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https://hackaday.com/2014/01/03/3d-acoustic-manipulation-seeminly-unreal-levitation-using-soundwaves/ | 3D Acoustic Manipulation: Seemingly-Unreal Levitation Using Soundwaves | James Hobson | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"acoustic levitation",
"levitation"
] | Wow. [Yoichi Ochiai], [Takayuki Hoshi] and [Jun Rekimoto] are researchers from the University of Tokyo and the Nagoya Institute of Technology, and they have just learned
how to airbend.
Using a series of standing ultrasound waves, it is possible to suspend small particles at the sound pressure nodes. The acoustic axis of the ultrasound beam is parallel to gravity, which also allows the objects to be manipulated along the fixed axis by varying the phase or frequencies of the sound. By adding a second ultrasound beam perpendicular to the first it is possible to localize the pressure node, or focal point, and levitate small objects around a 2D plane.
In their demonstrations they float foam particles, a resistor, an LED, they show off the waves using a piece of dry ice, and even manage to float a small screw.
Sound like crazy talk? Just watch the video.
Want to build your own? We covered a much more simple
DIY Acoustic Levitator
rig a few months ago.
[via
Hardware-360
] | 33 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "1154321",
"author": "ino",
"timestamp": "2014-01-03T15:07:23",
"content": "“wow” is the word indeed",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6485836",
"author": "HI",
"timestamp": "2022-06-21T15:45:16",
"content... | 1,760,376,351.364257 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/01/03/fire-at-the-geek-group/ | Fire At The Geek Group | Brian Benchoff | [
"Hackerspaces",
"News"
] | [
"geek group",
"The Geek Group"
] | The Geek Group, an absurdly large and well stocked hackerspace in Grand Rapids, Michigan
caught fire yesterday
.
You may recall The Geek Group from their many over-the-top projects that include a
quarter shinker
, a 200,000 Watt Tesla coil,
enough capacitors to kill a demi-god
, and
a giant robot that crushes TVs
. From what TGG has shown on
their website
and
their YouTube
, they have an amazing space that could still be the home of quite a few amazing builds.
According to Geek Group head honcho [Chris], the fire was caused by an overheated electric motor. No one was at the space at the time, but the fire was hot enough to crack the exterior brick and
melt porcelain insulators
in their high voltage lab. To add insult to injury, this was only TGG’s second day of being open to the public.
The folks at The Geek Group are looking for volunteers for their cleanup, so if you’re around the Grand Rapids area and would like to pitch in,
head on over
around noon today. | 121 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "1154331",
"author": "rue_mohr",
"timestamp": "2014-01-03T15:18:19",
"content": "ouch, thats more than “there was a flame and we flattened it”shall I suggest hackspaces come togethor and create fire protection policies?Would this motor be a compressor that popped an air line in the m... | 1,760,376,351.755494 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/01/03/a-low-cost-dual-discriminator-module-for-the-easy-phi-project/ | A Low Cost Dual Discriminator Module For The Easy-phi Project | Mathieu Stephan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"ARM",
"hardware"
] | [
"discriminator",
"Easy-phi",
"KiCAD",
"limpkin",
"open source",
"universal input"
] | A few months ago I presented you the
Easy-phi project
, which aims at building a simple, cheap but intelligent rack-based open hardware/software platform for hobbyists. With easy-phi, you simply have a rack to which you add cards (like the one shown above) that perform the functions you want.
Recently my team finished testing our
FPGA-based discriminator
or “universal input” if you prefer. As easy-phi cards use a well-defined electrical signal to communicate with each other, we needed to make a card that would translate the different kinds of electrical signals from the outside, as well as perform plenty of other functions. It was therefore designed to have a 100MHz input bandwidth with an AC/DC coupled 50 ohm/high impedance input stage (x2) and 4 easy-phi outputs. For this module, we picked the (old) spartan3-an FPGA to perform the different logic functions that may be needed by the final users (high speed counter, OR/XOR/AND, pulse creation,…). Using the cortex-m3 microcontroller present on the board, it may be easily reconfigured at will. All design resources may be found on our
Github
, and you can always have a look at our
official website
. | 9 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1154222",
"author": "tekkieneet",
"timestamp": "2014-01-03T13:38:33",
"content": "Did anyone done any analysis on the input analog circuit (e.g. Spice)?I am looking at R64(50 ohm) and C55(100pF) in series across the input toground. The “high” impedance mode is 209 ohms at 10MHz and ... | 1,760,376,351.254627 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/01/03/mystery-box/ | Myst(ery) Box | James Hobson | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"geocache",
"Myst",
"puzzle"
] | Anyone remember the game Myst? Well, [Michael] and his girlfriend have been playing quite a bit of it lately, so for her birthday, he decided to
make her something inspired from it.
For those unaware of the classic that is the
Myst series
, it is a set of games that started back in 1993 where you assume the role of the Stranger who gets to explore other planets (called Ages) to solve various logical and mechanical puzzles.
Anyway, [Michael] got his girlfriend tickets to visit
GC319QK
(a geocache site requiring diving) — since the gift is a relatively small token, it was logical for [Michael] to make a fancy box for it — and that’s exactly what he did. It’s a peculiar little wooden box with LEDs, a button, a latch, an unplugged wire, different rods and strange looking sensors — and it is a very clever little puzzle.
We could explain to you how it works (with the Arduino, phototransistors and maybe the
source code
), but instead we think you’ll enjoy watching [Michael’s] video of it.
Now since the present is for geocaching, we’re almost surprised he didn’t include a
reverse geocache puzzle in it too!
[Via
Reddit
] | 7 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1154227",
"author": "Eirinn",
"timestamp": "2014-01-03T13:44:22",
"content": "Mhm…it’s been a long while since i played, but afaik the “planets” are not called ages? You can land on a planet and them time-shift the planet to another age? Bah doesn’t matter i guess, really neat proje... | 1,760,376,351.294811 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/01/02/spoofing-pokemon-trades/ | Spoofing Pokemon Trades | Brian Benchoff | [
"Nintendo Game Boy Hacks"
] | [
"game boy",
"nintendo",
"Nintendo Game Boy",
"pokemon",
"stellaris lauchpad"
] | [Adan] had an old Game Boy sitting around, and without anything better to do decided to investigate the link cable protocol with a microcontroller. He had a Stellaris Launchpad for the task, but initially had no project in mind. What he came up for this adventure in serial protocols is
a first gen Pokemon trade spoofer
that allows him to obtain pokemon without having two Game Boys, or for the weird ones out there, “friends.”
The Game Boy link protocol
is extremely well documented
(dead link, try
Internet Archive
), so getting data from the Game Boy to the Launchpad was as simple as a soldering up an old link cable connector to a piece of perf board. After figuring out the electronics, [Adan] looked at what happened when two Pokemon games tried to trade pokemon. When two Game Boys are linked, there are two in-game options: trade or battle. Looking at the data coming after the ‘trade’ option, [Adan] found something that could possibly be the data structure of the Pokemon being sent. He reverse-engineered this all by himself before discovering
this is also well documented
.
Bringing everything together, [Adan] figured out how to trade non-existent Pokemon with a small dev board. Right now he’s only transmitting Pokemon that are hard-coded on the Launchpad, but it’s very possible to transmit the Pokemon values in real-time over USB.
Thanks [Dan] for sending this in, and no, we don’t know what’s up with the influx of Pokemon posts over the last week. Video of the spoof below. | 16 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1153935",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2014-01-03T08:04:13",
"content": "Could this be used to play Pokemon over the internet? Why, well because you can.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1153945",
"author": "kay... | 1,760,376,351.203247 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/31/the-art-of-box-making/ | The Art Of Box Making | James Hobson | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"box making",
"cardboard box",
"sketchup"
] | [Darcy] has a bit of a love affair with cardboard. What started out as a simple way to mail things cheaper by making custom sized boxes has turned into the
full-blown art of box making.
He originally started by making the boxes by hand, but after he got suitably adept at it, he quickly refined his craft by adding in some technology. He now designs the boxes in SketchUp and then uses a home-made CNC router to cut and score the cardboard into even fancier styles. His blog has a whole slew of his cardboard box designs and it’s actually pretty cool to see what he’s come up with. He also has a bunch of tips for making your own, so if you’re one of those lucky hackers who can sell the things they make, it’s definitely worth a look! If you’re not selling anything
perhaps a cardboard lamp shade is more for you
?
To see a video example of one of his CNC cut boxes, stick around after the break. Now all he needs to do is design an automatic box folding machine!
CAUTION: LOUD VIDEO | 35 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "1152103",
"author": "Hack Man",
"timestamp": "2014-01-01T04:28:49",
"content": "Check out Alpha-Corr Rules and ArtiosCAD. Not open source however.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1152594",
"author": "Darcy InventorArti... | 1,760,376,351.437709 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/31/an-arduino-with-better-speech-recognition-than-siri/ | An Arduino With Better Speech Recognition Than Siri | Brian Benchoff | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Software Development"
] | [
"AVR",
"speech recognition",
"uSpeech"
] | The lowly Arduino, an 8-bit AVR microcontroller with a pitiful amount of RAM, terribly small Flash storage space, and effectively no peripherals to speak of, has better speech recognition capabilities than your Android or iDevice. Eighty percent accuracy, compared to Siri’s sixty.
Here’s the video to prove it
.
This
uSpeech library
created by [Arjo Chakravarty]
uses a
Goertzel algorithm
to turn input from a microphone connected to one of the Arduino’s analog pins into phonemes. From there, it’s relatively easy to turn these captured phonemes into function calls for lighting a LED, turning a servo, or even replicating the Siri, the modern-day version of the Microsoft paperclip.
There is one caveat for the uSpeech library: it will only respond to predefined phrases and not normal speech. Still, that’s an extremely impressive accomplishment for a simple microcontroller.
This isn’t
the first time
we’ve seen [Arjo]’s uSpeech library, but it is the first time we’ve seen it in action. When this was posted months and months ago, [Arjo] was behind the Great Firewall of China and couldn’t post a proper demo. Since this the uSpeech library is a spectacular achievement we asked for a few videos showing off a few applications. No one made the effort, so [Arjo] decided to make use of his new VPN and show off his work to the world.
Video below. | 42 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "1151934",
"author": "arjo129",
"timestamp": "2014-01-01T00:29:03",
"content": "My library DOES NOT USE THE GOERTZEL ALGORITHM",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1151946",
"author": "XOIIO",
"timestamp": "2014-01-0... | 1,760,376,351.906097 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/31/fubarino-contest-winners/ | Fubarino Contest Winners | Mike Szczys | [
"contests",
"Featured"
] | [
"fubarino-contest",
"winners"
] | It is with great pleasure that I announce the winners of the Fubarino Contest (alphabetical order): Brian, Daniel, Dave, Dominic, Eric, Gerben, James, Joel, Joseph, Laurens, Luis, Mats, Mike, Nathanael, Pete, Peter, Sebastian, Taciuc, Vojtěch, and Wes. They rose to the challenge and added our URL as an Easter Egg in their microcontroller project. Their hacks were chosen for their creativity, as well as completeness of presentation. Congratulations! Links to all twenty project features are after the break in reverse order in which they were originally published. To see all the entries hit up
the contest tag
.
We also want to take a moment to thank Microchip Technology Inc. They not only put up twenty
Fubarino SD boards
as prizes, they are also covering the cost of shipping to each winner. Many thanks!
We thought it was interesting that the twenty winners live in 11 different countries: Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Malaysia, Romania, South Africa, Spain, The Netherlands, UK, and the USA. Hackaday really is a global community!
If you are one of the winners please leave your acceptance speech in the comments section. This is also a great place to leave feedback — if you didn’t submit an entry we want to know why!
Contest Winners:
Splash Screen On System Reset
Micro Voltmeter
Custom Mech Warrior Online Controller
Bluetooth Control For Pc Psu
Oscilloscope Clock
Fpga Pong
Hackaday In Your Soldering Iron
A Sculpted Room With Leds
A Really Really Old Plotter
Single Pcb Synth
The Problem Of Being Very Good At Foosball
Minecraft Zelda Arduinos And Hackaday
Persistence Of Vision Clock
A Dutch Word Clock
Led Matrix Game Console
Game Boy Printer
Battery Capacity Tester
A Shifter With An Easter Egg
Vfd Clock
Morse Code Transmitter | 28 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "1151799",
"author": "Addidis",
"timestamp": "2013-12-31T21:09:45",
"content": "Congrats all!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1151800",
"author": "notabena",
"timestamp": "2013-12-31T21:11:38",
"content": "Hip hip hoo... | 1,760,376,351.826086 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/31/retrotechtacular-wax-on-wax-off-how-records-are-made/ | Retrotechtacular: Wax On, Wax Off: How Records Are Made | Kristina Panos | [
"Retrotechtacular"
] | [
"music",
"records",
"retrotechtacular",
"shellac"
] | In
this 1942 tour
of the
RCA Victor plant
in Camden, NJ, we see the complete record making process from the master cut production to the shipping of multiple 78RPM shellac pressings. The film centers around a recording of
Strauss’ Blue Danube
waltz as performed by the 1940s equivalent of studio musicians, the Victor Salon Orchestra.
The master record starts life as a thin layer of molten wax poured on to a hot circular plate in a dust-free room. Bubbles and impurities are blow torched out, and the wax is left to cool under a steel dome. This perfect disc is carefully passed to the recording studio through a special slot, where it is laid carefully beneath the cutting stylus.
Unlike today’s multi-track recording sessions, the master was cut from the performance of a complete band or orchestra all playing as they would in concert. The sound engineer was responsible for making fast changes on the fly to ensure sonic
and groove width
consistency.
After cutting, the delicate wax undergoes several phases of
electrolysis
that form the metal master. It is bombarded first with pure gold and then twice with copper sulfate to build a sturdy disc. The copper ionization process also ensures high fidelity in the final product.
Although mighty, this master won’t last long enough to make all the necessary pressings, so a mother matrix is made. This is a negative image of the master. The mother is formed by electrolytically bathing the master in nickel, and then adding a thin film of some indeterminate substance. Another copper bath, and mother emerges. As soon as possible, the master is separated and whisked away to the storage vault.
Since a positive image is needed for pressing, a stamping matrix is made. Mother gets a nickel bath for durability, and then a copper bath to form the stamping matrix. Many stampers are created so that several records can be pressed at once. These images get a chromium plating to help them last through many pressings.
The stampers are soldered to a rigid backing before getting their very precisely placed spindle hole drilled. This hole is centered by machine and checked through magnification of the grooves as the disc spins. Stampers are washed one last time to remove dust and given a final brushing off and polishing.
These 78RPM records were made from the finest
shellac
from India, resin from the East Indies, and 18 other secret herbs and spices that are all heated and combined in a 3-story
Banbury mixer
. The resulting dough is rolled out into a sheet and cut into biscuits, which are square pieces slightly bigger than the final record.
The biscuits are reheated on steam tables right before they are pressed. Label application is part of the pressing process, and both sides are pressed simultaneously. After this, the ragged edge is smoothed, and each record is tested by human ears. Finally, it is polished, sleeved, counted, boxed, and ready to be shipped to Woolworth’s, Wanamaker’s, or wherever.
A few years after this film was made, the shift to 33RPM vinyl records began. The process really hasn’t changed much over the years. The master, the mother matrix, and the stamping matrix bathe in different chemicals now, and the end result is pressed into a vinyl biscuit rather than shellac.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdhNNaQhgv8
[Thanks Mlseim]
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
. | 18 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1151658",
"author": "lwatcdr",
"timestamp": "2013-12-31T18:20:41",
"content": "So the big question is where are those masters today?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1151687",
"author": "trandi",
"timestamp": "2... | 1,760,376,351.148545 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/31/acoustic-wayfinder-for-the-visually-impaired/ | Acoustic Wayfinder For The Visually Impaired | Kristina Panos | [
"Medical Hacks",
"Microcontrollers",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"AVR",
"microcontroller",
"ultrasonic distance sensor"
] | Ideally, technology is supposed to enhance our lives. [Shane and Eileen], two seniors at Cornell have found a great way to enhance the lives of visually impaired individuals with
their acoustic wayfinding device
. In brainstorming for their final project, [Shane and Eileen] were inspired by
this Hackaday post about robots as viable replacements for guide dogs
. They sought to provide wearable, hands-free guidance and detection of (primarily) indoor obstacles—namely chairs, benches, and other inanimate objects below eye level.
The wayfinder comprises two systems working in tandem: a head-mounted navigation unit and a tactile sensor worn on the user’s finger. Both systems use
Maxbotix LV-MaxSonar-EZ0
ultrasonic rangefinder modules to detect obstacles and
vibrating mini-disc motors
to provide haptic feedback at speeds proportionate to the user’s distance from an obstacle.
The head unit uses two rangefinders and two vibrating motors. Together, the rangefinders have a field of view of about 120 degrees and are capable of detecting obstacles up to 6.45 meters away. The tactile sensor comprises one rangefinder and motor and is used in a manner similar to
a Hoover cane
. The user sweeps their hand to detect objects that would likely be out of the range of the head unit. Both parts are ergonomic and size-adjustable.
At power up, [Shane and Eileen]’s software performs a calibration of the tactile sensor to determine the distance threshold in conjunction with the user’s height. They’ve used an ATMega 1284 to drive the system, and handled real-time task scheduling between the two subsystems with the
TinyRealTime kernel
. A full demonstration video is embedded after the break.
[thanks Shane and Eileen] | 17 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1151520",
"author": "Dimitris",
"timestamp": "2013-12-31T15:43:03",
"content": "Can i buy one ready to use ?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1151525",
"author": "Kristina",
"timestamp": "2013-12-31T15:50:11",
... | 1,760,376,351.494525 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/31/case-modder-builds-lcd-window-causes-lsd-flashbacks/ | Case Modder Builds LCD Window; Causes LSD Flashbacks | Adam Fabio | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"Case mod",
"casemod",
"lcd",
"Liquid crystal display"
] | [Chris, aka Mosquito’s Mods] is well-known for some awesome PC case mods. He’s outdone himself this time with an
embedded LCD panel as his case window.
This use of an LCD is becoming common on arcade games and slot machines. [Chris] was inspired by an arcade game he saw at a local Dave & Buster’s. He started with an off the shelf 16″ USB LCD monitor from AOC. [Chris] then stripped off the back light, diffuser, and reflectors. Left with the bare panel and polarizers, he then created an LCD sandwich of sorts. First a layer of 2mm acrylic. Then the LCD and panel, along with 4 strips of acrylic forming a frame around the LCD. The frame strips are in blue in the image after the break.
The final layer is a thick piece of 6mm acrylic. The thick acrylic keeps the window assembly from bending, which would lead to a cracked LCD. The entire assembly is held together with 3M scotch 4010 tape. White LED strips around the LCD shine plenty of light into the case, allowing the images on the LCD to be seen. The final effect is stunning. Images on the LCD appear to be floating in space somewhere behind the window. The effect works best with back and white images, as color is understandably a bit washed out.
[Thanks Kyle!] | 46 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "1151336",
"author": "aztraph",
"timestamp": "2013-12-31T12:13:07",
"content": "That’s too cool.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1151362",
"author": "morbidpete",
"timestamp": "2013-12-31T12:58:09",
"content": "Takes ... | 1,760,376,351.993124 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/31/barbot-mixes-drinks-perfectly-with-web-interface/ | Barbot Mixes Drinks Perfectly With Web Interface | James Hobson | [
"cooking hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"barbot",
"beaglebone black"
] | Are you good at mixing drinks? We think this Barbot might give you
a run for your money!
Not only does this Barbot have room for 5 different liquors, but you can combine them any way you want with
an extremely slick web interface that you can check out for yourself
.
During initial setup, you add your chosen liquors to the machine and then using the
configure mode
in the web interface, you tell Barbot what it has to work with. Once these fields are populated, Barbot will list various drinks that it is capable of mixing with the provided ingredients. It also has a cleaning mode, which allows you to prime the pumps and set administrative access for your parties.
The hardware behind this build is a BeagleBone Black running Ubuntu 13.04 with Apache2, MySQL, and PHP to host the web interface — bind and DHCP are used to create the web portal using a USB WiFi dongle. The online interface directly controls the pumps using PHP via the GPIOs.
To see a full demonstration stick around after the break for the included video. | 10 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1151350",
"author": "yakir",
"timestamp": "2013-12-31T12:39:46",
"content": "Its Looks PERFECT!!!!can you paste a link or type of the pump?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1151535",
"author": "jake",
"timestamp... | 1,760,376,352.100087 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/01/02/gesture-based-security-lock/ | Gesture Based Security Lock | James Hobson | [
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"ATmega1284p",
"Cornell University",
"proximity sensor"
] | A team of students from Cornell University are looking into alternative ways of creating a security system that can be locked or unlocked by using
physical gestures in an enclosed space.
