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https://hackaday.com/2013/07/22/animated-gifs-on-an-apple-ii/ | Animated GIFs On An Apple II | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"animated gifs",
"apple II",
"gifs",
"video"
] | Before the Internet, computer enthusiasts needed to get their cat pictures, image macros, and animated gifs somehow. If only [Nate] was writing code back in the 80s: he created
a video player for the Apple II
, essentially turning the classic computer into a machine that can play one or two animated gifs.
Vintage microcomputers aren’t especially noted for a huge amount of RAM, or being very fast, so [Nate] needed to bring in some extra hardware to give his recently acquired Apple II+ a 64k RAM disk to store the gifs.
The gifs are loaded off the floppy drive after being converted on a PC with a Python script, reducing the resolution and colors to 280 x 192 pixels and an amazing rainbow of four colors. For some gifs, seen below, it’s actually slightly impressive an Apple II can pull off this trick. It’s amazing [Nate] got this thing to work, as well.
If you have an Apple II set up, you’re awesome. You should go peruse
[Nate]’s git
and make your own animated gifs for your awesome classic computer.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYiPmqjFEqQ&w=580]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hu47_GWbtU&w=580] | 15 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1029486",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2013-07-22T16:17:10",
"content": "“You can’t play animated gifs on an Apple II+!”, “I find your lack of faith disturbing!”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1029503",
"author": "H... | 1,760,376,504.66513 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/22/complex-camera-rig-controlled-with-blender-3d/ | Complex Camera Rig Controlled With Blender 3D | Mike Szczys | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"3d",
"blender",
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abMCF9VAA9s",
"pan",
"Tilt",
"zoom"
] | This is a pretty intricate camera mount. Not only does it provide pan and tilt as the subtitles state, but it moves along a track and offers zoom and focus controls. Its great, but you’ll need an equally complex set of controls to do anything meaningful with it. That’s where the real hack comes into play. The entire system is
controlled by its virtual model in Blender 3D
.
You probably already know that Blender 3D is an open source 3-dimensional modeling suite. It’s got a mountain of features, which include a framework for animating virtual objects. The camera rig was replicated inside of the software, and includes a skeleton that moves just like the real thing. You can make an animation of how the camera should move, then export and play back those motions on the physical hardware.
Now if you need help making 3D models of your hardware perhaps
you should try scanning them
. | 11 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1029452",
"author": "Geebles",
"timestamp": "2013-07-22T14:13:16",
"content": "Something like this would make it really easy to overlay 3D objects onto a real camera feed! I assume in professional levels they use a computer controlled camera so that the 3D artists have some data of ... | 1,760,376,504.958787 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/21/hackaday-links-sunday-july-21st-2013/ | Hackaday Links: Sunday, July 21st, 2013 | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"brainwaves",
"datasheet",
"oscilloscope",
"quadcopter",
"RPi",
"USB dongle"
] | Adafruit
tears down a set of brainwave cat ears
. They’re made by Necomimi and use your brain waves to adjust a pair of plush cat ears on the headgear.
If your desktop computer is sitting on the floor you may have damaged USB dongles by hitting them with your knees. [Megacier] prevents this from happening again by
building a flexible dongle link
.
Can anyone help [Brian Benchoff] find a datasheet for this
International Rectifier 92-O350
so he can fix up his old VT100 terminal?
Here’s a quick example of how to
graph data from a Raspberry Pi on the sen.se
cloud service.
Have some extra fun with your oscilloscope by displaying any image.
This set of conversions
starts with a picture and ends with an audio file that will draw it on the scope’s screen.
You’ve probably already heard that the Sikorsky Prize for human powered helicopter has been claimed. If you didn’t see any footage of the flight
now’s your chance
. [Thanks Adam] | 37 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1029232",
"author": "ColdTurkey",
"timestamp": "2013-07-21T23:39:23",
"content": "Is that an International Rectifier part or is it an old IOR Corporations part? If so then these guys might be worth approaching. Can’t seem to find any specific info although I was only looking for 5 m... | 1,760,376,504.907311 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/21/hardware-store-goods-and-an-mbed-combine-help-solar-panels-track-the-sun/ | Hardware Store Goods And An Mbed Combine Help Solar Panels Track The Sun | Mike Szczys | [
"green hacks"
] | [
"mbed",
"solar",
"solar power",
"solar tracking"
] | If you have the space, and can build a tracking rig cheaply you’ll be able to get a lot more out of your solar panels. That’s because they work best when the sun’s rays are hitting them perpendicular to the surface and not at an angle. [Michael Davis] hit both of those stipulations with
this mbed powered solar tracker
.
At a garage sale he picked up an antenna motor for just $15. The thing was very old, but still wrapped in the original plastic. It’s beefy enough to move his panels, but he first needed a way to mount everything. After checking his angles he built a base out of wood and used galvanized water pipe as an axle. Cable clamps mate his aluminum angle bracket frame to the pipe. This frame holds the panels securely.
To track the sun he used two smaller cells which aren’t easy to pick out in this image. They are monitored by the mbed microcontroller which measures their output in order to point the assembly in the direction which has the most intense light. A couple of limit switches are included to stop the assembly when it reaches either side.
This technique of using small solar cells as the tracking sensors seems to work well. Here’s
another project that took that approach
. | 23 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1029192",
"author": "0x4268726973",
"timestamp": "2013-07-21T20:59:40",
"content": "Just curious, have you done any checks on system efficiency? I’ve looked at projects that aim solar panels before, and they universally use more energy to aim the panels than they gain from aiming th... | 1,760,376,504.728356 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/21/how-the-mazes-were-generated-for-classic-berzerk-game/ | How The Mazes Were Generated For Classic Berzerk Game | Mike Szczys | [
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"atari",
"berserk",
"coin-op",
"mame",
"random"
] | This is a screenshot from the Atari 5200 version of the classic game
Berserk
. But the write-up we’re featuring actually looks at the original coin-op version. The maze for each level was established on the fly using a seed number fed into a rudimentary algorithm . Here’s a close look at
how the maze building code actually worked
.
Recently we saw
a talk by Pitfall creator
[David Crane] as part of our Retrotechtacular series. That is a real gem of programming history, and one of our favorite take-aways was that the levels were not hardcoded, but built using a random number generator algorithm with a hardcoded seed (so that the game was the same each time you played it). This uses a similar method but with a somewhat random seed.
The maze building was reverse engineered by observing the game in a MAME emulator, and by digging through disassembled code. Each time the code is “cold started” the seed starts out at zero, but from there the room number is used as the next seed. This is fed through a very simple algorithm. It generates directions for the walls, which use s few bit-wise operations to add the pillars inside the rooms.
It’s a great thing to study if you’re writing games for your embedded projects. By generating the room programmatically you don’t use up as much program memory. Of course these days even simple hobby controllers have way more storage to work with than [Alan McNeil] had when he designed
Berserk.
[via
Reddit
]
[
Image Source
] | 16 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1029176",
"author": "strider_mt2k",
"timestamp": "2013-07-21T19:45:48",
"content": "What a classic game!I sure phased a ton of it as a kid.INTRUDER ALERTINTRUDER ALERT-and so on.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1029188",
"au... | 1,760,376,505.01169 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/21/quadruple-backflip-and-sticks-the-landing/ | Quadruple Backflip And Sticks The Landing | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"backflip",
"gymnastics",
"high bar",
"somersalt"
] | This must have been a coding nightmare, and let’s not even mention the particulars of the mechanical build. The blurred ball near the center of this image is
a robot doing a quadruple backflip
before sticking the landing.
To the right is a high bar supported by a wood column and some guy-wires. At the beginning of the video below [Hinamitetu] hangs the robot from the bar where it starts its performance without any real motion. The servo motors whine as it gets ready; quickly getting up to speed with full revolutions around the bar. Oh how we wish there was more background info on the hardware! But we’re perfectly happy making our way through [Hinamitetu’s] video collection, which include other gymnastics disciplines like the floor routine. He even posted his own blooper reel that shows
the high bar isn’t always a rosy experience
.
If you’re thirsting for more amazing performances you won’t be disappointed by
this high wire act
.
[via
Robot Dreams
] | 24 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "1029028",
"author": "Erik",
"timestamp": "2013-07-21T13:33:08",
"content": "Love it, must be such a lot of work to model this in order to write the software.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1029029",
"author": "dwan",
"t... | 1,760,376,504.832503 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/20/well-thats-finally-over-with/ | Well That’s Finally Over With | Brian Benchoff | [
"News"
] | [
"hackaday for sale"
] | When the owner of the site
wanted to sell Hackaday
you guys wanted a Kickstarter to crowdfund the purchase and keep it in the community.
I obliged
and started
a crowdfunding campaign
. All things must pass, and I got an email from the owner, [Jason]:
Looks like a nice showing but we won’t hit even 100k
I guess we tried…. I have two solid offers from really cool folks. Will keep you posted.
Yes, that’s right, we’re finally done with the crowdfunding campaign. The end time for the campaign is now set for Monday at noon – you can’t actually delete Indiegogo campaigns – and I’m very, very doubtful it will be funded by then.
I have two words for those who supported Hackaday and this crowdfunding campaign: thank you. It’s astonishing we raised what we did without the infrastructure, licensed business, and non-profit status that would make Hackaday
really cool.
You guys believe in the future of Hackaday, and I’m very thankful for that.
As for the people who vomited vitriol against me in the comments of the crowdfunding announcement, I also have two words for you.
Even though the dream of a Hackaday owned by the community is dead now, I’m extremely confident we’ll find a better home for Hackaday that will allow us to keep moving forward and allow us to do some really cool things we’ve been thinking about for a while. I’ve spoken with a few of the possible future owners, and let me assure you
they’re cool people
. No, we won’t be doing grants for builds, but I assure you Hackaday will come out of this better than how it went in.
TL;DR: We didn’t quite get to the best of all possible universes, but things are going to be better than how they were before. Everything’s cool, don’t freak out. We’ll tell you stuff when we know more. | 150 | 47 | [
{
"comment_id": "1028814",
"author": "caleb kraft",
"timestamp": "2013-07-21T00:49:46",
"content": "I’ve talked with a couple of the interested parties. If Jason goes with the people I talked with, this will be an awesome step forward. Everyone will be happy with the decisions made.",
"parent_id... | 1,760,376,505.323456 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/18/hacking-quiz-game-buttons-to-add-a-central-controller/ | Hacking Quiz Game Buttons To Add A Central Controller | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"controller",
"quiz buzzer",
"quiz game"
] | The four colored buttons seen above are a product made by Learning Resources. They flash and make noise when pressed and are meant for quiz-show style games in the classroom. The problem is that they don’t use a central controller, so it’s up to the person running the game to judge who rang in first. [Kenny] fixed that issue by
building his own controller
which is housed in that black project box.
He went with an Arduino Uno board. It fits in the project box and has no problem monitoring all of the buttons and triggering their sound and lights when necessary. There are two telephone jacks (RJ11 connectors) on either side of the controller. He also cracked open each button, cutting some traces on the PCB in order to patch the signals into connectors he added to the housing.
The video after the break shows the system in action, In addition to illuminating the first button to ring in there are LEDs on the box that indicate who was 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in line.
If you don’t want to purchase buttons try
making your own with some cheap plastic bowls
. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1028067",
"author": "Mike Engeldinger",
"timestamp": "2013-07-18T15:06:10",
"content": "FWIW I just posted a 120V arduino light controller that looks a lot like this. It would be cool to combine both into a full up game show set!http://www.instructables.com/id/plugduino-Arduino-base... | 1,760,376,504.77313 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/17/cast-acrylic-and-wood-led-light/ | Cast Acrylic And Wood LED Light | Mike Szczys | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"lamp",
"light",
"vacuum forming"
] | The design for
this LED ring lamp
started off as a cross-section sketch. [Alex Jalland] envisioned a core that holds the parts and hides the circuitry, with two halves of a clear doughnut diffusing the light and covering everything up.
For the core itself he headed over to the lathe and turned a piece out of ash. He tooled the profile into one side, flipped it around to form the other, and finally cut the center out to form a ring. This may sound like a lot of work, but it pales in comparison to what went into the diffusers.
He cast the parts out of polyurethane resin. This required a mold which he made from scratch. The process used many materials, including a vacuum forming machine, a latex slug, and plaster to keep the thin mold from deforming when filled with resin.
The lamp provides a lot of light. But with this much work put into the enclosure we’d suggest going the extra mile to
make it an Equinox Clock clone
. | 25 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1027867",
"author": "Face",
"timestamp": "2013-07-17T23:06:47",
"content": "I do a lot of crazy LED stuff. This is really cool. Good Job!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "2401385",
"author": "Alexander",
"timest... | 1,760,376,504.612622 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/17/make-your-own-electronic-childrens-toys/ | Make Your Own Electronic Children’s Toys | Mike Szczys | [
"LED Hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"led strip",
"lithium",
"rgb",
"Teensy 3.0"
] | [Miria Grunick’s]
son
nephew is two years old. If you’ve ever looked at that age range in the toy aisle we sure you’ve noticed that there’s a mountain of cheap electronic stuff for sale. Manufactures are cramming LEDs and noise makers into just about all kids stuff these days. But [Miria] thought why not just make him something myself? She calls this
the Blinky Box
. It’s an acrylic enclosure stuffed with pretty LEDs that is controlled with a few buttons.
It’s driven by a Teensy 3 board which monitors a half dozen colorful buttons, a mode selector on the side, and an on/off switch. The device is powered by a Lithium battery that recharges via USB. And of course there’s a strip of individually addressable RGB LEDs inside.
The demo shows that one mode allows you to press a button color and have the LEDs change to it. But there are other features like fade and scroll. She also mentions that since it can be reprogrammed the toy can grow with hime. Maybe it’ll be
a Simon Says game
. But eventually she hopes he’ll use it to learn the basics of programming for himself. | 14 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1027842",
"author": "Bryan Baker (@XBrav)",
"timestamp": "2013-07-17T21:07:53",
"content": "When I was growing up, we had this great electronics game: Impossible Operation. It involved fingers and electrical outlets.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,376,505.374209 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/17/angular-teardrop-camper-includes-an-improvised-galley/ | Angular Teardrop Camper Includes An Improvised Galley | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"camper",
"teardrop"
] | This teardrop camper is more about the angles than it is the curves. That makes construction quite a bit easier. But it’s not only the shape that catches our eye. This one’s built to last and has some nice amenities like a built-in sound system and a galley in the rear storage area. The project is quite old, but a good hack like this one is really timeless.
Head on over to the Desert Dawg website for
a project overview
. This proves to be quite a different build than
the teardrop project from last week
. The frame of the trailer started it’s life hauling around a boat. The long nose was cut and the cross pieces welded in place to form the final footprint for the camper which is large enough for a queen sized mattress. In addition to comfortable sleeping, the kitchenette revealed when you lift the back hatch will make cooking on the go a breeze.
[Thanks Doug] | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "1038299",
"author": "Mystick",
"timestamp": "2013-08-07T09:24:02",
"content": "I’ve thought about doing something similar to this for our “camping adventures”… not as a sleeper-camper, but just something to make car camping a little friendlier… propane and charcoal grills, a fridge/... | 1,760,376,505.419055 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/17/robot-theater-isnt-so-much-for-the-actors-as-the-stagehands/ | Robot Theater Isn’t So Much For The Actors As The Stagehands | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"remote control",
"scenery",
"stage",
"theater"
] | [Chris Rybitski] developed this
low-profile robot to help move scenery on stage
. The test footage shows it to be spry and able to move hundreds of pounds of cargo. The demo shows the addition of a wooden platform about twice the length of the metal chassis with casters at each end to support the extra weight. It seems to have no problem moving around with the weight of a couple of human passengers on board.
Crafty systems for changing huge sets has long made the theater a natural breeding ground for hacks. Balanced turn tables, rails systems, and the like are common place. But we think this has a ton of potential. Right now the electronics seem convoluted, as there is an Arduino running the motors which connects to the LAN using an Ethernet shield and that Linksys wireless router.
We think he should patch directly into the serial port of the router. If he loads DD-WRT or OpenWRT he can easily make the remote control a web interface. We also wonder about the possibility of making it a line-follower that can precisely position itself automatically using patterns on the floor. | 24 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "1027808",
"author": "Chris C.",
"timestamp": "2013-07-17T19:13:40",
"content": "May be convoluted, but it sure gets the job done; not much else matters for a one-off creation.Though it’s not the case here, if you’re moving a lot of data between MCU and router, I prefer Ethernet conn... | 1,760,376,505.499187 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/17/water-heater-controller-automates-garage-doors/ | Water Heater Controller Automates Garage Doors | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"18f2321",
"garage door opener",
"pic",
"relay",
"water heater"
] | The black box mounted between two garage doors is actually a water heater controller. The entire assembly is a conglomeration of hacks which [Simon] added to his garage over the last four years. We’ll give you a quick rundown, but
the entire story is told in his blog post
.
Back when the house was built [Simon] was approached by the contractor who offered to throw in remote control for the garage door rollers for just 1500 Australian Dollars (about $1350 with today’s rates). That sounded quite steep to him. He managed to add his own remote control for about a third of the price. But there were a few missing features. Notably, a lack of a light that comes on when the doors open. He also didn’t like that the button inside the garage was on the motor, which is mounted quite high.
Years later his water heater controller needed a firmware upgrade from the manufacturer. Check this out: they replaced the entire controller rather than flashing the PIC 18F2321 inside. What a waste! But in this case [Simon] snagged the old unit, which included several mains rated relays. He connected one up to a light socket seen above, and outfitted several illuminated buttons on its original enclosure. Now he has the satisfaction of a light that comes on with when the door opens, and shuts itself off after a preset delay.
