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https://hackaday.com/2013/02/16/custom-3d-printed-designs-with-makerbots-customizer/ | Custom 3D Printed Designs With Makerbot’s Customizer | Brian Benchoff | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Software Development"
] | [
"makerbot",
"openscad"
] | Although having a 3D printer means you can create custom object of your own design, that doesn’t change the fact that most object printed on Makerbots and RepRaps are copies, or slight derivations, of already existing object. If you need a gear, just go grab an OpenSCAD file for a gear, and a custom smart phone case can be easily made by modifying an already existing one. The problem with this approach, though, is you’ll need to learn OpenSCAD or another 3D design tool. Enter the
Makerbot Customizer
, a web app that allows you to create custom versions of other people’s work right in your browser.
The idea behind Customizer is simple: someone creates an OpenSCAD file with a few variables like the number of teeth on a gear or the number of turns on a screw. Customizer takes this OpenSCAD file, puts sliders and radio buttons on a web page, and allows you to create custom objects based on user-created templates.
Already we’ve seen a lot of Hackaday readers send in some pretty cool customizable things, like [Bryan]’s
coil form for DIY inductors
and [Greg]’s
customizable PVC pipe couplers
. If you already know OpenSCAD,
it’s easy to create your own objects
that are customizable by anyone on the Internet. | 14 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "961141",
"author": "Henry",
"timestamp": "2013-02-16T22:49:43",
"content": "Really cool!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "961196",
"author": "Dave Borghuis",
"timestamp": "2013-02-17T01:04:15",
"content": "I just got ... | 1,760,376,609.730703 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/16/r2d2-collects-valentines-cards-like-a-boss/ | R2D2 Collects Valentine’s Cards Like A Boss | Mike Szczys | [
"Holiday Hacks"
] | [
"r2d2",
"remote control",
"star wars",
"Valentines day"
] | Think back to your school days when each student would make a box which would receive Valentine’s cards from their friends. We have fond memories of buying cards with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on them. We guess this tradition is still going strong. Instead of making a receptacle out of a shoe box [Dr Franken Storer] helped his seven-year-old build
this remote control R2D2 with sounds and lights
. Yeah, it’s totally cheating. But who can begrudge a hacker dad a little fun?
The bot started as a desktop trash can. It features a domed top which looks just like the droid, but also has a hinged opening where the cards can be placed. To the lid he attached a tilt switch that triggers a Radio Shack sound player to provide the sounds. These sound modules are popular in a lot of projects
like this doorbell hack
. The final touch (aside from the droid decor on the outside) was to add a remote control car that lets his son drive R2 around.
We asked for more details and he delivered. You’ll find his lengthy description of the project after the jump.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMLkHwNXdQQ
Inspiration – (Dr. Evil voice on) When I was in first grade, like many of us we were tasked with building the “best” valentine’s day card box and then seeing who won. I tricked mine out, wrapped it in foil, used pink and purple hearts, and made the opening the shape of a heart, I thought for sure I’d win. Then a girl named Ashley’s mom walked in with a 4’x4’ platform. On it was a castle, I’m taking 4-5 stories high, detailed block looking castle. Complete with operating draw bridge to put the cards in. Clearly I lost. I vowed that day that when I had my own kids, I would help them build the card holder of all card holders and avenge my loss, and I think we did that here. Of course I just told my 7 year old that I thought it’d be cool and I’d help him out, but selfishly, I’m hoping somewhere out there Ashley’s kids dad is nowhere near as cool and they are dealing with some tin foil shoe boxes…. (Dr. Evil voice off now)
My son is an avid Star Wars fan, loves it, and has recently gotten into Legos/tinkering with me. So I figured now was the time to do something fun. The idea of using a desktop sized trash can as R2 popped into my head when he came home from school talking about building his valentines box. From there I figured I’d add lights, then I thought about sounds, and my 7 year old son Seth suggested me make it move. The plan was to allow him to drive it around to collect the valentines, and as the kids added them the tilt switch would cause R2 to make movie sounds. We accomplished all goals and it only took the better part of a Saturday to do!
Step 1 – we bought the perfect size can on Amazon:
[link removed; search Amazon for Umbra mini recycled]
Step 2 – while we waited for it to arrive I found online some Japanese build your own paper R2D2, sadly the link with the PDF’s was no longer available, luckily I found where some other guy saved it and re-uploaded it on the internet. The PNG from the PDF we used is attached. I essentially took the “trash can” part of R2D2 and stretched it to fit across 3 pieces of 8.5×11 paper. The can part of the trash can is about the perfect height, and I had to trim a few inches off the paper for the perfect fit.
Step 3 – We test fitted the paper design to the can with tape – the only issue we ran into was that the can ever so slightly gets smaller at the bottom of the can than the top, given our timeline I couldn’t re-oriante the design to the proper angles to make it look and fit just right, so we fudged it a bit but it still looks great. We sprayed the paper and the can with 3M picture safe spray adhesive from Walmart and carefully applied it to the can.
Step 4 – We spray painted the top of the can with some silver plastic spray paint from Walmart, then printed some random shaped squares and the top circle design the best we could (I’ll admit I used MS Paint for the shapes!!!) We cut them out and also spray adhesived them on.
Step 5 – The radio shack parts list:
1. You need a record/play back device –
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102855
2. You need a 7 color LED –
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3060680
3. 800 ohm resistor (or get as close as you can with what they have in stock, we bought a 470, 200, and 120 ohm resistors and tied them together.
4. 9v battery
5. Metal LED holder (makes it look cooler and easier to mount to the trash can lid) –
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062559
Step 6 – Last two parts – we bought an $8 RC car at walmart, and a tilt switch from the Best Buy mobile audio install bay.
1.
http://www.amazon.com/Install-Mercury-Switch-Clear-IBMS-5/dp/B0068AEZBG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1360869361&sr=8-3&keywords=tilt+switch
2. New Bright RC/Truck (local walmart had them for $9, radioshack had a similar sized truck but it was $13, so we returned it)
Step 7 – See the pictures. I cut the huge clear plastic housing off of the tilt switch from best buy, and zip-tied it through a hole I drilled in the side of the swinging trash can lid
Step 8 – Drill and mount the LED to the front of the can ( used the second LED holder with no LED to mimic what R2 looks like, but mounted it too high)
Step 9 – Record R2D2 sounds from the internet onto the radioshack device – we found some great ones on Youtube.
Step 10 – since it was going to 1st grade, I cut the “record” switch to prevent accidently losing the R2 sounds at school, and the mic off of the recording device once we had the sounds, we also removed the play back switch and soldered leads to the tilt switch to active the sounds.
Step 11 – Splice into the 9v battery leads and wire them to the LED/resistors as shown:
Step 12 – We took paper the size of the bottom of the trash can, and held the RC truck over it. We traced around the tires, then transferred that pattern to the bottom of the can and used a utility knife to cut out the 4 rectangle holes for the drive wheels (allowing extra space for the front wheels to turn). I also notched and area to make the on/off easier to get to, and we then zip tied the truck to the bottom of the can. To finish it, we cut a cardboard circle and laid it over the truck to give a false bottom to the can and keep cards from getting caught in the wheels while driving.
Step 13 – Hook up the 9v, test your tilt switch, and go for a drive! Seth loves R2, and though he was bummed I couldn’t mimic the rockets that allow R2 to fly in one part of the movie, he still loves me for what we did accomplish. I’ll update you on whether or not he wins once I know!
Step 14 – Optional – Seth wanted to add legs, so after the fact he freehand drew them, colored them himself, and then we cut them out of cardboard and attached them, I have to agree with him they completed the look!
If we had more time, and a bigger budget, it would have been cool to make R2’s head spin after a card was dropped in, but there is always next year, and my 2 year old to live through in the future! | 14 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "961070",
"author": "Thopter",
"timestamp": "2013-02-16T18:50:38",
"content": "Interesting. You remove one Amazon link, but leave all the Radio Shack links, and one other Amazon link.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "961078",
... | 1,760,376,609.438287 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/16/turning-an-8-rfid-reader-into-something-useful/ | Turning An $8 RFID Reader Into Something Useful | Brian Benchoff | [
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"Deal Extreme",
"rfid"
] | [Fabien] ran across a very, very inexpensive RFID reader on Deal Extreme a while ago and with money to burn, added it to his cart. When the USB RFID reader arrived,
he noticed something fairly odd about it
(French,
Traduction
). The RFID reader presented itself to his computer as a USB HID device that spit out characters into a text editor whenever an RFID card was waved above the coil. The only problem was these characters weren’t the hex values recorded on the RFID card. So what’s going on here?
As it turns out
(
Anglais
), this random piece of Chinese electronica sends 10 bytes of data to the computer, just like
this well-documented RFID reader.
Apparently, both these RFID readers take the hex value of an RFID card, convert those bytes to base 10, and pass each digit through a lookup table. Exactly
why
it does this is anyone’s guess, but since [Fabien] figured out how it worked, he could also figure out how to reverse the process.
Unfortunately, the RFID reader in question
is currently out of stock at Deal Extreme
. Seeing as how most of the electronics available there are remarkably similar and differ only in the name printed on the enclosure, though, we wouldn’t be surprised if a nearly identical RFID reader was available elsewhere. | 37 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "961010",
"author": "a3",
"timestamp": "2013-02-16T15:53:54",
"content": "I have one of these and I want to make it work with my arduino.Unfortunately I wasn’t successful because everywhere I read was that arduino isn’t capable of being a usb host.Can I intercept the signal before it... | 1,760,376,609.509603 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/14/hacking-a-coffee-machine-for-a-better-brew/ | Hacking A Coffee Machine For A Better Brew | Eric Evenchick | [
"home hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"atmega8",
"caffeine",
"coffee",
"usb2lcd"
] | Senseo coffee makers are automated brewers that use coffee pods. [Ronald] had one, but wasn’t satisfied with the quality of the coffee it produced. His solution was to hack it apart and build his own
automatic coffee machine
with the innards.
The coffee brewing part of the system is controlled by an ATmega8. This reads the temperature using the NTC sensor from the original machine and actuates the various parts of the Senseo machine, and the added grinder. The timing was all done by trial and error, optimizing for the best cup of coffee.
Keeping with the trend of adding Raspberry Pis to everything, [Ronald] connected one to this build for remote control. He runs a very hacked version of
LCD2USB
which deals with communicating with the RPi. An Apache web server hosts a PHP script to provide a user interface, which runs a C program to tell the system to start brewing.
Unfortunately, [Ronald] didn’t give us a link to his web interface, so we can’t remotely brew him coffee. However he did provide all of the source for the project in his write up. | 33 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "960049",
"author": "gamip",
"timestamp": "2013-02-14T13:13:04",
"content": "So, you had a working, good looking coffee machine and you hacked it. Now it’s a ghetto-looking mess of wires controlled by linux, great job, nerd.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,376,609.898504 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/14/555-timer-charges-lead-acid-batteries/ | 555-timer Charges Lead Acid Batteries | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"555",
"555 timer",
"battery",
"charger",
"kenneth finnegan",
"lead-acid"
] | [Kenneth Finnegan] took the focus of a great design and redirected it to solve his own problem. What results is
this lead acid battery charger based on the 555 timer
. It’s not a top-of-the-line, all the bells and whistles type of charger. But it gets the job done with a readily available IC and no need to code for a microcontroller.
