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https://hackaday.com/2013/09/30/smart-citizen-arduino-compatible-and-packed-with-sensors/ | Smart Citizen: Arduino-compatible And Packed With Sensors | Marsh | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Crowd Funding",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"atmega32u4",
"crowdsource",
"sensors",
"smart citizen"
] | If you’re going to develop another Arduino-compatible board these days, you might as well take a “kitchen sink” approach.
The Smart Citizen Kit piles it on
, including Wi-Fi, an SD card slot, and EEPROM on its base. The attached shield—dubbed the “Ambient Board”—is a buffet of sensors: temperature, humidity, CO, NO2, light intensity, and a microphone for reading sound levels. The board’s intended purpose is to provide an open-source, interactive, environmental database by crowdsourcing data from multiple Smart Citizen Kits, but you can add your own stuff or yank the shield off altogether. Additional shields are also under development, aimed at providing agricultural data, monitoring biometrics, and more.
Stick the Smart Citizen somewhere and it can send sensor data to the web over a WiFi connection. The result is worth a look.
Here’s the map with the real-time data
from early release models scattered over Europe, most of which appear to be solar-powered with a small LiPo battery to keep them going overnight. There’s also an accompanying
iPhone app
that lets you set up the Smart Citizen, retrieve data from nearby sensors, and allows you to match your phone’s GPS location to any data you collect while carrying the board around.
The developers met their Kickstarter goals earlier this summer and the board has recently entered the manufacturing process, Rummage through their
GitHub files here
, and watch a video preview of the Smart Citizen below. | 23 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1067305",
"author": "TERMONUCLEATOR",
"timestamp": "2013-09-30T08:39:39",
"content": "I like it. but it will be more intresting if include lcd screen with user interface.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1067310",
"author": "... | 1,760,376,446.512077 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/29/umbrella-turned-delta-kite/ | Umbrella Turned Delta Kite | James Hobson | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"delta kite",
"instructable",
"kite",
"recycling umbrellas",
"umbrella delta kite",
"umbrella kite"
] | How many broken umbrellas have you thrown out in your life? [BigApe] has come up with a novel way to reuse them,
by turning them into kites.
The beauty of the build is in the MacGyver-style material list. Apart from a few store bought 8mm aluminum and plastic tubes, the majority of the build is out of other scraps that you can easily find around the house. Spokes from a broken bicycle wheel, plastic from a CD case, elastic bands, yarn, some washers, an empty hair gel tube, the list goes on… We really have to give him credit on the creative material choices!
Now before you get too excited, this project does involve quite a bit of sewing, so a sewing machine would be quite handy. Other than that, only basic tools such as pliers, scissors, punches, matches, drill bits, and a saw, are required.
The finished product ends up being a bit heavier than most similar sized consumer-grade delta kites, but [BigApe] achieved some kite-like flight out of it in low wind speeds. He promises to post a test video when it gets a bit windier to prove his design.
On the topic of kites, earlier this year we covered a
remote-controlled, autonomous, power generating kite! | 13 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1067259",
"author": "mh",
"timestamp": "2013-09-30T05:31:47",
"content": "Great re-use/cycle project!A warning about requiring a sewing machine? if only you bothered to warn us when an CNC or 3D-printer was required too. It may come as a shock to the Makers out there but it is far m... | 1,760,376,445.845146 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/29/passive-bluetooth-keyless-entry-system/ | Passive Bluetooth Keyless Entry System | Marsh | [
"Android Hacks",
"Arduino Hacks",
"Microcontrollers",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"bluetooth",
"key fob",
"keyless",
"keyless entry",
"passive"
] | Modern smart keys allow you to keep the key fob in your pocket or purse while you simply grab the handle and tug the door open. [Phil] decided he would rather ditch the fob altogether and instead implemented a
passive Bluetooth keyless entry system
with his Android phone. It’s probably unlikely for car manufacturers to embrace phone-based keys anytime soon, and [Phil] acknowledges that his prototype poses a landslide of challenges. What he’s built, however, looks rather enticing. If the car and phone are paired via Bluetooth, the doors unlock. Walk out of range and the car automatically locks when the connection drops.
His build uses an Arduino Mega with a
BlueSMiRF Silver
Bluetooth board that actively searches for his phone and initiates a connection if in range. Doors are unlocked directly through a 2-channel relay module, and an LED indicator inside the vehicle tells the status of the system. A pulsing light indicates it’s searching for the phone, while a solid ring means that a connection is established.
We hope [Phil] will implement additional features so we can make our pockets a bit lighter. Watch a video demonstration of his prototype after the break, then check out the flood of car-related hacks we’ve featured around here recently: the
OpenXC interface that adds a smart brake light
, or
the Motobrain
, which gives you Bluetooth control over auxiliary electrical systems. | 17 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1067209",
"author": "Andrew",
"timestamp": "2013-09-30T02:07:21",
"content": "“the car automatically locks when something goes wrong.”There, FTFY. :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6519646",
"author": "Brian",
... | 1,760,376,445.968254 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/27/hacking-a-flatbed-scanner-to-scan-very-large-documents/ | Hacking A Flatbed Scanner To Scan Very Large Documents | Phillip Ryals | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"flatbed",
"maps",
"scanner"
] | When you need to scan really large documents, camera setups can get pretty expensive. There are professionals that do it, but they are fairly pricey too. What if you need to do it on the cheap? A flatbed scanner would be perfect, but the lip on the edge of most flatbed scanners keeps the document from touching the platen properly. [Matthew] decided to
hack his Canon LiDE 90 scanner
to use it in a face-down format. By removing the top of the case, and making a couple extra tweaks, the scanner can now lay flat and simply be moved in a grid.
Once you have the images, you’ll need a way to stitch them together. [Matthew] points to
this tutorial
, but he awesomely decided to write
a little Python script
to make it all happen automatically. We imagine that script might be useful for more than just this project.
We’ve seen
some
other
scanners recently, but this one is probably the easiest for the majority of hobbyists to achieve with parts on hand. | 23 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1066029",
"author": "medix",
"timestamp": "2013-09-27T08:30:20",
"content": "Brings back fond memories of the old Logitech ScanMan II from back in the day. If only I had the stitching capabilities of today’s software 15+ years ago!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repli... | 1,760,376,446.125534 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/26/wi-fi-enabled-garage-door-opener/ | Wi-Fi Enabled Garage Door Opener | Brian Benchoff | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"garage door",
"security",
"wifi"
] | Normally, internet-controlled household devices are a cobbled together mashup of parts. This is great for a prototype, but if you’re looking for something that will last a decade in your garage, you’ll need something a little cleaner and more robust. [Phil]’s
Internet-enabled garage door opener
is just that, replete with a custom-made enclosure for his Arduino powered system.
The main hardware for [Phil]’s build is a
Freetronix EtherTen
, an Arduino clone with a built-in Ethernet interface. Aside from that, the electronics are simple: a relay, transistor, and diode provide the connection from the EtherTen to the garage door opener.
The software for this setup consists of a main file that sets up the web page, the serial monitor, and loops through the main program. There are a bunch of classes for initializing the web page, writing passwords to the EEPROM, activating the door, and setting the MAC and IP addresses.
Opening the door with this remote is a snap: with any WiFi enabled smartphone or tablet, [Phil] only needs to log onto his network, surf on over to the page hosted on the Arduino, and enter a password. From there, opening the door is just a press of a button. Passwords and other configuration settings cane be entered with
MegunoLink
. This software also includes a serial monitor to log who opened the door and when.
It’s an interesting and compact system, and handy to boot. You might sometimes forget your garage door opener, but we’re thinking if you ever find yourself without your phone, a closed garage door is the least of your problems. | 27 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1065955",
"author": "pete",
"timestamp": "2013-09-27T05:11:55",
"content": "Do it with a Raspberry Pi:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2abZ90-eU0",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1066142",
"author": "RooTer",
"ti... | 1,760,376,445.908411 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/26/turn-a-decommissioned-robot-into-a-cnc-machine/ | Turn A Decommissioned Robot Into A CNC Machine | Adam Fabio | [
"cnc hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"cnc",
"Cutting and Machining",
"g-code",
"Numerical control",
"robot"
] | Some of us may have been accused of living in Mom’s basement – [Benjamin] kicks it up a notch by
keeping an industrial robot in his parent’s
attic
shed loft
.
[Benjamin] was tasked with stripping down some retired equipment at work. It turns out the “retired equipment” was three Cartesian robots from Adept Robotics. These are large industrial XYZ platforms capable of high speed movements (3000 IPM rapids!).
Getting from a decommissioned machine to a working CNC is never a simple path. In this case [Ben] was able to make the transition relatively easily. Each axis of the robot has a 400 Watt Yaskawa servo with a 65k encoder and brake. The original Adept servo amps and control system was still working, so he kept it. The controllers were new enough that they communicate over a daisy chained IEEE1394 (Firewire) link. That is relatively modern compared to some of the
conversions we’ve seen in the past
. The final piece of the puzzle was
G-code creation
Translating common G-code to a format his machine could recognize. Ben chose MeshCAM for the task.
One problem [Ben] ran into was stuttering on the X-axis. The original machines only had a single sided drive system on the X-axis. Single side is fine for an assembly machine that doesn’t see any tool load. However for a CNC machine that will see spindle loads, a single side drive creates a twisting force which threatens to rack the entire frame. He used one of the drive systems from his spare robot to convert his main machine to a double-sided drive, eliminating the issue.
[Ben’s] eventual goal for the robot is to machine high performance auto parts. We’d be a little worried about a machine like this milling steel. Aluminum extrusion is pretty rigid, but can it hold up to those sorts of milling loads without flexing or tool chatter? We’ll be watching this one to find out.
Update: [
Ben] clarified a couple of points in the comments below – and added that he’s “currently seeing repeatable accuracy of about 1/4000th of a millimeter.” Wow! | 42 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "1065930",
"author": "Benjamin Roy",
"timestamp": "2013-09-27T03:11:34",
"content": "I just want to clarify a few things: The major issue I had was not creating g-code; any modern CAM processor will do that easily. My problem was taking an industrial robot designed to do one repetiti... | 1,760,376,446.249286 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/26/breadboard-sequencer-does-a-lot-with-very-little-hardware/ | Breadboard Sequencer Does A Lot With Very Little Hardware | Mike Szczys | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"atmega328",
"breadboard",
"sequencer",
"shift register"
] | [Jan Cumpelik] squeezes a lot of performance out of very few components
with his breadboard sequencer
which he calls Lunchbeat. We really like his awesome breadboard which has a series of trenches perpendicular to the bus strips framing the long sides. All of our breadboards have just one trench down the middle. This, combined with his mad breadboard skills, results in a really clean prototype.
The chip nearest his hand is the ATmega328 which drives the sequencer. It takes inputs from that row of 10k trimpots as well as a series of tactile switches. Feedback is given with the row of eight LEDs. Those are driven from a 595 shift register to save pins on the microcontroller. The remaining chip is an OpAmp which works in conjunction with a 3-bit R2R ladder DAC to output audio. Turn your speakers down just a bit before taking in the demonstration below. There you will also find an image version of his schematic that we made for your convenience. It is only available as a PDF in the code repository he posted. | 14 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "1065887",
"author": "Erik Johnson",
"timestamp": "2013-09-27T00:12:09",
"content": "This reminds me of my old Apple ][‘s sound, very nice",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1065895",
"author": "pcf11",
"timestamp": "2013-09... | 1,760,376,446.364031 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/26/opening-up-the-settings-in-makerware/ | Opening Up The Settings In MakerWare | Brian Benchoff | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"filament",
"makerbot",
"Makerware",
"slicer"
] | [Rich Olson] really likes MakerWare and the Makerbot slicer – the software package that comes with every Makerbot – but sometimes he needs to change a few settings. Makerware doesn’t allow the user access to 90% of the setting for slicing and printing, so
[Rich] did something about that
. He came up with ProfTweak, a tool to change all the MakerWare slicing and printing parameters, giving him precise control over every print.
ProfTweak handles common settings changes such as turning the fan on or off, adjusting the filament diameter, changing feed rate options, and turning your infills
into cats
. It’s a handy GUI app that should work under Windows, OS X, and Linux, so if you’re running MakerWare right now, you can get up and running with this easily.
One thing [Rich] has been using his new software for is
experimenting with alternative filaments
. With his Makerbot, he’s able to print in nylon, the wood and stone PLAs, flex PLA, and PET. That’s a lot more material than what the Makerbot natively supports, so we have to give [Rich] some credit for that. | 4 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1065799",
"author": "Joejoedancer",
"timestamp": "2013-09-26T20:17:55",
"content": "Finally a way to independently control the exturder temps. This guy deserves a hug.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1065822",
"author"... | 1,760,376,446.16809 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/26/fail-of-the-week-capturing-data-from-a-laser-rangefinder/ | Fail Of The Week: Capturing Data From A Laser Rangefinder | Mike Szczys | [
"Fail of the Week",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Laser Hacks"
] | [
"fail",
"fail of the week",
"laser range finder",
"reverse voltage",
"serial"
] | We’re changing it up this week with a reverse engineering fail which [Itay] pointed out to us. A couple of years ago [Nate] over at Sparkfun agreed to help a friend with a project that required precise distance measurement. He knew that laser rangefinders are a good way to go and mentions their use in golfing and the building trades. He picked up this handheld version billed as a laser tape measure. He put up
a valiant effort to reverse engineer the PCB
in hopes of finding a hook for the measurement data.
Obviously his endeavor failed or we wouldn’t be talking about it in this column. But there’s a lot to learn about his methods, and a few of the comments associated with his original post help to shed light on a couple of extra things to try.
First off, this thing isn’t cheap — ringing in for at least $90. That’s not a bad thing as the electronics are both well engineered and well designed. [Nate] was right to assume there’s some type of debugging information available from the board, he just had to find it. After spending some time with a continuity tester he was able to figure out what the test pads shown above go to and he soldered some pins onto them in order to connect his test equipment.
So what’s next?
Using a
logic sniffer is the next logical step in the reverse engineering process. [Nate] made a ton of captures and ended up stumbling upon a tiny snippet of serial data. The software he was using identified it as 19543 baud which is close enough to the 19200 standard to call it a match. But further efforts to send or receive more than the ‘? \n \r’ which the device was putting out failed.
So what’s going on here? Some of the ideas already posted on the original thread include the need to ground a line to get the chip talking, flow control problems, attempts at using AT commands, and the possibility that a fuse on the RX line was burnt during programming to prevent tampering/reading the firmware. Of course we’d like to hear what you think below!
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. | 44 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1065715",
"author": "gannon",
"timestamp": "2013-09-26T17:11:40",
"content": "Nice attempt at least.Other method I would try: Intercept the data going to the LCD",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1065718",
"author": "Eri... | 1,760,376,446.451762 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/26/thecontrollerprojects-first-contest-with-prizes/ | Thecontrollerproject’s First Contest, With Prizes | Brian Benchoff | [
"contests"
] | [
"game controller",
"thecontrollerproject"
] | One of [Caleb]’s side projects before he left us was TheControllerProject, a place for controller and console modders to hook up with gamers with disabilities. Things must be hopping over there, because
[Caleb] just announced his first contest
, with prizes, even.
The goal of this contest is to make the trigger buttons on XBox and PS3 controllers able to be controlled from the top of the controller. This is a huge problem for gamers with disabilities, and no open system currently exists to solve this problem. If you can make some sort of mechanical device to turn shoulder-mounted buttons into top-mounted actuators, just host it somewhere and win a prize.
The prizes are an
iFixit toolkit
and
magnetic mat
. The first five people to send in a solution to the shoulder mounted button problem get this prize. Originally, [Caleb] thought about tearing apart these controllers and soldering extra buttons, but a snap-on mechanical solution is much easier to install.
If you design a solution to this problem,
send it in
(but
send it to [Caleb] first!
) and we’ll probably feature it too. | 22 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "1065659",
"author": "Caleb Kraft",
"timestamp": "2013-09-26T14:54:45",
"content": "Thanks guys!I hope people see that there is a specific goal here. I don’t need complicated solutions involving re-routing electronics, because that is inefficient. I can only help one person every mon... | 1,760,376,446.311153 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/26/self-balancing-arduino-does-it-without-an-imu/ | Self-balancing Arduino Does It Without An IMU | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"reflectance",
"Self Balancing Robot"
] | The miniscule size of
this self-balancing robot
makes it a cool project. It actually uses the motor and wheels from a small toy car. But when you look into how the balancing act is performed it gets way more interesting. The larger versions of this trick pretty much all use Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) which are usually made up of an accelerometer and a gyroscopic sensor. This has neither.
The black PCB seen to the right of the robot is an IR reflectance sensor. It shines an IR led at the floor and picks up what reflects back. [Sean] added this hack because the gyro sensor he ordered hasn’t arrived yet. The board has a trimpot which is used to adjust the sensitivity. You have to tweak it until it stands on its own. See for yourself after the break.
Self balancing robot builds are a great way to teach yourself about Proportional-Integral-Derivate (PID) algorithms
used in a lot of these projects
. | 15 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1065579",
"author": "freelancer",
"timestamp": "2013-09-26T11:14:08",
"content": "Well it’s not gonna work on unevenly colored floor, right? How about using a perpendicular and two light barriers? It might oscillate easly, but maybe this is an even better PID-training ;)",
"pare... | 1,760,376,446.560227 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/26/maxim-app-note-reuses-lithium-ion-cells-plus-extras/ | Maxim App Note Reuses Lithium Ion Cells — Plus Extras | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Parts"
] | [
"app note",
"lithium ion",
"max8677a",
"maxim",
"qfn"
] | Now we don’t sit around reading application notes for fun. But if hard pressed we would have to admit that we do read quite a few of them even if the concepts aren’t currently on our project list. That’s because they’re a great way to learn stuff and for the most part the information within is trustworthy.
The latest one that we looked at is
this Maxim app note 5681 on recycling Lithium-ion batteries
. It’s more a reuse than a recycle but you get the point. If you have some Lithium-Ion cells left over from older equipment this resource delivers a lot of good information on how to use them to power something else.
Obviously they’re showing off their own hardware here, but that’s okay. The MAX8677A chips has a ton of features and can be had for $3-5 depending on your vendor. It automatically switches between powering your device from the battery, or from the charging source if connected. This allows you to source up to 500mA when connected to USB or 2A when charging from an external DC supply. There is also all of the protection you would normally want with a Li-ion setup, including temperature monitoring.
The catch is the
not-so-hand-solderable QFN package
. They’ve got a solution to this as well. The diagram on the right shows how to hand solder the chip — albeit with a hot air pencil — by drilling through the board to get at the ground pad from the underside of the PCB.
[Thanks Jaded and Amos] | 26 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "1065533",
"author": "Augusto",
"timestamp": "2013-09-26T08:13:44",
"content": "Instead of drilling the hole you can remove the solder mask on the bottom side of the center pad and heat the chip with a normal soldering iron from behind.Here is a video (not mine) :http://www.youtube.c... | 1,760,376,447.02639 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/25/3d-printed-kindle-page-turner/ | 3D Printed Kindle Page Turner | Marsh | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Kindle hacks"
] | [
"accessib",
"disability",
"paddles"
] | The slim page turn buttons on a Kindle may serve as an elegant, out-of-the-way design for a generation raised with and saturated by technology. For older folks and the disabled, however, those buttons can be a pain. [XenonJohn] fired up his 3D printer to find a solution, building
this Kindle page turner
. The Kindle slides in from the top while two flappy paddles offer a larger, unmissable target to replace the usual thin page-turn buttons. [XenonJohn] designed the levers to function with only a light touch, and included “bump stops” underneath the levers to absorb excess force from any harsh, accidental smacks.
Construction is simple and straightforward: print pieces, clean pieces, put pieces together. The levers attach via 3D printed hinges, which [XenonJohn] glued to keep in place. The relevant 3D files are available at the link above, and stick around after the break for a quick video of the paddles flipping some pages. [XenonJohn] is no stranger to Hackaday; take a look at his
Google Glass alternative, “Beady-i.”
Also check out the
Frankenkindle
, one of the inspirations for [XenonJohn’s] project which required a much more invasive process for getting at the page turning buttons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyXspYWJEug | 7 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1065504",
"author": "Marius Schmidt",
"timestamp": "2013-09-26T06:28:54",
"content": "I am reading the same book on my kindle, a really good read.Doesn’t look like that attachment would make holding the kindle any more comfortable though.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,376,447.113205 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/25/arduino-based-temp-control-via-sms/ | Arduino-based Temp Control Via SMS | Marsh | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Cellphone Hacks",
"home hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"freeduino",
"gsm",
"sms",
"sms messages",
"temperature",
"temperature-control"
] | As connected as we are, reliable and affordable internet is still a luxury in the far reaches. [kohleick’s] country home is not just remote; with temperatures dropping to -30C in the winter, it’s practically Arctic. His solution for controlling the thermostat from afar was to take advantage of the GSM network and implement a
SMS-based heater controller
. The unit typically operates in “antifreeze mode,” but sending a simple text message prior to visiting causes the heater to kick it up to a more comfortable setting for your arrival. Daily logs report the system’s status, and an alert will trigger when temperatures fall below a set limit, thus indicating potential faults with the heater.