Now his daughter wants smartphone control. But that’s
as easy as hacking a Bluetooth headset
. | 17 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1027727",
"author": "Lloyd A",
"timestamp": "2013-07-17T13:06:45",
"content": "That’s certainly one way of doing a firmware upgrade…..",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1027731",
"author": "jimbob@gmail.com",
"timestamp": ... | 1,760,376,505.564957 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/16/atlas-humanoid-robot-standing-on-his-own/ | Atlas Humanoid Robot Standing On His Own | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"boston dynamics",
"darpa",
"darpa robotics challenge",
"humanoid"
] | Boston Dynamics likes to show off… which is good because we like to see the scary looking robots they come up with.
This is Atlas
, it’s the culmination of their humanoid robotics research. As part of the unveiling video they include a development process montage which is quite enjoyable to view.
You should remember the feature in October which showed the
Robot Ninja Warrior
doing the Spider Climb. That was the prototype for Atlas. It was impressive then, but has come a long way since. Atlas is the object of affection for the Darpa Robotics Challenge which seeks to drop a humanoid robot into an environment designed for people and have it perform a gauntlet of tasks. Research teams participating in the challenge are tasked with teaching Atlas how to succeed. Development will happen on a virtual representation of the robot, but to win the challenge you have to succeed with the real deal at the end of the year.
[Thanks Ferdinand via
Endandit
] | 34 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1027575",
"author": "Z00111111",
"timestamp": "2013-07-16T23:45:37",
"content": "That really is a terrifying robot!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1027723",
"author": "GotNoTime",
"timestamp": "2013-07-17T12:5... | 1,760,376,505.722236 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/19/embedded-dmx-controller-for-burning-man/ | Embedded DMX Controller For Burning Man | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"burning man",
"dmx",
"vixen"
] | This is the lighting controller [Paul Stoffregen] built for Burning Man. They wanted to go with DMX controlled lighting this year but that most often includes a computer to run the lighting sequences. This board
runs the preprogrammed DMX sequence using a hacked lighting design file
.
The choreography for the lighting was planned out using a program called Vixen 2. There is one newer version of the software, but [Paul] needed to translate the output file for use with a microcontroller and version 2 makes this a bit easier than version 3. Speaking of conversion, he didn’t want to start from square one and a bit of searching led to a tutorial which [Bill Porter] posted last year on
converting Vixen files for use with Arduino
. It wasn’t exactly what he had in mind, but most of the ground work was there.
A few code tweaks bent the script to [Paul’s] will. He changed the XML parsing function to ignore all but the main channels in the file. He also had it output a text file which can be stored on the SD card. Because the output is not being flashed to a chip this greatly increases the storage available paving the way for much longer and more complex shows.
Want to learn more about the protocol used by DMX equipment?
Check out this primer
. | 9 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1028530",
"author": "BillP",
"timestamp": "2013-07-19T21:21:30",
"content": "Here’s a good video demonstrating how using vixen for light sequences works:http://youtu.be/CX-EhtAiIHU?t=37s",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1028538",... | 1,760,376,505.837987 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/19/pixelbrite-is-an-led-wallcoffee-table-done-right/ | PixelBrite Is An LED Wall/coffee Table Done Right | Mike Szczys | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"daft punk table",
"led matrix",
"module",
"panel",
"WS2801"
] | The scope of this project is almost as jaw-dropping as the cost of the parts. [LeoneLabs] calls the project PixelBrite. It’s a highly-polished modular RGB LED panel system, and he’s not keeping it a secret. We think it’s reasonable to call
the build documentation
mammoth. If you’re a fan of fast-motion assembly videos he’s got you covered there as well.
It’s interesting to compare this build to some of
the Daft Punk tables from years back
. It shows how economies of scale in the hobby electronics industry have helped new and affordable products to emerge. For instance, this offering is a 10×10 grid which is outside of the normal 8 pixel wide orientation dictated by 8-bit microcontrollers. The reason for the change is that this doesn’t use a matrix built with point-to-point soldering. It uses a string of RGB pixels (WS2801).
The enclosure is also a thing of beauty. The dividers that make up each cell are laser cut foam board. This makes the joints very tight to prevent light from leaking into the next cell. The housing is acrylic held in place by an aluminum rail system. Need more than one panel? No problem, a single connector chains one panel to the next. But we
did
mentioned the cost of materials. Unassembled you can expect to drop over five hundred bones for the pleasure of seeing this thing blink. | 9 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1028495",
"author": "mike",
"timestamp": "2013-07-19T19:47:32",
"content": "Meh, cost. There were a few sourcing choices here that could have been improved (Adafruit vs eBay for the LED pixels cost almost twice as much as it could have; OSH Park would have done professional boards ... | 1,760,376,505.635447 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/19/npr-science-friday-roundup/ | NPR Science Friday Roundup | Mike Szczys | [
"Featured",
"Roundup"
] | [
"npr",
"science friday"
] | UPDATE: Listen to the segment
here
.
Did you know I’m going to be a guest on NPR Science Friday today? If this is the first you’re hearing about it you need to sign up for the mailing list (there’s a sign-up form in the right hand column of this page).
If you’ve already listened to the show and found your way here for the goods on the projects, don’t worry. We’ve got you covered. Join us after the break for project links and details.
The Living Nightlight
Bioluminescence is a fantastic subject for a Biology science project. The ability for a simple organism to produce light is very cool. But having a jar next to your bed full of the little creatures is even better. Check out [Caleb Kraft] in the video above to see how easy it is to maintain your own culture of Pyrocystis Fusiformis. A starter culture is inexpensive, easy to find, and non-toxic. You can experiment with exposure to different types of light during the day to achieve the best performance at night. And if you’re in it for the long haul you can keep the experiment going indefinitely. Learn more from
the original project posting
.
Water Bottle Rocket
[Lou Wozniak] who is known by many as [How To Lou] put together
this water bottle rocket project
. He used a garden hose on one side and an air compressor on the other but also shows how you could use a bike pump instead. The launcher itself is made of PVC, which provides the learning experience of seeing how the two valves work before assembly, as well as the “magic” of chemically welding PVC which takes just a few seconds to form a permanent bond. There’s plenty of room for trial and error with different mixes of water and air pressure. The realm of aerodynamics will be fun to explore by testing different bottle shapes and adding fins or a nose cone to the rocket. Here’s
our original feature
of the project.
Steam Engine Model
This is by far my favorite of all the possible science projects I’ve seen. It’s a model steam engine built by [Christian Hegenberger] for his second grade science project. His dad [Erich] tells us he talked him down from a much more difficult project.
It might sound like a very difficult undertaking, but
the project walk-through
breaks down each part so that no prior engineering know-how is necessary. If you’ve used a hot glue gun we’re sure you’ll be able to combine the drinking straws, coat hanger, cardboard, plastic water bottle, and a couple of balloons to make your own working steam engine model. We don’t think you even need to involve the kids… this will be just as fun as a grown-up experiment. Here’s our
original feature
, but don’t miss the video of it in action below:
Cooking Hack Bonus!
We heard that [Ira] was going to be discussing summer cooking hacks in the same episode. Here’s a couple of memorable ones. To the left is a solar oven whose
mirrors fold down for easy transport
. On the right is a cooking implement made from a satellite TV dish. The parabolic reflector has been covered with foil tape. It focuses light on the cast iron pot which is where the original receiver horn was located. This provides
more than enough heat to make a tasty baked potato
.
Follow Me
@szczys | 21 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "1028426",
"author": "Nick",
"timestamp": "2013-07-19T15:27:50",
"content": "WIth all your other posts, I feel that I should comment with the mockery you have. If your going to go through all the work to get on the radio, why not got the extra mile and go on tv?",
"parent_id": nu... | 1,760,376,505.79198 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/19/goal-zero-bolt-hack-let-your-flashlight-use-non-proprietary-batteries/ | Goal Zero Bolt Hack Lets Your Flashlight Use Non-proprietary Batteries | Mike Szczys | [
"green hacks"
] | [
"18650",
"lithium",
"rechargeable"
] | [Harrson] was really excited to get a deal on this Goal Zero Bolt flashlight. It’s and LED flashlight that uses Lithium batteries that are recharged via USB. That’s really handy. But when he cracked it open, like any good hacker does with new toys, he found that it won’t charge standard 18650 Lithium cells. That’s the form factor it’s using, but the proprietary cell that comes with it has both conductors at the top.
So where did [Harrson] start with the project? He called the company to ask about the setup. They were able to confirm that the proprietary cells just have a conductor which brings the bottom contact of the cell up to the top. We’d bet this is to make the flashlight itself easier to manufacture.
He got to work
by scavenging a flat Kapton covered conductor from an old laptop battery. This thin strip is manufactured for connecting the cells of a battery, and it’s quite flat so it will be able to bypass the 18650 cell housing inside of the battery compartment. He made a solder connection for the strip inside the recharging compartment, leaving a tail which makes contact with the base of a standard cell.
If you’ve ever cracked open a dead laptop battery you probably found
round Lithium cells
. These are
most commonly the 18650 variant
we’ve been talking about. The battery dies when just one cell goes bad, so [Harrson] has a supplies of the good cells which he’ll be able to substitute into his flashlight as needed. | 21 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1028364",
"author": "ejonesss",
"timestamp": "2013-07-19T13:15:11",
"content": "that design is ver dangerous because if something came across the contacts on the top of the battery then it could cause the battery to overheat and start a fire or even blow up.",
"parent_id": null,... | 1,760,376,506.66271 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/18/magnetic-panning-time-lapse-camera-mount-couldnt-be-easier/ | Magnetic Panning Time-lapse Camera Mount Couldn’t Be Easier | Mike Szczys | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"egg timer",
"GoPro",
"panning"
] | [Jeremy Cook] is getting in on the panning time-lapse craze with his offering for
a camera mount that pans automatically
. In this case he’s using a GoPro camera, but since the camera connects using a
1/2
1/4 – 20 bolt it will work with any camera that has a standard threaded tripod mounting bracket.
The base of the rig is an egg timer he picked up for about eight dollars. It’s magnetic so that you can stick it to your refrigerator, but has enough gripping power to hold the camera upside down. The image above shows it stuck to his garage door opener housing. A PVC cap makes up the black part. Before painting it (with truck bed liner so that it’s a bit grippy) he used his lathe to remove the flat areas from the sides, and to cut it in half. He then drilled and threaded a hole in the center to accept the bold for the camera. The cap was super glued to the egg timer, which happens to have a window on the side so that you know how long you’re setting it for.
This is an easy alternative for those that don’t have the resources to make
a 3D printed egg timer mount
. The lathe step is not necessary, but since [Jeremy] had one he used it. It does make the final product look quite a bit nicer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWTBHom_9XQ | 28 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1028192",
"author": "Chris Muncy",
"timestamp": "2013-07-18T21:08:36",
"content": "Mike, that should read “1/4 -20 bolt”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1028195",
"author": "Elias",
"timestamp": "2013-07-18T21:... | 1,760,376,505.949864 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/18/is-a-lego-3d-printer-by-definition-self-replicating/ | Is A LEGO 3D Printer By Definition Self-replicating? | Mike Szczys | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"extruder",
"hot glue",
"lego"
] | LEGO parts are plastic. 3D printers make parts out of plastic. So the transitive property tells us that a LEGO 3D printer should be able to recreate itself. This one’s not quite there yet, mostly because it doesn’t use plastic filament as a printing medium. Look close and you’ll probably recognize that extruder as the tip of a hot glue gun. If all else fails you can use the machine as a precision hot glue applicator.
The instructions to make your own
version include the design reference and a few ideas for getting the most out of the glue dispenser. For the design phase [Matstermind] used LEGO Digital Designer. It’s basically CAD with the entire library of LEGO parts available as building blocks. from there he assembled the machine which is controlled by an NXT brick. He goes on to link to a few different printing mediums. There’s instructions for using crayons to make colored glue sticks, as well as a method of printing in sugar using the hot glue extruder.
We remember seeing
one other LEGO 3D printer
. That one didn’t use an extruder either. It placed blocks based on the design to be printed.
[Thanks Bryson via
Prosthetic Knowledge
] | 35 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "1028145",
"author": "Moritz U. (@the_kenny)",
"timestamp": "2013-07-18T19:21:50",
"content": "The accuracy of lego is entirely unusable for exact (read <1mm precision, which EVERY printer easily handles) 3d printing. Just see how the bed wobbles when moving.",
"parent_id": null,... | 1,760,376,506.026635 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/18/wireless-toilet-occupancy-sensor/ | Wireless Toilet Occupancy Sensor | Mike Szczys | [
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"bathroom",
"indicator",
"occupied",
"restroom"
] | It’s a bit awkward for all parties involved if someone is waiting right outside the bathroom door. This system helps to alleviate that issue by
letting the next user know when the loo is available
. [Akiba] has been working with the folks at Loftworks, a design company in Tokyo, to get the status beacons seen above up and running.
The staff is mostly women and there is just one single stall women’s toilet on each of the three floors. The boxes above represent the three stalls, using colored light to indicate if a bathroom is available or in use. Detection is based on a PIR motion sensor in each stall. They communicate back with the display units wirelessly, which initially presented quite a problem. The doors on the bathroom are steel, and when closed they effectively block communications. The 900 MHz radios used in the system are on the 802.15.4 protocol. But they can be set a couple of different ways by moving resistors. Each came configured for the fasted data throughput, but that’s not really necessary. By changing to a slower configuration [Akiba] was able to fix the communications problems.
We remember seeing
a similar bathroom indicator in a links post
some time ago. | 28 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "1028105",
"author": "dALE",
"timestamp": "2013-07-18T17:06:08",
"content": "Wouldnt it be easier to just use some old cctv equipment so you can see if the stall is occupied?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1028111",
"a... | 1,760,376,506.35011 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/16/how-can-the-net-amount-of-entropy-of-the-universe-be-massively-increased/ | How Can The Net Amount Of Entropy Of The Universe Be Massively Increased? | Brian Benchoff | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"energy",
"perpetual motion",
"rube goldberg",
"useless box"
] | The greatest – and last – question that will ever be asked is, “How can the net amount of entropy of the universe be massively decreased”. It follows then, that the worst – and possibly first – question ever asked is, “How can the net amount of entropy of the universe be massively
increased
?”
While for the former question there’s insufficient data for a meaningful answer,
we’ve found the answer to the latter question
. It’s a machine designed to waste energy, and the exact opposite of a perpetual motion machine.
The machine is set up along two stories of a building, with cables, pulleys, and levers constantly pressing an elevator button. The device is powered by the elevator doors opening, so when the elevator opens of the first floor, the part of the machine on the second story calls the elevator. This repeats ad infinitum.
Wait. It gets better. Inside the elevator car, there’s a modified printing calculator also powered by the elevator doors. Every time the doors open, it calculates the amount of energy consumed for each cycle of the elevator. It’s a hydraulic elevator without a countersink, so moving down is effectively free, but each cycle of the elevator still uses up 11.8 Kilojoules of the universe’s energy. To make the build a complete waste of resources, the printing calculator neatly empties it’s printed tape into a wastepaper bin.
We’re tempted to call this a [Rube Goldberg] machine, but that doesn’t seem to fit this machine that does absolutely nothing. Calling it a useless box is more fitting, but this is far, far more impressive than a box that turns itself off. Whatever it is, you can see a video of it in action below.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VARUtWxDg_g&w=580] | 74 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "1027516",
"author": "macona",
"timestamp": "2013-07-16T21:39:39",
"content": "“but each cycle of the elevator still uses up 11.8 Kilojoules of the universe’s energy.”Really? Uses up? Energy cannot be created or destroyed.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,376,506.507278 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/16/simple-bookends-wear-blemishes-with-pride/ | Simple Bookends Wear Blemishes With Pride | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"book shelf",
"bookcase",
"bookends"
] | We have very few books hanging around the house which makes this small attractive assembly quite enticing. It was built by [Eric Whyne] who wanted to make sure the casual observer didn’t think it was store-bought. In choosing wood he tried to find a couple of show pieces with visually appealing flaws like the broken out knot seen on the bookend.
In addition to the blemish, he chose joinery techniques that would show off craftsmanship not generally found on mass-produced goods. And
we’d say he succeeded
. The rails attach to the end pieces using a mortise and tenon joint with a wedge to hold things tight. It’s similar to how an ax handle is mated with the blade. The mortise gets a bit of a flair, and a slot cut in the tenon is forced to grip that flair using a small wooden wedge. Here’s
an in-depth description
of this type of joint.
We just have to mention that we endorse his reading selection.
Snow Crash
and
Burning Chrome
are among our favorite novels. | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "1038298",
"author": "ejonesss",
"timestamp": "2013-07-20T20:36:59",
"content": "not a bad way to use wood that is in the rejects bin of local lumber yard",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,376,506.176043 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/16/hdtv-antenna-of-a-different-color/ | HDTV Antenna Of A Different Color | Mike Szczys | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"antenna",
"foil",
"OTA",
"television",
"tv"
] | We’ve seen our share of commercially available HDTV antennas that work really poorly. For at least four years now we’ve gone without cable television, using a coat hanger antenna we made ourselves to record over-the-air broadcasts. But it’s a pretty ugly beast — we’re lucky enough to have an attic in which it can be hidden. If you’re in need of free television and don’t want an eyesore of a an antenna
try building this foil and cardboard
version. Even it if doesn’t work at all you’re only out about ten bucks.
The expensive part is the matching transformer which converts screw terminals to a coaxial cable connection so that it may be connected to your HDTV. You’ll need a few nuts and bolts, but we assume you can beg, borrow, or steal the tin foil, cardboard, and glue that round out the parts list. Glue, measure, cut, fold, fasten, finished! You’ll be watching horrible summer TV in no time!
