Posts with «woodworking» label

New Project: How to Build a Mission Control Desk

A kid's homework table lifts up to reveal a NASA-inspired mission control center. Follow along for help in building your own.

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The post How to Build a Mission Control Desk appeared first on Make: DIY Projects, How-Tos, Electronics, Crafts and Ideas for Makers.

New Project: How to Make a Robotic Drum Using Arduino

Everyone has a Maker in them. We make for fun and exploration, we make to test ideas, and we make to solve real-world problems. Ponytrap wasn’t intended to be a Maker band — we just seemed to have a difficult time finding a drummer that wanted to play the classically-inspired tribal rhythm industrial music that […]

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The post How to Make a Robotic Drum Using Arduino appeared first on Make: DIY Projects, How-Tos, Electronics, Crafts and Ideas for Makers.

Explore This Elegant Wooden Arduino Puzzle Box

If you’re like me, you find yourself fighting the urge to push every button, flip every switch, and turn every knob you see. This arcade-style puzzle box was designed to satiate those deep-seated desires. Powered by an Arduino, with completely custom wooden enclosure and components, this is a wood shop geek’s first […]

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The post Explore This Elegant Wooden Arduino Puzzle Box appeared first on Make: DIY Projects, How-Tos, Electronics, Crafts and Ideas for Makers.

Explore This Elegant Wooden Arduino Puzzle Box

If you’re like me, you find yourself fighting the urge to push every button, flip every switch, and turn every knob you see. This arcade-style puzzle box was designed to satiate those deep-seated desires. Powered by an Arduino, with completely custom wooden enclosure and components, this is a wood shop geek’s first […]

Read more on MAKE

The post Explore This Elegant Wooden Arduino Puzzle Box appeared first on Make: DIY Projects, How-Tos, Electronics, Crafts and Ideas for Makers.

A Router Table with Height Control

The wood router is a versatile power tool which can be picked up at a low price. Nicer router setups are mounted underneath a table, with the cutting head poking through. This makes it easier and safer to work with the tool.

[Paul] combined his interest in electronics and woodworking by making a router table with automated controls [translation]. The neat part of this build is the automated height control, which ensures accurate cutting depth.

The router is mounted to a threaded rod, which allows it to be moved up and down by a motor. A low cost L298 motor driver provides the power to the motor, which is controlled by an Arduino Uno. A VCNL4020 based sensor board is used to measure distance and accurately set the router height. This tiny proximity sensor looks like a nifty chip, providing distance measurements up to 200 mm and an ambient light sensor in one package.

The routing table has an LCD display and buttons, allowing the user to dial in their desired height. The entire thing was built using recycled bits and well under $100 in new parts.


Filed under: tool hacks

A Sound-Reactive RGB LED Bookshelf

What can a guy that has a 5000-volume library complete with a 1930’s era pipe organ (see around 2:20 in the video below) do to enhance his reading space? I’m not sure what my answer would be, but for Craig Landrum, the answer was to build a sound-reactive shelving unit. […]

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The Robotic Workbench You Wish You Had

If you’ve been looking to add or upgrade your workbench, this fully automated model by “Dirk the Engineer” could give you some inspiration. Made out of Baltic birch, maple, and walnut, it appears quite well-made on first inspection. Look a little further, and you’ll find a general-purpose vise built in, […]

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MAKE » Arduino 04 Dec 22:01

A Modern Woodworking Workbench

This is a post about workbenches, but not the benches you’re probably thinking about. Workbenches meant for electronics development are simple matters – just about any flat surface, a few shelves for equipment, and an anti-static mat will be fine for every conceivable use.  Workbenches for woodworking are a separate matter entirely. There’s actually quite a bit of history behind the development of the woodworking workbench, but the basic idea is a thick laminated wood top, integrated vices, holes in the work surface for bench dogs, and ergonomics that allow for comfortable use of hand tools. The basic design of these benches hasn’t changed much in several hundred years, and [Dirk] thought the design was ready for a modern update.

Yes. This one moves on its own. It’s a robotic woodworking workbench that lifts the workpiece and table up to a comfortable position. The lifting mechanism is a quartet of Acme threaded rods all powered by an Arduino-controlled stepper motor linked together with sprockets and chain. There’s a remote control to raise and lower the bench, and a few batteries tucked behind the mechanics to allow for off-grid operation.

A bench must be sturdy, and this one has clamps on the frame of to clamp the ‘elevator car’ securely to the bench. Leveling casters make this bench mobile, giving [Dirk] the ability to move it around the shop, or from site to site. An integrate face vise and a twin-screw end vise securely hold the workpiece to the table, and a linseed oil finish make scratches and gouges easily repairable.

The majority of the frame is constructed out of birch plywood cut on a CNC, so if you have a Shopbot or other large router available to you at the local hackerspace, building this bench for yourself is a much simpler matter than the mortise and tenon joinery of a more traditional woodworking workbench. If you end up building this bench, be sure to pick up the casters [Dirk] used; this thing weighs 800 pounds. Massive, heavy, and an excellent bench that can be passed down to your grandkids. Video below.


Filed under: Arduino Hacks, tool hacks

Rana: A Biologically Inspired Hexapod

Rana, which is Italian for “frog,” is really an interesting six-legged robot design. The locomotion, which according to their writeup, has never been used before and combines the walking methods of an ant and a frog. This kind of locomotion, as opposed to three-servo based ‘bots that simply rock back […]

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MAKE » Arduino 22 Oct 16:01

A Custom Bicycle Dashboard

If you’re not satisfied with the lightweight digital speedometer that you can buy at your local bike shop, why not build your own bicycle dashboard using various electrical components and wood? DJ decided to do just that, and gives instructions with an electrical schematic, parts list, and Arduino sketch, in […]

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MAKE » Arduino 21 Aug 19:01