The build uses a Freeduino paired with an external GSM modem for communication and an LCD to display current status and menus, which users access via three buttons on the side of the picture frame. [kohleick] connected two temperature sensors: one directly to the Freeduino’s shield and a second outside the house. After the temperature sensors detect deviance from the set point, or upon SMS instruction, the Freeduino will crank up the heat through a 5V relay attached to the home’s boiler. Head over to the Instructables page linked above for a bill of materials, schematics, and the code. The Siemens GSM modem in this build is nothing to worry about, but
be careful if you try to reproduce this project with an Arduino GSM shield
, or your house might
really
heat up. | 7 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1065432",
"author": "Jimbo",
"timestamp": "2013-09-26T02:14:26",
"content": "Must be nice!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1065667",
"author": "lwatcdr",
"timestamp": "2013-09-26T15:20:06",
"content": "I think it is ... | 1,760,376,447.071313 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/25/zero-gravity-sort-of-on-a-budget/ | Zero Gravity (sort Of) On A Budget | Marsh | [
"home hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"anti-gravity",
"forklift",
"gravity"
] | At $250,000, Virgin Galactic is probably out of most people’s price range; even reduced gravity flights run $5k. You may be in luck, though, as [Justin] and his friends have
built a spinning room for $350
(Warning: loud noise @ beginning) that can turn your world upside down. The video provides a time-lapse of the build, but you’ll probably want to skip ahead 5 minutes in for the real fun.
It may not be anti-gravity, but holding onto furniture to keep from flying into the ceiling looks pretty entertaining. The room works like the fairground favorite “Gravitron” ride turned sideways. 2 forklifts support a massive wooden cube, which includes familiar features from home: drywall, flooring, and some furniture. [Justin] managed to borrow two car wheels, which he mounted in the middle of the walls on opposing sides of the cube. Two casters support each rim, and the forklifts hold the casters just high enough to allow a few friends to manually sling everything around.
[via
ISO 1200
and
DIY Photography
]
[Thanks Dave] | 32 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "1065377",
"author": "naroom",
"timestamp": "2013-09-25T23:05:56",
"content": "What a feeling / When you’re dancin’ on the ceiling",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1065386",
"author": "Quads",
"timestamp": "2013-09-25T23:3... | 1,760,376,447.184512 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/25/3d-printering-advances-in-3d-printing-at-maker-faire/ | 3D Printering: Advances In 3D Printing At Maker Faire | Brian Benchoff | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Hackaday Columns"
] | [
"3DF printing",
"casting",
"filament",
"silicon molding"
] | Needless to say, the World Maker Faire had a ton of 3D printers. It’s really becoming an obligatory fixture of any booth, whether you’re Microsoft announcing to the world Windows 8 now supports 3D printer drivers (don’t ask), or you just have a Makerbot Replicator on your table for some street cred.
Even the 3D Printing section of the faire wasn’t without a lot of what we’ve all seen before. Yes, the RepRap Morgan and Simpson made a showing, but 3D printing to most people attending the faire is just plastic trinkets, Minecraft figures, and single-thickness vases and jars.
Deep in the outskirts of the faire, right by the Porta Potties and a generator, one booth showed everyone how 3D printing
should
be done. It was
AS220 Labs
‘ table, and they’re doing their best to make 3D printers more than just printing out owl sculptures and plastic octopodes.
Fun With Filaments
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgHDf6Qg5Cc&w=580]
First up from AS220 is [Matt Stultz] who has been experimenting with filaments other than the usual ABS and PLA. He gave a talk at the 3D Printing stage where he introduced the crowd to High Impact Polystyrene (HIPS), an amazing filament that produces unimaginably smooth objects, but can also be dissolved away with
Limonene
. This allows [Matt] to create objects with incredible overhangs with direct-off-the-printer mechanical builds such as gear trains and transmissions possible in the future.
If you’re running a 1.75 mm extruder, I highly suggest you
pick up a spool of HIPS from Filaco
just to play around with. It has the same dissolvable support qualities of PVA, but it also produces wonderful prints to boot. If the people running Filaco read this, I highly suggest you make some 3 mm spools of HIPS because somewhere around half the market has 3mm hot ends.
Along with HIPS, [Matt] also showed off two interesting filaments you need to feel to believe. The first is Laywood, a type of PLA embedded with wood fibers. It doesn’t exactly feel like wood, more like a big chunk of MDF that someone had taken a rasp to.
Laybrick, the PLA infused with chalk dust to emulate a stone texture, also made a showing at [Matt]’s table. It feels a little like a very fine-grained sandstone, but isn’t cool to the touch as a normal stone should be. With a greater infill, [Matt] should be able to come up with something that really does feel like a natural material.
Using 3D Printers as Intended
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkSeqfb93os&w=580]
Also at the AS220 booth was [Dan] who can produce ten sets of MendelMax printed parts in under three hours.
Although we would not be where we are today without the RepRap project, the idea of using 3D printers solely to print more 3D printers is a dumb idea. Self-replication is a fine goal, but rapid manufacturing techniques should be used to build
one
of something, not an army of something.
When [Dan] decided he should look into building another 3D printer, he came to the same conclusion. Printing all the parts for his printer is a 30 hour job, but by making molds of the parts and pouring in some resin, he’s able to crank out a new set of parts in one tenth the time. It’s brilliant, and kind of depressing that this technique wasn’t seen more at Maker Faire.
To make his molds, [Dan] is using silicone rubber, with all the holes in each part plugged with steel rods before being cast. After the silicone cures, the halves of the mold are separated, the parts removed, and resin poured into the mold. Despite the complex geometries, this can be done, and is the way 3D printers should be used to replicate themselves.
It was great talking with the guys from AS220, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next year. If you want to follow their 3D printing adventures for yourself, you can check them out at
3D Printing Providence
,
If I could make one suggestion, has anyone looked into printing the molds themselves? They have a great dissolvable support material… | 30 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1065324",
"author": "yama",
"timestamp": "2013-09-25T20:48:31",
"content": "+1, Yes indeed. Silly to reproduce flat stuff using a printer. Much simpler than resin and faster is to use laser cutting for gears and other such flats.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies... | 1,760,376,447.567047 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/25/world-maker-faire-2013-roundup/ | World Maker Faire 2013 Roundup | Brian Benchoff | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"2600",
"Handibot",
"nyc resistor",
"World Maker Faire"
] | They built a shed using only this tool
One of the more interesting structures at WMF was a garden shed made entirely out of plywood cut with
the Handibot
. It’s a handheld luggable CNC router that allows you to place the machine over a work piece, punch some settings into the software, and cut mortises, CNC engravings, and just about any other shape you can imagine.
The Handibot
recently finished a very successful Kickstarter
, and from the looks of it they have a really great tool on their hands. They managed to carve a few Hackaday logos in the floor of their shed, but we forgot to film that. It was a busy day.
Future Crew and a 1930s teletype Model 15 Teletype
Being from the area, NYC Resistor, the Brooklyn-based hackerspace just
had
to make a showing. Some of the smaller project they brought with them is
Space Rocks
, an Asteroids clone played on an old, slowly dying oscilloscope. They also had a Minitel terminal made for the US market, which was just weird.
Their big, impressive project for the Maker Faire was
Future Crew
a Starship/TARDIS bridge simulation game that pits five players against a common enemy: time itself.
Each station has a certain task, such as advancing the timeline on an old video edit console, playing a short ditty on a toy electronic piano, and reading what a Model 15 Teletype was printing out. All these stations are connected to a Raspberry Pi, and the game looks
really
fun, provided all the players know what’s going on.
Now we know what Make does with their networking hardware
For anyone who visited Maker Faire, you may have noticed your iDevice’s current location was in San Mateo, CA. I noticed this when my MacBook’s time was set for Pacific time, and a few other people who were there early on Saturday told me their iPhones were doing the same thing.
Apparently, shipping a bunch of WiFi routers across the country (along with a bunch of PA gear and other ephemera) is cheaper than buying two sets and warehousing them. This was mildly interesting and we’re now accepting proposals to figure out how quickly Apple/Google/Whatever’s database can be updated with the correct information. Deadline for applications is before the next SFO Maker Faire.
Phone Trucks Around the World
Like most years,
2600
made a showing with their reclaimed Bell service van, ‘Free Kevin’ bumper sticker included. They had a ton of swag including a few old HOPE badges, current and back issues, t-shirts, Department of Hopeland Security passports and stickers.
The 2600 van did give us a few ideas should Hackaday ever need a booth for Maker Faires and other shows. Anyone up for building a heart-shaped bed? | 9 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1065245",
"author": "ka1axy",
"timestamp": "2013-09-25T18:09:40",
"content": "+1 for the old Bell truck :-)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1065294",
"author": "Brendan Robert",
"timestamp": "2013-09-25T19:42:32",
"c... | 1,760,376,446.9634 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/24/announcing-adafruits-bluefruit/ | Announcing Adafruit’s Bluefruit | Brian Benchoff | [
"hardware",
"News"
] | [
"Bluefruit",
"bluetooth",
"World Maker Faire"
] | You always meet the most interesting people wandering around Maker Faire, but by far the most interesting was Hackaday’s founder, [Phil Torrone] and bubblegum-haired compatriot [Limor] from Adafruit. They were out in full force checking out the sights and gave us the scoop on a new piece of hardware they’re releasing called Bluefruit.
Bluefruit is a very tiny and very cheap Bluetooth module breakout board that allows anyone to take 12 digital inputs and turn them into a Bluetooth HID device. If you’re planning a portable battery-powered arcade controller, just plug in a Bluefruit, set up your keypresses in your software, and rock out.
On board the Blufruit are an FTDI programming connector, 12 input pins, a few power pins, a custom FCC and CE certified CSR Bluetooth module, and that’s about it. If you’re looking for a simple GPIO to Bluetooth adapter without an overwrought Arduino setup, this is the best solution we’ve seen by far. Adafruit is also rocking their own custom firmware for the device, so this will be extremely hacker-friendly.
The price will be $20 and should be available in the Adafruit store in a bit. If you’re looking for an easy way to put a Bluetooth HID controller in your next project, this is the one.
Pictures of the Bluefruit and Adafruit crew below. | 16 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1064556",
"author": "jamen",
"timestamp": "2013-09-24T20:45:14",
"content": "Could I just wire up every button on an NES controller to the inputs from vcc and have this magically work?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1064577",... | 1,760,376,447.290026 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/24/world-maker-faire-we-annoy-the-diwire-crew/ | World Maker Faire: We Annoy The DIWire Crew | Brian Benchoff | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"DIWire",
"wire bending",
"World Maker Faire"
] | Last year at Maker Faire we ran into
the folks from Pensa Labs
, the crew behind the very cool DIWire CNC wire bender. They were back again in full force this year with a new, improved, and soon-to-be commercially launched wire bender.
The first time we saw the DIWire
it was a very cool piece of kit, but something that might not hold up to the rigours of a production environment. The latest version, a 14×8.5×5.5 inch machine designed to be set into a table, allowing for rapid manufacturing of nearly any shape imaginable bent into 1/8″ and 1/16″ steel wire.
Making any shape with the DIWire is extremely simple: if you have an SVG file, just import it into the software, define a few points along a path, and slip in a length of wire. One of the guys from Pensa was able to re-create the Hackaday logo is a few minutes.
It’s an impressive piece of kit that a few makers, hackers, and architects are using to build structures that can’t be made any other way. The DIWire will soon be released to the public, so
check out their site
for updates. | 7 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1064490",
"author": "mjrippe",
"timestamp": "2013-09-24T18:19:10",
"content": "Very nice! Not something I would use often, but good to know it is available.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1064538",
"author": "Walter Schrep... | 1,760,376,447.235872 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/24/retrotechtacular-fundamentals-of-am-and-fm-radio-communication/ | Retrotechtacular: Fundamentals Of AM And FM Radio Communication | Todd Harrison | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Retrotechtacular"
] | [
"am",
"amateur radio",
"communications",
"fm",
"ham",
"modulation",
"radio",
"retrotechtacular"
] | How radios send and receive information can seem magical to the uninformed. For some people, this week’s Retrotechtacular video, “
Frequency Modulation – Part 1 Basic Principles
”, from the US Army Department of Defense 1964 will be a great refresher, and for others it will be their first introduction into the wonderful world of radio communications.
The stated objective is to teach why FM radio communication reduces interference which normally afflicts AM radio communications. Fundamentals of AM and FM is a better description, however, because the first part of the video nicely teaches the principles of AM and FM radio communications. It isn’t until later in the clip that it delves into interference, advantages of FM modulation, and detailed functioning of FM radio. The delivery is slow at times and admittedly long, yet the pace is perfect for a young ham to follow along with plenty of time to soak in the knowledge. If you’re still on the fence about becoming a ham here’s
some words or encouragement
.
Though the video isn’t aimed at ham radio users it does address core knowledge needed by amateur radio hobbyists. Amateur radio is full of many exciting communication technologies and you should have a clear understanding of AM and FM communication methodologies before getting on Grandpa’s information super highway. Once you have your ham license (aka ticket) you have privileges to create and test amazing ham related hacks, like [Lior] implementing
full programmable control of a Baofeng UV5R
ham radio using an Arduino.
Join us after the break to watch the video.
The video comes to us from public.resource.org and community member [Wybren Buijs] on the tip line. | 20 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1064474",
"author": "Slipster",
"timestamp": "2013-09-24T17:38:41",
"content": "Why the sudden amateur radio ‘push’ on Hackaday lately? I’m a ham and welcome promotion of the hobby but just find it odd.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comm... | 1,760,376,447.433078 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/24/lib3-plans-to-bring-contract-manufacturing-to-the-masses/ | LIB3 Plans To Bring Contract Manufacturing To The Masses | Adam Fabio | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"cnc",
"maker faire",
"paste dispenser",
"solder",
"solder paste",
"stencil",
"Surface-mount technology"
] | LIB3’s paste system
LIB3
is an open source hardware start-up
from upstate New York. Thus far, the team has made some interesting products
such as the
piLED
kit
. However, they have big dreams for the future. LIB3 plans to become a contract assembly house specifically targeting low volume makers. To do this they have to build their own tools. LIB3’s latest project is a solder paste dispenser for surface mount components. Traditionally solder paste is applied with
stencils made of stainless steel
. In more recent years laser cut kapton has become a favorite for low volume production.
Both of these systems require a stencil to be made up. LIB3 took a different approach, and modified an old CNC glue dispenser for paste. The team got their hands on an 1991 vintage X/Y glue dispensing system. X/Y systems in this era were big, heavy affairs with powerful motors. LIB3 removed all the control electronics and built their own system from scratch. New features include direct computer control, and a vision system.
For their Maker Faire demo LIB3 replaced the paste with a standard felt tipped pen. Any mouse motion on the attached PC was directly translated into pen motion. The modified machine is extremely accurate – 0603 resistor pads will be no problem. The machine is also incredibly fast. A quick jiggle of the mouse translated into the machine moving its 100 pound head around in a rather frightening manner. Even so, the motors didn’t lose any steps. The machine came right back its home position, ready for the next challenge.
The business end of LIB3’s paste system. | 20 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1064368",
"author": "technodream",
"timestamp": "2013-09-24T14:09:55",
"content": "so, hack?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1064396",
"author": "Gutierrez",
"timestamp": "2013-09-24T15:13:27",
"content... | 1,760,376,447.494838 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/24/castar-comes-to-maker-faire-ny-2013/ | CastAR Comes To Maker Faire NY 2013 | Adam Fabio | [
"Peripherals Hacks",
"Video Hacks",
"Virtual Reality"
] | [
"augmented reality",
"castAR",
"jeri ellsworth",
"maker faire",
"RIck Johnson",
"Technical Illusions",
"unity"
] | If there was one sentence heard over and over at Maker Faire NY, it was
“Did you see castAR yet?”
The Technical Illusions team was at Maker Faire in full force. [Jeri Ellsworth], [Rick Johnson,] and team brought two demos: the tried and true Jenga simulator, and a newer overhead shooter based on the Unity 3D engine. We didn’t see any earth shattering changes from
the previous demos of castAR
, as [Jeri] has moved into optimization of the Hardware, and [Rick] toward even more immersive demos of the software. Optimization and preparing for market are considered the “hard yards” of any product design. This is the place where a huge amount of work goes in, but the changes are subtle to the layperson.
In addition to her development of castAR’s ASIC, [Jeri] has been hard at work on the optics. The “old” glasses used a solid plastic optical path. The newer glasses use a hollow path for the twin 720p projectors. This makes them even lighter than the previous generation. Weight on the castAR glasses can’t be overstated. They feel incredibly light. There was no perceptible pressure on the nose or ears when wearing them. Also missing was the motion sickness people often experience with VR. This is because castAR doesn’t replace the user’s vision field, it only augments the vision. Peripheral motion cues are still there, which makes for a much more comfortable experience.
We talked with [Rick] about some of the software challenges he’s faced. One of them was rendering two images for the twin projectors on the glasses. In order to fit everything in the glasses, the right projection path is inverted. [Rick] had to create an inverted optical path to handle this. A PC setup next to the demo showed all the work the software was doing to create what was a seamless experience from the eyes of the user.
One of the most impressive things about castAR is how quickly the image disappears when one moves off axis of the projectors. This is a feature of the retroreflective material Technical Illusions is using. What it means in the real world is that several players can share the same material “playfield”.
A young gamer tries out the castAR glasses.
The castAR booth
Jeri and Rick show off castAR | 12 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1064305",
"author": "Isaac",
"timestamp": "2013-09-24T13:01:18",
"content": "Mid October for the Kickstarter. Assuming price isn’t ‘excessive’, this’ll definitely be my first ever backing.(I’m not typically a fan of making an investment for no positive return and high risk… but I pr... | 1,760,376,447.616546 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/24/onetesla-electrifies-maker-faire-ny-2013/ | OneTesla Electrifies Maker Faire NY 2013 | Adam Fabio | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"high voltage",
"kickstarter",
"midi",
"Nikola Tesla",
"oneTesla",
"Singing Tesla coil",
"tesla coil"
] | Throughout the maker pavilion, the siren song of a musical Tesla coil could be heard. Those who followed their ears found themselves at the
oneTesla
booth. OneTesla is a hobby Tesla coil, with the added twist of polyphonic MIDI input.
Started by three MIT students, oneTesla had a
successful Kickstarter
campaign last year. Like many kickstarters, they are a bit behind in the shipping department. They are shipping out their third run of kits to backers now. The group had a small number of oneTesla coils for sale at the show, which appeared to have sold out by midday Sunday.
The actual process of generating sound with a Tesla coil is fascinating. All Tesla coils are resonant at high frequency. In oneTesla’s case, this is 220kHz. Human hearing ends around 20kHz, so this is well beyond the range of perception. Since the coil is locked in at this frequency, the power to the coil is modulated at the desired sound frequency. Playing an A note for example, would mean modulating the coil at 440Hz.
In OneTesla, all this is handled by the
MIDI interrupter board
. An ATMega328 performs all the heavy lifting of modulating the coil. Even more interesting is the fact that the MIDI interrupter can create two note polyphony by interleaving the modulated notes. Think persistence of vision style effects, but with audio. The interrupter also acts as the overall power control for the coil, eliminating the need for a variac on the AC side to control overall coil power. | 11 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1064209",
"author": "Eric",
"timestamp": "2013-09-24T10:51:25",
"content": "That was neat but incredibly obnoxious to those nearby… I think the tune is just starting to fade from my memory!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1064... | 1,760,376,447.787477 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/23/pocketnc-p5-takes-desktop-cnc-to-the-5th-dimension/ | PocketNC P5 Takes Desktop CNC To The 5th Dimension | Adam Fabio | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"cnc",
"maker faire",
"Numerical control",
"P5",
"PocketCNC"
] | What do you get when you put together a husband/wife team of a machinist and mechanical engineer? If you’re [Matt and Michelle Hertel], you get a
5 axis CNC
, which we think was one of the hidden gems at Maker Faire NY.
Hobby CNC machines have grown by leaps and bounds over the last few years. Nearly all these machines have been 3 axis (X,Y,Z). 5 (and more) axis machines have been around for years in the industrial world. These higher level machines never have made the jump to the hobby/home shop world.
The P5’s two extra axis allow for extremely complex parts to be created in one setup. A good example of this would be a turbine wheel. Compound curves on (and behind) each blade would make this an impossible job for a 3 axis CNC. The P5 was machining these parts all weekend at Maker Faire NY. Even more impressive is the fact that it was cutting
Delrin
, not wax.
The P5 uses a modified
Synthetos TinyG
board for stepper control. Every sliding axis is on a ball slide.
[Matt and Michelle] paid special attention to the spindle. Rather than attempt to reinvent the wheel and create a low runout spindle themselves, they went with a commercial unit. Considering the dynamic loads on a spindle when machining aluminum, we think this was a good idea. | 68 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "1063994",
"author": "Galane",
"timestamp": "2013-09-24T02:17:48",
"content": "Can this machine 7075 aluminum? That would make it a compact machine for milling compressor wheels for model jet engines.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_... | 1,760,376,448.006237 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/25/crowdsourcing-plastic-model-kits/ | Crowdsourcing Plastic Model Kits | Brian Benchoff | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"3d scanning",
"flexiscale",
"model trains",
"models",
"plastic model"
] | Flexiscale
, the company that crowdsources and crowdfunds model kits, made a showing at the World Maker Faire.
We’ve seen their work before
, but this time we got to touch base with [Chris Thorpe] and get a handle on the future of user-requested model kits.
