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https://hackaday.com/2014/05/18/a-raspi-ambilight-with-hdmi-input/ | A Raspi Ambilight With HDMI Input | Brian Benchoff | [
"LED Hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"ambilight",
"Hyperion",
"Neopixels",
"raspberry pi",
"RGB LED",
"WS2801"
] | With the Raspberry Pi now most famously known as a $30 media PC, it only makes sense that the best uses for the GPIO pins on the Pi are used for an Ambilight. [Great Scott Labs]
put up a great video
on using the Pi as a uniquely configurable Ambilight with Hyperion and just about any video input imaginable.
This isn’t the first Ambilight clone [Great Scott] has put together, but for
the first version
the Ambilight functioned only under Raspbian and not any random HDMI input. The new version solves this by using an HDMI splitter box, feeding into an HDMI to composite converter, and finally into a USB composite capture dongle attached to the Raspi.
With the software in the instructions, the Raspi effectively mirrors the video coming from the video capture dongle. The Pi is running
Hyperion
to control a strip of WS2801 RGB LEDs, making the back of any TV glowey and blinkey.
Since [Great Scott] is using a component video signal as an input, the adapters necessary to have any device work with this Ambilight are readily available. We’d honestly like to see this build working with the old Commodore disk access screen border going nuts, so be sure to
send that in
if you ever get that working.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRDAzJrfZiM | 19 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "1474805",
"author": "Sven",
"timestamp": "2014-05-18T08:51:22",
"content": "[…] functioned only under Raspbian […] *Raspbmc",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1474844",
"author": "Edgar Vice",
"timestamp": "2014-05-18T09:02... | 1,760,376,200.348939 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/17/a-ring-of-colored-pencils/ | A Ring Of Colored Pencils | Adam Fabio | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"colored pencil",
"pencil",
"ring",
"woodworking"
] | [Peter] proved he has equal parts prowess, patience, and perseverance with this
colored pencil ring
(imgur link). The ring is made from a cross-section of several colored pencils. The idea seems simple. The build process IS simple. As always though, the devil is in the details.
[Peter] started with a cheap pack of colored pencils. They have to be hexagonal pencils, as round ones won’t work well for this build. [Peter] used two nails to align the pencils, and medium thickness Cyanoacrylate glue to bond them together.
Cyanoacrylate
(aka super glue) is a very strong but inflexible bond. We’re curious if a different adhesive might have worked better for this task.
Once the block of glued pencils was dry, [Peter] drilled a hole approximately his ring size. He used a band saw to cut a rough ring blank around the hole, then headed to the wood lathe. He mounted the ring with a jam chuck, which is a piece of wood turned to an interference fit with the workpiece. The problem was that the jam chuck cracked the ring as it was being installed. [Peter] was able to glue the ring back together, and turn it down on his lathe.
Click past the break for more on [Peter’s] ring.
After turning, [Peter] used the lathe to sand down his ring, then hand sanded it the rest of the way. A piece of his first ring actually cracked off and was lost during this process. [Peter] didn’t despair though – he made a second ring which was much thinner than the first. While the second ring had some cracking issues as well, he was able to complete it. A final coating seals the ring, and ensures that the wearer doesn’t end up with a rainbow on their fingers.
You can find out more about [Peter’s] build by reading his
Reddit post
on the topic. | 16 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1474256",
"author": "hemalchevli",
"timestamp": "2014-05-18T05:50:39",
"content": "mind blown! Wow, just wow",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1474271",
"author": "aoeuidhtns-",
"timestamp": "2014-05-18T05:54:19",
"con... | 1,760,376,200.64154 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/17/artificial-muscles-use-carbon-nanotube-sheets/ | Artificial Muscles Use Carbon Nanotube Sheets | Will Sweatman | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"aerogel",
"carbon nanotube",
"muscle"
] | Light as air, stronger than steel and more flexible than rubber. Sound like something from the next installment of the Iron Man series? [Tony Stark] would certainly take notice of this fascinating technology. Fortunately for us, it does not come from the studios of Hollywood, but instead the halls of the NanoTech Institute at the University of Texas.
Professor [Ray Baughman] and his team of scientists at the NanoTech Institute have developed a type of
artificial muscle
through a process of making aerogel sheets by growing carbon nanotubes in a forest like structure. Think of a vertical bamboo forest, with each bamboo stem representing a single carbon nanotube. Now imagine that the individual bamboo stems were connected together by much smaller horizontal threads. So that if you dislodge the bamboo and began to pull, the threads would pull the others, and you would get this sheet-like structure.
These aerogel sheets of carbon nantubes have some truly science fiction like properties. They can operate from 1,600 degrees centigrade to near absolute zero. If you inject a charge, each nanotube will be repulsed from one another, expanding some 220% of the sheet’s original size. Your muscles do this at roughly 20 – 40%. Stick around after the break for a video demonstration of these carbon nanotube aerogel sheets being made and demonstrated.
Thanks to [Steven] for the tip! | 46 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "1473375",
"author": "Waterjet",
"timestamp": "2014-05-18T02:14:04",
"content": "So that if you dislodge the bamboo and began to pull, the threads would pull the others, and you would get this sheet-like structure.Now imagine breathing these fibers in.",
"parent_id": null,
"d... | 1,760,376,200.914723 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/17/these-trackpad-winamp-visualizations-really-whip-the-llamas-ass/ | These Trackpad Winamp Visualizations Really Whip The Llama’s Ass | Kristina Panos | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"audio visualizer",
"pretty colors",
"razer deathstalker",
"tiny3d",
"visualization",
"winamp"
] | As much as we like a good clean Model M specimen, those curly-corded clicky behemoths are somewhat lacking for certain flavors of gaming. There aren’t any blank keys to override, and there sure isn’t a full-color trackpad that you can write apps for. [Gus] has such a keyboard: the Razer Deathstalker Ultimate which features the SwitchBlade UI. He made himself
this sweet audio visualizer
for it that
extends Winamp visualizations to the Switchblade UI
.
[Gus]’s hack is built on the
Tiny3D
visualization framework. It does what you might expect—reads the visualization values, sets them up for display on the trackpad, and renders them to said trackpad. [Gus] uses some of the 10 programmable keys to change colors on the fly, and the result is pretty awesome. As [Gus] points out, this is just the beginning of what the plugin can do. You’ll need the Razer SDK to get started, and you can get the other ingredients from
[Gus]’s repo
. Once you’re done with this, you could try
auto-dimming your keyboard backlight
.
Of course there are demo videos after the jump. Come on.
Warning: coarse language, but has color switching | 13 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1472763",
"author": "Benny Mackney (@squeakyneb)",
"timestamp": "2014-05-17T23:51:28",
"content": "The frame-rate is a bit low for visualisation. Still awesome-cool though. I want one to play with.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id":... | 1,760,376,200.493115 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/17/johnny-mnemonic-broken-columns-and-pinball-repair/ | Johnny Mnemonic, Broken Columns, And Pinball Repair | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"dmd",
"dot matrix display",
"pinball",
"pinball machine",
"plasma display"
] | [Quinn Dunki] has come to realize the pinball machines of her youth aren’t the lame games she remembered. They’re actually quite marvelous in terms of electronics, mechanics, engineering and the all important hackability. Wanting to pick up a 90s dot matrix display pinball machine and being a [William Gibson] fan, [Quinn]
picked up an old Johnny Mnemonic machine
. She’s already looked into replacing the incandescent bulbs with LEDs, and has just wrapped up
troubleshooting a broken plasma dot matrix display
.
The neon dot matrix displays in pinball machines of this era are finicky devices with a lot of stuff that can go wrong. On powering the display up, [Quinn] noticed a few columns on the left side of the display weren’t working. These machines have great diagnostic menus, so running a test that displays a single column at a time revealed two broken columns. However, when a solid fill test was run, all the columns work, save for a few dots in the upper left corner. This is an odd problem to troubleshoot, but after more tests [Quinn] realized dots in column five and six only work iff both adjacent dots in the same row are lit.
The power supply seemed okay, leaving the problem to either a logic problem, or something wrong in the glass. With a meter, [Quinn] deduced there was a short between the two broken columns, and tracing every thing out revealed a problem in the hermetically sealed display filled with noble gasses. A replacement display was ordered.
While [Quinn] was replacing the display, she decided it would be a good time to rehab the almost-but-not-quite out of spec driver board for the display. The power resistors had scorched the PCB, but didn’t damage any traces. Replacing the parts with modern components with a higher power rating brought the board back to spec with components that should last longer than the 20-year-old parts previously inhabiting the driver board.
It was a lot of effort, but now [Quinn] has a brand new display for her pinball machine and is ready to move on to the next phase of her restoration. | 13 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1472046",
"author": "John Pfeiffer",
"timestamp": "2014-05-17T20:09:00",
"content": "Woah, wait. There was a Johnny Mnemonic pinball machine?? Craaaap… One more item for the list of nigh-unattainable nerdcave toys… :(",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,376,200.081178 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/17/hacking-the-d-link-dsp-w215-smart-plug/ | Hacking The D-Link DSP-W215 Smart Plug | Mathieu Stephan | [
"Network Hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"DSP-W215",
"exploit",
"hack",
"smart plug"
] | The D-Link DSP-W215 Smart Plug, a wireless home automation device for monitoring and controlling electrical outlets
has just been hacked
. Even though it isn’t readily available from Amazon or Best Buy yet, the firmware is already up on D-Link’s web site. The very well detailed write-up explains all the steps that led to this exploit creation.
First, the firmware was unpacked to examine the file system contents. It was found that the smart plug doesn’t have a normal web-based interface as users are expected to configure it using D-Link’s Android/iOS app. The apps however, appear to use the Home Network Administration Protocol (HNAP) to talk to the smart plug running a lighthttpd server. A look at the latter’s configuration file revealed the functions that could be called without any authentication. Another revealed that the firmware could accept an unlimited amount of POST request bytes which were copied in a fix length buffer without any performed checks. We’ll let our readers head to the original article to see where the author went from this point. | 10 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1471475",
"author": "jcwren",
"timestamp": "2014-05-17T17:10:55",
"content": "When will the so-called engineers that write this stuff learn about security, FFS?How long before homes are hacked, cars are crashed, and infrastructure compromised because they can’t manage even the most ... | 1,760,376,200.23851 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/17/led-snowboards-light-up-the-night/ | LED Snowboards Light Up The Night | James Hobson | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"ETT",
"LED snowboard"
] | Snowboarding at night is awesome — but unless your riding on a well-lit ski slope you’re not going to have much luck free-styling through the mountains — unless of course you’ve got a
board equipped with floodlights!
The folks over at
Signal Snowboards
do tons of cool snowboard mods, like making a snowboard completely out of paper, making a heated board to melt the snow as you go, making a bullet proof snowboard… the list goes on. Eager to make use of the dwindling 2014 boarding season, they decided to make the Floodlight Snowboard, a board equipped with LED lights on all sides that makes for amazing nighttime riding — and really cool video and photo effects!
A company donated a ton of LED headlights and flashlights to them and they got to work. While it’s technically as simple as strapping a flashlight to the board, since they actually manufacture boards, they’ve gone ahead and fully integrated the lights right into design. It’s quite cool to see the full process in their shop!
[via
Gizmodo
] | 14 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1471421",
"author": "William DeRieux",
"timestamp": "2014-05-17T16:51:00",
"content": "Why not take it a step further and make the entire board light up–like something seen in Tron–where you are literally riding a board made of light.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"re... | 1,760,376,200.188325 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/16/isee-3-ready-to-come-home/ | ISEE-3: Ready To Come Home | Brian Benchoff | [
"Featured"
] | [
"Arecibo",
"ICE/ISEE-3",
"ISEE-3",
"satellite"
] | The team working to reboot the ISEE-3 satellite hurtling towards an August encounter with Earth is hard at work.
They’ve put up a crowdfunding page
, and now that they’re completely funded (don’t stop donating, btw), they’re starting to go deeper into the waters that will allow them to capture a forgotten satellite.
The project
put up a status report
going over what they’ve accomplished so far, and what work has yet to be done. For a few months now, they knew both transmitters aboard the craft were operational, but they were not sending telemetry. The team has gone through the documentation, came up with a set of commands, and are currently en route to Arecibo to transmit those commands.
Two ground station transmitters are being constructed, one specifically built to be installed at Arecibo for this application. The other is a portable, self-contained 700 watt transmitter that will be used at the official ISEE-3 ground station in Morehead State University in Kentucky.
With transmitters taken care of and receiving handled by an SDR from Ettus Research, a lot of work has focused on the command and telemetry systems. In 1978, the user interface for commands and telemetry was primitive to say the least. The team is now working on a system built-in Labview that’s much easier on the eyes than the vintage text terminal screens.
So far, signals from ISEE-3 are planned to be received at Arecibo, Morehead State, and Bochum observatory in Germany. This will give the team extremely good coverage for most of a day, and there are other ground stations in California that will extend the time the team is able to communicate with ISSE-3 each day by a few hours.
There’s still a lot of work to be done; the team really doesn’t know what systems are still operating, although most of them did make it 20 years with only one fault. In the next few days, we’ll all get to see if this satellite will be up to the task of coming back home to Earth. If everything goes to plan, ISEE-3 will be on track towards a 17 hour burn to put it on the correct trajectory some time in mid June. | 31 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "1465625",
"author": "mh",
"timestamp": "2014-05-16T17:12:44",
"content": "“The team is now working on a system built-in Labview that’s much easier on the eyes than the vintage text terminal screens.”Minor issue: “built-in” should be “built in”Major issue: Nothing is easier on the ye... | 1,760,376,200.584966 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/16/introducing-mirobot-a-diy-wifi-robot-for-children/ | Introducing Mirobot, A DIY WiFi Robot For Children | Mathieu Stephan | [
"Crowd Funding",
"hardware"
] | [
"children",
"robot",
"scratch"
] | We’re quite sure that
fathers
parents
people reading Hackaday wonder how to introduce their
children
acquaintances to the wonderful world of electronics. The
Mirobot
(Kickstarter link) might just be a good way to do so. As you may see in the picture above the Mirobot is a small WiFirobotics kit that children can build themselves to learn about technology, engineering and programming.
The laser cut chassis is assembled by snapping it together. All the electronics are left exposed to the outside so children may try to figure out which component does what. The robot is configured over your home WiFi via a
Scratch
-like visual programming tool. Everything (
PCB
,
Arduino code
,
user interface
) is open source.
The platform is based around the Arduino compatible ATMega328, two stepper motors, a Wifi module that can behave as a client or access point and 5 AA batteries. The campaign stretch goals include a collision detection sensor, line following functionality and finally a sound add-on.
Thanks [nickjohnson] for the tip. | 23 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1465079",
"author": "Erik",
"timestamp": "2014-05-16T14:46:51",
"content": "So basically it’s a build-it-yourself real-world implementation of a Logo Turtle?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1465117",
"author": "xeon",
"t... | 1,760,376,200.294295 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/16/a-wifi-home-power-meter/ | A WiFi Home Power Meter | Brian Benchoff | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"2 wire interface",
"energy monitor",
"power meter",
"smart meter"
] | For his masters at Cornell, [Christopher McNally] designed
a simple, non intrusive home power meter
capable of doing everything a ‘smart meter’ can do – log power consumption throughout a home, and display a log of a home’s power consumption over WiFi. He’s even testing out some interesting ideas, like automatically detecting when specific devices turn on by reading the current data.
From [Chris]'[Jeramy] developed his system around the Arduino and a Ethernet shield, taking care of networking and choosing a micro, leaving him more time to develop the more interesting part of the project: sensing current. For this he used
a small, clip-on current transducer
. This sensor generates up to 10 VAC across a resistor, but the Arduino doesn’t play well with AC, requiring a small rectifier built around an op amp.
While the project works as a homebrew smart meter, [Jeramy] wasn’t able to automatically detect when certain devices were powered on. This is partly due to the fact that changes in current were only seen in magnitude and not waveform. Also, if two devices were powered on at the same time, the software would see that as a larger device that draws the sum of the current of two smaller devices. Still, [Jeramy] came up with a cheap way of metering power in any home, and the cost of his solution is cheaper than a lot of professional systems out there.
All the code, files, and design report are available
on [Jeramy]’ git
. | 13 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1464284",
"author": "Calli",
"timestamp": "2014-05-16T11:24:08",
"content": "Those 3.5 mm jacks are used for plugging in the transformers?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1465230",
"author": "Jeramy",
"timestam... | 1,760,376,200.13352 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/16/home-made-cargo-bicycle-makes-use-of-scraps/ | Home Made Cargo Bicycle Makes Use Of Scraps! | James Hobson | [
"green hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"cargo bicycle",
"cargo bike"
] | Ever heard of a cargo bike? If you need to carry a lot of stuff around (or maybe even your kid!), then they’re super handy — unfortunately, they aren’t exactly cheap — or common. So you could just
make your own…
[Matthew Venn] was inspired by
Tom’s cargo bikes
, recently featured in issue 12 of Boneshaker magazine. He collected a few scrap bicycles, some steel, and started fabrication — lucky for him, his friend [Eric] has a full metal working shop complete with plasma cutting, MIG welding, and a lathe.
They started by cutting the front end of the bicycle off and replacing it with a much longer steering column. This connects to the only new part they had to buy — a pair of Ford Escort tie rods, which allow you to steer the tiny front wheel. They continued welding the rest of the frame together, testing it as they went — once satisfied with its handling (it still needs brakes) they built the cargo platform and called it a day.
There’s a complete gallery of the process over on
[Matthew’s] Flickr
, so if you’re hoping to make your own, take a gander! | 39 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1463909",
"author": "Indyaner",
"timestamp": "2014-05-16T09:37:03",
"content": "That photo alone looks sooo wrong. Please don’t put a Baby in there.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1464071",
"author": "medix",
... | 1,760,376,200.992227 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/15/electrolytic-rust-removal-leaves-your-parts-shiny-as-new/ | Electrolytic Rust Removal Leaves Your Parts Shiny As New | James Hobson | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"electrolisis",
"electrolytic rust removal",
"rust removal",
"rust remover"
] | If you’re tired of removing rust by hand, you’d be surprised how easy it is to
build your very own electrolytic rust removal system!
[James Taylor] is in the process of restoring a very old lathe. Most parts were small enough to simply remove the rust, paint, and grease via chemical stripping and bead blasting, but he ran into a problem with the 40kg lathe bed. It’s painted and if he chemically strips it, he needs to rinse it — which might result in even more flash rusting.
He looked up electrolytic rust removal, and was a bit suspicious of how simple and effective it claimed to be, but he decided to give it a shot anyway. He picked up a big 160L rain barrel, 6 pieces of rebar, some copper wire, and a computer power supply.
The process is simple. Add some soap flakes, fill the barrel with water, and dangle your item to be cleaned inside the solution. Connect the power supply to the rebar (positive) and your part (negative), turn it on, and wait for some bubbles. The rebar acts as a sacrificial material and you will create hydrogen and oxygen gas as the reaction occurs. For a part this large, you probably want the system outside or in a well-ventilated area.
It’s still not done yet, but [James] can already see the paint on the metal flaking off and rust clearing up. | 82 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "1462936",
"author": "Pb_ft",
"timestamp": "2014-05-16T05:10:22",
"content": "Hopefully, he doesn’t run into problems because he didn’t remove all of the paint first.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1463132",
"author": ... | 1,760,376,201.163295 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/15/micromodem-for-data-transmission-explorations/ | MicroModem, For Data Transmission Explorations | Brian Benchoff | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"afsk",
"APRS",
"modem",
"serial",
"tcpip",
"wireless"
] | Them kids with those Arduinos don’t know what they’re missing. A serial connection is just too easy, and there’s so much fun to be had with low bandwidth modems. [Mark]
made the MicroModem
with this in mind. It’s a 1200 baud AFSK modem, capable of APRS, TCP/IP over SLIP, mesh network experimentations, and even long-range radio communication.
As the MicroModem is designed to be an introduction to digital wireless communication, it’s an extremely simple build using only 17 components on a board compatible with the
Microduino
. The software is built around something called MinimalProtocol1, a protocol that will be received by all other listening stations, features error correction, and automatic data compression. There’s also the ability to send TCP/IP over the link, which allowed [Mark] to load up
our retro site
at a blistering 1200 bps.
The code is extremely well documented, as seen
on the Github
for this project, with board files and even breadboard layouts included. [Mark] has three PCBs of his prototype left over, and he’s willing to give those out to other Hackaday readers who would like to give his modem a shot. | 24 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "1462283",
"author": "James",
"timestamp": "2014-05-16T02:37:10",
"content": "I’d love to give it a shot.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1464079",
"author": "markqvist",
"timestamp": "2014-05-16T10:27:22",
... | 1,760,376,200.833753 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/15/find-the-giant-jolly-wrencher-at-maker-faire-this-weekend/ | Find The Giant Jolly Wrencher At Maker Faire This Weekend | Mike Szczys | [
"cons",
"Featured"
] | [
"foam",
"jolly wrencher",
"maker faire",
"meetup",
"party"
] | Check it out, I
made something really geeky for Maker Faire
. If you’re going to be in San Mateo this weekend for Maker Faire Bay Area, watch for the floating Skull and Wrenches. I won’t be alone, and my compatriots and I will be loaded down with stuff to give away to those who ask for it. If you are hell-bent on finding us, just
check this Twitter list
as we’ll frequently be tweeting our locations and exploits.
Want to grab a beer with some other Hackaday folk? Even if you’re not attending the Faire, you can take part in the festivities. We’re descending on O’Neil’s Irish Pub on Saturday night. You
might want to let us know you’re coming
. You can show up unannounced, but we can’t guarantee that you’ll be able to squeeze into the 80-person-pub. If we have way too many hackers overflowing into the street we’ll probably split the party up and go bar hopping. The place is apparently right next to a train stop for your traveling convenience. We just hope to keep things tame enough to make it to Maker Faire again on Sunday morning, but we can’t guarantee that either ;-) | 16 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1461409",
"author": "Gdogg",
"timestamp": "2014-05-15T23:16:18",
"content": "Cool. See you there! Coming bright and early to make Bunnie’s talk.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1461484",
"author": "agioj",
"timestamp": "... | 1,760,376,201.047681 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/15/1980s-ingenuity-yields-mechanical-intervalometer/ | 1980’s Ingenuity Yields Mechanical Intervalometer | Rick Osgood | [
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"1980's",
"8mm",
"camera",
"canon",
"intervalometer",
"super 8"
] | Let’s go back in time to the 1980’s, when shoulder pads were in vogue and the flux capacitor was first invented. New apartment housing was being built in [Vince’s] neighborhood, and he wanted some time-lapse footage of the construction. He had recently inherited an Elmo Super-8mm film camera that featured a remote control port and a speed selector. [Vince] figured he might be able to build his own intervalometer get some time-lapse footage of the construction.
