 This week on Maker Update, a chonker synth, glowing glass, spinning cycles, assistive tech, cyberpunk, and how to build a testing jig. Hello and welcome to the Eight of Fruit edition of Maker Update for March 2020. I'm Tyler Wangarner, I hope you're doing great. We've got a fresh storm in, but otherwise I think that this winter is starting to run out of gas. And with some of the projects we're seeing in this month's show, I feel like people are starting to think the same way. So with Spring hopefully right around the corner, let's check out the project of the month. With the Circuit Playground Bluefruit out there, it seems like everyone at Eight of Fruit is developing wireless Bluetooth low energy projects. Liz Clark decided to combine BLE with her love of music to create this keyboard and mini amp combo. And I gotta say, it's as impressive as it is adorable. Half of this project is this goofy, chunky, single octave 3D printed piano powered by the Feather NRF 52840 board. And the other looks like a mini amplifier stack, housing the Circuit Playground Bluefruit. Liz took her inspiration from the Circuit Playground Bluefruit app, which has a piano tone generator module, and wanted to emulate the same function in hardware. When she presses a key on the piano, it triggers a momentary switch, which prompts the Feather to send a Bluetooth packet over to the Circuit Playground, which then plays a tone on the Stem of Speaker module. The NeoPixels on the Circuit Playground also add a swirl of color, which you can see through the speaker grill. For the build, Liz also had a PCB made for it, and she includes the Eagle files in her project write up, but also includes plans so you can recreate it using Perfboard if you're not that fancy. The Perfboard plans also have this one tactile switch holding the two sides together, which might be a metaphor for how we're all getting through 2020 so far. The code is written in Circuit Python, and there's a wonderful code breakdown describing how each function works. There's a huge wealth of knowledge here like state machines, how to set up an adaptable animation system, and more. Liz also provides STL files for the keyboard keys, PCB tray, the enclosure for the amp, and everything else. It's a great project to share with your friends because the result is so much fun. Now for the news, last month we mentioned that Circuit Python launched its 100th board. Now it's getting released on what is probably some of its smallest hardware. Kevin Neubauer designed this barely over 1 inch square microcontroller named the Circuit Brains Deluxe. It houses a Cortex M4 chip and features I2C, SPI, 18 digital GPIO pins, and 10 analog pins. It's an impressive design. Maker Laureate Gareth Brannwin has a new article series up on Adafruit answering the question what is Cyberpunk? Whether you've been reading William Gibson for decades or your entry will be the upcoming game for CD Projekt Red, it's a tricky genre to pin down. Gareth goes over the work of numerous authors and filmmakers to establish the core elements of the Cyberpunk aesthetic, and over the next few weeks we'll be exploring the entire Cyberpunk timeline, its impact on real technology, and its influence on hacker and maker culture. I can't wait to read more. More projects. Modern technology gives us a plethora of options for DIY lighting, but Aaron St. Blaine shifts hard into the realm of fantasy with these four seasons fairy bottles. She took a bunch of vintage bottles, decorated them with iridescent cellophane and some leather wraps for hanging, and then put some neopixels into each one. They're all controlled by a central circuit playground with touch sensors to call up different lighting programs. The result is a beautiful magical storybook setting. She raises the bar even higher and made this tree with animated eyes that react whenever someone gets close enough to it. Come for the pretty lights, but stick around for the awesome fantasy fabrication techniques. John Park has been exploring a few fitness adjacent projects lately, like this DIY cycling computer built on the alpha release of the Adafruit Clue, or as he calls it, the Piloton. To me, the most impressive part about this build is that he's using an off-the-shelf wheel sensor that works on BLE. It's able to communicate with Clue, and there's a fantastic breakdown of how Bluetooth Low Energy works in its various modes to handle communication. The current calculation set is pretty basic, but John plans to extend the code to offer speed and cadence information in the future. We're a little past Valentine's Day, but this guide for making a heart-shaped neopixel necklace could easily be adapted to a number of other designs. The LEDs are hidden behind a layer of black LED acrylic, and it was inspired by this recent project by Sheryl and Gonda. But the real magic here is this technique for laying out your neopixel design. The Ruiz brothers used tape to stabilize the neopixel strip when soldering so they could maintain their shape and spacing. It's a tricky design, but with a great payoff. Brian Seapert of the Adafruit community used this LPS3X pressure sensor and some tubing to create a DIY Sip and Puff sensor. Sip and Puff is a common assistive technology that allows the user to create inputs like mouse clicks by creating positive or negative pressure on the tube. There's some clever use of zip ties to secure the tube and offer some strain relief when it's in use. If you're interested in learning more, the AT Maker's online community is a great resource to learn more about making assistive technology or getting paired up with somebody who has a specific problem and is looking for a solution. Time for some tips and tools. HackSpace Magazine just cut their North American subscription price in half from $125 down to $60. It's a great magazine full of projects, tips and tools at any price, but for 12 issues, this is an outstanding value. Plus, they're still including a Circuit Playground Express with a year subscription. Catney Rimbord wrote up this guided tour to the alpha version of Adafruit's Clue. This is their new dev board with a similar form factor to the BBC Microbit. There's a TFT display, Bluetooth Low Energy, Nine Doff Motion Sensor, Sound and Light Sensors, Pressure, Humidity, Stem of Connectors and more. Plus, it's Micro-Python compatible. The Ruiz Brothers also have this design out for a case for Clue either to protect it or wear it as a badge. I can't wait to get my hands on this board. If you're a hardware designer that's considering making a leap into production, a major hurdle in the process is developing a reliable testing jig. Dana Wall wrote up this guide to take you through the basics of building an electronics testing fixture. Worth it just to learn all the different types of Pogo pins that are out there. And finally, if internet commenters have badgered you into finally buying a set of mid-to-toil calipers, they've just become a little bit more useful. The calipers, not the commenters. There's now a Git repo with some Circuit Python code to interface with mid-to-toil digital calipers for digital data logging of your measurements. It's pretty cool. This month's Adafruit product spotlight is hot off the pickin' place and it's a doozy. The Adafruit Feather NRF 52840S is an Arduino IDE and Circuit Python compatible Bluetooth Low Energy board, but there's a whole lot more on offer here. It also packs in an SD Micro 9 DoF motion sensor, a proximity, light, motion and gesture sensor, temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, and plenty more. This one is probably going to go fast, so don't sleep on it. And that is going to do it for this month's show. As always, huge thanks to everyone at Adafruit for supporting Maker Update and to you for watching it. If you dug this show, give us a thumbs up or leave us a comment. It's always great to hear what you're working on. Remember to use tools, tell stories and keep on making. Take care.