The original idea came from
a solar battery charger
entered in the 555 timer contest. The main difference in application between that and [Kenneth’s] application is the source. A solar array or wind turbine is limited on how much juice it can produce. But mains power can push a shocking (har-har) amount of current if you’re not paying attention. Herein lies the alterations to the circuit design. To control this he’s using a Laptop power supply as an intermediary and only implementing the constant current portion of the tradition 3-stage lead acid charging profile (those stages are explained in his write up).
He did
a talk on the charger
at his local radio club. You can see the 90-minute video after the break. | 16 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "960040",
"author": "Tony",
"timestamp": "2013-02-14T12:57:37",
"content": "Attention 555 haters.We are now open for business, please form an orderly queue, thank you for your patience and we look forward to your insightful (inciteful?) commentary. As always.",
"parent_id": null... | 1,760,376,609.380758 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/13/toroid-winding-cheat/ | Toroid Winding Cheat | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"core",
"drill",
"ferrite",
"toroid",
"winding"
] | When you need a toroid the easiest source is often to wind it yourself. The problem being that placing a few hundred windings around a ferrite ring is a real drag, especially if you have to make several of them. This cheat developed by [Jim W.] will save a lot of time.
He cuts the ring in half for the winding and reassembles it afterward
.
Here you can see that he has half of the core mounted in a drill chuck. To get to this point he scored the ferrite before clamping half in a vice and whacking the extruding half with a block of wood and a hammer. He hasn’t found a perfect solution for scoring the material (a utility knife or a triangular file both work but have drawbacks). Leave a comment if you’ve got any bright ideas.
Once the core is in two pieces he used some copper pipe with one end flattened and bent to the shape of the ring segment. With it hot glued in place he takes it for a spin (shown in the clip after the break). Once the windings are done a bit of super glue recombines the halves. This sort of thing is
great for monitoring power use
.
[Thanks Ted via
Workshop88 blog
] | 68 | 33 | [
{
"comment_id": "959692",
"author": "lloyd_atkinson",
"timestamp": "2013-02-13T22:06:26",
"content": "Seems like a neat idea, but would this affect the magnetic field/properties of it etc?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "959710",
"auth... | 1,760,376,609.680764 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/13/hackaday-links-valentines-day-2013/ | Hackaday Links: Valentine’s Day, 2013 | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday links",
"Holiday Hacks"
] | [
"gift",
"heart",
"love",
"Valentines day"
] | It’s not too late to hack your own Valentine’s day gifts. Here’s four projects to get you headed in the right direction.
Heart-shaped box
[Ian] built what he calls the Valentine’s gift bomb. It’s a cigar box with this LED heart on the top. A servo motor latches the lid from the inside and won’t open until the thing goes off on the big day. (sorry, no link to this one as he just sent us the pictures found after the break).
A Blinky
Bouquet
[Ryan] shows us how to make
a felt bouquet and then light things up
with some LEDs.
Pictures in a bottle
Reuse that old incandescent bulb by
adding LEDs and heart-shaped pictures
inside the glass enclosure.
Robot love
This cocoa container turned robot
cat calls, raises its eyebrows, and blinks the LEDs eyes
when she presses the button on top. | 5 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "959733",
"author": "Alex Rossie",
"timestamp": "2013-02-13T22:45:14",
"content": "The lightbulb guy put the LEDs in parallel without individual resistors. naughty naughty.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "959827",
"auth... | 1,760,376,609.832685 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/13/roll-your-own-lojack-clone/ | Roll Your Own LoJack Clone | Mike Szczys | [
"gps hacks"
] | [
"efm32",
"gps",
"gsm",
"lojack"
] | If you’ve ever worried about your car getting stolen this hack can help give you some piece of mind. It’s
a cellular enabled geolocation device
. These things have been in use for some time, the most common brand we know of is the LoJack. That company gives you a little box to install on the vehicle and if it ever goes missing they can grab the coordinates and forward them to the authorities. This custom version builds a lot into an addon board for an EFM32 board.
The image above shows the main components of the add-on: the GPS module and the GSM modem. Along the top edge of the board is the voltage regulator circuits which aim to keep the standby power to the slightest of trickles so as not to drain the car’s battery. What you can’t see is the SIM card slot which is located on the underside.
You can find the Eagle files for the design at the link above. We’ve embedded the video description of the project after the break. | 34 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "959592",
"author": "antonio",
"timestamp": "2013-02-13T20:12:06",
"content": "my wangreens cart got stolen so many times can this device help",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "959611",
"author": "AC",
"timestamp": "2013-02... | 1,760,376,609.575331 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/13/wall-wort-retrofitted-with-a-high-power-led-supply-circuit/ | Wall-wart Retrofitted With A High-power LED Supply Circuit | Mike Szczys | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"high power",
"led",
"lm393",
"source",
"top242",
"wall wart"
] | This custom circuit board picks up
some of the pieces from a wall wart to drive a high-power LED
. The basic concept is to keep the high-voltage components and swap out the low voltage ones for parts that will be able to drive the 10W load.
The PCB is custom designed, but you can see that it was shaped to match the wall wort’s original board. To the right is the original 500mA transformer. The low-voltage side uses an LM393 because of its dual-comparators. This provides feedback for both current and voltage and is a perfect compliment for the TOP242. We haven’t seen that part before, but [Mincior] says that it’s nice for this application as it has safety features that lock down the chip if power or temperature are above spec. Once the replacement is nestled inside of the plastic case it looks stock and makes sure that your custom LED fixtures will stand the test of time safely. | 10 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "959577",
"author": "Lindsay Wilson",
"timestamp": "2013-02-13T20:00:53",
"content": "“To the right is the original 500mA transformer” – actually, that’s the common-mode input choke for the mains supply. The switchmode transformer is hiding behind the bit of heatsink.",
"parent_i... | 1,760,376,609.78519 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/13/x-labs-hackerspace-completes-a-big-2-year-tesla-coil-build/ | X-Labs Hackerspace Completes A Big 2-year Tesla Coil Build | Mike Szczys | [
"News"
] | [
"Musical",
"super mario bros",
"tesla coil",
"usf",
"x-labs"
] | It’s a bit difficult to estimate the size of the Tesla coil from this picture, but look closely at the hand rail on the red-orange wall to the left and that helps. The 10-foot tall musical Tesla Coil project has been on-going for about two years. But the team at X-Labs — a hackerspace affiliated with the University of South Florida — finished it just in time for the University’s engineering expo later in the month. There’s some information about it to be found in the recent
student newspaper article on the project
. A lot more build details are
found on the groups website
, although that post is quite old.
You can’t call it a musical coil unless there’s a demo video, and that can be seen after the jump. What better to test the thing than by playing the Super Mario Bros. theme? We’re actually more partial to the
Imperial March
(it’s also fun to hear
played on stepper motors
).
[Thanks Joe] | 7 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "959502",
"author": "Moose",
"timestamp": "2013-02-13T18:41:35",
"content": "Wow… it is crazy to see something you were a part of years ago in its fledgling state actually make something. I hope they fixed that railing the coil is zapping, I remember accidentally breaking it four yea... | 1,760,376,609.325431 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/12/layer-one-a-call-for-papers/ | Layer One: A Call For Papers | Caleb Kraft | [
"cons"
] | [
"layer one"
] | It is that time of the year again! Layer one, the annual security conference is just around the corner. They’ve issued
their call for papers so if you have something interesting, you’ll want to get a hold of them
. If you haven’t heard of the conference before, take a few seconds to just
stroll back
in time and
see some
of the cool stuff they’ve shown off. We love seeing their
cool
hackable badges
every year and we know this year won’t be any different. | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,376,609.937272 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/12/add-speed-control-to-a-diy-cnc-machine/ | Add Speed Control To A DIY CNC Machine | Mike Szczys | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"gear",
"harbor freight",
"servo",
"speed controller"
] | [Jesse Merritt] bought a manual speed controller for his router. It’s used in the CNC mill he build and he figured,
why not add the ability for the computer to control the speed
.
The speed controller is a $20 unit from Harbor Freight. It comes with an On/Off switch and knob which adjusts the power going to the router. [Jesse] pulled off the knob and milled a gear which takes its place. The second gear is attached to the horn of a hobby servo mounted on the side of the speed controller. The video after the break demonstrates an Arduino driving the servo based on a potentiometer input as well as commands from the CNC controller board he’s using.
Design files for the gears and the Arduino code which drives the servo is available from
his Github repository
. | 15 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "959018",
"author": "ehud42",
"timestamp": "2013-02-12T22:42:46",
"content": "Neat hack – I was hoping for a solution that provided a PID feedback on RPM though. I’m using a 1000W light dimmer (with a big brass coloured heat sink) to tame the speed of my router. Works well, and this ... | 1,760,376,609.990552 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/12/converting-an-ibm-pcjr-joystick-to-usb/ | Converting An IBM PCjr Joystick To USB | Mike Szczys | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"converter",
"gameport",
"ibm",
"Joystick",
"pcjr",
"retro",
"usb"
] | Seeing this IBM joystick again really brings back memories. But it can be used on a modern system thanks to
this USB conversion project
.
This particular model had a connector which is foreign to us. It looks like a boxy USB-A plug, but has an eight-pin sockets which looks like it’s 0.1″ pitch. You could try to make your own male connector using a dual-row pin header, but [Gruso] just went ahead and lopped off the end of the cable. He managed to dig up the pin-out for the device and found that it could be wired up to a gameport — the connector being the only real difference. He gutted a USB gameport adapter, removing the DB15 connector and soldering directly to the board. The boxy old peripheral has just enough room to house that PCB.
If you’re looking for a few more details than this build album provides check out [Gruso’s] comments in
the Reddit thread
. | 9 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "959005",
"author": "Cyberteque",
"timestamp": "2013-02-12T22:19:33",
"content": "this looks cool!these joysticks are way better than those stupid thumb stick crap things!On that note, does anyone know where I can get this style of joystick?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,376,610.477536 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/12/help-hackaday-build-a-custom-gaming-controller-for-a-good-cause/ | Help Hackaday Build A Custom Gaming Controller For A Good Cause | Caleb Kraft | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Featured",
"Lifehacks",
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"dmd",
"muscular dystrophy"
] | We are going to make a custom gaming controller for a child with Muscular Dystrophy. His name is Thomas and he loves minecraft. This is a project that I have been wanting to do for years. I’m just beginning now, and you can
join in on the project and offer your thoughts in our forums
. We’re starting with Thomas, but ultimately, we’d like to develop a collection of fairly simple to construct open source game controllers.
For people who have a physical disability, gaming can have a profound psychological impact. Sometimes it is the only place where they can go and be on a level playing ground with their peers. Often custom gaming controllers are quite expensive, especially when you start to leave the standard xbox/playstation form factor.
Now,
with 3d printer in hand
, I’m able to kick out prototypes much faster and easier than I had ever imagined. I can design something in a matter of minutes, then print it out to see how it
feels
. Once I get something nailed down, I can refine the design to be easier to assemble, and to fit stock parts you could harvest from an xbox controller (they have an official windows driver, which is nice).
Here’s a quick video of me playing with a prototype idea. You can see I start by laying out all the standard game inputs from the controller, then I toss a slab of imaginary plastic on there and start sculpting. You would want to put velcro on the bottom of this so it would stay in place on a lap board at the perfect comfortable angle.
This is, in no way, a finished prototype. It was just a quick sculpt to get my idea down. Though I only constructed one half of the controller, you can imagine how easily you could position two units like this so that your hands could rest on top of them.