It is the final year project for [Ankur], [Darshan] and [Saisrinivasan] in their MEng of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The system prototype is capable of recording a gesture and then comparing the gesture with future gestures to lock or unlock the system. Consider it like a secret handshake to get into the office!
To analyze the gesture they are using four SparkFun proximity sensors setup in a linear array to sense the distance a hand is moved. An ATMega1284P is used to convert the analog sensor signal to digital for further processing. The project is extremely well documented, as it appears to be the final report for the project.
A short video after the break shows off the prototype and gives a good explanation of how the system works. | 13 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1153780",
"author": "jiananli",
"timestamp": "2014-01-03T03:45:39",
"content": "Why not 3D capacitive sensing?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1153797",
"author": "notdave",
"timestamp": "2014-01-03T04:15:29",
... | 1,760,376,352.044321 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/01/02/un-crapifying-a-car-stereo/ | Un-crapifying A Car Stereo | James Hobson | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"audacity",
"aux in",
"auxiliary input",
"car stereo"
] | [Noah Farrington] has just accomplished a major milestone in his life, purchasing his first car! A glorious 2001 Ford Focus wagon. While it may be a fully loaded luxury vehicle, it is missing one thing poor [Noah] can’t live without.
An aux-in port.
He had a few options for rectifying the situation. Live with it as is, hack the strange Ford media protocol out of the back, or fool the CD player into playing his input. Naturally he chose the third option.
His first challenge was removing the deck from the car. People told him he’d have to buy fancy stereo removal tools — he made do with tent pegs and coat hangers. Using the same method as described in a
past aux-in hack
, he identified the audio in leads on the CD player’s ribbon cable. By carefully soldering in his own aux-in plug, he’s almost ready for business! Unfortunately, the CD player also needs to think that it is on for it to properly output the audio. [Noah] chose the simple solution — record a silent CD to always leave in the deck.
Stick around after the break to see it in action.
He might not be driving a classic 1974 Pacer, but at least now he can rock out to the digitally remastered Bohemian Rhapsody off of his phone! | 49 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "1153650",
"author": "zuul",
"timestamp": "2014-01-03T00:07:39",
"content": "“un-crapifying” lol",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1153652",
"author": "Gary",
"timestamp": "2014-01-03T00:12:36",
"content": "Too funny. ... | 1,760,376,352.192783 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/01/02/controlling-ten-thousand-rgb-leds/ | Controlling Ten Thousand RGB LEDs | Brian Benchoff | [
"ARM",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"neopixel",
"olinuxino",
"RGB LED",
"ws2812"
] | RGB LEDs are awesome – especially the new, fancy ones with the WS2812 RGB LED driver. These LEDs can be individually controlled to display red, green, and blue, but interfacing them with a microcontroller or computer presents a problem: microcontrollers generally don’t have a whole lot of RAM to store an image, and devices with enough memory to do something
really
cool with these LEDs don’t have a real-time operating system or the ability to do the very precise timing these LEDs require. [Sprite_tm] thought about this problem and came up with
a great solution for controlling a whole lot of these WS2812 LEDs.
[Sprite] figured there was one device on the current lot of ARM/Linux boards that provides the extremely precise timing required to drive a large array of WS2812 LEDs: the video interface. Even though the video interface on these boards is digital, it’s possible to turn the 16-bit LCD interface on an
oLinuXino Nano
into something that simply spits out digital values very fast with a consistent timing. Just what a huge array of RGB pixels needs.
Using a Linux board to drive RGB pixels using the video output meant [Sprite_tm] needed video output. He’s running the latest Linux kernel, so he didn’t have the drivers to enable the video hardware. Not a problem for [Sprite], as he can just add a few files to define the 16-bit LCD interface and add the proper display mode.
[Sprite_tm] already taken an oscilloscope to his board while simulating 16 strips of 600 LEDs, and was able to get a frame rate of 30 fps. That’s nearly 10,000 LEDs controlled by a single €22/$30USD board.
Now the only obstacle for building a huge LED display is actually buying the RGB LED strips. A little back-of-the-envelope math tells us a 640×480 display would be about $50,000 in LEDs alone. Anyone know where we can get these LED strips cheap? | 51 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "1153563",
"author": "Wallace Owen",
"timestamp": "2014-01-02T21:11:23",
"content": "There are also going to be fan-out and power supply issues.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1153728",
"author": "jacques",
"ti... | 1,760,376,353.001078 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/01/02/fail-of-the-week-afsk-build-doomed-by-rail-noise/ | Fail Of The Week: AFSK Build Doomed By Rail Noise | Mike Szczys | [
"Fail of the Week",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"afsk",
"fail of the week",
"xr-2211"
] | [Scott] and his buddies were having some fun with their handheld transmitters one day when they decided it was time to build some
add-on hardware that could transmit and receive location data
. They set their sights on a set of Audio Frequency Shift Keying units that could each encoded and decipher location from the counterpart.
The build got off to an easy start, centering around an Arduino board with a GPS module for capturing precise location data. Next it was time to implement AFSK. On the transmitting side this was done by bit banging the output pins. After a look at the resulting signals on an oscilloscope the team was able to tune the firmware for a pretty tight 1200 and 2200 Hz output. But trouble was brewing on the decoding side of the equation.
The first decoding attempt used
the FreqMeasure library
written by [Paul Stoffregen]. After no success they moved to a hardware solution in the form of the XR-2211 FSK Demodulator chip. It should have been simple, feed it the signals and read the digital output pins to capture the desired data. This is the point at which you need to click the project link at the top to soak in all of the gory details. Long story short, a noisy power rail was causing sporadic performance of this chip. By the time this issue was discovered interest had waned and the project was ditched as a failure. Was there a quick fix that could have salvaged it such as adding a filtering circuit for that chip? Let us know how you would get this back on track by leaving a comment below.
[Thanks Lewin]
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. | 19 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "1153450",
"author": "Dodo",
"timestamp": "2014-01-02T18:10:34",
"content": "Not sure, but is the channel via the walkie talkie ‘clean’? At least the motorola ones have both lowpass filtering and pre-emphasis to combat FM noise. Normally the pre-emph and de-emph should cancel out in ... | 1,760,376,352.647854 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/01/02/qtledtest-software-to-evaluate-oled-displays/ | QtLedTest – Software To Evaluate OLED Displays | Mathieu Stephan | [
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"oled screen",
"screen simulation",
"ssd1306"
] | A few days ago we featured the
USBPass
, an offline password keeper made with very few components. At the end of our write-up we mentioned that [Josh] was already working on another version of his hardware, which involved adding an OLED screen to the platform. To help him pick one he
created QtLedTest
, a Qt-based tool that simulates different OLED displays and GUI layouts for them. Internally QtLedTest is composed of
QLedMatrix
(a widget that simulates LED matrices), an SSD1306 OLED controller simulator, a simple graphics drawing library and some functions to draw text on the simulated screen. [Josh] used
Fontbuilder
together with a program he made in order to convert fonts he had found on the internet to C files. All the source code [Josh] made can be found on
Github
and should be updated in coming weeks as the final program is a bit slow to render the simulated screens. | 3 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "1153393",
"author": "Caleb",
"timestamp": "2014-01-02T16:34:26",
"content": "This is my favorite part of designing something new. The process of designing software and hardware test jigs and mockups to help me choose what to use when I finally design the original piece I’m trying to... | 1,760,376,353.046888 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/01/02/once-twice-three-times-a-nixie/ | Once, Twice, Three Times A Nixie | Kristina Panos | [
"clock hacks",
"Microcontrollers",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"nixie",
"nixie clock",
"Parallax Propeller"
] | Try as he might, [Localroger] can’t seem to throw away a certain board that started life in one of the first digital industrial scales, the NCI DigiFlex model 5775. He recently
gave it a third career as a nixie clock with an alarm
.
[Localroger] says the board dates to about 1975. It’s all TTL, no microprocessor anywhere. He was headed to the Dumpster with it in the mid-1980s, but realized that he could hack it into something useful. Since the display wasn’t multiplexed, it would be fairly easy. He used it as a BCD tester for about 10 years until the method fell out of fashion.
After a decade on the shelf, [Localroger] started off
for the Dumpster
once more with the board. The nixie tube display cried out for another chance to glow, so he decided to repurpose it into a remote-controlled bedside clock with an alarm. He installed a
Parallax Propeller Protoboard
with headers for easy removal and subsequent servicing of the 5775 board. He added a few things to the protoboard: a piezo element for the alarm, a
SparkFun RTC module
, an IR receiver, and vertically-oriented header so the
PropPlug
can be plugged in from the top.
But that’s not all. [Localroger] designed a
custom melamine-finished MDF
enclosure and laser cut it, giving the edges a nice contrast. It’s so tough, he can put his ceramic lamp on top of it to save space on the nightstand.
Nixie tubes are becoming more scarce all the time. If you can’t find any, we humbly suggest
rolling your own
.
[Thanks Localroger!] | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1153358",
"author": "Gregg Levine",
"timestamp": "2014-01-02T15:26:03",
"content": "Nice going partner! Yes I do know of his work. I participate in the Parallax forums, mostly with their Basic Stamp products, but sometimes the Prop. He provides good advice, and writes excellent post... | 1,760,376,352.569247 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/01/02/glowing-balloon-blimps/ | Glowing Balloon Blimps | James Hobson | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"art installation",
"balloons"
] | Looking for a neat decoration for your next soirée? How about
floating fleet of glowing balloon blimps?
[Kensho Miyoshi] — an avid reader of Hack a Day — needed an art installation project in Tokyo, he came up with these clever glowing balloon blimps.
They feature a mini gondola hanging from the bottom of a regular balloon which holds a small motor with a propeller, an Arduino Pro Mini, LEDs, an ultrasonic sensor and of course, a battery. They float up to a certain height with the LEDs shining bright, and when the ultrasonic sensor trips, it all turns off and the balloon sinks gently back to the ground. The process repeats, and in a completely dark room it looks like a series of glowing bubbles forming and floating away, again and again.
To see the floaty, glowy, balloon blimps, stick
around
for a video after the break.
We’ve also covered a similar project recently on how to make a
$13 remote-controlled balloon blimp
using those micro-scale RC cars, a great project for young hackers. | 26 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1153172",
"author": "James",
"timestamp": "2014-01-02T09:15:07",
"content": "Ok, I is confused, not very well described.So it’s just an air-filled balloon, no lifting gas?The lift is provided entirely by the propeller, that can’t be right, it’s be all over the show.I think it must b... | 1,760,376,353.171113 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/01/01/easy-multi-touch-table/ | Easy Multi-Touch Table | Phillip Ryals | [
"hardware",
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"display",
"multi touch",
"table"
] | [2bigbros] put up an Instructable on
his multi-touch table build
. It’s a nice setup, using the typical
frustrated total internal reflection
method for touch sensing.
Tinkerman’s Method
was used for the screen itself, which involves rolling silicon onto vellum with a paint roller to improve the bond. [2bigbros] then built a nice aluminum and wooden frame for the whole thing. He’s light on some details, but most people with a basic understanding and Google will be able to figure it out.
This is a very accessible project for most builders. If you’re interested in getting into it, there are plenty of projects to reference. We previously
covered the basics
, as well as a
more involved build
. We’ve even seen an
interactive tower defense game
using multi-touch. If you decide to build one of your own, don’t forget the
excellent resource at TUIO
for finding frameworks and example implementations.
[via Instructables] | 6 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1153070",
"author": "Will",
"timestamp": "2014-01-02T06:28:13",
"content": "Nice build!I hate to nitpick, but in the first paragraph silicon should be silicone.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1153234",
"author": "wurstcase"... | 1,760,376,352.488236 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/01/01/reverse-engineering-hitclips/ | Reverse Engineering HitClips | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"HitClips",
"reverse engineering"
] | After a quick review of the Hackaday viewer demographics, we need to say the late 90s were
weird.
Even portable audio players were downright bizarre: MP3 players existed, but you loaded up your songs (all eight of them) over your PC’s parallel port. While helping a cousin move some furniture, [Ch00f] found a huge collection of one of the oddest music formats ever: HitClips, a tiny plastic encapsulated bit of circuitry that stores 60 seconds of terrible-sounding mono audio. Yes, this was a thing, but so was the pet rock. With no HitClips player, [Ch00f] decided he would
take a swing at reverse engineering these tiny, tinny songs
.
After taking apart the plastic enclosure, [Ch00f] found a very simple circuit: a few resistors, a cap, and an epoxy blob that enclosed an die with the musical data. On the back of the clip, there are eight pads for connecting to the player. With nothing to go on, [Ch00f] started poking around and found connecting one of these pins to ground caused circuit to draw 300uA of current for about 60 seconds – the same length of time as the recorded sample.
[Ch00f] originally thought the HitClip would provide audio data over an SPI or other digital protocol. What he found was much more interesting: two of the pins on the HitClip correspond to the push and pull FETs of a class D amplifier. The audio on the HitClip is digital audio, but it’s encoded so it can directly drive an analog circuit. Pretty clever engineering for a happy meal toy, if you ask us.
After dumping this data with a logic analyzer, [Ch00f] turned all the values in to .WAV file. It was, amazingly, music. A little refinement to the process to nail down the timing resulted in a 60-second clip seen (heard?) after the break.
Since [Ch00f] doesn’t want to spend $40 on eBay for a vintage HitClips player, he’s right about at the limit of what he can reverse engineer out of these cheap, crappy music chips. He has put up all his documentation, though, so if you’re up for improving on [Ch00f]’s methods, have a go.
[soundcloud url=”
http://soundcloud.com/ch00ftech/pushpull”%5D | 31 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "1152930",
"author": "aztraph",
"timestamp": "2014-01-02T03:16:59",
"content": "I think this was the predecessor to the musical greeting card chip. have any luck loading other audio files onto it?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "... | 1,760,376,352.8121 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/01/01/building-an-engine-control-unit-with-the-stm32f4/ | Building An Engine Control Unit With The STM32F4 | Brian Benchoff | [
"ARM",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [] | If you’re looking to soup up your whip, the first place you’ll probably look is the engine control unit. This computer shoved in the engine compartment controls just about every aspect of your car’s performance, from the air/fuel ratio, the ignition timing, and the valve controls. Upgrading the ECU usually means flashing new firmware on the device, but [Andrey] is taking it one step further:
he’s building his own ECU
using the STM32F4 Discovery dev board.
[Andrey]’s ride is a 1996 Ford Aspire, but while he was developing his open source ECU, he wanted to be able to drive his car. No problem, as going down to the junkyard, picking up a spare,
and reverse engineering that
was a cheap and easy way to do some development. After powering this spare ECU with an ATX supply, [Andrey] was able to figure out a circuit to get sensor input to his microcontroller and having his dev board control the fuel injector.
With a few additional bits of hardware
[Andrey] has his open ECU controlling the fuel injection, ignition, fuel pump, and idle air valve solenoid. Not a bad replacement for something that took Ford engineers thousands of man hours to create.
[Andrey]’s ECU actually works, too. In the video below, you can see him driving around a snow-covered waste with his DIY ECU controlling all aspects of the engine. If the engine sounds a little rough, it’s because a wire came loose and he was only using two cylinders. A bit of hot glue will fix that, though. | 60 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "1152838",
"author": "blade",
"timestamp": "2014-01-02T00:24:00",
"content": "I think “wow” about covers it; who knows what else he can do with it, based on the CPU he chose for the project.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1152... | 1,760,376,352.742671 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/01/01/gotta-catch-em-all-with-an-arduino/ | Gotta Catch ‘Em All, With An Arduino | Brian Benchoff | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Nintendo DS Hacks"
] | [
"3ds",
"ds",
"nintendo",
"pokemon",
"Shiny Pokemon",
"Teensy 3.0"
] | For every pokemon you encounter on your adventure to become the world’s greatest trainer, you have about a 1 in 8000 chance of that pokemon being ‘shiny’, or a different color than normal. Put an uncommon event in any video game, and of course a few people will take that feature to the limits of practicality: [dekuNukem]
c
reated the Poke-O-Matic
,
a microcontroller-powered device that breeds and captures shiny pokemon.
We’ve seen [dekuNukem]’s
setup for automatically catching shiny pokemon
before, but the previous version was extremely limited. It only worked with a fishing rod, so unless you want a ton of shiny Magikarp the earlier setup wasn’t extremely useful.
This version uses two microcontrollers – an Arduino Micro and a Teensy 3.0 – to greatly expand upon the previous build. Now, instead of just fishing, [dekuNukem]’s project can automatically hatch eggs, search patches of grass for shiny pokemon, and also automatically naming these new shiny pokemon and depositing them in the in-game pokemon storage system.
The new and improved version works a lot like the older fishing-only automated pokemon finder; a few wires soldered on to the button contacts control the game. The Teensy 3.0 handles the data logging of all the captured pokemon with an SD card and RTC.
What did [dekuNukem] end up with for all his effort? A
lot
of shiny pokemon. More than enough to build a great team made entirely out of shinies.
Video below, with all the code available through a link in the description. | 13 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1152760",
"author": "Cain W Benjamin (@Krazeecain)",
"timestamp": "2014-01-01T21:18:41",
"content": "1 in 8000? Ouch, that’s kinda harsh. With odds like that the average player isn’t very likely to see even 1 shiny…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,376,353.229078 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/01/01/electronic-phenakistoscope/ | Electronic Phenakistoscope! | James Hobson | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"animation",
"fantoscope",
"phenakistoscope",
"stepper motor",
"zoetrope"
] | Looking for a clever way to
build a Phenakistoscope?
Maybe you’re more familiar with its other names; Fantoscope, Phantasmascope, or perhaps its close cousin the Zoetrope?
If you’re still scratching your head, that’s okay — they have really weird names. What we’re referring to here is a type of optical illusion that mimics movement by showing a series of still images at an offset interval — this can be achieved by looking through slots, strobing a light (like in this case) or even by the use of mirrors.
This particular Phenakistoscope is a very simple but clever design that makes use of a recycled stepper motor from a printer, a CD as the animation disk, a strip of LED lighting, a few potentiometers and an Arduino to control the strobe. It works by synchronizing the strobe frequency with the motor rotation, resulting in the image in motion effect.
Stick around after the break for a full gallery of the build and a demonstration video.
And of course, to see it in action:
We also covered a great 3D printed Zoetrope a while ago that brought a bit of
the third dimension into the animation! | 9 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1152736",
"author": "blue",
"timestamp": "2014-01-01T20:19:46",
"content": "Brilliant, I love how simple it is!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1152738",
"author": "blujay42",
"timestamp": "2014-01-01T20:20:39"... | 1,760,376,353.106555 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/01/01/usbpass-a-mooltipass-like-project/ | USBPass – A Mooltipass-like Project | Mathieu Stephan | [
"hardware",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"hardware development",
"mooltipass",
"password",
"password keeper"
] | In our
Developed on Hackaday series
some readers may recall a sentence we wrote: “if one’s idea is not yet in the market, it’s either completely stupid or people are already working on it”. Well, [Josh] casually mentioned that he was also working on an
offline password keeper
after having recently subscribed to our
google group
. Similarly to the Hackaday-developed platform, the USBPass is connected to a computer via USB and is detected as an HID keyboard. As you can see in the picture shown above, it uses very few components: an ATMega32U2, a USB connector, three buttons and a few passives chips.
A total of 20 passwords can be stored in the microcontroller’s memory, which can be ‘typed’ by the platform using the push buttons. The USBPass firmware is based around the
LUFA
USB stack, to which [Josh] added HID report functionality to allow data transfer from his desktop application. The latter uses the Linux/Windows/OS X
HID API
library so bringing his software to other operating systems can be done in no time. All the project resources can be found on
GitHub
, while [Josh] is currently working on a B revision which will include an OLED screen. | 15 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1152619",
"author": "F",
"timestamp": "2014-01-01T17:18:48",
"content": "I hope there is a plan to expand the number of stored passwords, 20 is not useful.It appears that there is no plan to prevent others from discovering the passwords when the device is misplaced or stolen.This is... | 1,760,376,353.284381 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/01/01/wireless-power-transfer-for-quadrotors/ | Wireless Power Transfer For Quadrotors | James Hobson | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"Electric power transmission",
"Evanescent wave",
"quadcopter",
"Wireless power"
] | Quadrotors are great, but what kind of range can you get on them, really? What if you could charge them up just by flying over high voltage power lines, by or temporarily hovering by a charging station? That’s just what [Dr. Carrick Detweiler]
wrote a paper about!
(Caution: PDF)
The paper discusses the method of wireless power transfer via magnetic resonance, which, depending on the scale, can transfer power at medium distances (~1 meter). This outperforms inductive coupling which requires a much closer proximity (~1-2 centimeters) for power to transfer. It does still require a certain amount of accuracy, but as we all know, quadrotors have no problem with even the most complex aerodynamic feats!
