Makerville Conf v4!

We had the 2025 edition of the Makerville Conf at Maker's Asylum,Goa on 13 and 14th of September. We had 15 people in attendance, and as usual it was a dense 2 days with a lot of brain dumps!

Day 1

We kicked of the day with some breakfast from the Asylum cafe and started off with introductions. As is typical at our conferences, the introductions take at least half a day!

This was followed by a nice Goan lunch at Belinda's 7 Short 1 Long which came highly recommended from Anool and the other locals.

Post lunch we wrapped the remaining introductions and started off with the first session - which was about Meta Makerville. This one happens at all confs where we chat about what the community has been upto, and what we should aim to do in the next year.

On Saturday evening, Asylum had organized a repair cafe. We got an old CD player, a wood lamp, fairy lights and a few other things fixed.

Day 2

Sunday morning started with a walk to the Moira riverside with Anool as our local guide.

After that we reconvened at the Asylum by 9, had a light breakfast and resumed the individual sessions.

We tried doing a live stream - thanks to Shekhar's Zoom setup. Milind's session about his ROV build can be found on our YouTube.

Here's a list of the sessions we had

• Anool spoke about the recent projects happening at the Asylum
• Kamal gave a braindump of the tools he is building and using at his companies
• Shreyas spoke about how we can using ESP32 family chips as WiFi/BT/BLE coprocessors for Linux boards
• Sarvesh gave a brief about some of the new WiFi technologies like WiFi Aware
• Chinmay talked about Fabverse and his annual KPIs
• Dhiru has a fun board that he is launching soon - he showed us that
• I (Anuj) spoke about embedhub.com and what he is trying to do with that
• Krusty spoke about building PC cases
• Mahendra spoke about his digital hourglass build
• Shekhar recruited all the attendees for his AI Kavach™️ 😛

Conclusion

The v4 Makerville Conf was as great as ever! We missed quite a few of our regular contributors, but we will catch up with them at the 2026 Conference 🤘

Makerville Conf v4 happening at Maker's Asylum Goa!

We are having our 4th Makerville Conf in Goa on 13th and 14th September! Preparations are underway for it now, and now is the perfect time to sign up for it!

Venue

Maker's Asylum is a makerspace based out of Goa, and they've kindly accepted to be the hosts for this year's unconference. They do quite a lot of cool stuff – for example most recently they had a dope rocketry workshop with Othisis

Unconference

Makerville runs an unconference where we a small group of us hardware designers and engineers in India come together and talk shop. Find out more about our previous conferences here!

It's not like any of your usual conferences with a speaker and an audience - its more of people sitting around and talking about what they built, and what they planning to build. If this sounds like something you'd love to be a part of, ping us on t.me/makerville or ping me (Anuj) on X

Hope to see you there!

Makerville Badge!

We are working on our first badge, and work has been moving along nicely! Follow the badge channel on the telegram group for more real time updates!

Also, needless to say the badge is going to be open source -

Current status

• Anool designed the PCB and it's available on GitHub - see the render above
• We have a URL - badge.makerville.io - more content coming on that soon
• Akshay is working on getting the PCB made through PCB Kingdom
• I (Anuj) wrote the early draft of the firmware using Zephyr - also available on the github repo

Next steps

1. Firmware
   1. add support for neopixel
   2. add support to change text over BLE
   3. add OTA support over WiFi
      1. this requires setting up WiFi creds over BLE
2. Case
   1. Once we have the PCBs ready (hopefully this week) - we will send one to Chinmay, and Anool so that they can make something that fits well
   2. Anool did some quick renders using a simple acrylic cutout too

Join in!

We already have a couple of projects at Makerville like the Travelling Hacker Box, or the Makerville Wiki - which has nice resources like the vendor list. The badge is the first project from the community that is going to have a bit of firmware, PCB design, and 3D design all rolled into one project. The possibilities are endless given that the Badge can connect to the Internet 🛜!

Join the channel and help us shape it!

Weekly #24

Discussions and links

• Thermal pads and efficiency discussion here
• Anool has an idea for a hand cranked phone charger - never run out of battery when you are lost ever again!