Join in on the forums
and help me come up with some more designs that might help! | 46 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "958939",
"author": "StripeyType",
"timestamp": "2013-02-12T20:10:43",
"content": "Caleb, this is *awesome*Rather than cannibalizing an existing controller, why not use one of the arduino-brethren which is able to present to the host OS as USB HID? In that way, you can build entirely... | 1,760,376,610.766917 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/12/giant-resistor-shaped-ohmmeter/ | Giant Resistor-shaped Ohmmeter | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"ATmega168",
"ohmmeter",
"resistance",
"resistor color code",
"voltage divider"
] | The fun of having
a giant resistor-shaped Ohmmeter
is that it reads back the resistance by displaying the color code. If you’re not too hot with decoding those bands there’s a helper band to the right which will display the value numerically.
All of the electronics are housed in the opaque part of the resistor, making for a nice low-profile base. The bent leads are hollow and allow [Sebastian] and his friend to run power and measurement leads through to the power connector on the back and the pair of banana jacks near the front. Each translucent ring houses an RGB LED, except for the one on the right which has four 7-segment display modules embedded in it. An ATmega168 takes the measurements using its Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) to read the value from a voltage divider. You can see a quick demo of the Ohmmeter in the video after the jump.
This would be a fun thing to pair with
that giant breadboard
. | 34 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "958910",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2013-02-12T19:10:24",
"content": "Cool idea but I would paint the board green or red to look like a PCB.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "958928",
"author": "Alex Rossie",
... | 1,760,376,610.671873 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/12/hackerspace-intro-metrix-createspace-in-seattle-washington/ | Hackerspace Intro: Metrix Create:Space In Seattle, Washington | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackerspaces"
] | [
"metrix",
"seattle"
] | Instead of a video, the members of Metrix Create:Space in Seattle, Washington posted
a self-guided virtual tour
. There is a link to a professional photographer in the area that specializes in this kind of thing. We assume he’s a member and would love to know if he hacked his own setup to capture the spherical panoramas.
The image above looks toward the front entrance. To the right is a cafe type counter which even offers a menu board listing membership prices but also time rentals on things like one hour in the solder room. The tour includes shots from 11 vantage points highlighting each portion of the space. This includes everything you might expect (3d printing, laser cutting, electronic prototyping) but a few you don’t. There’s a toddler-safe play area (we hear that the Kansas City hackerspace has one of these too), and a huge pick and place machine. | 25 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "958884",
"author": "Stoopid",
"timestamp": "2013-02-12T18:06:38",
"content": "All I got to say is, First I got to take a trip to seattle, and second, Why drinks TAB, and Y would u have a mini-fridge full of it…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,376,610.96369 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/12/university-research-dollars-poured-into-developing-a-holodeck/ | University Research Dollars Poured Into Developing A Holodeck | Mike Szczys | [
"Virtual Reality"
] | [] | It may seem like this would be an early April Fool’s joke, but the image above shows serious research in action. [Ben Lang] recently had the chance
to interview the director of a program that wants to make the Holodeck a reality
. The core goal of the research — called
Project Holodeck
— is to develop an affordable multi-player virtual reality experience outside of the laboratory. We’ve heard speculation that Sony and Microsoft will release their next-gen systems in 2013; we’d rather wait for this to hit the market.
[Nathan Burba] is the director of the program. It’s part of the University of Southern California Games Institute and brings together students of Interactive Media, Cinema Arts, and Engineering. The hardware worn by each player is shown off at the beginning of the video after the break. Most of the components are commercially available (a Lenovo laptop worn in the backpack, PlayStation controllers, etc.) but the stereoscopic display which gives each eye its own 90-degree view was developed specifically for the project.
After seeing the in-game rendered footage we can’t help but think of playing some Minecraft with this equipment. We just need some type of
omni-directional treadmill
because our living room floor space is very limited. | 24 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "958860",
"author": "Hack Man",
"timestamp": "2013-02-12T17:25:50",
"content": "but the stereoscopic display which gives each eye its own 90-degree view was developed specifically for the project.….. because it’s an Oculus Rift?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies":... | 1,760,376,610.431051 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/12/limor-from-adafruit-to-hang-out-with-president-obama/ | [Limor] From Adafruit To Hang Out With President [Obama] | Caleb Kraft | [
"News"
] | [
"adafruit",
"google"
] | In a positive twist on the usual publicity events that our administration has experimented with over the years, President [Obama] will be hosting a google+ hangout with some lucky people to discuss, well, whatever matters. It is nice to see the people running the country finally getting to grips with some technology. It is still scary to hear how many people making the laws about data still don’t even use a computer.
[Limor] from Adafruit was selected as one of the few
that would get to ask the President some questions. She will be focusing on manufacturing and small businesses. We think she’s a great candidate to do so. We’ve watched her go from someone who just did some really well documented hacks to someone who runs a successful business focusing on open information and education (and gadgets of course). You can also
submit your own questions
, and if they get enough votes, the president will answer them. | 32 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "958817",
"author": "Ryan7777",
"timestamp": "2013-02-12T16:08:27",
"content": "Who will be the first to make a derogatory statement regarding the president &| the 2nd amendment today? wait for it….",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id... | 1,760,376,610.840908 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/12/build-an-eye-tracking-headset-for-90/ | Build An Eye Tracking Headset For $90 | Brian Benchoff | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"eye tracking",
"gaze tracking"
] | Eye tracking is a really cool technology used in dozens of fields ranging from linguistics, human-computer interaction, and marketing. With a proper eye tracking setup, it’s possible for a web developer to see if their changes to the layout are effective, to measure how fast someone reads a page of text, and even diagnose medical disorders. Eye tracking setups haven’t been cheap, though,
at least until now
. Pupil is a serious, research-quality eye tracking headset designed by [Moritz] and [William] for their thesis at MIT.
The basic idea behind Pupil is to put one digital camera facing the user’s eye while another camera looks out on the world. After calibrating the included software, the headset looks at the user’s pupil to determine where they’re actually looking.
The hardware isn’t specialized at all – just a pair of $20 USB webcams, a LED, an infrared filter made from exposed 35mm film negatives, and a 3D printed headset
conveniently for sale at Shapeways
.
The software for Pupil is based on OpenCV and OpenGL and is available for Mac and Linux. Calibration is easy, as seen in the videos after the break, and the results are amazing for an eye tracking headset thrown together for under $100. | 41 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "958750",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2013-02-12T14:21:37",
"content": "How long before our robotic overlords (or meat space bosses) will require us to wear these, to know what we are reading?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": ... | 1,760,376,611.047945 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/12/automatic-custom-eagle-schematics/ | Automatic, Custom Eagle Schematics | Brian Benchoff | [
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"eagle"
] | It’s a simple fact that for every circuit you design, someone else has done it before. If you’re working on a high altitude balloon project, there’s already a project out there with a microcontroller, barometric pressure sensor, and an SD card somewhere out there in a corner of the Internet. Google will only help so much if you want to copy these previous builds, which led [Ben] to come up with a better solution. He took dozens of building blocks for basic digital projects and put them all into
one really great interface called HackEDA
.
The premise is simple: most electronic projects are just electronic Lego. You connect your microcontroller to a sensor, add in a battery, throw in a few caps and resistors for good measure, and hopefully everything will work. HackEDA takes all those basic building blocks – microcontrollers, power sources, and sensors – and creates a custom Eagle schematic with all the parts your project needs
HackEDA is still very much in beta, so there aren’t a whole lot of building blocks to choose from. That said, being able to generate an Eagle schematic with all the parts necessary for your next project is a boon. With this, all you need for a final circuit board is to create a new board file, hit the autorouter, and spend a half hour fixing whatever mess the autorouter made. | 19 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "958744",
"author": "nelsontb",
"timestamp": "2013-02-12T14:09:22",
"content": "Once this is filled up with more i2c sensors and different microcontrollers it will be an awesome reference site",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "95... | 1,760,376,610.899153 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/12/the-firecracker-crossbow/ | The Firecracker Crossbow | Jeremy Cook | [
"Featured",
"Toy Hacks",
"Weapons Hacks"
] | [
"crossbow",
"firecracker",
"grill igniter"
] | If there are two things that we love at [HAD], giant German firecrackers, and medieval weapons would have to be close to the top of this list.
This clever hack gives us both
, with a toy crossbow capable of both lighting and launching firecrackers to a safe distance. We didn’t see a blooper reel, but being ready to run in case of a malfunction is probably a good idea as well.
The post has some pictures of the mechanism, but at its heart, this hack consists of ripping up a grill igniter, and placing the contacts into a shortened-stock toy crossbow. Safety is of course encouraged, as much as it can be with this type of device. It’s especially important here as apparently “firecracker” roughly translates in German to “small sticks of high-explosive,” or possibly “road flare.”
Be sure to check out this modded crossbow in action in the video after the break!
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8UsXreCjQs%5D | 40 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "958706",
"author": "Frank",
"timestamp": "2013-02-12T13:16:49",
"content": "I’m fairly sure if there are TWO things you love then the TWO things on that list is not “close to the top”, they’re the entire list.But I might be wrong, maths are not really my thing.",
"parent_id": nu... | 1,760,376,611.127503 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/11/hands-on-with-the-super-tiny-arudino-femtoduino/ | Hands On With The Super Tiny Arudino: FemtoDuino | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Reviews"
] | [
"Femtoduino"
] | We originally heard about the
FemtoDuino
last year. It looked good enough and tiny enough, but we didn’t really have a need for it. Recently though, we started on a new project (
which you can follow on the forums
!) which required an easy modification to an existing circuit. Space and weight were quite important so we decided to pick up a couple femtoduinos at $25 each, and give them a try.
These things are tiny. Their foot print is 20.7×15.2mm. You can see in the picture below, with a quarter for reference. Tiny. Frankly, there’s not much to say about them. They’re an Atmega328 that is arduino compatible. I plan on using my
redbull Arduino
to program this thing, since you need to bring your own serial interface.
If you’re anything like me, you have atrociously sloppy soldering and shaky shaky hands. I was a bit concerned about actually getting those wires soldered in without bridging the pads. I was able to pull it off though. Here’s a video so you can see how horrible my soldering technique and equipment are.
I really don’t have any complaints about this thing, it works just like an arduino but smaller. The closest thing to a complaint is that the silk screening is a bit blurry making it difficult to read which pins are what. It isn’t horrible, but it isn’t perfect either. We really couldn’t think of much else so we decided a haiku would cover it.
one arduino
much smaller than a quarter
Femtoduino
Of course, if you want to follow along and see if I end up with complaints, you can
watch me build these battling star wars themed R/C cars
. | 55 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "958409",
"author": "Mike Szczys",
"timestamp": "2013-02-12T00:40:06",
"content": "Oh no, a firestick! Someone get this man a Hakko knock-off",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "958432",
"author": "nelsontb",
"times... | 1,760,376,611.230331 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/11/cracking-a-sam7xc-cryptographic-coprocessor/ | Cracking A SAM7XC Cryptographic Coprocessor | Mike Szczys | [
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"Atmel",
"coprocessor",
"cryptography",
"rfid",
"sam7xc"
] | [Adam Laurie] spent time
tearing into the security of the SAM7XC chip
produced by Atmel. Even if he hadn’t found some glaring security holes just reading about his methodology is worth it.
The chip is used in a secure RFID system. The chip is added to the mix to do the heavy lifting required when using encryption. [Adam] grabbed a couple of open source libraries to put it to the test. The firmware is locked down pretty tight, but his explorations into the content of the RAM yield a treasure trove of bits. After investigating the sample code for the chip he’s shocked to learn that it uses RAM to store the keys at one point. The rest of his journey has him dumping the data and sifting through it until he gets to the “Master Diversification Key”. That’s the big daddy which will let him decrypt any of the tags used.