There is an excellent demonstration video of a small scale wireless quadrotor prototype after the break.
Curious about wireless power transfer? We also covered a great article about the
theory behind evanescent wave coupling
a few years ago!
[Via
Hizook
] | 35 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "1152411",
"author": "eldorel",
"timestamp": "2014-01-01T12:15:21",
"content": "James, please have another cup of coffee and rewatch that video. (Or actually read the paper)This research is about using a UAV as an autonomous charging unit to recharge remote sensor stations.It has not... | 1,760,376,353.509463 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/30/pov-display-with-an-element-of-danger/ | POV Display With An Element Of Danger | James Hobson | [
"LED Hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"atmega8",
"POV display"
] | Persistence of vision displays are always cool, although we must admit this one looks like it could very well explode at high speeds…
Safety concerns aside,
this desk fan based display
provides a great starting point for learning about making POV displays. It makes use of an old cellphone battery, an ATmega8, some LEDs, Veroboard, assorted wires and solder and of course, a high-speed desk fan.
[shparvez001] also provides the full code on
his blog for the project
, making it very easy to replicate. Though we might also suggest you keep it small enough that the original fan cage still fits on top.
From an aesthetic point of view, the display looks fine in the dark — but when the lights are on you might get some odd looks. We can see this project being greatly improved by mounting the LEDs through one of the fan blades, and the control electronics on the back side of the other blades. Maybe throw in some wireless charging for the battery while the fan is off too?
Anyway, stick around after the break to see the display in action. If you want a more permanent fan POV
try adding display hardware to a ceiling unit
. | 8 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1151106",
"author": "Mats Engstrom (@matseng)",
"timestamp": "2013-12-31T06:53:08",
"content": "I’m not sure if it’s “Politically Correct” to use the word ghetto today, but this must be the most jury-rigged ghetto POV I’ve seen in a long time. Cool project anyways and I’m amazed t... | 1,760,376,353.332059 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/30/the-geek-group-installs-robot-destroys-crt-monitor/ | The Geek Group Installs Robot, Destroys CRT Monitor | Marsh | [
"Hackerspaces"
] | [
"concrete",
"KUKA",
"Project Jeff",
"The Geek Group"
] | The Geek Group recently
documented the process of overhauling part of their workspace
to accommodate
Project Jeff
, a massive KUKA KR-350/1 industrial robot.
We don’t see many behind the scenes industrial-scale projects here at Hackaday, but we’re definitely impressed with the clever techniques employed to pull off this precision install. At around 5 inches deep, the original floor was far too thin to handle the weight and tortional loads imposed by Project Jeff, so The Geek Group carved out a 15′ square space of old concrete and dumped it piece by piece in the rubbish. They then dug a new hole to a depth of 2.5′ and filled it with a fresh pour that amounted to 67,500 pounds of concrete. Sheesh.
That concrete will inevitably expand and move around, which meant installing a pool-noodle-looking slip cover to protect a buried conduit from damage, as well as placing some gaskets around the edges to prevent cracking while maintaining a seal. Around 10 minutes into the video, they tackle the challenge of embedding bolts that connect to the robot’s base; it takes some patience and creative ladder positioning to fit the template in the correct position.
As an added treat, The Geek Group
smashed a CRT monitor in our honor
, and while they claim software limitations and a steel frame prevented Project Jeff from completely annihilating the monitor, we like to think the skull and cross-wrenches just refused to be destroyed. Because, you know, science. Videos after the break.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xDG0enWBDY
[Thanks Ryan and Andrew] | 54 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "1150953",
"author": "Mike K",
"timestamp": "2013-12-31T03:06:51",
"content": "It’s a bit of a disappointment, no? I mean, it doesn’t really do much to the monitor…. :|",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1150968",
"author": "Per... | 1,760,376,353.43259 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/30/geoweaver-rise-of-the-monster-3d-printing-hexapods/ | Roving Hexapod Poops Out 3D Prints | Adam Fabio | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"3dprinting",
"arduino",
"California College of the Arts",
"Hot-melt adhesive",
"robotics",
"Servomechanism"
] | [Jia Wu, Mary Sek, and Jeff Maeshiro], students at the California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco, took on the task of developing a walking 3D printer.
The result is Geoweaver
, a hexapod robot with a glue gun extruder system. Hackaday has seen
walking CNC machines
before, but not a 3D printer. Geoweaver uses two servos on each of its six legs to traverse the land. The team was able to program several gaits into the robot, allowing it to traverse uneven terrain. Walking is hard enough on its own, but Geoweaver also uses a glue gun based extruder to make 3D prints. The extruder head uses two servos to swing in a hemispherical arc. The arc is mapped in software to a flat
plain
plane, allowing the robot to drop a dollop of glue exactly where it is programmed to. Geoweaver doesn’t include much in the way of on board processing – an Arduino Uno is used to drive the 15 servos. Those servos coupled with a glue gun style heater pull quite a bit of power, which has earned Geoweaver nicknames such as Servo Killer, Eater of Shields, Melter of Wires, and Destroyer of Regulators.
Geoweaver’s prints may not be much to look at yet, however the important thing to remember is that one of the future visions for this robot is to print on a planetary scale. Geoweaver currently uses
reacTIVision
to provide computer control via an “eye in the sky”. ReacTIVision tracks a fiducial marker on the robot, and applies it to a topographical map of the terrain. This allows Geoweaver to change its height and print parameters depending on the flatness of the ground it is printing on. On a scaled up Geoweaver, reacTIVision would be replaced by GPS or a similar satellite based navigation system. Most of the software used in Geoweaver is opensource, including
Grasshopper
and
Firefly,
written by the team’s professor, [
Jason Kelly Johnson
]. The exception is
Rhino 5
. We would love to see an option for a free or open source alternative to laying out ~$1000 USD in software for our own Geoweaver. | 21 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1150812",
"author": "F",
"timestamp": "2013-12-31T00:09:51",
"content": "How long before we start making buildings and bridges like this? Start with one little robot that scoops up dirt and garbage and spits out robots that proceed to build your house. When they are done making yo... | 1,760,376,353.56458 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/30/hacking-and-philosophy-surveillance-state/ | Hacking And Philosophy: Surveillance State | Marsh | [
"Hackaday Columns"
] | [
"hacking and philosophy",
"nsa",
"philosophy",
"surveillance",
"surveillance state"
] | If you don’t live under a rock (though you may want to now) you probably saw yesterday’s article from
Spiegel
that revealed the NSA has its own catalog for spy gadgets.
Today they released an
interactive graphic with the catalog’s contents
, and even if you’re not a regular reader of Hacking & Philosophy, you’re going to want to take a look at it. I recommend glancing over IRATEMONK, in the “Computer Hardware” category. As the article explains, IRATEMONK is
An implant hidden in the firmware of hard drives from manufacturers including Western Digital, Seagate, Maxtor and Samsung that replaces the Master Boot Record (MBR).
It isn’t clear whether the manufacturers are complicit in implanting IRATEMONK in their hardware, or if the NSA has just developed it to work with those drives. Either way, it raises an important question: how do we know we can trust the hardware? The short answer is that we can’t. According to the text accompanying the graphic, the NSA
…[installs] hardware units on a targeted computer by, for example, intercepting the device when it’s first being delivered to its intended recipient, a process the NSA calls ‘interdiction.’
We’re interested to hear your responses to this: is the situation as bleak as it seems? How do you build a system that you know you can trust? Are there any alternatives that better guarantee you aren’t being spied on? Read on for more.
As for alternatives, I want to pose one scenario as presented by [Hasan Elahi]. You’ve probably seen him on television or
his TED talk
; he’s the guy who flooded the FBI with data about himself.
He came to my university to give a lecture on his experiences with the surveillance state and made some interesting points worth repeating. The first of which is that information is a commodity, and access to your personal life is valuable. By providing these agencies with large amounts of personal data, you’re essentially “flooding the market.” If everyone shared their data to this extent, he thinks the surveillance state couldn’t keep up (and if you haven’t seen [Elahi’s] talk, it goes WAY beyond Facebook: he takes pictures of every meal he eats, every toilet he uses, every hotel room…
everything
).
It’s an interesting idea, and if we truly are becoming a culture of sharing, such a future may be inevitable. Perhaps it’s possible to saturate cyberspace with information to the point where our true selves are buried in the noise, and I agree that information overload on a person/individual may paint a very strange misrepresentation—or no clear representation—which could work in your favor. For [Elahi], it’s about reclaiming a sense of control, and that’s something he definitely achieves. Toward the end of his TED talk he shares his server logs, pointing out which government agencies visit his site and when. Perhaps it’s an illusion of control, but [Elahi] is absolutely creating and hosting his own archive rather than wondering whether the government is doing so. (They probably are).
Here’s where I break with this strategy: during his lecture at my university, [Elahi] seemed to suggest that interested governmental entities (NSA, FBI, etc.) sort through this data with people, who—when faced with the overwhelming mountain of pointless photographs—will give up trying to profile you. It’s not a person sorting through your data, though. It’s a machine, and it doesn’t care how many thousands of pictures are out there: that’s more material for it to use to make assumptions about you. Their data collection is automatic, global, and seemingly limitless. I suspect they’ll gladly integrate anything you provide and file it away for reference.
Let us hear your responses in the comments: is it hopeless? has the list of manufacturers in the catalog influenced your future purchasing decisions? | 78 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "1150695",
"author": "strider_mt2k",
"timestamp": "2013-12-30T21:17:00",
"content": "I remain of the opinion that the same government that bungles the easy things will bungle this too, only with more zeros.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"co... | 1,760,376,354.170231 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/30/ufo-looking-rgb-led-rc-plane-lights-up-the-night-uses-all-the-acronyms/ | UFO-looking RGB LED RC Plane Lights Up The Night, Uses All The Acronyms | Kristina Panos | [
"LED Hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"led",
"rc",
"RC airplane",
"RGB LED"
] | [Roballoba] decided to
combine his love for RC planes, things that light up, and photography
, and we’re glad he did. He shares his method in this Instructable for illuminating a bare styrofoam
replacement fuselage for a Parkzone Stryker
RC plane. There are many more amazing pictures there as well.
He used low-tack tape to lay out the LED strips on the fuselage, solder the connections, and test them. Once he was satisfied with the arrangment, he flipped the strips face down so the foam diffuses the light. The lights are powered by a 12V Li-Po battery he soldered to a
deans connector
. Finally, [Roballoba] covered and heat sealed everything with
Doculam
, a very cost-effective laminate that offers great protection and security.
He used some
LED corn lights
as afterburners, which is a nice touch of realism. There is a video after the break where [Roballoba] shows us the connections up close and then runs through some light show options. Another video of a nighttime flight is waiting for you in the write up.
Spent too much money on eggnog and a new console this year to be able to replicate this build? $30 will snag what you need for this
smartphone-controlled paper plane
we featured a few weeks back. You could always BeDazzle it. | 13 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1150673",
"author": "static",
"timestamp": "2013-12-30T20:38:09",
"content": "Because I’m not sure I watch all the video available, there is a possibility the following patter was in the mix. There needs to be pattern where the lights chase each other around the circumference of pl... | 1,760,376,353.848621 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/30/diy-incubator-cooks-bacteria-or-yogurt/ | DIY Incubator Cooks Bacteria… Or Yogurt! | James Hobson | [
"cooking hacks"
] | [
"Coliform bacteria",
"diy incubator",
"incubator"
] | Ever wonder what kind of fecal content is in your drinking water? Do you also like yogurt? If so, this
DIY Bacteria Incubator
is just for you!
[Robin] is part of the BioDesign team for the
Real-World project
which is an interdisciplinary project featuring biology, electronics, and environmental sciences to bring together solutions for real world water problems. Since it’s a community oriented project they strive to keep it open-source and
well-documented
in order to share with everyone.
The DIY Incubator is a rather simple tool that can be used to help analyze water for fecal contamination, which is a problem in many third world countries. It consists of a styrofoam box, a light bulb and a home-brew Arduino which provides the PID control of the heat. For bacterial analysis, regular coliform bacteria live at 35C, while fecal coliform prefer about 44C — if incubated at these temperatures the bacteria will make itself known very quickly (within about 24 hours).
Oh and if you don’t want to find out how dirty your water is, you can also make yogurt instead. Check out a short demonstration of the incubator after the break. | 14 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1150526",
"author": "muriani",
"timestamp": "2013-12-30T15:23:13",
"content": "Nifty, almost the exact opposite of what I’ll be building in a couple of weeks.I ordered two polystyrene foam boxes like that last week, plan to stack them and add a peltier to use as a universal 5L keger... | 1,760,376,353.898211 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/30/using-the-wii-u-controller-with-everything/ | Using The Wii U Controller With Everything | Brian Benchoff | [
"Nintendo Wii Hacks"
] | [
"nintendo",
"wii",
"Wii U",
"Wii U controller"
] | It’s been just a bit over a year since the Wii U was released along with the extremely impressive Wii U controller. With a D-pad, analog sticks, accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, camera and 6.2 inch touchscreen, this controller is ripe for a million and one projects ranging from FPV quadcopters and robots to things we can’t even think of yet. At this year’s Chaos Communication Congress, [booto], [delroth], and [shuffle2] demonstrated how they cracked open the
Wii U controller’s encryption
allowing for Wii U controller ’emulation’ and giving us full documentation on how the whole thing works.
The guys started on their reverse engineering journey by dumping all the flash chips found on the controller’s board. In those binary blobs, they found Nintendo used a truly ingenious way of obfuscating the WiFi keys used to connect the controller to the Wii: rotate left by three. To be fair to Nintendo engineers, it
was
secure until someone figured it out.
Connecting the controller to a PC over WiFi is only half the battle, though. Initial information from the Wii U launch suggested Nintendo used Miracast for all the I/O between the controller and the console. This isn’t the case; instead the video, audio, camera, and button input are non-standard but very simple protocols. The hardest to break into was the video display for the touchscreen, but the guys discovered it’s pretty much H.264. After getting around some Nintendo weirdness, it’s possible to display video on the controller.
The guys have put together
a small, extremely alpha library
that comes with all the demos, documentation, and reverse engineering information. There’s a large wish list of what this library should include, but now that the information is public, it might be the time to pick up a Wii U.
Video of the talk below,
here’s the presentation slides
, and
a demo of emulating a Wii U game pad on a PC
.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8YgVVtNRjg | 26 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1150423",
"author": "strider_mt2k",
"timestamp": "2013-12-30T12:11:57",
"content": "I guess someone should do something with it…Well done!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1150446",
"author": "rasz",
"timestamp"... | 1,760,376,354.6718 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/30/electric-snow-scooter/ | Electric Snow Scooter | James Hobson | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"Electric motorcycles and scooters",
"electric scooter",
"offroad scooter"
] | [Dane] decided he wanted to make a rather large electric scooter, capable of taking him through even the most inclement weather — that’s right,
even snow.
Well, after about 18 months of stop and go work it is finally complete — for now. It features an impressive 7kW brushless 3-phase motor, a massive lithium ion battery pack and more custom parts then you could shake a stick at!
The frame started out as one of those big push scooters from the 80’s, in fact, it is the same as the one shown in Macklemore’s Thrift Shop video (
pic
)! But since then it has had many a modification done to it — it looks as though the front end is the only part that wasn’t touched!
He’s got an incredible build log his website, so if you want to build your own (you will once you’ve seen the video after the break), it’s a great starting point. | 20 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1150365",
"author": "ERROR_user_unknown",
"timestamp": "2013-12-30T09:59:18",
"content": "First off nice red arrow graphics department I see what you did there. second this thing is hella dope man. That is one slick piece of equipment there congrats I am envious.",
"parent_id": ... | 1,760,376,354.231069 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/29/the-crowbox-turns-crows-into-a-cash-machine/ | The Crowbox Turns Crows Into A Cash Machine | James Hobson | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"Joshua Klein",
"training crows"
] | [Joshua Klein] is intrigued by crows, and in particular, their intelligence. He’s devised
a system that may be able to train wild crows
into performing useful tasks, such as exchanging lost coins for treats.
The idea started as a random conversation at a cocktail party almost 10 years ago, and now has become a reality. In fact, we actually mentioned this
project’s beginnings 5 years ago!
So far they have succeeded in training captive crows to exchange lost coins using the Crowbox to receive treats. The end goal however is to teach wild crows the same thing — once this is proven, it could be extended to other tasks, like search and rescue, sorting through discarded electronics, or even garbage collection!
The project is opensource, and the Arduino driven
Crowbox
is looking for alpha-testers to help experiment with wild crows from different locals. The current community is rather small, so if you’re interested in the concept, please check it out. We’ve attached [Joshua’s] excellent TED talk on the intelligence of crows after the break — if you’re not fascinated by crows yet, you will be!
Now while the end goal isn’t to have a murder of crows collecting money for you… actually that would be pretty cool. | 22 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "1150233",
"author": "Geekmaster",
"timestamp": "2013-12-30T06:24:29",
"content": "You could reward crows for stealing coins from car washes, and trading them for peanuts:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXQAgzfwuNQ",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,376,353.962863 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/29/fubarino-contest-splash-screen-on-system-reset/ | Fubarino Contest: Splash Screen On System Reset | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks",
"contests"
] | [
"fubarino-contest",
"homebrew",
"Video Display Adapter"
] | Here’s a Fubarino contest entry for all those homebrew computer nuts out there. [Danjovic]
modified an NTSC/PAL display adapter
to show an ASCII version of the Hackaday logo when his board first boots up.
The build is based on
[Daryl Rictor]’s Video Display Adapter
intended for use with homebrew computers, microprocessor projects, and any other minimalist digital setup that needs an NTSC or PAL video display. It’s a surprisingly simple circuit, made of a few logic ICs and an ATmega8.
[Danjovic] modified this video display adapter with an easter egg: if one pin on the ATmega8 is shorted when the board is powered on, a neat Hackaday splash screen is displayed for several seconds before falling back to the stock display of a blinking cursor. [Dnajovic] converted the ASCII Hackaday logo with the help of a short Python script and loaded it onto the AVR with a small firmware change.
Video of the boot screen in action below.
This is an entry in
the Fubarino Contest
for a chance at one of the 20
Fubarino SD boards
which Microchip has put up as prizes! | 3 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "1150136",
"author": "supershwa",
"timestamp": "2013-12-30T03:46:49",
"content": "Impressively new and old school! +1 +1",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1150225",
"author": "Mats Engstrom (@matseng)",
"timestamp": "2013... | 1,760,376,354.713473 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/29/hackaday-links-december-29-2013/ | Hackaday Links: December 29, 2013 | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"arduino",
"digital picture frame",
"flowrider",
"galvanic skin response",
"max8677a",
"rf transmitter"
] | There are a ton of cheap RF transceiver boards available. [Martin] recently took a look at several of the most common ones and
reports back on what you want to look for
when acquiring wireless hardware for your projects.
Ikea picture frame plus old laptop equals
a roll-your-own digital picture frame
which [Victor] built. It runs Ubuntu and is more powerful and extensible than anything you could purchase outright.
Our friend [HowToLou] sure loves the FlowRider. So much so that he’s trying to figure out how to make them less expensive to operate. He put together an example of how he thinks
a standing wave can be created that follows the rider
as they move along the surfing area.
[Garrett] released an
Arduino library that offers threading, debugging, and error handling
. The usertools package can be downloaded from
his Github repository
.
There’s only one way to gauge your Christmas cheer —
hook yourself up to the XMeter
built by [Geoff]. He’s the same guy who
built a breathalyzer a couple of years back
. It flashes images of holiday activities on a television while measuring galvanic response using a couple of DIY probes.
And finally, play around with
a virtual x86 system
. [Fabian Hemmer] wrote the incredibly full-featured virtual machine in JavaScript. You can
get your hands on the code via his GitHub repo
. [Thanks Martin] | 6 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "1150061",
"author": "Kaspokas",
"timestamp": "2013-12-30T02:10:00",
"content": "Holy shit, this JS virtual x86 system is fucking beautiful.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1150407",
"author": "Prodigity",
"time... | 1,760,376,354.275968 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/29/hacking-sd-card-flash-memory-controllers/ | Hacking SD Card & Flash Memory Controllers | Mathieu Stephan | [
"hardware"
] | [
"ccc",
"memory controller",
"sd card"
] | We hope that some of our readers are currently at this year’s
Chaos Communication Congress
(schedule can be found
here
and live streams
here
), as many interesting talks are happening. One of them addressed
hacking the memory controllers
embedded in all memory cards that you may have. As memory storage density increases, it’s more likely that some sectors inside the embedded flash are defective. Therefore, all manufacturers add a small microcontroller to their cards (along with extra memory) to invisibly ‘replace’ the defective sectors to the operating system.