Right now there are
over one hundred proposals
for what Flexiscale should do next. They’re mostly narrow gauge railroad locomotives and rolling stock, but [Chris] tells me they’re looking to branch out into larger projects including American locomotives as well as planes, ships, and buildings. This is a really, really cool project, and if you’re into models at all, you should at least be aware of what Flexiscale is trying to do.
If you have an idea of what Flexiscale should do next, write up a proposal.
I made one for the PRR GG1 electric locomotive
, and if enough people support it, [Chris] will scan an engine and make a kit. | 8 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1065153",
"author": "t-bone",
"timestamp": "2013-09-25T15:38:07",
"content": "Are there any quirky Shays that you’re into? That sounds more up their alley.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1065570",
"author": "Brian Be... | 1,760,376,447.835104 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/25/adding-automatic-power-on-to-a-linksys-nas/ | Adding Automatic Power-On To A Linksys NAS | Mike Szczys | [
"ATtiny Hacks"
] | [
"attiny45",
"linksys",
"nas"
] | We feel [Jim’s] pain in having to physically press the power button to boot his Network Attached Storage device after a power outage. If you live in an area with frequent brief but annoying power blinks it wouldn’t take long to brew up your own solution. Here you can see
the ATtiny45 that he added for the auto-boot
.
Aside from having to go upstairs in order to reboot the machine there is also a compulsory disk check that his Linksys NAS200 performs before files are available on the network. You can see that he used an 8-pin socket which lets him remove the chip for programming. The socket gets a ground connection from the shielding of the USB port, it pulls 5V off of the linear regulator right next to it, and the green wire connects to the power button’s conductor.
The sketch compiled for the chip starts a ten second timer are power up. When the timer goes off it pulls the pin low and then high, simulating a button press. In hobby electronics it’s a common problem that we have to invent issues to use as the next project. So it’s nice to see a real life application like this one. | 47 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1064985",
"author": "JC",
"timestamp": "2013-09-25T11:07:10",
"content": "Three words: “Uninterruptible Power Supply”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1064992",
"author": "Mulvane",
"timestamp": "2013-09-25T11:2... | 1,760,376,447.914072 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/25/electric-bmx-has-pedals-that-cant-be-pedalled/ | Electric BMX Has Pedals That Can’t Be Pedalled | Mike Szczys | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"bmx",
"electric bicycle",
"lead-acid"
] | We don’t mind it that there’s no chain connected to these pedals. At least there’s still somewhere to put your feet and our legs are too long to comfortably pedal this size of bike anyway. As you can tell, the added hardware takes care of
locomotion using an electric motor
.
The first step in this project was to find a steel bike frame to make welding a bit easier than it would be for aluminum. From there the paint was sanded at the attachment points and mounting brackets were fabricated from some angle iron. The rear mount houses a 500W 30A AC motor which uses a chain to drive the rear wheel. A specialty hub was found which allows the added sprocket to be installed on the left side of the rear wheel. Some threading issues prompted [Michael Monaghan] to come up with a method of adding a slot to lock the part in place.
Near the front fork the second mounting bracket holds the batteries; a pair of sealed lead-acid units. The speed control mounts on the top where the rider has easy access to it. The finished bike can get up to thirty miles per hour with a range of up to twenty miles between charges.
If you want your own electric bike on the cheap you can try
building one from a salvaged washing machine motor
. | 30 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1064895",
"author": "Alexander Foti",
"timestamp": "2013-09-25T08:15:17",
"content": "Excellent!Add a small (tiny) diesel generator to charge the batteries and you would have infinite range!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "106... | 1,760,376,448.072545 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/24/automatic-bluetooth-module-programmer/ | Automatic Bluetooth Module Programmer | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"bluetooth",
"hc-05",
"jy-mcu",
"program"
] | Before we dive in don’t be confused by the title. This doesn’t flash firmware to the device. But it does
automate the process of setting up the Bluetooth to serial module
for use in your projects.
We’re often confused by the lack of a standard way of describing these inexpensive modules. We would look at this can call it an HC-05, but we’re not sure if that’s right or not. [James Daniel] calls it a JY-MCU board. If you have a handle on the differences (or lack of) please let us know in the comments. Either way we know that these boards can be frustrating to work with. They can be found with
a wide variety of different firmwares
, which can make the configuration process a bit different for each.
[James’] solution connects the device to an Arduino running a sketch that he wrote. Connect the device, launch the terminal monitor in the Arduino IDE, then give it your desired settings. The sketch will poll the Bluetooth module to see what speed it is set to run at. It will then establish which firmware version the board is running, displaying this info in the terminal. It then uses that information to program the board with your desired settings.
In this case [James] is using one of the modules to
drive his 3D printer without being tethered to his laptop
. | 9 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1064836",
"author": "M Lange (@errorad)",
"timestamp": "2013-09-25T05:08:41",
"content": "The HC-05 is one of a series of castellated modules (HC-06, -07, etc). the JY-MCU is a breakout board for whatever version of module happens to be soldered onto it.",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,376,448.560746 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/24/backlit-pcb-panel-as-wall-art/ | Backlit PCB Panel As Wall Art | Mike Szczys | [
"LED Hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"art",
"pcb",
"wedding",
"ws2812b"
] | For his buddy’s wedding [Saar Drimer] wanted a one-of-a-kind gift, and what’s more unique than a piece of art? He set out to design something that would speak to his geeky game-loving friend. This full-panel PCB is what he came up with. It’s
a wall hanging that uses addressable LEDs and a PCB
for the enclosure and as a diffuser.
On the right you can see the panel as it was delivered to him. He used routed slots to separate the main body of the enclosure from the four side pieces and the mounting bracket. This design lets him snap off the parts and solder them in place. The only thing you need to add to it is a pair of screws (well, and the components that make it light up).
We’re shocked by how well the PCB works as a diffuser. The substrate is translucent when not covered with silk screen or the copper layers. The outline of the letters uses that, as well as circular areas along the side pieces. The letters themselves are copper fills that have artistic patterns removed from them. This really adds to the visual appeal when the piece is illuminated by 42 WS2812B LEDs. The video below shows the piece in action. It really takes
PCB as art
to the next level | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1064819",
"author": "Willaim",
"timestamp": "2013-09-25T04:29:00",
"content": "Beautifully done!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1064850",
"author": "sonicdude10",
"timestamp": "2013-09-25T05:35:54",
"content": "Inte... | 1,760,376,448.112738 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/24/safety-warning-arduino-gsm-shield-may-cause-fires/ | Safety Warning: Arduino GSM Shield May Cause Fires | Adam Fabio | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"arduino",
"Arduino GSM",
"BaldEngineer",
"capacitor",
"gsm",
"Manganese Dioxide",
"Tantalum capacitor"
] | Be careful with those Arduino GSM cards.
As [James] reports
, they may turn into fire starters. One person has reported a small explosion and fire already on the
Arduino forums
.
Now before we go any further – You may be asking yourself who the heck [James] is, and what gives him the ability to second guess the Arduino team. Well, here is [James’] blog disclaimer: “James is a Senior Technical Expert for Technology and Applications at KEMET Electronics, a capacitor manufacturer. The content of this post are his and in no way reflects opinions of his employer.”
Senior Technical Expert? That’s a good enough reason for us to believe him.
[James] states the problem is a tantalum capacitor used to decouple the GSM radio power supply from the main Arduino supply.
Tantalum capacitors are great for their low ESR properties. However, they have a well known downside of getting very hot, or even exploding when stressed. It’s not the Tantalum Anode that is burning. The Manganese Dioxide used as a cathode in some Tantalum capacitors is the culprit.
It comes down to voltage rating (or more aptly, derating). The Arduino GSM shield runs at 5 volts. The designers chose a 6.3V rated capacitor. While this close of a tolerance may be good enough for some types of capacitor, it is a no-go for a Tantalum cap with Manganese Dioxide. The dielectric material in these capacitors is so thin that the stress of a reflow oven cycle causes cracks. The cracks pass leakage current, and this sets the Manganese Dioxide on the path to destruction.
What’s the solution? [James] suggests several options:
Switch to a 10 volt part
Switch to a safer Tantalum Polymer capacitor.
We haven’t heard anything from the Arduino team yet about this, but to be safe we’d follow [James’] advice. | 133 | 36 | [
{
"comment_id": "1064651",
"author": "Jeremy Cook",
"timestamp": "2013-09-24T23:17:39",
"content": "Well that’s a little disturbing. I guess wear your safety glasses, and don’t leave it unattended.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1065193",
... | 1,760,376,448.512044 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/24/priceless-paintings-scanned-and-printed-in-3d/ | Priceless Paintings – Scanned And Printed In 3D | Phillip Ryals | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"art",
"painting"
] | When we think of works by Van Gogh and Rembrandt, most of us remember a
picture
, but we aren’t accustomed to seeing the actual
painting
. [Tim Zaman], a scientist at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, realized that the material presence of the paint conveys meaning as well. He wanted to create a lifelike reproduction in full dimension and color. While a common laser-based technique could have been used for depth mapping, resolution is dependent on the width of the line or dot, and the camera cannot capture color data simultaneously with this method.
In his thesis
, [Tim] goes into great detail on a hybrid imaging technique involving two cameras and a projector. He and his team eventually used two 40-megapixel Nikon cameras in conjunction with a fringe projector to capture a topographical map with in-plane resolution of 50 μm, and depth resolution of 9.2 μm.
We can’t find a lot of information on the printing process they used, other than references to high-resolution 3D printers by Océ (a Canon company). That said, [Tim] has provided
a plethora of images
of some of the reproductions, and we have to say they look amazing. The inclusion of depth information takes this a big step further than
that gigapixel scanning setup
we saw recently.
Check out the BBC interview with Tim, as well as time lapse videos of the scanning and printing process after the break.
BBC Interview:
Scanning:
Printing: | 25 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "1064543",
"author": "andarb",
"timestamp": "2013-09-24T20:20:52",
"content": "Now I KNOW I saw an episode of “Next Step” in the nineties about making three-dimensional replicas of paintings. I wonder how that technique was accomplished.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"... | 1,760,376,448.22216 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/29/hackaday-links-september-29-2013/ | Hackaday Links: September 29, 2013 | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"arcade cabinet",
"coffee",
"fingerprint",
"radar",
"shanghai",
"sparkfun",
"tardis",
"upverter"
] | We would be remiss if we didn’t mention that all of
SparkFun’s open source hardware is now on Upverter
.
Not wanting to tie up an iPad as a mini-gaming cabinet [Hartmut]
hacked an Arcadi cabinet to use EUzebox instead
.
Time travel happens in the bedroom as well. But only if you
have your very own Tardis entrance
. [AlmostUseful] pulled this off with just a bit of word trim and a very nice paint job. [via
Reddit
]
[Pierre]
tricks an iPhone fingerprint scanner
by making a replica out of hot glue.
Some of the guys from our parent company were over in Shanghai on business. [Aleksandar Bradic] made time to
visit the Shanghai hackerspace
while in town and wrote about the experience over on their engineering blog.
[Gregory Charvat] is a busy guy. In fact we’ve got a juicy hack of his saved up that we still need to wrap our minds around before featuring. In the mean time check out the
Intern-built coffee can radar
that he took over and
tested on a multi-million dollar Spherical Near Field Range
.
And finally, everyone loves coffee hacks, right? Here’s what [Manos] calls
a Greek style instant coffee machine
. | 9 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1067165",
"author": "problemchild68",
"timestamp": "2013-09-30T00:08:21",
"content": "Hi Wasn’t that SAR Radar project a repeat of an earlier post??Good project though…thanks for the posting :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "10... | 1,760,376,448.159998 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/29/inside-the-clapper/ | Inside The Clapper | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"clapper",
"classic",
"teardown",
"The Clapper"
] | Hackaday readers above a certain age will probably remember the fabulously faddish products developed by Joseph Enterprises. These odd gadgets included the Ove’ Glove, VCR Co-Pilot, the Creosote Sweeping Log, and Chia Pet (Cha-Cha-Cha-Chia) as mainstays of late night commercials, but none were as popular as The Clapper, everyone’s favorite sound-activated switch from the 1980s. [Richard] put up
a great virtual teardown
of The Clapper, that provides a lot of insight into how this magic relay box actually works, along with some historical context for the world The Clapper was introduced to.
Sound activated switches are nothing new, but the way The Clapper did it was just slightly brilliant. Instead of listening to every sound, the mic inside the magic box sends everything through a series of filters to come up with a very narrow bandpass filter centered around 2500 Hz. This trigger is analyzed by a SGS Thompson ST6210 microcontroller ( 4MHz, ~1kB ROM, 64 bytes of RAM, and 12 I/O pins ) to listen for two repeating triggers within 200 milliseconds. The entire system – including the source code for the MCU – can be seen in the official patent,
US5493618
.
The Clapper sold many millions of units at a time when a lot of homes were assuredly in a pre-microelectronics world. Yes, in 1986, a lot of TVs had microcontrollers and maybe a washer/dryer combo may have had a few thousand transistors between them. Other than that, The Clapper was many household’s introduction to the ubiquitous computing power we see today, and all with less capability than an Arduino. | 22 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1067099",
"author": "Ray Johnson",
"timestamp": "2013-09-29T20:11:47",
"content": "I remember working on television seats back in the 60’s. Yes, at one time, there were TV repairmen. The first remote controls that appeared were interesting devices. When a button was pushed, it cause... | 1,760,376,448.619026 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/29/50-multitouch-table-is-expensive-indestructable/ | 50″ Multitouch Table Is Expensive, Indestructable | Marsh | [
"Multitouch Hacks"
] | [
"multitouch",
"multitouch display",
"museum",
"projectors"
] | Wander through a well-funded museum these days and you’re likely to find interactive exhibits scattered around, such as this sleek
50″ projection-based multitouch table
. The company responsible for this beauty,
Ideum
, has discontinued the MT-50 model in favor of an LCD version, and has released the plans for the old model as part of the
Open Exhibits initiative
. This is a good thing for… well, everyone!
The frame consists of aluminum struts that crisscross through an all-steel body, which sits on casters for mobility. The computer specs seem comparable to a modern gaming rig, and rely on IEEE1394 inputs for the cameras. The costs start to pile up with the multiple row of high-intensity infrared LED strips, which can run $200 per roll. The glass is a custom made, 10mm thick sheet with projection film on one side and is
micro-etched
to reduce reflections and increase the viewing angle to nearly 180 degrees. The projector is an InFocus IN-1503, which has an impressively short
projection throw ratio
, and a final resolution of 1280×720.
The estimated price tag mentioned in the comments is pretty steep: $12k-16k. Let us know with your own comment what alternative parts might cut the cost, and watch the video overview of the table below, plus a video demonstration of its durability. For another DIY museum build, check out Bill Porter’s “
Reaction Time Challenge.
”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD7OLVaqWTY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfqePvT78qc | 23 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1067056",
"author": "cheeseslices",
"timestamp": "2013-09-29T17:28:58",
"content": "inb4 “where’s the hack?”.I think it’s so nifty when stuff like this gets released to the public. This may have a strong correlation with my views on the normal behavior of for profit organizations",
... | 1,760,376,448.676565 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/29/project-thumper-walkthrough/ | Project Thumper Walkthrough | James Hobson | [
"Hackerspaces",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"capacitor",
"geek group",
"giant capacitor",
"hackerspace",
"The Geek Group"
] | The Geek Group is at it again! Many years ago they built Project Thumper,
a 1,600V @80,000A electrical impulse … well … “thumper”
.
For those of you that don’t know,
The Geek Group
is the world’s largest not-for-profit Hackerspace. Lately they have been working on developing better videos for their
YouTube channel
, and have just released a stunning CGI animation of the build, operation, and explanation of Project Thumper.
So what is Project Thumper? In the simplest terms, it’s a giant capacitor, or more specifically,
an entire server rack filled with capacitors
. The Hackerspace uses it for experiments and demonstrations — but from the looks of their videos, they mostly just use it to blow things up,
as shown in their 2008 Project Promo video
. I think we would too. They even used it to
blow up an iPhone! (Skip to 3:00 for the explosion)
. We think someone with a high-speed camera really needs to film Thumper in action!
The awesome CGI animation explanation of it is after the break.
Last year we covered another one of their projects called
Project Stomper
, a very similar idea, but used to shrink quarters instead. | 29 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "1066991",
"author": "truthspew",
"timestamp": "2013-09-29T14:15:48",
"content": "I love the Geek Group. I think what they’re doing is so cool and would love to see them spawn similar groups in different parts of the U.S. It’s something we need.And if you can go buy a shrunken quarte... | 1,760,376,448.74575 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/29/upgrading-cordless-drill-batteries-to-lithium/ | Upgrading Cordless Drill Batteries To Lithium | Marsh | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"battery",
"charger",
"lipo",
"lithium",
"lithium polymer",
"power tool",
"power tools"
] | Cordless power tool battery replacements are expensive: you can easily spend $100 for a NiCd pack. [henal] decided to skip nickle-based cells and cut out the middleman by
converting his old cordless battery packs to inexpensive hobby lithium cells
. These batteries appear to be
Turnigy 3S 1300mAh’s
from Hobbyking, which for around $10 is a great bargain. As we’ve
explained before
, lithium batteries offer several advantages over NiMH and NiCd cells, but such a high energy density has drawbacks that should be feared and respected, despite
some dismissive commenters
. Please
educate yourself
if you’ve never worked with lithium cells.
[henal] gutted his dead battery packs and then proceeded to prepare the lithium replacements by soldering them to the cordless pack’s power connectors. To keep charging simple, he also branched off a deans connector from power and ground. After cutting some holes in the pack for access to the balancing connector and deans connector, [helan] went the extra mile by soldering on a DIN connector to the balancing wires, which he then securely glued to the side of the case.
We’ve
featured lithium power tool replacements before
, and these Turnigy packs pose the same problem: they don’t appear to have any low voltage cut-off protection. Check out
some of the comments
for a good solution. | 27 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1066946",
"author": "Sven",
"timestamp": "2013-09-29T11:12:36",
"content": "I did this once, but keeping an eye on the voltage became too much of a hassle.You really need some kind of cut-off circuit that cuts the power when the battery voltage goes low, the voltage drops quickly ne... | 1,760,376,448.806918 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/29/musical-pencil-synthesizer/ | Musical Pencil Synthesizer | James Hobson | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"555 timer IC",
"drawdio",
"make",
"make magazine",
"musical synthesizer",
"tlc555 timer"
] | Here’s another fun weekend project for the hacker younglings, a
musical synthesizer
that plays different musical tones based on the resistance of your conductive graphite drawing!
Like our recent post on a
DIY Metal Detector
, this project makes use of the ever relevant 555 timer. Except in this case they are using a more modern TLC555 timer which only requires 3V instead of the typical 4.5V. It’s a fairly simple project that you should be able to complete in just a few hours.
The circuit is quite basic. The 555 timer outputs in astable mode, which means there is a continuous stream of pulses from pin 3 which go right into the speaker circuit. The rest of the circuit monitors the resistance of whatever the pencil is touching, including you! Changes in resistance result in the variation of pulses outputted by the 555 timer.
As always, the video guide is after the break.
The cool thing about this hack is you can draw different things, including pianos, and actually play music just by using the pencil. Because you’re part of the resistance loop, you can have quite a bit of fun drawing! | 16 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "1066915",
"author": "zuul",
"timestamp": "2013-09-29T08:18:08",
"content": ":|",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1067053",
"author": "hemalchevli",
"timestamp": "2013-09-29T17:16:26",
"content": ":| indee... | 1,760,376,448.860566 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/28/electronics-everything-reference-poster/ | Electronics Everything Reference Poster | James Hobson | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"electronics cheatsheet",
"electronics reference",
"electronics reference sheet"
] | [Ben] just sent us this great reference sheet. It’s a
poster he compiled
of datasheets and various electronic references. He made it after spending too much of his time sifting through datasheets while working on projects. It also helped that he realized his school, Georgia Tech, had a poster printing service!
It contains the basics from resistor color codes, typical pinouts of various chips, current capacity of wire gauges, Arduino pinout diagrams, schematic symbols, trace widths for current capacity, and even typical coding functions!
The full image is 9,000 x 6,000 pixels and will print nicely at 30 by 20 inches, just shy of the ANSI D paper size. It’s 6.1MB so only
click here if you want it
!
Maybe if we ask nicely he’ll share the original MS Publisher file so we can tailor it to our individual needs! Some of the text in the images is a bit blurry, but everything is basically still readable. | 47 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "1066852",
"author": "Tom Hargrave",
"timestamp": "2013-09-29T05:15:03",
"content": "Great project but the current capacity of your wire sizes is way off.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1067003",
"author": "Ben",
... | 1,760,376,448.944235 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/23/diy-high-stability-timebase-hack-for-25-why-frequency-stability-matters/ | DIY High Stability Timebase Hack For ~$25. Why? Frequency Stability Matters! | Todd Harrison | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"bench",
"DTCXO",
"frequency counter",
"lab equipment",
"ocxo",
"oven controlled crystal oscillator",
"Racal-Dana",
"rubidium",
"rubidium frequency standard",
"TCXO"
] | If you have an old “Racal-Dana 199x” frequency counter or similar 10 MHz internally referenced gear with a poor tolerance “standard quartz crystal oscillator” or bit better “temperature compensated crystal oscillator” (TCXO) you could upgrade to a high stability timebase “oven controlled crystal oscillator” (OCXO) for under $25. [Gerry Sweeney] shares his design and fabrication instructions for a
DIY OCXO circuit
he made for his Racal-Dana frequency counter. We have seen [Gerry] perform a
similar upgrade to his HP 53151A
, however, this circuit is more generic and can be lashed up on a small section of solderable perf board.