He reported his findings to
Atmel
in September of 2011. Their response is that they have no way of protecting RAM from exploit. [Adam] asserts that the problem is that the sample software wasn’t designed with the vulnerability of RAM in mind. The keys should never be stored there specifically because it is vulnerable to being dumped from a running system. | 13 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "958525",
"author": "Kyle Kienapfel",
"timestamp": "2013-02-12T04:38:41",
"content": "Keep it stored in the program memory itself?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "958567",
"author": "treymd",
"timestamp": "2013-... | 1,760,376,611.282483 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/11/automatic-volume-control-puts-the-kibosh-on-loud-tv-commercials/ | Automatic Volume Control Puts The Kibosh On Loud TV Commercials | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"commercial",
"television",
"tv",
"volume"
] | If you’re having a hard time tuning out those loud commercials why not let your electronics project do it for you? This is an Arduino-based setup which
adjusts television volume when it goes above a certain threshold
. It uses a microphone, rather than a direct audio signal, so you can set it based on what is actually heard in the room.
The control scheme uses the IR LED and IR receiver seen on the breadboarded circuit above. The receiver lets you teach your volume up and down buttons from your remote control to the system. The one failing we see in the design is that the volume level is hard-coded, requiring you to flash new code to make adjustments (perhaps an enterprising reader could add a potentiometer for making easy adjustments?).
We can’t help but be reminded of the setup which
reads the closed caption info to mute topics you’ve added to a blacklist
. | 34 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "958359",
"author": "Rogier",
"timestamp": "2013-02-11T22:09:42",
"content": "I think it would be much nicer to “teach” the system by taking volume samples for a few minutes. If the volume then suddenly goes above that threshold it should lower. Then you might get a nicer transition ... | 1,760,376,611.352099 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/11/turning-an-iphone-into-a-karaoke-machine/ | Turning An IPhone Into A Karaoke Machine | Brian Benchoff | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"karaoke",
"karaoke mixer"
] | Instead of booking an MC for your next karaoke party, take a look
at [Paulo]’s build
that turns any iPhone into a karaoke machine.
There are thousands of YouTube videos out there of songs with lyrics – a much more advanced version of the mainstay of any karaoke get together, suitcase full of CDs and a video monitor. The only problem in turning these YouTube videos into a karaoke party is putting a drunken slob into the mix. [Paulo] recently solved this problem
with a karaoke mixer
that adds a microphone input to any analog audio feed.
But this is only halfway to a karaoke machine. To finish the build, [Paulo] created an amplifier (with a fabulous
Manhattan-style PCB
) for an iPhone’s audio output. The video output can be sent directly to a monitor, allowing for the full karaoke experience.
Since [Paulo]’s karaoke mixer uses an XLR jack for the mic, it’s still possible to
make karaoke worse
by adding vocal and other miscellaneous effects. | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "958175",
"author": "Koenzie",
"timestamp": "2013-02-11T12:49:18",
"content": "There is no XLR plug to be found in this build… only jack :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "958230",
"author": "Paulo",
"timestamp"... | 1,760,376,611.465794 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/10/soldering-small-components-for-a-video-da/ | Soldering Small Components For A Video DA | Eric Evenchick | [
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"amplifier",
"soldering",
"tssop",
"video"
] | Video distribution amplifiers are used to amplify a video signal and split it into multiple outputs so multiple displays can be driven. They are also used to correct the gain of an incoming video signal. [Andrew] was having trouble with the video signal from an interferometer, and found the issue was caused by a low output gain. His solution was to build his own
video distribution amplifier
.
The
THS7374
appeared to be the perfect chip for this application. It’s a four channel video amplifier IC, and only requires a few passive components to run. The only problem was the package: a 14 pin TSSOP with 0.65 mm pitch. Not fun to solder by hand, especially if you don’t have a PCB.
[Andrew]’s solution was to build his own breakout out of copper-clad board. He worked under a microscope and cut out a pattern for the part, then soldered 30 AWG wire to the pins to make connections. After cleaning off any copper that could cause a short, the board was working, and the video waveform looked great on an oscilloscope.
After testing, even more gain was needed. [Andrew] ended up cascading two of the amplifiers. This method of prototyping doesn’t look easy, but could be worth it when you need a single board. | 18 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "958026",
"author": "Jeff Nichols",
"timestamp": "2013-02-11T01:31:53",
"content": "HaD, you do more than anyone else to keep people afraid of SMD soldering. I know it looks hard at first, but it’s surprisingly easy once you actually try it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,376,611.836961 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/10/hack-a-day-on-fact-or-fiction-with-veronical-belmont/ | Hack A Day On Fact Or Fiction With [Veronical Belmont] | Caleb Kraft | [
"Interviews"
] | [
"interview",
"world domination"
] | Enjoy a fun episode of “Fact or Fiction” with [Veronica Belmont], with guest [me] from Hackaday. The show “Fact or Fiction” generally takes some popular topic and talks to experts who can shed some light on the topic. They’ve had all kinds of intelligent people on, and also me. If you watch a few episodes you’ll see that she tends to let people talk about the science for a bit, but inevitably veers over into “can we actually make this?”, which tends to elicit an awkward and somewhat humorous response from the person being interviewed, because most of the things they’re talking about are pretty outlandish, like portal guns. I enjoyed the
one about life on mars
, especially when she asks the gentleman how accurate portrayal of martians in movies are, right after he explained that we’re looking microscopic things.
On a completely unrelated note, it is a very very small world. I ran in to [Veronica] at CES a few years ago and we found that both her and her husband both worked in the same office as [Phil Torrone] when Hackaday was just beginning. | 7 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "957935",
"author": "RandomTask",
"timestamp": "2013-02-10T20:51:15",
"content": "Yay, I love Veronical Belmont. Ehs hunts the undead and doesn’t afraid of anything.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "957998",
"author": "c... | 1,760,376,611.941037 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/10/reflow-oven-courtesy-of-hurricane-sandy/ | Reflow Oven Courtesy Of Hurricane Sandy | Brian Benchoff | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"oven",
"reflow oven",
"toaster oven"
] | The Makerbar, Hoboken’s Hackerspace, was in desperate need of a reflow oven. Hurricane Sandy did a number on a whole bunch of household appliances, so when [Kush] saw a neighbor throw out a broken toaster oven,
the Makerbar crew sprung into action
.
The storm waters shorted the electronics board, fried the existing controls, and basically turned the oven into a metal shell with heating elements. It was the perfect platform for a toaster oven – every part that was going to be thrown out was already destroyed.
[Zach] over at the Makerbar ordered the
Sparkfun reflow toaster conversion kit
along with a few arcade buttons and set to work. After plugging the heating elements into the mains power to make sure they still worked, [Zach] attached these elements to the relay on board the controller. Three arcade buttons were wired up to the controller, and a whole bunch of code was written.
With the included thermocouple, [Zach], [Kush], and the rest of the Makerbar gang now have a very accurate and reliable reflow oven. There’s also settings for Sculpey clay and shrinky dinks, just in case anyone at Makerbar is feeling a bit creative. | 7 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "957874",
"author": "Jordan",
"timestamp": "2013-02-10T17:01:50",
"content": "PASSIVE VOICE ALERTotherwise, good hacking!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "957876",
"author": "Salokcin",
"timestamp": "2013-02-10T17:05:34",
... | 1,760,376,611.894034 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/10/better-pwm-on-the-raspberry-pi/ | Better PWM On The Raspberry Pi | Brian Benchoff | [
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"Pi Blaster",
"pwm",
"raspberry pi"
] | [Thomas] wanted to play around with a few high-power LEDs and a RaspberryPi. LED controllers usually require some form of PWM to change the brightness of a LED, and unfortunately the Pi only has one PWM pin. [Thomas] could have gotten around this with a custom chip or even an Arduino hanging off the Pi’s USB port.
He opted to go with software-based PWM
, and did so in a way that is far superior to bit banging a pin.
Conventional wisdom says PWM without a real-time operating system is dumb – right up there with starting a land war in Asia. Turning a pin on and off in a while loop
will
eat up all the processor power in the Pi, so [Thomas] looked for a better way to do things. He came across
the ServoBlaster project
by [Richard Hirst] that creates pulses of different lengths by playing with direct memory access; [Richard] created a circular buffer that is read every 10μs. With 2000 values in the buffer, he can control eight different pins with very little impact on CPU usage.
For [Thomas], though, [Richard]’s project wasn’t enough. It was originally written for servos and is only able to drive PWM pins up to about 12%. A quick rewrite of [Richard]’s code allowed [Thomas] to control eight pins with PWM varying from 0% to 100% – and be able to do other things with his Pi in the process.
[Thomas] now has a 40 Watt RGB LED powered by a Raspberry Pi burned into his retina, and the satisfaction of a really clever way of giving the Pi more PWM pins. | 13 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "957805",
"author": "icanhazadd",
"timestamp": "2013-02-10T12:26:41",
"content": "Neat-O! I guess i’ll have to hack this hack though, so that the IR reciever still works. (pi-blaster sets all pins to outputs causing your other shiny things to stop working)",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,376,611.541581 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/09/building-a-better-nes/ | Building A Better NES | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks",
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"nes",
"nintendo"
] | The first model of the NES wasn’t all that great; just ask any one of the millions of six-year-olds who independently discovered blowing on a cartridge made it work. The second NES hardware revision, the top loader, was better but only had RF video output. These are the only two pieces of hardware that can play every single NES game, and even with years of hacking NES-on-a-chip devices, there’s still much to be desired.
[low_budget] over on the AtariAge forum decided he’d had enough of these hardware compromises and decided to
build the first new NES hardware revision in 20 years
. It’s got all the best features from both of its predecessors and a few new features not seen on any existing NES. There’s support for composite and RGB video generators, new and better amplifiers for the audio, no lockout chip, and a top loading cartridge slot to prevent bent pins on the 72 pin connector.
While [low_budget]’s prototype works, it only does so by salvaging the CPU and PPU from a working NES. There’s still much work to be done on the prototype, but even if we’ll have to destroy our beloved NES, we’d love to get our hands on one of these improved consoles. | 41 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "957472",
"author": "speakeasy",
"timestamp": "2013-02-09T22:26:24",
"content": "Would it work to use hardware from one of the clones instead of trashing an old school NES?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "957480",
"auth... | 1,760,376,612.06423 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/09/pinoccio-web-rover/ | Pinoccio Web Rover | Jeremy Cook | [
"iphone hacks",
"ipod hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"accelerometer",
"iphone",
"Pinoccio",
"telepresence"
] | Before assuming that the title should be “web crawler,” just shush your shussins’ and check out the video after the break. The Pinoccio,
as previously noted
, is a board in development as a sort of web-enabled by default Arduino. This makes it perfect for a project like this one where
a little rover is controlled from 10,000 Kilometers away
, or around 6000 Miles for those of us that dwell in the US.
This setup uses a cell-phone accelerometer in Brazil to allow control of this robot in Nevada. Although close, the control isn’t quite real time, so that has to be accounted for. Something like this could be easily used for a telepresence ‘bot.
If you want to build your own, the assembly time is estimated at 1 hour. Instructions, as well as source code can be found on their page after the video. Although the
Pinoccio board won’t be available
until at least this summer, maybe this will give someone inspiration to try something similar in the mean time!