[Bunnie] and [xobs] went around buying many different microSD cards in order to find a hackable one. In their talk at 30C3 (slides
here
), they reported their findings on a particular microcontroller brand, Appotech, and its AX211/AX215. By reverse engineering the firmware code they found online, they discovered a simple “knock” sequence transmitted over manufacturer-reserved commands that dropped the controller into a firmware loading mode. From there, they were able to reverse engineer most of the 8051 microcontroller function-specific registers, allowing them to develop novel applications for it. Some of the initial work was done using a FPGA/i.MX6-based platform that the team developed named
Novena
, which we hope may be available for purchase some day. It was, among others, used to simulate the FLASH memory chip that the team had previously removed. A video of the talk is embedded below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3GDPwIuRKI | 43 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1149933",
"author": "Joseph Ruggiero",
"timestamp": "2013-12-29T21:44:55",
"content": "These guys have too much time on their hands, but I applaud their work, it makes the world a little better.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": ... | 1,760,376,354.362213 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/29/i-am-nxt-3-point-bend-tester-please-insert-girder/ | I Am NXT 3-Point Bend Tester. Please Insert Girder. | Kristina Panos | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Robots Hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"lego mindstorms",
"Lego NXT",
"nxt",
"strength"
] | Learning with visuals can be very helpful. Learning with models made from NXT Mindstorms is just plain awesome, as [Rdsprm] demonstrates with this
LEGO NXT 3-point bend tester
that he built to introduce freshmen to
flexural deflection
and material properties. Specifically, it calculates Young’s modulus using the applied force of a spring and the beam’s deflection. [Rdsprm] provides a thorough explanation in the About section of the YouTube video linked above, but
the reddit comments
are definitely a value-add.
[Rdsprm] built this from the Mindstorms education base set (
9797
) and the education resource set (
9648
). Each contestant endures a 5-test battery and should produce the same result each time. The motor in the foreground sets the testing length of the beam, and the second motor pulls the spring down using a gearbox and chain.
This method of deflection testing is unconventional, as [Rdsprm] explains. Usually, the beam is loaded incrementally, with deflection measured at each loading state. Here, the beam is loaded continuously. Vertical deflection is measured with a light sensor that reads a bar code scale on the beam as it passes by. The spring position is calculated and used to determine the applied force.
[Rdsprm] analysed the fluctuation in GNU Octave and has graphs of the
light sensor readings
and
force-deflection
. No beams to bend with your Mindstorms? You could make
this Ruzzle player
instead.
[via
reddit
] | 3 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "1150425",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2013-12-30T12:13:10",
"content": "I’m just here for the awesome title.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1152564",
"author": "Alex",
"timestamp": "2014-01-01T16:09:40",
... | 1,760,376,354.408114 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/29/fubarino-contest-hackaday-on-an-rc-heli/ | Fubarino Contest: Hackaday On An RC Heli | Brian Benchoff | [
"contests"
] | [
"fubarino-contest",
"RC Heli"
] | [SF Tester] (his real name, honestly, with a brother who does QA for Blizzard) recently picked up a Blade SR remote control helicopter. Compared to the cheap coaxial helicopters you can pick up from eBay or Amazon for $30, this heli is a huge step up, but it does have one weakness – it comes with its own transmitter, and binding it to [Tester]’s shiny new DX9 transmitter is a pain.
The initial attempt at getting the proper values from the stock transmitter into his big-boy transmitter originally consisted of taking the stock transmitter, some servos, attaching them to homebrew protractors, and reading out the values of each axis manually. That’s a brute-force method of improving his new toy, so [Tester] sought out a better method.
The solution came via
Arduino’s pulseIn() command
. By connecting the stock receiver to an Arduino, [Tester] was able to precisely read the values coming from the stock transmitter and import them into his very fancy Spektrum DX9 transmitter.
Every Fubarino contest entry needs an easter egg, so when the value of the pulses coming from the stock transmitter is exactly 1337 microseconds, the Arduino spits out Hackaday’s URL to the serial console. Cleverly hidden, and a great way to improve an awesome heli. We can’t ask much more than that.
There’s no direct link for this, but you can literally see the code in the image after the break.
This is an entry in
the Fubarino Contest
for a chance at one of the 20
Fubarino SD boards
which Microchip has put up as prizes! | 10 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1149754",
"author": "Geebles",
"timestamp": "2013-12-29T15:58:54",
"content": "Not entirely sure from this write up what he has achieved here? So he can’t bind with the DX9, but instead is reading the PPM pulses from the stock TX to… read the values? And do what with them? Work out ... | 1,760,376,354.459837 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/29/project-lucidity-wants-you/ | Project Lucidity Wants YOU! | James Hobson | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"lucid dream",
"lucid dreaming",
"lucid scribe",
"lucidity"
] | Do you lucid dream? Do you want to? [Dinesh Seemakurty] has just started something called
Project Lucidity
, which is the first(?) open source, developer friendly, fully featured, lucid dreaming sleep mask. And he’s looking for hackers to help!
We’ve covered lots of projects on lucid dreaming before, like making your own homemade
lucid dreaming goggles
, or
modifying a commercial EEG headset
for lucid dreaming. We also can’t forget the LucidScribe project either, the one that
seeks to communicate from within dream state!
Anyway, what’s different about Project Lucidity? Well, first of all, it’s open source. Second of all, it’s based on an ATMEGA328P, meaning it’s fully compatible with the Arduino IDE. It looks like a great start, and [Dinesh] is planning on taking everything open source very soon — but before then he wants
you
to try it out!
If this sounds like a project you want to get behind and help develop, check out his site and sign up. Or ask away in the comments section! | 11 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1149704",
"author": "fartface",
"timestamp": "2013-12-29T14:12:25",
"content": "Who sleeps so still that a sleep mask will stay on their face? I can barely keep the sheets on the bed let along tied into a ball by morning.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,376,354.608454 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/29/fubarino-contest-ntp-clock/ | Fubarino Contest: NTP Clock | Mike Szczys | [
"contests"
] | [
"fubarino-contest",
"ntp"
] | [Toni] has been playing around with NTP, the Network Time Protocol. This allows the alarm clock build to keep very accurate time by synchronizing with an NTP server on the Internet.
The project serves as a bedside alarm clock. When it comes time to wake in the morning an alarm sounds and the screen switches from using a blue backlight to using a red one. This is show in the video below, but you’ll want to turn down your speakers before watching it; the alarm sound will have no problem waking you up in the morning. After the unwelcomed jolt you’ll get a glimpse at the Easter Egg which reminds you to check for new posts on Hackaday.
Afraid of ending up with a steaming pile of slag instead of a server [Toni] asked us to host the project files. You can find the first-hand description of the project and a link to the code below.
This is an entry in
the Fubarino Contest
for a chance at one of the 20
Fubarino SD boards
which Microchip has put up as prizes!
NTP Alarm Clock
A few weeks ago I’ve built my own alarm clock. For that purpose I used an Arduino Ethernet and an Adafruit LCD Shield. I decided to use an old cardboard box and fixed both things inside and cut a hole for the power connector, LAN and one for a USB cable which lead to a Usb2Serial adapter (Don’t exactly know how they’re called). Then I added a piezo speaker. Now I’ve a cardboard box with holes and a display. (The clock can be powered by the power plug or by usb, just like any arduino)
Lets come to the software part. First I’ve found this sample code for connecting to NTP servers(
http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/UdpNTPClient
). I included the Library for my RGB LCD and defined some colors. Then a navigation menu was coded. It’s very simple to use: Press “key up†to select Timezone, add or subtract with “rightâ€/â€leftâ€. “Key up†again for toggle alarm activation. Done with “select”. “Key down” for Alarm Hour, “key down” again for alarm minute, done with “select”. Then it’s time to go to bed, don’t worry about the background illumination, it gets dark after a few seconds of inactivity, the screen is still slightly visible though.
The next morning you’ll wake up to the nasty alarm sound of this clock. But there’s a challenge. There isn’t a “snooze” or “ShutTheAlarmOff” button. To silence the alarm all that needs to be done is to adjust the alarm time. Just add for example 5 minutes to the alarm time. Soon after that the alarm will ring again, set the time back to the original time, now it’s ready for the next day. Or just toggle activity but remember to reactivate on the evening. You’ll never oversleep because navigating through the menu needs a bit of concentration. After silencing the alarm you’re definitely awake.
But there are still thing left to do: the date once displayed a negative number but I hadn’t the time to check what caused this behavior. Also the screen flickers while in the navigation menu which is just not so nice looking.
But you may now ask yourself where the hackaday.com URL hides. The answer is simple: Every morning I get reminded to check the webpage, just while the alarm is ringing. What a nice start into the day!
Arduino Sketch | 11 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1149556",
"author": "ERROR_user_unknown",
"timestamp": "2013-12-29T09:30:09",
"content": "This looks like a interesting project. I am considering ding something similar. I work a very random set of hours in different departments. there is no pattern. I keep a diary of the hours and ... | 1,760,376,354.553773 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/28/a-fpga-controlled-reflow-oven/ | A FPGA Controlled Reflow Oven | Eric Evenchick | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"fpga",
"max31855",
"papilo",
"reflow"
] | For Christmas, [Hamster]’s wife gave him a mini-oven. Later that day, he tore it apart and built this
FPGA controlled reflow oven
.
We’ve seen
plenty
of
reflow
oven
builds in the past. Most of those projects use a microcontroller to do closed loop control, sensing the temperature and toggling the heating element to hit a set point. This build uses the
Papilo One
FPGA development board as a controller. It implements a state machine that meets the reflow profile of the solder paste, ensuring SMD components are soldered properly.
The oven uses a
MAX31855
to read temperature from a thermocouple. This device provides amplification, cold junction compensation, and analog to digital conversion which spits out the temperature over SPI. To control the heater, a 40A solid state relay is used.
The VHDL code that drives this oven is linked in the writeup, and has some interesting bits for those looking to experiment with FPGAs. It includes an SPI interface, display driver, and the temperature state machine logic. | 33 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "1149546",
"author": "cpldcpu",
"timestamp": "2013-12-29T09:00:57",
"content": "Wow, this is not an application where I would have expected a FPGA.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1149547",
"author": "valdas",
"timestamp"... | 1,760,376,355.053193 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/28/fubarino-contest-micro-voltmeter/ | Fubarino Contest: Micro Voltmeter | Mike Szczys | [
"contests",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"fubarino-contest",
"voltmeter"
] | This collection of hardware is
a diy voltmeter
. It can measure up to 17V with 1 microvolt resolution while taking seven samples per second. The LTC2400 ADC board is used to make the measurements, with the Arduino processing the output and taking care of the display and user input buttons.
In addition to showing off what the thing can do in the video after the break, [Luis] gives us a look at the easter egg he added to the project. When you have a source that is very precisely 12V, the meter will read out Hackaday.com!
Incidentally the display used in this hack
is one we’ve seen before
. Obviously this is a convenient way to add interactive controls to your projects.
This is an entry in
the Fubarino Contest
for a chance at one of the 20
Fubarino SD boards
which Microchip has put up as prizes! | 6 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1149403",
"author": "supershwa",
"timestamp": "2013-12-29T03:23:31",
"content": "Is it just me, or do others think: without the easter egg, this is a very redundant post? HaD shouldn’t posteverythingit gets as random input; maybe it’s because of the new evil overlords?Seems it’s mo... | 1,760,376,354.912659 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/28/vibe-mirror/ | Vibe Mirror | Marsh | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"art installation",
"laser cut",
"mirror",
"vibration",
"vibration motor"
] | We love a good art-related project here at Hackaday, and [Wolfgang’s]
vibrating mirror prototype is worth a look:
into its distorting, reflective surface, of course.
[Wolfgang] began by laser cutting nine 1″ circles from an 8″ square mirror, then super glued a 1/4″ neoprene sheet to the back of the square, covering the holes. Each circular cutout received some custom acrylic backings, glued in place with a short piece of piano wire sticking out of the center. The resulting assemblage pushes through the neoprene backing like a giant thumbtack, thus holding all nine circular mirrors in place without restricting movement. The back end of the piano wire connects to yet another piece of acrylic, which is glued to a tiny
vibrating motor
.
He uses some shift registers and an Arduino Uno to control the motors, and although there’s no source code to glance it, we’re guessing [Wolfgang] simply designed the nine mirrors to buzz about in different patterns and create visually interesting compositions. Check out a quick video of the final effect after the break, and if you can help [Wolfgang] out with a name for his device, hit us up with your suggestions in the comments.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nV2EaPxYCI | 29 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "1149325",
"author": "XOIIO",
"timestamp": "2013-12-29T00:24:58",
"content": "I guess it’s interesting for like, 10 seconds, aside from that i don’t know, not enough BS involved to be some “Arty” thing, not practical, it’s just a thing.Didn’t know you could laser cut mirrors though, ... | 1,760,376,354.980206 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/28/chameleon-emulates-contactless-smart-cards/ | Chameleon Emulates Contactless Smart Cards | Adam Fabio | [
"Security Hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"Advanced Encryption Standard",
"Contactless smart card",
"germany",
"mifare",
"Radio-frequency identification",
"smart card",
"Universal Serial Bus"
] | Researchers at Ruhr University of Bochum in Germany have been busy working with RFID and related devices for quite some time now. They call the fruit of their labors
Chameleon, a versatile Contactless Smart Card Emulator
.
Contactless Smart Cards
are RFID style devices that also contain a smart card style memory. These cards are often used for payment, replacing mag strip style credit cards. Philips MIFARE Classic cards are a common example of contactless smart cards. The Chameleon is set up to emulate any number of cards using the common 13.56MHz frequency band. Adding a new card is as simple as loading up a new CODEC and application to the firmware. Currently Chameleon can emulate MIFARE cards using the ISO14443A.
The Chameleon is completely open source, and can be built for around $25 USD. The heart of the system is an Atmel ATxmega192A3 microcontroller. The 192 is a great microcontroller for this task because it contains hardware accelerators for both DES and AES-128. An FTDI USB interface chip is used to provide an optional communication link between a host computer and the ATxmega. The link can be used for debugging, as well as manipulating data in real-time. A host PC is not necessary for use though – the Chameleon will operate just fine as a stand alone unit. We definitely like this project – though we’re going to be doubling down on the shielding in our RF blocking wallets. | 46 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "1149212",
"author": "SFT2",
"timestamp": "2013-12-28T21:12:35",
"content": "This will be a very popular product with a certain segment of the population (which are, not coincidentally, the ones that gave me such great job security). Truly terrifying.",
"parent_id": null,
"de... | 1,760,376,355.195125 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/28/making-an-arm-powered-midi-synthesizer/ | Making An ARM Powered MIDI Synthesizer | Mathieu Stephan | [
"ARM",
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"arm",
"assembly",
"LPC",
"synthesizer"
] | What you see in the picture above is a hand-made
4-oscillator synthesizer
with MIDI input, multi-mode filter and a handful of modulation options. It was built by [Matt], an AVR accustomed electronics enthusiast who made an exception to his habits for this project. The core of the platform is a DIP packaged 32-bit Cortex-M0 ARM processor (LPC1114), stuffed with ‘hand’ written assembly code and compiled C functions. With a 50MHz clock speed, the microcontroller can output samples at 250kHz on the 12bit DAC while being powered by 3 AA batteries.
Reading [Matt]’s write-up, we discover that the firmware he created uses 4 oscillators (sawtooth or pulse shape) together with a low frequency oscillator (triangle, ramp, square, random shapes). It also includes a 2-pole
state-variable filter
and the ability to adjust the attack-release envelopes (among others). The system takes MIDI commands from a connected device. We embedded videos of his creation in action after the break. | 17 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1149115",
"author": "dings",
"timestamp": "2013-12-28T18:41:14",
"content": "Arduino + Mozzi lib ne1?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1149134",
"author": "iong",
"timestamp": "2013-12-28T19:09:25",
"content": "I wond... | 1,760,376,355.112569 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/28/fubarino-contest-custom-mech-warrior-online-controller/ | Fubarino Contest: Custom Mech Warrior Online Controller | Mike Szczys | [
"contests",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"controller",
"fubarino-contest"
] | Twenty-two keys, a push button, three flip-switches, and a touch screen
all let [Dominic] take his Mech Warrior Online game to the next level. He found that there are so many key bindings in the game it ends up being a huge pain to try to adapt his behavior to a static keyboard layout. Not only does the controller give him a specialized keypad, but he designed the touch screen interface to act as on-the-fly remapping. It even looks like something that would be mounted in a Battle Mech cockpit! What we can’t understand is why he didn’t tell us about this sexy peripheral hack much sooner?
What finally prompted him to tip us off about his project was the Fubarino Contest. Above you can see
the easter egg he added to the controller
. When the bottom five buttons on the touch screen are mapped to “31337” (aka “elite) the Teensy 3.0 board that drives the controller will automatically load up Hackaday in his browser.
This is an entry in
the Fubarino Contest
for a chance at one of the 20
Fubarino SD boards
which Microchip has put up as prizes! | 10 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1149000",
"author": "Addidis",
"timestamp": "2013-12-28T15:46:31",
"content": "Nice work on the input device.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1149002",
"author": "lloydjatkinson",
"timestamp": "2013-12-28T15:50:27",
... | 1,760,376,355.390819 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/28/the-magnetophone/ | The Magnetophone | Eric Evenchick | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"electro-acoustic",
"lm386",
"tone generator"
] | The Magnetophone
is the latest electro-acoustic instrument from [Aaron Sherwood]. This tower contains 14 strings, and 14 hand-wound electromagnets. By energizing each electromagnet with a square wave, the strings can be vibrated to create music.
The brains of the device consist of an Arduino Mega attached to the top of the tower. The microcontroller has 6 timers, which allows for 6 notes to play at the same time. An
open source tone library
was used to generate square waves at the correct frequencies. These square waves are amplified by LM386 based circuits, which provide enough power to the coil to oscillate the string. By using square waves at specific frequencies, overtones of strings can be created.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen [Aaron] combine strings and electronics. His
Glockentar
used solenoids to strike strings. However, this project provides new possibilities by allowing the rate of oscillation to be controlled precisely. You can see the instrument in action after the break. | 6 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1148800",
"author": "Dodutils",
"timestamp": "2013-12-28T13:22:00",
"content": "FYI “magnetophone” in French mean “Tape Recorder” ;-)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1149079",
"author": "iojga",
"timestamp": "2... | 1,760,376,355.344165 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/28/fubarino-contest-serial-data-transmission/ | Fubarino Contest: Serial Data Transmission | Mike Szczys | [
"contests"
] | [
"18f4550",
"ftdi",
"fubarino-contest",
"pic",
"serial"
] | [Jesus] is helping his cousin learn about microcontrollers. Right now they’re on the subject of serial communications, which turned into a nice way to add a Hackaday Easter Egg.
Using and FTDI chip in conjunction with the PIC 18F4550 (it’s a little soon for them to tackle implementing USB directly) the serial data is shown in a terminal window. At the same time the binary value of each byte is flashed on the PORTD LEDs. When the chip receives the characters “hack” it immediately
echos back the recommendation to check out the awesomeness that is Hackaday
. He posted
the code used in this example as a Gist
.
This is an entry in
the Fubarino Contest
for a chance at one of the 20
Fubarino SD boards
which Microchip has put up as prizes! | 14 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1148361",
"author": "ScottishCaptain",
"timestamp": "2013-12-28T09:31:41",
"content": "Yeah, okay, I gotta say, this crap is making me lose respect for this website.First off, this isn’t an easter egg since the project has no other functionality. Easter eggs are hidden features that... | 1,760,376,355.579919 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/27/raspberry-pi-car-deck/ | Raspberry Pi Car Deck | James Hobson | [
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"raspberry pi car deck"
] | You can get all sorts of cheap car stereo decks from China, but where’s the fun in that? [Sentcool] is an IT specialist and electrician, and he decided he wanted something a bit more unique for his car — so he built this awesome
Raspberry Pi car setup!
He’s using a Raspberry Pi Model B R2, a standard LCD car display (from China), a small 12V audio amplifier and an NF filter. The image above is from the first test of all the components together. He originally wanted to use a touch screen, but thought it might be too expensive for the project, so instead he’s carefully soldered switches onto some ribbon cable for the Pi’s GPIOs. Don’t you just love
stripping ribbon cable?
From there it was just a matter of creating a nice wooden face plate and jamming everything into the center console of his car. It looks pretty good although the buttons could use some work — Don’t worry though, [Sentcool] is already thinking about upgrading it.
See more after the break! | 25 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "1148056",
"author": "Johannes Asp",
"timestamp": "2013-12-28T06:14:22",
"content": "Nice work, but horrible looking result, and i bet that a cheap china-deck would have done a better job. I see the potential though.Add a touchscreen, XBMC and a nice skin and we are talking.",
"p... | 1,760,376,357.573034 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/27/fubarino-contest-bluetooth-control-for-pc-psu/ | Fubarino Contest: Bluetooth Control For PC PSU | Mike Szczys | [
"computer hacks",
"contests"
] | [
"android",
"bluetooth",
"fubarino-contest",
"psu"
] | [Mike] wanted to have remote control of the power on his computer. But Wake-on-LAN wasn’t really all that interesting to him. Instead he set out to build
this Bluetooth controller which manipulates the motherboard directly
(PDF).