Oven controlled oscillators keep the crystal at a stable temperature which in turn improves frequency stability. Depending on where you’re starting, adding an OCXO could improve your frequency tolerance by 1 to 3 orders of magnitude. Sure, this isn’t as good as a
rubidium frequency standard build
like we have seen in the past, but as [Gerry] states it is nice to have a transportable standalone frequency counter that doesn’t have to be plugged into his rubidium frequency standard.
[Gerry’s]
instructions, schematics and datasheets
can be used to upgrade any lab gear which depends on a simple 10 MHz reference (crystal or TXCO). He purchased the OCXO off eBay for about $20 — it might be very old, yet we are assured they get more stable with age. Many OCXO’s require 5 V, 12 V or 24 V so your gear needs to accommodate the correct voltage and current load. To calibrate the OCXO you need a temperature stable variable voltage reference that can be adjusted from 1 to 4 volts. The MAX6198A he had on hand fit the bill at 5 ppm/°C temperature coefficient. Also of importance was to keep the voltage reference and trim pot just above the oven for added temperature stability as well as removing any heat transfer through the mounting screw.
You can watch the video and get more details after the break.
[Dave Jones] gives an excellent overview of different crystal oscillators and their characteristics in
EEVBlog episode about Rubidium Frequency Standards
. | 25 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1063878",
"author": "tekkieneet",
"timestamp": "2013-09-23T23:23:31",
"content": "You might want to think twice for adding that 10 turns trimpot to theoscillator. Temperature coefficient of a typical trimpot is +/- 100ppmwhich is 20X of the voltage reference source.What you should d... | 1,760,376,449.013617 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/23/world-maker-faire-3d-printed-tower-defense/ | World Maker Faire: 3D Printed Tower Defense | Brian Benchoff | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"Seej",
"World Maker Faire"
] | Going to the World Maker Faire isn’t all fun and games; sometimes you have to suck it up, pay $130 in cab fare, buy $7 Heinekens, and crash the super not-so-secret after party. While the company was fantastic, one of the more exciting interactions was
[Jim Rodda]’s Seej
, a tower-defense-ish game constructed entirely of 3D printed weapons, flags, and blocks.
The goal of the game is simple
: Each player gets a Seej engine, some blocks, a few pennies, and three flags. The first person to topple all three flags with ballistic pennies is declared the winner. The Seej engines aren’t just limited to the red and black catapults shown above; there are plans for a
ballista
available, and we’re sure someone will add a 3D printed trebuchet the the arsenal at some point. We’ve seen
at least one example
floating around the web.
In all honesty, this game is
really
fun and well worth the frustration experienced by a pitiable bartender who I hope was tipped well for the night. | 12 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1063750",
"author": "Andy",
"timestamp": "2013-09-23T20:06:06",
"content": "Thats cool, printing your own miniature Siege engine’s. Later on you could upgrade your game with different types or build different style castles or walls for your Siege engine’s to hit.",
"parent_id": ... | 1,760,376,449.06266 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/23/guest-rant-ham-radio-hackers-paradise/ | Guest Rant: Ham Radio — Hackers’ Paradise | Mike Szczys | [
"Featured",
"Radio Hacks",
"Rants"
] | [
"amateur radio",
"bill meara",
"ham radio"
] | Editor’s Note:
This is a guest post written by [Bill Meara]
The suits at Hack-a-Day reached out to
SolderSmoke
HQ and asked me to send in a few words about why their readers should take a fresh look at ham radio. Here goes:
First, realize that today’s ham radio represents a tremendous opportunity for technical exploration and adventure. How about building a station (and software) that will allow you to communicate by
bouncing digital signals off the moon
? How about developing
a new modulation scheme
to send packets not down the fiber optic network, but around the world via the ionosphere, or via ham radio’s
fleet of satellites
? How about bouncing your
packets off the trails left by meteors
? This is not your grandfather’s ham radio.
You can meet some amazing people in this hobby:
Using a very hacked-together radio station
(my antenna was made from scrap lumber and copper refrigerator tubing)
I’ve spoken to astronaut hams
on space stations. Our “low power, slow signal” group includes a ham named
Joe Taylor
. Joe is a radio astronomer who won the Nobel Prize for Physics. He’s now putting his software skills to use in the development
of below-the-noise receiving systems
for ham radio. Join me after the break for more on the topic.
When you start looking into amateur radio, don’t be deterred if the first hams you meet don’t seem to be as deeply into technology as you are. You have to seek out ham radio’s hard-core technical subculture. It is here that hackers will find kindred spirits. As in the hacker world, there is a kind of informal hierarchy based on technical ability and achievement. The FCC licenses have become so easy to get that they no longer count for much. But if you’ve built from scratch an entire shortwave radio station and use it to shoot the breeze with friends in Australia, well, that will win you amateur radio street cred, as will the computer skills that you’ll bring to the hobby from the hacker world.
Hackers will probably be pleasantly surprised by ham radio’s very strong tradition of mutual support and solidarity. Newcomers are welcome and more experienced hams volunteer to serve as mentors. Especially among people who build their own gear, we have a strong “my junk-box is your junk-box” spirit.
There is also a wonderful social aspect to the hobby. I have in my “shack”
a shortwave radio station
that I hacked myself from junk-box parts. I routinely fire it up and “calling CQ” look for someone out there to talk to. The response could come from down the street or from the other side of the world. What do we talk about? Well, the conversation usually begins with me talking about my amazing “homebrew rig” and goes on from there. At the risk of reinforcing a stereotype, I’ll note that many of us got into ham radio as teenagers in part because we were a bit socially awkward. I suspect that this is something that many hackers can identify with. You can make a lot of good friends in ham radio.
If you are passionate about electronic technology and are NOT a ham, well, you are missing something important. The Hack-A-Day guys are right: You should take a new look at ham radio.
************
About the author: Bill Meara’s diplomatic day job has nothing to do with electronics, so his amateur status in this field cannot be contested. A ham since age 14, he has pursued the hobby in numerous foreign countries. He is the host of the
SolderSmoke podcast
, and the author of
“SolderSmoke: Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics.” | 157 | 40 | [
{
"comment_id": "1063633",
"author": "fajko",
"timestamp": "2013-09-23T17:06:25",
"content": "why do every ham operator uses those abysmal nicknames. can’t we use normal nicknames, say from our youtube accouts?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "... | 1,760,376,449.570816 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/23/homebuilt-30kv-high-voltage-power-supply/ | Homebuilt 30kV High Voltage Power Supply | Todd Harrison | [
"classic hacks",
"hardware"
] | [
"30kV",
"flyback",
"high voltage",
"home built",
"homebuilt",
"homemade",
"ionocraft",
"lifter",
"power supply",
"transformer",
"voltage tripler"
] | If you have need for 30,000 volts to launch your ionocraft (lifter) or power other DIY projects then shuttle over to RimstarOrg’s YouTube channel and checkout [Steven Dufresne’s]
homebuilt 30kV power supply
. The construction details that [Steven] includes in his videos are always amazing, especially for visual learners. If you prefer text over video he was kind enough to share a schematic and full write up at
rimstar.org
.
The power supply can be configured for 1.2kV – 4.6kV or 4kV – 30kV at the output while requiring 0-24V DC at the input. In the video [Steven] tries two power supplies. His
homemade DC bench power supply
at 8V and 2.5A and also a laptop power supply rated at 20V 1.8A DC. A couple of common 2N3055 power transistors, proper wattage resistors, a flyback transformer and a high voltage tripler is about all you’ll need to scrounge up. The flyback transformer can be found in old CRT type televisions, and he does go into details on rewinding the primary for this build. The high voltage tripler [Steven] references might be a bit harder to source. He lists a few alternates for the tripler but even those are scarce: NTE 521, Siemens 76-1 N094, 1895-641-045. There are lots of
voltage multiplier
details in the wild, but keep in mind this tripler needs to operate up to 30kV.
Join us after the break to watch the video and for a little advice from Mr. Safety.
What good is a high voltage power supply if you don’t travel around in a homebuilt
ionocraft
just yet? Well maybe you need to electrify your
Wolverine claws
or
Thor’s hammer
. We couldn’t close this article without a shout out to the
master of high voltage hacks
[Photonicinduction] now known as [Photonvids] on YouTube.
Time for Mr. Safety:
Q – Mr. Safety, Is this dangerous?
A – Very! Do not try building something like this unless you really know what you are doing. You can easily be killed by the output and by other points in this circuit. Follow [Steven’s] safety tips when operating such a power supply. Remember to ground the outputs after shutting down. The high voltage tripler can store quite a jolt in its internal capacitors so be careful with that device in and of itself. | 13 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1063610",
"author": "Ginsublade",
"timestamp": "2013-09-23T15:57:59",
"content": "Flybacks are so much fun to play with……..but ohhh sooooo dangerous…nice build tho.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1063629",
"author": "Ren",
... | 1,760,376,449.674232 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/23/openfuge-an-open-source-centrifuge/ | OpenFuge: An Open-source Centrifuge | Marsh | [
"chemistry hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"biology",
"brushless",
"centrifuge",
"Chemistry",
"esc",
"lab",
"laboratory",
"laser cutter"
] | Biohackers, fire up your laser cutters. [CopabX] has developed OpenFuge: a (relatively)
low-cost, open-source centrifuge
from powerful hobby electronic components. If you thought the
VCR centrifuge
wasn’t impressive,
trolls be damned
— OpenFuge can crank out 9000 RPM and claims it’s capable of an impressive 6000 G’s. [CopabX] also worked in adjustable speed and power, setting time durations, and an LCD to display live RPM and countdown stats.
And it’s
portable
. Four 18650 lithium cells plug into the back, making this centrifuge a truly unique little build. The muscle comes from a DC outrunner brushless motor similar to the ones that can
blast you around on a skateboard
but with one key difference; an emphasis on RPMs over torque. We’re not sure exactly which motor is pictured, but one suggestion on the bill of materials boasts a 6000
KV rating
, and despite inevitable losses, that’s blazing fast at nearly 15V.
You’ll want to see the demonstration video after the break, but also make time to
swing by Thingiverse
for schematics and recommended parts. | 24 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "1063481",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2013-09-23T11:26:24",
"content": "Now you can be the first to have a portable centrifuge at your next tail gate party!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1063483",
"author": "Haku",
... | 1,760,376,449.258701 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/23/sound-blimp-makes-camera-quieter-and-waterproof/ | Sound Blimp Makes Camera Quieter And Waterproof | Marsh | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"camera",
"digital camera",
"digital photography",
"dslr",
"pelican case",
"waterproof"
] | The D-SLR “crunch” sound can be pretty satisfying. Your camera has moving parts and those cell-phone amateurs can eat your shutter actuation. If you’re a professional photographer behind the scenes on a sound stage or at any film shoot, however, your mirror slapping around is loud enough to get you kicked off the set. [Dan Tábar] needed his D800 to keep it down, so he
made his own sound blimp to suppress the noise
. As an added bonus, it turns out the case is waterproof, too!
[Dan] got the idea from a fellow photographer who was using a
prefab Jacobson blimp
to snap pictures in sound-sensitive environments. Not wanting to spend $1000, he looked for a DIY alternative. This build uses a Pelican case to house the body of the camera and interchangeable extension tubes to cover lenses of various sizes. [Dan] took measurements and test-fit a paper cutout of his D800 before carving holes into the Pelican case with a Dremel tool. One side got a circular hole for the extension tubes, while the other received a rectangular cut for the camera’s LCD screen and a smaller circle for the viewfinder.
Lexan serves as a window for all of the open ends: LCD, viewfinder, and the lens. [Dan] snaps pictures with a wireless trigger, saving him the trouble of drilling another hole. You can hear the D800 before and after noise reduction in a video after the break, along with a second video of [Dan] trying out some underwater shots. If you’d rather take a trip back in time, there’s always the
3D printed pinhole camera
from last week. | 23 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1063389",
"author": "Eirinn",
"timestamp": "2013-09-23T08:44:13",
"content": "Very nice! Hate to miss out on the satisfying click though ;)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1063397",
"author": "Grovenstien",
"timestamp": ... | 1,760,376,449.630433 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/22/hackaday-links-september-22-2013/ | Hackaday Links: September 22, 2013 | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"best buy",
"combination lock",
"hexacopter",
"icedot",
"pi cobb",
"piano",
"raspberry pi",
"wifi"
] | First we start with some protection… for your USB charged devices. Here’s
a USB Condom
which acts as a pass-through for the power rails but not the data lines. This prevents
untrusted charger security exploits
. [Thanks Markus]
[OutKastz] seems to think he’s uncovered a price matching conspiracy at Best Buy. His post
references an HDTV video wall
he has built. But he also discovered that there are two different version of the same television sold as the same SKU. His theory is that this
prevents the big box from matching prices
on half of their inventory.
When you’re in need of some breadboarding action with your Raspberry Pi and want to make it as painless as possible you need to
build your own Pi Cobbler
. This is the diy version of
an Adafruit product
, built using a couple of pin headers, stripboard, and an IDE cable.
Speaking of Adafruit, did you see
Ladyada’s teardown of an ICEdot crash sensor
?
[Phineas] is showing off a really really small hexacopter. Check out
the maiden flight
, as well as
first indoor
and
first outdoor
tests.
Perhaps this coded entry system will inspire a future project for you. It
uses piezo elements to enter a code
which unlocks the back door to the company. The glass door already had a series of large dots painted on it. This turns out to be a nice interface for a four button code system.
Many projects use a Raspberry Pi as a web server. But there is more than just one flavor available. [Jeremy Morgan] performed
a variety of Pi server benchmarks
using Nginx, Monkey, Lighttpd, and Apache. [Thanks Walter]
Can an old TV antenna reflector be used to
boost the range of a WiFi dongle
? We’re a bit skeptical. Let us know what you think in the comments.
And finally, we do wish there was more information on
this upright piano used to play Doom
[Thanks Itay]. | 42 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "1063106",
"author": "polossatik",
"timestamp": "2013-09-22T23:40:48",
"content": "About the different tv’s under the same sku, i highly doubt they use that for “price fixing” . It’s for them the same functional item, seen it’s re branded stuff anyway (Vizeo has no production lines) ... | 1,760,376,449.796678 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/22/how-to-make-pinmame-awesome/ | How To Make PinMAME Awesome | Brian Benchoff | [
"home entertainment hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"haptic feedback",
"pinmame",
"World Maker Faire"
] | By now you should be familiar with MAME arcade cabinets and their ability to emulate any classic arcade machine from the days of yore. PinMAME is a similar setup to reconstruct classic pinball machines on computer monitors, but its popularity is nothing compared to the machines that play everything from Galaga to The Simpson’s arcade game. We won’t speculate on the reasons for that, but we do know how to make pinball emulation awesome – you need to emulate the buzzing and 60 Hz hum of solenoids found in the original machines.
This project comes from [Brendan Schrader] of
the Hive76 hackerspace
in Philly. It gives emulated pinball machines the tactile and haptic feedback required for a proper PinMAME setup. Inside [Brendan]’s box are two monitors, one for the backglass and one for the playfield, and a small computer to run the PinMAME software.
Also in the box are a few transducers usually used to turn any flat solid surface into a speaker. [Brendan] sent the audio output from the pinball emulation to a set of speakers and the ‘mechanical sounds’ audio to the transducer mounted to the chassis. The difference between haptic feedback and no haptic feedback is amazing, and something every PinMAME setup desperately needs.
Unfortunately, [Brendan] says he lives a decade in the past and doesn’t do the whole interwebs and email thing. He tells us he’ll send in a build log in a week or so, and we’ll put that up when it comes in. | 8 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1063072",
"author": "Benjamin Ingeborg Schwarz",
"timestamp": "2013-09-22T22:32:48",
"content": "Oh, I’m totally gonna build one.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1063292",
"author": "Tom B.",
"timestamp": "2013-09-23T05:... | 1,760,376,449.843469 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/22/hacketts-tripod-and-some-advice-on-abstraction/ | Hackett’s Tripod And Some Advice on abstraction | Marsh | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"junk",
"projectors",
"scrap",
"tripod"
] | [Hackett] calls it a “transmission problem.” You’ve scavenged the pieces for your build, but nothing fits. Metric and standard hardware clash, a successful weld is as reliable as duct-taping. You’ll hear about plenty of these obstacles as [Hackett] tries to
tackle a tripod build in this video.
He was contacted by a group looking to make a bicycle-mounted portable projector. Their request: build them an easy-to-use tripod on a shoestring budget that is strong enough to hold a 30-pound projector. Garbage and scrap turn into a functional device as [Hackett] grinds and welds the tripod together.
The video’s greatest contribution, however, is the advice near the end.
You need to retrain your eye, so you’re not looking at a thing as to what it is, what it’s branded, what it’s originally intended for. What you’re looking at is what it is at the core, and once you start looking at things for what they really, really are, you have the power to completely remake the world.
A desire to re-contextualize everyday stuff is probably the reason you’re a Hackaday reader. Hopefully [Hackett’s] succinct advice strikes some chords and encourages you to keep abstracting and re-purposing the world around you. If you’re new to hacking and need somewhere to start,
why not build a robot? | 44 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1062995",
"author": "Knuckleballerr",
"timestamp": "2013-09-22T20:12:21",
"content": "Hackett had a really awesome tv show once upon a time. Wish it was till around.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1064991",
"author": ... | 1,760,376,449.920376 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/22/flowfree-goes-life-sized-at-maker-faire-ny/ | FlowFree Goes Life Sized At Maker Faire NY | Adam Fabio | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"arduino mega",
"cnc",
"maker faire",
"RGB LED",
"Willow Glen Makers",
"Young Makers"
] | What began as a smartphone game turned into a Maker Faire New York 2013 project for the [Willow Glen Makers].
FlowX26 is a life sized version of the game FlowFree
. [The Willow Glen Makers] wanted to build an extendable, easy to set up grid of floor tiles to emulate the game. A CNC machine was employed to create a plywood framework. Not visible in the picture is the fact that each cross member is cut slightly concave. This concavity allows the clear plastic top to deflect just enough to activate a micro switch inside the tile. The switch sends a signal to the tile’s Arduino Mega controller. The Mega then uses this data to control an array of RGB LEDs.
The next problem was interconnection and communication between the tiles. [The Makers] used copper tape, along with a 3D Printed latch system between each tile side. Six connections per side allow power and data to be transmitted throughout the grid.
While the hardware for the grid is up and running, the software is still underway. Here at Maker Faire, the grid was running a basic demo. Each tile was normally red. When a person stepped on a tile it would fade to green. Once the weight was removed, the tile would slowly switch back to red. This proved more than enough to keep the kids at the Maker Faire entertained. At any given time there were several children stepping from tile to tile, while watching their footsteps fade behind them. | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,376,449.717489 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/22/whats-inside-a-555/ | What’s Inside A 555? | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks",
"hardware"
] | [
"555",
"discrete 555",
"transistor"
] | The 555 timer chip is a ubiquitous piece of technology that is oft-considered the hardcore way of doing things. Of course, the old timers out there will remind us that discrete transistors are the badass way of doing things, and tubes even more so. It’s not quite at the level of triodes and transformers, but Evil Mad Scientist’s
discrete 555 kit
is still an amazing piece of kit.
Instead of transistors and resistors etched into silicon as in the OG 555, [Windell] over at EMS turned the basic circuit inside a 555 into a mega-sized version using discrete components. Your parts bins need new scale if you’re going to work with this and
other up-scaled hobby electronic components
.
Although the integrated stand that makes the whole package look like an overgrown DIP doesn’t break out the signals on the board, it does include some neat screw terminals for alligator clips and bits of wire so this kit can be used in a circuit. Because it uses discrete components, you can also take a meter or scope to check out how a 555 chip works from the inside. | 14 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1062922",
"author": "Indyaner",
"timestamp": "2013-09-22T17:17:33",
"content": "Mhhhh… I like the idea, but… the wiring is a bit deceptive. I’m really new to all this stuff and if I imagine that this should teach others, I would say: Design it like the shematics. For Example the res... | 1,760,376,449.968427 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/22/world-maker-faire-2013-the-sub-500-deltaprintr/ | World Maker Faire 2013: The Sub-$500 Deltaprintr | Brian Benchoff | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"delta",
"Deltaprintr",
"World Maker Faire"
] | There are a few delta bot 3D printers out there such as the
Rostock
which, while being a very nice printer, is still a little expensive. When [Shai] from SUNY wanted to use a 3D printer for his artistic and academic pursuits, he decided to build his own printer. Thus the
Deltaprintr
was born.
Instead of printed parts, the Deltaprintr uses laser cut and machined parts for just about all of its bill of materials. The three motors mounted in the base are connected to the delta arms with Spectra fishing line, thus getting rid of the ludicrous cost of belts of the requisite length.