If it doesn’t perform as expected just reuse that connector and
try your luck with a fractal antenna
. | 15 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1027511",
"author": "brock",
"timestamp": "2013-07-16T21:09:17",
"content": "I created my antenna with a piece of coat hanger. I took two pieces, stuck one in the center of a male/female converter, bent it at a 90 degree angle, and wrapped the other one around the outside of the con... | 1,760,376,506.398564 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/16/retrotechtacular-vintage-computer-museum-playlist/ | Retrotechtacular: Vintage Computer Museum Playlist | Mike Szczys | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"museum",
"retrotechtacular",
"scelbi"
] | Have you ever seen one of these SCELBI 8B computers? This is one of the first hobby computer kits which were sold starting in 1974.
This is just one of the many pieces of
vintage computing hardware shown off in this playlist
(the SCELBI is the fifth video). The collection is part of the Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum. [Dave Larsen], the curator of the collection, has been accumulating historic and often rare hardware for decades. More recently he’s been making video documentaries of the pieces and posting them for your enjoyment.
We love museums, but this is something different. [Dave’s] videos walk us through each exhibit, often filling in the story with anecdotes and insight from his own personal experience. It’s like a school field trip to the museum for those of us who can’t get enough of the moldy oldies.
We remember seeing at least one cool hack that used the 8008 processor also found in the computer pictured above. It was
a clock built from a similar system
. | 6 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1027504",
"author": "madeofsolder",
"timestamp": "2013-07-16T20:39:51",
"content": "That reminds me, I have an 8008 CPU that I need to do something with. As of right now though, I’m still waiting for my custom PCBs for my home made 8085 based computer to come in the mail.",
"par... | 1,760,376,506.705138 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/16/prosthetic-spines-become-musical-instruments/ | Prosthetic Spines Become Musical Instruments | Brian Benchoff | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"accelerometer",
"gyroscope",
"IMU",
"prosthetic"
] | [Joseph] and [Ian] have been working on a project that
turns physical objects
into bendable, snake-like controllers
This build is the culmination of an earlier project that
digitally modeled a flexible object
with accelerometers, gyroscopes, and IMUs. When we first saw this build, we wondered what it could actually be used for, but it seems [Joseph] and [Ian] came up with a pretty cool use for it: turning prosthetic spines and ribs into musical instruments.
These flexible devices are loaded up with sensors along their joints and are connected to a microcontroller with a Zigbee radio transceiver. The positioning data from these devices is transmitted to a computer where it’s turned into audio, effectively turning a dancer into a musical instrument.
For an art piece, it’s pretty cool, but as a new means of interacting with a computer, we’re thinking this might be a game changer. Imagine a gauntlet loaded up with IMUs being turned into
a waldo
, or precisely controlling virtual objects naturally with your hand. | 4 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "1027671",
"author": "Jonathan Wilson",
"timestamp": "2013-07-17T09:09:44",
"content": "I dont know why but the first thing I thought of when I saw that picture was Doctor Octopus from Spiderman…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": ... | 1,760,376,506.548301 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/16/thermocouple-vacuum-gauge-teardown/ | Thermocouple Vacuum Gauge Teardown | Mike Szczys | [
"Teardown",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"thermocouple",
"vacuum"
] | We don’t know how [Ben Krasnow] gets his hands on so much cool hardware. This time around is a bit of vintage tech:
a thermocouple vacuum gauge
.
The part seen above, and represented in the schematic, is the sensor side of things. This is interesting enough by itself. It has an air chamber with an electric heater element in it. When air is present it dissipates the heat, when under vacuum the heat builds and causes the thermocouple to generate some voltage on its connections.
Keep watching his presentation and things get a lot more interesting. The original unit used to measure the sensor is a throwback to the days when everything had sharp corners and if you were running with scissors you’d eventually teach
yourself
why that’s not such a good idea. The designers were rather cavalier with the presence of mains voltage, as it is barely separated from connections grounding the case itself.
Want to see some of the other cool equipment he’s got on hand? How about a
CT scanner he built
. | 20 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1027385",
"author": "geekmaster",
"timestamp": "2013-07-16T13:30:33",
"content": "“running with scissors” … “mains voltage”. Yeah, but less obvious is a “TV cheater cords”, where you learn that when you hand meets high voltage, it jerks at high velocity directly into the sharpest im... | 1,760,376,506.60302 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/16/fpv-drones-with-an-oculus-rift/ | FPV Drones With An Oculus Rift | Brian Benchoff | [
"drone hacks"
] | [
"drone",
"FPV",
"oculus rift"
] | It was only a matter of time, and now someone’s finally done it. The Oculus Rift is now being used for
first person view aerial photography
. It’s the closest you’ll get to being in a pilot’s seat while still standing on the ground.
[Torkel] is the CEO of Intuitive Aerial, makers of the huge
Black Armor Drone
, a hexacopter designed for aerial photography. With the Rift FPV rig, the drone carries a huge payload into the air consisting of two cameras, a laptop and a whole host of batteries. The video from the pair of cameras is encoded on the laptop, sent to the base station via WiFi, and displayed on the Oculus Rift.
Latency times are on the order of about 120 ms, fairly long, but still very usable for FPV flight. [Torkel] and his team are working on a new iteration of the hardware, where they hope to reduce the payload mass, increase the range of transmission, and upgrade the cameras and lenses.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoXSfpkUEm0&w=580]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRKoUeqTsK8&w=580] | 21 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "1027348",
"author": "Goebish (@goebish)",
"timestamp": "2013-07-16T11:11:14",
"content": "Nice, but 120ms is a loooooong time for fast FPV action, I got rid of my gopro in my FPV rig because of the lag on the A/V output which is shorter than that.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth... | 1,760,376,506.76041 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/15/msp430-alarm-clock-project/ | MSP430 Alarm Clock Project | Mike Szczys | [
"News"
] | [
"alarm clock",
"LiFePO4",
"msp430",
"msp430g2452"
] | [Markus] turn his breadboard LED matrix tinkering into
an alarm clock which wakes him each morning
.
Don’t be fooled by how clean his assembly work is. That’s not a fabbed PCB, it’s a hunk of green protoboard which a lot of point-to-point soldering on the back side. It’s driven by the MSP430 G2452 which is oriented vertically in this image. The two horizonal ICs are 595 shift registers which drive the LED modules.
We already mentioned the cleanliness of his assembly, but there’s one other really cool design element. On the back of the unit is what looks like a battery holder for two AA cells. He’s using just one Lithium Iron Phosphate battery (3.2V) which is in the upper of the two cavities. This let him cut the lower part of the holder at an angle to act as a stand for the clock.
Don’t miss the video which walks us through the user interface. It has what you’d expect from an alarm clock. But there is a really bright white LED which mimics a sunrise clock and it does more than just buzz one note when the thing goes off. | 17 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1027199",
"author": "iamnoskcaj",
"timestamp": "2013-07-15T23:10:10",
"content": "Uh-may-zing! I want one so bad!’",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1027200",
"author": "Lloyd A",
"timestamp": "2013-07-15T23:14:12",
"c... | 1,760,376,506.817059 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/15/plastic-bottles-funnel-rain-in-rain-barrels/ | Plastic Bottles Funnel Rain Into Rain Barrels | Mike Szczys | [
"green hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"plastic bottle",
"rain barrel",
"water bottle"
] | This is [Wombling’s] no-cost solution to
getting rain from his gutters into a rain barrel
. It is literally just a bunch of plastic water bottles chained together. At one end he uses the original cap with some holes punched in it as a sieve.
We like the concept, but find the execution a bit dubious. In heavy rain the holes in the cap will not be able to keep up and we figure your gutters are going to overflow. That may be okay depending on the grade of your landscaping, but those who value keeping their basement dry should avoid this route.
Just a bit of improvement could change all that though. We suggest making the rain barrel the sieve. Add a bowl shape to the lid with a large piece of screen in the bottom to filter out debris. Then form some type of spout on the front side of the lid to channel overflow away from the house.
The amount of waste generated by bottled water has always troubled us, which is part of the reason we featured this. We also liked seeing those
plastic bottle skylights
, and could swear we featured a floating plastic bottle island built in the ocean but couldn’t find the link. If you know what we’re talking about leave the goods in the comments section. | 33 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "1027125",
"author": "benmwv",
"timestamp": "2013-07-15T21:11:06",
"content": "I read about the plastic bottle floating island in a popular science magazine maybe 2 years ago. That might be what you remember it from.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
... | 1,760,376,507.981952 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/15/copper-kettle-just-for-the-hipster-coffee-scene/ | Copper Kettle Just For The Hipster Coffee Scene | Mike Szczys | [
"cooking hacks"
] | [
"coffee",
"copper",
"kettle"
] | Handmade coffee is a feature we need to write. But for now we present this copper kettle which is designed to pour out the boiling water very slowly in order to achieve the perfect cup of slow-drip java.
[CHS] made the kettle for his friend [Nate].
The entire process
starts off with an arc of flat copper sheet which makes a slightly conical cylinder when curved until the two ends meet. Getting a water tight seal on this seam is imperative and it took four or five tries to reach perfection.
To get the kettle in shape [CHS] improvised a mandrel out of a thin slice of railroad track. After polishing it smooth it goes on the inside of the copper and gives him something to hammer against. We think this step is magic… It’s kind of like the old sculpting adage that you remove everything that
isn’t
what you’re trying to end up with. The beauty of the piece really pops out as the final curves are hammered into the work. | 9 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1038291",
"author": "wretch",
"timestamp": "2013-07-15T20:14:14",
"content": "Nice kettle and all, but I’m actually more interested in the slice of train track he used as an anvil. (c:Looks like there are some out on eBay; anybody knows where else I can get this from?",
"parent... | 1,760,376,506.961545 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/15/filtering-out-mains-hum-from-adc-samples/ | Filtering Out Mains Hum From ADC Samples | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"FPGA"
] | [
"adc",
"dsp",
"mains hum"
] | A little light reading means something different to us than it does to [Hamster]. He’s been making his way through a book called
The Scientist and Engineer’s Guide to Digital Signal Processing
written by [Steven W. Smith, Ph.D]. Being the hacker type, a million different uses for the newfound knowledge popped to mind. But as a sanity check he decided to focus on a useful proof of concept first. He’s come up with a way to
filter out the mains hum from Analog to Digital Converter samples
.
Mains hum
is all around us; produced by the alternating current in the power grid that runs our modern lives. It’s a type of interference that can be quite problematic, which is on reason why we see
EMF sensor projects
from time to time. Now you can filter that ambient interference from your projects which take readings from an ADC. This would be quite useful for applications which measuring teeny signals, like
ECG hacks
.
[Hamster] did a pretty good job of presenting his demonstration for the uninitiated. He even provides examples for Arduino or FPGA projects. | 19 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1027081",
"author": "Arlet",
"timestamp": "2013-07-15T19:48:07",
"content": "You can also buy ADCs with built-in 50/60Hz filters. I often use the AD7792, especially for interfacing RTDs and thermocouples.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"com... | 1,760,376,507.116235 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/15/fluorescent-light-powered-by-battery/ | Fluorescent Light, Powered By Battery | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"compact fluorescent",
"joule thief"
] | If you’re going camping this summer, or just want a cheap emergency lantern powered by a pair of AA batteries, you probably can’t do much better than [rimstar]’s
Joule thief compact florescent lantern
.
The circuit for [rimstar]’s battery powered CFL bulb is a
Joule thief
. While these circuits are usually used as a demonstration to get every last bit of energy out of a battery with a LED, [rimstar] upgraded everything with a better transformer and a power transistor to light up a CFL bulb.
What’s really interesting about this build is it provides a use for blown compact fluorescent bulbs. The normal failure mode of these light bulbs is usually the electronics going bad, not the tube. By replacing the electronics with a homemade circuit, it’s an easy way to reuse these broken bulbs.
Video below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkLET8MhRbU&w=580]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yz_99oVMbSI&w=520] | 42 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "1026982",
"author": "Ricksl",
"timestamp": "2013-07-15T17:05:29",
"content": "I remember when I liked toying around with high voltage things of this sort (joule thief, slayer exciter). It got boring when I realized that it’s practicality ended at lighting things up.",
"parent_id... | 1,760,376,507.198913 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/15/a-robotic-tattoo-artist/ | A Robotic Tattoo Artist | Brian Benchoff | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"tattoo",
"tattoo artist"
] | Here’s something we thought we’d never see:
a robot that turns a computer drawing into a tattoo
on the user’s arm.
The basic design
of the robot is a frame that moves linearly along two axes, and rotates around a third. The tattoo design is imported into a 3D modeling program, and with the help of a few motors and microcontrollers a tattoo can be robotically inked on an arm.
Since the arm isn’t a regular surface, [Luke] needed a way to calibrate his forearm-drawing robot to the weird curves and bends of his ar.
The solution to this problem
is a simple calibration process where the mechanism scans along the length of [Luke]’s arm, while the ‘depth’ servo is manually adjusted. This data is imported into Rhino 3D and the robot takes the curve of the arm into account when inking the new tat.
Right now [Luke] is only inking his skin with a marker, but as far as automated tattoo machines go, it’s the best – and only – one we’ve ever seen. | 32 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "1026919",
"author": "Troy",
"timestamp": "2013-07-15T15:22:37",
"content": "Ever think of using a dead pig as a test? A pig’s skin is similar to humans. Good way of testing to see if the robot is doing the job well. Just don’t try to fry up that bacon afterwards.",
"parent_id": ... | 1,760,376,507.547562 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/15/fun-with-led-matrix-and-mouse/ | Fun With LED Matrix And Mouse | Mike Szczys | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"bouncing ball",
"mouse",
"physics",
"ps2"
] | [Brad] just acquired a 32×32 RGB LED matrix and he jumped right into the deep end with his first project. To try out his skills on the device he used an Arduino to
drive a slew of pixels with bouncing-ball physics
.
The demo starts off with a hail storm of multi-colored falling pixels. In the center of the storm is the cursor, which he controls with a PS2 mouse. That happens to be a ball mouse which makes sense as we don’t remember having seen any optical mice as of late that weren’t USB. The PS2 protocol is easy to read using a microcontroller; more about that in [Brad’s] project write up.
By holding down the left mouse button he can draw persistent pixels on the screen. The falling balls then interact by bouncing off of the obstacles. The image above shows a frame on three sides of the screen which has trapped the pixels near the bottom. He can also erase pixels, which has the effect of draining the trapped balls like a hole in a bucket of water. Neat!
Bouncing ball physics are fun to experiment with. Here’s one being
driven by an analog computer
. | 6 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1026808",
"author": "oodain",
"timestamp": "2013-07-15T13:17:02",
"content": "very neat and clean,the “physics” arent as advanced as falling sand games but the concept and challenge of it is absolutely amazing.to me the most interesting was the brief hint at the requirements for run... | 1,760,376,507.251498 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/15/were-going-to-buy-hackaday/ | Turning Hackaday Into A Virtual Hackerspace | Brian Benchoff | [
"Featured",
"News"
] | [
"hackaday for sale"
] | The owner of Hackaday, [Jason Calacanis],
wants to sell this site
. The editors and contributors of Hackaday want to buy it and turn it into a nonprofit.
You can help!
Here’s
a really nice Powerpoint
going over what we’re going to do while making Hackaday the best it can be.
Here’s the skinny: if this campaign is funded, the writers and editors of Hackaday will keep doing what we’re doing. If we’re successful, we’re going to write up more hacks than we are right now, hosting an awesome community, and expanding our custom builds. You know how [Caleb]
built Thor’s Hammer
? If we’re funded, we’ll be doing more stuff like that, only with a bigger budget. It will be awesome.
But wait, there’s more!
The community is going to be the main focus from here on out. We’ll visit hackerspaces, do proper interviews, hold contests, and coming up with some giveaways. We might even do a few hackerspace/builder grants; sometimes we see a really cool build that’s constrained by custom or handmade parts (
this spray etcher comes to mind
) that need a shot in the arm and a little bit of funding to bring them into the ‘buildable by everyone’ level.
[dynotronix] in the comments suggested we do a Hackaday scholarship. That’s an awesome idea. At the very least we’ll buy some O Chem textbooks for students. They’re taking O Chem anyway, and having to buy the book is just rubbing salt in the wound.
But wait, there’s problems!
Half a million dollars is
a lot
of money. A ton. You know when you see the ‘briefcase with a million dollars’ in movies and TV shows? That briefcase couldn’t hold a million dollars. It would probably be something like $200 – $300k. We’re going to need a lot of help from the Hackaday community.
It’s been suggested many, many times that we offer some sort of equity or shares in Hackaday. This is illegal, and even though white collar prison
seems
cushy, we’d prefer to keep things above board here. In any event, this is exactly the problem we’re facing right now – the possibility of an unknown business having undue influence over Hackaday. Too many cooks, or something like that.. We’d like to keep this in the family, with the same content (but expanded), and the independence to do what Hackaday should.
[Jason] did offer a revenue-sharing plan for the community to buy Hackaday, something along the lines of $300,000 up front, and $10k a month for 30 months. We don’t want to do that. That would actually decrease the revenue available to the writers and editors for two and a half years. Yes, with this plan, the community would ‘own’ Hackaday, but it would be worse – no projects, no really cool stuff – for a fairly long time. We want to hit the ground running.
In the interest of fairness…
This is not the only ‘lets crowdfund Hackaday’ project out there. [Logan Collins] and [Brett Diedrich]
have their own Indiegogo campaign running.
Edit: never mind, they shut theirs down.
If the Hackaday community doesn’t like this Indiegogo campaign, I encourage you to start your own. This is a community driven site, and we’ll be more than happy to support anyone who comes up with a better crowdfunding campaign.
