Samwise Makers' News
Tuesday, October 6, 2026
3D-Printed PLA Filter Removes Up to 90% of Microplastics From Water
A paper by Ethan A. Crawford and colleagues in Separation and Purification Technology describes a low-cost, 3D-printed filtration mesh that removed up to 90% of micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) from water in prototype testing, Hackaday reports. The multi-layer flow-through filter is printed in PLA, with polyethylene glycol (PEG) added as a sacrificial material. Because FDM printing cannot produce pores fine enough to trap MNPs directly, the PEG spheres that form inside the print are etched away afterwards using only 80°C water, leaving a porous surface. The PLA-PEG10 sample showed the best porous structure while keeping the PLA intact. Twenty filter layers reached 90% efficiency; reusability still needs investigation.
Flashforge Launches VDS Four-Spool Filament Dryer with Creator 5 Integration
Flashforge has released the VDS Smart Drying & Filament Management System, a four-spool filament dryer with two independently controlled chambers, All3DP reports. Each chamber runs from 45 to 85°C in 5°C steps, with timers from 1 to 48 hours, and the unit monitors humidity using reusable desiccant that regenerates during drying. A 4-pin data cable links it to Flashforge’s Creator 5 printers, moving dryer controls onto the printer’s filament screen with presets such as PETG at 65°C for 8 hours. With other brands it works only as a standalone dryer. The regular price is $259 after a sold-out $199 pre-order, and shipping starts October 20.
SecurePair Library Lets Two ESP32 Boards Talk Through a Single LED
Maker Luca Soltoggio has two ESP32 microcontrollers communicating over visible light, with each board using a single LED as both transmitter and receiver, Hackaday reports. The software, called SecurePair, is an Arduino library for exchanging keys and communicating with encryption. The technique relies on the fact that an LED can also act as a photodiode of sorts. Although the LED link is the headline hardware hack, the library is designed to work with ESPNow or LoRa as well; a typical setup would use light for pairing and wireless for exchanging the encrypted data. The examples use two ESP32 boards, but more devices can join the conversation if needed.
FPGA Chronicles Moves the Tang Nano 20K to the Open-Source APIO Toolchain
In the latest installment of Hackaday’s FPGA Chronicles series, Al Williams moves the Sipeed Tang Nano 20K from GOWIN’s proprietary tools to APIO, an open-source aggregator of FPGA toolchain projects inspired by PlatformIO. APIO installs as a command-line tool or a Visual Studio Code extension, orchestrates tools such as Yosys and GTKWave using its own private copies, and needs only a short apio.ini file naming the board and top module. Williams notes that APIO offers Verilog formatting, a linter and easy simulation, while GOWIN’s tools keep advantages such as their IP blocks, a built-in logic analyzer and a GUI constraints editor. His example LED project is on GitHub.
Yeah Hand Brings a Low-Cost, Tendon-Driven Robot Hand to Makers
Vittorio Lumare’s Yeah Hand is a low-cost, mostly 3D-printed robotic hand built around five servo motors per hand, Hackaday reports. Like a human hand, it has no actuators inside the fingers; fishing-line tendons carry motion from the motors, routed through PTFE Bowden tube guides to reduce friction and keep the motors from overheating. In testing, the hand ran 800 opening and closing cycles without approaching overheating. It can lift up to eight kilograms and apply a maximum grasping force of five kilograms, with silicone grips along the fingers. Robotic and experimental prosthetic versions exist, and the robotic version includes an ROS driver and various mounting flanges.
The Mach Initiative Targets Mach 0.8 with 3D-Printed Kingchaser Jet
The Mach Initiative is building Kingchaser, a largely 3D-printed radio-controlled jet designed to reach Mach 0.8, Hackaday reports. The airframe is mostly printed in PETG and reinforced with carbon fiber rods and an aluminum frame, while the section around the engine is printed from carbon-fiber-filled polyphenylene sulfide (PPS-CF) and wrapped in carbon fiber to handle the heat. The team switched from PLA to PETG to cope with aerodynamic heating at the target speed of about 990 km/h, and polished the skin smooth to reduce drag. The jet uses an engine producing 300 N of thrust. It builds on Kingfisher, a smaller PLA version that has already flown.
XIMEA Unveils Miniature USB 3.0 Time-of-Flight Camera Based on Sony IMX556
XIMEA’s MU003TG-SY-UC is a miniature industrial Time-of-Flight camera built on Sony’s 0.3MP IMX556 global-shutter sensor, CNX Software reports. It captures 640 × 480 images at 60 FPS in a 26.4 × 26.4 × 28.67 mm enclosure weighing 31 grams, aimed at robotics, UAVs, 3D scanning and other embedded vision uses. Data, power and control run over USB 3.2 Gen 1 through a micro-coaxial connector, while a second connector synchronizes external VCSEL illumination, which must be supplied separately. Depth is calculated on the host or in XIMEA’s CamTool ToF plugin. The camera is currently an engineering sample, and no price has been announced.
Sources: CNX Software
Top Crowdfunding
Kickstarter / Indiegogo
Soulart Station motion tracker — over $450,000 of $300,000 goal, Kickstarter (reported Sep 23)
WLV-01 Raspberry Pi 5 DIY camera — funding goal exceeded, Kickstarter (reported Sep 18)
GitHub Trending
Makers & Hardware
None this week
Upcoming Events
Maker Faire Rome — Oct 23–25, Gazometro Ostiense, Rome
Hackaday Supercon — Nov 6–8, ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena, CA
Every newsletter preserved and searchable
Curated by JD · samwise.agency