Everything is Open Source, and the guys behind the project should be putting their printr up on Kickstarter sometime next month. Word is the entire thing should be sub-$500, and a little bit of guessing tells me that doesn’t mean $499. | 30 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1062902",
"author": "ejonesss",
"timestamp": "2013-09-22T16:12:04",
"content": "fishing line seems a bit too thin and easy to fail.they could just use the wire cable like what is used to drive the optics in copiers.the mirrors, light and lens assembly and even now adays i think they... | 1,760,376,450.031934 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/22/trash-to-treasure-bluetooth-radio-and-tube-amp-build/ | Trash To Treasure Bluetooth Radio And Tube Amp Build | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"antique",
"bluetooth",
"radio",
"tube amp"
] | The before image doesn’t look all that bad but we were still impressed with what went into the restoration of this radio. Perhaps restoration isn’t the right word since it didn’t manage to hold on to any of the original internals. This is more resurrection of
a retro radio case for use as a Bluetooth radio
.
At first look we didn’t notice that the original knobs were missing. The speaker fabric is ripped and the glass on the tuning dial is broken as well. [Yaaaam] happened to have another antique radio with interesting knobs — but he didn’t just transplant them. He made a mold of one knob and cast three replacements for the radio. After refinishing the wood he replaced the fabric and things were really starting to look up.
All of the electronic components were removed and a new tube amp was built on the original metal chassis. It uses a Bluetooth module for input which facilitates using your smart phone as the playback device without involving any wires or other nonsense. Two problems popped up after the project was completed. The first replacement power supply overheated. The second replacement had a different problem, needing some additional shielding to prevent noise from creating unwanted… noise.
This looks so much better than modern injection molded plastic shelf systems. But there are
some fun wireless hacks out there for those
too. | 8 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1062919",
"author": "SnakeProof",
"timestamp": "2013-09-22T17:05:09",
"content": "I’ve converted three antique radios to bluetooth while using the original parts, I didn’t even think of submitting it to HackaDay!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,376,452.281448 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/22/a-100-stereolithography-3d-printer/ | A $100 Stereolithography 3D Printer | Brian Benchoff | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Crowd Funding"
] | [
"3d printer",
"kickstarter",
"stereolithography"
] | The Hackaday tip line has been blowing up with a new Kickstarter for a 3D printer. Although this is a pretty common occurrence around here,
this printer is actually very interesting:
it’s quite possibly the simplest and cheapest laser resin printer ever.
Most of the 3D resin printers we’ve seen, like the
Form1
use mechanical means to raise a print up to the next slice. At $100, the Peachy printer doesn’t have the budget for such luxuries as servos or motors, so the layer height is increased by dripping salt water over the liquid resin. The X and Y axes are controlled with mirrors and voice coils, allowing this printer’s electronics to be controlled
by a computer’s sound card.
It’s really amazing in its simplicity, and from the looks of it the Peachy can produce some fairly good prints.
For a great explanation of how the Peachy printer works, you can check out the video below. | 103 | 28 | [
{
"comment_id": "1062793",
"author": "Jeremy",
"timestamp": "2013-09-22T13:22:24",
"content": "This is going to be a game changer.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1062826",
"author": "rasz",
"timestamp": "2013-09-22T14:35:16",
... | 1,760,376,452.238025 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/22/an-ill-logical-pwm-control/ | An “ill” Logical PWM Control | Marsh | [
"hardware",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"logic",
"photoresistor",
"pwm"
] | [James] recently finished up a gigantic seven segment display for Nottingham Hackerspace, and although it looks great, the display isn’t the interesting part. The
PWM dimmer control implemented in logic
is the true head-turner. That’s right: this is done without a programmable controller.
Unsatisfied with the lack of difficulty he faced when slapping together the rest of the electronics, [James] was determined to complicate the auto-dimmer by foregoing all sensible routes. He started by building an 8-bit timer made from a 555 timer fed into a 12-bit 4040 counter. He then used an 8-bit ADC IC to read a photoresistor. The outputs from both the ADC and from the scratch-built 8-bit timer plug into an 8-bit comparator; If the values match, the comparator outputs LOW for a single clock period.
Though this set the groundwork for PWM control, [James] had to add a couple of additional logic gates into the mix to nail everything down. You can find a diagram and the details behind flip-flopping out a duty cycle on his project blog. Clever builds like this one are a rarity when a few lines of code and a microcontroller can give you numerous shortcuts. [James] doesn’t recommend that you over-engineer your PWM controller, but we’re glad he did. Meanwhile, Moore’s Law marches on; check out what people are doing with
Low-Energy Bluetooth
these days. | 12 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1062744",
"author": "agiop",
"timestamp": "2013-09-22T11:10:26",
"content": "I’d be impressed if he had done it in SMD.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1062749",
"author": "hemalchevli",
"timestamp": "2013-09-2... | 1,760,376,451.645589 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/22/contactkey-a-portable-battery-powered-phonebook/ | ContactKey: A Portable, Battery-powered Phonebook | Marsh | [
"Android Hacks",
"Cellphone Hacks"
] | [
"atmega328",
"battery",
"coin cell",
"contact list",
"ftdi",
"i2c",
"portable",
"spi",
"usb"
] | Although it’s still a prototype, [Russell] tipped us off to his battery-powered
device for storing your contacts list: ContactKey
. (Warning: Loud sound @ beginning). Sure, paper can back up your contact information, but paper isn’t nearly as cool to show off, nor can it receive updates directly from your Android. The ContactKey displays a contact’s information on an OLED screen, which you can pluck through by pressing a few buttons: either ‘Up,’ ‘Down,’ or ‘Reset’. Although the up/down button can advance one contact at a time, holding one down will fly through the list at lightning speed. A few seconds of inactivity causes a timeout and puts the ContactKey to sleep to conserve battery life.
This build uses an ATMega328 microcontroller and an external EEPROM to store the actual list. [Russell] wrote an Android app that will sync your contact list to the ContactKey over USB via an FTDI chip. The microcontroller uses I2C to talk to the EEPROM, while an OLED display interfaces to the ATMega through SPI. We’re looking forward to seeing how compact [Russell] can make the ContactKey once it’s off the breadboard; the battery life for most smartphones isn’t particularly stellar. Phones of the future will eventually live longer,
but we bet it won’t be this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ1KTiWjuhQ | 5 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1062679",
"author": "BiOzZ",
"timestamp": "2013-09-22T08:04:29",
"content": "i have one of those also … a phone!tho the idea is rather … yeah … i cant attack him for his skills here! great job!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "10... | 1,760,376,451.896652 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/21/talkbot-an-arduino-driven-robot-for-beginners/ | Talkbot: An Arduino-driven Robot For Beginners | Marsh | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"digital audio hacks",
"how-to",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"bump sensor",
"motor",
"motor controller",
"school",
"voice"
] | It isn’t exactly WALL-E, but [Bithead’s]
affordable introduction to robots — Talkbot
—
is
made out of a trash can. This little guy runs off an Arduino and comes packed with features, including a voice chip, a motor shield, and a pair of bump sensors. Talkbot will cruise around until a bump sensor slams into an obstacle. One of his prerecorded messages will then play through the speaker while he backs up, turns, and tries to find a clearer path.
According to [Bithead’s] build log, tracking down the right bargain voice chip was a bit of a hassle; he skipped over the text-to-speech options only to be stalled by vendor issues. He finally settled on a clone of Sparkfun’s
WTV020SD chip
sourced from eBay, which allows you to access pre-recorded WAV files stored on a Micro-SD card. The robot’s body comes straight off the hardware store shelf, with PVC pipe for arms and a polystyrene base to hold all the parts. At the bargain price of $110, [Bithead’s] students will have a true hacker experience cobbling the Talkbot together rather than using a prefab kit.
Be sure to see Talkbot in a video below, performing either his green-eyed “friendly mode” or red-eyed “grumpy mode,” which dictates how pleasantly he responds to obstacles. Need something more advanced? Check out
the tentacle robot
, just in time for Halloween. | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1062524",
"author": "Levi",
"timestamp": "2013-09-21T23:52:28",
"content": "Why such a tiny picture?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1062526",
"author": "agiop",
"timestamp": "2013-09-22T00:06:26",
"content": "do. no... | 1,760,376,451.740148 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/21/vcr-centrifuge/ | VCR Centrifuge | Marsh | [
"chemistry hacks",
"home entertainment hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"biology",
"centrifuge",
"Chemistry",
"lab",
"laboratory",
"rotor",
"vcr"
] | VCR’s practically scream “tear me open!” with all those shiny, moving parts and a minimal risk that you’re going to damage a piece of equipment that someone actually cares about. Once you’ve broken in, why not
hack it into a centrifuge
like [Kymyst]? Separating water from the denser stuff doesn’t require lab-grade equipment. As [Kymyst] explains: you can get a force of 10 G just spinning something around your head. By harvesting some belt drives from a few VCR’s, however, he built this safer, arm-preserving motor-driven device.
[Kymst] dissected the video head rotor and cassette motor drive down to a bare minimum of parts which were reassembled in a stack. A bored-out old CD was attached beneath the rotor while a large plastic bowl was bolted onto the CD. The bowl–here a microwave cooking cover–acts as a protective barrier against the tubes spinning inside. The tube carriers consist of plastic irrigation tubing fitted with a homemade
trunnion
, which [Kymyst] fashioned from some self-tapping screws and a piece of PVC. At 250 rpm, this centrifuge reaches around 6 G and best of all, gives a VCR something to do again. Take a look at his guide and make your own, particularly
if your hackerspace has a bio lab
. | 33 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1062420",
"author": "Jeremy Cook",
"timestamp": "2013-09-21T18:03:57",
"content": "Hopefully Iran and North Korea don’t read Hackaday :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1062463",
"author": "Elias",
"timestamp":... | 1,760,376,451.853098 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/21/pocket-sized-sattelites-for-asteroid-detection/ | Pocket Sized Sattelites For Asteroid Detection | Brian Benchoff | [
"drone hacks"
] | [
"asteroid",
"cubesat",
"kicksat",
"satellite",
"World Maker Faire"
] | We’ve seen
kicksats before
, small pocketable single board satellites designed to orbit Earth. At this year’s Maker Faire, the team behind these kicksats has a new plan: using them to determine the orbits of earth-passing asteroids and hopefully not giving us any forewarning of our imminent extinction.
Instead of simply orbiting Earth, the new plan for these kicksats is to deploy them into the path of an oncoming asteroid such as
Apophis
so the radio transmissions from each satellite can pinpoint where exactly the asteroid is, something Earthbound optical and radio telescopes struggle with.
Despite the small size, the hardware on each kicksat is pretty impressive; each mini satellite has a solar cell on each side, a low-power MSP430 microcontroller with a radio module, and a few sensors. The system is designed so anyone can pick up the telemetry from these satellites with a small Yagi antenna and an RTL SDR TV tuner dongle.
An impressive bit of kit, but if holding a satellite or asteroid in your hand is more your thing, the same team behind the kicksat
put up a whole bunch of 3D models of asteroids and space probes
. They’re actually quite impressive when they’re printed out. | 34 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1062374",
"author": "Harlock SOI",
"timestamp": "2013-09-21T16:26:34",
"content": "problem with this is that those sats are not radiation hardened, I don’t think they realize just how harsh that place really is! Once you start getting hardened material the prices will likely skyrock... | 1,760,376,452.354552 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/21/world-maker-faire-the-new-ultimaker/ | World Maker Faire: The New Ultimaker | Brian Benchoff | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"maker faire",
"ultimaker",
"World Maker Faire"
] | Just as the the gates opened at the World Maker Faire in New York City the skies opened, sending everyone underneath the tents and pavilians on the faire grounds. Luckily, I was able to check out
the new Ultimaker
before that happened, and only a day after it was officially announced.
Compared to the older laser-cut Ultimaker, the Ultimaker 2 is much, much cleaner that’s made more for designers and architects instead of students, hackerspaces and tinkerers. There are a few new additions to the Ultimaker 2 – OLED display, heated bed, and a larger build volume. Basically, if you want Ultimaker quality without a lot of futzing around, go with the Ultimaker 2.
Ultimaker will be shipping a pre-assembled version for €1.895,00, with a kit version to follow shortly. As always, the Ultimaker 2 is open source, and no, this doesn’t mean an end to the classic Ultimaker. | 11 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1062349",
"author": "fotune",
"timestamp": "2013-09-21T15:06:06",
"content": "useless for architects. not high enough detail, no overhangs.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1062391",
"author": "bkubicek",
"times... | 1,760,376,451.693376 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/21/building-a-brushless-motor-controller-around-an-atmega-chip/ | Building A Brushless Motor Controller Around An ATmega Chip | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"atmega8",
"brushless motor",
"library"
] | You know when you see something like this it’s just going to be awesome, and we weren’t disappointed by our first impression. [Davide Gironi]
built a brushless motor controller from the ground up
using an ATmega8 as the brain. If you want to understand every aspect of a subject this is how to do it. Lucky for us he explains what each portion of the prototype does.
Brushless motors have no brushes in them (duh). But what does that really mean? In order to spin the motor a very carefully crafted signal is sent through the motor coils in the stationary portion (called the stator), producing a magnetic field that pushes against permanent magnets in the rotor. A big part of crafting that signal is knowing the position of the rotor. This is often accomplished with Hall Effect sensors, but can also be performed without them by measuring the back EMF in the coils not currently being driven. The AVR-GCC compatible library which [Davide] put together can be tweaked to work with either setup.
Get a good look at the system in action after the break.
[via
Dangerous Prototypes
] | 17 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "1062340",
"author": "scavanger",
"timestamp": "2013-09-21T14:44:49",
"content": "Surely that isn’t a Floppy drive motor? Looks nothing like a CD-ROM motor.Nice build by the way, albeit a bit overkill for such a small motor. Would it be possible to use the motor-driver chip/circuit t... | 1,760,376,451.789256 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/21/sending-data-over-bluetooth-low-energy-with-a-cheap-nrf24l01-module/ | Sending Data Over Bluetooth Low Energy With A Cheap NRF24L01+ Module | Mathieu Stephan | [
"hardware",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"ble",
"bluetooth",
"bluetooth low energy",
"nRF24L01+",
"wireless"
] | nRF24L01+ modules like the one shown above are a great way to send data wirelessly between your projects. They can be found on many websites for less than $1.50 a piece and many libraries exist for them. After having thoroughly looked at the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) specifications, [Dimitry] managed to find a way to
broadcast BLE data with an nRF24L01+
.
Luckily enough, BLE and nRF24L01+ data packets have the same preambles. However, the latter can’t send more than 32 bytes in a packet and can’t hop between frequencies as fast as the BLE specification wants. [Dimitry] found the solution when he discovered that he could send unsolicited advertisements on three specific channels. In the end, considering the 32 bytes the nRF24L01+ can send, you’ll need to use 3 bytes for the CRC, 2 for the packet header, 6 for the MAC address and 5 for devices attributes. This leaves us with 16 bytes of pure data or 14 bytes to split between data and name if you want your project to have one. | 30 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "1062286",
"author": "Nova",
"timestamp": "2013-09-21T11:40:16",
"content": "I’m glad to see these super-cheap modules getting some attention, even more amazing they’re being re-purposed to run what I had thought was an entirely different protocol.Curious: Does that mean these chips ... | 1,760,376,452.106612 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/21/haunted-dollhouse-microcontroller-networking-for-world-maker-faire/ | Haunted Dollhouse Microcontroller Networking For World Maker Faire | Mike Szczys | [
"ATtiny Hacks"
] | [
"attiny84",
"attiny85",
"dollhouse",
"i2c",
"master",
"slave",
"twi"
] | It’s pretty awesome to get see the number of projects presented at World Maker Faire. But we still love digging into the gritty details that only an in-depth build post can deliver. Here we get both. You can see the circuits pictured above in the Circuit Castle exhibit at WMF this weekend, and you can
read about how the microcontroller network was built
in [Jim’s] article.
As the title states, this is a network built for a dollhouse. Each slave device performs a different task; adding color, sound, motion, and interactivity using some sensors. The post discusses the i2c (or TWI to get around licensing issues as [Jim] mentions) communications used to talk to the ATtiny85 chips on the slave boards. Because the eight-pin package leaves few I/O pins to work with an ATtiny84 was also added. It brings 14-pins to the party, including multiple ADC inputs for reading sensors.
If this ends up being too much of a read for you jog to the “Update 9/17/13” to get the general overview of progress. Like any project on a timeline, not everything works quite as well as they would have liked it to. But it’s the journey that makes something like this so fun — a fully working project would signal an end to the enjoyment, right?
[via
Workshop 88
] | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,376,452.395117 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/20/polyurethane-protecting-pcbs/ | Polyurethane Protecting PCBs | Brian Benchoff | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"conformal coating",
"pcb",
"polyurethane",
"solder mask"
] | What you see above is a home-made PCB. No, this isn’t an example of a terrible toner transfer job, but rather evidence of the ravages of time. This board is seven years old, and the corrosion and broken traces show it. Luckily, [George] already has
seven years of environmental data for a cheap DIY soldermask
.
Seven years ago, [George] took a piece of copper clad board, masked half of it off, and sprayed it with fast drying polyurethane. After drying, he put it on a shelf in his garage. The results were fairly surprising – the uncovered portion is covered in
verdigris
, while the coated half is still shiny and new.
[George] took this a bit further and experimented with other spray can coverings. He found Testors spray enable worked just like the polyurethane, burning off when the heat of a soldering iron was applied, and also passed for a professional PCB. | 29 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "1062101",
"author": "James",
"timestamp": "2013-09-21T05:42:01",
"content": "UV cure soldermask ink/paint is readily available on eBay etc in both syringes and larger pots (a little goes a very long way). Spread it on THIN, cover will cellophane (the specific type of plastic is imp... | 1,760,376,452.462589 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/20/learn-machining-from-an-old-school-metal-master/ | Learn Machining From An Old School Metal Master | Adam Fabio | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"cnc",
"lathe",
"machining",
"mill",
"Turn Wright",
"youtube"
] | In the depths of YouTube there are still some jewels to be found.
[Keith Fenner] is one of them
. [Keith] owns Turn Wright Machine Works in Cape Cod, MA. From his small shop, He works on everything from sailboats to heavy equipment.
[Keith] describes himself as “An artist, and a jobber, 36 years in the trade”. We think he could add teacher to that list, as we’ve learned quite a bit about machining from
his Youtube channel
.
One of the interesting things about [Keith] is his delivery on camera. He makes the viewer feel like an apprentice machinist working alongside him. Rather than carefully setup shots with graphics, [Keith] narrates as he works paying jobs. He also has no problem showing us his
mistakes
– and
recovery from them
, as well as his
victories
.
The main tools at Turn Wright are the lathe and mill, but [Keith] isn’t old fashioned by any means. He has a complete PlasmaCAM setup and isn’t afraid to do a little
computer work
.
Most of [Keith’s] projects are broken up into several videos. One of our favorites is
“So you broke it off in your hole”
. In this series [Keith] shows what it takes to get a broken screw extractor (or EZ Out) out of a large diesel turbo. Get a feeling for what [Keith] has to offer with his “Day in the LIfe” video after the break.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG7Sv99gqQ4 | 24 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "1062040",
"author": "Jai",
"timestamp": "2013-09-21T02:07:58",
"content": "Tubalcain (mrpete) and oxtool are the other guys to look up for machining on YouTube.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1062412",
"author": "S",
... | 1,760,376,452.659553 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/20/heavy-lifting-copters-can-apparently-lift-people/ | Heavy Lifting Copters Can Apparently Lift People | Brian Benchoff | [
"Beer Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"beerlift",
"hexacopter",
"multirotor",
"quadcopter"
] | Online RC store Hobby King is once again encouraging people to push the limits of what quadcopters and other multirotor remote control vehicles can do.
They call it the beerlift
and the goal is simple: build a multirotor craft capable of carrying the greatest amount of beer (or water, everything is measured by weight).
The competition is over, but the results were spectacular. The vehicle with the largest lift capacity – pictured above – was built by [Olaf Frommann] and carried 58.7 kilograms, or nearly 128 pounds to a hover a few feet off the ground.
Last year the biggest lift
was a mere 47 kg with an eight-rotor craft.
It was still an impressive showing all around. The biggest lift in the 700 class – 700 mm from rotor to rotor – was done by [David Ditch] with 19.6 kg. You can check out some of the best entries below, including an amazing aerobatic quadcopter that can successfully loop carrying a cup of beer,
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpW_B9NHwaQ]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvI6M71Lvbo]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZJdsci-46g]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMJUuVK-6iw]
[via
Hacked Gadgets
] | 32 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "1061994",
"author": "truthspew",
"timestamp": "2013-09-20T23:41:50",
"content": "Reblogged this onSpewing Truth in the face of Liesand commented:To my friends in DC401 – a heavy lift quad copter! Now this is something I could get into.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"r... | 1,760,376,452.526708 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/20/getting-your-feedback-and-a-staff-update/ | Getting Your Feedback And A Staff Update | Mike Szczys | [
"Featured"
] | [
"staff",
"survey"
] | Please join me in welcoming four new members to our crew. I published
a post calling for applications
almost two weeks ago. I wouldn’t say we were overwhelmed with applications. But I would say we were overwhelmed with qualified applicants. Hackaday writers need to be Jacks of all Trades in order to recognize and feature the best hacks from a wide range of disciplines. To this end we chose writers who have interests in areas what will complement those already represented by the team. I couldn’t be happier with the new contributors. Please join me in welcoming [James Hobson], [Todd Harrison], [Phillip Ryals], and [Adam Fabio]. They’ve already been hard at work dishing up fresh hacks, but you can learn more about their backgrounds by
reading the biographies on our Staff Page
.