And that’s all she wrote
So there you go. We’re crowdfunding Hackaday so we can be independant forever and do really cool stuff. The owner of this site has assured me he’s on board with this plan.
This post is going to be stickied for the duration of the campaign, so if you have any questions, ask them in the comments. I’ll update this post with an FAQ shortly.
The FAQ:
So who would actually own it? / If the funding is successful, who will really own the company? / Can you comment on who inherits this asset?/ What will happen in 2 or 3 years if you want to leave?
We’ll be setting up an LLC with the current writers and editors as the managers. Then we’ll go for non-profit 501(c)(3) status. If
I
die or leave in two or three years, Hackaday will still have other editors and writers.
Here’s the best reason
why setting up an LLC is the best option.
It has been brought to our attention an
L3C
might be better than an LLC. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
What about shares / equity / No ownership of stock = no donation.
This is what we’re trying to get away from. Right now, the revenue from Hackaday is being used for other unrelated startups. We already have too many owners, and some weird dividend or sharing scheme would only keep us (financially) where we are now. This is publishing. Think of it as a subscription. Donate a buck or two and keep enjoying Hackaday as it is, but cooler.
For everyone who wants ownership of Hackaday,
read this comment
.
If that doesn’t convince you,
it’s also illegal
.
If this is funded, what’s stopping you from buying Hackaday, then selling it and keeping the money?
With non-profit status, this would require the agreement of
all
the writers and editors of Hackaday. That’s simply not going to happen.
The same could also be said if Jason sells to someone else. At least with this plan there’s
some
accountability.
Now go contribute! | 434 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "1026786",
"author": "ColdTurkey",
"timestamp": "2013-07-15T12:47:07",
"content": "Erm, so what happens if you don’t raise them money?!?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1026788",
"author": "ColdTurkey",
"timesta... | 1,760,376,507.866311 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/15/massimo-talks-about-arduino-clones/ | [Massimo] Talks About Arduino Clones | Brian Benchoff | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"arduino compatable",
"FLORA",
"massimo banzi",
"Teensy"
] | Back in 2005, the Arduino was just a twinkle in they eyes of [Massimo Banzi] and the other core developers. Since then, you can’t go to any electronics site without hitting something beginning with ‘ard~’ or ending with ‘~duino’. The platform has become so popular, people everywhere are piggybacking on the name to the point of trademark infringement or simply outright counterfeiting one of the many official Arduino boards. Now [Massimo]
has something to say
about these clones, ripoffs, derivatives, and ‘duino-compatible boards.
On the list of things bad for the open source ecosystem, [Massimo] points to direct clones of existing Arduino boards. While these boards are electrically identical to officially licensed boards, they simply don’t support the Arduino project financially and usually don’t contribute to the existing libraries and code. Even worse are counterfeits; these boards copy the trademarks of the Arduino project – sometimes terribly given the three examples above (guess which one is the real one) – and directly profit off of the Arduino project without giving any support in return.
There are other veins of Arduino that [Massimo] considers more acceptable. Arduino-compatible boards,
seen by the dozen over on Kickstarter
, usually add something of their own, be it a radio chip, or an entirely different microcontroller. Derivatives, like
Teensy
and Adafruit’s
Flora
actually bring new things to the table with improved hardware and new and interesting libraries.
As far as counterfeits and clones go, we can’t agree more with what [Massimo] has to say. You have to admire the folks in the Arduino project being so open about their creations and admiring the Arduino derivatives that bring some new hardware to the table. Then again, that’s the lesson of the Arduino project; you can make hardware open source and still be outrageously popular. | 60 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1026759",
"author": "EccentricElectron",
"timestamp": "2013-07-15T11:08:19",
"content": "I am a bit baffled by this – if your existing licence is being abused, surely you change the terms so that derivative works are supported but clones are not permitted?",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,376,507.481406 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/14/hackaday-links-sunday-july-14th-2013/ | Hackaday Links: Sunday, July 14th, 2013 | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"bunnie",
"claw game",
"computational photography",
"controller project",
"n64",
"nes",
"security camera"
] | Wanting to repair his much-used NES controllers [Michael Moffitt] sourced a replacement for the rubber button pads. They didn’t work all that well but he fixed that by
using angle clippers on the part that contacts the PCB traces
.
Here’s a neat
Claw Game project show-and-tell
video. [Thanks David]
We already know that
[Bunnie] is building a laptop
. Here’s
an update on the project
.
Hackaday alum [Caleb Kraft] continues his helpful hacking by
adding an alternative to clicking an Xbox 360 stick
.
[Blackbird] added a camera to the entry door of his house. He didn’t want to forget to shut it off (wasting power) so
he built an automatic shutoff
.
We’re not really sure what
this computational photography
project is all about. It takes pictures with the subject illuminated in different colors then combines individual color channels with a MATLAB script.
Finally, [Dave Jones]
tears down a Nintendo 64 console
on a recent EEVblog episode. | 8 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1026631",
"author": "junkbox",
"timestamp": "2013-07-14T23:44:12",
"content": "Okay, so, Dave Jones tears down tons of interesting equipment, but an N64 is more noteworthy?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1026652",
"author":... | 1,760,376,507.297056 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/14/shifting-gears-on-your-pig-roasting-spit/ | Shifting Gears On Your Pig Roasting Spit | Mike Szczys | [
"cooking hacks"
] | [
"bicycle",
"gear",
"pig",
"roast",
"spit",
"windshield wipers"
] | [Tim] and [Jon] have a hankering for some pork product of their own making. Your average residential kitchen is ill-equipped to handle an entire pig, so they got down to business
building this pig spit out of old bicycle parts
.
The main components in the project are two stands built out of square tube which go on either side of the cooking fire (coal bed?). They include bearings to support a horizontal bar on which a pig carcass is somehow mounted. The whole point of a spit is to turn it while cooking, and that’s where the gear system comes in. The front crank from a bicycle was welded onto the spit, with one pedal still in place. This way if the motorized system breaks down they can still turn the thing by hand.
The crank connects to the cogs with one chain, while the other chain connects the cogs to a windshield wiper motor. When connected to the specified 12V it turns around 6 rpm; close but a bit too fast. After some trial and error they found a 5V supply turns it at the optimal 2 rpm.
We wonder if you can put a whole pig in
a meat smoker
?
[via
Reddit
] | 23 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1026593",
"author": "timneo",
"timestamp": "2013-07-14T21:41:06",
"content": "Hi! Maker here… The hog roaster is being made for my 31st birthday. I’ve not put in the diagonal supports or the charcoal pits yet – they’ll be base from steel barrels either side of the pig, with a tray t... | 1,760,376,507.611093 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/14/flying-with-a-little-help-from-friends/ | Flying With A Little Help From Friends | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"array",
"distributed flight",
"quadcopter"
] | A single cell of this
distributed flight system
can spin its propeller but it comes at the cost of the chassis flying out of control. To realize any type of stable flight it must seek a partnership with other cells. The more astute reader will be wondering how it can autonomously pair if incapable of controlled solo flight? The designers of the project thought of that, and gave each frame a way to propel itself on the ground.
Along the bottom rails of each cage there are several small knobby wheels. These seem to function similar to omniwheels since they are not aligned in parallel to each other. Pairing is accomplished mechanically by magnets, also helping to align the pogo-pins which connect the cells electronically.
Flight tests are shown in the video below. The array can be oriented in symmetrical or asymmetrical patterns and still work just fine. If they have 3D camera feedback they can hold position and navigate quite accurately. But this can also be piloted by remote control in the absence of such a feedback system.
[Thanks Mike] | 14 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "1026575",
"author": "CAhrens",
"timestamp": "2013-07-14T20:32:09",
"content": "Awesome, I suppose you could use electromagnets to connect the individual pieces to allow for failed sections to be ejected during flight or even set it up so that you’d have payload modules and fuel modu... | 1,760,376,507.914376 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/14/simple-looking-antique-internet-radio-has-a-lot-under-the-hood/ | Simple Looking Antique Internet Radio Has A Lot Under The Hood | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"internet radio",
"RPi"
] | At first glance you might not even notice that
this 1934 radio has been altered
. But close study of the tuning dial will tip you off that changes have been made. It still scrolls through stations just like the original. But it’s not a wheel with some numbers on it. The rotary motion is an effect produced by an LCD screen.
This is the second time we’ve seen one of [Florian Amrhein’s] Internet radio projects.
The first
used guts from a Laptop paired with an Arduino to pull everything together. This time he’s chosen to wield a Raspberry Pi board. It feeds a USB sound card for a bit better quality. A small amplifier board us used to power one large speaker behind the original grill of the radio.
Check out the demo video to see that radio dial in action. It’s delightful that he went to the trouble to emulate a rotating disc to keep with the theme of the project. | 28 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1026567",
"author": "Peterbjornx",
"timestamp": "2013-07-14T19:48:17",
"content": "Why do people always discard the old radio electronics: you can easily get those to work as your amp…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1026588",... | 1,760,376,508.049362 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/14/diy-airbag-explosions-included/ | DIY Airbag, Explosions Included | Brian Benchoff | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"accelerometer",
"airbag",
"arduino"
] | Your car’s airbag is one of the major engineering accomplishments of the auto industry. In an accident, a whole host of processes must take place in sequence to keep your face from slamming into the steering wheel, and everything must happen in just a fraction of a second. [Steve] over at Make thought it would be a cool idea to discover
what actually goes in to saving a life with an airbag
and decided to build his own.
The electronics of the build consisted of an accelerometer and an Arduino. A lot of research, development, and experimentation has gone into the algorithms that trigger airbags, but [Steve] decided to keep things simple: when a sudden acceleration is detected, set off a small charge of black powder.
The airbag itself is ripstop nylon reinforced with canvas, contained in a small wooded box fitted with hinged doors. All these components are put on wheeled aluminum test rig, manned with a honeydew melon crash test dummy, and pulled into a short wall at a few miles per hour.
Despite [Steve] not putting hundreds of thousands of man hours into the development of his airbag – unlike the ones you’ll find in your steering column – his device actually worked pretty well. While not a complete success, he did manage to come up with something that both looks and acts like the familiar device that has saved countless lives. | 16 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1026542",
"author": "dALE",
"timestamp": "2013-07-14T17:10:33",
"content": "Will they be selling at home kits?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1026549",
"author": "nelsontb",
"timestamp": "2013-07-14T17:41:33",
"cont... | 1,760,376,508.103425 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/14/a-love-note-in-14-segments/ | A Love Note In 14 Segments | Brian Benchoff | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"14 segment",
"led",
"LED display",
"seven segment"
] | [Terry] wanted to come up with a little electronics project for his kids, and also came up with
something to keep the wife happy
. It’s an adorable 14-segment love letter, pieced together with some leftover LED displays and a bit of solder.
There isn’t a microcontroller anywhere to be seen in this project – all the illuminated segments are tied to a switch, and aside from a few resistors there isn’t much to this circuit. The simplicity means it’s a great way for [Terry] to get his kids involved in electronics.
If you’re wondering why [Terry] didn’t throw multiple Arduinos, shift registers, or LED drivers into the build, consider this: sometimes segment displays can be static. The time circuit prop from
Back to the Future
(but not
this modern recreation
) was wired up in a similar manner, as only a few specific dates needed to be displayed. Either way, we’re thinking good on [Terry] for introducing his kids to a soldering iron and doing something special for his lady friend. | 11 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1026522",
"author": "openmakersdaily",
"timestamp": "2013-07-14T15:14:38",
"content": "so many good segments wasted :(but that’s for a good cause…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1026528",
"author": "gravatarnonsense",
"... | 1,760,376,508.152884 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/14/resistance-decade-box-using-dip-switches/ | Resistance Decade Box Using DIP Switches | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"decade box",
"resistance",
"resistor"
] | Here’s a simple piece of equipment which you’ll be proud to display on your electronics bench. It’s
a resistance decade box
. The concept has been around forever — it offers the ability to tune a wide range of resistance values just by adjusting the controls. We especially like the clean look of this one, and think the use of DIP switches is a nice touch.
Check out the toggle switch at the top. It lets you disconnect the resistance values from the output in order to test them with your meter. It may not seem like much, but fudging your switch settings could end up smoking your target project. The value of that feature isn’t lost on us.
The DIP switches are mounted to some Radio Shack breakout boards which work perfectly for hosting the resistors as well. This keeps the inside of the enclosure nice and tidy. The final touch is the printed face plate applied to the cover of the box.
Like we’ve said, this one is nice but our favorite is still this one that
uses thumbwheel switches to dial in a value
. | 20 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1026505",
"author": "junkbox",
"timestamp": "2013-07-14T13:43:01",
"content": "Nice and clean. Building something like this is on my list of things to do.Just wanted to point out: doesn’t “decade” imply factors of 10 (1, 10, 100, 1k, etc.)?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,376,508.208769 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/14/making-pcbs-and-waffles/ | Making PCBs And Waffles | Brian Benchoff | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"laminator",
"pcb",
"toner",
"toner transfer"
] | The toner transfer method of fabricating PCBs is a staple in every maker’s toolbox. Usually, tutorials for this method of making PCBs rely on a clothes iron or laminating machine. They work perfectly well, but with both of these methods (sans high-end laminators), you’re only heating one side of the board at a time, making perfect double-sided PCBs somewhat of a challenge.
[Mark] just came up with an interesting solution to this problem.
A waffle iron PCB press
. Technically, [Mark] is using his ‘grill and waffle baker’ as a two-sided griddle, with a few aluminum plates sandwiching the copper board for good thermal conduction.
After a whole lot of trial and error, [Mark] eventually got a good transfer onto a piece of copper clad board. Now that he has the process dialed in, it should be a snap to replicate his results with a new project and a new PCB design. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1026485",
"author": "Andreas Hoe",
"timestamp": "2013-07-14T11:19:47",
"content": "Nice idea,I tried it several times but I never got satisfying results. It locked similar to his “Experiment #8”, no mater how careful I was at any point the toner didn’t stick to the pcb.Over all the ... | 1,760,376,508.256023 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/13/adafruit-builds-the-back-to-the-future-time-circuit-display/ | Adafruit Builds The Back To The Future Time Circuit Display | Mike Szczys | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"back to the future",
"chronodot",
"seven segment",
"Teensy"
] | If you were growing up in the ’80s this display panel will be instantly recognizable. It’s the time circuit display which [Doc Brown] built into his 88 mph per hour DeLoren time machine. If this still doesn’t jog your memory (or if — *gasp* — you’ve never seen the movie
Back to the Future
) take a gander at the montage video below.
The thing is, if you look really closely you’ll find this isn’t an exact match. Hackaday alum [Phil Burgess] put together a guide for Adafruit that shows
how to build this version
. But the movie actually cheated when it came to the month display. In production the month was displayed as alpha characters by painting glass slides. To make that happen here you would need some sixteen segment modules (like in
this project
). But we don’t mind the change one bit. The nostalgic look stands on its own even if it’s not an exact replica.
We’re sure you’ve figured out by now that this is backed by a dead-accurate real time clock (
chronodot
) and powered by a Teensy microcontroller board. Which means you can use it for just about any of your timekeeping needs. | 37 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "1026379",
"author": "Eric Schnabel",
"timestamp": "2013-07-13T23:10:54",
"content": "Ugg, they did it wrong.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "3044143",
"author": "Poux",
"timestamp": "2016-06-04T15:15:26",
... | 1,760,376,508.430627 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/13/no-nonsense-guide-for-patching-into-a-gaming-controller/ | No Nonsense Guide For Patching Into A Gaming Controller | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"adaptive technology",
"controller",
"nes"
] | Here a straight-forward guide for
tapping into the buttons on most gaming controllers
. Why do something like this? Well there’s always the goal of
conquering Mario through machine learning
. But we hope this will further motivate hackers to donate their time and expertise
developing specialized controllers for the disabled
.
In this example a generic NES knock-off controller gets a breakout header for all of the controls. Upon close inspection of the PCB inside it’s clear that the buttons simply short out a trace to ground. By soldering a jumper between the active trace for each button and a female header the controller can still be used as normal, or can have button presses injected by a microcontroller.
The Arduino seen above simulates button presses by driving a pin low. From here you can develop larger buttons, foot pedals, or maybe even some
software commands based on head movement
or another adaptive technology. | 10 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1026351",
"author": "Michael",
"timestamp": "2013-07-13T21:13:42",
"content": "Thanks for this post, I have been looking for a way to interface a PS3 controller to my BeagleBone Black. This will give me the courage to tear into one of them and finally get to work.",
"parent_id":... | 1,760,376,508.476698 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/13/gas-water-and-electricity-monitoring/ | Gas, Water, And Electricity Monitoring | Mike Szczys | [
"green hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"mbed",
"meter",
"sensor",
"utilities"
] | From the look of this you can tell that [Jasper Sikken] has some pretty interesting stuff going on to monitor the utilities in his home. But it’s important to note that this is a rental home. So adding
sensors to the gas, water, and electric meters
had to be done without making any type of permanent changes.
The module above is his own base PCB which accepts an mbed board to harvest and report on usage. His electric meter has an LED that will flash for every Watt hour that is used. He monitors that with a light dependent resistor, crafting a clever way to fasten it to the meter using four magnets. The water meter has a disc that makes one revolution for each liter of water that passes through it. Half of the disc is reflective so he uses a photoreflective sensor to keep track of that. And finally the gas meter has a reflective digit on one of the wheels. The sensor tracks each time this digit passes by, signifying 10 liters of gas used. He also monitors temperature which we’re sure comes in handy when trying to make sense of the data.