He was right
.
An intervalometer is a device which counts intervals of time. These are commonly used in photography for taking time-lapse photos. You can configure the intervalometer to take a photo every few seconds, minutes, hours, etc. This photographic technique is great when you want see changes in a process that would normally be very subtle to the human eye. In this case, construction.
[Vince] started out by building his own remote control switch for the camera. A simple paddle-style momentary micro switch worked perfectly. After configuring the camera speed setting to “1”, he found that by pressing the remote button he could capture one single frame. Now all he needed was a way to press the button automatically every so often.
Being mechanically minded, [Vince] opted to build a mechanical solution rather than an electronic circuit. He first purchased a grandfather clock mechanism that had the biggest motor he could find. He then purchased a flange that allowed him to mount a custom-made wooden disk to the end of the minute hand’s axle. This resulted in a wheel that would spin exactly once per hour.
He then screwed 15 wood screws around the edge of the wheel, placed exactly 24 degrees apart. The custom paddle switch and motor assembly were mounted to each other in such a way that the wood screws would press the micro switch as they went by. The end result was a device that would automatically press the micro switch 15 times per hour.
[Vince] couldn’t stop there. This was the 1980’s. He wasn’t using a new-fangled digital camera. This camera used film and film costs money. There was no sense letting the camera run for 24 hours per day when the construction only happened for around 11 hours per day. He could have just manually turned the system on and off, but who wants to do that twice a day for weeks at a time? Instead, [Vince] hooked up the intervalometer’s power cord to an off-the-shelf 24 hour timer. The same kind of timer you might use on your Christmas lights or sprinkler system. He was able to configure the timer to run the intervalometer during the same hours as the construction. After three weeks [Vince] had the film developed. He was impressed with the results and went on to film the construction from several more locations.
Several decades later, [Vince] wanted to get that old film onto his computer. To accomplish that feat he fixed up his old Elmo 8mm projector and displayed the film onto a white sheet of paper. He then pointed his Canon ZR40 digital camcorder at the projected image and captured the footage live into Adobe Premiere. He was then able to encode the video into MP4 and upload it to the internet for the rest of us to enjoy. | 12 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1460882",
"author": "anonymous coward",
"timestamp": "2014-05-15T20:42:09",
"content": "I want to refute the flux capacitor statement, but there’s no information on Doc actually MADE the lateral-flux capacitor.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,376,201.217645 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/15/fail-of-the-week-projector-led-retrofit/ | Fail Of The Week: Projector LED Retrofit | Mike Szczys | [
"Fail of the Week",
"Hackaday Columns"
] | [
"fail of the week",
"projector",
"repair"
] | That’s a deal for a project, how hard could it be to fix it up?
If you’re a real hacker we’d wager you’ve fallen for this type of thought process before. [Luft] bought this used Sharp XR-10X-L projector about a year back and planned to retrofit it with an LED bulb. He gathered all the parts and got to work, successfully testing and installing the modifications. But as luck would have it,
the project is stuck in some type of boot loop
.
This fail is certainly not for lack of preparation. The
first post documenting his adventure
shows that the
hack has been done before
, he acquired the service manual for this particular hardware, and he did his homework when ordering the parts. Success requires circumventing some sensors which ensure the case and internals are in place, and making sure the electronic status of the ballast is reported correctly event though it’s not needed for the LED source. Power-on gets as far as illuminating all the indicator lights in green as it should, but is then followed closely by a reboot sequence.
He tried watching the serial port to see if he can get any status info there but no dice. In keeping with the nature of this column, let’s see if we can provide any constructive troubleshooting advice in the comments.
Fail of the Week is a Hackaday column which runs every Wednesday. Help keep the fun rolling by writing about your past failures and
sending us a link to the story
— or sending in links to fail write ups you find in your Internet travels. | 30 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "1460153",
"author": "mike",
"timestamp": "2014-05-15T17:15:10",
"content": "I know my projector has a time out wherein if the bulb s not lit It reboots. You may have shorted the “LAMP ON” signal but the micorcontroller might be expecting that to be asserted sometime after the lamp ... | 1,760,376,201.624902 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/15/introducing-the-arduino-zero/ | Introducing The Arduino Zero | Brian Benchoff | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"Arduino Zero"
] | The Arduino Uno is the old standby of the Arduino world, with the Arduino Due picking up where the Mega left off. The Arduino Tre is a pretty cool piece of kit combining a Linux system with the Arduino pinout. Care to take a guess at what the next Arduino board will be called?
The Arduino Zero
, obviously.
The Arduino Zero uses
an Atmel ARM Cortex-M0+
for 256kB of Flash and 32k of RAM. The board supports Atmel’s Embedded Debugger, finally giving the smaller Arduino boards debugging support.
The chip powering the Zero features six communications modules, configurable as a UART, I2C, or SPI. USB device
and host
are also implemented on the chip, but there’s no word in the official word if USB host will be available. There are two USB connectors on the board, though.
The Arduino folk will be demoing the Zero at the Bay Area Maker Faire this weekend. Hackaday will have boots on the ground there, so we’ll try to get a more detailed report including pricing and availability then. | 80 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "1459754",
"author": "Gerrit Coetzee",
"timestamp": "2014-05-15T15:05:28",
"content": "yay, this is great news. I mean, I do all sorts of hardcore embedded flippy bit 0x register garbage at work, but I always use arduino at home. It’s just so much more pleasant.",
"parent_id": nu... | 1,760,376,201.340319 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/15/learning-to-reverse-engineer-on-a-broken-printer/ | Learning To Reverse Engineer On A Broken Printer | Rick Osgood | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"bootloader",
"Lexmark",
"printer",
"reverse engineer",
"spi"
] | When a Lexmark inkjet printer stopped working, [Mojobobo] was able to
claim it as his own
. He quickly realized that the machine was flooded with ink and not worth repairing, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t still find a use for it. When he learned that the printer’s firmware was not only upgradable but also unprotected, he knew he should be able to get the printer to do his own bidding.
[Mojobobo] started his journey with the motherboard. The unit still powered up, but it was asking to insert a “duplex module” before it would boot any further. [Mojobobo] first tried to find a way to trick the duplex module sensor, but was unsuccessful. His next step was to search for some kind of serial communications port. He didn’t have an oscilloscope, so instead he used a speaker with a wire probe. In theory, if the wire was pressed against an active serial port, he would be able to hear varying tones through the speaker. Sure enough, he found some interesting tones after probing around some ports next to a “JTAG” label. He looked up some information about the nearby chip and found that it included an SPI bus.
After some internet research, [Mojobobo] learned enough about SPI to have a rough idea of how to use it. Having limited tools available to him, he decided to use his Arduino to try to communicate with the motherboard. After wiring up a simple circuit, (and then re-wiring it) he was able to dump the first 4096 bytes of the motherboard’s boot loader to the Arduino via the SPI interface.
[Mojobobo’s] next steps will be to find a faster way to dump the boot loader. At 9600 baud, he grew tired of waiting after three hours. Once he has the full boot loader he intends to search for a way to bypass the duplex sensor and get the board to finish booting. Then he may just use the printer for its scanning functions, or he might find other interesting uses for it. | 14 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "1459579",
"author": "ehud42",
"timestamp": "2014-05-15T14:12:14",
"content": "Using a speaker and wire to probe for serial data – now THAT’s a hack!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1460634",
"author": "Rob",
"t... | 1,760,376,201.465143 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/15/bumpy-the-beautiful-diy-mp3-player/ | Bumpy, The Beautiful DIY MP3 Player | Brian Benchoff | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"formlabs",
"mp3",
"mp3 codec",
"mp3 player"
] | [Matt]’s been working
on a small hombrew MP3 player
, and although it’s not much more useful than an iPod Shuffle, sometimes that’s all you need. Besides, it turned out to be a beautiful project, completely custom, and a great example of what a high resolution 3D printer can do with an enclosure design.
Inside Bumpy is an ATMega32u4 with a VS1003 MP3 codec IC. The device is powered by a 1000mAh lithium battery, and the user interface is an exercise in simplicity; a single click/scroll wheel changes the volume, toggles play and pause, and selects the next or previous track. Eight LEDs mounted in the center of the board glow through the case for status, volume, and interface feedback.
By far the most impressive part of Bumpy is the case. It was printed at [Matt]’s place of employment – Formlabs – in white UV curing resin. The pictures show a surface finish that would be difficult to replicated on a squirting plastic style 3D printer, with a textured, bumpy surface that inspired the name. | 22 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1459071",
"author": "Nick Leijenhorst",
"timestamp": "2014-05-15T11:49:08",
"content": "Not many people can say they made their own MP3 player… PCB design looks very nice and the case is beautiful!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id... | 1,760,376,201.406943 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/15/eerie-robotic-instruments-make-use-of-servos-and-solenoids/ | Eerie Robotic Instruments Make Use Of Servos And Solenoids | James Hobson | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"robot musician",
"robotic instruments",
"vtol"
] | Self-playing pianos are so last year. How about a
robotic acoustic-gusli?
[Dmitry Morozov] calls it the Turbo-Gusli or Gusli-Samogudy. A Gusli is perhaps the oldest Russian multi-stringed instrument, which resembles a harp and whose exact history is not quite known. Add Samogudy to the name and you’ve got a “self-playing Gusli”.
The eerie sounding music is produced by six individual servo motors, a regular DC motor, a stepper motor, three solenoids, a handful of springs, and 38 strings. It’s all controlled by two Arduino Unos, with the software written in
Pure Data
, an open source visual programming language.
He’s made several videos of the exhibit, including a performance that sends shivers down our spines — stick around after the break for a listen!
As an artist-maker, [Dmitry] has made quite a few hack worthy instruments, like his dry ice
Cryophone
, or our favorite — the credit card swiping exhibit entitled
Financial Risks. | 4 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1458435",
"author": "Galane",
"timestamp": "2014-05-15T08:50:50",
"content": "Perfect horror movie sound effects.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1458504",
"author": "echodelta",
"timestamp": "2014-05-15T09:10:55",
"... | 1,760,376,201.730418 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/14/frankensteined-x4-quad-is-brought-back-to-life/ | Frankensteined X4 Quad Is Brought Back To Life | Rich Bremer | [
"drone hacks"
] | [
"quad copter",
"quad rotor",
"quadcopter"
] | As kids we’ve all let a friend use a toy only to have it returned broken. That was such a bummer! At least that was years ago though…. well not for [Tom]. He had a Hubsan X4 mini quadcopter that he had crashed into all sorts of things. The little quad held up good against all of the beatings so [Tom] didn’t think too much about letting his pal take it for a test drive. Thirty seconds later, several separate pieces of the quad were laying in the dirt.
A new X4 was ordered but there was some time to kill waiting for it to show up. Since the electronics seemed to be intact and only the frame was broken [Tom] decided to try his hand at
making a new frame
. Keeping costs under control is an important part of any project and this one was no different. The frame would be made of cheap and rigid 5mm plywood. The only potential problem would be the weight. [Tom] cut out a piece of the plywood and weighed it, then measured the volume and calculated the density of the wood. The wood’s density was used to estimate the final weight of new plywood frame designs and shapes. This worked so well that the newly built quad only weighed more than the original by 0.31 grams, less than 1% increase in the total weight!
Admittedly, the plywood quad is slow and flies a little clunky but overall this is a great project that saved this toy from the scrap heap. [Tom] now also has a dedicated ‘loaner’ quad in case any other friends want to try multi-rotor flying. Check out the video below.
If you like building or modding Hubsan X4’s you may like the
mini quad from scratch
. | 14 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1458088",
"author": "Galane",
"timestamp": "2014-05-15T06:38:34",
"content": "0.31 grams heavier? Looks like it could be trimmed down by slimming up the arms on the plywood and rounding all the edges to improve airflow and reduce resistance to the airflow. Might end up lighter than ... | 1,760,376,201.682575 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/14/programming-micros-with-impossibly-cheap-bluetooth-adapters/ | Programming Micros With Impossibly Cheap Bluetooth Adapters | Brian Benchoff | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"bluetooth",
"bluetooth programming",
"optiboot"
] | [Zenios] and [Raivis] are building a small balancing robot, and for communications to the outside world, they’re using a small, extremely cheap Bluetooth adapter. They figured uploading code to the microcontroller over Bluetooth would be a good idea, but their adapter, a cheap HC-06 module, had no way of resetting the microcontroller; it just provided Tx and Rx the serial port. They did notice a LED blinked when a device wasn’t connected to the adapter,
so with a simple circuit
they kludged a reset circuit where it wasn’t intended.
The small LED on the HC-06 module blinks when nothing is connected, and remains on when a connection is established. Figuring a new connection would be a good time to upload new code, the guys needed to design a circuit that would stay low when the LED was blinking, and switch to high when the LED was on.
A simple RC filter took care of the blinking LED, keeping the line low until a device connected. Bringing the logic level high when the LED stayed solid required digging through a part drawer, eventually finding an LM741 p differential amplifier.
After a few small changes to the bootloader, the guys had a reliable means of flashing new firmware without the need of programming adapters or wires draped over their workspace, all with a Bluetooth adapter that shouldn’t have this capability. Video below. | 36 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1457370",
"author": "Genki",
"timestamp": "2014-05-15T02:09:30",
"content": "555 timer could also be used to basically change the pulse timing so it’d go low and stay low when the trigger’s pulsing and stay low for x time after last pulse to go back high and stay high.",
"parent... | 1,760,376,201.974801 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/14/virtual-reality-gets-real-with-3-kinect-cameras/ | Virtual Reality Gets Real With 3 Kinect Cameras | Adam Fabio | [
"Kinect hacks",
"Virtual Reality"
] | [
"3d capture",
"Kinect",
"virtual reality"
] | No, that isn’t a scene from a horror movie up there, it’s [Oliver Kreylos’] avatar in a 3D office environment. If he looks a bit strange, it’s because he’s wearing an Oculus Rift, and his image is being
stitched together from 3 Microsoft Kinect cameras
.
[Oliver] has created a 3D environment which is incredibly realistic, at least to the wearer. He believes the secret is in the low latency of the entire system. When coupled with a good 3D environment, like the office shown above, the mind is tricked into believing it is really in the room. [Oliver] mentions that he finds himself subconsciously moving to avoid bumping into a table leg that he knows isn’t there. In [Oliver’s] words, “It circumnavigates the
uncanny valley
“.
Instead of pulling skeleton data from the 3 Kinect cameras, [Oliver] is using video and depth data. He’s stitching and processing this data on an i7 Linux box with an Nvidia Geforce GTX 770 video card. Powerful hardware for sure, but not the cutting edge monster rig one might expect. [Oliver] also documented his software stack. He’s using
Vrui VR Toolkit
, the
Kinect 3D Video Capture Project
, and the
Collaboration Infrastructure.
We can’t wait to see what [Oliver] does when he gets his hands on the Kinect One (and some good Linux drivers for it). | 25 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1456850",
"author": "neo",
"timestamp": "2014-05-14T23:16:14",
"content": "Do not try and bend the spoon. That’s impossible. Instead… only try to realize the truth.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1456897",
"author": "Runner... | 1,760,376,201.842718 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/14/a-modular-1ghz-spectrum-analyzer/ | A Modular 1GHz Spectrum Analyzer | Brian Benchoff | [
"hardware",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"modular",
"RF",
"spectrum analyzer"
] | [MrCircuitMatt] has been doing a lot of radio repair recently, quickly realized having a spectrum analyzer would be a useful thing to have.
Why buy one when you can build one
, he thought, and he quickly began brushing up on his RF and planning out the design of a 1000 MHz spectrum analyzer
The project is based on
Scotty’s Spectrum Analyzer
, a sweep-mode, modular 1GHz spectrum analyzer that is, unfortunately, designed entirely in ExpressPCB. [Matt] didn’t like this proprietary design software tied to a single board house. The basic building blocks of [Scotty]’s spectrum analyzer were transferred over to KiCAD, the boards sent off to a normal, Chinese board house.
In
the second video
, [Matt] goes over the design of the control board, a small module that connects the spectrum analyzer to the parallel port of a PC. There’s a lot of well thought out design in this small board, a good thing, too, since he’s powering his VCO with a switched mode supply. The control board has a 32-bit I/O, so how’s he doing that with a parallel port, what is ultimately an 8-bit port? A quartet of 74ACT573, a quad buffer with latch enable. Using the eight data lines on the parallel port allows him to toggle some pins while the ancient pins on the parallel bus – Strobe, Select Printer, and Line Feed control the latches on each of the buffers. This gives him the ability to write to 32 different pins in his spectrum analyzer with a parallel port.
Right now, [Matt] is wrapping up the construction of his control board, with the rest of the modules following shortly. He thinks the completed analyzer might even be cheaper than a professional, commercial offering, and we can’t wait to see another update video. | 17 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1456485",
"author": "camerin",
"timestamp": "2014-05-14T20:58:55",
"content": "I hope is LO is well designed, that is very very difficult. if your LO is not properly designed you will get ghosting and other terrible things that happen.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"r... | 1,760,376,201.901434 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/14/electronic-puzzle-box-uses-only-discrete-components/ | Electronic Puzzle Box Uses Only Discrete Components | Rick Osgood | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"analog",
"discrete components",
"puzzle",
"reddit"
] | Do you need an idea for a fun do it yourself gift for a friend or significant other? Look no further, [conductance] has you covered. He put together an awesome
electronic puzzle box
using all analog electronics. The puzzle case is shaped like an over sized die and is made out of wood. It also requires a small jumper cable and an external magnet to complete the puzzle.
This is a six-sided die, where each side has something different to offer. The “five” side of the die shows the progress you’ve made in completing the puzzle. Each of the five dots contains a green LED that will light up when the corresponding puzzle has been successfully completed.
The “one” side is completed by placing the included magnet over the dot. The magnet activates a reed switch which lights up the first LED. The “two” side contains a tilt switch. In order to solve this piece of the puzzle you must ensure the two side is facing up, as if you rolled a two. The “three” side contains three key switches. Each switch must be turned to a particular orientation. Once all three keys are configured properly, a third LED lights up.
The “four” side contains four sockets that fit the included jumper cable. This puzzle is solved by jumping the two correct sockets together. Finally, the number “six” side just has six momentary push buttons. All six buttons must be pressed simultaneously in order to light up the final LED. The tricky part is pressing all six buttons while simultaneously “rolling” a two in order to ensure the tilt switch is also activated.
Once all five LED’s are lit up, a relay is triggered which then activates a solenoid. The solenoid unlocks the door and reveals the prize. It’s always great to see electronics circuits like this that use all discrete components. This could have been accomplished any number of ways, but there’s something satisfying about a simple circuit that’s just right for the job. Be sure to check out [conductance’s]
schematic
if you want to see how this puzzle works.
[via
Reddit
] | 13 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1455771",
"author": "JapanIsShinto",
"timestamp": "2014-05-14T17:26:01",
"content": "You’re not fooling me. I’ve seen Hellraiser and know what happens when I open the box.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1455862",
"au... | 1,760,376,202.162648 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/14/the-hacklet-3/ | The Hacklet #3 | Eric Evenchick | [
"Hackaday Columns"
] | [
"hacklet",
"high voltage",
"home automation",
"lasers",
"sci-fi contest"
] | The third issue of The Hacklet
has been released
. In this issue, we start off with a roundup on the Sci-Fi Contest which recently concluded. After seeing the many great hacks you came up with for that contest, we’re looking forward to seeing what you think of for
The Hackaday Prize
.
Next up, we take a look at two hacks that deal with switching mains, which is a feature that most home automation projects need. These high voltage switches can be dangerous to build, but one hack finds a safe and cheap way to do it. The next looks at building your own high voltage circuitry.
Finally, we talk about two laser hacks. The first is practical: a device for exposing resins and masks using a laser. The second is just a really big laser, built from hardware store parts. Who doesn’t like big lasers? We definitely
like big lasers, and so does the FAA
. | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "1456598",
"author": "eldorel",
"timestamp": "2014-05-14T21:39:26",
"content": "Unfortunately,I already knew about this hack let episode thanks to the email you sent out to hackaday.io members.“Why unfortunately?” You ask.Because, I specifically disabled ALL email notifications the l... | 1,760,376,202.106005 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/14/metal-inlays-using-a-bit-of-solder/ | Metal Inlays Using A Bit Of Solder | James Hobson | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"decorative inlay",
"metal inlay",
"solder inlay"
] | Looking for a unique way to add a nice metal inlay to finish off your project? [Ben Krasnow]
shows us how
using a CNC router, a bit of solder, and a lot of sand paper!
It’s actually a pretty simple job — Of course, that’s only if you have a CNC machine. [Ben] started by engraving his inlay using his handy CNC mill, and then sanding off any rough spots. He then filled the engraving with acid flux paste, got out his MAPP gas torch and started dripping solder into the piece. Once everything was covered, he started sanding it, from 60 grit all the way to 600 grit for a nice polished finish. The results speak for themselves.
An easier method of this could also be achieved using plastic and epoxy, instead of brass and solder. One of the biggest problems with the solder is bubbling, which can cause voids which will appear when you are sanding — so you might have to do a second pass with the solder.
[Ben Krasnow] is an interesting character. He’s sought out the
perfect cookie
, made his own
CT scanner at home
, explained the various
heat treatments of steel
— and even installed
LEDs into his contact lenses just for kicks!