[vimeo
http://www.vimeo.com/59068284
w=470&h=300] | 7 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "957430",
"author": "Cal",
"timestamp": "2013-02-09T20:26:41",
"content": "What would you call the 3pi’s type of chassis? Does anyone make a similar kit for the Arduino or launchpad?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "957584",
... | 1,760,376,611.653615 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/11/script-lets-you-import-eagle-boards-for-use-in-freecad/ | Script Lets You Import Eagle Boards For Use In FreeCAD | Mike Szczys | [
"cnc hacks",
"Featured"
] | [
"cad",
"circuit board",
"eagle",
"EagleCad",
"enclosure",
"freecad",
"pcb"
] | [Christian Aurich] wanted to use his Eagle CAD circuit board design in a proper CAD program in order to design enclosures. There are already a few options along these lines, but they didn’t quite fit his needs so
he developed a script to import Eagle boards into FreeCAD
. The script is packaged as
a python macro for FreeCAD
.
In describing the shortcomings of what’s already out there [Christian] does mention
the use of EagleUp to model boards in Google SketchUp
. But he feels the way the data is produced by SketchUp makes these models work well with 3D printing, but says they’re not easy to use with mechanical design CAD software. He also feels that
the photo-realistic renderings
are useless when developing enclosures.
It’s worth mentioning that this approach is only possible because
CadSoft’s migration to XML
makes it dead simple to get at the data. | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "958340",
"author": "Bob",
"timestamp": "2013-02-11T21:23:50",
"content": "Is there any way to import a Gerber into a CAD program, so that non-Eagle users can do it?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "958348",
"author": "A... | 1,760,376,611.987938 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/11/digging-deeper-into-the-apollo-saturn-v-lvdc/ | Digging Deeper Into The Apollo Saturn V LVDC | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"apollo",
"logic",
"lvcd",
"reverse engineering",
"saturn v"
] | [Fran] went all-out with
her reverse engineering of the Apollo Saturn V LVDC board
. Regular readers will remember that she was showing of the relic early this year when
she took the board to her Dentist’s office to X-ray the circuit design
. Since then she’s been hard at work trying to figure out how the thing functions using that look inside the board and components. When we say ‘hard at work’ we really mean it. Not only did she explore many different theories that resulted in dead ends, she also built her own version of the circuits to make sure they performed as she theorized. Above you can see her version of the NAND/AND gates used on the hardware.
We find her explanation of how the logic devices were originally fabricated to be very interesting. They started with a ceramic substrate and used additive processes to form the traces and add the gates. We’ve embedded her video explanation after the jump.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0HC8bBCdgk | 11 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "958339",
"author": "speakeasy",
"timestamp": "2013-02-11T21:22:38",
"content": "I wish I had that kind of determination…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "960081",
"author": "Whatnot",
"timestamp": "2013-02-14T14... | 1,760,376,612.159783 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/11/glcd-clock-project-packed-with-great-ui-and-features/ | GLCD Clock Project Packed With Great UI And Features | Mike Szczys | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"glcd",
"msp430"
] | This
Graphic LCD clock
doesn’t have a fancy case, but [Gregory Wright] built in so many great features we think it will serve as inspiration for many projects to come. If he does decide to add a case it will be quite easy as there are no buttons to work around.
Without buttons how can the thing be adjusted? He decided to go with an IR remote control for all settings. This gives him a lot more options than a handful of buttons would have. Plus, heavy sleepers will need to find the remote control in order to shut off the alarm. We also think it’s interesting that the 595 shift registers he used have a low enough data high threshold (3.15V when VCC is 4.5V) that he didn’t need level converters to drive the 5V display with his 3.3V MSP430 Launchpad.
Check out his video after the break to learn about all the features he included in the UI. Our favorite is shown on the bottom right where it says “Hello World”. This is an area dedicated to a custom message for each day. He uses it to remind him about trash day (now there’s a feature!). | 4 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "958304",
"author": "vonskippy",
"timestamp": "2013-02-11T19:56:15",
"content": "I think “smart clocks” ™ are the next big thing.Unfortunately, this hack has a few smart clock features that are cool, but the UI and remote control is way too clunky to be practical.",
"parent_id": ... | 1,760,376,612.104373 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/11/harry-potter-location-clock-spies-on-your-smart-phone/ | Harry Potter Location Clock Spies On Your Smart Phone | Mike Szczys | [
"gps hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"clock",
"harry potter",
"location",
"raspberry pi",
"RPi",
"servo",
"smart phone"
] | The location clock found in the Harry Potter books makes for a really fun hack. Of course there’s no magic involved, just
a set of hardware to monitor your phone’s GPS and a clock face to display it
.
[Alastair Barber] finished building the clock at the end of last year as a Christmas gift. The display seen above uses an old mantelpiece clock to give it a finished look. He replace the clock face with a print out of the various locations known to the system and added a servo motor to drive the single hand. His hardware choices were based on what he already had on hand and what could be acquired cheaply. The an all-in-one package combines a Raspberry Pi board with a USB broadband modem to ensure that it has a persistent network connection (
we’ve seen this done using WiFi
in the past). The RPi checks a cellphone’s GPS data, compares it to a list of common places, then pushes commands to the Arduino which controls the clock hand’s servo motor. It’s a roundabout way of doing things but we imagine everything will get reused when the novelty of the gift wears off. | 7 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "958278",
"author": "Adam",
"timestamp": "2013-02-11T18:33:20",
"content": "Go Durham!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "958302",
"author": "David Roberts (@biomood)",
"timestamp": "2013-02-11T19:46:56",
"content": "See... | 1,760,376,612.211845 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/11/minecraft-for-rpi-released/ | Minecraft For RPi Released | Eric Evenchick | [
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"api",
"minecraft",
"python",
"RPi"
] | Mojang, the folks behind Minecraft, have officially released
Minecraft: Pi Edition
. This free version of the popular game is optimized to run on the Raspberry Pi hardware, and has an API that exposes the game’s internals to a variety of programming languages.
Mojang intends this release to be an educational tool for teaching and learning programming. Since the API provides instant feedback in the game, it could be an interesting way to make learning to code fun for people of all ages.
Having access to the API on a RPi also means that the game can be connected to the real world. For example, using Python and the
RPi.GPIO
, pins on the GPIO header can be used for output or input. This creates a slew of possible hacks that interface with the game.
Any ideas on what you’d like to do with Minecraft on a RPi? Let us know in the comments. Also, we coincidentally just printed a minecraft pick on our 3d printer. There’s a time lapse video of it after the break! | 12 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "958253",
"author": "Jon",
"timestamp": "2013-02-11T17:22:15",
"content": "I can’t tell from this article or the site whether this can act as a Minecraft server, or is just the client? If it can be a server, could it really handle a dozen users at once, with its limited RAM and proc... | 1,760,376,612.258897 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/11/led-tells-you-when-your-server-has-melted/ | LED Tells You When Your Server Has Melted | Brian Benchoff | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"blink(1)",
"server status",
"web server"
] | One of the benefits of writing for Hackaday is the ability to command at will a legion of readers to descend on unsuspecting web servers. Most of the time a server can handle the load of thousands of connections. On the rare occasion, though, a server is turned into a pile of slag and dross to the satisfaction of us here at Hackaday and to the ire of admins everywhere.
Checking to see if your server is still running or not isn’t terribly interesting, though. [Eric] thought it would be cool to have a proper physical visualization of how busy his server is, and ended up using a blink(1) USB-controllable LED
to display his current server load
.
The blink(1)
is a small, USB controlled RGB LED that can be used as a universal indicator light. [Eric] had the idea of plugging it in to one of his servers and having the brightness of the LED change in response to the load on the server. He did this with a Python script that queries the Google Analytics API and returns a value from 0 to 255 in response to how popular his server was in the last 10 minutes.
Of course, there’s always a chance Hackaday could Slashdot his server. In that case, the blink(1) glows a steady red, alerting [Eric] to his popularity. | 37 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "958212",
"author": "Graham Sutherland (@gsuberland)",
"timestamp": "2013-02-11T15:03:36",
"content": "Hasn’t the blink(1) been covered before? If I remember correctly, it’s years old now.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "958215",... | 1,760,376,612.36472 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/11/programming-in-3d-with-3dpl/ | Programming In 3D With 3DPL | Brian Benchoff | [
"Software Development"
] | [
"3Dpl",
"programming language"
] | Here’s
an interesting tool
for making simple 3D games. It’s called 3DPL, the 3D programming language, and it’s a real-time interpreted language that allows you to create cubes and other primitives that respond to user input and internal logic. Not only that, but you can build 3D versions of breakout and asteroids very simply with only a few lines of code.
3DPL is based on Unity with a lot of JavaScript influences. Building a cube in 3DPL is as simple as declaring it with a name and position in 3D space. There are a few functions that can be applied to these cubes – they can be made to rotate at the press of a key, or translated in space to collide with each other.
It’s still a very early build, but looks to be pretty interesting for an ‘introduction to 3D graphics programming’ perspective. You can grab a copy of 3DPL to try out over
on [amigojapan]’s github
. Hopefully we’ll see a gravity method soon for a proper 3DPL Tetris implementation. | 17 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "958206",
"author": "Geebles",
"timestamp": "2013-02-11T14:43:07",
"content": "This is very very similar to Second Life (open source ‘open sim’ also available) where you are an avatar and create objects with advanced scripts to do things (real time 3D). Check it out if this kind of t... | 1,760,376,612.529932 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/13/how-to-make-a-vaporizor-for-smoking-medical-marijuana/ | How To Make A Vaporizer For Smoking Medical Marijuana | Caleb Kraft | [
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"magic flying lunch box",
"mflb",
"pot",
"vaporizer",
"weed"
] | Here’s a
home made vaporizer
we can really get behind.
Lets just take a second to be completely honest here. There’s no point in suggesting that this is possibly for smoking tobacco. Medical marijuana is legal (well, not federally), in several states, and we’re sure there are hackers there that would really enjoy making something of their own instead of just buying something.
We’ve
covered
a
few
below and they always seemed to have something in common. They use soldering irons for heat. Inevitably someone points out what a bad idea this is.
They are right to do so. There are a multitude of possible bad things that could exist on that soldering iron, or the adhesive you use to fasten things to it, that you probably shouldn’t breathe. That soldering iron is what drew us to the project in the first place though! It’s a hack! Shame on us (maybe we’ll tackle pressure rated PVC next). It is like drinking beer through a lead pipe.
So, why would someone want to use a vaporizer? It is slightly healthier. You’re not burning all the plant material and inhaling it, you’re heating it to the point that the thc and magic goo inside boils and makes vapor, which you breathe. We don’t know exactly how much healthier it is, but it has to be at least marginally better than burning things and inhaling it.
A very popular device for this is the Magic Flying Launch Box or MFLB, a portable vaporizer that retails for around $100. People have figured out that the thing is quite simple. A wire mesh is heated to roughly 360F (180C) degrees or more by shorting out a battery. That’s it. You might be thinking , couldn’t I use an E cigarette? Well, probably not, they don’t get hot enough. It would be a cool hack though.
When building something like this, you need to do a little research and make absolutely sure the materials you are using aren’t going to kill you. Some wire meshes are coated in zinc or other chemicals. Solder obviously needs to be considered as well. You weren’t seriously going to use treated lumber for this were you? What are you, stoned?
Many people have done DIY versions of the MFLB. Some are
super quick and trashy
, some are
more detailed in their build
, and some are
even solderles
s. | 294 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "959412",
"author": "sir-smoke-a-lot",
"timestamp": "2013-02-13T17:10:16",
"content": "as someone in washington state, this is a hack I can get behind",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "959646",
"author": "DKSchrute",
... | 1,760,376,613.437444 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/13/building-a-six-channel-floppy-drive-synth-from-start-to-finish/ | Building A Six-channel Floppy Drive Synth From Start To Finish | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"floppy disk",
"floppy drive",
"pcb",
"pcb fabrication"
] | We’ve seen scores of floppy drives play music, but never before have we seen a project as clean as
[Rupert]’s Moppyduino
. It’s an Arduino-based board that controls the stepper motors in six separate floppy drives, coaxing them in to playing music from a MIDI file.
