MakerCamp
Shenzhen Recap
from the lens of Darcy Neal
Shenzhen was amazing. I will definitely be spending more time here in the future, and am so glad I got to join the residency! I will upload more content in the future, but for now, here’s a brief recap on what I did this month:
3 workshops in 1 month
I had the opportunity to teach 3 workshops while I was here! Was a great experience, and everytime I teach, I learn something new about ways to optimize the workshops, especially working with such an brilliant group of residents.
Kicad crash course at Chaihuo Makerspace
First workshop was a crash course in Kicad: From zero to gerbers in 2 hours. Joey Castillo, Evan Kahn and Sam Ettinger joined me in this workshop to share their knowledge so it was more an informal discussion group. We each exchanged how we approach different processes in KiCad. It was awesome to teach with other skilled creators. There’s tons of customized tips and techniques, and everyones workflow is unique.
Creative PCB design at Chaihuo makerspace
This workshop was a great overview of some creative ways to work with Kicad, and I’m glad I was able to share the information early on in the residency. Working in the Chaihuo workshop was great! My workshop covered the various ways you can bring in art layers to KiCad and how to generate the art layers for it. Tons of info to cover, so focus was given to helping on an individual basis throughout the month.
Creative PCB design at TroubleMakers
After my talk at Tech in the Tropics, someone Really wanted to learn more about how to make creative PCBs. Told him to make a WeChat group and to find 2 other ppl who would attend and I would do it. Ended up with 13 attendees with like 2 days notice. Thanks to Cedric and Henk for promoting it and helping make it happen!
PCBs I worked on
EMF Explorer Deluxe
For my residency, I primarily focused on generating new and improved PCB designs. The main one was my Next iteration of the EMF Explorer board. This was made in collaboration with Seeed studios, and I’m loving how the design is shaping up. It still needs some work and adjustment, but once I have it dialed in and the artwork polished, I’m stoked to get these out in the world! For my EMF Explorer workshops, i’m limited by the component count and 2 hour workshop format, so I have ot keep the circuit simple. But for a fully assembled board I can add everything I want! This has tons of connection points at the top so I can experiment with different inductor combinations, and dial in what sounds best.
EMF Explorer: SMD workshop verison
Previously i’ve used a through-hole kit for my workshops, which has worked out great, but I’ve been wanting to switch to SMD components for a variety of reasons, including cost, weight, volume, safety, and skill knowledge. SMD is more common and results in a cleaner result, so I’m stoked to have ordered a prototype run of these new boards. The components get progressively smaller as the assembly carries on, so students can get to try out soldering different sizes. There’s even some 0201 sample footprints for students to practice with!
Joulebug Pendant
I wanted to dial in one of my latest pendant designs, which is a joule thief circuit I call the “joulebug”. I really want to use a PCB coil for the design, but that needs some refinement, so I opted for a more traditional inductor design. The new boards will have an ENIG finish to it, which I can’t wait to see!
Year of the FireHorse
I learned that the chinese zodiac this year is going to be the Firehorse, which only happens about once very 60 years..the last one was in 1966!
To showcase this rare occurence, I designed a 3d display box that will be powered with USB-C and backlit with LEDs strategically placed throughout the design.
The design will fit together with tabs and be soldered shut. The drawings themselves were so complicated that I had to import the layers of the PCBs as their own file
for each part. Even with this technique, the firehorse file itself is so complicated that it still crashes Kicad periodically,
which I find quite symbolic. I hope to simplify and send off these designs soon so I can commemorate this special year.