[Thanks Fabien!] | 11 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1455156",
"author": "Rich",
"timestamp": "2014-05-14T14:13:25",
"content": "Nice idea. Another way to do something similar is to use some epoxy (the stuff sold for use on fiberglass works fine), mix in some pigment to color it (toner carts usually have a bit of stuff left in them, ... | 1,760,376,202.580555 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/14/green-light-go-red-light-come-back-later/ | Green Light Go, Red Light Come Back Later | Kristina Panos | [
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"communicator",
"do not disturb",
"instant messenger",
"led",
"raspberry pi",
"RGB LED",
"status indicator"
] | Depending on your taste for social interaction and tolerance for distraction, an open floor plan or “bullpen” office might not be so bad with a total of four people. Hackaday.io user [fiddlythings] likes it, but people often stop by to see him or one of his coworkers only to find them busy or absent. While their status is something they could plainly see in Microsoft Communicator from their own desk, some people like to chat in person or stop by on their way to and from meetings.
In order to save these visitors a few seconds, [fiddlythings] came up with an
IM status indicator
using their existing nameplates outside the door. Each of their names has a little silver dot by it which he backlit with a flattish RGB LED. These LEDs are driven by a Raspberry Pi and NPN transistors through a ribbon cable.
The plan was to imitate the Communicator status colors of green for available, red for busy, and yellow for away. [fiddlythings] dialed up a lovely shade of amber for away using a mix of red and green. Since he really only needs two colors, he’s using eight NPN transistors instead of twelve. The quick ‘n dirty proof of concept version used Python and a
Pidgin IM
console client called
Finch
. Once he got IT’s blessing, he implemented the final version in C++ using
Libpurple
to interface with Communicator.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a Pi used to indicate status—remember
this mobile hackerspace indicator
? | 19 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "1454513",
"author": "me",
"timestamp": "2014-05-14T11:14:56",
"content": "When having four LED lights doing something so basic costs about $50, you know something is very wrong. Internet of things will not happen until there’s a cheap way to do it. Gotta cut it by a factor of at lea... | 1,760,376,202.324827 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/13/making-manual-lens-flares-with-a-few-simple-parts/ | Making Manual Lens Flares With A Few Simple Parts | James Hobson | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"lens flare",
"lens flare filter"
] | If you’re an aspiring film maker hoping to be the next [J.J. Abram] with a mild (severe?) obsession with lens flares, then
this Instructable
is for you!
Modern camera lenses are designed to prevent lens flare, but sometimes, just sometimes, you want a cool lighting flare in your video. Of course you could add them in post production, but that’s kind of cheating, and if you don’t have expensive video editing software, not very easy to do either.
Now you could just throw a super bright LED flashlight on set and hope for the best, but you’ll never get that cool Star Wars or Star Trek blinding purple line… unless you add something on your camera to help scatter the light! [Jana Marie] has figured out just how to do that.
She’s taken a filter for her camera and removed the glass element. Some actually come apart with a few small screws, but if not, you may have to carefully break the glass to get it out. Once you have a glass-less filter that can be attached to your camera, you need to add a vertical strip to it, which will cause light to scatter horizontally in your image. [Jana’s] using a 3D printed part, but really you could make it from scratch just as easily. It’s as simple as that!
Take a look at the results:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsI_NmijhWQ | 16 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1450172",
"author": "repkid",
"timestamp": "2014-05-13T14:27:54",
"content": "Severe. Definitely a severe obsession.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1450235",
"author": "syntroniks",
"timestamp": "2014-05-13T14:44:17",
... | 1,760,376,202.382684 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/13/an-open-source-cortex-m0-halogen-reflow-oven-controller-with-lcd/ | An Open Source Cortex-M0 Halogen Reflow Oven Controller With LCD | Mathieu Stephan | [
"ARM",
"cooking hacks",
"hardware"
] | [
"cortex m0",
"oven",
"reflow oven",
"reflow soldering",
"soldering"
] | Homemade reflow ovens are a great inexpensive way to quickly solder multiple prototypes at once. [Andy] may just have built
one of the best ones
we’ve featured so far on Hackaday. For his project a £25 1300W 12litre halogen oven was chosen because of its low cost and fast heating time, the latter being required to follow typical reflow profile ramp-up stages.
To control the AC power [Andy] first bought a chinese Fotek Solid State Relay (SSR) on ebay, which was quickly replaced by an american one after reading concerning reports on the internet. He then made the same ‘mistake’ by buying the typical MAX6675 thermocouple-to-digital converter from the same website, as he spent much time understanding why the measurements were wrong when the IC was just defective. His final build is based around a 640×360 TFT LCD that he
previously reverse engineered
, the cortex-M0 STM32F051C8T7, a SPI flash, some power regulators and buttons. The
firmware
was written in C++ and we’ll let our readers visit [Andy]’s page to see how well his oven performs. | 15 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "1449422",
"author": "Bogdan",
"timestamp": "2014-05-13T11:12:09",
"content": "just one word…. gorgeous!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1450040",
"author": "Sheldon",
"timestamp": "2014-05-13T13:53:03",
... | 1,760,376,202.525906 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/13/solderless-noise-o-tron-kit-makes-noise-at-chicago-makerfaire/ | Solderless Noise-o-Tron Kit Makes Noise At Chicago Makerfaire | Rick Osgood | [
"ATtiny Hacks",
"Hackerspaces"
] | [
"arduino",
"attiny45",
"electronics",
"github",
"hackerspace",
"kit",
"makerspace",
"pumping station: one"
] | Anyone who’s manned a hackerspace booth at an event knows how difficult it can be to describe to people what a hackerspace is. No matter what words you use to describe it, nothing really seems to do it justice. You simply can’t use words to make someone feel that sense of accomplishment and fun that you get when you learn something new and build something that actually works.
[Derek] had this same problem and decided to
do something
about it. He realized that in order to really share the experience of a hackerspace, he would have to bring a piece of the
hackerspace
to the people. That meant getting people to build something simple, but fun. [Derek’s] design had to be easy enough for anyone to put together, and inexpensive enough that it can be produced in moderate quantities without breaking the bank.
[Derek] ended up building a simple “optical theremin”. The heart of this simple circuit is an ATTiny45. Arduino libraries have already been ported to this chip, so all [Derek] had to do was write a few simple lines of code and he was up and running. The chip is connected to a photocell so the pitch will vary with the amount of light that reaches the cell. The user can then change the pitch by moving their hand closer or further away, achieving a similar effect to a theremin.
[Derek] designed a simple “pcb” out of acrylic, with laser cut holes for all of the components. If you don’t have access to a laser cutter to cut the acrylic sheets, you could always
build your own
. The electronic components are placed into the holes and the leads are simply twisted together. This allows even an inexperienced builder to complete the project in just five to ten minutes with no complicated tools. The end result of his hard work was a crowded booth at a lot of happy new makers. All of [Derek’s] plans are available on
github
, and he hopes his project will find use at Makerfaires and hackerspace events all over the world. | 37 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1449074",
"author": "Vila",
"timestamp": "2014-05-13T09:09:26",
"content": "Respect for the initiative, but c’mon does anyone knows what astable multivibrator is anymore ?MCs are slapped onto anything and everything and a simple circuits are forgotten.Those simple circuits actually ... | 1,760,376,202.463955 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/12/a-quadcopter-from-scratch/ | A Quadcopter From Scratch | Adam Fabio | [
"drone hacks",
"News"
] | [
"arduino",
"drone",
"multicopter",
"quadcopter"
] | [AwesomeAwesomeness] wanted a low cost quadcopter,
so he built one from scratch
. Okay, not quite from scratch. [AA’s] cookie mix came in the form of an Arduino Uno and some motors. He started with motors and propellers from a
Hubsan X4 quadcopter
. Once the power system was specified, [AA] designed a frame, arms, and motor pods in Solidworks. He printed his parts out and had a sweet quadcopter that just needed a brain.
Rather than buy a pre-made control board, [AA] started with an Arduino Uno. An Arduino alone can’t source enough current to drive the Hubsan motors. To handle this, [AA] added a ULN2003A Darlington transistor array. The 2003A did work, but [AA] had some glitching issues. We think FETs would do much better in this application, especially when running PWM.
On the control side of things, [AA] added an MPU-6050 Triple Axis Accelerometer and Gyro breakout from
SparkFun
. The 6050 has 3 gyros and 3 accelerometers in one package. Plenty for a quadcopter.
All this left was the coding. Multicopters generally use
Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID)
control loops to maintain stability in the air. [AA] used the
Arduino PID library
for his quadcopter. He actually created two PID instances – one for pitch and one for roll.
[AA] doesn’t have any videos of his quadcopter in action yet, and we’re guessing this is due in part to weight. Lifting an Uno, a perfboard, and a frame is a tall task for those motors. Going with a one of the many tiny Arduino’s out there would help reduce weight. In addition, [AA] could use a gear system similar to what is used in the
Syma X series
quadcopters. Stick with it – you’re on the right track! | 13 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1448428",
"author": "Biomed",
"timestamp": "2014-05-13T05:41:40",
"content": "Use of “off the shelf” Uno and libraries gets no demerits from me! I’d really like to see details on your next couple generations of the design.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
... | 1,760,376,202.635669 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/12/rackmount-raspi-leaves-no-excuse-to-lose-data/ | Rackmount RasPi Leaves No Excuse To Lose Data | Rick Osgood | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"backup",
"raspberry pi",
"Raspi",
"security",
"server"
] | [Frank] knows how important backups are for data security, but his old method of plugging a hard drive in to take manual backups every so often is not the most reliable or secure way of backing up data. He realized he was going to need a secure,
automated solution
. He didn’t need a full-sized computer with a ton of power; why waste electricity for something so simple? His solution was to use a Raspberry Pi as the backup computer.
The main problem he faced with the Pi was finding a way to make it rack mountable. [Frank] started with an empty 1U server case. He then had to bend a few metal plates in order to securely mount the backup drive into the case. A couple of small rubber pads help dampen any vibrations caused by the hard drive.
The computer power supply was able to put out the 12V needed for the hard disk, but not the 5V required to run the Pi. [Frank’s] solution was to use an LM2596 based switching supply to turn the 12V into 5V. He soldered the power supply wires directly to the Pi, thinking that a USB plug might vibrate loose over time. Mounting the Pi to the computer case should have been the trickiest part but [Frank] made it easy by simply gluing the Pi’s plastic case to the inside of the computer case. When all was said in done, the backup server pulls 29W under full load, 9W with the disk spinning, and only about 2W in an idle state.
On the software side of things, [Frank’s] backup box uses bash shell scripts to get the job done. The Pi connects to his main server via VPN and then the bash scripts use rsync to actually collect the files. The system not only saves backups every night, but also keeps week old backups just in case. If you are really paranoid about your backups, try hooking up a
custom battery backup
solution to your Pi. If a Pi just isn’t doing it for you, you can always try one of
many other methods
. | 35 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "1447838",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2014-05-13T02:33:45",
"content": "Crashplan runs just fine on a RasPi too.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1448077",
"author": "gregkennedy",
"timestamp": "2014-05-13T03:42:58",
... | 1,760,376,202.719117 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/12/oinker-is-twitter-for-hams/ | Oinker Is Twitter For HAMs | Rick Osgood | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"amateur radio",
"festival",
"ham radio",
"oinker",
"perl",
"raspberry pi",
"Raspi",
"sms",
"twitter"
] | Have you ever wanted to send a quick message to your HAM radio buddies over the air but then realized you forgot your radio at home? [Troy] created
Oinker
to remedy this problem. Oinker is a Perl script that turns emails into audio.
The script monitors an email account for new messages and then uses the
Festival
text-to-speech engine to transform the text into audio. [Troy] runs Oinker on a Raspberry Pi, with the Pi’s audio output plugged directly into an inexpensive ham radio. The radio is then manually tuned to the desired transmit frequency. Whenever Oinker see’s a new email, that message is converted into speech and then output to the transmitter.
The script automatically appends your HAM radio call sign to the end of every message to ensure you stay within FCC regulations. Now whenever [Troy] runs into some bad traffic on the road, he can send a quick SMS to his email address and warn his HAM radio buddies to stay clear of the area. | 57 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "1447094",
"author": "RD",
"timestamp": "2014-05-12T23:35:52",
"content": "Can you provide more details on the radio interface? That same interface will work with a very wide range of radios. Are you essentially just using the VOX feature of the UV-5R?",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,376,202.910316 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/12/injection-molding-with-hot-glue/ | Injection Molding With Hot Glue | Brian Benchoff | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"hot glue",
"injection molding",
"mold"
] | Injection molding is simply forcing a melted thermoplastic into a mold of some sort, letting it cool, and then prying the mold apart to get to the finished piece. Hot glue guns are basically handheld thermoplastic extruders, so when [scorch] dug up some old injection molds he had sitting around,
it didn’t take long to put two and two together
.
Injection molds aren’t something any normal person has sitting around, but a few years ago [scorch] found two books published by Gingery, the same people who have published instructions on how to build a metalshop from scrap. [scorch] created his molds on a small CNC mill – a Sieg X3 – and
his initial experiments with injection molded plastic
were fairly successful, even if the molds were made from self-cast billets.
After molding a few hot glue LEGO parts with his equipment, [scorch] had a look around the Internet and noticed this was nothing new. One company even
sells a hot glue gun-based injection molding kit
using polyethylene glue sticks. Their demo video (seen below) seems much more complicated than [scorch]’s efforts, so we’ll say he came out ahead on this one. | 24 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1446528",
"author": "fartface",
"timestamp": "2014-05-12T20:36:56",
"content": "He needs to add sprues to allow excess material to pass through so you get a full mold filling. Surprised that the books he read on the injection molding did not mention that.",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,376,202.973642 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/12/hardware-startup-review-spark-io/ | Hardware Startup Review: Spark | Aleksandar Bradic | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Interviews"
] | [
"CC3000",
"Crowd Funding",
"hardware startup review",
"haxlr8r",
"kickstarter",
"open design",
"Spark Core"
] | Like it or not, a whole new wave of Hardware Startups is coming our way. Crowd Funding campaigns are making it possible for everyone with an idea to “test the waters”, tech-savvy Angel investors are eager to help successful ones cross over, and Venture Capitalists are sitting on the other side, always on the lookout for potential additions to their “hardware portfolio”. It’s these billion-dollar acquisitions that made everyone jump on the bandwagon, and there’s no going back. At least for now.
That’s all great, and we want to believe that good things will come out of this whole frenzy. But instead of staying on the sidelines, we thought Hackady should get involved and start asking some hard questions. After all, these guys didn’t think they’d be able to get away with some nicely produced videos and a couple of high-res photos, right?
For our first issue, we picked a relatively innocent target –
Spark
, the team behind the Spark Core development board. By embracing Open Source and Open Hardware as the core part of their strategy, Spark has so far been a positive example in the sea of otherwise dull (and potentially creepy) IoT “platforms”. So we thought we should give [Zach Supalla], CEO of Spark a call.
What sparked Spark
[Zach Supalla]
, CEO of Spark
“I had a problem that was very real to me, which was my parents communicating, and I saw a way to solve this problem with connectivity”, [Zach] says of the motivation behind their original project called
Spark Socket
– a connected lighting product inspired by the need to help his father overcome the challenges associated with hearing loss. They ran a Kickstarter campaign for the product, but only managed to get halfway to their funding target.
“The feedback that we had received from the market was that our product was not good enough”
After iterating on product ideas and joining the
HAXLR8R
incubator program in Shenzhen (a program we
first looked at a few years ago
), they eventually came up with an idea for the
Spark Core
and ran
another Kickstarter
, this time with an astounding response which produced $567,968 with a goal of only $10k. They have been shipping boards since the end of last year; most of us have already had a chance to play with one or at least wish we did.
Hardware Choices
We were curious about the choice of CC3000 as a WiFi module and [Zach] came back with a reason:
“This might still be true, but at the time of our launch, this was the only affordable WiFi module that you can purchase in low quantities extremely easily. For instance, there are other companies that make affordable WiFi modules, when you get to scale – Broadcom and Qualcomm are two of note. One of the challenges with them is that it’s difficult to gain access to these chips in low quantities. And to be meaningfully Open Source, that was important for us”.
In terms of what other modules were taken into consideration, he said that “The main ones that we were evaluating at the time were RN-171, the GainSpan solution and the CC3000. And the main part of it was being affordable. There are some features that CC3000 doesn’t have that others did but, when it comes to providing something that’s cost-effective solutions, it’s a trade-off you inevitably must make. CC3000 doesn’t add up to 802.11n, it doesn’t do SoftAP setup, although they have their own thing: SmartConfig, which is pretty slick, but has its quirks also”.
On the communication side, Spark is using a slightly modified version of
CoAP
. “What we didn’t like about
MQTT
is two things: one, we wanted it to do request-response model and MQTT is pub-sub and second, it didn’t define the payload which felt to us like it’s not solving enough of the problem. CoAP had much more of that defined and it felt like a more complete solution”.
Open Development Process
Spark’s approach to solving problems seems to be pretty open and hacker-friendly. Instead of trying to specify and define standards for everything in advance, they adopt a “learning” approach. “When we’re not sure about an answer for something, let’s just leave it open and see what people do, and see if the community starts to fall into a pattern, and then let’s just adopt that pattern”.
A good example of this was the case of device-to-device communication using Spark. While device-to-cloud communication seems to be fairly well specified (after all, that is the main use-case), the device-to-device communications was left fairly open. In figuring out ways to address this, the community seems to have converged into a particular pattern over time. Instead of doing this type of communication through the cloud (which, might introduce latency unacceptable for real-time applications), devices use the “cloud” only for authenticating socket open requests. After this, all communication is done locally. The Spark team is now promoting this as an “official” design patterns for device-to-device communication and will probably end up building protocol-level support for it.
The Cloud
An aspect of Spark that we particularly appreciate is that, at least so far, their “cloud” infrastructure is only focused on one truly valuable use case – scalable messaging between devices. Usually this part is where there’s much handwaving and magic involved, but in their case it seems pretty straightforward. And that’s a good thing. They will also be open sourcing the Spark Cloud in the next couple of months, so we’ll be able to judge internals at that point too.
Even more important is their attitude towards the question of who owns the data that gets pushed into the cloud. “You have IoT ‘platforms’ that have the perspective that they really own the data and you as a manufacturers of the product are ‘renting’ the data. I think our perspective is much more of – you made the product – it’s your data. And we’re here to help facilitate you having access to that. So we’re putting in place products that feed your data back to you. But it’s not data that we own”.
So far everything that the Spark team say checks out. They’re doing all the right things, they have a healthy attitude towards privacy and data ownership, they’re embracing Open Hardware/Open Software, and they actively involve community in the process. But as they keep moving forward, they will face a lot more pressure to monetize. And with that some of these values may be challenged.
We’ll just have to keep an eye on them…
Listen to the full interview below, or read the
transcript
at
The Hardware Startup Review
. | 12 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1446309",
"author": "Evaristo Ramos",
"timestamp": "2014-05-12T19:05:18",
"content": "I love my sparkcores, one the best things I have bought so far!!!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1446343",
"author": "Dougal",
"times... | 1,760,376,203.054971 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/12/intelligent-roadways-pave-way-to-the-future/ | Intelligent Roadways Pave Way To The Future | Will Sweatman | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"intelligent road",
"road",
"smart road"
] | The idea of a road is relatively simple – a durable path from point A to point B. Development of roadways usable for wheeled carriages has been perfected over the centuries. The Romans, for instance, used a base layer of crushed limestone that would let water flow out, preventing clay soil from turning into mud. Some Roman roads were topped with six sided capstones, also known as pavers, many of which still exist today.
The invention of the horseless carriage necessitated roadways that could be used at high speeds. Tarmac, asphalt and concrete roads followed, and thus ends our short venture into the history of roads. Roadways simply haven’t changed much since then. Sure, we’ve painted some lines on them, even etched grooves in some to prevent accidents, but the core technology of the road is the same as it was a hundred years ago. Until now. Consider the
Intelligent Roadway
.
[Scott] is an electrical engineer, and had dreamed of solar powered roadways as a child. But it wasn’t until the realization of global warming did [Scott] and his wife, [Julie] start to take the concept seriously. Stick around after the break to find out just how smart [Scott’s] roadway of the future is.
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVIIjwuIIxY&w=560&h=315%5D
[Scott’s] intelligent roadway consists of a six-sided modular design. Each module is topped with a heavy duty textured, tempered glass that can support up to 250,000 pounds. There are solar cells in them of course, and provide the mechanism for these expensive devices to
pay for themselves
. They have already caught the attention of the Federal Highway Administration, General Electric, and even Google. If their
Indiegogo campaign
is successful, they will be able to test their concept in a few parking lots.
The modular smart panels have a lot more than solar cells and glass. There’s integrated heaters to melt away snow and ice, pictured above. 128 LEDs allow for the panels to paint lines and words on the intelligent roadway, providing near countless uses and benefits. On a large scale, the smart road will create enough electricity to become a decentralized power grid, and provide a means of getting WiFi and fiber optic lines to rural places.
It’s difficult to find a reason why we should not employ this technology. Let us know in the comments what you think about this future of roadways.
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNMFKKyFU60&w=560&h=315%5D | 125 | 48 | [
{
"comment_id": "1445530",
"author": "Brandon",
"timestamp": "2014-05-12T14:14:13",
"content": "It would be interesting to combine this with piezoelectrics to generate from motion, vibration, and temperature as well.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_... | 1,760,376,203.463716 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/12/repairing-a-damaged-rc-rx-due-to-reverse-polarity-power-input/ | Repairing A Damaged RC Rx Due To Reverse Polarity Power Input | Rich Bremer | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"radio receivers",
"RC transmitter",
"receiver",
"rx"
] | Once in a while all of us technocenti get a little complacent and do something that may be considered ‘dumb’ while working on a project…. like cutting the wrong side of a piece of wood or welding a bracket on in the wrong direction. [Santhosh] is human like everyone else and plugged in the power connector to his
RC Receiver
incorrectly, rendering the receiver useless. How will his Arduino-controlled Robot work without a functioning receiver?