The Moppyduino is more than just a convenient way to control the stepper motors in six floppy drives. It’s also a great example of what can be done with home PCB fabrication; the entire project was designed and constructed in [Rupert]’s workshop.
After designing the circuit, [Rupert] printed it out on a laser printer onto a plastic transparency sheet. This was transferred over to a copper clad board, etched, and drilled. After assembly, [Rupert] attached a USB FTDI controller to receive data converted from MIDI data with a Java app.
The end result – housed in a custom Corian enclosure – is one of the best looking floppy drive synths we’ve ever seen. You can check out the process of building this awesome instrument after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYQWLlBz8hE&w=580] | 27 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "959389",
"author": "messmaker",
"timestamp": "2013-02-13T16:34:41",
"content": "Awesome!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "959393",
"author": "Jozef",
"timestamp": "2013-02-13T16:40:59",
"content": "nice work and etchi... | 1,760,376,612.59891 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/13/wireless-light-bulbs-with-a-slayer-exciter/ | Wireless Light Bulbs With A Slayer Exciter | Brian Benchoff | [
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"high voltage",
"slayer exciter",
"tesla coil"
] | While playing chiptunes, creating lightning, and illuminating fluorescent tubes with a homebrew Tesla coil is awesome, they’re not exactly the safest electrical devices around, and certainly aren’t easy or cheap to build. There’s another option open if you’d like to play with strong electromagnetic fields;
it’s called the Slayer exciter
and is simple enough to light a few fluorescent bulbs wirelessly off a pair of 9 Volt batteries.
The circuit for the Slayer exciter is extremely simple – just a single power transistor, a few diodes, and a couple of resistors. The real power for this build comes from the custom-wound transformer made from more than 100 feet of magnet wire. After plugging the driver circuit into the transformer’s primary winding and connecting a metal ball (in this case a wooden ball covered in aluminum foil), it’s possible to light up a four Watt fluorescent tube with a pair of 9 Volts.
You can check out a video of the Slayer exciter after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu9Go-JEIK4&w=580] | 18 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "959337",
"author": "Eirinn",
"timestamp": "2013-02-13T15:05:15",
"content": "So it’s easy to make, looks like a ball of death, lights shit up and is called a Slayer Exciter? That’s so much win in one place.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"com... | 1,760,376,613.003837 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/13/roomba-becomes-data-center-robot/ | Roomba Becomes Data Center Robot | Brian Benchoff | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"data center",
"irobot",
"roomba",
"temperature sensor"
] | Running a data center takes a lot of work, and even making sure the ambient temperature for hundreds of boxes is in the proper range is an arduous task. When faced with the prospect of installing hundreds of temperature sensors in an EMC data center, [Vivek] had a better idea: put just a few sensors
on a robot and drive around the racks
. With the right software, it’s a breeze to automate the process and build a near real-time temperature monitoring solution for a huge data center.
The data center robot is based on a
iRobot Create
, basically a Roomba without a vacuum. Attached to the robot is a netbook, Arduino, and a PVC mast housing three temperature sensors and a USB webcam.
Using the floor of the data center for navigation, the robot canvasses the racks sending temperature data back to a server via WiFi. From there, the temperatures can be graphed to make sure the racks aren’t too hot or too cold.
You can check out a video of the robot in action after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zZoev0IWIc&w=580] | 32 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "959307",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2013-02-13T14:12:16",
"content": "I would have gone with something using a little less power than a netbook. Olimex makes some nice low power SBCs, (grumble) Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone, Some of the Olimex OLinuXinos have wifi built in as well a... | 1,760,376,612.724688 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/13/a-table-saw-to-cut-solar-panels/ | A Table Saw To Cut Solar Panels | Brian Benchoff | [
"Solar Hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"dremel",
"saw",
"solar panel",
"tools"
] | Steampunker extraordinaire [Jake von Slatt] loves the idea of solar-powered garden lights soaking up the sun’s rays during the day and powering a LED in the evening. Commercially available solar lanterns, as [Jake], you, me, and everyone else on the planet have discovered, are universally terrible and either don’t have solar panels large enough to charge a battery, or only last a year or so. [Jake]’s solution was to
make his own solar lanterns
and in the process he came up with a great way of cutting his own solar panels.
[Jake] turned to ebay to source 100 3″ x 6″ solar panels for about $30. These are broken panels, factory rejects, but still are able to produce the 0.5 Volts they should. Since these are rather large panels for a solar lantern, [Jake] needed a way to cut these panels into manageable sizes.
To cut the panels, [Jake] made a box to fit a Dremel with a right angle attachment and a port for a vacuum cleaner. There’s a sled for the panels with markings at 40, 80, 75, and 150 mm so the panels can be quickly cut to size with a diamond cutting wheel.
After the boards are cut, [Jake] checks them out with a multimeter to be sure they’re producing the half volt they should. After that, it’s a simple matter of soldering them together and adding them to his solar lanterns. | 18 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "959285",
"author": "Bogdan",
"timestamp": "2013-02-13T13:12:43",
"content": "That’s one interesting way to cut them. I never thought you could cut them so well.I always thought that putting the pannel on the lamp is one of the worst places…. i thought a lot about using lamps connect... | 1,760,376,612.843681 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/13/diy-forklift-for-the-home-shop/ | DIY Forklift For The Home Shop | Brian Benchoff | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"forklift"
] | [Robert] does a fair bit of metal casting, and of course that means carrying around hundreds of pounds of sand, scrap, and other materials. He came up with a great solution to the inevitable back pain:
a small, workshop-sized forklift
able to carry around a half ton pallet.
In
the actual build thread
for this forklift, [Robert] goes over the design. The lift is designed to fit inside a 30″ x 7′ door frame, but is more than capable of hoisting hundreds of pounds over the operator’s head. It’s driven by two electric wheelchair motors with power provided by two car batteries. There’s also a clever bit of engineering that went into tipping the forks: instead of a hinge on the mast, [Robert] used a linear actuator on the rear wheels to put the forks at an angle.
It’s a great build, and since [Robert] does metal casting, there’s a whole bunch of custom metalwork that really adds to the build. After the break you can see a video of [Robert]’s forklift transferring a pallet weighed down with 5 gallon buckets from one really high shelf to another. The job doesn’t take long and doesn’t require any lifting, so we’ve got to hand it to [Robert] for this build.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHT2UOdZRNA&w=560] | 21 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "959260",
"author": "steve eh",
"timestamp": "2013-02-13T12:03:52",
"content": "Slick! i like it, Nice build",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "959275",
"author": "Martin",
"timestamp": "2013-02-13T12:50:23",
"content": ... | 1,760,376,612.784386 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/12/lord-vetinaris-clock-strikes-again/ | Lord Vetinari’s Clock Strikes Again | Mike Szczys | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"discworld",
"launchpad",
"msp430",
"Vetinari clock"
] | Inspired by the maddening timepiece from
Discworld
, this clock keeps time, but anyone watching the seconds tick by may be mentally unstable for it. [Renaud Schleck]
built the stuttering clock using very few components
. He undertook the build after being inspired by
the version which [Simon Inns] built
.
The clock itself is a run-of-the-mill item which uses one battery to keep time. We’re always impressed by how these dirt-cheap things remain so accurate over the long haul — but we digress. The method of attack uses coil injection to drive the hands. [Renaud] used one of the microcontrollers from the MSP430 Launchpad, along with the clock crystal which also shipped with the kit, to gain control of the mechanism. The crystal triggers an interrupt which does the actual time-keeping. The seconds hand is driven rather sporadically based on an algorithm explained in his write-up.
You can watch the uneven ticking in the video after the break. Despite that visually disturbing functionality, the short and long ticks balance each other and the correct time continues to be displayed.
[via
Reddit
] | 15 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "959096",
"author": "JC",
"timestamp": "2013-02-13T02:43:40",
"content": "I think I might try a version that uses a synchronous AC motor and varies the frequency.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "959103",
"author": "Mose... | 1,760,376,613.062602 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/06/pocket-serial-host-acts-as-an-apple-ii-disk-drive/ | Pocket Serial Host Acts As An Apple II Disk Drive | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks",
"computer hacks"
] | [
"apple II",
"arduino",
"atmega328",
"Disk drive",
"sd card",
"serial"
] | [Osgeld] is showing off what he calls a sanity check. It’s the first non-breadboard version of
his Pocket Serial Host
. He’s been working on the project as a way to simplify getting programs onto the Apple II he has on his “retro bench”. When plugged in, the computer sees it as a disk drive.
The storage is provided by an SD card which is hidden on the underside of that protoboard. This makes it dead simple to hack away at your programs using a modern computer, then transfer them over to the retro hardware. The components used (starting at the far side of the board) are a DB9 serial connector next to a level converter to make it talk to the ATmega328 chip being pointed at with a tool. The chip below that is a level converter to get the microcontroller talking to the RTC chip seen to the right. The battery keeps that clock running when there’s no power from the 5V and 3.3V regulators mounted in the upper right.
The video after the break shows off this prototype, the breadboard circuit, and a demonstration with the Apple II.
[Thanks Brendan] | 21 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "955760",
"author": "Willaim",
"timestamp": "2013-02-07T04:26:58",
"content": "Very Nice awesome Work",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "955776",
"author": "Brendan Robert",
"timestamp": "2013-02-07T05:02:26",
"content":... | 1,760,376,613.124431 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/06/fruit-piano-uses-a-different-circuit-than-the-makey-makey/ | Fruit Piano Uses A Different Circuit Than The Makey Makey | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"banana",
"capacitive",
"fruit",
"MaKey MaKey",
"piano",
"touch sensor"
] | [Hasbi Sevinç] is using perishable goods in his electronics project. The orange, tomato, and two apples seen above
act as keys for the virtual piano
. The concept is the same as
the Makey Makey which is often demonstrated as a banana piano
. This implementation uses an Arduino to read the sensors and to connect to the computer running the piano program.
You can see there’s a fair amount of circuitry built on the breadboard. Each piece of fruit has its own channel to make it into a touch sensor. The signal produced when your finger contacts the food is amplified by transistors connected in a Darlington pair. That circuit drives the low side of a optoisolator transmitter. The receiving side of it is connected the I/O pin of the Arduino. You can see the schematic as well as a demo clip after the break.
This use of hardware frees up a lot of your microcontroller cycles. That’s because projects like
this banana piano
use the timers to measure RC decay. [Hasbi’s] setup provides a digital signal that at most only needs to be debounced. | 10 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "955828",
"author": "Ben",
"timestamp": "2013-02-07T07:04:50",
"content": "I have done something like this with grapes and parts of a USB keyboard.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "955871",
"author": "Jonathan Wilson",
"ti... | 1,760,376,613.485304 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/06/wall-votive-display-controlled-with-a-glowing-cube/ | Wall Votive Display Controlled With A Glowing Cube | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"cube",
"rgb",
"votive",
"wall hanging",
"weather"
] | This wall hanging would look great even if it did no more than light up. But thanks to a unique controller it’s meant to work as
an interactive display for your living area
.