Having been a winner of the Trinket Contest he based the project on that board which is seen on the left. There is also an RN-42 Bluetooth module and a couple of TI TS5A3157 analog switches. Once the prototype is finished the entire thing will run off of standby power and be located inside the case of his computer. The breadboard version just switches a couple of LEDs, but that will end up connecting to the pins for the power buttons once installed.
The video after the break shows off the easter egg. The device is controlled by [Mike’s] custom Android app. Every 42nd time he sends a power command the device calls back with our URL.
This is an entry in
the Fubarino Contest
for a chance at one of the 20
Fubarino SD boards
which Microchip has put up as prizes! | 6 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "1148465",
"author": "Bob Fleming",
"timestamp": "2013-12-28T10:33:11",
"content": "Why use analog switches? I realise it’s nice to have solid state switching but their switching side is rated up to +7V (V+max + 0.5V)- I don’t know the ATX standard, but can we be sure that there is l... | 1,760,376,357.433395 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/27/hacking-a-christmas-tree-for-less-blinkyness/ | Hacking A Christmas Tree For Less Blinkyness | Todd Harrison | [
"Holiday Hacks"
] | [
"AC synchronous motor",
"CMOS 4069",
"geared AC motor",
"h-bridge",
"variable frequency drive"
] | What good is a fiber optic self-lighting Christmas tree if it flashes so fast it will put you into an epileptic attack? The answer is “Not very good”, if you ask [Mads Nielsen] a.k.a [EcProjects]. So [EcProjects ] started a little project to
slow the Christmas tree’s blinkyness
down to a more reasonable rate. The task didn’t seem too difficult at first but turned into a quality tutorial building a variable frequency H-bridge motor control.
After opening the base of the tree [EcProjects] found a 12 volt AC geared synchronous motor turning a multi colored translucent plastic disk. A bright spotlight was shining upwards through the turning disk into the ends of hundreds of small fiber optics. This mechanism dumps loads of multi colored light out the ends of the fibers at the tips of the Christmas tree branches as the disk turns.
His goal was to slow down the motor; however, the rotation was based on the 50 Hz mains signal. In order to continue using this motor a lower frequency AC power source was needed. What follows in the video is an excellent lesson on how an AC synchronous motor works plus how to build a variable frequency control and H-bridge using some transistors, resistors and CMOS 4069 inverter chip.
In the end the frequency drive could only be lowered to about 30 Hz before the synchronous motor would stall and reverse using his design. [EcProjects] was bold enough to include several fails which always provides more opportunity for learning and is greatly appreciated.
If you believe you have a better solution please share your idea in the comments. I’m sure the first proposal will include an Arduino and
servo modified for continuous rotation
, but any solutions would be fascinating including modifications to his design. You can join us after the break to watch the video. | 42 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "1147544",
"author": "vonskippy",
"timestamp": "2013-12-28T00:06:19",
"content": "Sorry no arduino – Gear Reduction",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1147560",
"author": "NaYthan",
"timestamp": "2013-12-28T00:21:0... | 1,760,376,357.651437 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/27/fubarino-contest-oscilloscope-clock/ | Fubarino Contest: Oscilloscope Clock | Mike Szczys | [
"contests"
] | [
"clock",
"fubarino-contest",
"oscilloscope"
] | Before hearing about the Fubarino Contest [Joseph] never considered adding an Easter Egg to one of his own projects. But after seeing so many contest entries we think this is just the kind of fun extra that needs to make its way into every design!
The subject of his entry is an oscilloscope clock
which displays our URL instead of the numbers
usually found on a clock face. He’s using a SparkFun board to generate the clock — a piece of hardware we saw about 18 months ago
hidden inside of a vintage scope
. The feature is unlocked only when displaying roman numerals in combination with a special serial command.
Replacing the numerals with the URL isn’t entirely straight-forward. Since an oscilloscope is a vector display [Joseph] actually had to build his own array of start and end coordinates for each character. Luckily he did a fantastic job of documenting this which will allow you to make it say anything you wish.
This is an entry in
the Fubarino Contest
for a chance at one of the 20
Fubarino SD boards
which Microchip has put up as prizes! | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "1147449",
"author": "Addidis",
"timestamp": "2013-12-27T21:02:21",
"content": "Some impressive entries. :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,376,357.939664 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/26/fubarino-contest-fpga-pong/ | Fubarino Contest: FPGA Pong | Brian Benchoff | [
"contests",
"FPGA"
] | [
"fubarino-contest",
"pong",
"vhdl"
] | For [Eric]’s entry for our Fubarino Contest, he went down to very low-level hardware and
created Pong on an FPGA.
[Eric] used a
Basys 2 FPGA board
to create this virtual, logic gate version of Pong. Output is via the VGA port, multiplayer and an AI player is implemented, and all the required mechanics for Pong – collision detection, button and switch input, and score keeping are also in this project.
The Fubarino contest requires an easter egg, of course, so when the score for the left player reaches 13 and the score for the right player reaches 37 (get it? 1337?), the previously square ball turns into an extremely pixeley version of the Hackaday logo. The Hackaday URL is also displayed, thanks to [Eric]’s
FP(V)GA module
for displaying text on his FPGA board.
The improved Pong ball and URL only appears when the scores are 13-37, making this an extremely well-hidden easter egg. Video of [Eric] demoing his Pong below.
This is an entry in
the Fubarino Contest
for a chance at one of the 20
Fubarino SD boards
which Microchip has put up as prizes! | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "1146420",
"author": "polossatik",
"timestamp": "2013-12-26T22:54:56",
"content": "ok, this is cool.I find this the most fun contest entry yet.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1146519",
"author": "supershwa",
"timestamp"... | 1,760,376,357.319901 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/26/jello-shot-printer/ | Jello Shot Printer | James Hobson | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printed jello shots",
"3d printing",
"jello shots"
] | While inspecting some jello shots for a friend’s upcoming 25th birthday, [Sprite_tm] had an epiphany. What if you could
print designs
inside
the jello shots?
He quickly grabbed a syringe and proceeded to inject food dye into one of the jello shots — it worked. Unfortunately, his friend pointed out that it would take far too long to do each jello shot by hand, to which [Sprite] responded:
Never mind that, I’ll just whip up a 3D printer that can make nice figures in the jelly for you.
Classic. The great thing about the hacker-mindset is that you never say no when confronted with a problem!
To achieve this printer, [Sprite_tm] has taken a handful of old CD-ROM drives to create a three axis moving platform. He’s using a forth drive’s ejector assembly to depress a syringe which pushes a concoction of banana liquor, green food colouring and cornstarch through medical tubing to the ink-head. To control it, he’s just using an ATTiny2313 with a mere 2K of memory. It took a bit of fiddling with to find the right flow, but works surprisingly well. Stick around after the break to see its printing capabilities.
[via
Reddit
] | 29 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "1146226",
"author": "0xfred",
"timestamp": "2013-12-26T18:08:10",
"content": "Nice. I wonder if the results would be better or worse if the jello was only partially set when printing?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1146244",
... | 1,760,376,357.385831 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/26/fubarino-contest-hackaday-in-your-soldering-iron/ | Fubarino Contest: Hackaday In Your Soldering Iron | Brian Benchoff | [
"contests",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"fubarino-contest",
"soldering iron"
] | Besides a coffee pot, the most important tool on the electronic tinkerer’s workbench is the soldering iron. Surprisingly, though, we haven’t seen many people build their own soldering stations. [Pjkim] did, and went so far as to include an easter egg for our Fubarino contest.
A few years ago, [Pjkim]
received a free Soldering Iron Driver
from Dangerous Prototypes.
This awesome kit
provides everything you could want out of a soldering iron – USB and serial data logging, a 2×16 display, compatibility with a whole bunch of solder tips, and it’s completely reprogrammable.
[Pjkim]’s task for the Fubarino contest was to put an easter egg somewhere in the soldering iron. He did that by having the Hackaday URL display when the iron is ready for use. This isn’t the only firmware modification, either: the new firmware also debounces the button presses and adds auto repeat.
If you’re looking for some code, [Pjkim] put
everything up on the Hackaday forums
. There’s also a video showing off the easter egg available below.
This is an entry in
the Fubarino Contest
for a chance at one of the 20
Fubarino SD boards
which Microchip has put up as prizes! | 3 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "1146092",
"author": "pcf11",
"timestamp": "2013-12-26T14:32:43",
"content": "My soldering iron make a little click sound when it is up to temperature. I have a Weller WTCPN",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1146411",
"author":... | 1,760,376,357.273575 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/26/neverwet-on-electronics/ | NeverWet On Electronics? | James Hobson | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"NeverWet",
"Rust-Oleum"
] | Does NeverWet work on electronics? The team over at
Adafruit just had to find out
— and to an extent,
it does work!
But wait, what’s NeverWet? It’s
Rust-Oleum’s miracle water-repelling coating
which is super hydrophobic. It actually works, and we’re kind of surprised we haven’t seen it used in a hack yet! Anyway, let’s start this hack with a quick disclaimer. NeverWet is
not
designed for waterproofing electronics.
But when has that ever stopped the pursuit of science!?
The experimenters chose a few electronic guinea pigs to test out NeverWet’s capabilities. An Arduino Micro, a FLORA LED broach, and a Raspberry Pi. Using the proper application method they coated the unlucky electronics with a few generous layers of the product. Using plain NYC tap water they tested each component. The FLORA LED broach (shown above) lasted underwater for about 4 hours before it died. The Arduino Micro fared similar, however the Wet Raspberry only booted once before losing connection to the SD card.
For full details check out the full experiment or stick around after the break to see a video of the tests.
[via
Reddit
] | 37 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "1145919",
"author": "Angus",
"timestamp": "2013-12-26T09:11:45",
"content": "They didn’t test what happens without the NeverWet coating? Some electronics will work for a while in tap water without any special treatment.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,376,357.513471 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/25/christmas-tree-analyzes-your-tweets/ | Christmas Tree Analyzes Your Tweets | James Hobson | [
"Holiday Hacks"
] | [
"beanstalkd",
"christmas lights",
"christmas tree",
"Stanford University"
] | It’s Christmas time. You have a string of 50 individually addressable RGB LEDs, what would you do? Well, [Barney] decided to try something different. He’s made a
Christmas tree that reflects Twitter’s current sentiments about the holiday.
Wait, what? We admit, it’s a kind of weird concept, but the software behind it is pretty cool. As it turns out Stanford University’s Natural Language Processing Group released the source code for their
sentiment analyzer.
Unlike a normal sentiment analyzer which assigns points to positive words and negative points for negative words, this one actually uses a deep learning model which builds up a representation of entire sentences based on their structure — only problem? It was designed and trained to analyze movie reviews, not Christmas tweets.
Regardless, it still does the trick (kind of), but, it’s pretty slow. [Barney] has his fastest computer running four instances of the analyzer, which pulls Christmas tweets that have been sorted by the Twitter API — it then analyzes them, assigns the sentiment, and places them in a second queue. He’s using
beanstalkd
for the queuing and a Raspberry Pi to control the lights. The result is a pretty light display whose colors represent the sentiments of incoming tweets — it’s hard to say if it’s actually successful in reflecting the opinion of the tweets, but it’s a pretty cool concept.
Stick around after the break to see the Christmas Tweet Analyzing Tree in action — say that 5 times fast! | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "1150389",
"author": "needs_moar_twitter",
"timestamp": "2013-12-30T10:50:07",
"content": "I wish I could give a s**t about anything that interfaces with twitter…really I do. But after 100s of attempts over 5+ years, I just wish it would stop.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1... | 1,760,376,357.898348 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/25/more-lights-for-your-presents/ | More Lights For Your Presents | Marsh | [
"Holiday Hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"Christmas gifts",
"induction",
"inductive charger",
"inductive charging",
"leds"
] | Lights on the tree? Check. Presents under the tree? Check.
Lights in the presents? Why not!
If your gifts don’t look festive enough and you have a spare inductive charging system lying around the house—though, you could always
build your own from scratch
—you can brighten things up by installing a few LEDs in the packaging.
The Instructable takes advantage of those new-fangled LED Christmas lights, one strand of which typically draws under 1A and requires around 5V, putting it in the ballpark for popular induction systems used to charge cell phones such as the
Powermat
. In this particular example, the strand ran off 3 AA batteries, or 4.5V, which meant stepping down the voltage either with a power regulator or, more conveniently, a simple diode in series.
Some additional modifications to the packaging tidy up the installation, including carving out some of the cardboard to recess the receiver and securing everything with hot glue before wrapping it all in paper. You can see a quick demonstration video below. | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "1145632",
"author": "fartface",
"timestamp": "2013-12-26T01:13:31",
"content": "using PWM can bring the draw way under 1A. Plus, Less is more with cool things like this.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,376,357.22858 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/25/serializing-dickens-to-leds/ | Serializing Dickens To LEDs | Marsh | [
"Holiday Hacks"
] | [
"python",
"scrolling",
"serial"
] | [ch00f] managed to capture some holiday spirit this year by
translating all of
A Christmas Carol
to scrolling text.
Dickens’s work has long since entered public domain, which led [ch00f] to wire up a GeekCatch programmable display
from Amazon.
It has a low refresh rate, which means videos look a bit goofy, but it’s perfectly acceptable for text. [ch00f] ditched the remote control and instead used the display’s serial connection to program in the novella. Unfortunately, he could not find any documentation for the serial protocol, but he was able to reverse engineer it with some freeware applications found online.
It takes over six hours for the sign to spit out the entirety of
A Christmas Carol
, which easily surpassed the display’s limited text buffer. [ch00f] instead had to send text to the display one paragraph at a time via a custom Python script. This solution takes advantage of the sign’s fixed-width font to estimate the time it takes for each character to scroll by, then immediately feeds the sign a new line.
Check out the blog post for a quick teardown of the display itself and for a detailed description of the protocol in case you decide to use this display for a project. Stick around for a video below! | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1145624",
"author": "Kerimil",
"timestamp": "2013-12-26T00:42:43",
"content": "Well there is nothing wrong in writing your own python script for sending data to a serial port from file, but there’s Coolterm and it’s freewarehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqdC__jZILk",
"parent_id... | 1,760,376,357.822383 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/27/elinchrom-el-skyport-triggered-by-arduino/ | Elinchrom EL-Skyport Triggered By Arduino | Phillip Ryals | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"camera",
"flash",
"nRF2402G",
"nRF24L01+",
"photography"
] | [Toby] has an Elinchrom EL-Skyport, which is a wireless flash trigger. He decided to see if he could trigger it using an Arduino, and
came up with a nice proof of concept
. This little device was not meant to be user serviceable, as can be seen in what [Toby] uncovered
while taking it apart
. But once he had it disassembled, he cataloged everything inside, and then he awesomely went to the trouble of
drawing up a schematic
. With that knowledge, he began
reverse engineering the SPI protocol used
, which almost deserves an article by itself.
It was a long road to get there, but in the end [Toby] built a prototype Arduino shield that houses an nRF24L01+ module. These are very cheap to pick up on eBay. He gives us the details on hooking up the module, though he had to go through extra hoops since he was using the Arduino Leonardo. Still, once you’re up and running, you can make use of one of the
existing
libraries
specifically for this module.
Thanks to his effort, the rest of us have one more device to hack on. Thanks [Toby]! | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "1148525",
"author": "heatgap-jimbo",
"timestamp": "2013-12-28T10:58:03",
"content": "Well done. You have some bad ass equipment lol.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,376,358.033136 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/27/fubarino-contest-home-automation-and-candle-flicker/ | Fubarino Contest: Home Automation And Candle Flicker | Mike Szczys | [
"contests",
"Holiday Hacks"
] | [
"christmas tree",
"flickering candle hack",
"fubarino-contest"
] | Here’s a set of holiday themed contest entries:
With a home automation system already in place, and considering the time of year, [Thom]
chose to use his Christmas tree lights
as the contest easter egg. When he uses his smart phone to set the fifth channel of the lighting controller to a 50% duty cycle it causes the string of lights to mete out the Hackaday web address as a series of dots and dashes. You can
find the code here
(DOC).
[Jacques] offers up
a flickering LED
as the host of his hidden easter egg. When you short the two leads of the LED for a little bit it forces the PIC 10F200 into a different mode that then flashes our URL in Morse Code. Have a look at
the assembly file
. His implementation was based on
the reverse engineering we saw recently
.
This is an entry in
the Fubarino Contest
for a chance at one of the 20
Fubarino SD boards
which Microchip has put up as prizes! | 3 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "1147236",
"author": "Tom P.",
"timestamp": "2013-12-27T16:10:24",
"content": "getting a little bored of these",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1147466",
"author": "Seriously Guys?",
"timestamp": "2013-12-27T21:37:17",
... | 1,760,376,357.98822 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/27/cleaning-slides-with-plasma/ | Cleaning Slides With Plasma | Eric Evenchick | [
"chemistry hacks"
] | [
"cleaning",
"plasma",
"RF",
"science"
] | [Ben Krasnow] hacked together a method of
cleaning sides using plasma
. His setup uses a mechanical vacuum pump to evacuate a bell jar. This bell jar is wrapped with a copper coil, which is connected to an RF transmitter. By transmitting RF into the coil, plasma is created inside the bell jar.
Plasma cleaning
is used extensively in the semiconductor industry. Depending on the gas used, it can have different cleaning effects. For example, an oxygen rich environment is very effective at breaking down organic bonds and removing hydrocarbons. It is used after manual cleaning to ensure that all impurities in the solvents used for cleaning are fully removed. According to [Ben], it’s possible to get a surface atomically clean using this process, and even remove the substrate if the energy levels are too high.
These machines are usually expensive and specialized, but [Ben] managed to cook one up on his bench. After the break, check out a video walk through of [Ben]’s plasma cleaner | 36 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1147060",
"author": "Uri",
"timestamp": "2013-12-27T12:45:34",
"content": "O2 use is a very dangerous idea. Oxygen will make pretty much ANYTHING an explosive.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1147075",
"author": "Hack ... | 1,760,376,358.27999 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/27/motorized-longboard/ | Motorized Longboard | James Hobson | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"longboard",
"motorized longboard"
] | What were you building in your junior year of highschool? Well, for [Aaron Cofield], he
built a motorized longboard.
He started with a plain longboard in the design he liked, gave it a nice paint coat (aesthetics over functionality people!) and then started looking into motorizing it. As it turns out there’s actually a
pretty handy blog
dedicated to converting longboards to electric. After many
hours of research
he settled on a 2400W RC prop motor and a 150A high performance RC car ESC unit. Who knew it was that simple!
A few metal brackets, some belts, sprockets, an idler and a whole ton of lithium-ion batteries later and the build is complete! He’s currently controlling it with an RC car remote, but had plans to control it using a Wii nunchuck and Arduino. The test runs this past summer got the board going about 20mph!
It looks done for now, but we’re sure he’s going to be continuing to refine it next summer — stick around after the break to see one of its first test drives! | 18 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1146882",
"author": "Pat Hartl (@pathartl)",
"timestamp": "2013-12-27T09:04:16",
"content": "I like the idea of the RC car remote with the trigger. The nunchuck is an interesting idea, but why not pressure sensors? Lean forward to go faster and such.",
"parent_id": null,
"de... | 1,760,376,358.092496 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/26/mega-tree-game-display/ | Mega Tree Game Display | James Hobson | [
"Holiday Hacks"
] | [
"christmas tree",
"holiday light show",
"holiday tree"
] | Christmas may be over, but the holiday hacks keep rolling in, like this awesome interactive
Mega Tree Game Display!
[Lior] loves setting up light shows every year (just check out last year’s awesome
White Christmas display with music!
), but taking them down just… well… sucks! So this year he decided to make a fully controllable non-holiday specific light display that he can reuse it all year long.
It features 12 x 5 meter long waterproof RGB LED strips secured firmly to the front of his house, making a trapezoidal 12 x 150 pixel display. It was originally controlled with an Arduino but he found the USB connection was far too slow for the high frame rates he was aiming for — so he’s using a combination of a Raspberry Pi and a Teensy 2.0 instead.