You may have noticed a change this week. Although we’re an English language blog based in the United States, our statistics show readers throughout the world (in fact, almost a third of our writing team aren’t Americans). For this reason we changed our post scheduling earlier this week to a 24-hour cycle. This means more time between posts, and of course new posts being published in the middle of the night. Keep reading for a few more tidbits and a chance to give us your feedback.
I’d like to know your opinion on this and a very few other things. If you have the inclination, please check out
this five question survey
. It covers feedback on the publishing schedule, whether or not you’d like us to bring back the
weekly roundups
, where you read Hackaday the most, and a chance to make suggestions or register criticism. I’ll include the survey results in the next what’s-up-with-Hackaday type of post that I publish.
Don’t miss a special post coming up on Monday, September 23rd. It’s the first in a series of occasional guest posts to help highlight areas of hacking in which you may not be fully invested. I’m not going to let the cat out of the bag, you’ll have to wait until 12pm Pacific time to see who and what it’s all about.
Finally, I just wanted to remind you that
[Brian] and [Adam] will be at World Maker Faire this weekend
. If you are attending keep an eye out for them to get some Hackaday swag, or to show off your projects. If you can’t attend watch for coverage of the event on our front page. | 40 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "1061899",
"author": "Roger Wilco",
"timestamp": "2013-09-20T20:13:19",
"content": "im ok with a 24 hour cycle also first post is first HA!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1061904",
"author": "Adam",
"timestamp"... | 1,760,376,452.605872 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/20/visually-tune-your-hf-antenna-using-an-oscilloscope-and-signal-generator/ | Visually Tune Your HF Antenna Using An Oscilloscope And Signal Generator | Todd Harrison | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"antenna",
"antenna tuning",
"ham",
"HF",
"tune",
"tuning"
] | Lots of readers are into toying around with RF and ham radios. One thing that is always of concern is tuning the antenna. New equipment is never cheap, so whenever another option comes along that uses existing test gear it gets our attention. [Alan Wolke] aka [w2aew] covers a process he uses to
tune his HF antenna using a signal generator and oscilloscope
.
The process is more of a teaching aid than a practical replacement for commercial equipment mostly because proper signal generators and oscilloscopes are large items and sometimes not available or affordable. That said, if you do have such test gear you only need build a simple breakout board containing a form of
wheatstone bridge
where the unknown Rx is the antenna. Two oscilloscope probes are connected across the bridge balance nodes. Some special care needs to be taken matching probe cable length and 50 ohm input impedance to the oscilloscope. A couple of 1K probe coupling resistors are also needed to prevent affecting the impendence at the hookup points. Once the selected signal is injected you can adjust an antenna tuner until the two voltage waveforms match on the oscilloscope indicating your antenna network is tuned to 50 ohm impedance with no reactance.
Being able to tune your antenna visually can really help you understand what is going on in the turning process; matching not only input impedance but also phase shift indicating inductive or capacitive reactance. Join us after the break to see the video and for information on what’s presented in the second part of [Alan’s] presentation.
The lesson ends at 8:50 but continues ten seconds later with a part 2 presentation “Estimating the complex impedance of the antenna”. | 15 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1061852",
"author": "xyzzy",
"timestamp": "2013-09-20T17:52:02",
"content": "This is very cool. I love it when general purpose lab equipment can be substituted for special purpose gear. Would a pair of BNC T-adapters connected to the incoming cables, the scope inputs, and a pair o... | 1,760,376,452.858773 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/19/flash-it-the-rgb-led-climbing-wall/ | FLASH.IT: The RGB LED Climbing Wall | Marsh | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"burning man",
"climbing",
"dmx",
"dmx512",
"RGB LED",
"rock climbing"
] | [Chris] and his friends were kicking around ideas for a Burning Man project, and this is the one that stuck:
a rock climbing wall with RGB LEDs
embedded in the holds. The holds themselves were custom made; the group started by making silicone molds of varying shapes and sizes, then added the electronics and poured in polyurethane resin to create the casting. The boards for these LEDs are equipped with a central hole that pairs up with a peg in the silicone mold. [Chris] also solved an annoying spinning problem by affixing a bolt to the far end of the LED board: once embedded in the polyurethane, the bolt provides resistance that the thin board cannot. The finished holds bolt onto the wall with all their wires neatly sticking out of the back to be hooked up to a central controller.
The Instrucables page suggests a few ways to get the lights working, including grabbing the nearest Arduino and relying on the
Neopixel Library
from Adafruit. [Chris] went the extra mile for Burning Man, however, designing Arduino-software-compatible controller boards capable of communicating via
DMX
, which expanded the system from a simple display to one capable of more complex lighting control.
Stop by the Github
for schematics and PCB layouts, and stick around for a video of the wall after the break. If the thrill-seeking outdoorsman inside you yearns for more,
check out WALL-O-TRON from earlier this summer
.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89l5KwsrFlQ | 11 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1061144",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2013-09-19T14:04:03",
"content": "I’m guessing for Burning Man, they probably have some silicone 80085 shaped hand holds as well for the wall.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1061161",
... | 1,760,376,452.912185 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/19/accurate-temperature-control-of-your-3d-printer-extruder/ | Accurate Temperature Control Of Your 3D Printer Extruder | Mathieu Stephan | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"extrusion",
"temperature-control"
] | [Tim] is working on building a 3D printer and using it as an excuse to learn as much as he can. The first big issue he tackled was accurate temperature control, so he made an
interesting write-up
on how to characterize the thermal properties of an QU-BD extruder’s hot end and use that information to create a control algorithm for the heater.
The article starts with a basic thermal model and its corresponding formula. [Tim] then runs several tests where he measures the heater and extruder tip temperatures while switching on and off the heater. This allows him to figure out the several model parameters required to design his control algorithm. Finally, he tweaked his formula in order to predict the short term future so he can know when he should activate the heating element. As a result, his temperature is now accurately controlled in the 200°c +/-1°c window that he was shooting for. | 16 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1061086",
"author": "gajio",
"timestamp": "2013-09-19T11:11:03",
"content": "1. learn to PID2. tune it3. problem solved",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1061626",
"author": "Tony",
"timestamp": "2013-09-20T10:57... | 1,760,376,453.027226 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/19/classic-pda-finds-second-life-as-a-network-touch-screen-display/ | Classic PDA Finds Second Life As A Network Touch Screen Display | Adam Fabio | [
"computer hacks",
"handhelds hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"casio",
"Handhelds",
"PalmPilot",
"pda",
"Personal digital assistant"
] | [Tomas Janco] had an old Casio Pocket Viewer PDA collecting dust. Rather than throw it away, He decided to
re-purpose it as a display
for time, weather, and the
current status of his garage door
.
The
Casio Pocket Viewer
was a competitor to the Palm Pilot. The two systems even shared the same LCD resolution – 160×160 monochrome. [Tomas’] particular model is an S660, sporting 6 megabytes of ram and an NEC V30MZ (Intel 8086 compatible) processor. Similar to Palm, Casio made an SDK freely available.
The SDK is still available from Casio
, and [Tomas] was able to get it running on his PC. Development wasn’t without pitfalls though. The Pocket Viewer SDK was last updated in April of 2001. Software is written in C, but the then new C99 standard is not supported. The SDK does include a simulator and debugger, but it too is not as polished as todays systems – every simulator startup begins with setting the clock and calibrating the touch screen. Keep reading after the jump to learn about the rest of the hurdles he overcame to pull this one off.
The pocket viewer’s only connection to the outside world is through an RS-232 link. [Tomas] was able use the serial link to connect the pocket viewer to his server running custom PHP code. At first he tried to send full screens of data to the PV. This proved to be much too slow at serial speeds. Updating only those sections of the screen which have changed proved to be much faster. In the unlikely event that an entire screen has changed, [Tomas] sends the screen in chunks – so the user still sees activity at the display.
The finishing touch was a power source. The pocket viewer was designed to run on AAA batteries. [Tomas] installed a 3V regulator, but even then the system would reset randomly. The internal DC to DC converter of the Pocket Viewer was causing current spikes that his regulator couldn’t handle. A 100uf capacitor finally stabilized the power supply.
[Tomas] final hack was to add an interface from his garage door to his router. The router updates his server on the garage doors state. The server then formats this information for the pocket viewer, letting [Tomas] know if the garage is open or closed.
We think this is a great example of reusing old hardware. How many of us have an old PDA lying around? It would be great to see more of them end up being use like this, rather than recycled or worse yet, sent to the landfill. | 18 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1061062",
"author": "cpct",
"timestamp": "2013-09-19T08:45:47",
"content": "But… it uses comic sans!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1061121",
"author": "Augur",
"timestamp": "2013-09-19T13:03:23",
"con... | 1,760,376,452.96803 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/18/seven-decade-programmable-resistor/ | Seven Decade Programmable Resistor | James Hobson | [
"hardware",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"decade box",
"programmable resistor",
"seven decade resistor box"
] | [Gerry Sweeney] was tired of messing around with resistors while prototyping his projects, so he decided he wanted a resistor decade box. The problem is they are typically big and rather expensive ($100+). Unhappy with the selection available for purchase,
he decided to design his own.
In the accompanying video, he shows off his first attempt after being inspired by a past post we covered that
used a combination of resistors and thumbwheel decimal switches
. He modified the design a bit and used surface mount resistors instead, which made for a fairly compact and convenient seven decade resistor box. But he still wasn’t happy with it.
He decided to design his own PCB instead. The simple design utilizes surface mount resistors to conserve space, and jumpers to select the resistance. No bulky switches get in the way and it’s fairly cheap to produce.
Check out the great video explanation of the project after the break. He also shows off the insides of a commercial resistor decade box!
[Thanks Gerry!] | 50 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1060998",
"author": "Jim Turner",
"timestamp": "2013-09-19T05:27:06",
"content": "this is like buying a lathe without a quick change gearbox.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1061004",
"author": "Dan",
"timestam... | 1,760,376,453.234005 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/18/reprap-simpson-puts-a-new-spin-on-delta-repraps/ | RepRap Simpson Puts A New Spin On Delta RepRaps | Adam Fabio | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"delta",
"reprap",
"RepRap Project",
"robot",
"simpson",
"thingiverse"
] | Just when you think you’ve seen it all in the 3D printer world, something new pops up! [Nicholas Seward] posted a video of
RepRap Simpson
, his latest project. Simpson is a delta robot – but unlike any
delta we’ve seen before
. Previous offerings vertical rails on which the arms travel. As you can see, this design mounts three articulated arms directly to the base of the printer, using steel cables as part of the joint mechanism.
Judging by [Nicholas’] posts on the
RepRap forums
, Simpson’s grounded delta design has already gone through a few revisions. The basic geometry though, has remained the same. [Nicholas] calls this edition a “Proportional Gear Drive Joint Simpson”. The name may not roll off the tongue, but the movements are incredibly smooth, organic, and fast.
As with any delta design inverse kinematics play a huge role in the software. [Nicholas] is trying to simplify this with an optical calibration system. For the adventurous, the equations are posted on the
forums
, and a python Gcode preprocessor is posted on
Thingiverse
.
Even Simpson’s base received special attention. It’s built from a water jet cut piece of basalt. We like the use of opposed helical gears on the large joints, as well as the guitar machine heads used to tension the cable drive. One thing we are not sure of is the longevity of system – will cable stretch play an issue? Will the printed parts suffer wear from the cables? Only time will tell.
[Thanks Theo!] | 23 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1060953",
"author": "macona (@macona)",
"timestamp": "2013-09-19T02:47:20",
"content": "OK, that is really neat. I would love to see someone take it the next step and stiffen it up, right now it is about as rigid as a 5-1/4″ floppy.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repl... | 1,760,376,453.339375 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/18/functional-nes-controller-coffee-table/ | Functional NES Controller Coffee Table | Michael Ciuffo | [
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"furniture",
"gaming",
"nintendo"
] | For reddit user [the_masked_cabana], button mashing has taken on a whole new meaning. His
gigantic NES controller coffee
table makes it hard to punch in the Konami code without breaking a sweat.
Even before discussing the electricals, this is one impressive build. Each component was cut from multiple layers of MDF and assembled with screws, glue, and putty. Once they were sanded smooth, he used layers of carefully applied Krylon paint to achieve a plastic sheen that is remarkably faithful to its 5″ counterpart. For the more precise lettering, custom cut vinyl stickers did the trick.
Of course, looking the part is only half the battle. Tearing apart an original NES controller, he soldered wires to the button connections and ran them to eight arcade style buttons located under the replica button covers. A collection of bolts and springs keep everything aligned and produce the right kind of tactile feedback to the user. A removable cable in the back provides the connection to the console.
If a four foot NES controller isn’t practical enough for you, he also added some storage space in the base and a removable glass cover that converts the controller into a coffee table. For more details on the build, check out the
reddit discussion
. You can also find an eerily similar working NES controller table in
this geeky coffee table roundup
from five years ago. | 6 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1060902",
"author": "James",
"timestamp": "2013-09-19T00:57:08",
"content": "Awesome. Could have used a shift register (all that is inside a nes controller) to save tearing apart an original controller, but still cool.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,376,453.284819 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/18/the-bitbox-console-an-open-source-gaming-rig/ | The Bitbox Console: An Open Source Gaming Rig | Eric Evenchick | [
"ARM",
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"bitbox",
"emulator",
"gaming",
"gdb",
"stm32",
"uzebox"
] | A simple resistive DAC is all you need to drive a VGA display. Combining that with an on-chip DAC for audio, the STM32F405RGT6 looks like a good choice for a DIY game console. [Makapuf’s]
Bitbox console
is a single chip gaming machine based on the STM32 ARM processor.
We’ve seen some DIY consoles in the past. The
Uzebox
is a popular 8 bit open source game system, and [makapuf] was inspired by its design. His console’s use of a more powerful 32 bit processor will allow for more complex games. It will also provide more colors and higher quality audio.
One of the keys of the Uzebox’s success is the development tools around it. There’s a full
emulator
which allows for debugging with GDB. [Makapuf] has already built an
SDL
based emulator, and can debug the target remotely using GDB. This will certainly speed up game development.
After the break, check out a demo of the first game for the Bitbox: JUMP. Also be sure to read through [makapuf]’s blog for detailed information on the build. | 23 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1060741",
"author": "Welcome to level 2!",
"timestamp": "2013-09-18T20:16:14",
"content": "NetBSD runs on it, so it supports bsd-games repositories. That makes it have a catalog of hundreds and hundreds of well-loved games from the start.Don’t just play a rogue-like, play Rogue itse... | 1,760,376,453.401506 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/20/diy-ultrasonic-acoustic-levitation/ | DIY Ultrasonic Acoustic Levitation | Brian Benchoff | [
"chemistry hacks",
"hardware"
] | [
"acoustic levitation",
"ultrasonic",
"ultrasonic transducer"
] | [Mike] saw a few videos of ultrasonic acoustic levitation rigs put together by student researchers. Figuring it couldn’t be that hard to replicate, he set out and
built his own
using surplus parts and whatever was sitting around his parts drawer.
The build began with a huge ultrasonic transducer from an old ultrasonic cleaning tank [Mike] picked up on eBay for
$20
£20. He didn’t pick up the standard driver board, as those don’t have a very clean output – something desperately needed if you’re setting up a standing wave. He did manage to put a simple supply together with a 555 timer, a MOSFET and a 12 V transformer connected backwards, though.
The test rig is pretty simple – just the transducer sitting on a table with an aluminum plate sitting above it on threaded rods. By adjusting the distance between the transducer to the aluminum plate, [Mike] managed to set up some standing waves he was able to suspend small Styrofoam balls in. It’s not quite precise enough to levitate small chunks of sodium and water, but it makes for an excellent science fair-type project. | 22 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "1061818",
"author": "Mr. Troglodytarum",
"timestamp": "2013-09-20T16:10:32",
"content": "wait…is this 1630? since when did sound waves become a ‘chemistry hack’? 80)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1061864",
"author... | 1,760,376,453.457625 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/20/mario-plays-piano-with-a-little-help-from-raspberry-pi/ | Mario Plays Piano With A Little Help From Raspberry Pi | Adam Fabio | [
"Musical Hacks",
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"mario",
"music",
"nes"
] | [David] has created his own
live robot band
to play live versions of the music and sound effects of NES games. Most of us who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s have the music of Nintendo games burned into our brains. While there have been some
amazing
remixes
created over the years, [David] has managed to do something truly unique. Armed with an emulator, some software prowess, and a pair of Raspberry Pis, [Dave] created a system that plays game music and sound effects on analog instruments. A
Yamaha Disklavier
player piano handles most of the work through a connection to a Raspberry Pi. Percussion is handled by a second Pi. Snare drum, wood block, and tambourine are all actuated by a custom solenoid setup.
The conversion process all happens on the fly as the game is played. [Dave] says the process has about ½ second of lag when played live, but we’re sure that could be fixed with some software tweaks.
We especially like the inclusion of Super Mario Brothers 2, as the intro music seems to have been written for piano. There have been offline conversions before, but hearing (and seeing) the original music played “live” on a real piano is something special.
One note on the sound. If it sounds as if the piano is “stepping on itself” at times, it is. The Piano is handling both background music and sound effects. Mario’s jumps and skid sounds fall right in the same octaves as the music.
[via
BoingBoing
] | 9 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1061828",
"author": "CJ",
"timestamp": "2013-09-20T16:44:37",
"content": "This reminds me of playing my favorite black and white silent video games as a kid when ol’ Joe would accompany the game on our piano.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,376,453.508488 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/19/advanced-transcend-wifi-sd-hacking-custom-kernels-x-and-firefox/ | Advanced Transcend WiFi SD Hacking: Custom Kernels, X, And Firefox | Adam Fabio | [
"ARM",
"Linux Hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"firefox",
"GNU General Public License",
"linux",
"Secure Digital",
"Transcend",
"wi-fi"
] | [Dmitry] read about hacking the Transcend WiFi cards, and decided to
give it a try himself
. We already covered
[Pablo’s] work with the Transcend card
. [Dmitry] took a different enough approach to warrant a second look.
Rather than work from the web interface and user scripts down, [Dmitry] decided to start from
Transcend’s GPL package
and work his way up. Unfortunately, he found that the package was woefully incomplete – putting the card firmly into the “violates GPL” category. Undaunted, [Dmitry] fired off some emails to the support staff and soldiered on.
It turns out the card uses u-boot to expand the kernel and basic file system into a ramdisk. Unfortunately the size is limited to 3MB. The limit is hard-coded into u-boot, the sources of which transcend didn’t include in the GPL package.
[Dmitry] was able to create his own binary image within the 3MB limit and load it on the card. He discovered a few very interesting (and scary) things. The flash file system must be formatted FAT32, or the controller will become very upset. The 16 (or 32)GB of flash is also mounted read/write to
TWO
operating systems. Linux on the SD card, and whatever host system the card happens to be plugged in to. This is dangerous to say the least. Any write to the flash could cause a collision leading to lost data – or even a completely corrupt file system.
[Dmitry] spent even more time fighting with kernel builds. In the end he did emerge victorious. He was able to bring up his own kernel on the WiFi SD card’s ARMv5 controller and run anything he wanted. He tested the system by booting up with X windows forwarding through an SSH tunnel over WiFi. He was even able to get Firefox running in X, albeit very slowly. The card doesn’t even need to be in a host system – only power and ground are needed to boot and access it via WiFi.
After all this was done, [Dmitry] finally got a response back from one of Transcend’s support engineers. They are “Uninterested” in complying with GPL, and he is “free to report this to any Linux organization” Ouch! That’s one of the most cavalier GPL violations we’ve seen in a long time.
Update:
It looks like Transcend has added u-boot sources to their GPL package. However, [Dmitry] states in the comments that they are still missing kernel config and some of the module sources. | 95 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "1061473",
"author": "Alec Smecher",
"timestamp": "2013-09-20T05:12:55",
"content": "Dmitry, I’d suggest publishing the email trail that ended with Transcend declaring that they would not comply with the GPL. If it’s as flagrant as you make it out to be, I suspect it’ll come back to ... | 1,760,376,454.675261 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/19/desoldering-chips-with-fire/ | Desoldering Chips With Fire | Brian Benchoff | [
"hardware"
] | [
"components",
"salvage",
"salvaging",
"smd"
] | Salvaging components is a staple of any electronic enthusiast, but many times those interesting chips – old 8-bit microcontrollers, memories, and CPUs found in everything from game consoles to old computers – are rather difficult to remove from a board. [Ryan] over on Instructables
has a rather interesting method
of removing old SMD packages using nothing more than a little fire and a pair of tweezers.
Obviously the best way to go about salvaging SMD components is with a heat gun, but lacking the requisite equipment, [Ryan] managed to remove a few SMD chips using rubbing alcohol as a heat source. In a properly controlled environment, [Ryan] filled a small metal dish with alcohol, set it on fire, and used the heat generated to remove a few components. Alcohol lamps are a common bench tool in a range of repair disciplines because the fuel is cheap and burns relatively cleanly (not leaving an unwanted residue on the thing you’re heating).