[Thanks Stephen] | 6 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1026361",
"author": "George Johnson",
"timestamp": "2013-07-13T21:45:24",
"content": "Nice. I’d add a couple more current/power sensors so you can tell where that energy is going. Stove, fridge, AC, water heater. Those are the big ones, after than, it’s all “living expense” like ... | 1,760,376,508.545916 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/13/computer-monitor-ambilight-clone-shows-remarkable-performance/ | Computer Monitor Ambilight Clone Shows Remarkable Performance | Mike Szczys | [
"LED Hacks",
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"18f14k50",
"ambilight",
"monitor",
"pic"
] | Check out this fantastic
Ambilight clone for a computer monitor
which [Brafilus] has been working on for a few years. It’s actually the third revision and watching the demo video below left our jaws agape.
Details are only available as comments on the YouTube page. But he’s given us just enough to be satisfied. His self-etched board hosts a PIC 18F14K50 microcontroller. It is talking to each of the 28 LED pixels which themselves live on tiny hunks of diy PCB as well. He wrote his own PC software in C# to capture the colors around the edges of the screen. He also worked hard to ensure there are plenty of tweaks available for true color matching between the monitor and what your eye sees bouncing off of the wall.
If you’re looking for something like this on your television set go back a couple of days and
check out that standalone unit
. | 54 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1026233",
"author": "XOIIO",
"timestamp": "2013-07-13T13:03:32",
"content": "Too bad he ruined it with my little pony.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1026239",
"author": "Mathew Brunning (@ByteTripper)",
"time... | 1,760,376,508.684574 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/12/ghostly-images-captured-only-on-camera/ | Ghostly Images Captured Only On Camera | Brian Benchoff | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"camera",
"dslr",
"fiberoptic",
"persistence of vision",
"POV"
] | A while back our good buddy [Ch00f] built a
QR code clock
, unreadable to both humans and computers. A human couldn’t read the clock because of the digital nature of a QR code, and because the clock used persistence of vision in driving the LEDs, a digital camera can’t capture all the pixels in the QR code at the same time. It’s a highly useless but impressive art piece. Now, [Ch00f]
is turning that build on its head
. He created a rudimentary display that is invisible to the human eye, but easily detected with a digital camera.
This build exploits a basic property of CMOS digital cameras – the rolling shutter. Because it takes time to get pixels off a modern digital image sensor, each picture is actual a composite of many different strips, each taken slightly out of sequence. You can see this for yourself by taking a picture of something rotating very fast with your camera phone; a picture of an airplane propeller will make the blades appear curved, or look like [Dr. Seuss] has an aeronautical engineering degree.
To create his display, [Ch00f] found a few inexpensive fiber optic lights. By aligning a few of these into columns and lighting them up in a precise sequence, he can exploit the rolling shutter and make an image appear. To the human eye, it looks like a solid wall of illuminated fiber optics.
As for how practical this build is, [Ch00f] says not much. For cell phone cameras, you’d need to have a very, very short exposure time for this to work. The only way to do that is to make this display unbelievably bright, or just put it out in the sun. We can’t see that being practical for any potential use case, but we’d be more than happy to see a large-scale attempt at displaying images with this technique. | 13 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1025840",
"author": "jachim (@jachim)",
"timestamp": "2013-07-12T11:09:32",
"content": "I have one of the QR Clocks, and my iPhone has no problem reading the code. Of course, the contrast needs to be pretty high. I have it sitting under an overhanging shelf, so it’s a little shaded.... | 1,760,376,508.597886 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/11/paper-rom/ | Paper ROM | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"data",
"reflectance",
"rom"
] | This low-resolution memory device packs in just a few bytes of data. But it’s enough to spell out [Michael Kohn’s] name. He’s been experimenting with
using paper discs for data storage
.
His technique becomes immediately clear when you view the demo video below. The disc spins multiple times with the sensor arm reading one track. This gives the system the chance to measure the black band in order to get the data timing figured out. Once the outer track has been read the servo controlling the read head swings it to the next until all of the data is captured.
An Arduino is monitoring the QTR-1RC reflectance sensor which makes up the reading head. It uses the black band width in order to establish the size of an individual byte. Interestingly enough, the white parts of the disc do not contain data. Digital 0 is a black area 1/4 the width of the large black strip, and digital 1 is half as wide.
[Michael’s] set up the generator which makes the discs so that he can easily increase the resolution. The limiting factor is what the reading hardware is able to detect. | 39 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "1025646",
"author": "roboman2444",
"timestamp": "2013-07-12T01:18:42",
"content": "i think someone could implement this idea a bit better/faster with a scroll of paper, a photodiode over each row, and one row for timing.still cool, though.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,376,511.128007 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/11/how-do-you-think-this-quadcopter-feels/ | How Do You Think This Quadcopter Feels? | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"laban",
"quadcopter",
"uncanny valley"
] | You don’t speak the language of dogs and yet you can tell when one is angry, excited, or down in the dumps. How does that work, and can it be replicated by a robot? That’s the question which [Megha Sharma] set out to
study as part of her graduate research
at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg.
The experiment starts by training the robot in a series of patterns meant to mimic emotion. How, you might ask? Apparently you hire an actor trained in
Laban Movement
. This is a method of describing and dealing with how the human body moves. It’s no surprise that the technique is included in the arsenal of some actors. The training phase uses stationary cameras (kind of like those
acrobatic quadcopter projects
) to record the device as it is moved by the actor.
Phase two of the experiment involves playing back the recorded motion with the quadcopter under its own power. A human test subject watches each performance and is asked to describe how the quadcopter
feels
. The surprising thing is that when asked they end up anthropomorphising the inanimate device even further; making up small stories about what the thing actually wants.
It’s an interesting way to approach the problem of
the uncanny valley
in robotic projects. | 14 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1025615",
"author": "roboman2444",
"timestamp": "2013-07-11T23:30:11",
"content": "Now a really cool thing is to put sensors on the robots, slap em in a swarm, and have them react to what they think their neighbors are “feeling”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies"... | 1,760,376,510.875103 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/11/building-han-solos-blaster/ | Building Han Solo’s Blaster | Brian Benchoff | [
"Weapons Hacks"
] | [
"blaster",
"prop",
"replica",
"star wars"
] | It’s no secret that [Adam Savage] of Mythbusters fame is a huge fan of replica props, going so far as to
make a Maltese Falcon
out of Sculpey. This time, though, he’s doing one better for the nerds in the crowd by building
the most accurate replica of Han Solo’s blaster
ever.
Replica prop gurus already know [Lucas]’ original prop department based Han Solo’s BlasTech DL-44 blaster off an existing gun – the
Mauser C96
. Along with this gun, there were a few extra bits and bobs tacked onto this gun, including an old German scope, a flash hider from an aircraft machine gun, and even a few bits of metal from a
model airplane
.
All these extra parts and greeblies are very hard, if not impossible to find. Thankfully, there are a bunch of very skilled replica prop makers reproducing these parts for anyone who wants a very accurate DL-44 Blaster. [Norm] from Tested and [Adam] assembled these parts into an incredibly accurate replica of the ‘hero’ blaster – by far the most identifiable of Solo’s many iterations of blaster seen in Star Wars ep. IV. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1038288",
"author": "RandyKC",
"timestamp": "2013-07-12T15:11:23",
"content": "So, did Han shoot first?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1038289",
"author": "Jeremy",
"timestamp": "2013-07-19T05:21:53",
"content": "Th... | 1,760,376,510.430538 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/11/kebab-skewer-quadcopter/ | Kebab Skewer Quadcopter | Mike Szczys | [
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"drone",
"husban x4",
"kabab",
"quadcopter",
"skewer"
] | Quadcopters are the epitome of high-tech hobby electronics. We’re quite used to seeing the frames built out of modern materials (carbon fiber, 3d printed, etc). But it’s pretty hard to beat the strength-to-weight ratio of kebab skewers. You heard us correctly. [Shiny Shez]
built his quadcopter frame from kebab skewers
.
You might want to get that Boy Scout Handbook out and brush up on your lashing skills.
Lashing
is a method of using rope (string in this case) to fasten together wooden sticks (bamboo kebab skewers). Once the lashed joints are precisely oriented [Shiny] applies a liberal coat of super glue to cement them in place.
He went the easy route when it comes to control hardware. You can get spare parts for the Husban X4, a commercially available quadcopter. Its main controller is used here. The single board controls the motors, monitors an IMU to keep the aircraft stable while in flight, and includes a wireless transceiver. On the receiving side [Shiny] uses an Arduino with a wireless module. This way he can control the quadcopter from his laptop, or go one step further and use an Android phone. | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "1025578",
"author": "mb",
"timestamp": "2013-07-11T21:10:03",
"content": "I’m pretty sure this is an octocopter.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1025584",
"author": "ianlee74",
"timestamp": "2013-07-11T21:17:32",
"co... | 1,760,376,510.825984 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/11/your-resume-all-cinched-up-in-latex/ | Your Resume All Cinched Up In LaTeX | Mike Szczys | [
"Lifehacks"
] | [
"LaTeX",
"markup",
"resume"
] | Engineers just do things differently, which is why this hack makes a lot of sense to us. Instead of choosing a platform like Open Office to maintain his resume [Campbell Hennessy]
renders his employment and references using LaTeX
.
We separate content from styling on the web all the time using CSS and content management systems (Hackaday uses WordPress). And with the online component of employment history and job applications becoming progressively more important it makes a lot of sense to prepare your CV accordingly.
LaTeX
is a markup language that makes graphically pleasing typesetting effects a snap. We’ve seen it used to
label resistor storage tubes
and server
side hacks to embed the markup in HTML
. If you haven’t tried it out yourself just grab your resume (which probably needs updating anyway), a LaTeX rendering tool of your choice, crack those knuckles, and follow along with [Campbell’s] experience. | 59 | 33 | [
{
"comment_id": "1025523",
"author": "Matt Joyce",
"timestamp": "2013-07-11T19:03:52",
"content": "https://github.com/openfly/resumeThis is a resume generator I wrote in python. It hits up the LinkedIn API and pulls in data there, uses pystache templates to fill in segments and assemble a LaTeX res... | 1,760,376,510.62407 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/11/the-perils-of-cheap-midi-adapters/ | The Perils Of Cheap MIDI Adapters | Brian Benchoff | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"keyboard",
"midi",
"Midi adapter"
] | [Arvydas] recently bought a Rock Band 3 Wii keyboard thinking it would be an excellent and very inexpensive (£9.99) MIDI controller. The keyboard has a proper DIN-5 MIDI out port, so theoretically the only thing needed to plug this into a computer is a USB to MIDI adapter. Unlike the keyboard, the MIDI adapter was
a cheap piece of Chinese cruft
, but given some ingenuity and a handful of components, he was able to get everything working.
The 30-year-old
MIDI specification
includes a few schematics on how to properly connect MIDI devices together. The most important part of these schematics is an optoisolater on the MIDI in, a valuable addition considering early MIDI keyboards cost thousands of dollars. It seems [Arvydas]’ MIDI to USB adapter didn’t include this vital component, instead replacing it with a simple resistor. Anything to keep costs down, right?
To get the MIDI adapter working, [Arvydas] headed over to Maplin and bought an optioisolator, With everything wired up on a breadboard, he got it to work and eventually transplanted the circuit to the adapter’s PCB.
It’s a great piece of work to get this MIDI adapter functioning, especially since it’s doubtful the cheap adapter would have worked with
any
MIDI device. | 28 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "1025517",
"author": "java",
"timestamp": "2013-07-11T18:44:46",
"content": "Hi, I have the same cheapo, this things usually worked “fine” for me if you are using it just as midi to usb “keyboards” only, Sysex protocol seems to overflow the buffer of this thing. I have a Boss GT-5 pe... | 1,760,376,510.939625 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/13/human-powered-flight-extravaganza/ | Human Powered Flight Extravaganza | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"human powered flight",
"ornithopter"
] | In case you haven’t heard, the Sikorsky Prize, an aeronautical challenge to build a human-powered helicopter that can hover at three meters for a full sixty seconds,
has been claimed
. This incredibly difficult engineering feat was accomplished by AeroVelo, along with a lot of help from the University of Toronto and a host of companies involved in the design and manufacture of rotorcraft. This prize has stood unclaimed for thirty years, and it’s not from lack of trying; in the 80s and 90s, universities in Japan tried their hand at the challenge, and recently
a team from the University of Maryland had a go at it
.
But as far as human-powered flight goes, a helicopter is just about the least efficient way to get off the ground. Helicopters need power to provide their own lift and thrust, whereas airplanes only need to generate some forward momentum.
From the bicycle-powered crossing of the English channel in 1979, human-powered flight has come a long way, so far that next the Royal Aeronautical Society will be
hosting the Icarus Cup 2013
. It’s a competition where teams of human-powered aircraft enthusiasts will compete in challenges measuring distance, speed, endurance, and landing accuracy.
No, it’s not an ornithopter from Da Vinci’s notebook, but human pectoral muscles aren’t powerful enough for that anyway.
Thanks [DainBramage1991] for sending this one in. | 18 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1026225",
"author": "reggie",
"timestamp": "2013-07-13T11:47:05",
"content": "congratz to the team for winning, I Wonder if this would be an efficient way of travelling across the moon/mars surfaces?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_... | 1,760,376,510.533408 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/12/a-different-type-of-arduino-internet-shield/ | A Different Type Of Arduino Internet Shield | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"internet hacks"
] | [
"ethernet shield",
"shield",
"TL-WR703N",
"tp-link",
"wifi shield"
] | The cost of an Ethernet shield for an Arduino isn’t horrible; generally between $17 and $32 depending on which one you buy. But have you seen the cost of a WiFi shield? Those are running North of $70! [Martin Melchior] has a solution that provides your choice of Ethernet or WiFi at a low-cost and it’ll work for most applications. He’s using
a WiFi router as an Arduino Internet shield
.
This is the TP-Link WR703N which has been very popular with hackers because of its combination of low price (easy to find at $25 or less) and many features: the USB is super hand and, well, it’s a WiFi router! The Arduino Pro Mini shown dead-bug style is talking to the router using its serial port. [Martin] wires a pin socket to the router, which makes the rest of assembly as easy as plugging the two together. The rest of his post deals with handling bi-directional communications with Arduino code.
If you really just need that direct Ethernet pipe consider
building an ENC28J60 chip into your designs
. | 25 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "1026090",
"author": "nizon",
"timestamp": "2013-07-12T23:06:28",
"content": "I just buy the $10 knockoff Ethernet shields, they work fine",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1026097",
"author": "Fritoeata",
"timest... | 1,760,376,510.6884 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/12/adding-a-digital-timer-to-a-cable-release-camera/ | Adding A Digital Timer To A Cable Release Camera | Mike Szczys | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"cable release",
"flash",
"SLR",
"timer"
] | Here’s a completely non-invasive hack for a classic Minolta SLR camera. [Robby] wanted to add to the options available when it comes to remote shutter release. He ended up
building a cable release add-on
that mounts on the hot shoe.
He drew some of his inspiration from
a similar project
we saw back in March. He took the engineering example from that project which uses a small servo motor to actuate the cable release. But along the way added his own features.
The system centers around an ATtiny4313 microcontroller. It provides feedback using the character LCD on the back of the auxiliary flash body. That flash body also offers a battery compartment which provides power for the control circuitry as well as the servo motor. Right now it functions as a count-down timer, and also can hold the shutter a specified amount of time. But we could see this extended to work with external sensors to trigger at a set light level, when sensing motion, or from a remote control. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1026147",
"author": "waterwingz",
"timestamp": "2013-07-13T03:42:02",
"content": "Nice hack but then I’m in love – I cut my teeth on photography in 1974 using that camera.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1026235",
"author": ... | 1,760,376,510.47815 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/12/the-most-advanced-microwave-youll-ever-own/ | The Most Advanced Microwave You’ll Ever Own | Mike Szczys | [
"cooking hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"barcode scanner",
"microwave",
"RPi"
] | Voice activation, one-touch cooking, web controls, cooking settings based on UPC… have you ever seen a microwave with all of these features? We sure haven’t. We thought it was nice that ours have a reheat button with three different settings. But holy crap, what if you could actually program your microwave to the exact settings of your choice? You can, if you
let a Raspberry Pi do the cooking
.
This hack run deep and results in a final product with a high
WAF
. Nathan started by taking apart his old microwave. He took pictures of the flexible sheets that make up the control button matrix in order to reverse engineer their design. This led him to etch his own circuit board to hook the inputs up to a Raspberry Pi board and take command of all the appliance’s other hardware. Because it also drives the seven segment display you’ll never see the wrong time on this appliance again. It’s set based on
NTP
.
We mentioned you can tweak settings for a specific food. The best way of doing this is shown in the demo video. The web interface is used to program the settings. Recalling them is as simple as using the barcode reader to scan the UPC. Amazing.
Now you can keep that old microwave working, rather than just
scraping it for parts
.
[Thanks Tom] | 50 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "1026004",
"author": "Sven",
"timestamp": "2013-07-12T19:07:34",
"content": "*the equipment to do all _this_ at home",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1026006",
"author": "kieldanger",
"timestamp": "2013-07-12T19:13:39",
... | 1,760,376,510.775052 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/12/galaxy-note-2-gets-three-and-a-half-months-of-standby-time/ | Galaxy Note 2 Gets Three And A Half Months Of Standby Time | Brian Benchoff | [
"Android Hacks"
] | [
"battery",
"Galaxy note 2",
"Li-ion"
] | In the quest for the ultimate Android device, [白い熊] on the XDA developers forum created
an awe-inspiring monstrosity
that gives his Galaxy Note II 288 Gigs of storage and enough battery to theoretically last three and a half months.
First, the storage: the phone can now store movies, videos, apps, and music on an incredibly capacious 256 Gig SD card. Yes, this card currently sells for about $500, but having that much storage space effectively turns the Note into a portable hard drive running Android.