Now, just making a programmable light show suitable for all holidays is pretty cool we must admit, but as [Lior] puts it, a plain light show is “so last decade”. So he’s gone and made the whole thing smartphone interactive. Yep, you can actually log in with your phone and play a
silly game
that involves dropping gifts on houses and snowmen. He’s also got a pretty cool
Hanukkah display
that features a spinning dreidel! Check out the full demonstration video after the break. | 3 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "1146919",
"author": "James",
"timestamp": "2013-12-27T10:00:47",
"content": "Nicely done. I’d love to see SkiFree running on that display!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1147284",
"author": "James Hobson",
"ti... | 1,760,376,358.327293 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/26/apple-and-raspberry-pis/ | Apple And Raspberry Pis | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"apple",
"apple II",
"raspberry pi"
] | Deep in the bowels of the Internet there are some crazy people who have a wish list for what the next Apple II should look like. The capabilities of this dream machine of 80s retrocomputing is generally said to be something with a 32-bit CPU, a UNIX OS, modern graphics, and networking. This sounds a lot like a Raspberry Pi, so [Dave]
built an Apple II to Raspberry Pi adapter card
.
Having a Pi talk to an Apple II over a serial connection doesn’t really give either machine the full capabilities of the other. To fix this issue, [Dave]
wrote two pieces of software
. The first is a UNIX daemon that listens to the Apple II on a serial port connection, handling the Apple II keyboard connection. The second piece of software is a ProDOS disk image file running on the Apple II. With these two pieces of software, [Dave] can run the Apple on the Raspi, or run the Raspi on the Apple, sending files and data back and forth with no problem.
Aside from providing a strange and awesome Apple II to UNIX interface, the Apple II Pi also has a lot of advantages that might not be readily apparent.
An Apple II compact flash adapter
can be used as an internal hard drive for these pieces of classic apple hardware, and the
Uthernet Ethernet card for the AII
brings networking. Both of these devices are absurdly expensive compared to the component cost of the Apple II Pi, and what they bring to the table can be easily copied by the Apple II Pi.
The Apple II Pi is just a simple double-sided board with a few resistors, a cap, header, a 7404 inverter, and a communications chip
that’s $5 for quantity one.
If you already have a Raspi hanging around your workbench and want to soup up an Apple II with some crazy hardware capabilities, you really can’t do better than getting one of these Apple II Pi boards. Now if we could only find the board files…
Video of the Apple II Pi below, showing off all the awesome capabilities of a Pi-powered Apple. Thanks [Itay] for sending this one in. | 22 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "1146618",
"author": "lwatcdr",
"timestamp": "2013-12-27T03:49:21",
"content": "Lets all be honest we do not want Unix on an Apple II. we want an AppleIIGS with a 3.5 ghz 65C816 and 8megs of static ram running at clock speed. And yes I am being silly just because. Nice hack now run a... | 1,760,376,358.442673 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/26/re-purposing-an-old-laptop-display/ | Re-purposing An Old Laptop Display | Phillip Ryals | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"laptop",
"lcd",
"monitor",
"stand"
] | [Tim] found himself with a laptop that had a good 18.4″ screen, but otherwise didn’t run properly. It would be a shame to throw that away, so he decided to salvage the screen by
turning it into a standalone monitor
. This isn’t exactly new, as he did what many people have done and looked to eBay for an after-market LCD controller board. The real beauty is in the enclosure he built. [Tim] had some scrap wood available from a previous project, so he set about designing a new frame for the monitor, and a very nice adjustable stand, as can be seen in the photo above.
One nice detail is in the control panel buttons. The LCD controller comes with a separate board housing the controls, and while he made a mistake mounting it initially, he ended up with a nice set of oak buttons that match the frame perfectly. He then built a nice backing out of styrene that holds the screen in place as well as housing the electronics.
Overall, it’s a nice looking project, and it is always nice to see electronics re-purposed rather than ending up in a landfill. We can’t help but think this would be a great frame for building a picture frame or a wall-mounted PC as well. | 12 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1146498",
"author": "dnv",
"timestamp": "2013-12-27T00:43:04",
"content": "IS there any way to repurpose an old controller? IDK… like… reconfiguring the EDID data in the actual LCD. I ask becouse I live in a region of the world where shipping would be actually twice the cost of the ... | 1,760,376,358.380462 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/25/an-animated-elf/ | An Animated Elf | Marsh | [
"Holiday Hacks",
"Tablet Hacks"
] | [
"animation",
"elf",
"tablet"
] | Halloween receives the bulk of the attention for installation-type hacks, but [Stephen’s]
animated elf hack-in-progress
provides the perfect example of bringing the Christmas spirit to life.
[Stephen] constructed both the background and the elf’s body from a scrap piece of plywood, drawing and painting everything by hand, and then secured the plywood with a simple 2×4 that serves as a stand. The bulk of the hack is rather simple, and reflects the longstanding technique of
traditional cel animation
: the non-moving portions are kept stationary and only the moving parts need to change. In this case, [Stephen’s] shortcut is to insert a tablet as the elf’s face.
The tablet is a BlackBerry PlayBook, which moves the eyes around and spouts off a few Santa-related quips while animating the mouth. [Stephen] encountered a problem with the PlayBook’s 5-minute screen timeout function, and had to design a custom application to prevent the tablet from entering sleep mode while it played through the animations. His future plans are to drill a hole through the plywood and expose the tablet’s light sensor to detect when someone walks by, then have the elf spring to life in response. You can see his progress so far in the video below. | 2 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "1145427",
"author": "aztraph",
"timestamp": "2013-12-25T18:34:09",
"content": "I like the build but damn he’s creepy.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1145608",
"author": "marcolinuxBr",
"timestamp": "2013-12-25... | 1,760,376,359.134255 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/25/spherebot-decorating-xmas-baubles/ | Spherebot: Decorating Xmas Baubles | James Hobson | [
"cnc hacks",
"Holiday Hacks"
] | [
"eggbot",
"mug plotter",
"OpenSource",
"spherebot"
] | The
Spherebot
is an open source machine capable of printing designs onto spherical objects, such as Xmas baubles!
The design is based on the ever-popular
Egg-Bot
, which we have seen derived into many other useful printers such as the
Mug Plotter
, and the
Ping Pong Printer.
The Spherebot features two stepper motors, one servo motor for marker actuation, some cheap mounting hardware, and a whole bunch of 3D printed parts—all of which are available on
Thingiverse.
In this design they used a 3D printer controller board called the
3Drag
by Open-Electronics, which is based on the ATmega2560 (the same microcontroller as the Arduino MEGA). The Spherebot doesn’t require all three axes or an extruder, so they only installed 2 out of the 4 stepper drivers on the board to save cost.
Once you have it all built, it’s a simple matter of uploading your design into the free
Spherebot-Host-GUI
provided on GitHub. Stick around after the break to see just what it is capable of!
[via
Dangerous Prototypes
] | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1146686",
"author": "t-bone",
"timestamp": "2013-12-27T05:46:26",
"content": "I feel bad for the little spherebot sitting here without comments. It does a good job!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1146907",
"author": "Orion... | 1,760,376,358.693389 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/25/cartolucci-a-candle-powered-christmas-card/ | CartoLucci: A Candle-Powered Christmas Card | Marsh | [
"Holiday Hacks"
] | [
"conductive ink",
"greeting card",
"solar"
] | If you’re looking for a last-minute Christmas present, you probably won’t have enough time to reproduce [Helmar’s]
candle-powered Christmas card.
He’s been working on it for a few years now, since his
first prototype in 2010
. Though he pieced together the original card with parts lying around his workshop, the most recent iteration looks like it belongs on the shelf in a store.
We last saw [Helmar’s] work two years ago, when he shared his
Full Color Laser TV
. This project is a bit more compact: the circuitry was printed with conductive ink on the cardstock, and all the required components are held together by conductive adhesive. To power the electronics, he decided against a battery and instead chose to embed a solar cell on the inside of the card. Placing a lit candle inside the open card provides enough juice for the exterior of the card to shine.
You can see a video of both the current and prototype versions of [Helmar’s] cards after the break. | 11 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1145265",
"author": "aztraph",
"timestamp": "2013-12-25T13:57:37",
"content": "That second one needs some backing so you don’t get a ghost image of the electronics to spoil the effect. they are really neat though",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,376,358.557834 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/24/led-matrix-mask-will-scare-up-holiday-cheer/ | LED Matrix Mask Will Scare Up Holiday Cheer | Kristina Panos | [
"LED Hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"ir",
"led",
"masks",
"microcontroller"
] | [
Davide
] sent us
this fun LED matrix mask
he built using an ATMega8 and
74LS595N
shift registers. Each of the eyes is an 8×8 LED matrix, and the mouth is made from two 8x8s. [Davide] used a
ULN2803A
Darlington transistor array to drive the matrices.
When the user steps behind the mask, an IR sensor detects that a face is within range and activates the facial features. The code randomly runs the eye and mouth patterns. If the user starts speaking, a microphone element detects his voice and a separate speaking mouth pattern is executed.
The mask body and stand are
découpaged
with pages from
Dylan Dog
comics. [Davide] says he built the mask years ago, but decided to submit it to the
2013 Inverart Art Fair
in Milan. As you can probably imagine, the mask has been a big hit with the kids so far.
Stick around to see [Davide]’s Santa-fied demonstration after the jump. [Davide] didn’t give us any details on that sweet hat, unfortunately.
If you require a better degree of protection or more LEDs, check out this
LED helmet
. | 6 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1144851",
"author": "pcf11",
"timestamp": "2013-12-25T04:36:21",
"content": "WTF is it Halloween? I thought it was Christmas? I need to lay off the holiday spirits over here.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1144892",
"... | 1,760,376,358.643182 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/24/direct-wall-mounted-storage-with-lasers-and-polymorph/ | Direct, Wall-Mounted Storage With Lasers And Polymorph | Marsh | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Parts",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"component storage",
"laser cutter",
"organization",
"polymorph",
"storage"
] | We’re sure everyone could use some more storage and organization in their workshop. [Nixie] is no exception, though he also hates sacrificing tabletop space for boxes. His solution was to attach them to the wall directly by
hacking together some brackets
. This hack allowed him to hang everything without using internal screws which were a pain to get at if he need to removed the boxes from the wall to take with him.
[Nixie] started by laser-cutting a negative pattern for a mounting bracket that would fit the dovetail rails already on the sides of the boxes. He then pressed a piece of polymorph into this mold, slid the bracket along the side of the box…and realized it wouldn’t work. The piece wiggled around too much because it did not sit firmly in the rail. Back at the drawing board, [Nixie] split the project into two steps. He cast the screw-hole portion of the bracket in its own separate mold, then cast the railing part of the bracket directly in the dovetail section of the box, providing him a much higher degree of accuracy. After joining the two pieces, [Nixie] had a sturdy support bracket that he duplicated and attached around the rest of the bins. | 14 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1144674",
"author": "Kyle",
"timestamp": "2013-12-25T00:28:08",
"content": "Neat idea to use the dovetails, but if there’s any forward motion, the box will fall off. Internal screws only require removing a drawer to get at, and are very secure. If you’re that pick, a set of french c... | 1,760,376,358.749703 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/24/fubarino-contest-a-sculpted-room-with-leds/ | Fubarino Contest: A Sculpted Room With LEDs | Brian Benchoff | [
"contests",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"fubarino-contest",
"LED controller",
"RGB LED"
] | [Sisam] and [Mclien] are a father and son team that built
this sculptural room
with an organic looking built-in seating area and sculpted lamp shades. When you have a room that looks this cool, the only option you have is to fill it with RGB LEDs, and it just so happens their light controller has a great Hackaday Easter egg.
The room lighting is provided by a
Shifty VU shield
,
OctoBar LED controller
, and a few of
these RGB LED modules
. All pretty standard for an RGB LED project, but where this contest submission really shines is the controller for all the room lights. It has three sliders for the red, green, and blue channels, beefy toggle switches for each light location, an LCD for showing the program mode, a rotary switch, and push buttons for cycling through stored setups.
The Easter egg for this project comes into play whenever the color value of the lights is set to Hackaday green,
#00c100
. When that happens, the Hackaday URL is displayed on the controller’s display.
Awesome work, and a
really
cool-looking room. We wouldn’t mind a tutorial on how you sculpted it, [Sisam].
This is an entry in
the Fubarino Contest
for a chance at one of the 20
Fubarino SD boards
which Microchip has put up as prizes! | 7 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1144652",
"author": "Jessie Wan",
"timestamp": "2013-12-24T23:48:16",
"content": "I would prefer less emphasis on you HackaDay and your projects .I would like you to move back to a reporting posture on electrical and computer hacks rather than a participant",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,376,359.385236 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/24/retrotechtacular-submarine-cable-splicing-is-serious-business/ | Retrotechtacular: Submarine Cable Splicing Is Serious Business | Kristina Panos | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Retrotechtacular"
] | [
"cables",
"lead",
"retrotechtacular",
"submarine cables",
"telephony",
"underwater"
] | Really. As this wonderfully narrated talkie picture from 1939 will attest,
keeping even one drop of water from penetrating undersea cables
is of the utmost importance.
How do they do it? Many, many layers of protection, including several of
jute wrapping
. The video centers on splicing a new cable to an existing one in the San Francisco Bay to bring the wonder of telephony to a man-made island created for the
Golden Gate International Expo
.
The narrator makes these men out to be heroes, and when you see how much lead they came into contact with, you’ll understand what he means. Each of the 1,056
individually insulated
wires must be spliced by hand. After that comes a boiling out process in which petrolatum is poured over the splice to remove all moisture. Then, a lead sleeve is pulled over the connections.
Molten lead is poured over the sleeve and smoothed out
by hand
.
At this point, the splice is tested. The sleeve is punctured and nitrogen gas is pumped in at 20psi. Then comes the most important step: the entire sleeve is painted with soap suds. Any gas that escapes will make telltale bubbles.
Once they are satisfied with the integrity of the sheath, they wrap the whole thing in what appears to be lead cables and pound them into submission. Surely that would be enough, don’t you think? Nope. They weld the cables all around and then apply two coats of tar-treated jute wrapping, which retards saltwater corrosion considerably.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5od6roIMtQ
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 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "1144387",
"author": "Geebles",
"timestamp": "2013-12-24T18:07:13",
"content": "When shrink wrap just won’t do! :D",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1144399",
"author": "Christian Restifo (@restifo)",
"timestamp": "2013-12-... | 1,760,376,358.960778 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/23/the-worlds-first-autonomous-flapping-mav/ | The World’s First Autonomous Flapping MAV | Phillip Ryals | [
"drone hacks"
] | [
"mav",
"ornithopter"
] | [Ferdinand] sent in a tip about the very cool
DelFly Explorer
, built by researchers at Netherlands’ Delft University of Technology, which is claimed to be the world’s first autonomous, flapping micro air vehicle. While it doesn’t fly like a typical ornithopter, the specs will convince you not to care. It has an 28 cm wingspan and weighs 20 grams, which includes motors, a battery, two cameras, and an autopilot. The autopilot uses accelerometers and a gyroscope, plus a barometer for altitude measurement. You can see the on-board video at the 35-second mark on the video (after the break). They are incredibly noisy images, but apparently the researchers have come up with some algorithms that can make sense of it.
Put it all together, and you have a machine that can take off, maintain altitude, avoid obstacles, and fly for nine minutes. We’ve seen
a cool ornithopter design before
, and even
a thrust vectoring plane
, but this surpasses both projects. It’s pretty incredible what they have been able to fit into such a small design. | 17 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1143181",
"author": "Christian Restifo (@restifo)",
"timestamp": "2013-12-23T16:07:03",
"content": "Ok, I confess. I first read that title with a missing lowercase “L”.Admit it. You did, too.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "11... | 1,760,376,359.032267 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/23/repairing-a-non-serviceable-welding-hood/ | Repairing A Non-Serviceable Welding Hood | Phillip Ryals | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"cr2330",
"optrel",
"welding hood"
] | [Unixgeek] owns an Optrel welding hood, which contains a lens that auto-adjusts for various welding tasks. It stopped working properly, and this hood is “Non-Serviceable”, so he had to either throw it away or hack it. The problem was that he knew it contained batteries, but they weren’t accessible. Using his milling machine,
he was able to fix it himself
. After removing the outer layer of plastic [Unixgeek] found that it was filled with foam. With continued milling he finally uncovered the batteries. They are standard CR2330 cells, so he could easily replace them, or set up a separate battery holder.
We like seeing this sort of hack, as simple as it is, because of how much we truly hate devices with planned obsolescence built in. This is a
>$300 safety device
that gets broken when some coin cells finally die. Any sort of hack to
keep people from having to throw away their devices
is a good thing.
Do you have a favorite planned obsolescence hack? Share it in the comments! | 47 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "1142955",
"author": "Matt",
"timestamp": "2013-12-23T12:09:56",
"content": "Personally, I’d be shelling out another $300. To get new eyes would cost you an arm and a leg. I’d rather not mess with things that keep me safe.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,376,359.327471 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/23/holograms-with-the-new-kinect/ | Holograms With The New Kinect | Brian Benchoff | [
"Kinect hacks"
] | [
"Kinect",
"kinect for windows",
"Kinect v2",
"unity"
] | The Xbox One is out, along with a new Kinect sensor, and this time around Microsoft didn’t waste any time making this 3D vision sensor available for Windows. [programming4fun] got his hands on the new Kinect v2 sensor and
started work on a capture system
to import anything into a virtual environment.
We’ve seen [programming4fun]’s work before with
an extremely odd and original build
that turns any display into a 3D display with the help of a Kinect v1 sensor. This time around, [programming] isn’t just using a Kinect to display a 3D object, he’s also using a Kinect to capture 3D data.
[programming] captured himself playing a few chords on a guitar with the new Kinect v2 sensor. This was saved to a custom file format that can be played back in the Unity engine. With the help of a Kinect v1, [programming4fun] can pan and tilt around this virtual model simply by moving his head.
If that’s not enough, [programming] has also included support for the Oculus Rift, turning the Unity-based virtual copy of himself into something he can interact with in a video game.
As far as we can tell, this is the first build on Hackaday using the new Kinect sensor.
We asked what everyone was going to do
with this new improved hardware, and from [programming]’s demo, it seems like there’s still a lot of unexplored potential with the new Xbox One spybox. | 10 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1142944",
"author": "J",
"timestamp": "2013-12-23T12:01:46",
"content": "So… where is the hologram?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1143214",
"author": "MrX",
"timestamp": "2013-12-23T16:50:44",
"content": "When do p... | 1,760,376,359.088113 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/22/fubarino-contest-the-problem-of-being-very-good-at-foosball/ | Fubarino Contest: The Problem Of Being Very Good At Foosball | Brian Benchoff | [
"contests"
] | [
"foosball",
"fubarino-contest"
] | [Sebastian] works at an engineering company testing car ECUs, head units, and all the confusing wiring harnesses found in the modern-day automobile. It’s good work, but not exactly fun, so [Sebastian]’s bosses bought a foosball table so the employees could unwind. The foosball tables have been there for several years, and now everyone at the company is
really, really good
at twirling little football players on a stick. With their current rule set (at least 6 goals and 2 goals ahead), matches last at least twenty minutes.
[Sebastian] came up with a solution to this problem:
a KickerClock
– something between a chess clock and an automated score keeper for foosball. The device has two seven-segment displays for each team, and a countdown timer for both of the four and a half minute rounds. All the documentation is up
in [Sebastian]’s Google Drive
, and he plans on adding a few neat features such as automated score keeping.
The easter egg for this submission? The buttons for scoring each goal are used as combination lock. By scoring eight black team goals (H=8), one silver team goal (A=1), three black goals (C=3), and eleven silver goals (K=11), the Hackaday URL shows up on the seven-segment displays.
Extremely
well hidden, and a great way to efficiently waste time at work.
Video of the KickerClock, and the easter egg, available below.
This is an entry in
the Fubarino Contest
for a chance at one of the 20
Fubarino SD boards
which Microchip has put up as prizes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyW7rYWtM6U | 4 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "1142833",
"author": "Tobias",
"timestamp": "2013-12-23T09:46:44",
"content": "HaChao Ay! Sounds like a sneezing Pirate. ;)Our Kicker-Table has only a goal-counter with light sensors. A clock would be a neat addon. Heat up the soldering irons, Arrrrr!",
"parent_id": null,
"de... | 1,760,376,359.178498 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/22/3d-printering-making-a-thing-in-autocad-part-ii/ | 3D Printering: Making A Thing In AutoCAD, Part II | Brian Benchoff | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Hackaday Columns"
] | [
"2D design",
"3D design",
"3D Printering",
"AutoCAD",
"cad"
] | It’s time once again for another part in 3D Printering’s series of
Making A Thing.
Last week was a short tutorial on the beginnings of making a
thing
in AutoCAD. This is an extremely complex software package, and in a desire to make things short and sweet, I broke this AutoCAD tutorial into two parts.
Since we already covered
the 2D design portion of AutoCAD
, part II of this tutorial is going to turn our 2D part into a three-dimensional object. Check out the rest of the tutorial below.