The rectangles and votive candle cups are a set of three store-bought hangings. But lighting the candles and remembering to blow them out was a pain, so [Adiel Fernandez] decided to add the LEDs to make the job easier. But why stop at that, in addition to an RGB light for each cup he made them fully addressable. It’s all the better for a light show, but this also opens up the arena for all manner of different uses.
Accompanying the wall installation is a palm-sized cube meant to sit on the coffee table. Whichever side of the cube us up sets the function for the display, with a rotation tweaking the function, and a fast spin used as a select. If the power icon is on the side facing up, a fast spin will turn the display on or off. There are also functions for weather, temperature, transportation (we were thinking something like
a bus schedule notifier
but it’s actually a bit different) and animation patterns. After the break you can watch a demo of the cube functionality.
[Thanks Elias] | 6 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "955648",
"author": "vonskippy",
"timestamp": "2013-02-07T00:36:47",
"content": "Nice.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "955665",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2013-02-07T00:56:41",
"content": "An all around beau... | 1,760,376,613.536839 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/06/brilliant-auto-off-feature-for-a-bike-light/ | Brilliant Auto-off Feature For A Bike Light | Mike Szczys | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"auto-off",
"bicycle",
"bike",
"light",
"mosfet"
] | If you’re going to use your bicycle as transportation at night you really must have a head and tail light in hopes that the crazy drivers don’t hit you. For good reason, these lights don’t turn themselves off. But [Miceuz] kept forgetting to shut it down upon arrival and always ended up with dead batteries. His quest for an auto-off feature that actually worked ended in
a brilliant and simple add-on circuit
.
He first thought about using an accelerometer, but couldn’t find one that fit the bill without also adding a microcontroller. He came up with an even simpler circuit, which can be seen at the base of the black plastic housing. It’s a bit of copper clad board with a small spring attached. The spring completes an RC timer circuit which drives a MOSFET. When that circuit is charged, the MOSFET connects power to the bike light. When the cap runs out the MOSFET threshold cuts power and everything turns off. Since the spring jiggles while he rides it provides the momentary connection necessary to charge the capacitor. Stay stationary for about 30 seconds and the auto-off kicks in. | 30 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "955551",
"author": "Jeroen",
"timestamp": "2013-02-06T22:19:47",
"content": "In the Netherlands it’s a pretty common feature on bicycle lights, but still its a great hack. :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "955552",
"author"... | 1,760,376,613.608141 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/06/making-karaoke-worse/ | Making Karaoke Worse | Brian Benchoff | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"kaoss pad",
"karaoke",
"vocal processor"
] | Karaoke just isn’t fair. Not only do you have people who can’t sing choosing to belt out extremely difficult to sing songs, but the variety of songs generally isn’t that great. In an effort to make the karaoke situation at the pubs he frequents better – or worse, depending on how you look at it – [cosmic blooper]
is now bringing a vocal effects processor
to karaoke. Yes, now he’s got pitch shifting that takes him into [Bieber] territory, and auto tune to emulate the [T-Pain] and the Black Eyed Peas.
To bring the world of synths and effects to a karaoke party, [cosmic blooper] took a battery-powered Kaoss Pad and attached it to his belt with the help of some sheet metal. An RCA to XLR adapter connects the Kaoss Pad to the karaoke microphone, while a mic of questionable quality takes [blooper]’s voice to be transmuted into a horrifying display of effects and pitch shifters.
There’s no video of [cosmic blooper]’s karaoke machine in action, but he tells us he’ll be getting one up soon. | 19 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "955490",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2013-02-06T20:23:30",
"content": "I agree, Karaoke is the worst Japanese crime against humanity since the Rape of Nanking, but on the bright side since this thing looks like a bomb maybe he’ll be shot on the way to the bar and we’ll have... | 1,760,376,613.663878 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/06/raspberry-pi-camera-board-incoming/ | Raspberry Pi Camera Board Incoming | Brian Benchoff | [
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"camera",
"camera board",
"raspberry pi"
] | Your Raspberry Pi has on-board connectors for cameras and displays, but until now no hardware demigod has taken up the challenge of connecting an image sensor or LCD to one of these ports. It seems everyone is waiting for official Raspi hardware designed for these ports.
That wait is just about over
as the Raspberry Pi foundations is hoping to release a camera board in the coming weeks.
The camera module is based on a 5 megapixel sensor, allowing it to capture 2560×1920 images as well as full 1080 video with the help of some drivers being whipped up at the Raspberry Pi foundation.
Considering the Raspi USB webcam projects we’ve seen aren’t really all that capable –
OpenCV runs at about 4 fps without any image processing
and about 1 fps with edge detection – the Raspberry Pi camera board should be less taxing for the Pi, enabling some really cool computer vision projects.
The camera board should be available in a little more than a month, so for those of us waiting to get our hands on this thing now, we’ll have to settle for the demo video of the Pi streaming 1080p video to a network at 30fps after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDbxqI1yWwM&w=580] | 56 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "955410",
"author": "Zee",
"timestamp": "2013-02-06T18:12:16",
"content": "Why is the video vibrating?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "955411",
"author": "Mofidul",
"timestamp": "2013-02-06T18:16:31",
"c... | 1,760,376,615.85295 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/06/complete-siri-home-automation-controls-everything-but-the-kitchen-sink/ | Complete Siri Home Automation Controls Everything But The Kitchen Sink | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks",
"iphone hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"home automation",
"nest",
"RPi",
"siriproxy"
] | [Elvis Impersonator] spent three full days but in that time he managed to
hand control of everything in his house over to Siri
. The technique used is a familiar one. A Raspberry Pi
running SiriProxy listens for commands from the iPhone
and acts on them based on [Elvis’] predefined configuration. The difference here is that it’s not just a single device (read: lamp) that is being controlled to prove the concept. His video (embedded after the break) shows him operating an entire range of devices in his home.
The demonstration starts off with his garage door being opened and closed. From the YouTube video description we know that he’s using Trendnet IP cameras and it looks like one of them lets him see if he remembered to close the garage. Next he disarms his home security system as shown in the image above. From there he adjusts the Nest thermostat, switches off the living room lights, and changes the TV channels.
We think the need to give voice commands would get old pretty quickly. But that aside we applaud his work to pull everything together into one single interface.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXmCiaRc9XU | 30 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "955351",
"author": "Kelly",
"timestamp": "2013-02-06T16:04:06",
"content": "Why cant it control the Kitchen sink??? that shouldn’t be too hard/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "955603",
"author": "Bob Fleming",
... | 1,760,376,615.918735 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/08/programming-a-555-chip/ | Programming A 555 Chip | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks",
"News"
] | [
"555",
"CSS555"
] | [Phillip] needed a way to trigger an input every 8 hours or so. This is a snap with a microcontroller with a proper timer, but he recently heard about a very cool programmable timer chip that’s also a 555. Of course CSS555 timer chip has an obscure programming interface, but that isn’t a problem
when you can program it yourself
with a parallel port.
The
CSS555 timer chip
(PDF…) is a strange little beast. It’s pin compatible with everyone’s favorite timer IC, but also has a programming mode that allows the output to trigger on every 1 cycle, every 10 cycles, and so on up to one output every million cycles. Basically, it’s a 555 with a huge programmable capacitor
that only costs two bucks
.
After building a programming circuit from a 74125 hex buffer chip, [Philip] connected his programmer to the parallel port of an ancient PC. For a little retrocomputing cred, he wrote a small app in Forth that pushes commands from the parallel port to the CSS555 chip, greatly increasing the time delay of the chip’s stock configuration.
It’s a neat build, and an awesome introduction to a really cool timer chip. Of course this could be easily replicated with a $2 microcontroller, but that wouldn’t give [Philip] the satisfaction of using a 555. | 23 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "956896",
"author": "vonskippy",
"timestamp": "2013-02-08T20:15:16",
"content": "“but that isn’t a problem when you can program it yourself with a parallel port”Actually finding a parallel port is an exercise left up to the reader…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replie... | 1,760,376,615.676931 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/08/building-a-tool-to-measure-melting-point/ | Building A Tool To Measure Melting Point | Mike Szczys | [
"chemistry hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"heating element",
"hot glue gun",
"melting point",
"thermocouple",
"thermometer"
] | When working with chemical reactions it may be necessary to test the purity of the components you’re using. This is especially true with hobby chemists as they often acquire their raw materials from the hardware store, garden center, or pool supply. [Ken] figured out how to get around the $500 price tag of a commercial unit by
building this DIY melting point test apparatus
.
In this image he’s using a thermocouple to monitor the temperature of the melting surface, but mentions that you can do this with an inexpensive dial thermometer and will still have great results. That melting surface is the hexagonal head of a bolt which he drilled out to provide a concave surface for the test compound. Inside the PVC pipe is the heating element from a 40W hot glue gun. He wrapped it in fiberglass fabric which is sold in the plumbing supply to protect the area around pipe joints during soldering. The rotary light dimmer feeds the electricity to the element, allowing for adjustments to the ramping speed. | 5 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "956927",
"author": "Bob Spafford",
"timestamp": "2013-02-08T20:56:55",
"content": "BTW, I think that you can find Protek 608 DMMs which have 4.5 digit resolution and used to come with a thermocouple. and read in degrees C or F. They talk 232. I paid $129 about a year ago. (Of cou... | 1,760,376,615.282461 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/08/raspberry-pi-is-right-at-home-inside-of-a-game-boy/ | Raspberry Pi Is Right At Home Inside Of A Game Boy | Mike Szczys | [
"Nintendo Game Boy Hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"case",
"enclosure",
"game boy",
"RPi"
] | [Matt] still has his original Game Boy from when he was a kid. He wanted to pull it out and play some of the classics but alas, the screen was broken and he couldn’t find a source for a drop-in replacement. In the end he ordered a used unit and pulled the screen from that one. This left him with a pile of leftover Game Boy parts which turned into a Raspberry Pi case project.
Since the RPi doesn’t have a power switch he thought it would be pretty neat to incorporate the Game Boy power switch. He was able to cut out one section of the original PCB that included the switch and one mounting hole. This kept the switch aligned with the case and gave him some pads to solder the incoming USB cable and the jumper wires to the RPi board. In the image above the power LED is on. He mentions that there was an issue with that circuit; the voltage drop across the LED was messing up the feed to the Pi so it’s disabled for now.
We’ve embedded a couple of images of everything inside the case after the break. If you’re a fan of this hack you should also take a look at
the Game Boy hard drive enclosure
which uses the same pixel art printed on paper effect for the screen window. | 17 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "956729",
"author": "Andrei Cociuba",
"timestamp": "2013-02-08T16:50:59",
"content": "is the screen somehow connected to the raspi, or is it just a mockup?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "956737",
"author": "Eirinn",
... | 1,760,376,615.972725 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/08/3d-printed-prosthetic-hand-helps-out-for-about-150/ | 3D Printed Prosthetic Hand Helps Out For About $150 | Mike Szczys | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"hand",
"prosthetic",
"thingiverse"
] | We know that there are already 3D printed hips and knees in use in the medical field, but it takes a story like this one to really bring home the idea of how this technology changes lives. 5-year-old [Liam] is missing parts of his right hand, and
this open-source prosthetic hand
has given him a jolt of increased function. The video clip after the break shows him on the third day with the device. He’s practicing picking up coins from a stack using the hand. Just $150 in parts, combined with the hard work and good nature of the developers, made this possible.
The
design is available on Thingiverse
. In addition to the 3D printed parts the prosthesis uses off-the-shelf hardware store items like bungee cord and fasteners. The tips of each finger and the thumb are given some flex and grip by covering each with a rubber thimble.