[Santhosh] started by opening up the case to expose the circuit board and checking out the components inside. The first component in the power input path was a voltage regulator. Five volts DC was applied to the input side of the 3.3-volt regulator but only 1.21 came out the other end. Now that the problem was quickly identified the next step was to replace the faulty regulator. Purchasing an exact replacement would have been easy but cost both time and money. [Santhosh]’s parts bin contained a similar regulator, a little larger than the original but the pinout was the same.
The regulator was replaced but needed an extra jumper to make up for the form factor size difference. After everything was bundled up, power was applied and it worked. Success! | 21 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "1445481",
"author": "ejonesss",
"timestamp": "2014-05-12T13:51:41",
"content": "you are very lucky it was just the 3.3-volt regulator blown.todays electronics dont always tell you when they are blown (no pop or smoke they just dont work).for the benefit of those who dont know or ar... | 1,760,376,203.207315 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/12/not-your-typical-atx-power-supply-hack/ | Not Your Typical ATX Power Supply Hack | James Hobson | [
"computer hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"atx power supply",
"atx psu",
"psu hack"
] | Power supplies are essential for at home tinkering and electronics hacking. Unfortunately, they’re really quite expensive, and a bit out of reach for most hobbyists. Computer ATX power supplies are a cheap alternative, although they usually tend to lack the features of real bench power supplies…
unless you hack yours like [Mark Schoonover]!
When [Mark] set out on this project he wanted to use as many recycled components as possible, but still come up with an extremely functional bench top power supply. He snagged a 500W ATX power supply from one of his kid’s old desktop PC’s, grabbed some old wall-warts for individual current limited supplies (apparently ATX PSU’s don’t have 5V rails anymore?), and put it all into a nice big project box.
He’s even thrown in a voltage regulator with current metering and a nice set of 7-segment displays!
We’ve seen
tons
of nice
ATX power supply builds
, and they all have a
slightly different design
to them —
it’s great! | 39 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "1444477",
"author": "rasz_pl",
"timestamp": "2014-05-12T08:11:04",
"content": ">(apparently ATX PSU’s don’t have 5V rails anymore?)minus 5v",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1444558",
"author": "Douggie",
"timest... | 1,760,376,203.143619 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/11/black-knight-transformer-a-military-octorotor-you-can-ride-in/ | Black Knight Transformer — A Military Octorotor You Can Ride In | James Hobson | [
"drone hacks"
] | [
"black knight",
"military hexrotor",
"transformer"
] | We saw this pop up a few times before and to be honest, we weren’t sure if it was actually real or not. This is the
Advanced Tactics Black Knight Transformer
— the world’s first VTOL (vertical take off and landing) aircraft that also doubles as an off-road vehicle.
Designed and built in California, it just received government approval and Advanced Tactics has released the
first driving and flight test video.
It was apparently designed as a rapid-response evacuation vehicle for wounded soldiers in war affected zones. It features a whopping eight individually driven rotors that swing out on “transforming” arms during flight. It also has a removable ground drive-train which can be swapped out for an amphibious boat hull, or even a cargo pod!
At the forefront of large-scale multicopter design and manufacturing, we poked around Advanced Tactic’s website a bit and found another one of their projects,
the Transformer Panther sUAS
— a miniature version of the Black Knight, designed as a small unmanned aircraft system that is also capable of land and sea use.
Stick around after the break to see them in action — and let us know what you think!
And the Panther uSAS:
[Thanks Steve, via
ECN Magazine
] | 54 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "1444046",
"author": "Kevin",
"timestamp": "2014-05-12T05:15:13",
"content": "I was about to jump on the editors because this is obviously not the world’s first VTOL aircraft. Then I realized that the comma in the second sentence must be spurious. GRAMMAR MATTERS, PEOPLE!",
"pa... | 1,760,376,203.304318 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/11/custom-nixie-tube-psu-is-a-lesson-in-good-pcb-design/ | Custom Nixie Tube PSU Is A Lesson In Good PCB Design | Rick Osgood | [
"hardware"
] | [
"electronics",
"high voltage power supply",
"max1171",
"nixie tube",
"pcb",
"tps40210"
] | [Jan Rychter] was sick and tired of not being able to find the right power supply for his Nixie tube projects, so he decided to
design his own
. [Jan] started out designing around the
MAX1771
(PDF) DC-DC controller, but quickly discovered he was having stability problems. Even after seven board revisions, he was still experiencing uncontrolled behavior. He ended up abandoning the MAX1171 and switching to the Texas Instruments
TPS40210
. After three more board designs, he finally has something that works for him. [Jan] admits that his design is likely not perfect (could have fooled us!), but he wanted to release it to the world as Open-Source Hardware to give back to the community.
The end result of [Jan’s] hard work is a 5cm x 5cm board that generates four separate output voltages from a single 12V source. These include both a 3.3V and 5V output for digital logic as well as a 220V out put for Nixie tubes and a 440V maximum output for dekatrons. The circuit also features several safety features including over-current protection, thermal shutdown, and slow-start. Be sure to check out
[Jan’s] webpage
to view out the schematics and technical information for this awesome circuit.
Need some Nixie tubes to go with that circuit? We know some
resources
for you to check out. Or you could always just
build
your
own
. How can you use this board in your next project? | 25 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1443465",
"author": "onebiozz",
"timestamp": "2014-05-12T02:08:47",
"content": "well i would have done more with the HV to LV creepage spacing but thats just me",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1444293",
"author": "Serg... | 1,760,376,204.085998 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/11/hackaday-links-may-11-2014/ | Hackaday Links: May 11, 2014 | Brian Benchoff | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"arduino",
"boldport",
"CP2102",
"drones",
"jewelry",
"programmer",
"uart",
"xbox"
] | North Korean drones
! Yes, your local hobby shop has the same aerial reconnaissance abilities as North Korea. Props to Pyongyang for getting v-tail mixing down.
There’s nothing quite as satisfying as the look of a well laid out resistor array, and the folks at Boldport have taken this to a new level.
It’s an art piece
, yes, but these would make fabulous drink coasters.
Here’s something even more artistic
. [cpurola] found a bunch of cerdip EPROMs and bent the pins in a weird chainmaille-esque way. The end result is an EPROM bracelet, just in time for mother’s day. It’s a better use for these chips than tearing them apart and plundering them for the few cents worth of gold in each.
[John] still uses his original Xbox for xmbc, but he’d like to use the controllers with his computer. He never uses the third and fourth controller ports, so
he stuck those in his computer
. It’s as simple as soldering the controller port module to a connector and plugging it into an internal USB port. Ubuntu worked great, but Windows required XBCD.
[Kerry] has modified an FT232 USB/UART thingy as an Arduino programmer before. The CP2102 USB/UART is almost as popular on eBay, a little less expensive, and
equally suited for ‘duino programming
. It requires desoldering a resistor and soldering a jumper on a leadless package, but with a fine solder tip, it’s not
too
bad. | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1443280",
"author": "Thatcher",
"timestamp": "2014-05-12T00:32:45",
"content": "IThe North Korean Drones link goes to the Phenox quadcopter YouTube video. If you could switch that, I think the drones would be an interesting read/watch.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"r... | 1,760,376,203.514956 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/14/samsung-nx300-gets-rooted/ | Samsung NX300 Gets Rooted | Adam Fabio | [
"digital cameras hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"camera hack",
"Camera Root",
"samsung",
"Samsung NX300"
] | [Ge0rg] got himself a fancy new Samsung NX300 mirrorless camera. Many of us would just take some pretty pictures, but not [Ge0rg], he
wanted to see what made his camera tick
. Instead of busting out the screwdrivers, he started by testing his camera’s security features.
The NX300 is sold as a “smart camera” with NFC and WiFi connectivity. The NFC connectivity turns out to be just an
NXP NTAG203 tag
embedded somewhere in the camera. This is similar to the NFC tags we
gave away
at The Gathering in LA. The tag is designed to launch an android app on a well equipped smartphone. The tag can be write-locked, but Samsung didn’t set the lock bit. This means you can reprogram and permanently lock the tag as a link to your
favorite website
.
[Ge0rg] moved on to the main event, the NX300’s WiFi interface. A port scan revealed the camera is running an unprotected X server and
Enlightenment
. Let that sink in for a second. The open X server means that an attacker can spoof keystrokes, push images, and point applications to the camera’s screen.
In a
second blog post
, [Ge0rg] tackled attaining root access on the camera. Based on the information he had already uncovered, [Ge0rg] knew the camera was running Linux. Visiting Samsung’s
open source software center
to download the open source portions of the NX300 confirmed that. After quite a bit of digging and several red herrings, [Ge0rg] found what he was looking for. The camera would always attempt to run an autoexec.sh from the SD Card’s root folder at boot. [Ge0rg] gave the camera the script it was looking for, and populated it with commands to run
BusyBox’s
telnet daemon. That’s all it took – root shell access was his.
[Image via
Wikimedia Commons
/Danrok] | 18 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1454166",
"author": "Pun",
"timestamp": "2014-05-14T09:05:24",
"content": "Hacks like this really make me wonder whether device engineers know the difference between securing a device and crippling it. The first issue, the wide open X server, was a legitimate security flaw. The seco... | 1,760,376,203.65091 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/13/upgrade-your-garage-door-with-arduino-and-rfid/ | Upgrade Your Garage Door With Arduino And RFID | Rick Osgood | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"access control",
"arduino",
"garage door",
"garage door opener",
"NFC",
"reddit",
"rfid"
] | [Jason] really wanted to build an RFID controlled
garage door opener
and decided to turn to Arduino to get the job done. For someone who’s never worked with an Arduino before, he really seemed to know what he was doing.
The Arduino acts as the brains of the operation while an off-the-shelf NFC/RFID reader module is used to read the RFID tags. To add new keys to the system, [Jason] simply swipes his “master” RFID key. An indicator LED lights up and a piezo speaker beeps, letting you know that the system is ready to read a new key. Once the new key is read, the address is stored on an EEPROM. From that point forward the new key is permitted to activate the system.
Whenever a valid key is swiped, the Arduino triggers a relay which can then be used to control just about anything. In this case, [Jason] plans to use it to control his garage door. The system also has a few manual controls. First is the reset button. If this button is held down for two seconds, all of the keys from the EEPROM are erased. This button would obviously only be available to people who are already inside the garage. There is also a DIP switch that allows the user to select how long the relay circuit should remain open. This is configurable in increments of 100ms.
For now the circuit is wired up on a couple of breadboards, but it might be a good idea to use something more permanent. [Jason] could always take it a step further and learn to
etch his own PCB’s
. Or he could even design a board in
Eagle CAD
and order a
real printed board
. Don’t miss the video description of the RFID system below.
[via
Reddit
] | 17 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1454171",
"author": "Tony",
"timestamp": "2014-05-14T09:06:16",
"content": "I was going to do this, but then found complete systems are around $10 on eBay (they even toss in 10 tags).(Yeah yeah….)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id"... | 1,760,376,203.826717 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/13/laser-etching-brings-new-life-to-an-ibm-keyboard/ | Laser Etching Brings New Life To An IBM Keyboard | James Hobson | [
"computer hacks",
"Laser Hacks"
] | [
"Buckling Spring",
"ibm",
"keyboard",
"laser etched",
"Model M",
"Model M Keyboard"
] | [Evan] was perusing his local thrift store when he found a beautiful IBM Model M 122-key keyboard made in 1987.
“This is my keyboard, there are many like it, but this one is mine.”
~The Typist’s Creed
In [Evan’s] case, this might actually be the
only
one like it still in use today. An idea formed in his head. What if he took this ancient keyboard, gave it a USB driver, and customized the keys on a hardware level
to do exactly what he wanted.
The first step was converting it to USB. He’s using a Teensy 2.0 mostly because it is super inexpensive, and its able to act as a USB HID device. In addition to wiring up the keyboard to the Teensy he’s also added foot pedals that connect via 1/8″ stereo plugs — these kind of act like extra mouse buttons, allowing him to scroll through galleries left to right, add page breaks, and other macros to increase efficiency.
Such an old keyboard has many keys that no longer exist, and some that are missing altogether, like the Windows key. [Evan’s] next step was to re-label the keys to their new functions. As a member of his local hackerspace,
i3Detroit
, he hoped he could simply laser etch new symbols onto his keys. Sadly, no matter what setting they tried, it just ended up melting the plastic. They discovered something that might work though — a product called Thermark, a fantastic (and expensive!) product that will bond to metal with a low-power laser. Some experimentation later, and they discovered they could get it to reliably bond to plastic as well!
With a bit of practice they were able to coat the keys in Thermark, laser etch over top, and then clean off the excess material leaving clear text behind. Not bad!
Now of course you could just
make an entire mechanical keyboard from scratch
too if you wanted… | 56 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "1452715",
"author": "Charlie Springer",
"timestamp": "2014-05-14T02:15:25",
"content": "Now, if it just had an active silencer…..",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1452842",
"author": "Julian Calaby",
"timestamp"... | 1,760,376,204.184724 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/13/hair-thin-wires-save-a-3ds-from-the-landfill/ | Hair Thin Wires Save A 3DS From The Landfill | Rick Osgood | [
"Nintendo DS Hacks",
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"3ds",
"Nintendo DS",
"repair",
"soldering"
] | [Anton] recently acquired a
broken Nintendo 3DS
. When the power button was pressed, the device would start booting up only to shut back down after flashing a blue light and making a popping sound. It turns out this problem is pretty common with the 3DS.
[Anton] could have tossed this device into the landfill, but where’s the fun in that? Instead, he cracked the device open like any self-respecting hacker would. It didn’t take him long to discover two broken flex ribbon cables. [Anton] could have then searched for replacement cables, but his inner hacker told him he could repair this himself. He carefully scraped the insulation off of the broken traces and then soldered on some hair thin wires to bridge the gap.
All that was left to do was to glue the wires securely in place and feed them back through the hinges. This project is a great example of how a little determination and know-how can keep a useful device from the landfill. If you attempt this repair yourself, you may find this
3DS teardown
to be a helpful reference. What devices have you been able to save from an untimely demise? | 28 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "1451952",
"author": "Squirrel",
"timestamp": "2014-05-13T23:13:12",
"content": "Apparently HaD gave this guy’s server the Hug of Death.http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:qaOINgJJvtQJ:blog.avrnoob.com/2014/05/lets-quickly-fix-nintendo-3ds-shuts-off.html+&cd=1&hl=en&... | 1,760,376,203.899409 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/13/developed-on-hackaday-license-incompatibilities-and-project-state/ | Developed On Hackaday: License Incompatibilities And Project State | Mathieu Stephan | [
"Featured",
"hardware"
] | [
"capacitive sensing",
"design",
"developed on hackaday",
"mooltipass",
"password"
] | It has been a while since we wrote an article about our
ongoing offline password keeper project
, aka the Mooltipass. Our last post was asking our dear readers to vote for their
favorite card art
, so what have we been doing since then?
For the last few weeks we’ve mostly been improving our current PCBs and case design for the production process to go smoothly. The final top PCB shown above has been tweaked to improve his capacitive touch sensing capabilities, you may even see a video of the system in action in the Mooltipass project log
on hackaday.io
. We’ve also spent some time refining the two most popular card art designs so our manufacturers may print them correctly. We’ll soon integrate our updated USB code (allowing the Mooltipass to be detected as a composite HID keyboard / HID generic) into the main solution which will then allow us to work on the browser plugin.
It’s also interesting to note that we recently decided to stop using the GPL-licensed avrcryptolib. Our current project is
CDDL licensed
, allowing interested parties to use our code in their own project without forcing them to publish all the remaining code they created. The GPL license enforces the opposite, we therefore picked
another AES encryption/decryption implementation
. This migration was performed and checked by our dedicated contributor [Miguel] who therefore ran the AES
NESSIE
/ CTR tests and checked their output, in less than a day.
We’re about to ship the first Mooltipass prototypes to our active contributors and advisers. A few weeks later we’ll send an official call for beta testers, just after we shown (here on Hackaday) what the final product looks like. Don’t hesitate to ask any question you may have in the comments section, you can also contact us on the dedicated
Mooltipass Google group
. | 94 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "1451377",
"author": "Kaye",
"timestamp": "2014-05-13T20:10:54",
"content": "Well, that’s a bummer. The GPL is a mechanism to spread free software. Not using it may reflect badly on this project.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": ... | 1,760,376,204.319898 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/13/retrotechtacular-forging-of-chain-by-smiths/ | Retrotechtacular: Forging Of Chain By Smiths | Brian Benchoff | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Retrotechtacular"
] | [
"chain",
"iron work",
"iron workers",
"metalsmith",
"wrought iron"
] | Ah, the days when men were men and people died of asbestos related illnesses in their 30s.
Let this video
take you back to the ancient times when chains were forged by hand, destructively tested using wooden capstans, and sent off to furnish the ships of the line, way back in the year 1940.
The video is something of an advertisement for the Netherton iron works, located in the English midlands. Founded sometime in the mid 19th century, it appears the tooling and machinery didn’t change much the hundred years before this was filmed.
The chain begins as a gigantic mass of wrought iron bars brought in from a forge. These bars are stockpiled, then sent through chain shears that cut them into manageable lengths a foot or so long. The next scene would probably look the same in 1940 as 1840, with gangs of men taking one of the bars, heating it in a forge, beating it on an anvil, and threading it through the last link in the chain they worked on. This isn’t the satisfying machinations of industrial automata you’d see on
How It’s Made
. No, this is hard manual labor.
Whether through simple quality control or an edict from the crown, the completed chains are tested, or more specifically, proofed. Yard long samples are tested to their failure point, and entire chains are proofed to their carrying capacity in 15 fathom ( 90 feet) long lengths. These chains are then examined link by link, stamped and certified, and sent off to mines, factories, tramp steamers, and battleships.
Although the Netherton iron works no longer exists, it did boast a few claims to fame in its day. It manufactured the anchors and chain for both the
Titanic
and
Lusitania.
Of course, such a large-scale production of wrought chain in such an archaic method would be impossible today; today, every wrought iron foundry has been shuttered for decades. If you’ve ever wondered how such massive things were made with a minimal amount of machinery, though, there you go.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B5r_bBUej8
Retrotechtacular is a weekly column featuring hacks, technology, and kitsch from ages of yore. Help keep it fresh by
sending in your ideas for future installments
. | 36 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1450721",
"author": "Dan Fruzzetti",
"timestamp": "2014-05-13T17:06:34",
"content": "You should have called it SKILLED hard manual labor. Because it is skilled labor, for the time period.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "14507... | 1,760,376,204.437834 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/13/get-your-uni-school-or-college-involved-in-the-hackaday-prize/ | Get Your Uni, School Or College Involved In The Hackaday Prize | Jasmine Brackett | [
"Featured",
"The Hackaday Prize"
] | [
"college",
"hackaday-projects",
"hackaday.io",
"high school",
"student",
"the hackaday prize",
"university"
] | We’ve been busy contacting design tech and electrical engineering education departments to tell them about
The Hackaday Prize
, but there are only so many of us and we could do with your help to get the word out.
Are you excited about The Hackaday Prize? Do you think more people at your school should know about it so they can take part? Either way, please help us help them by emailing
prize@hackaday.com
to let us know what program coordinators, student group, or other people we should contact. If appropriate, we have a bunch of promotional materials we would like to send out to some of these awesome hackers.
You can also help us by telling your hacker designer friends, posting about The Hackaday Prize on college social media (
#HackadayPrize
), or letting the student newspaper know. We want to get as many universities, colleges and high schools involved as possible. Many senior year project ideas would make great starting points for THP entries, and we want to make sure students take up this opportunity to show off what they can do (and hopefully win some stuff in the process). This makes a great summer project, and looks great when applying for colleges or jobs in the future.
Remember you have until August to get your entry in, but the sooner you post it on
Hackaday Projects
, the sooner you can potentially start winning rewards. We have hundreds of tshirts, stickers, patches, posters and other swag up for grabs on the way to winning The Hackaday Prize. | 3 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "1450870",
"author": "Jonathan Whitaker",
"timestamp": "2014-05-13T17:43:50",
"content": "Going to get the engineering club I teach involved. Prepare for some rubbish but enthusiastic entries :p",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "14... | 1,760,376,204.359353 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/11/underwater-gopro-hero-2-sees-clearly-again/ | Underwater GoPro Hero 2 Sees Clearly Again | James Hobson | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"go pro",
"GoPro",
"gopro hack",
"gopro hero 2",
"hero 2"
] | GoPros are great action cameras for snagging photos and videos places where you can’t normally bring real camera gear. The problem is, even with the waterproof GoPro case for the Hero 2 — the underwater videos tend to be blurry and out of focus. Unsatisfied with his videos, [Mitchell] decided to
make his own lens for the case!
The waterproof case has a removable concave lens, but for whatever reason it’s not very good underwater. Lucky for [Mitchell], it’s quite easily removed with 6 screws, revealing a nice thick gasket and the lens. Instead of trying to go fancy with some glass element from a broken camera, he’s just taken some 1/4″ plexiglass and cut out a piece to fit the case. It was a bit too thick for the original configuration, so he’s actually flipped the retaining ring upside down to space the lens away from the actual camera. A bunch of silicone later and the case is waterproof again with a new lens!
The resulting footage with the new lens looks awesome underwater — take a peek after the break. | 8 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1442803",
"author": "pcf11",
"timestamp": "2014-05-11T20:14:14",
"content": "I’ve never had great luck with silicone waterproofing anything. 3M marine adhesive sealant is another story though. It ain’t cheap, but man the stuff works for me.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,376,204.487194 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/11/phenox-wherein-quadcopters-get-fpgas/ | Phenox: Wherein Quadcopters Get FPGAs | Brian Benchoff | [
"Crowd Funding",
"drone hacks"
] | [
"fpga",
"Phenox",
"quadcopter"
] | The computing power inside a quadcopter is enough to read a few gyros and accelerometers, do some math, and figure out how much power to send to the motors. What if a quadcopter had immensely more computing power, and enough peripherals to do something cool?
That’s what Phenox has done
with a micro quad that is able to run Linux.