The battery comes direct from
an eBay listing
that advertises 8500 mAh inside a huge Li-ion battery. It’s extremely doubtful this battery will live up to the stated rating, but even if the new battery has twice the capacity as the stock battery [白い熊] is looking at about 10 weeks of standby time.
Yes, it’s just parts bought online and thrown together, but you really have to admire the sheer ostentatiousness of this phone. | 47 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "1025963",
"author": "sonicdude10",
"timestamp": "2013-07-12T17:26:20",
"content": "My idea of a phone. Wish I could do this.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1025970",
"author": "HC",
"timestamp": "2013-07-12T1... | 1,760,376,511.210374 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/12/electro-permanent-magnets-for-quadcopters/ | Electro-permanent Magnets For Quadcopters | Brian Benchoff | [
"hardware"
] | [
"electromagnet",
"OpenGrab",
"quadcopter"
] | Imagine a quadcopter hovering above a payload – a can of beans, perhaps. The ‘copter descends onto the payload, activates an electromagnet, and flies away with a hobo’s dinner. Right now, this is a bit of an impossibility. A normal electromagnet that powerful would consume an amazing amount of power, something quads don’t usually have in abundance. With
the OpenGrab project
, the dream of a remote-controlled skycrane is within reach, thanks to some very clever applications of magnetics.
The tech behind the OpenGrab is an
electro-permanent magnet
, basically an electromagnet you can turn on and off, but doesn’t require any power to stay on. OpenGrab was heavily influenced by
a PhD thesis
aimed at using these devices for self-assembling buildings.
This project had
a very successful Kickstarter campaign
and has seen some great progress in the project. While beer doesn’t come in steel cans anymore, we can imagine a whole lot of really cool applications for this tech from infuriating electronic puzzles to some very cool remote sensing applications. | 40 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "1025923",
"author": "Ben",
"timestamp": "2013-07-12T15:28:27",
"content": "Thanks, I’ve been looking for a more effective way to use my quadcopter to steal beans from hobos.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1025925",
"author"... | 1,760,376,511.375807 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/12/web-based-automation-courtesy-of-raspberry-pi/ | Web Based Automation Courtesy Of Raspberry Pi | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"home automation",
"jquery",
"lamp",
"RPi",
"web based",
"WS2801"
] | This project is a great example of the Raspberry Pi’s ability to eclipse Arduino when it comes to interaction. [Fall Deaf] mentions that he used to use an Arduino board with an Ethernet shield to add extensible interactivity to his project. But this one, which is a
home automation lamp project
, uses a Raspberry Pi instead. The concepts end up being very similar. But the cost of the hardware is less and the coding work is arguably orders of magnitude easier.
Don’t get us wrong, the hardware is fundamentally different. When you move from Arduino to RPi you lose some I/O pins and the low level control of them isn’t quite as straight-forward. But you also don’t have to program the thing in C. The Linux kernel handles the low level control which means you can write your scripts using Python. Because Python is an interpreted language the testing and debugging is much faster — no need to flash new code, just run the script again.
This project used the RPi GPIO to drive a strip of LEDs which use the WS2801 protocol. The board includes a NIC which makes it a snap to use as a web server. The smart phone controls seen above are served up from the Pi using jQuery. Right now there’s a cord running out of the lamp. But there should be plenty of room to use a screw-in outlet adapter and to hide the RPi and its PSU inside.
The board still has enough juice to drive other automation features too, like
acting as a web radio server
. | 6 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1026023",
"author": "Fritoeata",
"timestamp": "2013-07-12T19:42:01",
"content": "I really like the idea, but won’t the heat of the lights fry the RPi?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1026080",
"author": "falldeaf",
... | 1,760,376,511.258979 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/10/a-custom-cooler-sewing-not-required/ | A Custom Cooler, Sewing Not Required | Brian Benchoff | [
"home hacks",
"News",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"cooler",
"fabric",
"sewing",
"soda"
] | When you go to the beach or on a camping trip this summer, notice how you pack your cooler. Your beverages already come in a box, yet you remove them and put them in a larger, insulated box. [Jason] thought it would be a great idea to just add insulation to a case of soda (or other beverages, we assume) and
ended up making a custom soda cooler
.
The fabrication of this cooler is actually pretty simple. A layer of flexible foam is sandwiched between two layers of waterproof vinyl with spray glue. After tracing out a pattern, [Jason] then cut this fabric into panels and glued them together into a soda box-sized cooler. Simple, elegant, and something even hackers that didn’t take home ec can put together in a few hours.
As an aside, we at Hackaday seem to forget the ‘softer’ builds of fabric, foam, and paper far too often. That doesn’t mean we eschew these projects; I have a barely post-war Singer 15 sewing machine right above my workbench.
Send us a tip
if you have one of these soft hacks. We’d love to see it.
Video of the build below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTx6Q9JmwTI&w=580] | 22 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1025095",
"author": "Justin",
"timestamp": "2013-07-10T15:38:53",
"content": "This seems like a lot of work, I’m sure they sell something like this already made at dollar stores with reflective foil on the inside.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,376,511.540591 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/10/24-hour-hackathon-project-adds-object-based-automation-to-hackerspace/ | 24-hour Hackathon Project Adds Object-based Automation To Hackerspace | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackerspaces",
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"home automation",
"image processing",
"matlab",
"webcam"
] | [Jeremy Blum], [Jason Wright], and [Sam Sinensky] combined forces for twenty-four hours to
automate how the entertainment and lighting works
at their hackerspace. They commandeered the whiteboard and used an already present webcam as part of their project. You can see the black tokens which can be moved around the blue tape outline to actuate the controls.
MATLAB is fed an image from the webcam which monitors the space. Frames are received once every second and parsed for changes in the tokens. There are small black squares which either skip to the next track of music or affect pause/play. Simply move them off of their designated spot and the image processing does the rest. This goes for the volume slider as well. We think the huge token for the lights is to ensure that the camera can sense a change in a darkened room.
If image processing isn’t your thing you can still
control your audio entertainment with a frickin’ laser
. | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "1025068",
"author": "Thorsten",
"timestamp": "2013-07-10T14:19:51",
"content": "Nice! They could have also usedhttp://lasertraq.googlecode.com(and maybe contributed to it) to achieve that with foss. They probably didn’t know…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [... | 1,760,376,511.297565 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/10/737-autopilot-courtesy-of-an-arduino/ | 737 Autopilot, Courtesy Of An Arduino | Brian Benchoff | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"Autopilot",
"flight simulator x",
"FSX"
] | To start this off,
no
, we’re not looking at a piece of actual flight hardware. This is [Andrea Giudici]’s project to
tie real-world hardware into Flight Simulator X
. It’s an autopilot for simulated aircraft, so those of you looking at flying a 737 sometime in the near future need not worry about computers flying your plane. Airbus passengers, though…
[Andrea] didn’t want to dig around with the clunky point-and-click interface in FSX, so he created a virtual autopilot with a 2×16 LCD display and an Arduino to interact and set the most common autopilot settings such as altitude, speed, heading, and engagement. The physical interface is just three tact switches and a pot, while the interface to FSX is a custom driver that turns the USB out of the Arduino into actual flight commands.
It’s not
a 737 cockpit in a garage
, but it’s still a wonderful alternative to poking around in a completely computer-bound interface.
Video of the ‘duino in action after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k0__oLCtaE&w=580] | 26 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "1025026",
"author": "David",
"timestamp": "2013-07-10T11:16:20",
"content": "Im so glad this isn’t a story about a UAV airplane… where’s that boat upto now ?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1025028",
"author": "truthspew",
... | 1,760,376,511.737905 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/09/best-practices-to-include-in-your-final-projects/ | Best Practices To Include In Your Final Projects | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"best practices",
"enclosure",
"schematic"
] | Making that final push to button up your projects can be a bit daunting. It’s kind of like the punch list on a construction project — add switch plates, fill nail holes in baseboards, screw in light bulbs, clean windows — that stuff adds up quickly. But having a set of best practices in mind throughout the development phase will cut down on that burden. [Caleb P.]
just published a quick guide
using a recent project as an example.
First and foremost is the label seen on the project box lid. How many times have you pulled out a circuit board from a year or two earlier and not been able to figure out the pinout? As with ancient televisions and radios, including the service schematic will save you big time! He also mentions that the size and orientation of the components in the case was in the back of his mind the whole time. That paid off because everything fits like a glove. [Caleb] makes sure the battery is easy to get to, and the each component has some type of connector so that it may be removed and serviced/replace without soldering. There’s certainly nothing groundbreaking in this guide. But ask yourself: have I been following all of these guidelines in my own work? | 41 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1024819",
"author": "dext0rb",
"timestamp": "2013-07-09T22:12:41",
"content": "DIY ISO9001",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1024823",
"author": "smee",
"timestamp": "2013-07-09T22:22:38",
"content": "No.... | 1,760,376,512.36715 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/09/hack-it-in-refrigerator-egg-monitoring/ | Hack It: In-refrigerator Egg Monitoring | Mike Szczys | [
"cooking hacks"
] | [
"eggs",
"led",
"light sensor",
"refrigerator",
"wifi"
] | Here’s a concept piece that
monitors the eggs in your refrigerator
. It’s still in development and we don’t think the general public is ready for digital egg monitoring quite yet. But we love the concept and want to hear from you to see if you could develop your own version.
What we know about the device is that — despite the image which makes smart phone proximity seem important — it connects to the Internet from inside your fridge. It will tell you how many eggs you have left, and even tracks the date at which each entered your refrigerator.
So, what’s inside this thing and who can build their own the fastest? We’ll cover some specs and speculate a bit to get you started: There’s a light sensor to detect when the door opens and an LED below each egg to illuminate the oldest. We think the light sensor triggers a microcontroller that uses each of the egg
LEDs as a light sensor
as well. If the threshold is too low then there is indeed an egg in that cup. We also like the fact that the tray has fourteen slots; as long as you don’t buy eggs until you have just two left you’ll always have room.
If you build one
we want to know
. We’re thinking 3D printed cups, low-power microcontroller, but we’re kind of stumped on the cheapest WiFi solution. Leave your thoughts in the comments.
[via
Reddit
via
NY Daily News
via
Mind of Geek
] | 78 | 35 | [
{
"comment_id": "1024748",
"author": "Kevin",
"timestamp": "2013-07-09T19:10:32",
"content": "This would be great for people who, instead of buying eggs by the dozen, keep their own chickens…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1024786",
"... | 1,760,376,512.021519 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/09/weve-found-the-awesome-singularity/ | We’ve Found The Awesome Singularity | Brian Benchoff | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"tardis",
"transformers"
] | Yes, that’s exactly what you think it is. A Transformer. That transforms into the TARDIS.
This masterpiece of pop culture is the work of [Nonnef]
over on Instructables
. After the inspiration to create this work of art struck, [Nonnef] started modeling this Transformer and TARDIS in clay to make everything fit together just right. After a good bit of 3D modelling, the Doctor’s robotic wife was ready for printing.
If you’re going to print one of these for yourself, be prepared for a
very
long print. [Nonnef] says the latest version took about 30 hours on his RepRap with a .35 mm nozzle. In the end nearly the entire Transformer came directly from a 3D printer, the only additional parts needed being a pen spring and a small screw. Paint is, of course, optional.
All the files are available on the Instructable. | 32 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "1024671",
"author": "cde",
"timestamp": "2013-07-09T15:12:41",
"content": "Tardis Superior. Autobots inferior.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1024737",
"author": "Andy",
"timestamp": "2013-07-09T18:36:45",
... | 1,760,376,511.863311 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/09/a-handful-of-parts-used-to-form-an-electrocardiogram/ | A Handful Of Parts Used To Form An Electrocardiogram | Mike Szczys | [
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"ad8221",
"ecg",
"lm324"
] | It’s difficult to image a more
bare-bones approach to building an ECG
. [Raul] used an Arduino nano to collect samples and push them to a computer for graphing.
An Electrocardiogram measures electrical activity around your heart. The white circles above are the sensors which he picked up in a box of fifty for 11 Euros (under $15). Stick them on your skin in just the right places and they’ll report back on what your heart is doing.
He used a AD8221 to amplify the signals. He mentions that this is an ins-amp, not an op-amp. We didn’t find a concise reference explaining what that is. It might be a good topic for the comments section. The signal from that chip feeds into an LM324 op-amp before being dumped into the Arduino.
Simplicity comes at a price. This measures very small electrical impulses and has very little in the way of shielding and filtering. Because of this you may need to do a rain dance, say a prayer, burn a candle, and stick needles into a doll to get a reliable signal on the other end.
Here’s
another version
that doesn’t require special sensors. | 19 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "1024615",
"author": "Matthew",
"timestamp": "2013-07-09T13:04:55",
"content": "If you have a copy of the Art of Electronics by Horowitz & Hill you can get a great description of what an instrumentation amplifier is. If you haven’t, tut tut tut.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": ... | 1,760,376,511.795645 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/11/the-tiniest-arcade-cabinets-youve-ever-seen/ | The Tiniest Arcade Cabinets You’ve Ever Seen | Brian Benchoff | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"arcade",
"arcade cabinet",
"digital picture frame"
] | After perusing Amazon one day, [Dave] found a very interesting piece of kit: a small, 1.5″ digital picture frame. They’re not very complex, just an LCD, a few buttons to cycle the picture, and a battery to keep everything portable. He decided the best use of this tech would be
a tiny arcade cabinet
, featuring screen shots of the best games a darkly neon lit arcade of the late 80s had to offer.
After sourcing a few of these digital picture frames on eBay, [Dave] set to work disassembling the frames and designing a custom enclosure. He wanted a few specific features: controls in the right place, replaceable sides, and the glowing red eyes of a coin acceptor slot. [Dave] whipped a model up in OpenSCAD and sent the parts over to his printer.
The controls for the digital picture frame were connected to a quartet of tact switches on the control panel, and a red LED provides the glow from the coin acceptor. With a USB plug and the frame’s memory loaded up with screen shots, [Dave] has a fabulous desk toy.
All the relevant files are
up on Thingiverse
if you’d like to build your own. | 25 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1025458",
"author": "Jake of All Trades",
"timestamp": "2013-07-11T15:48:51",
"content": "How fun! The coin slots are a brilliant touch and really make it.Now not to self-promote, but on the other end of the geek mod spectrum I have a steampunk thingamajig made from a similar frame... | 1,760,376,512.076787 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/11/text-editor-running-on-your-arm-project/ | Text Editor Running On Your ARM Project | Mike Szczys | [
"ARM"
] | [
"editor",
"elua",
"lua",
"mbed",
"STM discovery"
] | Tired of flashing your embedded project over and over just to tweak a few values? So was [Karl], so he wrote
a text editor that runs on his ARM dev board
.
Having trouble wrapping your mind around the need for this kind of thing? He’s actually playing around with
eLua
, the embedded version of the
Lua programming language
. In this case the program files are being stored on an SD card. But still, moving that back and forth between computer and embedded project gets old quickly. So he invested the time to write a rudimentary text editor that he interfaces through this terminal window. Above you can see the help screen which lays out all of the applications features. Right now it sounds like the only gotcha for this is the amount of RAM it needs to run. As it stands, the editor will now work an mbed board, but it works just fine on
an STM Discovery
. | 15 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1025428",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2013-07-11T14:07:46",
"content": "Nice, Vi and Ed commands!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1025429",
"author": "ejonesss",
"timestamp": "2013-07-11T14:14:52",
"content": "so ... | 1,760,376,511.912751 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/11/animating-a-lamp-with-the-leap-motion/ | Animating A Lamp With The Leap Motion | Brian Benchoff | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"hardware"
] | [
"arduino",
"Leap motion",
"node.js"
] | The Leap Motion is a very cool device, but so far we haven’t seen many applications of interacting with physical devices. [Xavier] wanted to control a cute servo animated desk lamp with his hands, and
with the help of a Leap and an Arduino
he was able to do just that.
The Leap Motion API has a handy feature that will output all its data over a websocket. It’s a very easy way to transfer hand positions with a minimum amount of overhead, and with just a little bit of Node.js, it’s only two lines of code to connect the Leap to a websocket server.
With the Leap data on a web server, the only thing left to do is pulling it down to an Arduino. Again, [Xavier] used Node.js, this time in the form of
johnny five
, a Javascript-based Arduino framework. After that, it was a simple matter of mapping the data from the Leap to servo movements in [Xavier]’s Pixar-inspired lamp.
Video of the build below. | 23 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "1025409",
"author": "BobSapp (@BobSapp)",
"timestamp": "2013-07-11T11:59:04",
"content": "I imagine this would be cool if you could tie it to OpenCV and get it to follow your pen tip around. Maybe it could be trained to follow an ir led on the top of the pen.",
"parent_id": nul... | 1,760,376,512.283592 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/10/3d-printed-dispenser-flings-treats-at-your-pets/ | 3D Printed Dispenser Flings Treats At Your Pets | Mike Szczys | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"dispenser",
"dog",
"ethernet shield",
"hopper",
"treat"
] | If you’re stuck in the virtual world like [Kevin Flynn] you can still make sure your pup is rewarded for good behavior. Just follow [Jwarp’s] design for this
Internet connect dog treat dispenser
.
We were actually a bit surprised by the demo video. It shows that the compact unit is more than capable of reliably dispensing one treat at a time. It started as a wood prototype which allowed him to tweak how the servo motors worked before laying out all of the 3D parts in Sketch Up. Two motors cooperate to get the job done. The first allows one treat to exit that shoot coming from the center of the hopper. The other stirs the remaining inventory to both position the next treat and loosen any jams.