It’s an interesting kludge, and given [Ryan]’s display of desoldered components, we’re going to call it a success. It might also work for through-hole components, allowing for easy removal of old SRAM, ROM, and other awesome chips. | 29 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "1061421",
"author": "andres",
"timestamp": "2013-09-20T02:07:02",
"content": "i use a small butane torch for quickly salvaging components. if you’re not careful it burns the fiberglass though which is not fun to breathe. alcohol seems like a nicer choice.",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,376,453.627139 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/19/beaglebone-black-does-cnc-with-ramps/ | BeagleBone Black Does CNC With RAMPS | Adam Fabio | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"beaglebone",
"beaglebone black",
"cnc",
"LinuxCNC",
"Numerical control",
"RAMPS",
"stepper motor"
] | [Bart] Wanted to try controlling a CNC with his BeagleBone black, but didn’t want to invest in a CNC Cape. No problem –
he created his own translator board for RAMPS
.
LinuxCNC
for the BeagleBone Black has been available for a few months now, and [Bart] wanted to give it a try. He started experimenting with a single stepper motor and driver. By the time he hooked up step, direction, and motor phases, [Bart] knew he needed a better solution.
Several CNC capes are available for the BeagleBone boards, but [Bart] had a RAMPS board just sitting around, waiting for a new project. Most RepRap fans have heard of the RAMPS – or
Reprap Arduino Mega Pololu Shield
. In fact,
we covered them here
just a few days ago as part of our
3D Printering series
. RAMPS handle all the I/O needed for 3D printing, which carries over quite nicely to other CNC applications as well. The downside is that they’re specifically designed for the Arduino Mega series.
The translator board brings all the BeagleBoard Black IO signals where RAMPS expects them. [Bart] wasn’t done though – he also added in compatibility for grblShield and parallel port connections.
One thing we want to know more about is the 3.3V to 5V voltage translations. RepRap has begun working on
RAMPS-FD
to handle 3.3V requirements of the Arduino Due. Reusing hardware is great – we wouldn’t want to risk blowing up a BeagleBone Black to do it. | 13 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1061330",
"author": "Evaristo Ramos",
"timestamp": "2013-09-19T23:09:09",
"content": "This awesome and I am most interested in buying one as I have a laser cutter I need to convert over to LinuxCNC, please feel free to contact me ramos96 at yahoo dot com",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,376,453.55663 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/19/fail-of-the-week-smoking-pulse-sensor-and-ble-dissappointment/ | Fail Of The Week: Smoking Pulse Sensor And BLE Disappointment | Mike Szczys | [
"Fail of the Week",
"Hackaday Columns"
] | [
"bluetooth low energy",
"fail of the week",
"osh park"
] | We think [Thomas Brittain] is onto something. We often post to our personal blogs so that we have a reference to how we did something. But he also keeps a long post that documents his abandoned projects. It ends up serving as a quick start if he ever decides to pick up the torch once again. Lucky for us he’s included his failures in the write up. This Fail of the Week features
the top two posts on his Incomplete Works
page. The first is an attempt to make his own pulse sensor. The second is a miserable experience with a cheap Bluetooth Low Energy module.
For the board on the left, [Thomas] managed to release some smoke from the components during the first test. As a learning experience he decided to recreate an open hardware pulse sensor. It is made up of an op-amp reading from a photo sensor, paired with an LED to light up the tip of your finger. He laid out his own board in Eagle and put in a $2 order with OSH Park. The image above shows [Thomas] reflowing the photo sensor using his clothes iron. After the rest of the assembly was complete he fired it up — producing the oft mentioned magic blue smoke. A second run on the board ended in folly also, perhaps because he reused components from the initial “smoked” board. One thing that this failure turned up was
an interesting article on counterfeit parts
.
We love reading about counterfeits so we’ll just drop a couple other links here to
fake Arduinos
and
fake Apple PSUs
.
The second fail is a Bluetooth Low Energy module that never showed the performance [Thomas] desired. He started off the project with the intent to use a TI CC2540 radio chip directly. But when he was elbow deep into modifying an example PCB for cheaper printing he decided to pivot. Without proper tools to troubleshoot the radio signal he figured it best to go with a module and just make his own breakout board. Above you can see the HM-10 module soldered to his breadboard friendly PCB (also from OSH Park). Those who have played with Bluetooth modules may already see this coming, but a chunk of his troubles were caused by the firmware running on the chip and a general lack of guidance on how to interact with the firmware’s features. Furthermore, level conversion was an issue. And when he did finally see some results from the device the effective range was just a few inches.
Bluetooth Low Energy is
just starting to pop up
in hobby electronics projects. We’d love to hear your own experiences — good or bad — with BLE hardware. Please leave a comment if you have a story to share.
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. | 12 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1061272",
"author": "andres",
"timestamp": "2013-09-19T19:38:23",
"content": "i have a ton of those little china bluetooth modules. loaded up (iirc) linvor firmware on all of them. i had bought one nice one with it, then a bunch of cheap ones with the inferior fimware, aquired a cop... | 1,760,376,453.687411 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/19/a-spinning-beachball-of-doom-that-you-can-carry-in-your-pocket/ | A Spinning Beachball Of Doom That You Can Carry In Your Pocket | Phillip Ryals | [
"LED Hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"designspark mechanical",
"neopixel",
"Trinket"
] | Need a way to tell the world that you’re mentally ‘out to lunch’? Or what about a subtle hint to others that your current thought process is more important than whatever they are saying? [Caleb Kraft] — who earlier this year bid farewell to Hackaday for a position with EETimes — is heading to the World Maker Faire in New York this weekend, and he decided to build just that device. If you’re heading to Maker Faire too, keep an eye out for his eye-catching
Spinning Beachball of Doom
. He was inspired by
iCufflinks from Adafruit
, and ended up with a great little device that is small enough to be worn, or just thrown around for fun.
A couple of weeks ago,
we linked you
to the Adafruit announcement of their new
Trinket
product line. [Caleb] wasted no time in finding a use for the tiny microcontroller board. He paired it with the Neopixel LED ring, and had it working with just a tiny tweak to the test code. He then used
DesignSpark Mechanical
to design a 3D-printed case… the most complicated part of the project. It’s too bad his original plan to power the whole thing with button cells didn’t work out, because it could have been a neat (albeit expensive) upgrade to LED throwies. That said, [Caleb] mentions that a small LiPo battery would be a good alternative.
This is a fun little project that most anyone could throw together in an afternoon. Don’t be surprised if we start seeing these show up more and more.
To see what it looks like in action, check out the video after the break. | 11 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1061207",
"author": "haybales",
"timestamp": "2013-09-19T17:16:03",
"content": "it is seriously bothering me that he didn’t extend the taped pieces all the way to the edge of the circle. WHY?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "10... | 1,760,376,453.908307 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/18/3d-printering-alternative-filaments/ | 3D Printering: Alternative Filaments | Brian Benchoff | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Hackaday Columns"
] | [
"3d printer filament",
"3D Printering",
"abs",
"filament",
"nylon",
"PLA"
] | ABS and PLA are the backbones of the 3D printing world. They’re both easy to obtain and are good enough for most applications. They are not, however, the be-all, end-all filaments for all your 3D printing needs. Depending on your design, you may need something that is much tougher, much more flexible, or simply has a different appearance or texture. Here are a few alternative plastics for your RepRap, Makerbot, or other 3D printer:
Soft PLA
Although harder plastics make sense for tools, mechanisms, and objets ‘d’art, there’s always a use for softer materials in designs. One of these filaments is a derivation of PLA going under the names ‘Flex PLA’, or ‘Soft PLA’. This filament is your regular old PLA filament mixed with an unknown chemical to make it soft, tough, and rubbery. It’s an interesting material that [BonziBrian] over on Thingiverse used to
print a belt for a RepRap
.
It’s not quite up to the challenge of being used for timing belts and the like, but this material’s hardness (
Shore D 40
, by some accounts) makes it a perfect material for 3D printed robot wheels or tank treads. It’s still a little too hard to print complex negative molds for casting, but if you’re looking for a material for a little bit of give, this is the one.
Matter Hackers put up a great video
demonstrating Soft versus Regular PLA
. Of course they also sell
Soft PLA
, as does
Ultimaker
,
Maker Geeks
, and several other suppliers.
Wood and Stone
Printing with a wood-like material
is nothing new
. We’ve seen a few prints made in Laywood (or LAYWOO-D3), and it’s about what you would expect for something that portends to be a 3D printed wooden object. As the material is being printed, the heat from the hot end is able to change the color of the material from a deep, rich mahogany to a light birch. The finished material is supposed to feel something like MDF or the inside of Ikea furniture, but with a little bit of sanding and finishing it should pass for a true wooden object.
If squeezing wood out of a hot end isn’t weird enough, you can now also print in stone. Laybrick is a filament made of very finely ground chalk and a polymer binder that is supposed to feel something like sandstone when printed. After cooling, anything made in Laybrick can be painted, ground, drilled or carved. The best online example of Laybrick appears to be
this video
of a model stone wall being printed but without an Internet feel-o-vision, it might be necessary to buy a spool of this just to experiment with.
Nylon
Apart from PLA or ABS, the most popular filament is without a doubt nylon. It’s a much more flexible and stronger material than ABS or PLA, and its self-lubricating qualities lend itself well to gears and other mechanical parts. The very first experiments in printing in nylon originated
way back in the early days of the RepRap project
with trimmer line designed for a weed whacker. Today things are a bit more refined.
Taulman
is most likely the largest alternative filament suppliers on the Internet, featuring two different types of nylon filament for sale. There has been a lot of cool experimentations with Nylon, especially by [RichRap] who used fabric dyes to make
tie-dyed objects
. Although a few online recommendations suggest using a lot of ventilation when printing with nylon, [taulman] has verified
his nylon is exceptionally safe
and well below the OSHA limits for exposure to nasty chemicals.
PET
If clear (or translucent, given the number of examples on the Internet) is what you’re going for, you’ll probably want to look into PET. This is the same stuff plastic soda bottles are made of, which coincidentally, makes for a great source for any
filament recycling gizmo
.
Taulman is also
offering a PET-like filament
called t-glaze. It’s also somewhere between clear and translucent depending on a printed object’s infill, but this stuff has much better mechanical properties. It prints more accurate and stable parts than ABS, and looks really great to boot.
PVA
This last filament isn’t so much of a material, but rather a tool. It’s a water-soluble thermoplastic. What good is this, then?
Although bridging – the ability to connect two parts in a print, effectively printing on air – has gotten very, very good in the last year or so with the right firmware and settings, a few objects are nigh impossible to print without additional support. If you want to print something crazy like a
Menger sponge
or the GEB cube, using a dual extrusion setup with PVA is the way to go.
One of the better examples of how PVA works is
available here
; just print your object with PVA as a support, throw it in a glass of water for a few hours, and get a finished object with a bunch of overhangs. There is one downside, though – PVA is incredibly expensive, about twice the price as ABS or PLA filament. That being said, if you need to make something with extreme overhangs, PVA is the way to do it.
3D Printering is a weekly column that digs deep into all things related to 3D Printing. If you have question or ideas for future installments please
sending us your thoughts
. | 15 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1060689",
"author": "jstylen",
"timestamp": "2013-09-18T18:41:51",
"content": "Nice guide / list. Now if I could just keep my printrbot calibrated long enough to do large prints…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1060694",
"au... | 1,760,376,454.03611 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/18/hacking-a-disco-laser/ | Hacking A Disco Laser | James Hobson | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Laser Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"disco",
"disco light",
"laser projector",
"rotary encoder"
] | [Mark] was looking for a cheap disco laser projector for parties, and he found one. Unfortunately for him, the advertised features were a bit lacking. The “sound activation mode” was merely an on off circuit, as opposed to it
actually
being controlled by the music —
he set out to fix this
.
Taking the unit apart revealed a very convenient design for hacking. All of the components were connected to the main PCB by connectors, meaning the laser driver board was completely separate! He replaced the PCB completely using a prototyping board, an Arduino pro mini, a microphone with a simple preamp, a rotary encoder, and a MSGEQ7 chip to analyse the levels. Oh, and a MOSFET to control the motor via PWM output. It even ended up being close to the same size as the original!
If you happen to have one of these projectors and want to fix it too, he’s posted the
source code and circuit diagram on github
.
After the break, check out the before and after video. It’s still a cheap disco laser projector, but at least it works as advertised now!
[Thanks Mark!] | 18 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "1060633",
"author": "Mike Szczys",
"timestamp": "2013-09-18T17:34:28",
"content": "I thought the project was pretty interesting while reading it. But seeing the performance difference in the video really shocked me. Why in the world would they ship these things WITHOUT this kind of ... | 1,760,376,453.971341 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/18/25-coupon-code-for-texas-instruments-store/ | $25 Coupon Code For Texas Instruments Store | Mike Szczys | [
"News"
] | [
"coupon",
"stellaris",
"texas instruments",
"ti"
] | If you’ve been coveting a piece of Texas Instruments hardware you should put in an order before September 30th. A coupon code for $25 off a purchase
was posted to the Stellaris ARM Community forums
and it should work until that date. Above is the overview of an order placed yesterday for two Tiva Launchpads (apparently TI has rebranded the Stellaris chips as Tiva for some odd reason). After applying the coupon code “National-1yr” the total price of [BravoV’s] order is just under one dollar (including shipping). The coupon code can be entered into a box on the right hand column of step #3 (payment) when placing an order.
UPDATE:
There are now multiple comments reporting that the coupon code no longer works.
We’re pretty sure you can use this coupon code on anything in the TI store. But if you don’t have a Stellaris/Tiva Launchpad yet we highly recommend getting one. We picked ours up
about a year ago
. It’s a great way to try your hand at ARM programming. We have had some issues with how the breakout headers are organized — there’s some gotchas with multiple pins being connected (read the
last five paragraphs of the project write up linked in this post
for more). But for the price and ease of programming this will get you up and coding in no time. If you need some ideas of what to do with the board
look at our posts tagged as “Stellaris”
.
[Thanks Vlad] | 108 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "1060623",
"author": "Jaspreet",
"timestamp": "2013-09-18T17:22:07",
"content": "I got a Hecules Launchpad RM42 for free using the coupon code :D",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1060646",
"author": "Dajgoro",
"t... | 1,760,376,454.38367 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/18/stewart-platform-reinvents-the-wheel-so-you-dont-have-to/ | Stewart Platform Reinvents The Wheel So You Don’t Have To | Adam Fabio | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"cnc hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"flight simulator",
"open source",
"stepper motor",
"Stewart platform"
] | [Dan Royer] has noticed that most university projects involving a Stewart platform spend more time building a platform than on the project itself. He hopes to build a
standard platform
universities can use as the basis for other projects.
Stewart platforms
are six degree of freedom platforms often seen hefting flight simulators or telescopes. The layout of the actuators allows movements in X,Y,and Z as well as pitch, roll and yaw. While large platforms often use hydraulic systems to accelerate heavy loads quickly. [Dan] is looking at a smaller scale system. His platform is built of laser cut wood and uses six steppers to control motion.
One of the harder parts in designing a platform such as this is creating a mechanical system that is strong, precise, and smooth. With so many linkages, it’s easy to see how binding joints could bring the entire thing to a grinding halt. [Dan] is currently using RC helicopter ball joints, but he’s on the lookout for something even smoother.
For locomotion, stepper motors are more than adequate – providing both the quick acceleration and holding torque needed to control the platform. Adafruit’s stepper motor controller boards provide the drive from an Arduino. The bottleneck in all of this is the i2C link with control of 6 steppers limiting the overall speed of the platform.
Software is another big issue on Stewart platforms. Kinematics of 6 DOF platforms are no easy task. To this end, [Dan] has gone open source. His
Gcode demo is available at github. | 20 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "1060558",
"author": "Charles Steinkuehler",
"timestamp": "2013-09-18T14:42:41",
"content": "Awesomely cool platform!! LinuxCNC should be controlling that from a BeagleBone!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1060578",
"author"... | 1,760,376,454.161073 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/18/revenge-of-the-glueless-stool-and-a-new-folding-chair/ | Revenge Of The Glueless Stool And A New Folding Chair | James Hobson | [
"cnc hacks",
"Hackerspaces"
] | [
"furniture",
"plywood",
"stool"
] | [Vincent] is at it again, with the final iteration of his
glueless stool and a new project
.
As many of you commented on the
original post, three legs might not be enough
. He might have taken note, as the final design contains not 3, not 4, but
five
legs. After the break we have a clip of it being used, and it looks quite sturdy!
But is that it? Is [Vincent] done with innovative wood furniture? Nope. Not since his wife came up with a challenge to create a practical, foldable, and especially, not ugly — chair. He began by researching the dry subject of chairs and determined the approximate
popliteal height
that his chair should provide. Keeping with the theme, he wanted this chair to be cut from a single piece of wood, just like the stool. A few sketches later and he had a basic design ready, still glueless, but unfortunately this time requiring hinges. After a few hiccups in his CNC program, he had a working foldable chair, but our guess is it’s not quite the final design.
Just like last time,
all the files are freely available from his Github
, so if you happen to have a CNC router, or maybe a laser cutter, you can make your own!
[Thanks Vincent!] | 17 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1060478",
"author": "Erik Johansson",
"timestamp": "2013-09-18T11:50:01",
"content": "Glueless plywood, but serisouly the hardest part about plywood is getting good plywood. The price is not so bad at £22 (35 USD) per chair, I guess I’m going to hog up quite some time on the Makers... | 1,760,376,454.099039 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/18/team-van-gogh-uses-openxc-to-create-art-from-your-drive/ | Team Van Gogh Uses OpenXC To Create Art From Your Drive | Adam Fabio | [
"contests",
"News"
] | [
"ben krasnow",
"Ford Motor Company",
"hackathon",
"joe grand",
"OpenXC",
"Sylvia",
"WaterColorBot"
] | In this
video
, [Joe Grand] takes us through
[Team Van Gogh’s] entry
in the
OpenXC
hackathon event. In what could possibly be the greatest road trip in history, [Joe Grand, Ben Krasnow, TechNinja, and Super Awesome Sylvia] all pile into a car. With them they bring a host of dev boards, wires, a CB Radio, and of course Sylvia’s WaterColorBot.
As their name implies, [Team Van Gogh] took a more artistic approach to the challenge than
other teams
. OpenXC steering, gear shift, accelerator and brake data is sent through a ChipKit to an RS-232 link into [TechNinja’s] laptop. The laptop translates the data into commands for the WaterColorBot. With this system, a simple Sunday drive can become abstract art.
The team also showed the concept of what could be done if OpenXC was extended to send data back to the vehicle – something Ford doesn’t support. Their example works when a phone call comes in by using the system to lower the volume on a CB radio standing in for car’s Bluetooth system.
Most of this challenge was completed with simulated data from the OpenXC vehicle interface. The team only had a few minutes to work the bugs out in a real vehicle. However, they proved their concepts well enough to win the grand prize.
Anyone who has participated in a hackathon knows how drained and irritable people can be toward the end of the event. It’s notable that the group here is all smiles. We think this is a good example of four folks meeting up (some of them for the first time) and creating something great. | 11 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1060541",
"author": "rasz",
"timestamp": "2013-09-18T13:53:46",
"content": "hackathlon aka milking clueless corporations out of money for useless trinkets",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1060567",
"author": "Whatnot",
"... | 1,760,376,454.434352 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/17/aux-in-on-a-30-year-old-boombox/ | Aux-in On A 30 Year Old Boombox | James Hobson | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"aux in",
"auxiliary input",
"radio"
] | [Michael] just sent us this nice
example of some good ol’ fashioned radio hacking
.
He originally received the radio from his grandmother, and while he doesn’t listen to the radio much, he felt he couldn’t just let it go to waste. So like any good hacker he cracked open the case and took a look inside.
The beauty with radios from the 80’s is the simplicity of it all. They typically have single layer PCBs and nice big components which makes it so much easier to tinker with.
He used a bench power supply to bypass the main transformer for safety’s sake, and began probing the various points. The cassettes audio output was the easiest to find, but unfortunately it required the play button to be activated. Not wanting to lose functionality (or have an annoying rattling cassette mechanism), he continued probing and eventually found similar wires coming from the radio part of the PCB. Upon further probing he discovered he could trick the radio band button so that the radio would be off, but the output could still be used. After that it was just a matter of wiring, soldering, and adding an auxiliary plug to the case.
We’ve covered lots of
auxiliary port hacks in the past
, but this one is a great example of saving old technology from the dump.
[Thanks Michael!] | 26 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1060376",
"author": "Kevin",
"timestamp": "2013-09-18T06:05:41",
"content": "Saving old boom boxes from the dump? Shiiiiiit… they go for like $100 on eBay. A vintage ghetto blaster in its original box fetches a couple grand.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": ... | 1,760,376,454.549027 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/17/an-open-source-hardware-modchip/ | An Open Source Hardware Modchip | Eric Evenchick | [
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"attiny2313",
"gamecube",
"modchip",
"oshpark",
"xenogc"
] | Many Hackaday readers might remember the days of buying modchips from somewhat questionable sources. These little devices connect to a gaming system to circumvent security measures, allowing you to run homebrew games (and pirated games, but lets not focus on that). [Guillermo] built an
open source hardware Gamecube modchip
based on the XenoGC.
The XenoGC was a popular modchip back in the Gamecube days, and its source was released in a
forum post
. A
Wiki page
explains how to build a clone of the device based on an ATtiny2313. Most modchips were closed source, but this project lets you look at how they work. You can browse the XenoGC source on
Google Code
to learn more about the exploit itself. You’ll find the AVR code, which manipulates the DVD drive over a serial interface, in the XenoAT folder.
