Samwise Makers' News
Sunday, October 11, 2026
Valve Publishes Hardware and CAD Reference for Steam Frame VR Headset
Valve, which recently began shipping its Steam Frame VR headset, has published a hardware reference repository aimed at modders. The repository contains STEP-format models of the VR core module, head strap, and controllers, so makers can design and 3D print add-ons or carrying cases without calipers or 3D scanning. It also documents the locations of the infrared tracking LEDs in the controllers, so custom designs avoid blocking them. The headset’s user-accessible expansion port on the front exposes two interfaces, high-speed MIPI camera and PCI Express, and the repository documents it with a simple reference design built in both KiCad and Altium.
Radxa Dragon Q8B Triples Raspberry Pi 5 Multi-Core Score in Benchmarks
Jeff Geerling has compared the Radxa Dragon Q8B single-board computer with the Raspberry Pi 5, Hackaday reports. The Q8B uses the Qualcomm SC8280XP with 8 GB of LPDDR4X and costs $209 plus shipping, while the 8 GB Raspberry Pi 5 now costs $175. In Geekbench 6 multi-core testing the Q8B triples the Pi 5 score, and HPL efficiency reached 3.73 Gflops/W versus 2.75 for the Pi 5. The board adds twin 2.5 Gbit Ethernet ports, more PCIe, and Windows and UEFI support. Linux still requires Radxa’s customized images and Rsetup tool, and the UEFI BIOS has issues. RAM options range from 4 to 32 GB.
Adafruit Tests AI Math Papers to Squeeze Bytes From CircuitPython
Adafruit’s Phillip Torrone and Mikey Sklar tested whether 722 math manuscripts released by OpenAI could help CircuitPython fit on memory-limited boards, after one Trinket M0 build was eight bytes over. They used 462 AI agents to review the papers; eight had any use, and one trick, overlap packing, was applied. It saved 3,865 bytes across 51 GFX fonts, about 2.1% of bitmap data, though ordinary greedy packing produced those savings. The agents also scanned 1,854 Adafruit repositories and confirmed 54 issues. Between September 10 and October 10, 17 flash-saving pull requests were merged from Sklar, Dan Halbert, and Vladimír Smitka.
Sources: Adafruit Blog
3D-Printed Jet Turbine RC Aircraft Takes Flight in Bid for Speed Record
The Mach Initiative, a team of University of Bath graduates, is building 3D-printed model aircraft to break a nine-year-old Guinness record for the fastest model aircraft, Tom’s Hardware reports. Its Kingfisher plane, just under a meter long and built mainly from PETG with an annealed PET-CF engine housing, uses a JetCat P60 turbine and has reached 205 mph (330 km/h). The record-attempt aircraft, Kingchaser, is 20% larger, weighs 20 lb (9 kg), and targets Mach 0.8. It switches to a PPS-CF engine housing skinned with carbon fiber, plus titanium exhaust sheets and carbon-fiber rods. No date for the record attempt has been announced.
Sources: Tom’s Hardware
GuardianShell Uses Arduino UNO Q to Track and Deter Wildlife Offline
Ripple Qubits has published GuardianShell on Hackster, an offline sentry box built on the Arduino UNO Q for families living along forest borders. A USB webcam watches the perimeter while a 180-degree servo turns the camera to follow approaching animals. On detection, a 5V relay fires for four seconds, triggering a 12V amplifier driving a horn speaker and strobe lights; sounds include recorded bee swarms for elephants. A DHT22 monitors enclosure conditions and two ACS712 sensors track current. The system runs on an 11.1V 3S lithium-ion pack, uses Arduino App Lab, and has a PETG-printed enclosure designed in Autodesk Fusion, plus a local Wi-Fi dashboard.
Sources: Hackster.io
PixelFonts Packs More Text Onto Low-Resolution Displays
Maker mcer12 has released PixelFonts, a family of condensed fonts designed specifically for low-resolution displays, Hackaday reports. The goal is to fit as much text as possible on each line of a small screen. The fonts work alongside either the AdafruitGFX or U8g2 libraries, so makers write to the display using the chosen library’s usual commands while PixelFonts supplies the typeface. Fonts come in regular and 3D-shadowed versions across many heights and weights. Accented characters are supported, but only in lowercase because of space limits. Every font comes with a BDF file, so anyone can modify the designs for their own projects.
Maker Restores a Battery-Damaged Casio Altimeter Watch
Vintage560 has restored an internally damaged Casio AW-330-AT altimeter watch, Hackaday reports. The battery had leaked into the interior, and the watch did not respond to fresh batteries. Cleaning with isopropyl alcohol, repositioning a plastic insulator, and bending contacts back brought some LCD segments to life, while two days of turning the crown smoothed resistance in the analog gear train. Repairing the LCD required disassembly with care around the altitude sensor. Cleaning the ZEBRA connector did not help, so Vintage560 bought a new screen; battery chemicals may have dissolved indium tin oxide contacts. A trip to the Alps confirmed good accuracy with periodic calibration.
Top Crowdfunding
Kickstarter / Indiegogo
Morpho Desktop UV Printer — $10,335,468 pledged (20,670% of goal), Kickstarter
Sipeed SLogic32U3 Logic Analyzer — HK$1,174,490 pledged (2,348% of goal), Kickstarter
Q8botOne Quadruped Robot — $3,588 raised (36% of goal), Crowd Supply
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geerlingguy/sbc-reviews — 985★
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Upcoming Events
Maker Faire Rome 2026 — Oct 23–25, 2026, Rome, Italy
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