• Milind started a discussion on Indian companies making sub-50k 3D printers here
• Atomberg posted a BTS of their factory - pretty cool! Discussion and link here
• Would you use glow-in-the-dark PCBs? Discussion on how to have a similar effect here
• Discussion on Quilter - an AI based PCB design tool
• Vichaarak based Laptop? Sounds like a good idea? Pitch in your thoughts to Akshar on this discussion and maybe they do it!
  • This was sparked by a discussion around a DIY open source laptop
• 6.13 kernel is out
• Nilesh has created a wiki for documenting repair friendly appliances and other things available in India - check it out here
• Anool is watching (and recommending) Buy Now
• BoAt did a spoofy, fun video about how they are doing upwards of 70% of their manufacturing in India now - do watch for a BTS of their manufacturing setup
• JT replied to a discussion about documenting screws and sparked a very long discussion about pros and cons of focusing on manufacturing in India. Can't do justice to the discussion by summarizing, so just head over and read here

Memes

Weekly #23

Links and discussions

• Bambulabs is doing not so cool things with their authentication mechanism which impacts local control
  • Josef Prusa's tweet
  • Discussion on our telegram
• Chinmay posted a link to a nice multimeter probe holder
• JT posted a link to hardbreak.wiki - a great resource for hardware hacking
• Discussion on Intel's voltage bricking issue - Qualcomm needs the distribution of Espressif to lift us all out of x86 monopoly on our desktops/laptops
• Eclipsa Audio is a new collaborative effort for immersive audio
• Anool shared a link to an open source projection mapping tool
• Dalus.io is a new company which is building a tool to model complex systems - see discussion here
• US is banning Chinese tech in smart cars - discussion here
• If you love origami, check out this laptop stand made with a single sheet of paper
• A flipper zero app to create an STL of a key
• Seeed Studio launched new versions of their popular Xiao boards with more pinouts - and the boards are cleverly backwards compatible too! Discussion here
• Discussion initiated by Kali around a 2 layer DDR3 design here
• Suhas has thoughts on creating a parts inventory of Made in Inda things- chip in here
• An old discussion around charging a battery helped me bring back my motorcycle to life this weekend
• ISRO can now dock satellites in space!
• Gopalkrishna started a discussion around getting a DSO
  • Dhawal from our community is a distributor of fnirsi - which are low cost, starter scopes!
• Akshar shared a link to a 38C3 video - hacking Apple's USB-C controller
• More discussions around experiences with PCB fabs in India
• I got Vayu Aerospace and Defence's 50 year anniversary edition! Loads of history packed in it!
• Discussion around Raspberry Pi's carbon removal credits that you can purchase
• Vishnu from Zerodrag answering some questions about their hardware here

Memes

JT thought that carbonizing the tracks with a laser might help bring such a circuit to life - and Anool had a sample "cooked" up

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Happy making!

Weekly #22

Links and discussions

• JT shared a link to a neat mobile manipulator robot
• Akshay shared: Aeroarc is building mules for the Indian Army
• Kali got open-source ESPHome firmware working on more devices - photos and discussion here
• We have begun planning for our upcoming Makerville Conf 2025 - discussions happening here
• I met Deepak and Bhavana from Upside Down Labs - when they were here in Pune for the India Science Fair

• Speaking of which, Amit was in attendance too and posted a bunch of photos from the event. Includes robot dogs, Upside Down Labs booth, and more - see here
• Chinmay posted ISRO's updates about the SpaDex satellites
• Dome LEDs are being identified here
• Foxconn has stopped sending Chinese workers to India - trade throttling?
• Parth is looking for 200+ pieces of ESP32-P4NRW32
• You can make a fake candle with a tiny motor and some LEDs
• Discussion on measuring current initiated by Kali here
• Discussion here on climbing cell and other towers, includes movie recommendations
• Maker's Asylum is looking for some folks - see posting
• Discussion around camera mounting nuts here
• Group members often discuss issues that they face with different PCB fabs - for example the latest one is posted by Vishnu here. That sparked a bit more discussion around Robu's PCB service, and more.
• Is there a new benchy in town? Maybe.