Phenox looks like any other micro quad, but under the hood things get a lot more interesting. Instead of the usual microcontroller-based control system, the Phenox features a ZINQ-7000 System on Chip, featuring an ARM core with an FPGA and a little bit of DDR3 memory. This allows the quad to run Linux, made even more interesting by the addition of two cameras (one forward facing, one down facing), a microphone, an IMU, and a range sensor. Basically, if you want a robotic pet that can hover, you wouldn’t do bad by starting with a Phenox.
The folks behind Phenox are putting up a Kickstarter tomorrow. No word on how much a base Phenox will run you, but it’ll probably be a little bit more than the cheap quads you can pick up from the usual Chinese retailers.
Videos below. | 23 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1442344",
"author": "aegoji",
"timestamp": "2014-05-11T17:09:26",
"content": "Not open source, go to hell with that commercial crap.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1442389",
"author": "sf",
"timestamp": "2014-... | 1,760,376,206.355218 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/11/unbricking-the-da-vinci-and-installing-custom-firmware/ | Unbricking The Da Vinci And Installing Custom Firmware | Brian Benchoff | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"da vinci",
"firmware"
] | We’ve seen a lot of projects based around the Da Vinci 3D printer, all deserved, because the Da Vinci is honestly a terrible 3D printer; it has chipped and DRM filament cartridges, a terrible software interface, and completely closed firmware. The first two shortcomings have already been taken care of, and
now the door is open for open source firmware
on the Da Vinci printer.
[Jason] bricked his Da Vinci when upgrading the firmware, and like any enterprising tinkerer opened up the enclosure and took a look at the electronics board. He found an ATSAM3X8E, a very capable ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller. This is the same processor in the Arduino Due, making it possible to write code for the Due and upload it to the Da Vinci controller.
After installing Atmel Studio 6, he noticed the printer controller showed up in the device manager, making it a snap to upload updated firmware, unbricking his printer.
With the ability to upload firmware, the problem quickly becomes writing
new
open source firmware, or at least porting existing firmwares; there are a few people across the internet trying to reverse engineer the board schematic from the PCB. Once that’s done, it should be a trivial matter to make the Da Vinci an open device, and teaching a lesson to every company that thinks they can sell a closed device in what is ultimately an open ecosystem. | 67 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "1441941",
"author": "Kris Lee",
"timestamp": "2014-05-11T14:06:17",
"content": "DRM filament cartridges? This is just disgusting.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1442393",
"author": "JRDM",
"timestamp": "2014-0... | 1,760,376,206.887129 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/11/the-phidgets-solar-powered-weather-station/ | The Phidgets Solar Powered Weather Station | Brian Benchoff | [
"hardware"
] | [
"phidgets",
"Phidgets SBC3",
"solar charge",
"solar charger",
"solar power",
"weather station"
] | Yes, it’s a weather station, one of those things that records data from a suite of sensors for a compact and robust way of logging atmospheric conditions. We’ve seen a few of these built around Raspberry Pis and Arduinos,
but not one built with a Phidget SBC
, and rarely one that has this much thought put in to a weather logging station.
This weather station is designed to be autonomous, logging data for a week or so until the USB thumb drive containing all the data is taken back to the lab and replaced with a new one. It’s designed to operate in the middle of nowhere, and that means no power. Solar it is, but how big of a solar panel do you need?
That question must be answered by carefully calculating the power budget of the entire station and the battery, the size of the battery, and the worst case scenario for clouds and low light conditions. An amorphous solar cell was chosen for its ability to generate power from low and indirect light sources. This is connected to a 12 Volt, 110 amp hour battery. Heavy and expensive, but overkill is better than being unable to do the job.
Sensors, including temperature, humidity, and an
IR temperature sensor
were wired up to a
Phidgets SBC3
and the coding began. The data are recorded onto a USB thumb drive plugged into the Phidgets board, and the station was visited once a week to retrieve data. This is a far, far simpler solution than figuring out a wireless networking solution, and much better on the power budget.
Via
embedded lab | 14 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1441589",
"author": "Manuel",
"timestamp": "2014-05-11T11:32:29",
"content": "“This is a far, far simpler solution than figuring out a wireless networking solution, and much better on the power budget.” I dont think so. Why is it every time it comes to environmental datalogging so i... | 1,760,376,206.208381 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/11/cncd-and-anodized-ti-engagement-rings/ | CNC’d And Anodized Ti Engagement Rings | Brian Benchoff | [
"cnc hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"anodization",
"anodized",
"cnc",
"jewelry",
"titanium"
] | [Patrick] met someone, and then some stuff happened. Good for him. Because of this, [Patrick] found himself in need of a pair of engagement rings. With a friend, some titanium bar stock, and an awesome lathe,
he turned out a few awesome rings
and also managed to selectively anodize them with a subtle rainbow of colors.
Making a ring on a lathe is a relatively simple ordeal, but the two larger rings [Patrick] made (one was for a friend) featured some interesting patterns that aren’t easy to make without a good CNC setup. Luckily, this friend has
an awesome CNC with a rotary fourth axis
.
With the machining out of the way, [Patrick] then turned to anodization. This was done by constructing a simple power supply with a variac, four diodes, and a big honkin’ cap. He managed to get a good result with a sodium carbonate solution. He doesn’t have any good pictures of it, but by varying the voltage from 20 to 100 Volts, the color of the anodization will change from green, purple, to yellow, to blue. | 18 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1441457",
"author": "noone",
"timestamp": "2014-05-11T10:39:05",
"content": "Nice but I would round of those sharp edges",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1441591",
"author": "fartface",
"timestamp": "2014-05-11T11:32:50",... | 1,760,376,206.549486 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/10/more-counterfeit-apple-chargers-than-you-can-shake-an-ipod-at/ | More Counterfeit Apple Chargers Than You Can Shake An IPod At | Rich Bremer | [
"iphone hacks",
"ipod hacks"
] | [
"adapter",
"apple",
"charger",
"counterfeit",
"ipad",
"iphone"
] | Phones, MP3 players, designer bags, artwork, money…. anything with value will bring out the counterfeiters looking to make a quick buck. Sometimes the product being counterfeited isn’t even necessarily expensive. For example, an Apple iPad Charger. [Ken Shirriff] got a hold of a
counterfeit iPad Charger
, took it apart, and did some testing.
So why would someone buy a counterfeit product? To save some money! The counterfeits are usually cheaper to reel the potential buyer in thinking they are getting a deal. In this case, the Apple product costs $19 and the knock-off is $3, that’s a huge difference.
A charger has one function; take household AC voltage and convert it to the 5v DC the device can use. Ken measured a few aspects of the electrical output of these two chargers. The left graph below is the Apple charger and the right is the counterfeit. The yellow lines show the voltage output. The Apple’s is narrow and flat and the counterfeit’s has a huge amount of noise. [Ken] actually had to change the scale on the ‘scope when measuring the counterfeit’s voltage so it is actually twice as bad as it looks visually.
The orange lines show the frequency spectrum of the output. Lower is better. Overall, the counterfeit output is much higher with a consistent spike at the switching frequency.
[Ken’s] article is extremely detailed and contains a lot of photos of inside both chargers so head over and check it out. You’ll be able to see where the knock-off cut corners to keep the price down. If you are interested in more counterfeit Apple chargers, check out the
investigation
that the Raspberry Pi Foundation did. | 68 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "1440774",
"author": "Sam Traeger (@SamSkjord)",
"timestamp": "2014-05-11T05:12:29",
"content": "What’s in a real charger:http://www.righto.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-teardown-quality.html",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "14... | 1,760,376,206.483383 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/10/blobless-printing-with-velocity-extrusion/ | Blobless Printing With Velocity Extrusion | Brian Benchoff | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"beaglebone black",
"extruder",
"extrusion",
"LinuxCNC"
] | The current crop of 3D printers are technically four-axis machines, with three axes of movement and a fourth for the position of the filament. [Bas] had an entirely different idea –
why not link the speed of the extruder to the speed of the nozzle
? It turns out this technique gives you more ‘plasticy-looking’ prints and a vast reduction in blobbiness.
[Baz] has been working with LinuxCNC, a BeagleBone Black and the BeBoPr-Bridge cape, and there’s been a lot of development with that system in turning many straight lines into one smooth arc. This led him to adjusting the flow rate of a nozzle while the printer is running, but this is difficult if the extrusion is controlled by position as in a traditional printer setup. A new configuration was in order.
What [Baz] ended up with is a config that calculated the speed of the extruder based on the speed the nozzle is moving over the print surface. This gave him the ability to add live nozzle pressure adjustment, and as a result, a near complete disappearance of the little blobs that appear at the start of each layer.
For a well calibrated machine, it’s only a small difference between the ‘normal’ and ‘velocity’ methods of controlling an extrusion rate. It’s a noticeable difference, though, and one that vastly improves the visual quality of a print. | 29 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "1440300",
"author": "JKnota",
"timestamp": "2014-05-11T02:12:24",
"content": "Maybe this should be headlined“Blobless Printing with EMC 2”.This is a standard feature in almost every FDM printer FW…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id":... | 1,760,376,207.018388 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/09/quadcopter-built-from-recycled-motherboards/ | Quadcopter Built From Recycled Motherboards | Adam Fabio | [
"drone hacks"
] | [
"drone",
"FR-4",
"G10",
"motherboard",
"multicopter",
"quadcopter",
"recycle"
] | [Eric] has figured out a great way to
build quadcopters out of recycled computer motherboards
. Multicopters come in all shapes and sizes these days. As we mentioned in the
last issue of Droning On
, they can be bought or built-in a multitude of materials as well. Drones have been built using materials as varied as wood, PVC pipe, carbon fiber, and aluminum.
One of the more common commercial materials is G10 fiberglass sheet. It’s stiff, strong, and relatively light. Printed circuit boards are generally made of
FR-4 fiberglass
, G10’s flame resistant cousin. It’s no wonder [Eric] had quadcopters in his eyes when he saw a pile of motherboards being thrown out at his university.
[Eric] used a heat gun and a lot of patience to get all the components off the motherboard. With a bit of care, most of the components can be saved for future hardware hacks. This is one step that’s best performed outside. Hot melting plastics, metals, and resin fumes aren’t the greatest things to inhale.
Clean PCBs in hand, [Eric] headed to his local TechShop. He drew his dead cat style frame in SolidWorks and cut it out on a ShopBot. While a high-end CNC cutter is nice, it’s not absolutely necessary. The fiberglass sheets could be cut with a rotary tool or a jigsaw. No matter how you cut it, be sure to wear a mask rated for fiberglass resins and some protective clothing. Fiberglass plate is nasty stuff to cut.
Once the upper and lower frame plates were cut, [Eric] completed his quad frame with some square wooden stock for arms. The final quad is a great flier, and spare parts are easy to source. Nice work on the recycling, [Eric]! | 18 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1436201",
"author": "cr0sh",
"timestamp": "2014-05-10T02:07:32",
"content": "While it’s nice to see the recycling in action, the frame of a multi-rotor copter is among the least expensive of all the components that go into one…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies":... | 1,760,376,206.151455 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/09/bunnies-laptop-gets-a-900mhz-scope-addon/ | [Bunnie]’s Laptop Gets A 900MHz Scope Addon | Brian Benchoff | [
"hardware"
] | [
"arm",
"fpga",
"iMX6",
"Novena",
"oscilloscope"
] | Now that [Bunnie]’s open hardware laptop – the Novena – is wrapping up
its crowdfunding campaign
, it only makes sense that development around the Novena project would move over to the more interesting aspects of a completely hackable laptop. The Novena has a huge FPGA on board, with 2 Gbit of very fast memory hanging off it. Also, every single signal pin of the FPGA is broken out on high-speed connectors, making for some very, very interesting possible add-on boards. [Bunnie] has always wanted a portable, high-end oscilloscope to carry with him, and
with the new oscope module
, he has something that blows out of the water every scope priced below a thousand dollars.
The oscilloscope module [Bunnie] is working on has either two 8-bit channels at 1 GSPS or one 8-bit channel at 2 GSPS with an analog bandwidth of up to 900MHz. The module also has 10 digital channels, so if you need a logic analyzer, there you go.
Being a fairly high-end scope, the hardest part of engineering this scope is the probes. The probes for fast, high-end scopes cost hundreds of dollars by themselves, so [Bunnie] looked for a clean-sheet redesign of the lowly oscope probe. To connect the probe to the module, [Bunnie] realized a SATA cable would be a great solution; they’re high bandwidth, support signals in the GHz range, and are rated for thousands of insertions. These active probes can be combined with a number of front ends for application specific probes – digital probes, ones for power signature analysis, and ones for capturing signals across small loops of wire.
The module itself isn’t quite ready for production yet, but by the time the Novena crowdfunding campaign starts shipping, [Bunnie] will probably be working on the next add-on module for his crazy awesome laptop. | 30 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1435735",
"author": "Figureitout",
"timestamp": "2014-05-09T23:33:05",
"content": "Sick.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1435761",
"author": "hli",
"timestamp": "2014-05-09T23:44:22",
"content": "That ADC (an ADC08D1... | 1,760,376,206.725844 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/09/hackaday-at-maker-faire/ | Hackaday At Maker Faire | Mike Szczys | [
"Featured"
] | [
"Bay Area Maker Faire 2014",
"meetup",
"swag",
"twitter"
] | If you are planning your trip to Maker Faire Bay Area — May 17th and 18th — why not hunt down the Hackaday crew? We’ll be packing a ton of swag to give out to anyone who asks for it. But ideally we’d like to show off the best hardware we can find so don’t come empty-handed!
Want your Maker Faire stuff featured on Hackaday? You can Tweet in advance to let us know when you’ll be there and what you’re bringing. You can also track us down during the weekend as we’ll be frequently Tweeting our locations. Here is the contact list and information on some festivities we’re planning:
We’ve made a list of Twitter handles or you can follow separately:
Mike:
@szczys
Matt:
@technolomaniac
Jasmine:
@asiwatch
Alek:
@randomwalks
Ben:
@bendelarre
I Like Beer
Maker Faire isn’t open 24-hours! Can you believe they kick you out at night?
We’re going to belly up to the bar on Saturday night. We’ve found one that’s just one train stop away. We’ll bring shirts (which we’re unlikely to be carrying on the fair grounds during the day) if you want to stop by and grab one from us. One thing to consider is that the bar only holds 80 people.
Sign up for a ticket
… you can always stop by without one but ready yourself for there being no room at the inn. | 17 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1435524",
"author": "Meisam",
"timestamp": "2014-05-09T22:24:56",
"content": "Why all the good things have to happen in CA?….",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1435623",
"author": "Mike Szczys",
"timestamp": "201... | 1,760,376,206.785201 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/09/floreo-e-textililes-and-moving-clothing/ | Floreo: E-textililes And Moving Clothing | Brian Benchoff | [
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"digital culture",
"e-textiles",
"flexinol",
"memory wire",
"textiles"
] | [Alica] and [Jerika] are seniors in the Digital Culture program at Arizona State University and for their capstone, the wanted to take something that is traditionally male dominated and make it more female friendly. They chose e-textiles, which are most commonly extremely avant garde and nearly unapproachable with a lot of LEDs and zany mechanisms. Their initial designs reflected this, with multiple LED strips and huge shoulder pads. Then they discovered Flexinol shape memory actuator wire,
and found this could be a much ‘softer’ integration
of technology with haute couture.
[Jerika] and [Alica] chose to create an electronic flower, able to bloom with the help of a shape memory alloy. When a current is applied to the Flexinol wire, it contracts. Sewing these wires into laser cut fabric petals, the girls created a fabric flower that booms with the help of an LiliPad Arduino.
While they weren’t able to complete their dress due to electronic weirdness and burning out the wire too soon, they did succeed in creating a flower pin that demonstrated the intended effect.
Videos below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5fz6qVyayg | 28 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1435136",
"author": "vonskippy",
"timestamp": "2014-05-09T20:09:23",
"content": "“into laser cut fabric petals”Kids today. The tool they were looking for is called SCISSORS (just don’t run with them or your laser cutter).",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
... | 1,760,376,206.287026 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/09/diy-arduino-cases-you-never-knew-existed/ | DIY Arduino Cases You Never Knew Existed | Rich Bremer | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"case",
"case building"
] | There are sure a lot of varieties of
Arduinos
out there but there may even be more of a variety when it comes to Arduino Cases. Let’s take the most popular Arduino form factor, the Uno. Below are a handful of unique cases for the Uno-sized boards.
by [Megaduty],
Arduino Protection Box
We’ll call this one robust. Although it is 3D printed, its intent is to be extremely protective of the inhabitant. Some extra thought went into this case, no tools are needed! After the Arduino snaps into place, so does the cover. There is an access door to get the input/output wires to the free world. [Megaduty] suggests that this contains $0.10 of plastic. Not a bad deal.
by [Jason],
Lexan Beauty
By looking at these photos you may think you’d need a laser cutter to make this stylish case. Not so! [Jason] sketched out the design on lexan, cut it out with a jig saw and then heated the material to bend it around a wooden form. It’s worth noting that the top of this case has openings so that a shield can fit onto the Arduino while it is still in the case.
by [Gurt],
Bezel for LCD Screen Shield
If your Arduino project is using a SainSmart LCD keypad shield for the user interface then this case will surely put a smile on your face. The holes line up with the buttons on the SainSmart shield. In addition to the case, the buttons are also available for download and printing. Screw holes are provided to allow secure attachment between the shield and case. All you need is a 3D printer to get going with this project. It comes in any color as long as it’s pink!
by [jwags55],
LCD Electrical Box Topper
This one is similar to above, it is 3D printed and designed for an LCD/Button Shield, but this time for another shield configuration. As you can see it has integrated flexible tabs that allow access to the shield buttons. What you can’t see from this photo is that it is mounted to a standard 4×4″ electrical box available from any hardware store. A standard electrical box is deep enough for the shield and an Arduino. Extra-deep boxes are available in case you need more room.
by [Daniel],
CNC Routed Wood
What came first, the Arduino Case or the CNC Router? A pretty cool DIY CNC Router was responsible for making this case. An Arduino running GRBL controls the CNC Machine, which moves a spindle that, in turn, cuts pieces out of wood, and those pieces of wood are assembled to form a case that holds the Arduino that runs GRBL…… your mind was just blown.
by [Jason],
Folding Arduino Lab
Are the above cases not good enough for ya? Maybe they don’t have enough features, or are only good for finished projects. If you are interested in taking your perpetual Arduino project on the road then pay attention. This case not only holds an Arduino and breadboard, it has two drawers for your components. If the breadboard and one of the drawers are removed, the closed case will even fit an installed shield. Download the STL files
here
.
by [ninjaprawn],
Lego Case
This list wouldn’t be complete without at least one (or two) extremely inexpensive case options. Here we have a Lego-based enclosure. What it lacks in style is made up by its zero-cost and minimal effort required. It does what it was made to do.
by [Allan],
Cardboard Insulator
I’m not sure we can call this a ‘case’ per se, it’s just a piece of cardboard tied on to an Arduino through the mount holes. [Allan] had to do this to prevent the contacts on the underside of the board from shorting by way of typical workbench clutter.
If there’s a sweet case out there that we’ve missed, let the other readers know in the comments. Or, maybe you’ve made your own specialized case, document it somewhere on the ‘web and let us know. | 23 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "1434685",
"author": "Joee",
"timestamp": "2014-05-09T17:39:29",
"content": "Usually I just put a drop of hot glue on all four corners and glue a flash card to the back then trim it with scissors. If I need to remove the hot glue, put of drop of rubbing alcohol on it and the glue fal... | 1,760,376,207.145061 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/09/hackaday-meetup-with-heatsync-labs-and-the-tymkrs/ | Hackaday Meetup With HeatSync Labs And The Tymkrs | Todd Harrison | [
"Featured",
"Hackerspaces"
] | [
"Gathering",
"heatsync labs",
"meetup",
"tymkrs"
] | We know a lot of hackers will be heading to Maker Faire next weekend. If you find yourself passing through Mesa, AZ on your way or you’re a local hacker enthusiast then please feel compelled to drop by
HeatSync Labs
on May 15th between the hours of 5pm and 9pm for an informal gathering. You will get to meet HeatSync Labs hackerspace members and
The Tymkrs
(Whiskers and Addie) who are founders of
The Rabbit Hole
hackerspace in Rochester, Minnesota. Sorry for the late notice, I thought it would be a great opportunity to organize an impromptu hacker meetup in order to include The Tymkrs as they pass through town on their epic summer road trip.
If people have a project or photos of a project they’re working on I would enjoy hearing all about it and I’m sure others would as well. I’m looking forward to visiting everyone that can attend!
For those who show up early there should be plenty of pizza, soda and Hackaday swag to go around. I’d like to thank the members of HeatSync Labs for kindly letting me schedule a Hackaday style meetup at their hackerspace on such short notice. There will be some food and drink so don’t be too late or you might go hungry.
Meetup address:
HeatSync Labs 140 West Main St. Downtown Mesa, AZ | 11 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1434560",
"author": "Todd Harrison",
"timestamp": "2014-05-09T17:02:46",
"content": "I’m looking forward to chatting with everyone.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1434812",
"author": "John Schuch @JohnS_AZ",
"timestamp"... | 1,760,376,206.942013 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/09/raspberry-pi-boiler-control-uses-a-webcam-to-read-the-analog-gauge/ | Raspberry Pi Boiler Control Uses A Webcam To Read The Analog Gauge | James Hobson | [
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"home automation"
] | One of the biggest problems with home automation is trying to interface with old or analog devices. Do you upgrade the device just so you can automate it? Or do you find a
workaround like [Seb] did?
[Seb] doesn’t have on-demand hot water, and as such has to turn on his boiler if he wants to have a hot bath or shower. Not very convenient having to wake up an hour early in the morning just to turn the boiler on so he can have a morning shower! Nonplussed with having to continue putting up with this, he decided to try his hand at home automation using a Raspberry Pi.
The problem is there’s no easy way to have feedback on what the boiler is doing — sure he can turn it on and off using a mains relay with the Pi’s GPIO, but how can he easily measure the temperature inside the boiler?
