed the MakerFaire (and spent WAY too much money at the Solarbotics booth buying Arduino stuff)….I’ve been trying for a couple of years to make it to the big one in San Francisco but scheduling has just never worked out. I’m really glad Vancouver’s turned out to be so great and hope that the organizers are able to make it an annual event. The crowds that turned up and the favorable responses from people I talked to seems to suggest there is a huge market for this kind of event in Vancouver with so many talented and creative folks around. It was also really cool to see so many kids enjoying the faire and learning about technology and the DIY culture that is the mantra behind Maker Faires.

I didn’t take as many photos as I normally would…I was too busy enjoying the faire.

You can view my whole MakerFaire photoset on Flickr.

Jailbreak your Kindle

John / March 27, 2011 / Hacking, Hardware / Comments Off

I finally got around to jailbreaking my Kindle 3. Why? Because you can replace the default ‘screensaver’ images of authors that the Kindle normally displays when you turn it off to anything you like:

It’s very easy to do. Follow the tutorial (with downloads) on this site. You can make your own screensavers or browse tons of them on this site.

Using the iPad microsim with an iPhone 4

John / August 21, 2010 / Hacking, Mobile, Travel / 7 Comments

This past weekend, I had an overnight trip to the US with a friend and wanted to be able to use my iPad/iPhone while away from my Rogers 6gb dataplan. The data roaming options from Rogers (all Canadian carriers actually) are far too overpriced for casual use like a quick trip to Seattle, so I wanted to test out the 3G capabilities of my iPad, which I recently upgraded to the 64gb 3G model.

First thing I needed to do was acquire a microsim card for it. I had heard that AT&T doesn’t give them out and wouldn’t even sell them to non-customers. So I headed to an Apple Store and sure enough, they gave me one with no fuss and for free.

I then popped it into the iPad and proceeded to set it up. Another friend had recently bought a 3G iPad while travelling in the US and told me that he was able to activate the AT&T microsim using a Canadian credit card although it did only work with his American Express. I didn’t even try to use another type of card and proceeded to create an account with my AMEX. Unfortunately, and expectedly, AT&T’s signup form wouldn’t accept a Canadian address in the billing information section. I forced my billing info into the two address lines and used the zipcode/city/state of the Apple Store I was sitting outside of for the service area.

This whole part of the process is painful and seemingly unnecessary – I should be able to simply buy a $25 AT&T card and redeem it for access…why does it matter my service area?

I finally got the account setup and my credit card charged for the 2gb/$25 plan that was good for 30 days. I did a quick test with wifi off and was good to go on the iPad.

I had read online that the iPad data plan used a different APN for accessing data. A quick lookup in the Settings screen confirmed that it was using the APN of ‘broadband’.

Before leaving for Seattle, I had visited the unlockit.co.nz website to create a custom APN profile for the iPad APN and emailed it to myself. To do this you simply visit the site (you need to visit it with your iPhone for it to work), select ‘Custom APN’ and enter ‘broadband’ (no quotes) and leave the Carrier & other fields blank. You can create the profile right then (this would require that you’re already in the US and are on wifi) or you can email the profile to yourself. This is the preferred method as some people had issues applying the profile directly from the site (I didn’t). You may also want to create profiles for any other carriers you’ll be using on your travels at this time – you never know when a site like this could disappear.

I then took the microsim out of the iPad and put it into my software unlocked (via Ultrasn0w) iPhone 4. I then loaded up the APN profile from my email (you just tap on the attachment and hit the install button). You may need to reboot or simply switch into and back out of airplane mode to be able to connect. Then magically, I was connected to AT&T on my iPhone 4 with 2gbs of data. I had no voice or SMS but I didn’t care…I use Google Voice for US based SMS already.

I was able to use FaceTime as well, even though I didn’t technically have a voice line, I was assigned a voice number which showed up on the caller id to my friend that I called via FaceTime. Using the My3G app, I was also able to FaceTime over 3G while driving down the highway.

Once we got to our hotel, we discovered the the wifi was no longer free so I opted to use the MyWi app to share out my data to our iPads. At one point we were both using our iPads while having a FaceTime chat with a friend, all over my 3G data on my iPhone.

Keep in mind that the AT&T data plan for the iPad is a reoccurring charge that you have to cancel if you don’t want to be billed monthly for the service. You can do this from the iPad itself, over wifi, from back in Canada. I’ve got about a gig left after this weekend’s usage that doesn’t expire for a month.

As I mentioned earlier, the whole point of the iPad (and you could also say unlocked iPhones too) being carrier agnostic is so that you can use it while traveling…it shouldn’t be this many hoops to simply give a carrier your money to use their service. As far as I can tell, no carriers in North America have provisions for travelers from outside their country to use their data…of course they all want you to roam and pay through the nose for data from your home carrier. Consumers are smarter than that.

Happy travels!

Purplera1n is coming down

John / July 5, 2009 / Hacking, Mobile / 3 Comments

George Hotz is at it again…this time he’s brought the purplera1n down on the iPhone hacking community with his super simple jailbreak tool that is now out for Mac and PC users running the 3.0 firmware.

Running this app with a connected iPhone (3G, 3GS, 2G) will jailbreak it and after a reboot, drop an app called ‘Freeze’ on your iPhone. Run this app, wait for it to finish and then reboot again and you’ll have Cydia installed. Run Cydia and then follow the instructions at iClarified.com to install Ultrasn0w on your iPhone and then reboot again. You should now have an unlocked, and jailbroken iPhone 3GS.

Modmyi.com has a Mac tutorial already up for the new Purplera1n.

As with all these types of things, use caution and expect things to go sideways. Worse case is you do a restore via iTunes in most cases….but proceed with caution and at your own risk.