Memes

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See previous weekly posts here.
Happy making!

Weekly #21

Links and Discussions

• Rocketry India posted their launch video! Makerville made a small donation to them a few months ago to help cover some of the costs of building this! Spot our logo in the video below!

• Milind posted a link to Hackster's PCB competition
• Kali hand soldered his Vayutra PCBs, and they are looking great

• Check out some DIY sensor modules he made for this here
• Discussions on how to go about soldering a USB C connector here
• Anool has thoughts on how to mod a household steam iron as a hotplate - maybe I should get the parts for the next Conf? (which is happening on the last weekend of Feb btw)
• Anool found a web archive link of Rocket Manual for Amateurs, a book he thought he would never see again :P
• Kali got a cheap WiFi bulb working with ESPHome and has instructions, so you don't have to figure things out yourself
• Vishnu wrote a new post documenting how he interfaced a Winsen ZH06 Laser Dust Sensor with Arduino
• Vishnu is also making a AQI monitor

• RP2350 hacking challenge has been cracked!
• Dhawal posted a link to Stephen Hawes latest video where he makes a single layer PCB using a laser cutter
• A great read about China's lead and share in manufacturing - discussion here
• What temps do you use for your printer bed in winter? Discussion here
• BTS of the Prusa Factory
• Advance Machining class is happening at MIT and you can register for free here
• Prawin Ganesan is posting quite a lot of interesting things about doing business between India and China. He's tackling things like setting up companies, shipping, what websites to use, and a lot more! You should follow him
• What would non-Euclidean Doom look like? It looks like fun to me!
• Our very own Akshar and his company Vicharak was published on YourStory recently
• Discussion on R values for needlessly bright LEDs here
• Brushless motors and control libraries discussion here
• Anool's bartending bot at the Asylum in Goa

Memes

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See previous weekly posts here.
Happy making!

Weekly #20

Welcome to the last post of the year! 2024 has been busy for me, and I hope it was for you too :)

Links and discussions

• GuRu Wireless has put out a video where they are wirelessly powering a drone
• Chinmay posted a link to PolyDye - full color 3D printing mods
  • See it in action in this video
  • their website
  • GitHub
• Harsh finally published a post he wrote in 2021 - MQTT with Python Web Server Like a Charm : A tale of making Eclipse Paho work on a production IoT project
• More updates from Kali on his env monitoring project

• I learnt about solder thieving this week
• Videos from 38C3 have started coming out
  • Liberating WiFi on the ESP32
  • see all
• Vicharak's Axon
  • is now available on Robu.in
  • BreakerSpace made a video about it too
• Fun marble clock
• Modular, hackable multimeter?
  • https://youtu.be/JMexSal01gQ?feature=shared
  • https://hackaday.com/2024/12/25/open-source-multimeter-raises-the-bar-for-diy-tools/
• Did your Spotify Wrapped include oscilloscope music? Tavish's definitely did
• Amit found a forum post of what looks like a suspected NVidia 5090 PCB leak
• Daniel Magnum (who's blog you should subscribe to for Zephyr/microcontroller related content) posted a new post about the RISC core in the new Nordic chips
• Mindgrove - a fabless semiconductor company from India - raised money for their tapeout! Exciting times ahead!
• It's the end of the year, and KiCad has a new release candidate out for testing
  • See the forum thread for the new features in v9
• Sanjay is looking for someone to work on a modbus+arduino project he's involved in
• Ashish is working on a PCB for a cellular IoT board and asked the community about inputs regarding the recommended LDO
• Rocketry India successfully completed their scheduled hobby rocket launch!
• Anool fixed the table saw at Makers Asylum with some fresh new bevel gears

• Dhiru is looking for a cordless drilling machine - have recommendations?
• Kali has opened up his Xiaomi Air Compressor and is trying to get it to work (not a dead battery issue, still figuring out what it could be)

• Nice writeup about Zertwerk and how they are doing a two-pronged approach to manufacturing in India - a marketplace, as well as their own inhouse manufacturing

Memes

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See previous weekly posts here.
Happy making!