The answer? A webcam! [Seb] took an old cheap webcam and mounted it in front of the temperature gauge on his boiler. He then wrote a simple python script to count the pixels using an OpenCV library — when those pixels turn red, the needle is at his ideal temperature (45C). Complex? A little bit, but the project only cost him all of what, $35? Gotta love how cheap Raspberry Pi’s are! | 59 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "1433928",
"author": "Hattori Hanzo",
"timestamp": "2014-05-09T14:10:56",
"content": "Counting the red pixels at part of the image? Man, that’s really the ghetto way of doing it.But I kinda like it. It has that hackish, bare-minimum vibe to it ;)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth":... | 1,760,376,207.245845 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/10/reading-2-4ghz-transmitters-with-an-arduino/ | Reading 2.4GHz Transmitters With An Arduino | Brian Benchoff | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"2.4ghz",
"quadcopter",
"remote control",
"V202"
] | There are a lot of cheap quadcopter kits out there, sold ready to fly with a transmitter and battery for right around $50 USD. One of the more popular of these micro quads is the V2X2 series. They are, unfortunately not compatible with any other radio protocol out there, but [Alexandre] has managed to use the transmitter included with his V202 quad
to send data to an Arduino
.
Like most quads, the transmitter that came with [Alexandre]’s V202 operates on 2.4GHz. Listening in on that band required a little bit of hardware, in this case a nordic Semiconductors nRF24L01p. Attached to this chip is a regular ‘ol Arduino
running a bit of code
that includes [Alexandre]’s V202 library.
Right now, the build can detect if the quad is bound or not, and read the current position of the throttle, yaw, pitch, and roll, as well as all the associated trims. It’s just the beginnings of [Alexandre]’s project, but his eventual goal is to build an Arduino bot based on the code, complete with RC servos. Not bad for a transmitter that will be utterly useless when the microquad eventually breaks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dus7GxoRIEk | 11 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1439717",
"author": "Dzl",
"timestamp": "2014-05-10T23:19:14",
"content": "Hi.Working extensively on the same project and made some Arduino libraries:Hackaday:http://hackaday.com/2013/11/19/hacking-a-cheap-toy-quadcopter-to-work-with-arduino/Flying the quad (slightly different type ... | 1,760,376,207.0757 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/10/koenigsegg-3d-printing-for-production-vehicles/ | Koenigsegg 3D-Printing For Production Vehicles | Marsh | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"3d print",
"3d printed",
"3d printing",
"abs",
"automotive",
"carbon fiber",
"cars",
"iteration",
"iterative design",
"Koenigsegg",
"turbo",
"turbo charger"
] | We’re not surprised to see
a car manufacturer using 3D-printing technology
, but we think this may be the first time we’ve heard of 3D-prints going into production vehicles. You’ve likely heard of Christian von Koenigsegg’s cars if you’re a fan of BBC’s
Top Gear,
where the hypercar screams its way into the leading lap times.
Now it seems the Swedish car manufacturer has integrated 3D printing and scanning into the design process. Christian himself explains the benefits of both for iterative design: they roughed out a chair, adjusting it as they went until it was about the right shape and was comfortable. They then used a laser scanner to bring it into a CAD file, which significantly accelerated the production process. He’s also got some examples of brake pedals printed from ABS—they normally machine them out of aluminum—to test the fits and the feeling. They make adjustments as necessary to the prints, sometimes carving them up by hand, then break out the laser scanner again to capture any modifications, bring it back to CAD, and reprint the model.
Interestingly, they’ve been printing some bits and pieces for production cars out of ABS for a few years. Considering the low volume they are working with, it makes sense. Videos and more info after the jump.
The first video shows a
Dimension 1200es
—a $30k printer—toiling away in the background, presumably cranking out some of their ABS test pieces. A second video describes another 3D-printed build, this time with metal, to construct a 2-phase turbocharger. The custom turbo has two chambers that twist around each other, with flexible walls that bend to optimize flow. Koenigsegg claims that they could have cast it with a lot of trial and error, but that 3D-printing the complex shapes was simply faster and easier. They’re printing the moving parts in place internally so they don’t have to assemble it. Even the threads to mount the turbo are printed, so a near-finished turbocharger rolls out of the printer ready to bolt on.
[Thanks Matt] | 23 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1439284",
"author": "Matthias_H",
"timestamp": "2014-05-10T20:44:21",
"content": "Bugatti’s been doing it for more than 5 years now:http://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/164-the-bugatti-veyrons-3d-printed-dashboard.html",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,376,207.431619 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/10/robot-runs-on-6-legs-but-never-more-than-2-at-a-time/ | Robot Runs On 6 Legs But Never More Than 2 At A Time | Mike Szczys | [
"Crowd Funding",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"balancing",
"legged",
"Outrunner",
"six-legged robot"
] | Looking at this legged robot gives us the same feeling we had the first time we saw a two-wheeled balancer. At first glance it just shouldn’t work, but after a little thought it makes a lot of sense.
The six-legged bot called OutRunner
uses two sets of three legs to propel itself. The footfalls are staggered to mimic how a biped runs, but mechanically it’s just spinning wheels to which the legs attach. If you have a smart enough algorithm it will not only remain upright but be steerable too.
This is a Kickstarter offering to let you can get your hands on an unassembled kit for $200. That version comes with a universal camera mount but no camera. This may not sound like a problem, but look closer and you may notice what we have: The thing is remote-controlled and can run up to 20 MPH, but there’s not footage of it running slowly. We’d wager the need to keep itself balanced equates to the need to run rather than walk. Since it’s going to get away from you very quickly you probably need a camera and a wearable display (or a chase car like in the video) to make the most out of the OutRunner. But hey, who’s complaining about that? Sounds like a ton of fun to us!
Why is it that this thing looks delightful but all of the
Boston Dynamics running bots
scare the crap out of us?
[Thanks John] | 48 | 26 | [
{
"comment_id": "1438726",
"author": "112358",
"timestamp": "2014-05-10T17:15:05",
"content": "It’s definitely cool but can’t see to many uses for this except as a currier of small object in rescue attempts in long hallways where speed is an issue or self destruct attacks. Maybe some kind of racing... | 1,760,376,208.146275 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/10/have-an-unused-diy-instrument-send-it-on-tour-with-imogen-heap/ | Have An Unused DIY Instrument? Send It On Tour With [Imogen Heap] | Brian Benchoff | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"imogen heap",
"instruments",
"Musical"
] | [Imogen Heap] is well-known for performing with DIY and cobbled-together instruments, and now she’s teaming up with another famous DIY instrument musician for a world tour. That’s the cool part, now here’s the awesome part:
they want to take your DIY musical instrument on tour
for a scrapyard symphony.
Both [Imogen] and [Leafcutter] are semi-regular Hackaday features, with [Leafcutter]
building hydrophones
and [Imogen] doing some crazy stuff
turning gestures into music
. They’re both known for their strange and esoteric sounds that sends
Rolling Stone
writers scrambling for a thesaurus, and now they want your disused or discarded music machines to use live on their world tour.
The team is looking for video submissions of any musical creatures you’d like to send around the world. The only real guideline on what they’re looking for is, ‘the weirder the better’, with an apparent slight emphasis on physical machines over the purely electronic.
Video of the duo below. | 15 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1438305",
"author": "gaijo",
"timestamp": "2014-05-10T14:52:12",
"content": "I once pooped in a bag and send it to stratosphere with a weather baloon. Fun times.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1438308",
"author": "gai... | 1,760,376,207.492321 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/10/brickpi-bookreader-1-and-2-read-tablets-or-books-aloud-you-choose/ | BrickPi Bookreader 1 And 2 Read Tablets Or Books Aloud, You Choose | Rich Bremer | [
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"book scanner",
"book scanning",
"raspberry pi"
] | Have you ever wanted to relax with a good book but couldn’t due to the hassle of having to actually read and turn pages? Well, now BrickPi offers 2 solutions to that problem. They have you covered regardless if your document is on a tablet or resides in a physical book.
The original
Bookreader
will read out loud the displayed text on a tablet.
This is not an application that runs on the tablet, it is a completely separate device that ‘reads’ the tablet screen. As you could guess from the BrickPi name, the brains behind the operation is a Raspberry Pi. A camera takes a photograph of the displayed text and the Raspberry Pi converts that image file to text using Optical Character Recognition. A Text-to-Speech engine then speaks the text in a robotic sounding voice. In order to change the page the Raspberry Pi controls a Lego Mindstorms arm that swipes across the tablet screen and the entire process is repeated.
BrickPi received a lot of feedback about the Bookreader asking for a version that would read real books and also turn the pages. Enter the
Bookreader 2
. Most of the parts between the two versions are the same, with the only exception being the page turning method. Lego components are still used but this time there are two motors. Motor 1 spins a Lego wheel that is pressed on the page to be turned. Once that single page has been pushed over just enough, Motor 2 spins an arm around that completes the page turn. Motor 1 then rotates in reverse to flatten any pages that have unintentionally started the turning process.
via [
embedded-lab
] | 10 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1437740",
"author": "Eugene",
"timestamp": "2014-05-10T11:04:42",
"content": "I might finally be able to stop relying on sparknotes!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1437741",
"author": "w",
"timestamp": "2014-05-10T11:05... | 1,760,376,207.544934 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/10/barduino-now-with-facebook-integration/ | Barduino, Now With Facebook Integration | Brian Benchoff | [
"cooking hacks"
] | [
"alcohol",
"barbot",
"cocktail",
"facebook",
"liquor",
"rfid"
] | We’ve seen BarBots that will automagically pour you a drink, but how about one with RFID? How about one with Facebook integration, so your friends know how much of a lush you are? Wait. Facebook already tells them that. Huh.
[Andy] and [Daniel]’s
latest build
follows on the heels of a lot of similar cocktail bots; an Arduino controls a few solenoid valves connected to a CO2 supply and a few bottles of liquor and mixers that allow drinks to be dispensed at the push of the button. Where this project gets interesting is its use of RFID and Facebook.
The user interface was coded for Windows 7, with an RFID tag (ostensibly issued to each guest) allowing a unique login that checks an SQL server to see what privileges the user has. The app pulls the user’s Facebook profile photo down and displays it in the corner of the screen, and with the server keeping track of how many drinks (and of what kind) they had, with the right permissions it should be possible to post that info to their wall. Because we all know what you did last night, even if you don’t. | 8 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1437360",
"author": "anigo",
"timestamp": "2014-05-10T09:15:46",
"content": "perfect for a sausage fest.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1437996",
"author": "d",
"timestamp": "2014-05-10T12:44:41",
"content": "Finall... | 1,760,376,207.592227 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/09/first-responder-call-in-using-google-voice/ | First Responder Call-In Using Google Voice | Brian Benchoff | [
"google hacks"
] | [
"FireFighter",
"first responder",
"Gmail",
"google voice"
] | Firefighters and firehouses are not as glamorous as your kindergarten self would lead you to believe. Most firefighters in the US are volunteers, and most firefighters don’t live in the firehouse. Instead of hanging out at the fire house all the time, they use a call-in system that displays a list on a web page saying, ‘Joe is coming to the fire house’ or ‘Jack will meet you at the scene’. It’s highly efficient given the budgets they’re working with, but as [Andy] discovered,
this same system can be replicated with Google Voice
.
The system relies on a Google Voice account that’s set to have all calls go straight to voicemail. The missed call sends off a voicemail notification to the Gmail inbox, effectively turning the Gmail inbox into a call-in system for free.
In testing, [Andy] noticed the Gmail inbox doesn’t quite refresh fast enough for his purposes, so he whipped up a simple webpage with a little bit of PHP to parse the emails and display everything automatically. The idea being that this webpage could just be displayed on a monitor in the station, waiting for the next call.
Another improvement [Andy] points out could be setting up several numbers, each for different status codes. It’s an astonishing simple system, and now something that can be replicated for free. | 12 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1436818",
"author": "RandyKC",
"timestamp": "2014-05-10T05:46:02",
"content": "I thought Google voice was getting phased out. Please tell me I’m wrong but I thoight Google was pushing hangouts as a replacement.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,376,207.782538 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/09/augmented-laser-cutter-removes-design-technology-barriers/ | Augmented Laser Cutter Removes Design Technology Barriers | James Hobson | [
"Laser Hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"augmented laser cutter",
"laser cutter",
"laser engraver"
] | Laser cutters, 3D printers, CNC routers — they’re all great technology in the right hands, but unfortunately the learning curve sometimes puts would-be makers at a distance. [Anirudh] from MIT’s Media Lab is attempting to break down at least one of those barriers with his augmented laser cutter system called,
Clearcut.
The system consists of a webcam, a projector, and a semi transparent work space on top of the laser cutter. By placing objects on the surface, the webcam can identify them, duplicate them with the projector, and then laser engrave them. In addition to the “copy and paste” idea of this, you can also use infrared emitting pens to physically draw your design on the work surface to be engraved. It starts to bridge the gap between complex CAD and pencil and paper, something anyone is capable of.
Unfortunately no the software is not open source, but the idea is there, and it provides an intriguing thought towards a different way of doing things. In fact, it’s very similar to the
Constructable project
we shared a few months ago — minus the projector. | 6 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1433830",
"author": "Telimektar",
"timestamp": "2014-05-09T13:34:05",
"content": "Imagine this with some type of GUI for precise measure, thats would be cool.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1434379",
"author": "Kip",
... | 1,760,376,207.984981 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/09/gpib-to-usb-with-a-python-api/ | GPIB To USB, With A Python API | Brian Benchoff | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"gpib",
"ieee-488",
"test equipment",
"usb"
] | If you’re not so daft as to think Arduino-based oscilloscopes and multimeters are actually useful for all but the simplest tests and measurements, you just might have some big iron sitting around your workbench from the likes of HP, or Tektronix. You might have noticed a strange port on the back of these machines, labeled GPIB or IEEE-488. This is the standard interface for these devices, and if you’ve ever priced out a USB to IEEE-488 converter, you can see why [Steven]
thought it would be cheaper to build his own
.
This build is an update to
an earlier version we saw a few years ago
. Since then, [Steven] has taken some advice from the community and replaced a bunch of resistors with proper GPIB line driver ICs, and generally cleaned up the firmware.
Because a USB to GPIB adapter is only one small part of the tools necessary to connect these old measurement devices to a modern computer, [Steven] has also been working on
InstrumentKit
. It’s a Python library that takes all the standardized instrument commands and wraps them up in an easy to use API. You can check out
the docs for InstrumentKit here
, or just look through the board files and firmware
on the Github | 15 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1433245",
"author": "mister resistor",
"timestamp": "2014-05-09T10:06:04",
"content": "such a great project indeed",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1433680",
"author": "Steven Casagrande",
"timestamp": "2014-05-... | 1,760,376,207.938614 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/08/the-pebblypi-a-smart-doorbell/ | The PebblyPi: A Smart Doorbell | Nick Conn | [
"Raspberry Pi",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"door",
"doorbell",
"pebble",
"pebble watch",
"raspberry pi"
] | A Pebble smart watch, and a Raspberry Pi. They are a perfect match. This is probably what [Daniel] thought when he embarked upon his latest project,
a smart doorbell called the PebblyPi
(tip submitted by [Ben]).
The actual project is quite easy to implement. All you need really need is a
Raspberry Pi
, a switch, a resistor, and a
Pebble Smart Watch
(plus a smart phone). Using a simple Python script on the Raspberry Pi, button press notifications are sent to
Pushover
, which allows the notification to arrive on your smart phone (and thus your Pebble Smart Watch). Pushover is a very cool notification service for Android devices, iPhones, iPads, and your Desktop. The concept behind this project is great, and the fact that it is so simple to implement opens up many other possibilities for interfacing your home electronics with the Pebble Smart Watch (or even just your smart phone). The ability to create custom notifications on any of your devices using any internet connected system is amazing!
You could receive notifications from your
absurdly accurate weather station
, or even your
soil moisture monitor
. Have you used Pushover in any of your projects? The possibilities are endless! | 14 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1432411",
"author": "Grayda",
"timestamp": "2014-05-09T05:43:33",
"content": "If you have a Ninja Block (or a Raspberry Pi with their “Pi Crust” 433mhz addon), then you can do stuff like this with an off-the-shelf doorbell and their recently-released Pushover / Pushbullet driver. Op... | 1,760,376,207.732293 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/08/testing-the-efficiency-of-pcb-etchants/ | Testing The Efficiency Of PCB Etchants | Brian Benchoff | [
"chemistry hacks"
] | [
"etchant",
"ferric chloride",
"H2O2",
"pcb",
"PCB etchant"
] | In the interest of the scientific method [Feynmaniac] (great name, btw) over on Instructables
has posted a little experiment
on something we all, no doubt, care about: putting PCB traces in copper clad boards with the most common etchants out there.
The experiment used the ‘ol standard, ferric chloride, and the safe, inexpensive newcomer, vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, and table salt. Finding the most efficient mixture of ferric chloride is easy: just use what’s in the bottle. The vinegar and H2O2 requires some stoichiometry, though, and [Feynmaniac] calculated that with an 8% acetic acid solution and the most commonly available 3% peroxide solution, a 2:3 ratio of peroxide to vinegar is the best. Salt to taste, or until everything turns green.
Four copper clad boards were used for the test, masked off in a ‘barcode’ pattern. Two methods of applying the etchant were used: either rubbing the etchant on with a sponge, or immersing the boards in a bath of the etchant being tested.
In terms of speed, ferric chloride was by far the fastest, with 3 minutes until the board was etched using the rubbing method, or 10 minutes when simply immersed. Vinegar/peroxide took longer with 11 minutes rubbed, and 20 minutes immersed. No differences in the quality of the etch were noticed.
While ferric chloride was by far the fastest etchant, it does have the downside of being environmentally unfriendly and fairly expensive. The vinegar and peroxide etchant is safe, cheap, and can be found in any grocery store on the planet.
This experiment didn’t test other common etchants like HCl and H202, or cupric chloride (which is is the byproduct of HCl and H202). Still, it’s a good confirmation that the vinegar and peroxide method actually works, in case you were wondering. | 73 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "1431749",
"author": "notabena4us",
"timestamp": "2014-05-09T02:08:19",
"content": "Yummy… +1",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1432560",
"author": "kk wut?",
"timestamp": "2014-05-09T06:42:30",
"content":... | 1,760,376,208.326368 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/08/the-p-u-l-s-e-parking-light/ | The P.u.l.s.e Parking Light | Brian Benchoff | [
"ATtiny Hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"attiny45",
"barking light",
"breathing LED",
"led"
] | [Anool]’s brother loves his motorcycle, and when he came across a ‘breathing LED’ mod for the brake light, he had to have one.
Being tasked with the creation of a pretty cool mod,
[Anool] came up with p.u.l.s.e., an extremely small LED controller and a slight tip ‘o the hat to Pink Floyd and the second or third greatest CD packagings.
The circuit is a slightly Apple-inspired mod for the parking light that keeps the lamp fully lit when the Neutral Detect line on the bike is high, and slowly pulses the LED in a ‘breathing’ pattern when the Neutral Detect line is low. Not a lot of logic is needed for something this simple, so [Anool] turned to the ATtiny45 and the Arduino IDE to accomplish his goal.
[Anool] created a circuit in KiCAD that would plug in to the lamp socket of his brother’s bike. A cluster of LEDs replace the T10 lamp inside the parking light, and a small amount of code takes care of the logic and breathing effect. It’s a great mod, and the astonishingly small size of the board puts him in the running for the smallest Arduino we’ve ever seen.
Videos of the light in action below. | 36 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1431219",
"author": "Indyaner",
"timestamp": "2014-05-08T23:40:27",
"content": "I must say: I think its a good idea that when someone brakes, his lights come up from one microsecond to the other, so they have a harsh visual impact on your retina and is noticed immediately. Having b... | 1,760,376,208.397438 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/08/minibloq-ide-graphical-programming-for-robots-of-all-sizes/ | MiniBloq IDE, Graphical Programming For Robots Of All Sizes | Brian Benchoff | [
"Robots Hacks",
"Software Development"
] | [
"educational robot",
"graphical programming",
"Minibloq",
"robot"
] | The Arduino IDE only brings the ire of actual EEs and People Who Know Better™, but if you’re teaching robotics and programming to kids, you really don’t want something as simple as a text editor with a ‘compile’ button. For that educational feat, a graphical system would be much better suited. [Julián] has been working for months to build such a tool, and now miniBloq, the graphical programming tool for just about every dev board out there,
has a new release
.
The idea of a graphical programming language for robotics has been done before, most memorably with the Lego Mindstorms programming interface. That was closed source, of course, and only worked with the magical Lego brick that allowed you to attach motors and sensors to a child’s creation. miniBloq takes the same idea and allows the same programming environment to work with dozens of dev boards for robots of every shape and size. Already, the Pi-Bot, SparkFun RedBot, Maple, Multiplo DuinoBot, and anything based on an Arduino Leonardo works with miniBloq, as will any future dev boards that understand C/C++, Python, or JavaScript. It’s not just for powering motors, either: there’s a few Python and OpenCV tutorials that demonstrate how a robot can track a colored object with a camera.
The current version of miniBloq can be downloaded
from the gits
, with versions available for Windows and *nix. The IDE is written with wxWidgets, so this could also be easily ported to OS X. | 8 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1430566",
"author": "Jason",
"timestamp": "2014-05-08T20:04:45",
"content": "That’s really cool. I was looking for something like this to show my daughter the basics of programming. Thanks!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1430... | 1,760,376,208.921708 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/08/sci-fi-contest-winners/ | Sci-Fi Contest Winners | Mike Szczys | [
"contests",
"Featured"
] | [
"prizes",
"sci-fi contest",
"winners"
] | We’re happy to announce 16 winners of the Sci-Fi Contest! The Hackaday Crew is thoroughly impressed with pretty much everything that was entered. The
50 projects which were marked as “complete”
spanned a wide range of Science Fiction universes, and showed off the talent of the hackers who posted them.
As a quick side note:
Some people have confused this contest with
The Hackaday Prize
. That one is still on, runs into November, and offers
a trip into space as the grand prize
. Get hacking!