The base of the hopper serves as an enclosure of the Arduino UNO and an Ethernet Shield. A simple website is polled continuously. When it is found to contain the dispense command the hardware goes into action. The link above leads to the build photos, but there’s a bit of background info included in
the Reddit thread
.
This will go nicely with
that automatic feeder
you’ve been meaning to tackle. | 24 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "1025257",
"author": "Doug",
"timestamp": "2013-07-10T23:03:52",
"content": "“The first allows one treat to exit that shoot …”It’s called a chute, not shoot.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1025287",
"author": "kev",
... | 1,760,376,512.137122 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/10/teardrop-camper-combines-simplicity-style-and-function/ | Teardrop Camper Combines Simplicity, Style, And Function | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"camper",
"trailer"
] | They needed a place to stay on road trips and at music festivals. This
teardrop camper
certainly fits the bill. And it’s got a look that will make you proud to unfold yourself into the parking lot every morning.
Starting from a flat frame the camper skeleton was built up using plywood sides and cross pieces to help support the sweeping roof. It was then covered with 1/4″ Birch plywood which has enough flexibility to follow the contour. Inside you won’t find much in the way of frills, but the entire floor is a 4″ thick foam mattress which is a lot better that camping out. There’s a dome on top which can opens for ventilation and a hatch on the rear to carry some extras along on your adventure.
[via
Reddit
] | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "1038287",
"author": "Doug",
"timestamp": "2013-07-11T17:00:51",
"content": "Nice simple teardrop. When I remember to recover my yahoo account, I’ll post a link to an excellent build log of a woman in Vegas who built a teardrop, showing how she incorporated a lot of storage into it",... | 1,760,376,512.40658 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/10/build-a-bare-bones-arduino-clone-which-maximizes-its-use-of-real-estate/ | Build A Bare Bones Arduino Clone Which Maximizes Its Use Of Real Estate | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"atmega328",
"bare bones",
"breadboard",
"prototype",
"stripboard"
] | Check out all the stuff crammed into a small swath of strip board. It’s got that characteristic look of a roll-your-own Arduino board, which is exactly what it is. [S. Erisman] shows you
how to build your own
copy of his YABBS; Yet Another Bare Bones Arduino (on Stripboard).
The strips of copper on the bottom of the substrate run perpendicular to the DIP chip and have been sliced in the middle. This greatly reduces the amount of jumpering that would have been necessary if using protoboard. A few wires make the necessary connections between the two tooled SIL headers that make up the chip socket. On the right hand side there a voltage regulator with smoothing caps. The left side hosts the obligatory pin 13 LED, and the crystal oscillator can be glimpsed on the far side of the ATmega328.
Pin headers along either side of the board have been altered to allow for soldering from the wrong side of the plastic frames. Note that there’s a three-pin hunk that breaks out the voltage regulator, and an ISP programming header sticking out the top to which those female jumper wires are connected.
Ringing in at as little as $2-$4.75 a piece you’ll have no problem leaving this in a project for the long hall. We can’t say the same for a $30+ brand name unit. | 53 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "1025209",
"author": "Leithoa",
"timestamp": "2013-07-10T21:15:12",
"content": "That’s a very clean build there. I don’t know how many other bare bones clones are about the internet but I’d wager many people have those parts in bins already. The price tag also makes it great for lea... | 1,760,376,512.493662 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/10/amilight-clone-uses-video-pass-through-needs-no-computer/ | Ambilight Clone Uses Video Pass-through; Needs No Computer | Mike Szczys | [
"ARM",
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"ambilight",
"pass through",
"s-video"
] | To the best of our knowledge all of the Ambilight clones we’ve covered over the years have one thing in common. They need a computer to do the image processing. This one is different. The PCB seen on the
left
right is
all you need for the video processing
. The project is called SCIMO and is the handiwork of a hacker named [Keiang].
There are only few times that the DRM built into the HDMI standard has pissed us off. This is one of them. Because of
HDCP
and licensing issued revolving around HDMI [Keiang] didn’t use HDMI pass through. Instead he uses an HDMI to S-Video converter. This board acts as an S-Video pass through, analyzing the signal using an STM32 ARM chip before the video signal continues on to the television. It still produces a respectable picture, but wouldn’t it have been cleaner if he could have gone with the HDMI standard?
UPDATE:
Thanks for the comments on this. It looks like the TV is getting an HDMI signal. The board is fed by the HDMI to S-Video converter which itself is getting HDMI in parallel with the television thanks to a splitter.
Where
other examples
use Boblight on a PC for processing this manages to do so as a standalone embedded system. It also offers quite a bit of flexibility when it comes to choosing the LEDs, supporting pixels that use DMX512, WS28xx, or TM18xx protocols. | 54 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "1025159",
"author": "Per Jensen",
"timestamp": "2013-07-10T19:03:16",
"content": "Amilight?!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1025199",
"author": "Mike Szczys",
"timestamp": "2013-07-10T20:53:45",
"conte... | 1,760,376,512.580456 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/09/3d-printing-with-liquid-metals/ | 3D Printing With Liquid Metals | Brian Benchoff | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"gallium",
"indium",
"metal",
"metal printing"
] | While 3D printers of today are basically limited to plastics and resins, the holy grail of desktop fabrication is printing with metal. While we won’t be printing out steel objects on a desktop printer just yet, [Collin Ladd], [Ju-Hee So], [John Muth], and [Michael D. Dickey] from North Carolina State University are slowly working up to that by
printing objects with tiny spheres of liquid metal
.
The medium the team is using for their metallic 3D prints is an alloy of 75% gallium and 25% indium. This alloy is liquid at room temperatures, but when exposed to an oxygen atmosphere, a very thin layer of oxide forms on a small metal bead squeezed out of a syringe. Tiny metal sphere by tiny metal sphere, the team can build up metallic objects out of this alloy, stacking the beads into just about any shape imaginable.
In addition to small metal spheres, [Collin] and his team were also able to create free-standing wires that are able to join electrical components. Yes, combined with a pick and place machine, a printer equipped with this technology could make true printed circuit boards.
Even though the team is only working on very small scales with gallium, they do believe this technology could be scaled up to print aluminum. A challenging endeavour, but something that would turn the plastic-squeezing 3D printers of today into something much more like the Star Trek replicators of tomorrow.
Video demo below, or check out [Collin]’s
editing room floor
and a
vimeo channel
.
Here’s the paper
if you’ve got a Wiley subscription.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql3pXn8-sHA&w=580] | 67 | 26 | [
{
"comment_id": "1024572",
"author": "oodain",
"timestamp": "2013-07-09T11:18:59",
"content": "i love some of their wéirder extras.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1024573",
"author": "NaN",
"timestamp": "2013-07-09T11:22:36",
"conte... | 1,760,376,512.684142 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/08/this-is-run-by-an-arduino/ | This Is Run By An Arduino | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"industrial",
"plc"
] | Let us be the first to say: Not a hack! Nonetheless this is an interesting read about how the Arduino movement has made hobby microcontroller boards
attractive for industrial applications
.
This is a digital printing machine which looks like it is used for industrial packaging. [Paul Furley] worked for the company which produces it, developing the software for the control interface. He recounts the story of how he helped guide the company away from choosing a microcontroller, and toward using an Arduino board. Actually, using three Arduino boards. We can already hear the flame war boiling up in the comments section. But before you rage, read the article and see if you don’t agree with [Paul’s] reasoning.
The most compelling argument to us is that choosing Arduino is absolutely future proof. If the company goes out of business there are hundreds of clone devices already available. As the Arduino platform evolves it will keep pin compatibility in order to support the older shields. And if they choose a different microcontroller the Arduino IDE will still compile the same sketch for the new hardware.
One thing that pops into our minds is write protection. The machine uses a big PCB to which the three Arduinos mount. That can be produced anywhere without threat of having the source code leak as the PCB doesn’t include chips that need to be programmed. Arduino uses AVR chips that have write protection fuses which can be burnt in-house after they flash the control firmware.
[Thanks Thomas] | 90 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "1024357",
"author": "JJ",
"timestamp": "2013-07-08T23:06:05",
"content": "inb4 arguing",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1024360",
"author": "Matt",
"timestamp": "2013-07-08T23:12:42",
"content": "I’ll admit it beats u... | 1,760,376,512.801235 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/08/salvaging-parts-from-broken-roomba-robots/ | Salvaging Parts From Broken Roomba Robots | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"roomba",
"rotary encoder",
"Self Balancing Robot"
] | The great thing about hacking on Roombas is that iRobot used quality parts to build them. [Jason] got his hands on a broken 5XX series Roomba and posted an article about
how he reused the salvaged parts
.
What you see above is one of the results of his work. This little bot takes commands from an IR television remote control. But he also used the setup to make a self-balancing bot. The two motors from the Roomba have magnetic rotary encoders with 8-bit resolution. Pair this with a well-tuned PID algorithm and you’re in business. The video below shows him testing a motor with his PID code.
You don’t get very much info on the guts of the donor robot. If that’s what you’re looking for you need to look at [Dino’s]
Roomba 4000 teardown
. | 11 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "1024326",
"author": "zerobotman",
"timestamp": "2013-07-08T21:40:36",
"content": "since you’re lucky to have a working roomba work for more than a year i’m surprised that there arn’t more people using there parts. I used them when basic stamps were cool.",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,376,512.926271 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/08/arduino-oscilloscope-at-five-megasamples-per-second/ | Arduino Oscilloscope At Five Megasamples Per Second | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"oscilloscope"
] | There’s no substitute for a proper oscilloscope on your electronics bench. But unfortunately we
still
don’t have one of our own. But we’ve got an Arduino board and paired with another IC it can
sample an astonishing 5 million cycles per second
.
[Bob Davis] has been working on an Arduino based oscillscope for a while now. He keep squeezing more and more performance out of it. A previous version hit 3 megasamples using an AD775 chip. When he
added a FIFO buffer chip
he was able to squeeze 10-25 megasamples out of it… wow! Unfortunately the output tended to be glitchy.
This version gets rid of the AD775 in favor of a CA3306. Both are analog-to-digital converters but the new circuit is less complex and more reliable. It uses just three capacitors and an external clock to support the IC. Take a look at the video below to see how it performs. He’s outputting a graph of the samples on a small LCD screen. The best part is that since the extra chip is doing the sampling this can be ported to your microcontroller of choice. | 45 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "1024279",
"author": "adam felson",
"timestamp": "2013-07-08T19:11:53",
"content": "not quite as good as an all tube tektronics scope of sixty years ago.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1024288",
"author": "JJ",
... | 1,760,376,512.879239 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/08/turning-anything-into-a-drone/ | Turning Anything Into A Drone | Brian Benchoff | [
"drone hacks"
] | [
"diy",
"drone",
"quadcopter"
] | For his graduate project, [Jasper] wanted to do something with a quadcopter drone. Not content with simply building any old drone, he decided to make a kit
that turns
anything
into a drone.
Everything from a bicycle wheel, to a computer keyboard, and even a phone is more than able to take flight with [Jasper]’s Drone It Yourself kit.
The DIY drone kit consists of a few 3D printed parts that include four clamps and mounts for the four engines. Also on board are ESCs, a battery, receiver, and
an OpenPilot
autopilot that will hopefully keep a drone in any shape imaginable hovering in the air. All this packaged in a sleek aluminum briefcase make it look like something out of an eccentric Bond film parody.
This project isn’t for sale – at least until the Brookstone catalog steals the idea – but you can get
the bill of materials
directly from [Jasper], just in case you’d like to make your own random flying object. | 24 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "1024243",
"author": "ATC",
"timestamp": "2013-07-08T18:01:50",
"content": "the think with the telephone isnt working^^the propeller hits each other…just saying",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1024327",
"author": "Jaspe... | 1,760,376,513.166822 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/08/an-autonomous-boat-across-the-atlantic/ | An Autonomous Boat Across The Atlantic | Brian Benchoff | [
"drone hacks"
] | [
"Atlantic",
"autonomous",
"boat",
"satellite",
"spot welder"
] | While we may be waiting for unmanned drones to deliver a pizza, there’s already an unmanned ship
plying the Atlantic on a transoceanic voyage
. It’s called Scout, and it’s the product of about two years worth of work by a very close-knit group of friends.
Scout is a 12.5 foot ship constructed out of foam and carbon fiber loaded up with solar panels, electronics, an electric motor and a
SPOT satellite tracker
. The team has been working on Scout for the last two years now, and this last week the autonomous ship finally set out on its mission: a 3500 mile journey from Rhode Island across the Atlantic to Spain.
Right now, Scout is just over four days into its mission having travelled 90 miles from Rhode Island on its way to Spain. You can follow Scout on its journey on
this very cool live tracking site
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY684wjXAH4&w=580] | 42 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "1024185",
"author": "reggie",
"timestamp": "2013-07-08T15:10:30",
"content": "This would be fantastic if it wasn’t heading back to nantucket right now…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1024186",
"author": "Javier",
"times... | 1,760,376,512.99685 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/08/two-way-bluetooth-communication-made-easy/ | Two-way Bluetooth Communication Made Easy | Mike Szczys | [
"Android Hacks",
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"bluetooth",
"hc-05"
] | It’s hard to imagine an easier way to set up communications between an Android device and an Arduino using Bluetooth than by following
this guide
. In the center of the breadboard you can see the cheap and ubiquitous HC-05 Bluetooth module. Having picked up one of these ourselves we can attest that after opening the package and holding one in your hand you may be struck with a “where do I start?” conundrum. If you’ve got an Android handset and an Arduino you start right here, then methodically replace one side of the equation at a time until your own project has a Bluetooth component and you actually understand how it works.
Hardware for the project comes in a couple of parts. The Bluetooth module wants 3.3v logic levels so that is taken into account. The image above shows a buffer chip doing the conversion, but the Fritzing schematic on the post uses a voltage divider. The software end of things consists of an Arduino sketch and an Android app. Check out all the controls on that screen. With bi-directional communications and a slew of already-configured commands this should get you up and running quickly on pretty much any possible project.
One thing to note is that there are different firmwares for these HC-05 units. For more on that
see this project
. | 14 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1024150",
"author": "Emeryth",
"timestamp": "2013-07-08T13:15:27",
"content": "From my experience, the HC-05 module works fine with 5V UART levels.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1024165",
"author": "greencardigan",
... | 1,760,376,513.210833 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/07/raspberry-pi-learns-the-lost-art-of-teletext/ | Raspberry Pi Learns The Lost Art Of Teletext | Mike Szczys | [
"Raspberry Pi",
"Video Hacks"
] | [] | Exploring dead protocols is often the calling card of hobby electronics enthusiasts. And why not? The mistakes have already been made and fixed — you can learn from them. This
Raspberry Pi TeleText hack
is the perfect example. It let [Moonlit] explore the realm of generating composite video, as well as establishing communications between the Raspberry Pi and a microcontroller.
Teletext
was a method of accessing information on a television before computer networks were available to the general public. It was pretty impressive at the time, as you can tell from
this Retrotechtacular feature
. [Moonlit] started looking into recreating a Teletext device by simply generating a PAL signal with an AVR chip. He was met with an equipment failure (remember, it’s
always
a hardware problem) in to form of a fake composite to USB dongle. After changing the receiving device he was up and running and ready to explore the particulars of the protocol. As you can see, his success even led him to spin a breakout board which plugs in to the RPi GPIO header. A Y-splitter (joiner?) combines the composite output of the RPi with the the overlay data from his own board. | 35 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "1023806",
"author": "mh",
"timestamp": "2013-07-07T13:59:19",
"content": "Teletext is far from dead in northern europe (im aware of several countries stil using it)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1023813",
"author": "... | 1,760,376,513.281045 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/07/3d-printed-bike-shifter/ | 3D Printed Bike Shifter | Brian Benchoff | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"bike",
"bike shifter",
"friction shifter",
"shifter"
] | [Rich] is embarking on a fairly long bike trip in a few weeks – Seattle to Portland – and thought including some 3D printed gear on his ride would be a fun endeavor. His first idea was a printed belt drive, but the more he looked at that idea the less realistic it seemed. He finally hit upon the idea of
creating a
3D printed bike shifter
, and after an afternoon of engineering and printing, the shifter ended up working very well.
[Rich]’s shifter is actually a friction shifter. Instead of ‘clicking’ into position, this type moves the derailleur gradually. It’s much more tolerant of slight misalignment, and most touring bikes – the type that would embark on long journeys along the coast of the Pacific northwest – have these types of shifters.
Total printing time was about one and a half hours, and was attached to [Rich]’s bike with off-the-shelf hardware. He’s already put about 150 miles on his custom designed shifter with no signs of failure. | 26 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "1023820",
"author": "Alan",
"timestamp": "2013-07-07T15:28:42",
"content": "I like stuff like this. It looks solid, beefy, and practical, and I’ve always liked a clean industrial type look. It is beautiful because it isn’t fancy.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies... | 1,760,376,513.343644 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/07/putting-two-years-into-one-bowl/ | Putting Two Years Into One Bowl | Brian Benchoff | [
"cooking hacks"
] | [
"bowl",
"lathe",
"sequoia"
] | Over the last few months, [Frank Howarth] has been putting a lot of effort into a gigantic sequoia log he started milling two years ago. He recently completed
a wonderful chair
, but in the years these gigantic blocks of lumber have been sitting around, he’s always had one project in the back of his mind:
a giant wooden bowl
made from this sequoia log.
The wood for this bowl came from a relatively small cutoff from the original sequoia log. [Frank] had initially cut this cutoff into a circle to let it dry for an eventual run on a lathe. The bowl blank was so big, though, that he needed to create a jig to trim off most of the excess and keep from wasting many hours with a gouge.
With a bowl this large – about 20 inches across – simply screwing it onto the lathe wasn’t an option. [Frank] had to construct a jig for his chuck, capable of holding the bowl by the rim so he could shape the bottom.