Our Thing
Just like all of these
Making a Thing
tutorials, we’re using this object pulled out of a nearly 100-year-old textbook on drawing and drafting. We already have a 2D projection of this part, from the previous AutoCAD tutorial, so let’s just dig right in.
Views and Presspull
In
the last installment of this AutoCAD tutorial
, we only used the ‘top’ projection. This is great if you’re working in 2D, but making a 3D object is nearly impossible. The first thing we need to do is change to an isometric projection in AutoCAD. To do this, just click on the ‘view’ tab and change the view to SE Isometric. You’ll end up with something that looks like the picture to the left.
With being able to see the Z axis sorted out, the first order of business is making a 2D object 3D. You might think
the command we want to use here is
extrude.
You’d be terribly wrong, though. The command we want to use is called
presspull.
Extrude
is an AutoCAD command that pulls the highlighted objects (in our case, the lines making up our part) through the Z axis. It doesn’t make your lines a solid, though, so unless you’re designing single-thickness vases to print on your RepRap, there isn’t much use for
extrude.
By selecting the
presspull
command from the ‘solid’ menu in AutoCAD, we can click on the object we want to pull up into the Z axis and make them solid. If you’re following along with this tutorial by copying all these steps, highlight the main part of our ‘thing’, type in
presspull,
and type in the height you want to pull it up to. In our case, we want this part of our ‘thing’ to be 7/16″ thick, or 0.4375 in decimal inches.
Editing Solids
You’ll notice our ‘thing’ is missing something – the flange on top with the drilled hole. Not to worry, because by playing with the
box
and
cylinder
solids we can add that part in. Here’s our process in handy animated .gif format, complete with a textual description of how to do it.
Switch to the NE Isometric view. From the Home tab, select
box.
This is a tool that allows us to draw a box in three dimensions, by selecting two points on the X and Y axes, and extruding it up through the Z axis.
From the 100-year-old drawing we’re working off of, the top of our box should be 7/16″ tall for the base, then another 7/8″ tall to get to the midpoint of the cylinder we’re going to put on. That adds up to 1.3125 decimal inches, so click one corner of our 2D box, click the opposite corner, and type in 1.3125.
Now we have a bit of a challenge. We need to add the ‘dome’ on our part. This is easily made with the
cylinder
tool, but we need to make sure it’s aligned on the center of the edge of the box we just made. If you’re following along with this tutorial, you’ve already experienced some of the ‘snap-to’ effects, but nothing that’s a midpoint yet.
OSNAP.
Yep, the command you want to type in is called
osnap.
That joke gets really, really old after the first week of a drafting class, by the way.
Osnap
enables different snap-tos, allowing you to draw something from the midpoint, endpoint, and center. By default midpoint isn’t selected. Click that check box and get hit OK. Draw your cylinder, then from the
solid
tab, click Union, select both the box and the cylinder and hit enter.
We’re nearly done here. All that’s left to do are the drilled hole through this flange we just created and the counter bore. First we’ll work on the drill that’s 7/16″ in diameter. Not radius, diameter.
Using your new-found
osnap
skills, draw a cylinder that is 0.21875 decimal inches in diameter. Pull that through our flange and
subtract
it, just like we
union
ized the box and cylinder above. The counter bore is left as an exercise to the reader because It’s the exact same process.
Wrapping things up
Since our goal is to design a part for a 3D printer, we’ll need to make an STL file. This is done with the
export
command. It’s a simple process, but there is one catch: you must select all the objects in a part before saving. Right now, our ‘thing’ is made of two parts – the weird circle thing with a slot, and the dome thing with a hole and counter bore. We could export both these parts together, but that’s rather inelegant. Select Union, click both parts, and hit enter. Then export to .STL.
Will you look at that. We made a thing. You also just learned AutoCAD and the Escape key on your keyboard is crying.
Compared to the previous tutorial of
making a thing with OpenSCAD
, designing a 3D printable object with AutoCAD isn’t more difficult, it’s just different. Next week, sometime after Christmas, we’ll check out some more 3D design software and make our ‘thing’ once again. If you have any suggestions on what software I should feature, drop a note in the comments. I lost the Post-It that had all the softwares I was planning to use. | 18 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "1142639",
"author": "b4a5r0t",
"timestamp": "2013-12-23T03:10:50",
"content": "How about Solidworks or Inventor, they are both meant for 3D moddeling. 3D CAD in AutoCAD is a pain",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1142641",
... | 1,760,376,359.697264 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/22/hackaday-links-december-22-2013/ | Hackaday Links: December 22, 2013 | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"agc",
"airplay",
"apollo",
"pool",
"Smart Tweezers",
"treadmill",
"wireless speaker"
] | [Korben] is
using a picture frame as a Bluetooth speaker
(
translated
). He hacked a
Rock’R²
for this project. It’s a device that has a vibrating element which can be used to make any hollow item into a speaker.
Entertain yourself over the holidays by mastering
the Apollo Guidance Computer simulator
. It’s a JavaScript version of the computer
used in the modules of the Apollo moon missions
. [Thanks Gregory and Paul]
Here’s a little mirror attachment that lets you
use your laptop as an overhead projector
. [Ian] calls it the ClipDraw. Affix it to the webcam and use the keyboard as the drawing surface. Since it’s simply using the camera this works for both live presentations and video conferencing. What we can’t figure out is why the image doesn’t end up backward?
This guide will let you
turn a Carambola board into an AirPlay speaker
.
Those who suck at remembering the rules for a game of pool will enjoy this offering. It’s some add-on hardware that uses a color sensor to detect when a ball is pocketed. The
Raspberry Pi based system automatically scores
each game.
We spend waaaay too much time sitting at the computer. If we had a treadmill perhaps we’d try building [Kirk’s]
treadmill desk attachment
. It’s made out of PVC and uses some altered reduction fittings to make the height adjustable. It looks like you lose a little bit of space at the front of the belt, but if you’re just using it at a walking pace that shouldn’t matter too much.
You can have your own pair of smart tweezers for just a few clams. [Tyler] added copper tape to some anti-static tweezers. The copper pads have wires soldered to them which terminate on the other end with some alligator clips. Clip them to your multimeter and
you’ve got your own e-tweezers
. | 7 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1142585",
"author": "Ian",
"timestamp": "2013-12-23T01:38:41",
"content": "[Tyler]’s tweezers cost him $6 and some work. These cost me $5 and some waiting:https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11060It seems his multimeter has permanently-wired probes, though, so those wouldn’t work for ... | 1,760,376,359.438737 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/22/fubarino-contest-1980s-cd-player-with-mpd/ | Fubarino-Contest: 1980’s CD Player With MPD | Mike Szczys | [
"contests",
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"ATmega32",
"cd player",
"fubarino-contest",
"mpd",
"usb"
] | [Ronald] had to scramble to get his submission in, but we’re glad he did. His demo video shows the display of
a 1980’s CD player working with Music Player Daemon
. It’s really just the original display itself that works, but the project is not yet finished. However, is far enough along to show our URL when a track reaches the 22:00 mark.
The display is driven by an ATmega32 chip which uses a USB connection to receive commands from the computer running MPD. [Ronald] had troubles figuring out how to send int values over USB so he hacked his own protocol that just uses the LSB of each byte coming over the bus. After the break you can see the video, and read the description which he included with his submission. There is also
a code package available here
.
This is an entry in
the Fubarino Contest
for a chance at one of the 20
Fubarino SD boards
which Microchip has put up as prizes!
The final aim is to have an MPD (music player daemon) based player inside a 1980’s CD player box (working), using the original LCD (working), being able to use the original remote control (working), being able to play DVD’s (work in progress), stuff like that.
My plan is to put the schematics and source on the internet, and submit it to
obdev.at
because I think it’s a new way to use their USB driver. Because I’m still developing the pc-side software, I hadn’t done yet. I only heard of the Fubarino-contest yesterday, and I thought it would be doable to mod my project, so I did it.
First, I forgot the schematics. They’re quite easy: it’s a general Atmega32 (no ATmega8, since I mostly use those I mistyped it below) HID Bootloader loaded device. Two pins of PORTD are used to drive the back plane. Four out of five 1.1K 1% resistors are used as pull up / down resistors to generate the 2.5V level required for a two backplane LCD configuration.
A bit of background. For driving a generic LCD with two backplanes, two square waves with middle value are needed, along with square waves for the segments (e.g. figure 2 at
http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/overview.jsp?code=784_LPBB_LCDTIPS
). The timing needs to be precise, to prevent the LCD segments for degrading. Any DC offset large enough can kill it…
PORTA, PORTB, PORTC are all connected to the segments. One additional pin on PORTD is connected to the ‘play’ segment (it seems single backplane), one segment is connected to all ‘off’ segments (I did not have enough pins to drive all segments).
Because I did not know how to send 0x00 characters using USB, I made my own protocol by sending the LSBit of the 2×3 data bytes as the first three of a fourth data byte, and untangle those in the ATmega code. The first three data bytes all have ‘1’ as LSB.
In my project design I decided to do most of the logic on the pc-side, and use the ATmega more or less as a framebuffer. That made it harder for me to mod it to show some text, and to implement the easter egg trigger.
To show the text (the full
http://hackaday.com
was impossible on this LCD, so I made the closest I could :-)), I used the pc-client first to generate the hex codes of the characters, and then copied those into the ATMega source, modified the LSB’s until it looked well.
And that’s about all I can do before the deadline… I hoped to document this all in the code, but ah well.. . It might be enough for you to understand.
The easter egg is in the video at 1:06.
Kind regards,
Ronald
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7IULfkiN5g | 6 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1142447",
"author": "Ralf",
"timestamp": "2013-12-22T21:22:02",
"content": "This project totally baffles me. It seems to just be receiving bytes from USB and presenting them to the IO pins. Which is quite simple. And then it’s made MASSIVELY more complicated because “he doesn’t know... | 1,760,376,359.577204 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/24/fubarino-contest-a-really-really-old-plotter/ | Fubarino Contest: A Really, Really Old Plotter | Brian Benchoff | [
"contests"
] | [
"fubarino-contest",
"plotter"
] | Decades ago, [Vegipete]
found an old drum plotter at a university used equipment sale.
This plotter was old in the 80s, so like any great tinkerer, [Vegi] reverse engineered the plotter’s circuitry and got it working with his Apple ][.
The years went by, dust accumulated, and in 2010 [Vegipete] found himself doing some work with linear acceleration on a PIC microcontroller. Remembering his old plotter, [Vegi] realized he could build an embedded version of his old Apple ][ circuit. He built a circuit that turned the plotter into something that can be controlled with an FTDI adapter. A small update to the code
added the an Easter egg
. When the Konami code is entered on the plotter’s buttons it responds in the spirit of our Fubarino contest.
This is an entry in
the Fubarino Contest
for a chance at one of the 20
Fubarino SD boards
which Microchip has put up as prizes! | 9 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1144491",
"author": "svofski",
"timestamp": "2013-12-24T20:10:12",
"content": "Plotters areawesome",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1147231",
"author": "Alex",
"timestamp": "2013-12-27T16:07:45",
"conten... | 1,760,376,359.632122 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/24/3dmonstr-printer-8-cubic-feet-of-build-volume/ | 3DMonstr Printer: 8 Cubic Feet Of Build Volume | Brian Benchoff | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Crowd Funding"
] | [
"3d printer",
"3DMonstr",
"kickstarter"
] | So you’re looking at 3D printers, but the build volumes for the current offerings just aren’t where you’d like them to be. [Ben Reylblat] had the same problem
and came up with the 3DMonstr
, an enormous printer that has (in its biggest configuration) a two foot cubed build volume, four extruders, and the mechanical design to make everything work.
Most of the ginormous 3D printers we’ve seen are basically upgraded versions of the common table-top sided models. This huge
Ultimaker copy
uses the same rods as its smaller cousin, and
LeBigRap
also uses woefully undersized parts. The 3DMonstr isn’t a copy of smaller machines, and instead uses very big motors for each axis, ball screws, and a proper welded frame. It’s highly doubtful anyone will call this printer a wobblebot.
The 3DMonstr comes in three sizes: 12 inches cubed, 18 inches cubed, and 24 inches cubed, with options for two to four extruders. We caught up with the 3D Monstr team at the NYC Maker Faire, and from first impressions we have to say this printer is
freakin’ huge
and impeccably designed. | 21 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1144104",
"author": "Dane",
"timestamp": "2013-12-24T12:25:28",
"content": "I saw them at makerfaire and was impressed, it looks like they’ve even made improvements since then. I’m curious how they are getting around ABS warping issues on large prints. The issue scales with size, an... | 1,760,376,359.813839 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/23/fubarino-contest-single-pcb-synth/ | Fubarino Contest: Single PCB Synth | Mike Szczys | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"fubarino-contest"
] | Here’s
a musical entry for the Fubarino Contest
that turned out to be rather delightful. First, [Mats] shows off his musical knowledge by using the notes H, A, and D to play the chord that unlocks the Easter eggs. What’s that you say? There’s no H on your keyboard? You’re wrong. In the German music tradition B natural is known as H. This is what
allowed Bach to write a tune that spells his name
.
[Mats] is hacking on
his PlingPlong synthesizer
. The first Easter egg—which you can see in the clip after the break—launches with the H-A-D chord in the lower octave, spelling out our URL on the 7-segment displays. But we prefer the second egg, launched with the chord in the upper octave, which is shown above. It uses the 3×5 LED grid to scroll out the address; in this still image an H is displayed.
This is an entry in
the Fubarino Contest
for a chance at one of the 20
Fubarino SD boards
which Microchip has put up as prizes! | 6 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1144117",
"author": "Eric Parker",
"timestamp": "2013-12-24T12:43:21",
"content": "nice easter egg but… I WANT THE SYNTH",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1144842",
"author": "Mats Engstrom (@matseng)",
"timestam... | 1,760,376,359.750338 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/23/sonar-with-python-and-conference-call-hardware/ | Sonar With Python And Conference Call Hardware | Mathieu Stephan | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"audacity",
"correlation",
"sonar"
] | [Jason] just tipped us off about his recent experiment, in which he creates a
sonar system
using standard audio equipment and a custom Python program. In case some of our readers don’t already know it,
Sonar
is a technique that uses sound propagation to detect objects on or under the surface of the water. It is commonly used in submarines and boats for navigation. [Jason]’s project uses active sonar, which consists in sending short audio bursts (chirps) and listening for echoes. The longer it takes for the echo to return, the further the object is. Though his proof of concept is not used underwater, that may change if he continues the project.
The audio editing software
Audacity
was used to make a fast frequency changing chirp, along with PyAudio libraries for the main Python program. Exact time of arrival is detected by
correlating
the microphone output with the transmitted signal. Given that [Jason] uses audible frequencies, we think that the final result shown in the video embedded below is quite nice. | 11 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1143765",
"author": "Geekmaster",
"timestamp": "2013-12-24T03:28:15",
"content": "Study: echolocation algorithm maps cathedral in 3D to the millimetre:http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-06/18/echolocation-appComputer scientists have developed an algorithm that uses echolocatio... | 1,760,376,360.530022 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/23/fubarino-contest-network-nodes-door-lock-and-smoker-controller/ | Fubarino Contest: Network Nodes, Door Lock, And Smoker Controller | Mike Szczys | [
"contests"
] | [
"bluetooth",
"fubarino-contest",
"lock",
"network",
"smoker"
] | Here’s a round-up of three different Fubarino Contest entries; a video of each is available after the break.
On the upper left are the beginnings of a network node monitoring system developed by [Stephane]. When the network checks the weather, it may determine that it’s far too harsh outside and time
to go in to see what’s new on Hackaday
. There’s only sparse information available on the hardware. Each node uses an ATtiny84 and an RFM12B—different sensors connected to each are used to build up the network’s data collection capabilities.
In the lower left is [Brett’s]
Bluetooth door lock controller
. The Arduino, a cheap Bluetooth module, and a relay board make up the base station which will eventually connect to an electronic lock. [Brett] uses a smart phone to punch in the access code, and entering “1337” four times in a row unlocks the Easter egg, displaying our URL on the character LCD. Here’s
the code repository for his project
.
To the right is the display for [Andy’s] smoker controller used for cooking. He already had some hidden features on the controller used to calibrate the thermocouple. For the contest, he simply
added an additional button to extend the original menu access
method.
This is an entry in
the Fubarino Contest
for a chance at one of the 20
Fubarino SD boards
which Microchip has put up as prizes!
Network Nodes:
Door Lock:
Smoker Controller: | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,376,359.855425 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/23/ir-theremin-speaks-in-four-voices/ | IR Theremin Speaks In Four Voices | Kristina Panos | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"infrared",
"ir",
"microcontroller",
"music",
"theremin"
] | At the end of every semester, we get a bunch of cool and well-documented student projects from Cornell’s ECE4760 class. [Scott] and [Alex]’s
infrared theremin
is no exception.
The classic theremin design employs each of the player’s hands as the grounded plate of a variable capacitor in an LC circuit. For the pitch antenna, this circuit is part of the oscillator. For the volume antenna, the hand capacitor detunes another oscillator, changing the attenuation in the amplifier.
[Scott] and [Alex] put a twist on the theremin by using two IR sensors to control volume and pitch. The sensors compute the location of each hand and output a voltage inversely proportional to its distance from the hand. An ATMega1284P converts the signal to an 8-bit binary number for processing. They built four voices into it that are accessible through the push-button switch. The different voices are created with wave combinations and modulation effects. In addition to Classic Theremin, you can play in pure sine, sawtooth, and FM modulation.
If you’re just not that into microcontrollers, you could build
this digital IR theremin
instead. If you find IR theremins soulless or plebeian, try
this theremincello
.
[Thanks
Bruce
] | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1143460",
"author": "aelias36",
"timestamp": "2013-12-23T21:50:20",
"content": "I’m not a big fan of this project. You need really high accuracy when playing a theremin; IR distance sensors just can’t be used. Also, IR distance sensors have a minimum distance to work, so placing you... | 1,760,376,360.098655 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/23/software-advice-for-anyone-thinking-about-a-cnc-router/ | Software Advice For Anyone Thinking About A CNC Router | Jeremy Cook | [
"cnc hacks",
"Featured",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"cam",
"CamBam",
"cnc",
"inkscape",
"mach3",
"router"
] | Excellent results can come from a small CNC router, but don’t forget the software!
CNC tools, whatever their flavor
, can greatly enhance your “making” or DIY ability. My current tool of choice is a CNC router. Being familiar with a manual milling machine, the concept seemed similar, and the price of these is quite reasonable when compared to some other tools. As
described in this pos
t, my machine is a
Zen Toolworks model
, but there are certainly other options to visit like this
Probotix V90 model
noted recently
in this post
.
Although any number of CNC router models look great in videos and pictures, rest assured that even the best machines require some patience to get one running satisfactorily. Setting up the machine can be a challenge, as well as figuring out what your machine is capable of, but one thing that might slip peoples’ minds is the software involved. Read on to find out
all you need to know
the basics of what goes on behind the scenes to “magically” produce interesting parts.
With a CNC router run by a computer
(as opposed to a dedicated controller), you have three parts in your tool chain: Computer aided design
(CAD)
, computer aided manufacturing
(CAM)
, and a
machine controller
package. There are free and paid versions of each of these.
Design Your Part
Design
courtesy of ESTLcam
and my idea to shrink the knife block to make a
“warrior dart holder.”
The first step is to draw your part. To generate my part drawings, I’ve experimented with
Inkscape
, a vector graphics editor, and
Draftsight
, which is more or less free AutoCAD. Inkscape is a really cool program for generating more artistic pieces, like
this random tree
that I cut a while ago. If you want to do something more dimensionally-driven, my preferred tool is Draftsight. I’m very familiar with AutoCAD, and it’s available for Linux, Mac and Windows.
If you want to get into 3D design, Sketchup seems to be more-or less the standard for casual makers/hackers/etc. Perhaps I’ve been spoiled or brainwashed by quite a few years of working with
Pro/E
, and
Solidworks
to a much smaller extent, because I found Sketchup frustrating. I find Pro/E (now Creo) frustrating as well at times, but I’m paid for that frustration.
Regardless of what style or design program you choose, if you’re not familiar with the format, plan to spend a decent amount of time figuring out how to generate your parts.
Generate Gcode
Meshcam screen
per my review
G-Code
, unlike what some mid 90’s rappers would have you believe, stands for General Code, and is what directly controls a CNC machine. You can write G-Code by hand, and for very simple circles or lines, this might be practical. For most circumstances, however, G-Code is much easier to produce using a CAM program to translate your CAD model into this format. I’ve tried out several packages, and all have their advantages and disadvantages:
Gcodetools for Inkscape
– Free, great for art generated on Inkscape. Somewhat limited in capability, and the documentation may take a little time to figure out.
ESTLCam
– Inexpensive at $35, and it has a good-looking interface. More of a 2D environment, and you can draw your parts on this program if you like.