Prizes
We have a range of prizes for the winners. The Grand Prize winning team can choose between two packages, one is anchored by a pair of oscilloscopes (an OWON DS7102 and a Rigol DS1052E), the other swaps out the OWAN for a soldering station and a rework station. Top Prize winners can choose between three packages which offer a rework station, a soldering station, or a collection of dev boards. And finally, the community favorites can choose from several Sci-Fi themed prizes like Blu-Ray, DVD, coasters, toothbrushes, and other kitsch. For a complete list of the prizes, check out
the contest announcement
.
Grand Prize: Demolition Man Verbal Morality Statute Monitor
The
Verbal Morality Statute Monitor
project
was an early favorite
of ours because the choice of Sci-Fi tech was perfect; a symbolic centerpiece of a dystopian future that can be perfectly replicated with current technology.
[tdicola] and
his suspect partner [colabot]
moved far beyond that favored status with a solid build that included mechanical design (which was quite a hack), hardware, and software.
The shiny unit hangs on the wall and listens for profanity, sounding an alarm and printing a citation whenever one is detected. We do hope that this ends up in a public space — perhaps a hackerspace full of foul-mouthed members. The delight of the Morality Monitor is that it can generate extra revenue and we suspect offenders will be happy to pay-up… well, maybe at first.
Second Place: Animatronic Iron Man MKIII suit
The scope of this project, which is the work of [Jerome Kelty] and [Greg Hatter], is impressive.
The full-size Iron Man suit
is wearable, true to the look of the film version, and packed full of animatronics. It won’t stop bullets, blow up bad guys, or fly… but it
looks
as if it can do all of that.
From helmet to boots the exoskeleton is packed with electronics. These are comprised mostly of things that light up, and things that move parts of the suit. But you also need a way to control that functionality and this is one of the most clever aspects of the design.
Each glove has an RFID tag reader in the palm area, with tags on the fingertips of the third and fourth finger. Closing your fingertip to your palm initiates a programmed sequence. All of this is well-documented in the
Project Details
section, with code and schematics for each subsystem
shared as Build Logs
.
Third Place: M.A.R.S.
This rover looks like an elegant insect. In a world full of clunky-looking robotics projects that’s high praise. The name of the project is an acronym for
the MADspace Advanced Robtics System
; a project which, from the start, sought to recreate an Open Design version of
the NASA Rovers known as
Spirit
and
Opportunity
.
[Guus van der Sluijs], [Paul Wagener], and [Tom Geelen] turned this project into a showcase of what today’s widely available design software and fabrication tools can accomplish. Most of the connecting pieces were 3D printed (check out all of them
in the components list
), with 10mm aluminum tubing making up the rest of the chassis, and rockers to support the six wheels. Speaking of wheels, check out all the fab work that went into those! And we haven’t even mentioned the hw/sw which drives the thing!
Fourth Place: Back To The Future Time Circuit Clock
This one has a very visceral hacked feeling which immediately made us take note. When you start to dig into the work which [Atheros] and [bwa] put into
the Time Circuit Clock
from the movie
Back to the Future
, the project really stands in a place of its own.
Inspiration to build this
came from a design which was posted by Hackaday alum [Phil Burgess] over at Adafruit.
The large collection of 14 and 7 segment display modules which make up the three parts of the clock are all hosted on about 23 PCBs which were etched as part of the development process. The electronic assembly is solid, with ribbon cables and modular design to keep it as tidy as possible. The frames for the displays are cut out of wood and the entire thing is controlled from a keypad. The clock, alarm, and FM radio make this a perfect bedside device — if you can abide being blasted by three colors of LED displays as you try to sleep.
Fifth Place: Marauder’s Map
This one is hard to sum up with a single image, because
The Marauder’s Map
uses radio frequency communication to track beacon locations of boards like the one pictured here. Well, they tried to use this custom hardware but were unable to work out all the bugs and ended up showing the proof of concept using some EZ430-RF2500 dev boards.
We’re certainly not holding that against [phreaknik] and [ wahwahweewahh]. The amount of software that went into the mapping system is arguably more impressive than a bug-free prototype board would have been. The system can take the dimensions for any room, as well as locations of the base stations. It then polls the base stations to triangulate relative position of the beacons with great accuracy.
We have confidence that the custom boards will work at some point (this would actually make a great entry for
The Hackaday Prize
, right?).
Honorable Mentions
It was heartbreaking that these
Peril-Sensitive Sunglasses
didn’t make it into the top five. This, and the five projects above, were all in a tight race for the prizes. Since this project isn’t going to make the list of Skulled or Followed projects we’ve decided to award it one of those prize packages anyway in recognition of the wonderful work [Minimum Effective Dose] and his AI partner [Colabot] pulled off. The project is, of course, based on [Douglas Adams’]
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
tech which allows the wearer to avoid getting upset in times of peril. The shutter glasses originally meant for 3D television viewing have been modified to sense danger and block the wear’s view of it.
The rest of the Honorable Mentions are awarded the honor of being mentioned (in alphabetical order):
A Functional Stargate
: A fun project combining mechanical and electronic concepts for friends across great distances
Cyberpaul
: This classic guitar was refurbished with extraordinary flair
Food Replicator
: Hack the production of the food that you eat
JJ Tricoder
: Electronic sensors meet 3D printed enclosure
Star Trek: The Mirror Universe Pinball
: Fix a pinball machine and making it evil in the process
Stubby the Hexapod
: A remarkable hand-made legged robot
Wireless Flux Capacitor
: Status monitor a-la iconic movie prop
Community Favorites
There are also prizes for the most Skulled and most Followed projects. Here are those winners in rank order. This list was a snapshot from Wednesday, May 7th, and since
Hackaday.io
is a living site the totals will change over time. The five top winners are excluded from these prizes; Skulled winners cannot also win for Followers:
Most Skulled:
65 –
Star Trek: The Mirror Universe Pinball
60 –
Voice Controlled Raspberry Pi
46 –
Roboartist
27 –
Alien Operation (aka Alien Autopsy)
27 –
Food Replicator
Most Followers:
33 –
Starfleet Communicator Badge
32 –
A Functional Stargate
30 –
Star Wars training droid
26 –
Sonic Screw Driver Door Lock
22 –
Sci-fi grade Home Automation
Complete Entries Get Shirts
All hackers who submitted what we deem to be a complete entry will receive a shirt. We’ll email with instructions on how to tell us your shirt size and mailing address. | 27 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "1430029",
"author": "Rob",
"timestamp": "2014-05-08T17:08:15",
"content": "Congrats to all who won and cheers to all who entered! Those are some sweet prizes and some very creative projects!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "14301... | 1,760,376,208.217841 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/08/coloring-3d-prints-with-sharpies/ | Coloring 3D Prints With Sharpies | Brian Benchoff | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"3d printer filament",
"colored 3d printer filament",
"dyed 3D printer filament",
"filament",
"sharpie"
] | Printing objects in full color easily is one of the paramount goals of the ‘squirting plastic’ 3D printer scene, and so far all experiments have relied on multiple colors of filament, and sometimes multiple extruders. This, of course, requires a stock of different colored filaments, but [Mathew Beebe] has a different idea:
why not dye a natural colored filament
just before it’s fed into a printer? Following his intuition, [Mathew] is doing some experiments with the common Sharpie marker, and the resulting prints look much better than you would expect.
The basic procedure or this technique is to drill a hole in the butt end of the Sharpie, pull out the felt in the tip, and feed a length of filament through the marker before it goes into the extruder. The filament is dyed with the Sharpie ink, and the resulting print retains the color of the marker.
Despite the simplicity of the technique, the results are astonishing. An off-white ‘natural’ filament is easily transformed into any one of the colors found in Sharpies.
Besides the common Sharpie, there’s a slightly more interesting application of this technique of coloring 3D printer filament; as anyone who has ever been in a dorm room with a blacklight knows, you can use the dye inside a common highlighter to make some wicked cool UV-sensitive liquor bottles. Whether the ‘Sharpie technique’ works with highlighters or other markers is as yet unknown, but it does deserve at least a little experimentation.
Video below. | 64 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "1429406",
"author": "ejonesss",
"timestamp": "2014-05-08T14:03:21",
"content": "the same sharpies that defeated the copy protection on cds.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1429480",
"author": "Hubert",
"timestamp": "2014... | 1,760,376,208.494136 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/08/two-wheeler-is-gyroscope-stabilized/ | Two Wheeler Is Gyroscope Stabilized | Adam Fabio | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"balance",
"bicycle",
"Robto",
"two wheeler"
] | [Jim] loves gyros – not those newfangled MEMS devices, but old-fashioned mechanical gyroscopes. His obsession has pushed him to build this
gyro stabilized two wheeler
. We love watching hacks come together from simple basic materials and hand tools, with liberal amounts of hot glue to hold everything in place. That seems to be [Jim’s] philosophy as well.
This is actually the fifth incarnation of [Jim’s] design. Along the way he’s learned a few important secrets about mechanical gyro design, such as balancing the motor and gyro assembly to be just a bit top-heavy. [Jim’s] gyro is a stack of CDs directly mounted to the shaft of a brushed speed400 R/C airplane motor. The motor spins the CDs up at breakneck speed – literally. [Jim] mentions that they’ve exploded during some of his early experiments.
The gyroscope is free to move in the fore-aft direction. Side to side balance tilting is on the wheels themselves. The wheels are model airplane wheels, which have a curved tread. No cheating by using flat LEGO wheels in [Jim’s] lab! A potentiometer measures the tilt angle of the gyro. The voltage from the pot is fed into an Arduino Uno which closes the loop by moving a servo mounted counterweight.
The vehicle is controlled with a regular R/C plane radio. A servo steers the front wheel while another DC motor drives the rear wheel. Not only is [Jim’s] creation able to balance on its own, it can even make a U-Turn within a hallway. | 16 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1428796",
"author": "schlackbob",
"timestamp": "2014-05-08T11:05:20",
"content": "now thats cool",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1428891",
"author": "garym53",
"timestamp": "2014-05-08T11:37:25",
"content": "Love thi... | 1,760,376,208.548145 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/08/input-and-output-on-a-single-pin/ | Input And Output On A Single Pin | Brian Benchoff | [
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"gpio",
"I/O",
"raspberry pi",
"shutdown circuit"
] | [Emilio] has a Raspberry Pi with a few sensors running totally headless. It’s a great way to gather data and post it on the Internet, but for the rare occasions when the Pi needs to be turned off for maintenance, [Emilio] needs to connect a monitor, a keyboard, and a mouse. Not a perfect solution when a simple pushbutton and indicator LED would suffice. There’s one problem with adding a simple button and LED combo: there’s only one GPIO pin available in the setup.
That’s nothing a few resistors won’t fix
.
After wiring up a very simple circuit on a piece of perfboard, [Emilio] met his design goal of being able to tell if the Pi was running and giving it a software reset button using only a single GPIO pin. The circuit requires only two resistors, and the software to make everything run – a simple Python script – toggles the pin between input and output, checking if the button is held down for five seconds. If it is, the Raspi powers off for [Emilio]’s routine maintenance. | 15 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1428588",
"author": "fartface",
"timestamp": "2014-05-08T09:58:09",
"content": "This is clever, although I have seen it before in some very old 6809 homebrew designs. It’s a great way to save pins but,The I2C expander chip is brain dead easy to use and they are cheap at $1.95 each.... | 1,760,376,208.606597 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/07/stylish-cafe-battlestation-spoils-customers/ | Stylish Cafe Battlestation Spoils Customers | Marsh | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"battlestation"
] | [Tasos] sent us this tip about
the custom battlestation he’s been working on for his Internet café.
(Greek;
Translated
). The desk started from humble enough beginnings: a simple frame from what appears to be MDF with cabinets to secure the PCs. The goal with this build was to provide an aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly construction. [Tasos] was dissatisfied with the limitations posed by off-the-shelf monitor mounts, so he fabricated his own, more adjustable alternatives, through which he ran the necessary cords.
[Tasos] gave each monitor stand a thorough sanding, priming and painting for a finished result that exudes metallic perfection, then he attached a large pushbutton for booting the computer and some LEDs to provide soft backlight. Under the hood, [Tasos] fitted the PCs’ innards into a custom enclosure of sorts. Though he’s yet to provide full details on this part of the construction, we suspect more images are forthcoming. You can find more details in his forum post. | 7 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1428174",
"author": "Eirinn",
"timestamp": "2014-05-08T07:38:06",
"content": "Glad to see he remembered soft backlighting. Without, it will cause eye strain over time. Internet Cafés are a dying race many places which is kind of a shame. I remember the glory days, pulling all nighte... | 1,760,376,208.652475 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/07/wind-tunnel-testing-now-available-to-the-common-man/ | Wind Tunnel Testing Now Available To The Common Man | Rich Bremer | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"testing",
"wind tunnel"
] | If you are in the market for a DIY wind tunnel the folks over at sciencebuddies.org have got you covered. They have done a great job documenting how they
built their own wind tunnel
. Most of the structure is made of plywood with the test chamber is made of plexi-glass so that the operator can visually observe what is happening during a test. A common gable-mount fan provides the air flow, you may have one installed in your attic to keep it cool. The only non-widely available components are the force sensors that feed data to a computer for logging.
This DIY wind tunnel works the same way as
most open-circuit wind tunnels do
. Air enters the Contraction Cone, where the inlet is larger than the outlet. This reduction in chamber size speeds up the air as it enters the tunnel. The air then passes through a Settling Chamber that straightens out any turbulent airflow by passing the air through a screen or mesh. Up next is the Test Section where the model is mounted on force sensors. The sensors in this particular wind tunnel are set up to measure the force resulting from the air pushing rearward on the model (think drag) and also how much lift is generated from the geometry of the model (in this case an airfoil). By the time the air reaches this point it is moving straight and parallel with the tunnel which avoids unwanted forces from turbulent air applied to the model. Ideally, all forces applied to the model will be a direct result of the aerodynamic properties of the model. Any wind speed sensors would also be placed in this section. Rearward of the Test Section is a Diffuser which is a chamber that slows down the air by gradually increasing in cross-sectional size. The final portion of the wind tunnel is the Drive Section that contains the fan. Having the fan at the end of the tunnel almost sounds counter-intuitive but doing so reduces turbulence of the incoming air. | 16 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1427068",
"author": "Biomed",
"timestamp": "2014-05-08T02:41:03",
"content": "Pressure sensors are more important than wind speed, but still locked in their relationship. Some terms to know, are viscosity, laminar flow, and Reynold number is a huge item to understand, then termina... | 1,760,376,209.164678 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/07/my-first-robot-a-dads-journey-in-robotics-for-his-daughter/ | My First Robot: A Dad’s Journey In Robotics For His Daughter | James Hobson | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"primo",
"raspberry pi robot"
] | [Joel Miller] wants to get his daughters into electronics early (his oldest is only 3), so he’s decided to foray into the wonderful world of robotics as a fun way to get them interested. As bonus to us and all other would-be robotics enthusiasts out there, he’s keeping track of the
project on his blog
!
He started by
sketching out some ideas
about what he wanted his robot to be capable of — it should be able to move around, be remote controlled, have sensors for experiments, and even have some personality — expression capable eyes maybe? Oh and it should be able to automatically charge itself, and have tank treads!
It’s been a few weeks since he started scheming up ideas… and he already has a prototype complete! Talk about a productive father! He decided to try 3D printing a continuous tank tread using ABS, but unfortunately it was a bit too stiff, so he’s opted to use a tried and true Lego system instead — although maybe he should try printing in two materials, like
we just saw with the FlexyDualie extruder!
The chassis of the robot is also 3D printed, with threaded brass inserts since he knows it’s going to be taken apart and put back together many times. Two RC servos are installed as the drive motors, and a piece of polycarbonate sits on top as an easy to modify electronics housing platform. The project is extremely well documented and definitely worth the read if you have time — just take a look at his original sketches! | 15 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1426152",
"author": "k",
"timestamp": "2014-05-07T23:04:31",
"content": "http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:306964/Here’s something you can fully print with ABS. Same idea.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1426284",
"author": "... | 1,760,376,208.871816 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/07/the-smallest-attiny85-based-usb-board/ | The Smallest ATtiny85 Based USB Board | Nick Conn | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"attiny85",
"nanite",
"nanite 85",
"olimexino",
"Trinket",
"usb bootloader"
] | “Possibly the smallest ATtiny85 based ‘duino derivative”. Indeed! When Olimex announced the Olimexino 85s as the smallest Arduino ever, [Tim] took that as a challenge. His
very small Arduino based USB devboard
is quite a bit smaller than the
Olimexino
!
The Nanite 85 was carefully designed to be both small and functional. Not only is it 20% smaller than the Olimexino, but also sports a reset button! One of the coolest aspects of this design is that it has the same pinout and size as a DIP
ATtiny85
. This means that you can use the Nanite 85 for developing your code with the
USB bootloader
, and then you can directly replace it with a standard (pre-programmed) ATtiny85. The major downside to using this device over the aforementioned devices, is that it does not include a voltage regulator for powering the device via USB (or battery), the device is simply hooked directly to the 5V rail from the USB connector.
We can’t help but be impressed with this well-thought-out design. It is also easy to assemble since it uses larger surface mount components. If smaller components were used, even more features (such as a regulator) could be included. Do you have an even smaller USB Arduino? The race is on for the smallest Arduino ever! | 41 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "1425533",
"author": "w",
"timestamp": "2014-05-07T20:15:24",
"content": "“”””The race is on for the smallest Arduino ever!””””Is it? Well in that case, try using an ATTiny5 (that’s five, not eighty-five) and lose the gigantic 0.1″ headers :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1... | 1,760,376,209.105488 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/07/diy-ultra-wideband-impulse-synthetic-aperture-radar-and-a-makerbot/ | DIY Ultra Wideband Impulse Synthetic Aperture Radar And A MakerBot | Brian Benchoff | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"impulse radar",
"radar",
"Synthetic aperture radar",
"ultra wideband",
"wideband"
] | What could possibly be better than printing out a few low-resolution voxels on a MakerBot? A whole lot of things, but how about getting those voxels
with your own synthetic aperture radar
? That’s what [Gregory Charvat] has been up to, and he’s documented the entire process for us.
The build began with
an ultra wideband impulse radar
we saw a while ago. The radar is built from scraps [Greg] picked up on eBay, and is able to image a scene in the time domain, creating nice linear sweeps on a MATLAB plot when [Greg] runs in front of the horns.
With an impulse radar under his belt, [Greg] moved up the technological ladder to something that can produce vaguely intelligible images with his setup. The synthetic aperture radar made from putting his radar horns on the carriage of a garage door opener. The horns slowly scan back and forth along the linear rail, taking single impulse readings and adding them together in an image. In the video below, [Greg] is able to image a few pieces of copper pipe only a few inches in diameter. The necessary equipment for this build only cost [Greg] a few hundred bucks at the Dayton Hamvention, and a similar setup could be put together for even less.
If building an X band impulse synthetic aperture radar isn’t impressive enough. [Greg] also
3D printed one of his radar images on a MakerBot
. That’s just applying
stlwrite
to the 2D radar image and feeding it into MakerWare. Gotta have that blog cred, doe. It also makes for the best headline I’ve ever written. | 7 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1425019",
"author": "camerin",
"timestamp": "2014-05-07T17:34:59",
"content": "If you are looking for a way to get radar images into STLs I wrote a JavaScript/HTML5 engine for converting black and white images to 3d surfaces, then wrapping those surfaces to a cylinder or sphere in o... | 1,760,376,209.417065 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/07/the-hackaday-prize-thinking-really-really-big/ | The Hackaday Prize: Thinking Really, Really Big | Brian Benchoff | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"The Hackaday Prize"
] | [
"3d printer",
"buckminster fuller",
"BuckyBot",
"dome",
"reprap"
] | In case you’ve been living under a rock for a few weeks,
we’re giving away a trip to space
for the best, most grandiose connected hardware project. [coxrandy], a.k.a. [Phillip Cox] realized the best way to build something awesome was to think big, and his plan for building a 1km dome (yes, 1000 meters)
is the most ambitious project we’ve ever seen
.
The BuckyBot, as [Phil] is calling his build, relies on the ideas of the great [Buckmister Fuller] and his idea to build a huge geodesic dome covering all midtown Manhattan. [Fuller] didn’t have the resources to build a structure this large in the 1950s, and to be honest, we don’t have the resources to build it
now
.
It would be a ludicrous effort to build something like this one beam at a time, and [Phil] concludes that to build something this big, we need to think small.
Instead of thousand ton cranes and several thousand vehicles trucking in building supplies, [Phil]’s idea uses small “BuckyBots” – a combination 3D printer and robot – that builds one structural cell of a giant dome at a time. These BuckyBots climb around the structure, build the internal and support structure, slowly climbing to the skies on their fractal-inspired creation.
The Hackaday Prize contest will end far before [Phil]’s BuckyBots will have the ability to build a kilometer-wide dome, so the current plans are to modify his RepRap Mendel to crawl. Once that’s done, he’ll have his newly built BuckyBot build a 2 meter hemisphere in his garage. From there, construction moves to the back yard where a 10 meter dome will be built.
Even if this project never makes it past the planning stages, it’s an awesome example of thinking big, something you’re going to need if you’re trying to win a trip to space. | 68 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "1424304",
"author": "Salokcin",
"timestamp": "2014-05-07T14:33:40",
"content": "This furthers my confusion about what you mean by “connected hardware”. I’ve read all the posts about the contest, but I still don’t have a clear understanding. With the project in this post, does it jus... | 1,760,376,210.071246 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/07/plug-and-play-portable-console-saves-space-so-you-dont-have-to/ | Plug And Play Portable Console Saves Space So You Don’t Have To! | James Hobson | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"plug and play",
"portable console"
] | Remember all those fun plug and play consoles they used to make? Usually just one offs with a few games here and there, typically designed to get poor old grandmothers to try buying them instead of the official Nintendo or SEGA systems for their grandchildren…
Anyway, some of the games were actually pretty good! But who wants to store a system for every individual game? [Sharon] decided to make the ultimate portable console — and jammed every plug and play console…
into cartridges for safe keeping!
Wait what? [Sharon] took 12 of the plug and play consoles, hacked them to pieces, and managed to stuff the guts into custom game cartridges she made herself. She then made the HandyPNP, a “base console” with buttons and controls, video output and an LCD screen. She meticulously mapped out every consoles’ controls, and wired them accordingly, so when you plug the cartridge into the HandyPNP, it’s like your playing the original system.