The end product, coated with linseed oil and beeswax, is a work of art. Making anything this size on a lathe takes a lot of skill, and we’re thankful for [Frank] sharing it with us. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1038282",
"author": "wretch",
"timestamp": "2013-07-08T02:40:27",
"content": "Awesome! Now he ought to make a pair of giant fork and spoon to match. (c:",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1038283",
"author": "bigredlevy",
... | 1,760,376,513.385845 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/06/brute-force-attack-xbox-360-parental-controls/ | Brute Force Attack Xbox 360 Parental Controls | Mike Szczys | [
"Security Hacks",
"Xbox Hacks"
] | [
"atmega32u4",
"brute force",
"parental control",
"vinciduino"
] | The Xbox 360 has the option of parental controls. It limits the rating of games which can be played on the system. [Oscar] didn’t really need to remove the lock-out. It was simply an interesting proof of concept for him. In the image above he’s holding up a Vinciduino board. It has an ATmega32u4 chip that can
brute-force attack the Xbox 360 parental code
(
translated
).
We’ve seen quite a few of these attacks lately. Like
the recent iPad pin attack
this uses the microcontroller to emulate a keyboard. As you can see in the video, [Oscar] first navigates the menu system to the unlock code screen, then plugs in his device.
The unlock screen calls for a four-digit numeric PIN. That’s a total of 10000 possible combinations. It looks pretty slow in the demo, but according to his calculations the worst case scenario would still break the code in less than seventeen hours. Apparently there’s no lock-out for the max number of wrong codes. | 11 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1023706",
"author": "david",
"timestamp": "2013-07-07T02:24:43",
"content": "a simple nand dump and any program to read the 360’s nand will give you the reset code, also just call microsoft and give them the serial and they will give you the reset code to. but ignoring that its pret... | 1,760,376,513.487614 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/06/bolstering-raspberry-pi-hdmi-with-a-current-regulator/ | Bolstering Raspberry Pi HDMI With A Current Regulator | Mike Szczys | [
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"converter",
"current regulator",
"hdmi",
"LM317",
"RPi",
"vga"
] | We’ve never tried using an HDMI to VGA converter with Raspberry Pi. We heard they were expensive and have always just used HDMI out (although DVI would be just as easy). Apparently if you have a VGA converter that isn’t powered the RPi board may output unstable video due to lack of current from the connector. [Orlando Cosimo] shows
how to fix the problem
with a few inexpensive components.
Just this morning we saw
a portable PSU using an LM317
. This project uses the same part, but in a different way. [Orlando] uses three resistors in parallel to make the LM317 behave like a current regulator (as opposed to a voltage regulator) which will output about 550 milliamps. Input voltage is pulled directly from the 5V line of the microUSB port. The output is injected into the HDMI connector. This will boost the amount of juice available to the unpowered VGA converter, stabilizing the system.
There are a lot of other power hacks out there for the RPi. One of our favorites is pulling the stock linear regulator
in favor of a switch mode regulator
.
[via
Dangerous Prototypes
] | 18 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1023606",
"author": "fonz",
"timestamp": "2013-07-06T21:24:15",
"content": "The dropout of an LM317 is at least 1V (plus the current sense resistor) it is all shorted by a diode (max. ~0.8V) so it doesn’t do anything",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,376,513.438117 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/06/pull-out-pantry-fills-space-next-to-refrigerator/ | Pull-out Pantry Fills Space Next To Refrigerator | Mike Szczys | [
"cooking hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"cabinet",
"kitchen",
"pantry",
"refrigerator"
] | Your refrigerator needs a few inches of space on the hinge side in order for the door to open fully. If there’s a wall on that side it means you leave a gap. A bit of lumber and some inexpensive hardware can
turn that gap into a pull-out pantry
.
This picture is from [Ratmax00’s] pantry project. He had a 6.5″ gap to work with and started the build by making a wooden frame using pocket screws for the butt joints. Four casters were added to the bottom to make it roll in and out easily. He needed a handle and a way to make sure commodities didn’t fall off the shelves. He chose to use a 3D printer for brackets that hold the fence dowels and a custom handle. If you don’t have that just hit the cabinet hardware aisle at your local home store.
We wonder if it would have been possible to use full-extension draw rails mounted above and below the cabinet in addition to a couple of wheels? This would help keep the pantry from scraping against the fridge or the wall.
While you’re building bookshelf sized things why not get to work on
a hidden door
as well? | 24 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1023565",
"author": "tjbaudio",
"timestamp": "2013-07-06T19:19:16",
"content": "Something to consider is refrigerators and freezers also need an air-gap so it can cool it self. Just put your hands on the side and feel for your self.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"rep... | 1,760,376,513.612973 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/06/turning-a-router-into-an-arduino-shield/ | Turning A Router Into An Arduino Shield | Brian Benchoff | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"ethernet",
"shield",
"wifi"
] | [Dirk] had a problem: while he already had an Arduino with an Ethernet shield, he needed WiFi for an upcoming project. Running a Cat5 cable was out of the question, and a true Arduino WiFi shield is outrageously expensive. He did, however, have a WiFi router lying around, and decided it would
make a perfect WiFi shield
with just a little bit of cutting.
The router [Dirk] used was a TL-WR702N, a common router found in the parts bins of makers the world over. Inspiringly, the size of the router’s PCB was
just
larger than the space between the Arduino’s pin headers. Turning the router into a shield is simply a matter of scoring the edge of the board and gluing on a few pins for mechanical strength.
Power and ground lines were soldered between the pin headers and the router, while data is passed to the Arduino and Ethernet shield through a short cable. It may not look pretty, but if it works in a pinch we can’t complain. | 15 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1023505",
"author": "Garrett Albers",
"timestamp": "2013-07-06T16:32:09",
"content": "This is wonderful! And cheap too! The TL-WR702N sells commonly for around 20-22 bucks! Nice!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1023510",
"au... | 1,760,376,513.668353 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/08/the-model-engineer/ | The Model Engineer | Brian Benchoff | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"engineer",
"locomotive",
"model",
"narrow gauge",
"train"
] | As a child, [Mike Chrisp] saw a film featuring one of the great narrow gauge English locomotives. While the story was inordinately heartening, as soon as he walked out of the theatre, [Mike] said to himself that he had to have one of these locomotives. T
hus began a lifelong adventure
in model engineering.
[Mike] builds model locomotives and other steam-powered means of motive power. Everything from five-inch gauge locomotives to small steam tractors is liable to come out of his small workshop, all built with the machining and engineering excellence only a lifetime of experience can provide.
As for what drives [Mike] to stay in his workshop for long hours, he says his shop is just a place to be, a place to tinker, and a place to simply think about things, even if his hands aren’t getting dirty. There’s something beautiful about that, even if [Mike] were to hide the products of his skill away from the world. | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "1038285",
"author": "t-bone",
"timestamp": "2013-07-10T04:19:58",
"content": "All four mini-films are well worth watching.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1038286",
"author": "Mystick",
"timestamp": "2013-08-07T09:27:59"... | 1,760,376,513.546797 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/08/a-very-small-hdmi-display/ | A Very Small HDMI Display | Brian Benchoff | [
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"display",
"hdmi",
"lcd"
] | With dozens of pocket-sized ARM boards with HDMI popping up, we’re surprised we haven’t seen this before. [Elias]
made a custom driver board
that takes an HDMI input and displays it on a very tiny, high-resolution display from a cell phone.
The display used is the same as what comes stock in the HTC desire HD. With a resolution of 800×480, it’s more than enough for a basic desktop, and while it’s not a 1080p monster from a few flagship phones, it’s more than enough for most uses.
[Elias]’ board consists of a Himax display driver and a TI DVI receiver. Included on the board is an MSP430 microcontroller used for initializing the driver and display. This build was originally intended for the
Replicape
, a 3D printer driver board for the Beaglebone, but because the only connections to this board are HDMI and an SPI to the ‘430, this also works with the Raspberry Pi. | 26 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1024118",
"author": "MarkS",
"timestamp": "2013-07-08T11:37:50",
"content": "Oh wow – now all we have to add is a tiny Fresnel lens and its “Brazil” but in color!!!…Yayayayay",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1024119",
"... | 1,760,376,513.919141 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/08/automata-and-wooden-gears/ | Automata And Wooden Gears | Brian Benchoff | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"automata",
"gears",
"wood"
] | While most animated machines we deal with every day – everything from clocks to cars to computers – are made of metal, there is an art to creating automated objects out of wood. [Dug North]
is a creator of such inventions
, making automata out of wooden gears, cogs, and cams.
[Dug]’s inventions are simple compared to turbine engines, but they still retain an artistry all their own. With just simple woodworking tools, he’s able to creating moving vignettes of everyday scenes, everything from a dog barking at a bird, to Santa Claus gracefully soaring over a house on Christmas Eve.
Below, you’ll find a video of [Dug]’s creation, ‘An Unwelcome Dinner Guest’ – an automated dog barking at a wooden bird. There’s also a video of him being interviewed by the awesome people at Tested last year at the World Maker Faire.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIUuedGbtls&w=580]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn0gHb9hDw4&w=580] | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,376,513.955987 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/07/hackaday-links-sunday-july-7th-2013/ | Hackaday Links: Sunday, July 7th, 2013 | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"cnc",
"facedancer",
"freddie mercury",
"ir blaster",
"most useless machine",
"sonos"
] | IR control for your home theater doesn’t have to look ugly. [Rhys Goodwin]
put his IR blasters inside his audio equipment
.
Steam powered windshield wiper
. Need we say more?
An assembled version of the FaceDancer
is now available for purchase. This is
a man-in-the-middle USB tool
developed by [Travis Goodspeed]. When [S.A.] sent us the tip he mentioned that the board is a pain to hand solder if you’re making your own; this is an moderately affordable alternative.
[Aaron] makes it easy for audiophiles to
listen to Soundcloud on their Sonos hardware
.
We’ve heard of
fuzzy clocks
— they only give you a general sense of time. Here’s a fuzzy thermometer that
uses the vocal stylings of [Freddie Mercury]
to get a general feel for how hot it is.
While you’re still laughing, this most useless machine
taunts you in more ways than one
. It uses audio clips and theatrics to vary the way in which it shuts itself off. [Thanks Itay and David]
Modern CNC techniques make short work of
prototyping for the Ford Motor Company
. [Thank Wybren via
SlashGear
] | 7 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1024000",
"author": "jnwatts",
"timestamp": "2013-07-08T00:49:38",
"content": "That’s one of the coolest delta CNC machines I’ve ever seen! I wonder if it could be duplicated in the DIY realm, perhaps with sheets of plastic, or much thinner steel? (I presume alumunium isn’t ductile ... | 1,760,376,514.194306 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/07/manual-transmission-for-gamers/ | Manual Transmission For Gamers | Mike Szczys | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"gear shifter",
"Joystick",
"manual transmission",
"shifter"
] | If that stick shift just doesn’t feel right in your hand it’s time for a change. This hack puts
a gaming joystick in the center console of your hoopty
as a gear shifter.
[Ilias] used a joystick from about 1991 to replace the stock shifter. It jogs our memory when he mentions that this thing saw a lot of use playing
X-wing vs. Tie Fighter
. Boy did we burn up a ton of time playing that one too! He actually broke the stock part getting it off (find a shop manual for your car if you’re afraid of this). But once the grip was removed he was relieved to find the joystick fit perfectly. The two molded plastic halves of the joystick screw together. To join them with the shifting level he used epoxy putty.
The momentary push switch for that thumb button is still in there. But it doesn’t look like he hooked it up to anything. If we were to give this one a try we’d have to find some use for it. Got any suggestions? Let us know in the comments. | 53 | 28 | [
{
"comment_id": "1023892",
"author": "mattthegamer463",
"timestamp": "2013-07-07T19:21:31",
"content": "Hook the button to the horn circuit. Thats about as close to blasting other drivers as you can get.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "102396... | 1,760,376,514.100194 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/07/rocketduino-for-high-g-high-altitude-logging/ | Rocketduino, For High-G, High Altitude Logging | Brian Benchoff | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"accelerometer",
"arduino",
"gps",
"model rocket",
"rocket",
"rocketry"
] | Although the thrill of launching rockets is usually found in their safe decent back to Earth, eventually you’re going to want some data from your flight. Everything from barometric pressure, GPS logging, and acceleration data is a useful thing to have, especially if you’re trying to perfect your craft. [zortness] over on reddit
created a data logging board created especially
for amateur rocketry, a fabulous piece of work that stands up to the rigors of going very fast and very high.
The design of the board is a shield for the Arduino Mega and Due, and comes with enough sensors for over-analyzing any rocket flight. The GPS logs location and altitude at 66Hz, two accelerometers measure up to 55 G. Barometric, temperature, and compass sensors tell the ground station all the data they would need to know over a ZigBee 900MHz radio link.
Because this is an Arduino, setting up flight events such as deploying the main and drogue chutes are as easy as uploading a bit of code. [zortness] built this for a 4″ diameter rocket, but he says it might fit in a 3″ rocket. We just can’t wait to see some videos of it in action. | 17 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1023847",
"author": "biozz",
"timestamp": "2013-07-07T17:12:15",
"content": "i have made somthing similar on a standalone platform … its not easy to get right and to take the G forces!good job!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "10... | 1,760,376,514.01036 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/07/taking-picture-of-exploding-wire/ | Taking Picture Of Exploding Wire | Brian Benchoff | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"high voltage",
"plasma",
"wire"
] | [Patrick] didn’t just want his name in lights. He wanted his name in glowing plasma explosions, made by sending thousands of volts through a very thin wire.
This project is an experiment in
capturing high speed images of exploding wires
. [Patrick] wanted to know if he could shape wires in such a way that they would explode into letters of plasma. Of course, photographic proof of this would be needed, and would make for an awesome logo in any event.
To get pictures of wire turning into plasma, [Patrick] first needed to construct the necessary electronics. A simple spark gap was constructed on a large plastic cutting board – an excellent high voltage insulator. The huge capacitors are charged with a pair of high voltage transformers, and the entire assembly is triggered with an optocoupler and a very beefy SCR.
Even though [Patrick] designed the system for a low propagation delay, there was still the matter of capturing an exploding wire on film. The camera delay varied by about 120μs, but with
a really great camera trigger
, [Patrick] eventually got some impressive pictures.
After getting the electronics and photography portion of the build down, [Patrick] turned to making letters out of expanding plasma. Simply shaping the wire into a letter shape before vaporizing it had no effect, so he turned to 3D printed channels to contain the plasma. After a few attempts, this actually worked, allowing him to form the letters L, U, and X in an expanding ball of vaporized wire. | 15 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1023819",
"author": "Tyler",
"timestamp": "2013-07-07T15:19:53",
"content": "For ‘some’ reason, photography of exploding wires is among the most highly documented photographic subjects in history…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id"... | 1,760,376,514.151726 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/06/veronica-6502-gets-keyboard-input-via-usb/ | Veronica 6502 Gets Keyboard Input Via USB | Brian Benchoff | [
"computer hacks",
"hardware"
] | [
"6502",
"keyboard",
"ps2",
"usb",
"veronica"
] | When building a homebrew computer, there are a few milestones that make all the work seem worth it. Of course, seeing the CPU step through address lines on the blinkenlights is near the top, but even more important is being able to type a character on a keyboard and have it show up on a display. [Quinn] didn’t want her Veronica computer to deal with serial terminals or PS/2 keyboards when she typed her first characters in; instead she wanted to
read a USB keyboard
using 80s-era hardware.
Back in the early days of USB, design specs and keyboard manufacturers included a legacy mode in nearly every USB keyboard ever manufactured. This allows a USB keyboard to work with the ancient PS/2 protocol. [Quinn] tapped into that functionality nearly every PS/2 keyboard has using a 6522 Versatile Interface Adapter. This VIA is in the same family of chips as the venerable 6502 CPU that provides GPIO pins and timers.
[Quinn] connected the keyboard connector tapped for PS/2 input to an ATtiny13. This microcontroller reads the scan codes from the keyboards and sends them to the VIA and the rest of Veronica. It’s quite a bit of work to get to this point, but [Quinn] finally has a computer she can type on, the first step to developing software for her homebrew computer. | 8 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1023420",
"author": "Caleb",
"timestamp": "2013-07-06T14:42:44",
"content": "This is my favorite project to see on HAD. Keep up the good work!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1023473",
"author": "drwho8 (@drwho8)",
"time... | 1,760,376,514.333926 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/07/06/led-strip-pong-as-an-arduino-shield/ | LED Strip Pong As An Arduino Shield | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"pong",
"WS2801"
] | [Schuyler Sowa] has been hard at work on
his own version of LED strip Pong
. We’d say his work has really paid off. The game is robust and full of features.
Unlike the original Pong video game
LED pong
only has one axis on which the ball travels. The ball will bounce back if the button at the end of the strip is pressed when either of the last two LED pixels are illuminated. To add in a difficulty adjustment [Schuyler] included a poteniometer which alters the speed.
The game board is one meter of LED strip with individually addressable pixels. It cost a whopping $28 and was the second kind he tried after having trouble with the WS2801 based version (which often
come as strings of lights
). An Arduino board controls the game, with a shield made from protoboard to connect the components. In addition to the two user buttons — which were hacked out of a computer keyboard — you’ll notice a pair of seven segment displays acting as a scoreboard and an HD44780 character LCD rounding out the user interface.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW_LPh4xO64 | 5 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1023447",
"author": "Martin Espinoza (@hyperlogos)",
"timestamp": "2013-07-06T14:59:37",
"content": "Make a big one with a punch switch at each end. Fireball battle.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1023514",
"author": "liqui... | 1,760,376,514.374133 |
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