CAMBam
– Reasonably priced at $149, with a very good free trial period. I primarily use this CAM program.
MeshCAM
– Really excellent looking user interface, and it has some neat features. Along with this polish, it is more expensive than some at $250. It’s geared more toward 3D users, so it wasn’t a great fit for my Draftsight-centric CAD style.
Custom CAM routine
– If you’re a programmer (or pretend to be), it’s possible that you could write your own Gcode generating script. I’ve linked to a post on my “pixel machining” Python routine if you’d like to see an example.
Along with actually learning the software
, you’ll need to consider what kind of speed your machine can actually handle, and what to do so you don’t “crash” your machine. Your CAM program is where you set up your feeds, speeds, depth of cut, and other parameters.
Control Your Router
Mach3 to control your router
Once your CAM program spits out possibly several thousand lines of G-Code, your machine control software is what gets everything moving. I use
Mach3
, which seems to be a common program for hobby machine control. Like everything else, it has a learning curve, but overall I’m quite happy with how it performs.
One weakness I ran into with this (and that is probably true of other programs) is that you need an actual parallel port for it to work properly (not a USB-parallel adapter), and it’s not supposed to be run on a notebook because of possible power management issues. I’m sure there are workarounds, but in the interest of saving time, it might be a good idea to just dust off (or purchase) an old computer to run it on. It will run comfortably on slightly antiquated machines, so for $150 or so, you can have a computer that will run your router.
Another option would be
LinuxCNC
. When I started leaning CNC, I was almost entirely unfamiliar with Linux. The challenge of leaning a new OS along with a new router seemed like too steep of a learning curve, so I haven’t tried this option. As I use Ubuntu quite a bit now, I might take a different track today. If you have worked extensively with LinuxCNC please share you experiences by leaving a comment below.
To wrap things up, here’s two CNC videos that I’ve made. The first is me engraving a Tiger Paw, whereas the second video is a tutorial I did on how to engrave a logo using Inkscape. A CNC machine is a great addition to any shop, but as I hope I’ve pointed out here, not without its challenges!
Please note that separate from this post, I have received special pricing and/or samples in order to try out products from the companies representative of Zen Toolworks, Mach3, ESTLcam, and MeshCAM.
Jeremy Cook is a Mechanical Engineer
with a degree from Clemson University, and works in manufacturing and process automation. Additionally, Jeremy is an avid maker and former Hackaday staff writer. When he’s not at work or in the garage, you can find him on
Twitter @JeremySCook
, his projects blog
JCoPro.net
, or on his photography-related blog
DIYTripods.com
. | 128 | 49 | [
{
"comment_id": "1143296",
"author": "John",
"timestamp": "2013-12-23T18:30:58",
"content": "What’s the difference between a CNC router and a CNC mill?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1143319",
"author": "The Ure",
"timestamp":... | 1,760,376,360.890207 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/22/automated-drink-mixer-is-the-life-of-the-party-2/ | Automated Drink Mixer Is The Life Of The Party | Kristina Panos | [
"Holiday Hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"AVR",
"ir",
"microcontroller",
"solenoid"
] | Hosting a New Year’s Eve party, but don’t want to be stuck behind the bar all night? You
could
set out a bowl or two of
spiked
punch, but where’s the hack? Free yourself from drink slinging duties with
the Automated Drink Mixer
created by Cornell University students [Justin] and [Austin]. Their design uses a 14″ diameter lazy Susan powered by a 12V bi-directional motor attached to a 2″ rubber wheel. The motor is capable of 70RPM, so the glass ultimately rides around at 10RPM. Orders are entered on a push-button menu. As this is a school project that should adhere to IEEE standards, all libations are non-alcoholic.
The software uses an overarching state machine, so the system polls for input from the menu at idle. When it receives an order, the lazy Susan rotates the glass to the right spout or series of spouts and then returns it to the starting point. [Justin] and [Austin] controlled the position of the glass with an IR emitter and phototransistor. This pair detects the black strips of tape around the edge which are spaced 60° apart. A comparator digitizes the signal and triggers an interrupt in the software, which counts the number of 60° slices. A full demonstration is waiting for you after the jump. Before you jump: drink responsibly, kids. If you aren’t up to that particular challenge, make yourself an
alcohol-aware LED ice cube
. If you need more LEDs in your life, whip up
the Inebriator
.
[Thanks
Bruce
] | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1142351",
"author": "John",
"timestamp": "2013-12-22T18:18:07",
"content": "So they have a large polished version of this at Qdoba here in town. But it has hundreds of combinations (non alcoholic of course). Made by Frigidaire if I remember right.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth... | 1,760,376,360.051736 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/22/darpa-robotics-challenge-trials-wrap-up/ | DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials Wrap Up | Adam Fabio | [
"News",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"Boston Dynamic",
"Carnegie Mellon University",
"darpa",
"darpa robotics challenge",
"robot",
"robotics"
] | The
DARPA robotics challenge trials 2013
are have finished up. The big winner is Team Schaft, seen above preparing to drive in the vehicle trial. This isn’t the end of the line for DARPA’s robotics challenge – there is still one more major event ahead. The DARPA robotics finals will be held at the end of 2014. The tasks will be similar to what we saw today, however this time the team and robot’s communications will be intentionally degraded to simulate real world disaster situations. The teams today were competing for DARPA funding. Each of the top eight teams is eligible for, up to $1 million USD from DARPA. The teams not making the cut are still welcome to compete in the finals using other sources of funding.
The trials were broken up into 8 events.
Door
,
Debris
,
Valve
,
Wall
,
Hose
,
Terrain
,
Ladder
, and
Vehicle
. Each trial was further divided into 3 parts, each with one point available. If a robot completed the entire task with no human intervention it would earn a bonus point. With all bonuses, 32 points were available. Team Schaft won the event with an incredible total of 27 points. In second place was
Team IHMC
(Institute for Human Machine Cognition) with 20 points. Team IMHC deserves special praise as they were using a DARPA provided
Boston Dynamics Atlas Robot
. Teams using Atlas only had a few short weeks to go from a completely software simulation to interacting with a real world robot. In third place was Carnegie Mellon University’s
Team Tartan Rescue
and their Chimp robot with 18 points.
The expo portion of the challenge was also exciting, with first responders and robotics researchers working together to understand the problems robots will face in real world disaster situations. Google’s recent acquisition — Boston Dynamics — was also on hand, running their
WildCat
and
LS3
robots. The only real downside to the competition was the coverage provided by DARPA. The live stream left quite a bit to be desired. The majority of videos on
DARPA’s YouTube channel
currently consist of 9-10 hour recordings of some of the event cameras. The wrap-up videos also contain very little information on how the robots actually performed during the trials. Hopefully as the days progress, more information and video will come out. For now, please share the timestamp and a description of your favorite part with your comments. | 9 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1142228",
"author": "noname",
"timestamp": "2013-12-22T14:25:18",
"content": "That is soo cool. I want to participate in “DARPA robotics challenge”. Can I use bio-robots?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1142325",
"auth... | 1,760,376,360.235511 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/22/fubarino-contest-minecraft-zelda-arduinos-and-hackaday/ | Fubarino Contest: Minecraft, Zelda, Arduinos, And Hackaday | Brian Benchoff | [
"contests"
] | [
"fubarino-contest",
"midi",
"minecraft",
"zelda"
] | In a clever bit of pandering to the gamer crowd for the Fubarino Contest, [Laurens] has combined The Legend of Zelda, Minecraft, and an Arduino to create
something really, really cool.
[Laurens] cobbled together an Arduino, MIDI connector, and LCD display that will read a MIDI keyboard and detect when one of the songs from Ocarina of Time/Majora’s Mask is played. The Arduino then plays back the song slower and longer, just like in the game.
Here’s where things get cool: Since [Laurens] has an Arduino that knows when an OoT/MM song is played, he can have the Sun Song control the lights, or the Song of Storms turn his sprinkler system on. He chose to pipe all these commands into Minecraft, where the Song of Healing gives some health to the Minecraft character, the Song of Storms controls the rain, and other awesome mashups of Zelda and Minecraft.
This project offers more than enough to stand on its own, but [Laurens] also added a Hackaday easter egg. When playing the letters HAD in ASCII on the keyboard, our favorite URL shows up on the Arduino and inside Minecraft.
Here’s an
image gallery
and the
source code
(dropbox, so don’t spam it) for [Laurens]’ awesome project.
This is an entry in
the Fubarino Contest
for a chance at one of the 20
Fubarino SD boards
which Microchip has put up as prizes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WMlxvj8H20 | 17 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1142192",
"author": "Andrew",
"timestamp": "2013-12-22T13:13:09",
"content": "An LCD display, you say? Splendid.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1142219",
"author": "Brian Benchoff",
"timestamp": "2013-12-22T1... | 1,760,376,360.374195 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/22/trainable-robotic-arm/ | Trainable Robotic Arm | James Hobson | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"analog feedback servos",
"baxter",
"robotic arm",
"trainable robotic arm"
] | When [Robert] realized Adafruit is now selling analog feedback servos, he decided he just had to make a
programmable robot arm
that could be trained like the commercially available
Baxter robot.
The neat thing with the analog feedback servos is it takes all the complexity out of training a robot. All you have to do is put the robot in teach mode, physically move the robot’s joints to the positions you want, and save your program! Depending on your application, it certainly beats trying to work out the fun kinematics equations…
Anyway, the full guide available on
Adrafuit’s learning system
provides instructions on how to build your own arm from scratch (well, with a 3D printer) or how to replace the servos in a pre-made toy robotic arm you might already have sitting around. It’s very thorough and includes all the code you need for your Arduino too.
Stick around after the break to see how the robot works! | 8 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1142547",
"author": "Will Lyon",
"timestamp": "2013-12-23T00:14:18",
"content": "If the guy who built this is reading these comments I have a VarSpeedServo library for arduino that makes nice slow fluid movements if you’re interested",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"rep... | 1,760,376,360.426396 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/21/quick-candy-sorting-machine/ | Quick Candy Sorting Machine | Phillip Ryals | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"candy",
"sorter"
] | OCD. Sometimes things just get to you, like those pesky bags of randomly assorted candies. [Torsten] decided to build a sorting machine
capable of sorting Skittles or M&Ms
into separate cups by color at around 80 pieces per minute. It’s a great implementation, using an Arduino Duo. He based the code on the principles of a
finite-state machine
, in order to make it as quick as possible.
It works as you would expect: When a candy piece is loaded, the color is determined using an RGB sensor. A 360-degree servo is used to move the chute to the proper position, and interestingly, the system preemptively releases the candy before the chute is in position in order to maximize the speed. If you watch closely, you can see this behavior in the video (embedded after the break).
[Torsten] includes a complete bill of materials, if you’d like to try it for yourself. He also included a list of possible improvements. | 32 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "1141941",
"author": "Mohonri",
"timestamp": "2013-12-22T06:06:07",
"content": "How about for the next contest, we have a “fastest skittle/m&m sorting machine” competition?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1142465",
"aut... | 1,760,376,360.596385 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/21/a-clock-built-from-scraps/ | A Clock Built From Scraps | James Hobson | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"ax-man surplus",
"LED clock",
"MAX7221",
"surplus store"
] | Who doesn’t love a good surplus store? [Tyler Bletsch] just finished up this
awesome clock hack
by re-purposing a scrapped medical circuit board.
Ax-Man Surplus
in Minneapolis has all kinds of goodies and it’s been around a long time (here’s
a hack from the ’90s that source from the store
). One day while digging through their inventory, [Tyler] found a bunch of scrap circuit boards with 7-segment displays. At $2 a pop, he decided to risk it to tinker with.
He quickly identified the main chip on the board to be a common LED driver (MAX7221) and began reverse engineering the board by tracing the circuit. He actually has a brilliant guide on his website about
how to make circuit tracing way easier
. From there it was just a matter of loading a MAX7221 library onto a ATtiny44, adding a 16MHz crystal, and since there’s an extra 2 digits available on the display… a temperature sensor too!
It’s a great little hack, and as it turned out, there wasn’t anything wrong with the boards, except for a minor typo in the company’s name. Hooray for reusing scrapped parts! | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1141856",
"author": "bobfeg",
"timestamp": "2013-12-22T04:04:46",
"content": "I enjoy building projects entirely from my junkbox.It’s a special sort of thrill…similar to QRP.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1142014",
"... | 1,760,376,360.476362 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/21/3d-scanner-using-a-sharp-infrared-sensor/ | 3D Scanner Using A Sharp Infrared Sensor | Phillip Ryals | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"3d scanner",
"arduino",
"sharp GP2D120X"
] | [Fernando] sent in a tip about a pet project he’s been working on. It’s an
interesting take on a 3D scanner
. He used a stepper motor to rotate the object being scanned, and an Arduino for control, but the real novelty is the way he used the sensor. [Fernando] mounted a Sharp GP2D120X on vertical surface, and used a second stepper motor to raise the sensor during the scan. As you can see in the videos (embedded after the break), this results in the scan being put together in an ascending spiral.
The Sharp sensor is cheap and decent, but you’re obviously not going to get amazing accuracy. Still, using the average of several measurements, he ends up with a decent result. Happily, [Fernando] has
released the code
, and it should be easy enough to repurpose it with a more accurate sensor. It would be interesting to see a laser-based sensor paired with this code. | 13 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1141732",
"author": "othar",
"timestamp": "2013-12-22T01:13:14",
"content": "So.. you build this 3d scanner in less acurate :http://www.matterform.net/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1141750",
"author": "Sync",
... | 1,760,376,360.645885 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/20/impersonating-fbi-agents-and-people-who-can-solder/ | Impersonating FBI Agents And People Who Can Solder | Brian Benchoff | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"customers",
"electronics",
"electronics kit",
"kit"
] | [Dale Botkin], [N0XAS], is a competent designer for the amateur radio crowd and has a part-time business on the side selling a few kits. As anyone who owns a business, works in retail, or simply interacts with the general population will know, eventually you’ll have to deal with one of
those
customers.
[Dale]’s latest horror story
(here’s the
coral cache
but that doesn’t seem to be working either) comes from someone who bought a little repeater controller. You’re looking at this customer’s handiwork above. It gets worse.
After this customer completely botched an assembly job, he contacted [Dale] for some technical assistance. [Dale] graciously accepted a return and received the above mess of solder, wires, and parts. Then an email disputing the Paypal charge arrived. The customer wanted a refund for the original kit and the cost of shipping it back.
Oh, but it gets better.
After posting this story, [Dale] received yet another email
from an FBI agent
demanding that his original post be taken down. The email from the FBI came from a Czech domain, so
of course
this is a totally legit demand.
So there’s your, “worst customer ever” story from the world of kit electronics. The assembly is impressively bad, even for something that was ‘professionally installed by an electrician’, but mail fraud and impersonating federal officials just takes this over the top.
Quick note: any
doxxing
in the comments will be deleted, so just don’t do it. | 97 | 43 | [
{
"comment_id": "1140705",
"author": "Ray Johnson",
"timestamp": "2013-12-21T00:09:54",
"content": "This looks like typical commercial S. Korean work in the 70’s.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1141422",
"author": "pcf11",
"ti... | 1,760,376,361.070157 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/20/an-even-larger-array-of-many-leds-and-no-ping-pong-balls/ | An Even Larger Array Of Many LEDs And No Ping-Pong balls | Adam Fabio | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"Art-Net",
"Electronics and Electrical",
"LED display",
"light emitting diode",
"Medium-density fibreboard",
"raspberry pi"
] | [George] has gone pro with
his latest RGB LED panel
. We’ve chronicled [George’s] journey toward the elusive land of LED nirvana for a couple of years now. He started with an
8×8 rainbow board of many ping-pong balls
. When that wasn’t enough, he upped the ante to a
32×16 array of ping-pong balls
. Still not satisfied, [George] has now increased the size to two 20×15 panels, for a total of 600 LEDs. While this is only a modest size increase from the previous incarnation, the major changes here have been in the design and construction of the array.
[George] found himself using his LED panels in some professional settings. The stresses of moving and rigging the panels revealed several design weaknesses. The point to point discrete LED design tended to short, leading to troubleshooting by poking at wires in a dark club. The control code was also a mixed bag of solderlab’s code, [George’s] code, and various scripts. Even the trademark ping-pong ball light diffusers were a problem, as they created a fire hazard. [George] took all the lessons from the first and second LED arrays and started a new design – the MX3. The panel frames were constructed by a professional metal shop. Starting with a square steel tube backbone, and aluminum panel shell was welded into place. The steel tube provides a hardpoint mount for any number of rigging options. The front panels are
medium-density fibreboard
, treated with a fire-retardant paint.
The electronics have also changed. Gone are the individual RGB LEDs. [George] has switched over to the common WS2812 LED strings. Panel mounted Raspberry Pis control the LED strings. Communication is via
Art-Net
, an Ethernet implementation of the common
DMX512
protocol commonly used in stage lighting. The final result
looks great
. We’re impressed with how much [George] has accomplished at such a young age (He was 16 last June).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql9tu1-xCWI
[Thanks Terry!] | 6 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1140619",
"author": "eldorel",
"timestamp": "2013-12-20T21:43:18",
"content": "So, how much did this cost to build? And how is he funding all of these panels?Being able to assemble this at 16 is mildly impressive, figuring out how to fund may have been the real hack.",
"parent_i... | 1,760,376,360.941582 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/20/ambient-computer-noise-leaks-your-encryption-keys/ | Ambient Computer Noise Leaks Your Encryption Keys | Adam Fabio | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"Brüel & Kjær",
"GNU Privacy Guard",
"GnuPG",
"key",
"rsa",
"security",
"Tel Aviv University"
] | [Daniel, Adi, and Eran],
students
researchers at Tel Aviv University and the Weizmann Institute of Science have
successfully extracted 4096-bit RSA encryption keys
using only the sound produced by the target computer. It may sound a bit like magic, but this is a real attack – although it’s practicality may be questionable. The group first described this attack vector at
Eurocrypt 2004
. The sound used to decode the encryption keys is produced not by the processor itself, but by the processor’s power supply, mainly the capacitors and coils. The target machine in this case runs a copy of
GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG)
.
During most of their testing, the team used some very high-end audio equipment, including Brüel & Kjær laboratory grade microphones and a parabolic reflector. By directing the microphone at the processor air vents, they were able to extract enough sound to proceed with their attack. [Daniel, Adi, and Eran] started from the source of GnuPG. They worked from there all the way down to the individual opcodes running on the x86 processor in the target PC. As each opcode is run, a sound signature is produced. The signature changes slightly depending on the data the processor is operating on. By using this information, and some very detailed spectral analysis, the team was able to extract encryption keys. The complete technical details of the attack vector are
available in their final paper
(pdf link).
Once they had the basic methods down, [Daniel, Adi, and Eran] explored other attack vectors. They were able to extract data using ground fluctuations on the computers chassis. They even were able to use a cell phone to perform the audio attack. Due to the cell phone’s lower quality microphone, a much longer (on the order of several hours) time is needed to extract the necessary data.
Thankfully [Daniel, Adi, and Eran] are white hat hackers, and sent their data to the GnuPG team. Several countermeasures to this attack are already included in the current version of GnuPG. | 65 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "1140442",
"author": "rouan",
"timestamp": "2013-12-20T18:18:53",
"content": "What about the AC noise generated, could this leak information back into the grid?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1140533",
"author": "James... | 1,760,376,361.16921 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/12/20/diy-laser-cutter/ | DIY Laser Cutter | James Hobson | [
"Laser Hacks"
] | [
"300mw laser",
"diy laser cutter",
"dvd burner laser diode",
"Laser cutting",
"LPC-826"
] | [Jens] decided he wanted to try building
his own laser cutter
to see just how much you can actually cut with a fairly low power 300mW laser diode.
He was inspired by a
similar project from earlier this year
, and chose to use the same LPC-826 laser diode, which you can find online for about $10-30. The cutter itself is has a wooden frame and uses drawer slides on both axes. Threaded M6 rods and NEMA17 stepper motors provide the actuation, and the whole thing is controlled by an Arduino Nano with
Easy Driver
stepper motor drivers.
So what can it cut? In his experiments he was able to cut through adhesive plastics (sticker paper), EVA foam, and black paper. He was also able to engrave wood and ABS plastic, although the plastic didn’t play too nicely with the laser. He also found it useful for laser cutting stencils, which he then used to create
rusty art using hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide
.
Considering how cheap you could make one of these, it’s not a bad tool to have. Stick around after the break to see it laser cut a shark! | 39 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1140317",
"author": "dyno tronix",
"timestamp": "2013-12-20T15:43:28",
"content": "I wish the authors of these supersimple laser engraver articles would spend the extra three minutes giving us an intro to laser goggles and provide a link to an inexpensive pair on ebay or amazon.",
... | 1,760,376,361.243681 |
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