It’s probably one of the most impressive handheld console hacks we’ve seen in a while, just considering the amount of work required to convert one console, let alone 12, to a standard connection for the HandyPNP to communicate with. Stick around after the break to hear [Sharon] explain the project herself!
And if you’re dying for more photos of the build, she’s also made a
Facebook page
with all the build details. | 18 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1423665",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2014-05-07T11:22:07",
"content": "Holy snapin’ crap! Do I have to say it, SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!! This is really amazing, the concept and execution, I really think she should consider mass producing this (plenty of factories in chin... | 1,760,376,209.231652 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/07/motion-compression-with-oculus-rift/ | Motion Compression With Oculus Rift | Will Sweatman | [
"Virtual Reality",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"haptic feedback",
"head tracking",
"oculus rift",
"virtual reality"
] | [AlexPewPew] tipped us off on
some interesting virtual reality work
going on at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. Mapping a user’s head movement to match the images shown in a head mounted display is something the Oculus Rift is very good at. But in order to walk and move around freely in that virtual environment requires completely different hardware. We’ve seen some
ingenious setups before
, but nothing as efficient as this.
In the video above, they have put sheets of bar-coded paper on the ceiling in a grid pattern. A camera that mounts on the users head looks up at the grid of papers and gets the user’s location. The neatest part though, is how they are fitting a large virtual space into a small room. As the user walks down a straight virtual path, software is slowly making the actual path in the small room curve. The end result is the user walks in circles in the small room, thinking he or she is exploring a much larger space. Neat stuff!
If you have a head mounted display lying around, and can’t think of anything to enter into
The Hackaday Prize
contest, this would be a great concept to work on. What are you waiting for…get hacking!
Thanks to [AlexPewPew] for the tip! | 50 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "1422859",
"author": "Bob",
"timestamp": "2014-05-07T08:05:59",
"content": "It’s actually the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Zurich (ETH), Switzerland.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1422864",
"author": "davedarko"... | 1,760,376,209.319617 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/06/tell-time-and-blink-an-led-on-your-wrist-with-watchduino/ | Tell Time And Blink An LED On Your Wrist With WatchDuino | Rich Bremer | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"DIY wrist watch"
] | Is your hipster wrist having a hard time waiting for the debut of the iWatch? There’s a new open hardware/software project out that could help calm your nerves. The
WatchDuino
is exactly what it sounds like, an Arduino-based wrist watch.
The component list is short and inexpensive. The meat and potatoes consist of an ATMega328, crystal, Nokia LCD screen and LiPo battery. The USB-rechargeable battery lasts about a week before needing to be such. Besides presenting the Time and Date in both analog or digital formats (as you would expect) there is an alarm and timer. Additionally, there are 2 games, Pong and Snake. Any lack of features is made up for the fact that the software is open and can be modified and added to by the community. We’re sure the development of this watch will be quick and significant.
Confirming the coolness of this project is the fact that it won 1st place in the 2014
BIICODE Programming Competition
. If the WatchDuino is right up your alley, the documentation can be found
here
. Go make one!
Thanks [Javier] | 23 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "1422402",
"author": "vonskippy",
"timestamp": "2014-05-07T05:48:02",
"content": "I think China and Pakistan have found the solution to their over population problem. This device should be nearly 100% effective at stopping all future breeding of it’s wearer.",
"parent_id": null,... | 1,760,376,210.133887 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/06/hands-on-with-the-flexydualie-3d-printer-extruder/ | Hands-on With The FlexyDualie 3D Printer Extruder | James Hobson | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"flexydualie",
"Ninjaflex"
] | Ever heard of the FlexyDualie extruder? It’s a
new opensource dual extruder
from Aleph Objects (makers of the Lulzbot and TAZ), specifically designed for printing in a hard material — and a flexible one!
[James Bruton] of XRobots just got his hands on one and a new TAZ printer, and he’s
shared his thoughts.
He’s using ABS plastic and Ninjaflex rubber filament to test it out. Sure you can sometimes print with Ninjaflex using a regular extruder… but get ready for headaches as it jams in your extruder guide. The FlexyDualie is specifically designed for extruding flexible filaments which results in a lot less headaches, and a lot more productivity!
In the following demonstration video, [James] shows us the awesome possibilities of printing parts in both a hard and soft material. He even goes into detail on how to setup Slic3r for multi-material STL files.
From rubber wheels with hard rims, to uni-directional flexible joints, or even tank treads for a robot… The possibilities are staggering. In fact, he’s planning on making an entire Alien costume 3D printed! | 5 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1422251",
"author": "TechnoMan",
"timestamp": "2014-05-07T05:08:37",
"content": "printing in “rubber” most awesome. Love that lulzbot. I sold my Gigabot and am looking for something a bit smaller, but dual print head. This might just fit the bill.",
"parent_id": null,
"d... | 1,760,376,209.370437 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/06/dual-port-ram-teaches-an-old-nes-new-tricks/ | Dual Port RAM Teaches An Old NES New Tricks | Adam Fabio | [
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"debugger",
"Dual Port RAM",
"nes",
"nintendo",
"ram"
] | [Andrew] is developing a game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Emulators are great for this, but [Andy] loves running on the real iron. To help, he’s created a
dual port RAM interface for his NES
. As the name implies, a dual port RAM is a memory with two separate data and address buses. The
Cypress Semiconductor CY7C136
[Andy] used also includes arbitration logic to ensure that both ports don’t attempt to access the same memory cell and cause data corruption. In [Andy’s] case the NES was on one side, oblivious to the new hardware. On the other side of the dual port RAM, [Andy] installed an ATmega164 running his own custom firmware.
The new hardware gives [Andy] a live view of what’s going on in the NES’s memory. He added a live memory view/edit screen similar to the
FCEUX
emulator. The window runs on a PC while the game itself is running on an NES. [Andy] was even able to add rudimentary break and step features by connecting his circuit to the Non Maskable Interrupt (NMI) line of the NES. By holding the NMI asserted, the ATmega can essentially freeze the game in progress.
[Andy] has even used his circuit to teach the NES some new tricks. By reading the timer and score memory locations on Ice Hockey, he was able to create a scoreboard and goal light. Similar techniques were used to give Contra a muzzle flash light which puts
Ambilight
systems to shame.
We don’t know what [Andy] is planning next, but we hope it’s a source release so we can start hacking some some games ourselves!
Click past the break to see a couple of [Andy’s] Vine videos.
https://vine.co/v/M6WzFBXeX1e
https://vine.co/v/M6WZlFjdJ69 | 11 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1420699",
"author": "MobileWill",
"timestamp": "2014-05-06T23:12:23",
"content": "Wow that is impressive. I still have mine (only owner) and haven’t had a reason to bring it out. Hmm…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1421102",
... | 1,760,376,209.485179 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/06/circular-saw-cuts-balls-wooden-balls-dont-worry/ | Circular Saw Cuts Balls… Wooden Balls, Don’t Worry | Rich Bremer | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"sphere",
"wooden balls"
] | Ever wonder how wood spheres are made? Normally they are made on a wood lathe with some fancy jigs and fixtures. [Izzy Swan] set out to bring wood sphere manufacturing to the masses by designing an inexpensive machine that uses a standard circular saw to
carve a block of wood into a sphere
.
Here’s how it works: a piece of wood is held in a wood fixture and spun using a hand drill. The fixture and drill are mounted to a wooden ring that rotates about a perpendicular axis. The user manually moves the entire assembly back and forth about that second axis while spinning the drill. Meanwhile, a circular saw is moved closer and closer to the soon-to-be-sphere, nibbling away little by little. After most of the material has been cut from the block of wood, it is removed from the fixture and spun 90 degrees to cut the two remaining nubs. The end result is a pretty nice looking sphere.
There isn’t much to this machine’s make up except stuff the average DIYer has kicking around the shop. If you’d like to make a wooden sphere but don’t have a circular saw or desire to lose a finger, no prob, check out this
method that uses an orbital sander
. | 44 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "1419978",
"author": "manfre",
"timestamp": "2014-05-06T20:13:20",
"content": "The first 2 minutes of this video is a waste.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y94nv12L5_4#t=125",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1419981",
"aut... | 1,760,376,209.698363 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/06/retrotechtacular-rotopark-is-a-futuristic-parking-structure-from-40-years-ago/ | Retrotechtacular: ROTOPARK Is A Futuristic Parking Structure From 40 Years Ago | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Retrotechtacular",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"carousel",
"garage",
"parking garage",
"robot",
"rotopark",
"underground"
] | Pictured above is a functioning model of an automated underground parking structure which was built and used, but obviously it never caught on widely. That makes us a bit sad, as it removes the need to find an empty parking spot every time you use the garage; and having a robot park your car for you seems very future-y.
The gist of the ROTOPARK system is
a carousel and elevator system
for parking cars. just drive into a single-stall garage at ground level, take your ticket, and walk out the people-hole. The garage stall floor is a sled which moves down an elevator (shown as blue stalls on the left half of the image) to be stored away in the rotating carousels of cars.
Obviously mechanical failure is a huge issue here. What if the elevator breaks? Also, at times of high traffic we think getting your vehicle back out of the system would be quite a bit slower than the “static” parking garages we’re used to. Oh well, maybe some day. Check out the classic marketing video after the break which shows off the concept, construction, and use of the system.
The working version was actually built at the Geneva Airport. We found some extra info in a YouTube comment but couldn’t find a source for the info so take it for what it’s worth:
Hello,
The ROTOPARK was commissioned in 1974. It had a capacity of 450 cars. But only 2 rings have been put into service, a capacity of 180 cars.
In 1975-1976, they tried to serve two inner rings without success.
Since 1988, mechanical problems have damaged the vehicles.
In June 1993, the operation was stopped.
You can find a little bit of info, including
promotional brochures from the ’70s and ’80s on this page
.If nothing else, the system certainly reminds us of
the underground bicycle parking structures
in service in Tokyo.
[Thanks Randall]
Retrotechtacular is a weekly column featuring hacks, technology, and kitsch from ages of yore. Help keep it fresh by
sending in your ideas for future installments
. | 50 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "1419337",
"author": "SavannahLion",
"timestamp": "2014-05-06T17:23:44",
"content": "I remember reading about something similar but don’t remember where it was. I remember there were a couple of problems.Bigger vehicles such as trucks didn’t fit. Not a big deal unless there is an unu... | 1,760,376,209.855723 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/06/the-neurogrid-what-it-is-and-what-it-is-not/ | The Neurogrid – What It Is And What It Is Not | Will Sweatman | [
"hardware",
"Reviews"
] | [
"artificial intelligence",
"neurogrid",
"Stanford University"
] | What it is:
Some would argue that replicating the human brain in silicon is impossible. However, the folks over at
Brains in Silicon
of Stanford University might disagree. They’ve created a circuit board capable of simulating one million neurons and up to 6 billion synapses in real-time. Yes, that’s billion with a “B”. They call their new type of computer
The Neurogrid
.
The Neurogrid board boasts 16 of their Neurocore chips, with each one holding 256 x 256 “neurons”. It attempts to function like a brain by using analog signals for computations and digital signals for communication. “Soft-wires” can run between the silicon neurons, mimicking the brain’s synapses.
Be sure to stick around after the break, where we discuss the limitations of the Neurogrid, along with a video from its creators.
What it is not:
Though very neat and impressive, The Neurogrid fails at addressing a key component of Artificial Intelligence – the software architecture. Developing the hardware to replicate the vast interconnections of neurons is a great start, but we must also develop an understanding of how the brain is intelligent from a software side in order to use the hardware to its fullest potential.
Consider the problem with computers and pattern recognition. The human brain does this almost effortlessly. But this is a very difficult thing for a computer to do. Typically, we would start off by making some sort of template. Then we would compare the incoming data to the template, and make the appropriate decisions based on the comparison. What does it matter if you use an x86 machine, an FPGA or a Neurogrid board to carry out this task? The idea of comparing incoming data to a template is not how the brain recognizes patterns. There are no templates in your head.
So you argue “Well, the brain is a massively parallel analog computer, so once we can replicate this parallel structure in hardware, our current software models will work much better.”
Maybe. But consider the following analogy. You have one hundred stones that you need to move to the other side of a desert. And it takes one million steps to cross the desert. So you hire one hundred people to carry the stones across the desert. Hiring more than 100 people will not get the stones across the desert any faster. You still have to walk one million steps. *
There comes a point when simply adding more parallel processes will no longer equate to increased efficiency. We should ask ourselves if there are
other
ways to get across the desert, rather than trying to make the old way (walking) more efficient.
*Parallel analogy borrowed from “
On Intelligence
” by Jeff Hawkins.
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3T1tiVcRDs&w=560&h=315%5D | 81 | 30 | [
{
"comment_id": "1418609",
"author": "André Esteves",
"timestamp": "2014-05-06T14:11:03",
"content": "mehh.. We do now know the high medium level architecture of the brain. The problem is not replicating it.. The problem is growing it… We all were a simplified fetus nervous system and with experienc... | 1,760,376,209.969973 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/06/a-webcam-based-posture-sensor/ | A Webcam Based Posture Sensor | Nick Conn | [
"Medical Hacks",
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"iteration",
"opencv",
"posture",
"posture sensor",
"processing",
"webcam"
] | Even for hobby projects, iteration is very important. It allows us to improve upon and fine-tune our existing designs making them even better. [Max] wrote in to tell us about his
latest posture sensor
, this time, built around a webcam.
We covered [Max’s]
first posture sensor
back in February, which utilized an ultrasonic distance sensor to determine if you had correct posture (or not). Having spent time with this sensor and having received lots of feedback, he decided to scrap the idea of using an ultrasonic distance sensor altogether. It simply had too many issues: issues with mounting the sensor on different chairs, constantly hearing the clicking of the sensor, and more. After being inspired by a very similar blog post to his original that
mounted the sensor on a computer monitor
, [Max] was back to work. This time, rather than using an ultrasonic distance sensor, he decided to use a webcam. Armed with
Processing
and
OpenCV
, he greatly improved upon the first version of his posture sensor. All of his code is provided on his website, be sure to check it out and give it a whirl!
Iteration leads to many improvements and it is an integral part of both hacking and engineering. What projects have you redesigned or rebuild?
Let us know! | 9 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1418053",
"author": "Sugapes",
"timestamp": "2014-05-06T11:10:29",
"content": "IMHO keeping the same posture for a long time should always be considered a bad posture. If you change postures frequently even bad postures can become good, as if you average all the postures over time y... | 1,760,376,210.183659 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/06/3d-printed-cast-with-ultrasound-emitter-promises-faster-healing-times/ | 3D Printed Cast With Ultrasound Emitter Promises Faster Healing Times | James Hobson | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printed cast"
] | Almost a year ago, [Jake Evill] broke his hand stopping a fight between his friend and another person. And over the next few weeks he realized how archaic plaster casts really are — clunky, smelly, itchy — not exactly conducive to healing, other than by keeping your arm completely immobilized. That’s when he came up with the
Cortex Cast
— a 3D printed exoskeleton cast that provides support, allows your arm to breath, and can even get wet!
Fast forward to today, and another designer is playing with 3D printed casts — but ones that
could potentially speed up the healing time!
Turkish designer [Deniz Karasahin] heard about a system called the
Exogen
, which is a low-intensity ultrasound system which can help speed up bone repair, sometimes up to 38% faster. The problem? It doesn’t really work well with regular casts, because the transducer needs to touch the skin — the solution? A 3D printed cast of course!
You see, the ultrasound tech has been around for over 20 years, but has never really seen mainstream use because the difficulties in actually using it, until perhaps now.
Better yet, they’re also hoping to launch trials in the US soon — 3D printers are only good for trinkets and doodads? Pfft.
[Thanks William!] | 44 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "1417548",
"author": "Jared Kotoff (@XZ3R0)",
"timestamp": "2014-05-06T08:03:04",
"content": "I want to break my arm so i can wear this. That thing looks pretty cool.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1419110",
"author": ... | 1,760,376,210.377667 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/05/a-low-cost-solar-powered-swamp-cooler/ | A Low Cost, Solar-Powered Swamp Cooler | Marsh | [
"green hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"ac",
"air conditioning",
"cooling",
"evaporative",
"evaporative cooling",
"solar",
"swamp cooler"
] | A looming, torturous summer is preparing to bear down on many of us, making
this dirt-cheap swamp cooler build
an attractive hack to fend off the heat.
Though this is a pretty standard evaporative cooler, the design comes together in a tidy and transportable finished product. The base is a ~$3, 5-gallon bucket from a local hardware store with its accompanying Styrofoam liner. Three 2 1/8″ holes carved into the side of both the bucket and liner will snugly fit some inch-and-a-half PVC pipe with no need for glue.
One last cut into the lid to seat a small desk fan rounds off this build—or you can chop into the styrofoam liner’s lid if you prefer. The video demonstrates using a 15W solar panel to run the fan, and we have to admit that the cooler seems to be an excellent low-cost build. It does, however, require a frozen gallon jug inside to pump out the chilled air for around 5-6 hours per jug. Maybe one of our frugal and mathematically-inclined readers can throw out some guesstimations for the cost of stocking the bucket with a jug of frozen water a couple times a day? Video after the jump.
Thanks [Morgan] | 53 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "1417130",
"author": "M Sherman",
"timestamp": "2014-05-06T05:07:51",
"content": "1. This is not a swamp cooler. Swamp coolers work on evaporative cooling.2. If the fridge freezing the ice is in the same house you’re trying to cool, there’s a net increase in the temperature of the h... | 1,760,376,210.464046 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/05/recycled-foam-box-is-now-a-weather-station/ | Recycled Foam Box Is Now A Weather Station | Will Sweatman | [
"Raspberry Pi",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"raspberry pi",
"weather station"
] | When [Ioannis] received some high resolution LCD’s in a tattered foam box, he posed to himself a most interesting question – Should he throw the foam box away, or use it as a container for a project? Fortunately for us, he decided on the latter and threw together a very capable
weather station
!
Having only an hour to spare, [Ioannis] grabbed a Raspberry Pi, WiFi USB stick and a camera module and went to work. He mounted the camera module to the foam lid using a
highly advanced technique
, and soldered a cable that would power the device directly to D17 – a Zener diode that sits on the bottom of the board.
For the weather data, he’s using another design of his – the
Sensor Stick
. This nifty device — which
we featured over the weekend
— is about the size of a stick of chewing gum, and sports an array of sensors including the popular BMP085, which can measure pressure and temperature .
He wraps up everything using open source software to get the data from the weather station. Pretty impressive for an old foam box and an hours time! This would be an interesting start to a home automation system. Connect it to motorized windows and/or a sprinkler system and he’s on his way to claiming
The Hackaday Prize
. | 20 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1416409",
"author": "Spork",
"timestamp": "2014-05-06T02:10:08",
"content": "ESD?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1416584",
"author": "Bob",
"timestamp": "2014-05-06T02:45:25",
"content": "Extreme Stati... | 1,760,376,210.855351 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/05/bacon-alarm-clock-wont-burn-your-house-down/ | Bacon Alarm Clock Won’t Burn Your House Down | James Hobson | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"clock hacks",
"cooking hacks"
] | [
"bacon",
"bacon alarm clock",
"bacon clock"
] | If you have trouble waking up in the morning then maybe this alarm clock is for you.
A bacon-aroma-releasing alarm clock!
Fueled by her love of bacon, Instructable’s user [llopez2005] decided she wanted to try making an alarm clock that would actually get her out of bed, hungry, and ready for bacon. Instead of trying to design a clock that would actually cook bacon — which might be a bit dangerous — she’s found an extract of bacon aroma which she could slowly release instead.
The clock makes use of an Arduino Uno with a RTC shield as well as a LED array for the clock’s display. The “bacon” is actually made out of bake-able clay, which sits on top of unscented wax, infused with the bacon aroma oil. The bacon and “bacon grease” sit in a baby frying pan over top of a small heater element designed for warming candles. Before the alarm goes off, a SSR turns on the element which slowly melts some of the wax, releasing its ever so delicious scent.
What we really like about the clock is the level of detail she put into its appearance. The base is designed after a small wood burning stove they have in the house, and she’s even made a Plexiglas display case for the frying pan — with holes to let the aroma out though of course! | 20 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1415839",
"author": "Tim",
"timestamp": "2014-05-05T23:18:28",
"content": "It has the added benefit of burning you when you reach for where the Snooze button should be.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1415930",
"author... | 1,760,376,210.520055 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/05/05/boost-peak-power-tracking-battery-charger/ | Boost Peak Power Tracking Battery Charger | Brian Benchoff | [
"Solar Hacks"
] | [
"Maximum power point",
"MPP",
"solar cell",
"solar charger"
] | [Rusdy] is building a solar charger for his electric bike, and quickly realized the lithium cells in his bike wouldn’t work well with the most common charge controllers out there. Solar cells have an IV curve, of course, and this changes with the amount of sunlight, requiring some conversion circuitry. Most of the charge controllers out there operate in buck mode, but the commercial boost mode converters [Rusdy] needed for his 36V battery are pricey as all get out. What was [Rusdy] to do?
Build his own Boost MPPT solar charger
, of course.
The circuit used for the charge circuit is fairly similar to a boost converter, with a little bit of logic required to get the maximum power out of the solar cells. [Rusdy] had an Arduino lying around, so that took care of the logic, and by sampling the voltage and current with the analog pins, he can turn a MOSFET on and off to get the most out of his solar cells.
The finished product works perfectly with an efficiency greater than 87%. Charging current and the final trickle charge is adjustable through software, allowing [Rusdy] to get the most out of his solar panels and electric bike. The board itself is just a prototype and could use a layout revision, but we’ve got to hand it to him for cloning a >$300 charge controller with an Arduino and a few scraps in a part drawer. | 25 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "1415460",
"author": "sparkygsx",
"timestamp": "2014-05-05T21:27:08",
"content": "The MOSFET may be designed for logic-level drive, this design would really benefit from a proper gate driver, because an I/O pin cannot sink and source sufficient current to switch the MOSFET quickly. W... | 1,760,376,210.583183 |
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