Noise Bridge China Trip # 7

It time for the next edition of Noise Bridge China Trip #7. This annual trip is organized by San Francisco based Noise bridge hackerspace.

Head over to the event Wiki page for more information on how to join the trip. If you are interested to travel with fellow makers and hackers to various manufacturing spaces in China then this is your golden opportunity.

As of writing this blog post, this is tentative schedule.

• 7-October-2017 -- Leave home for Hong Kong (arrive in Hong Kong on 8-October)
• 8-October-2017 -- We all meet in Hong Kong -- hotel: to be determined
• 8-October to 11-October -- Hong Kong
• 11-October to 16-October -- Shenzhen
• 13-October: tour of factories
• 15-October, 4pm-6pm: Chaihuo x.factory Bring-A-Hack
• 16-October to 19-October -- Xi'an
• 19-October to 24-October -- Beijing
• 24-October to 28-October -- Shanghai
• 28-October-2017 -- fly home (arrive NA or EU on same day)

Keep an eye on the Wiki page
https://noisebridge.net/wiki/NoisebridgeChinaTrip7 for most up-to-date information.

Noisebridge Hacker Trip to China #6

If you are excited by my previous post about Shenzhen the silicon valley of hardware, then here an exciting opportunity to visit China with fellow hackers and makers.

Every year San Francisco based Noise bridge hackerspace organizes a trip to China. This trip gives makers and hackers an chance to learn what's happening in China.

This year the trips covers vast tracks of China from Beijing to Hong Kong. You'll have an opportunity to attend various events such Shanghai Maker Carnival and Maker Faire Shenzhen along with a visit to local maker spaces and hackerspaces.

Here is tentative schedule.

• 10-October-2016 -- Leave home for Shanghai (arrive in Shanghai on 11-October)
• 11-October-2016 -- Meet in Shanghai (hotel TBD)
• 11-October to 17-October -- Shanghai
• 15-16-Oct: Shanghai Maker Carnival
• 17-October to 19-October -- Hong Kong
• 19-October to 24-October -- Shenzhen
• 21-23-Oct: Maker Faire Shenzhen
• 24-October to 1-November -- Beijing
• 1-November-2016 -- fly home (arrive NA or EU on same day)

Send an email to the organizer and put your name up on the Noisebridge hacker trip to china #6 wiki page . Too bad I couldn't join the China trip this year but I'll try to join the next trip.

Shenzhen: The Silicon Valley of Hardware (Video)

Follow maker and hacker extraordinary Andrew 'Bunnie' Huang to Shenzhen, China. This Wired.com documentary provides a rare insight into Shenzhen,the silicon valley of hardware. Understand what makes Shenzhen produce such innovative products at an incredible speed.

For me, the one most striking highlight of this documentary was to learn about 'Shenzhai' culture, it is akin to hacker or maker culture. I believe the values of open design, sharing of technical know-how and healthy dose of hubris defines Shenzhai culture. It drives the innovative product design in Shenzhen. Today this culture of design and easy availability of manufacturing facilities is attracting designers, makers, hackers and entrepreneurs.

I hope you'll enjoy this documentary and hopeful make your way to Shenzhen in near future.

Google Cardboard 360° Photosphere Viewer with A-Frame

In my previous post "Embedding Google Cardboard Camera VR Photosphere with A-Frame", I wrote that some talented programmer would probably create a better solution for embedding Google Cardboard camera photosphere using A-Frame.

I didn't know that Chris Car had already created a sophisticated solution for this problem. You can view it here on A-Frame blog.

You first might have to use Google Cardboard camera converter tool to make your Google Cardboard photosphere.

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Embedding Google Cardboard Camera VR Photosphere with A-Frame

Early this year I started looking into the VR (Virtual Reality) web applications. Web browsers now natively support VR applications using WebVR JavaScript API. We can now design virtual worlds using markup language and connect them to devices such as Oculus Rift and Leap motion controller using just a web browser.

To hit the ground running with WebVR. I started an experiment to capture Hackerspace Phnom Penh using Google Cardboard camera app and display it using A-Frame framework. The Google Cardboard camera photosphere is not supported by A-Frame. But the positive responses to my query encouraged me to try an hack using A-Frame Panorama component.

Is it possible to embed Google cardboard camera image capture in a @aframevr powered site?

— Arky (@playingwithsid) December 17, 2015

And it works. Almost I had to tweak the scale setting a bit to try get the perspective right but it does work. The ideal solution is to create a A-Frame custom component, that I leave it for more skilled people.

The markup needed for this demo is simple, you can achieve this with one line.

<a-scene>
     <a-sky src="img/hackerspace.vr.jpg" radius="2400" scale="2 1 2"> </a-sky>
    </a-scene>

You can see the demo on Youtube or visit this webpage in an compatible web browser.

How to make DIY compost bin for kitchen waste

At Hackerspace Phnom Penh we are always trying to new ideas. Salla Mäkinen had been talking about composting kitchen waste. One afternoon I decided to try to make DIY compost bin with Salla's help. The design is simple and easy to make in less than an hour.

We head down to hardware shops along the Russian Market area to buy used paint buckets. The first bucket with a lid holds the composting material and the second one collects the drainage seeping from the compost. Salla and I drilled lot of small holes in the first bucket. Then put in four large bolts to hold the bucket up, this seems better design than putting a brick at the bottom. That's it. Now the compost bins are ready for my kitchen waste.

We need to improve this design to make it easy to churn the compost for aeration. Let's use know if you have any design suggestions. And do come over to Hackerspace Phnom Penh if you are interested to learn to make your own DIY compost bins for your kitchen waste.