[Guillermo]’s hardware is available from
OSHPark
, so you can easily order boards. He’s also hosted the design files on
Github
. With one in hand, you can start building homebrew for the Gamecube, which can probably be picked up for around $25 nowadays. | 12 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1060287",
"author": "nick",
"timestamp": "2013-09-18T02:11:58",
"content": "What kind of hardware power does the gamecube have? Can it run xbmc?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1060304",
"author": "Guillermo A. Amaral ... | 1,760,376,454.48089 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/17/explaining-the-low-level-stuff-you-dont-know-about-arm-programming/ | Explaining The Low Level Stuff You Don’t Know About ARM Programming | Mathieu Stephan | [
"hardware"
] | [
"ARM architecture",
"crt0",
"Integrated development environment",
"microcontroller",
"toolchain"
] | Most of us don’t realize how spoiled we are with the different development environments available on the internet. If someone wants to start a blank project on a new [ARM/DSP/…] platform, he usually fires up the dedicated Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and starts coding a C/C++ program. However, there are many initialization routines and scripts required with your program before it can run correctly.
In his great article
, [Andrew] explains to us what these are by starting a blank project without using any IDE.
As you can see in the above picture, [Andrew]’s project is made around an Atmel SAM4E microcontroller. The chosen toolchain is the arm-none-eabi-gcc from
GNU Tools for ARM Embedded Processors
. The first part of the article starts with a simplified explanation on how/why your code and variables are split into different memory sections (.bss, .data, .rodata, .text), then [Andrew] details how the linker script will put these sections at different physical addresses depending on your microcontroller’s memory layout. He also shows us how to take care of the
stack
placement,
vector table
, variable (non)initialization, and C Runtime. For information, the latter is executed when your processor starts, it is in charge of setting up the stack pointer, initializing the RAM, setting up the standard library and calling the main().
A very nice introduction on the very low level routines running on most processors out there. | 8 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "1060353",
"author": "hemalchevli",
"timestamp": "2013-09-18T05:11:22",
"content": "+1",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1060366",
"author": "Trui",
"timestamp": "2013-09-18T05:33:27",
"content": "+1 indeed. I hate IDEs... | 1,760,376,454.724515 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/17/automatic-tool-changing-on-a-3d-printer/ | Automatic Tool Changing On A 3D Printer | Brian Benchoff | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"cnc",
"delta printer"
] | [Luis] has a pretty interesting project on his hands. He’s using a delta 3D printer to plate a few edibles – yogurt, chocolate, and other thick liquids. Because he intends to use actual plates as the build surface, calibration is key. One solution to this problem would be to use identical, pre-measured plates for everything this printer makes. [Luis]’ solution is much more ingenious than that, however.
He’s programmed his printer to automatically swap out two tools
– one for probing the build surface, and another to extrude liquids.
The two tools are suspended from the body of the printer, and with a little bit of software it’s possible for them to be picked up by the head of the printer and held in place with a few magnets. After
auto leveling the build surface in software
, a G Code command switches the tools over to a paste extruder for all those delicious edibles.
If an automated tool changer isn’t enough, [Luis] has also completed a very nice 3D printed peristaltic pump to squirt out foodstuffs. You can check out a video of this printer in action below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW-z6XN-1II&w=580]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f60YuBrHRCA&w=580] | 9 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1060175",
"author": "niky",
"timestamp": "2013-09-17T20:43:31",
"content": "that is rly cool, thumbs up!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1060177",
"author": "Kevin",
"timestamp": "2013-09-17T20:48:09",
"content": "I ... | 1,760,376,454.772121 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/17/retrotechtacular-linotype-machines-mechanical-marvels/ | Retrotechtacular: Linotype Machines, Mechanical Marvels | James Hobson | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Retrotechtacular"
] | [
"Linotype",
"Linotype machine",
"printing press",
"Publishing and Printing"
] | For this week’s Retrotechtacular we’re
looking at Linotype Machines
; mechanical marvels that brought about the mass production of printed media.
It was a cold dreary day in 1876, when a German inventor living in America named [
Ottmar Mergenthaler
] was approached by [James O. Clephane], who required a faster way of producing legal briefs. Various patents existed for newspaper typewriters but they did not work very well, so [Mergenthaler] set to work on a new design. Traditionally type sets were cast on one machine, and stamped on another to create the text. On a train [Mergenthaler] thought, why not just combine the machines? And with that the idea for a revolutionary machine was born.
The Linotype Machine has a library of matrices, which are character molds that create the slug — the name for a cast
line-of-type.
The operator uses a keyboard to input the line of text, which then releases the matrices of the corresponding letters. These are then transferred to the casting station, where
type metal
is cast into the matrices in a process called
hot metal typesetting
. The matrices are then returned to the library, and the cast lines of text are cooled, removed, and used for stamping in the mass production of printed media. It sounds simple enough, but now realize the entire machine is mechanically automated; as long as you keep filling it with type metal, you can continue producing slugs simply by typing on the keyboard.
The machines were used from the late 19th century all the way up to the 60’s and 70’s until they were replaced by more efficient offset lithography and computer typesetting.
After the break, check out the fascinating documentary from the 1960’s, you will marvel at the mechanical workings of the machine. If you don’t have 35 minutes to blow, at least check out 1:30 to 6:45 for the basic overview. But you probably won’t be able to stop watching.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wHiddZOfa8
If you want to see one of these amazing machines in person and you happen to live in the UK, you’re in and out of luck!
The Whittington Press holds an annual open day
on the first Saturday of September every year at which you can see a one of these machines in action. Unfortunately this means you’ve just missed this year’s opportunity. But put it on your calendar for next year because this is one of the few printing presses left that still prints books by letterpress.
For the Americans in our audience, there is an operational one at the
Baltimore Museum of Industry
, although you’re unlikely to see it in action. Fear not however, you can check out
the Linotype Film
which has many screening events across the country. Some of them even include a real Linotype machine demonstration!
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
.
[Thanks Matthew!] | 39 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "1060105",
"author": "drwho8 (@drwho8)",
"timestamp": "2013-09-17T18:18:59",
"content": "Hello!I don’t have to…. My family ran a typography shop in Manhattan for many years. They used Intertype machines who were related. I grew up watching them at work for many years. And watched the... | 1,760,376,454.841768 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/17/stealth-peephole-camera-watches-your-front-door/ | Stealth Peephole Camera Watches Your Front Door | James Hobson | [
"digital cameras hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"Do it yourself",
"home security",
"peephole",
"raspberry pi",
"security system",
"webcam motion detector"
] | In this week’s links post we mentioned an over-powered DSLR peephole that purportedly cost $4000. So when we saw this tip regarding a
relatively inexpensive digital peephole
, we thought some of you might be a
bit
more interested.
The hardware is quite simple; a decent webcam, a Raspberry Pi, and a powered USB hub. The camera gets stripped down to its PCB and hidden inside the door itself. Even if you see this from the inside it’s just a suspicious-looking wire which wouldn’t make most people think a camera was in use.
On the software side of things, [Alex] set up his Raspberry Pi as a 24/7 webcam server to stream the video online. Unlike using a cheap wireless CCTV camera, his video signals are secure. He then runs
Motion, a free software motion detector
to allow the camera to trigger events when someone comes sneaking by. It can be setup to send you a text, call you, play an alarm, take a picture, record a video… the list goes on. His blog has a full DIY guide if you want to replicate this system. We just hope you have a stronger door!
We covered a
similar project back in 2011
, but it had made use of real server instead of an inexpensive Raspberry Pi.
[Thanks Alex!] | 33 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1060080",
"author": "polytechnick",
"timestamp": "2013-09-17T17:17:14",
"content": "The software part of the hack is pretty cool, especially the motion detection part. But hardware? I don’t think it makes any sense to mess with an existing camera. Spend 5 seconds on eBay and you’ll ... | 1,760,376,454.9071 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/17/high-pressure-air-compressor-using-a-pair-of-refrigeration-compressors/ | High Pressure Air Compressor Using A Pair Of Refrigeration Compressors | Todd Harrison | [
"hardware",
"how-to"
] | [
"air compressor",
"compressor",
"home built",
"refrigerant",
"refrigeration",
"refrigerator"
] | [Ed] from Ed’s Systems, aka [Aussie50] took some time to demo his
high pressure Frankenstein air compressor
he stitched together from two refrigeration compressors. The two Danfoss SC15 compressors can produce upwards of 400psi and can run all day at the 300 psi range without overheating. The dual units may get up to pressure quickly considering the small accumulator “tank”, but high CFM isn’t the goal with this build. [Ed] uses the system to
massacre some LCD
panels with lead, ball bearings, and other high speed projectiles shot from a modified sandblasting gun. Just a bit of air at 400 psi is all you need for this terminator toy.
Don’t think the destruction is wasteful either; [Ed] strives to repair, rebuild, reuse, repurpose and a few other R’s before carefully separating and sorting all the bits for recycling. This modification included lots of salvaged hardware from older teardowns such as high pressure hoses, connectors, accumulator and pressure cutoff switches.
At first it seems strange to see something engineered for R22 refrigerant working so well compressing air. Morphing refrigeration systems into air compressor service is something [Ed] has been doing for a long time. In older videos, “
fail
and
succeed
”, [Ed] shows the ins and outs of building silent air compressors using higher capacity storage tanks. Being no stranger to all variations of domestic and commercial refrigeration systems, [Ed] keeps home built air compressors running safe and problem free for years.
Don’t think this is the only afterlife for old refrigeration compressors, we’ve seen them
suck too
. You’ll get a few more tidbits, and can watch [Ed’s] video overview of his home built compressor after the break.
If constructing your own shop compressor from salvaged refrigeration systems isn’t incentive enough, then consider the reduction in shop noise. If you used refrigerator compressors, they are designed to run very quiet compared to most standard shop air compressors. Bonus: Even if it failed under these operating conditions you wouldn’t care much when using discarded hardware.
[Ed] shares lots of machine teardowns and alterations so if you’re up for the ride you can check out his YouTube channel “
Aussie50
”. | 52 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "1059991",
"author": "Tom Hargrave",
"timestamp": "2013-09-17T14:08:17",
"content": "We did this years ago and it worked very well but we kept loosing compressors over time. It’s definitely worth doing if you have a used compressor sitting around and enough tank volume to store a res... | 1,760,376,454.98839 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/17/update-mchcks-self-flashing-rig/ | Update: McHck’s Self Flashing Rig | Mathieu Stephan | [
"hardware"
] | [
"flashing",
"mchck",
"programming",
"SWD"
] | A few weeks ago we featured the McHck project (pronounced McHack), a $5 Cortex M4 based platform which can be directly plugged into one’s computer. Recently, [Simon] announced that he made a firmware allowing a McHck to
behave as a SWD adapter
and also detailed his
flashing rig
.
Therefore, those who’d want to build their own McHck would only need to borrow an SWD programmer once to get started. When the first platform has been programmed with the SWD firmware, it can be used to flash and debug applications on the second McHck. Consequently, the microcontroller flashing rig [Simon] designed (shown in the picture above) is based on this. The few core elements are a TQFP48 ZIF programming socket, a push button and two LEDs. Simply push the Kinetis in the programming socket, close it and press the button. Success of the operation is indicated by the two LEDs. [Simon] used the
Ragel State Machine Compiler
to generate his flashing program and all the code he made can be downloaded from his
github
.
If you missed
the original McHck post
now’s your chance to go back and see what it is all about. | 6 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "1059982",
"author": "Dee Lirius",
"timestamp": "2013-09-17T13:37:30",
"content": "That title made me think it would flash itself like one of those useless switch-throwing devices. :(",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1060010",
... | 1,760,376,455.032439 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/17/octoscroller-takes-the-hexascroller-to-the-next-level/ | Octoscroller Takes The Hexascroller To The Next Level | Adam Fabio | [
"ARM",
"Hackerspaces",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"beaglebone black",
"HexaScroller",
"light emitting diode",
"new york",
"nyc resistor",
"Octoscroller",
"pulse-width modulation",
"RGB LED"
] | The folks at NYCResistor have a new toy in the
Octoscroller
. For a couple of years now the NYCResistor crew has used the
HexaScroller
as a clock and general alert system. Now that RGB LED panels are cheaply available, the group decided to upgrade both the number of sides and the number of colors.
Octoscroller uses eight 16×32 RGB LED panels. These panels are relatively easy to interface to, but require constant refresh even to display a static image. This makes them both memory and CPU intensive for smaller microcontrollers. Brightness control via PWM only increases the difficulty.
On the plus side, the panels are structurally strong. This allows the Octoscroller to avoid the plywood ring which made up the frame of the Hexascroller. 3D printed brackets and hardware were all that was needed to complete the Octoscroller frame.
The brain of the this beast is a BeagleBone Black running
LEDscape
along with some custom software. Imagery comes from the
Disorient Pyramid
.
If you’re in the New York area, NYCResistor plans to offer classes on building your own Octoscroller. You can also see the Octoscroller in person at MakerFaire NYC this weekend. | 8 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1059882",
"author": "noouch",
"timestamp": "2013-09-17T09:25:20",
"content": "Next step: infinite sides, Circlescroller!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1060136",
"author": "anonuzil",
"timestamp": "2013-09-17T... | 1,760,376,455.24036 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/16/one-mans-microwave-oven-is-another-mans-hobby-electronics-store/ | One Man’s Microwave Oven Is Another Man’s Hobby Electronics Store | Todd Harrison | [
"Parts",
"Teardown"
] | [
"microwave",
"microwave oven",
"MOT",
"oven",
"parts",
"salvage"
] | There are loads of Internet content depicting the usefulness of salvaged innards found in defunct microwave ovens. [Mads Nielsen] is an emerging new vblogger with promising filming skills and intriguing beginner electronics content. He doesn’t bring anything new from the
microwave oven to the dinner table
, yet this video should be considered a primer for anybody looking to salvage components for their hobby bench. To save some time you can
link in at the 5 minute mark
when the feast of parts is laid out on the table. The multitude of good usable parts in these microwave ovens rolling out on curbsides, in dumpsters, and cheap at yard sales all over the country is staggering and mostly free for the picking.
The harvest here was: micro switches, X and Y rated mains capacitors, 8 amp fuse, timer control with bell and switches, slow turn geared synchronous 4 watt motor 5 rpm, high voltage capacitor marked 2100 W VAC 0.95 uF, special diodes which aren’t so useful in hobby electronics, light bulb, common mode choke, 20 watt 68 Ohm ceramic wire-wound resistor, AC fan motor with fan and thermostat cutout switches NT101 (normally closed).
All this can be salvaged and more if you find newer discarded units. Our summary continues after the break where you can also watch the video where [Mads] flashes each treasure. His trinkets are rated at 220 V but if you live in a 110 V country such components will be rated for 110 V.
Let’s don’t forget the high voltage (2000 V secondary) microwave oven transformer (MOT) which in newer microwaves is quickly being replaced by switch mode power supplies. DANGER! Don’t toy with this unless you really know what you’re doing! [Mads] knows, plus he plans on rewinding the transformer for much more useful high current low voltage applications. [Mads] needs only watch [Matt’s] excellent videos on
salvaging microwave oven transformers
.
Not of terrible interest is the heart of the microwave oven, the magnetron tube which emits microwaves to heat your food. Don’t take apart the magnetron or play with it for several good reasons! First, there is the obvious danger of 2.45 GHz microwave radiation. Second, some
magnetrons are made with a pink ceramic insulator containing beryllium oxide
(beryllia). Beryllia is a known carcinogen and dangerous chemical hazard if broken up, handled or ingested. | 85 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "1059782",
"author": "Admin",
"timestamp": "2013-09-17T06:45:38",
"content": "I already know all about microwaves thanks to Jack Donaghy.*next*",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1059784",
"author": "macona (@macona)",
"time... | 1,760,376,455.538959 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/16/robotic-tentacles-for-a-disturbing-haunted-house/ | Robotic Tentacles For A Disturbing Haunted House | Brian Benchoff | [
"Holiday Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"halloween",
"tentacle"
] | [ivorjawa] is putting on a haunted house this Halloween that we really don’t want to go to.
His robot tentacle
is already supremely creepy, and we’re assuming it will only be more frightening once it’s covered in fabric and foam rubber.
Each tentacle can move on two axes thanks to four steel cables running through this strange Geiger-esque contraption. In the base of the tentacle are two stepper-motor driven cylinders that take up slack on one cable and draw out another cable. Two of these control boxes, driven by a stepper motor and an Arduino motor shield, allow the tentacle to reach out and grab in any direction. You can check out the mechanics of the build on
[ivorjava]’s flickr
On a semi-related note, even though we’re more than a month out from Halloween, we should have more Halloween builds in our tip line by now. If you’re working on one, don’t be afraid to
send it in
, even if you’re just showing off a work in progress. | 9 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1059680",
"author": "Hack Man",
"timestamp": "2013-09-17T02:23:30",
"content": "http://hackaday.com/2012/12/04/simplifying-fabrication-of-soft-robots/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1059683",
"author": "hojo",
"timestam... | 1,760,376,455.582957 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/16/giant-video-walls-powered-by-a-raspberry-pi/ | Giant Video Walls Powered By A Raspberry Pi | Brian Benchoff | [
"Raspberry Pi",
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"pi wall",
"raspberry pi",
"video wall"
] | There’s no denying that giant video walls are awesome, but creating one usually means a fairly complex setup with either multiple computers or very expensive video cards. Now,
with Pi Wall
, you can make a video wall as large as your wallet will allow with only one Raspi per monitor, and a single master pi to control the whole shebang.
As long as you have a few displays with an HDMI input, it’s easy to turn them into a giant monitor. Just plug one Pi per monitor into a network switch, have a Pi (or other Linux box) transmit a video to all the video tiles, and sit back and enjoy the show.
Right now there is
an installation guide
for creating a Pi Wall, but there are a few limitations; this software only works with the video player provided with the Raspberry Pi, omxplayer. If you’re looking to create an enormous display for a flight simulator or what have you, you might need to do a bit of tinkering under the hood. | 33 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "1059584",
"author": "sadpanda",
"timestamp": "2013-09-16T23:18:13",
"content": "“powered by _a_ Raspberry Pi” is a lie :( as you need several of them. Eye catching headline fails to deliver :/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1... | 1,760,376,455.305962 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/16/modifying-a-knock-off-battery-charger-to-be-safer/ | Modifying A Knock-off Battery Charger To Be Safer | Phillip Ryals | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"battery charger",
"imax B6AC"
] | Sometimes buying a low-cost clone off of eBay is a great option, but [Martin] wisely decided to test his counterfeit IMAX B6AC, and
found it grossly lacking
. His detailed breakdown shows an alarming array of problems, including poor design and construction, and a lack of warning if the balance circuit fails. In addition, the charger wasn’t properly calibrated. By using a precision multimeter, Martin found that the charger actually brought cells above critical voltage. So really, using a charger like this out of the box can both destroy your battery pack and/or start a fire. One other interesting detail – this model can only be calibrated once. Sweet features.
[Martin] detailed his fixes in
a well-illustrated blog post
. He first had to re-enable the calibration menu using
this method
which requires bricking the device first! Once un-bricked, however, he could do the recalibration using a voltage divider and a reliable power source.
This project really underscores the need for a precisely calibrated multimeter. Not only would [Martin] not have been able to test his charger properly, but the re-calibration wouldn’t have been as accurate as needed. As hobbyists, this is a reminder that we can only trust our tools if they are accurate. | 30 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "1059518",
"author": "captnmike",
"timestamp": "2013-09-16T20:06:17",
"content": "What about the part about buying good stuff in the first place and not counterfeit junk?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1059519",
"autho... | 1,760,376,455.652856 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/09/16/electron-tree-bridal-gifts/ | Electron Tree Bridal Gifts | James Hobson | [
"Holiday Hacks"
] | [
"captured lightning",
"electron trees",
"Lichtenberg figure",
"lightning",
"theo gray"
] | [Mark] just sent us in this fascinating example of
Lichtenberg Figures, or more commonly known as Captured Lightning.
He just got married yesterday to his beautiful wife [Charlie] and they wanted to do something different for their bridal party. They chose to capture lightning inside acrylic spheres. Quite an impressive gift if we do say so ourselves!
The funny thing is, I was just reading
[Theo Gray’s] Mad Science book which explains this phenomena.
These Lichtenberg Figures are created by blasting a beam of high energy electrons at a piece of acrylic. Many of the electrons get trapped inside the acrylic and form a plane of charge. When the acrylic object gets struck with a grounding stud, a discharge path is formed and all the electrons escape, leaving a completely unique lightning-like path in their tracks.
Unfortunately to make these you’re going to need a linear accelerator; a very expensive machine that [Mark] was lucky enough to use through his work. However the couple didn’t stop there, they also designed the lighted base using a PIC12F1501 micro-controller to finish off the gifts!
See how they were made after the break! Just a heads up, the video is very loud when the electrons are fired! If you’re wearing headphones keep the volume low.
[Thanks Mark!] | 34 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1059427",
"author": "sneakypoo",
"timestamp": "2013-09-16T17:12:23",
"content": "Heads up for headphone users. For some reason they decided to have no sound at all until the giant machine turns on and obliterates your eardrums. So, turn down the volume instead of turning it up like... | 1,760,376,455.721947 |
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