Weekly #19

Links and discussions

• Dhiru created documentation on how to setup a budget RF lab
• Hear from the Lagrange Team about their Apple unlocking work
• For cnlohr - the datasheet is a mere suggestion 😄- here he gets the ch32v003 to work as cheap display driver plus touch controller
• NVidia had something to say about cheap compute
• ST is partnering with Qualcomm to get some multi-radio modules out there - posted by Anool
• Olimex has launched a new 16 euro ESP32-P4 devboard - I have one on the way, will post updates when I get my hands on it
• Gurudatt is getting into 3D printing, and he started a discussion about what printer to get
  • I asked him to start designing first, and use Robu, et al to get his designs printed
  • Chinmay told him to go for the Bambulab A1 Mini
• Chinmay posted a 3D printing timelapse of his Nothing backpanel
• Not surprising, but Bambu Lab rejects copyright claims - so folks could be sharing your copyrighted work on their platform, and they won't raise a finger to stop them - discussion here
• Anool posted a link to the holomat in action - a clever way to do text to CAD (and eventually to 3D printer)
• I assembled my 3D printed Christmas tree - link to download

• Trump is bringing up the asymmetric tariffs between the US and many countries - including India which has one of the highest for US goods. Would Trump pressuring India to reduce tariffs be a net positive? See discussion here
• Anool and Kali discussing the Open Hardware Licenses from CERN here

• Ravi is looking for recommendations for a Flutter app dev agency
• Syed is looking for a RA-01H LoRa module
• Galactic Wolf discovered flux.ai - an AI powered schematic/PCB designer that runs in your browser
• Kali is figuring if he really needs to spot weld the battery replacement on his Xiaomi air compressor - discussion here
• PSA : Pune based Hubtronics has RP2350 based boards in stock now - Dhiru has been waiting for these
• Voice Preview Edition launched by HomeAssistant - this sparked a long discussion here about smart bulbs, the sinkhole of smart home investment, and a lot more

Memes

• This link is protected by an NDA :P

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See previous weekly posts here.
Happy making!

Weekly #18

Links and Discussions

• Amit and other nerds went to explore Science Gallery Bengaluru yesterday - see some photos from that on X
• Chinmay posted a link to this cassette player from a bygone era
• Anool posted a link to Lumafield's microSD card scan
  • Their account is a must-follow to see CT scans of pretty much everything
• Strange Parts painstakingly scanned every layer and designed the aluminum body of an iPhone - and then milled it using his Carvera!
• Nordic's KiCad library got a beta update - reusable design blocks! Posted by Anool here
• Nordic Thingy:91 X is a prototyping platform from Nordic - posted by Anool, and discussion around pricing here

• Sudarshan thinks it's some kind of shielded teflon cable
• Dhiru thinks its a RG174 coaxial cable (or perhaps a smaller variant of the same)
• Akshay found some manufacturer links
• https://suddendocs.samtec.com/literature/samtec-l18-rf-cableassemblies-brochure.pdf
• https://suddendocs.samtec.com/literature/samtec-rf-catalog.pdf

• There's a bunch of design feedback discussion going on between Kali, Akshay, Anool, JT & Alpha Folker
• Anool posted a link to the KiCad Cheetsheet in response to Kali's message on how to drop vias between layers on v8
• While discussing component sourcing, Dhiru dropped a link to a NASA presentation on counterfeit parts and how to setup processes around them
• FreeCAD discussions are incomplete without discussing the Topological Naming Problem
  • Anool linked to realthunder's fork of FreeCAD
• Budget digital vernier caliper discussion initiated by Kali here
  • Sudarshan suggested heading to Mr DIY or the one on Sunrom which is similar
  • Sudarshan, Anool and JT all recommended Mitutoyo
  • Anool additionally recommended Starett / Baker / Peacock.
  • Arnav recommended Insize
  • Akshar recommended Baker
• Ravi was looking for recommendations for solder wire
  • JT suggested Joint 60/40. Not Pb free.
  • Anool suggested brand names like Khosla and Swastik locally.
• Would quick-commerce work for electronics products? Dhawal started a discussion here

Memes

• Clamp meters can be used for more applications than we know

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See previous weekly posts here.
Happy making!