The Silent Horn: Design flaw in HornIt bike horn

The Hornit is certainly the loudest bike horn on the market by not the strongest. One morning Jack discovered his Hornit bike horn was suddenly all quiet. He opened the casing at Hackerspace Phnom Penh to find the over sized resonator(not quite sure if it one) had broken off. Perhaps the designers could have reinforcing this component with some glue or something instead of relying on strength of soldering alone. After all this is meant to be mounted on a bike and should withstand bumpy rides and vibrations. This is a very good example of technology world as built.

Hackerspace Phnom Penh's Jack, Leo managed to solder it back on. And put some copious amount of glue to prevent it from breaking off in future. I hope someone at Hornit is listening and try to remedy this flaw.

Teaching 3D Printing at Hackerspace Phnom Penh Cambodia

Recently we started a novel experiment at Hackerspace Phnom Penh to introduce 3D printing technology to kids. We organized a saturday afternoon workshop for the coding club members of local international school. The parents who brought the kids were just as excited about the 3D printing technology.

Photo Credit: Akira

The workshop started with Leo Jofeh walking the kids through the basics of 3D printing technology. The Makerbot Cupcake CNC was used to show various parts of 3D printing machine. The DIY model of the Cupcake CNC 3D printer makes it easy to see all the parts unlike the more recent models of the 3D printers.

Next we brought in the modern Lulzbot Mini 3D printer and did a quick test print of small object from Thingiverse.com to show the whole 3D printing process. The kids were already bubbling with ideas for building model tanks to full scale super hero characters. However we suggested something simpler that doesn't take hours of print time. The code club members were already familiar with the Google Sketchup program. So they quickly started creating drawing of comic characters and creating custom currency coins. With a Sketchup STL export plugin they could export the drawings into a 3D printable STL file.

Leo collected these STL files and added to them the Cura printing software with minor changes. The kids and the parents were totally engrossed all throughout the workshop. Indeed 3D printing unleashes your inner tool maker in everyone.

The workshop was a learning experience for us. Next we are going to expand the program to cover more schools and with few working templates that kids and the parents can work-together.

If you want to help or get involved please get in touch with us at facebook.com/groups/hackerspacepp.

Closing Hanoi Hackerspace Site

Hanoi Hackerspace site is dead.

After few years of trying to build a hackerspace in Hanoi to promote make culture. We failed to secure a space to host the hackerspace and gather core group of makers. Later Eoin Kinsella and I have moved away out of Hanoi city.

Now it is up to other projects like FabLab Hanoi and Hackanoi to carry on the torch.

Buying Electronics Components in Hong Kong and Shenzhen

Hong Kong and Shenzhen are mecca for hardware enthusiasts. In my previous blog post I shared about buying Arduino in Hong Kong. Let me share some more information about sourcing electronic components in Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

Dim Sum Labs Hong Kong's hacker space maintains a local guide to buy electronics on their Resources page.

View HK/SZ DIY Computer, Electronics (Hackjam/DSL) - Google Maps in a larger map

The Scoutbots projects aims to explore and protect the Oceans with Open Technologies. They maintain a comprehensive list of material suppliers in Hong Kong and Shenzhen here https://sites.google.com/a/scoutbots.com/wiki/home/references/material-suppliers-in-hong-kong-shenzhen

Happy shopping!

"Think Global, Make Local" 3D Printed Product Design Program in Cambodia

Are you a Cambodian citizen? Are you interested in learning how to make amazing products using Industrial Design, 3D Printing, 3D Design, Electronics, and Engineering taught by four world class teachers from the UK, Australia, and Norway? Do you want to be part of a movement to make high quality, original products made for Cambodians by Cambodians!?

If this describes you, please email contact@archubpnh.com to get an application for a FREE scholarship to this 8 week training course now!

Capturing Time-lapse with Sony RX100 II Camera

Few people asked for information about the time-lapse photography in my last blog post about 3D printing hamster castle. In this blog post, I'll share how to do time-lapse photography with Sony RX100 II camera.

The setup

1. Sony RX100 MKII camera
2. Android device Timelapse app
3. Tripod
4. Two power chargers with mini-USB cables

The Sony RX100 MKII doesn't have a built-in intervalometer. So we'll use an Android device with Timelapse app to take photographs at regular intervals. Also we'll power the the camera and the Android device with a wall charger so that they don't run out of battery during the long time-lapse recording. The Sony RX100 MKII can be charged directly using a standard mini-USB power adapter. That means I don't have to replace the batteries during the long time-lapse.

First, let's turn off the power saving mode on the camera. This prevents the camera from going into sleep mode. To control the camera using a Android device, navigate to your cameras 'Control with Smartphone' menu option. Once selected, the screen will display camera's Wi-Fi SSID and password (Read the Sony documentation about Wi-Fi Direct here). Now go the WiFi settings on your Android device and connect to 'Direct-XXXXX' WiFi access point with the password displayed on your camera. Once connected, Open 'Timelapse' app and select 'RX100 mk2' from the camera model drop down menu. Next you can select the interval for your time-lapse (I used 10 secs for this time-lapse) and start your recording. Please make sure that the Android device is near to the camera to avoid losing the WiFi connection. The camera takes the pictures and saves them to SDCard. What's next? You can now use a video program of your choice to turn this time-lapse photographs into a video on your computer.

Please don't forget to share your experiences doing time-lapse photography.

3D Printing Hamster Castle

They say there is no greater noble deed than 3D printing castles for homeless hamsters. Hackerspace Phnom Penh's Leo Jofeh set upon himself the noble task of designing and printing a Hamster Castle on Lulzbot Mini 3D printer. The project took over three hours to print the walls and another 2 hours for the roof and ramparts.

The following timelaspe video shows 3D printer in action. The timelapse was captured on Sony RX100 MKII in WiFi mode with TimeLapse Android app.

It looks great and the hamsters have made themselves at home!