Noe and Pedro are back at the bench after a short break, and the latest 3D Hangouts picks up right where the soldering iron left off. Two builds steal the show this week: a pocket-sized GPS compass that always knows which way is home, and a handheld game console nicknamed "Prop It." Watching the timelapse of a Minecraft Enderman slowly rising off the print bed in the background only adds to the maker-den charm.
What they built
The first project is a GPS compass — a standalone device that reads your position and orientation, then points you toward a destination on a crisp color display. The second is "Prop It," a chunky handheld game built around Adafruit's Propmaker ecosystem, the kind of thing that pairs buttons, sound, and a bright screen into something genuinely fun to hold. Both are the sort of weekend-scale electronics projects that look intimidating but break down into very approachable steps.
How they built it
Under the hood, the compass leans on an RP2040/RP2350 Feather brain, a PA1010D GPS module for location, and an LSM6DSOX + LIS3MDL 9-DoF IMU so it can sense heading as well as movement. A 3.5″ TFT FeatherWing handles the map-style readout. "Prop It," meanwhile, builds on the Feather RP2040 Propmaker for audio and motion-reactive effects, with an alphanumeric LED display adding a retro arcade touch. The Feather form factor keeps everything stackable, so wiring stays sane and swapping a part later is a snap rather than a rewire. Noe and Pedro walk through the firmware live, showing how CircuitPython turns each sensor reading into something the display can show in real time.
- RP2040 / RP2350 Feather microcontroller
- PA1010D GPS + LSM6DSOX/LIS3MDL 9-DoF IMU
- 3.5″ TFT FeatherWing display
- Feather RP2040 Propmaker for sound and motion
The takeaway
What makes these builds worth your bench time isn't just the finished gadget — it's how cleanly they stack reusable modules into something new. Learn the Feather pattern once and a GPS compass, a handheld game, or your own wild idea all become variations on the same theme. Grab a Feather, pick a sensor, and start stacking. Looking for the boards and modules to get going? Circuit.Rocks stocks the Feather family and matching FeatherWings to kick off your own build.
Originally published on blog.circuit.rocks.