We love seeing this life-changing technology wielded by basement and garage hackers. Another great example is
this scratch-built leg
from last May.
[Thanks Chris via
Popular Science
] | 26 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "956623",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2013-02-08T14:26:57",
"content": "Bravo!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "956630",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2013-02-08T14:30:27",
"content": "I hope it will ... | 1,760,376,615.740139 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/08/a-constant-resistance-dummy-load-design/ | A Constant Resistance Dummy Load Design | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"constant resistance",
"dummy load",
"prospice",
"proteus",
"SPICE"
] | This
constant resistance dummy load
has not yet been tested in the real world. [YS] was inspired to come up with the circuit after reading
Wednesday’s Re:load dummy load post
. That was a constant current load, not a constant resistance load. [YS] started with the schematic for the Re:load and made his changes to arrive at this.
For him the exercise was just to alter the design to achieve constant resistance. He didn’t actually build and test the hardware because he doesn’t really have a need for it. This image was exported from Proteus, which includes a ProSPICE circuit emulator. His slides run through test voltages from 5V to 50V, maintaining a constant 10 Ohm resistance.
When studying this project we needed a little refresher on the different varieties of dummy loads.
We found this post very informative
about the differences and uses of Constant Current, Constant Power, and Constant Resistance (Impedance) loads. | 21 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "956565",
"author": "Mathias",
"timestamp": "2013-02-08T12:21:15",
"content": "Just a little question from someone not so familiar with electronics. Wouldn’t a 10 Ohm resistor give a constant resistance across all voltages? Or is this adjustable? But wouldn’t a potentiometer be adjus... | 1,760,376,615.614555 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/07/learn-shift-registers-without-involving-a-microcontroller/ | Learn Shift Registers Without Involving A Microcontroller | Mike Szczys | [
"how-to",
"Parts"
] | [
"74hc595",
"shift register"
] | This is a truly hands-on approach to learning. [Kevin Darrah] ditched the microcontroller and is
using push buttons to learn about 595 shift registers
. The test rig uses two of the serial-in, parallel-out chips. These are cascading which means that as data from the first chip overflows it feeds the input of the second. The parts are commonly used to drive LEDs, or reduce the number of pins needed to drive peripherals
like this character LCD
.
The five push-buttons give you a chance to intuitively learn how the chip logic works. The blank button is also commonly called Output Enable (OE). Driving it high shuts off the outputs of the chips but doesn’t clear the data. That task is performed by the clear button which is driven low to set all of the shift register memory to zero. The other three buttons set the logic level, shift it into the chip using the clock signal, and push the stored values to the outputs using the latch.
To get a visual approximation of what’s happening inside of these chips you should check out the shift register tutorial linked to
in this post
. | 14 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "956294",
"author": "zuul",
"timestamp": "2013-02-08T05:22:46",
"content": "nice, be sure to check out his other vids too (kdarrah1234 on youtube)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "956424",
"author": "HC",
"timestamp": "201... | 1,760,376,615.333505 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/07/usb-apple-disk-emulator/ | USB Apple ][ Disk Emulator | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"apple",
"apple II",
"disk emulator"
] | One of the most commonly frustrating things about having an old Apple ][ lying around in your basement or attic is the lack of software. While at one time in the late 80s you may have had your own copy of Oregon Trail, that disk is either lost or non-functional, and it’s pretty hard to get new disk images onto 5 1/4″ disks.
To solve this problem for himself, [Eric]
came up with an Apple disk emulator
. A project like this has been done many, many times over the last few decades, but [Eric] put his own twist on it: he doesn’t use a microcontroller. Instead, he used a simple USB FTDI device to talk to the Apple disk drive.
The FTDI device in question is a
UM232H chip
that takes a USB connection and turns it into an SPI bus. Of course the Apple ][ disk doesn’t speak SPI, so [Eric] needed to do a little logic conversion with a 74LS251 multiplexer and a 74LS161 counter.
In the video after the break, you can see [Eric] loading Apple disk images on a IIc from his new Intel Mac. It’s a neat build, but it’s not done yet: [Eric] plans on adding a microcontroller with an SD card, allowing just about every Apple ][ game every made to fit in your pocket. Yes, [Eric]’s project is quite similar to the
A][ pocket serial host
we saw just a bit ago, but this will hopefully have a lower component count.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_jsiraVC9g&w=580] | 14 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "956209",
"author": "Nathan",
"timestamp": "2013-02-08T02:26:02",
"content": "Karateka! I loved that game! So, you fight all these guys, and they get harder and harder, and you finally kill the last bad guy. You go into the next room, and there’s the princess! If you approached h... | 1,760,376,615.378924 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/07/add-motorized-blinds-to-your-home-theater/ | Add Motorized Blinds To Your Home Theater | Mike Szczys | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"blink",
"motor",
"projector",
"screen"
] | [Chipsy] found himself with an interesting problem. The room that serves his home theater has a wall mirror which reflects part of the screen during viewing. In an otherwise dark room this was very distracting. His solution was to add a blind that covers the mirror during viewing, but who wants to constantly pull that down and back up again? Since the motorized projection screen he is using has a remote control he figured out a way to
motorize the blind and synchronize it with the screen’s remote
.
The screen uses mechanical relays to switch the motor. He patched into these with an Arduino to detect whether the screen was going up or down. It was easy enough to use his own relay and motor with the blind, but he needed a way to stop the blind once it was in position. For covering up the mirror he simply sets an 18 second timer, but for retracting the blind he wanted precise alignment so he added a magnet and sense its position with a reed switch. See the synchronized screen and blind in the clip after the break.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kYMXx6eL4o | 20 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "956179",
"author": "hospadar",
"timestamp": "2013-02-08T00:39:31",
"content": "off topic: I HAVE THE SAME CUTTING BOARD!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "956194",
"author": "Dax",
"timestamp": "2013-02-08T01:22:02",
"... | 1,760,376,615.554418 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/07/websockets-raspis-and-gpio/ | WebSockets, Raspis, And GPIO | Brian Benchoff | [
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"adc",
"raspberry pi",
"websocket",
"websockets"
] | A while back, [Blaise] tried his hand at getting the WebSocket protocol working with PIC microcontrollers, WiFi adapters, and a few pots, knobs, and switches. It was an excellent project for its time, but now [Blaise] has a Raspberry Pi, and the associated GPIO pins and Ethernet connection.
He decided it was time to upgrade his build to the Pi
, this time with a project he calls PiIO.
The basic idea of [Blaise]’s project requires a Pi, a server, and a computer running a browser for the end user. On the Pi side of the build, [Blaise] connected a
Microchip MCP3008
eight input, 10-bit ADC via the SPI bus. The Pi takes the ADC sensor values from pots, buttons, or any other analog source and sends them to a server with the WebSocket protocol.
The server hosts a web site written with Django,
Autobahn
, and Python to communicate with the Pi and host the web page for the data received from the Pi. There’s support for multiple Pis in [Blaise]’s build, making complicated projects we can’t even conceive very possible.
[Blaise] put up an awesome demo video of PiIO up; you can check that out after the break.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZw16UzSvsM&w=580] | 6 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "956198",
"author": "dmitry grinberg",
"timestamp": "2013-02-08T01:40:26",
"content": "the pic24-based microchip dev board with ethernet chip ($20) can replace “the server,” “pi,” and “ADC chip”. For a fraction of the cost, power, and effort. Comes with http stack already even",
... | 1,760,376,616.022906 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/07/pcb-production-workshop-means-everyone-gets-an-arduino/ | PCB Production Workshop Means Everyone Gets An Arduino | Brian Benchoff | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"etching",
"lvl1",
"Nanino",
"pcb"
] | Over at the LVL1 hackerspace in Lousiville, [Brad]
is putting together a workshop on etching PCBs at home
. [Brad] wanted all the participants to take home something cool, so he settled on an Arduino clone as the workshop’s project.
The clone [Brad] used is the Nanino, a single-sided board
we’ve seen before.
Unfortunately, there aren’t any CAD files for the Nanino and doing a toner transfer with the existing PDFs was a pain. This led [Brad] to redraw the Nanino in Diptrace and put the files up for everyone to grab.
In his workshop, [Brad] is going to be using a laser printer, hydrogen peroxide, and HCl. one of the most common setups for home etching. If you’re in the Louisville area, you can make your own Nanino with
a home etching workshop on March 16th
. Be careful, though: those LVL1 guys are pretty weird; they
have a moat
and are
building a homicidal AI
. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "956113",
"author": "YS",
"timestamp": "2013-02-07T19:55:39",
"content": "I can see DipTrace gets popular. That’s good. : )",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "956201",
"author": "k4t434sis",
"timestamp": "2013-02-08T01:45:15... | 1,760,376,616.135787 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/07/quantifying-cloudiness-with-opencv/ | Quantifying Cloudiness With OpenCV | Eric Evenchick | [
"digital cameras hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"image processing",
"ip54",
"opencv",
"python",
"weatherproofing"
] | The Shard is the tallest building in Western Europe, and has a great view of London. The condos in the building are very expensive, and a tourist ride to the top of the building costs £24.95.
Since the value of the view is so high, [Willem] wanted to quantify the quality of the view at any given time. His solution is the
Shard Rain Cam
. This device combines a Logitech webcam with a Raspberry Pi to
capture a time-lapse set of images
. These images are fed to a Python script using OpenCV which
quantifies the cloudiness
.
[Willem] also had to build a weatherproof enclosure with a transparent window for the camera and RPi. ‘Clingfilm’, which is British for saran wrap, and mineral oil is used to improve the waterproofing of an IP54 rated enclosure.
The resulting data is displayed on
www.whatcaniseefromtheshard.com
, which provides an indication of whether or not the view is worth £24.95. All of the Python code is available, and is a good starting point for learning about image processing with OpenCV. | 12 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "956081",
"author": "dom",
"timestamp": "2013-02-07T18:20:20",
"content": "Willem Do some work, or i’ll post pictures of you watching ascii pr0n(p.s i sit opposite this guy)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "956088",
"author": ... | 1,760,376,616.292059 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/07/midwest-reprap-festival/ | Midwest RepRap Festival | Mike Szczys | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"cons"
] | [
"3d printer",
"mendelmax",
"midwest",
"prusa",
"reprap"
] | Midwesterner’s should take note — here’s an event that’s happening somewhere other than New York or California! We jest, of course there are great events in the Midwestern states every year, like the Kanasas City or Detroit Maker Faires. This event puts focus on 3D printing.
The Midwest RepRap Festival
will be held in Elkhart, Indian March 15-17, 2013. Despite the name, the event is meant to encompass all things involved with any brand, make, or variety of 3D printing.
The owners of a local business called
The Royal Phoenix
have opened their doors for the weekend. Organizers have arranged for [Josef Prusa] and [Johnny R] to speak. There will also be build events (one session will show the build process of the MendelMax 2.0) so feel free to bring your own equipment for help with construction or getting it dialed in.
There is no registration fee, or tickets. But it would be best if you did fill out the questionnaire so they have some semblance of how many people might be coming. | 10 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "956044",
"author": "Super_Nurd",
"timestamp": "2013-02-07T16:16:18",
"content": "I think yo mean Indiana not Indian.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "956046",
"author": "Super_Nurd",
"timestamp": "2013-02-07T16:... | 1,760,376,616.189337 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/07/heating-bending-and-gluing-to-make-acrylic-enclosures/ | Heating, Bending, And Gluing To Make Acrylic Enclosures | Mike Szczys | [
"hardware"
] | [
"acrylic",
"bend",
"enclosure",
"heat gun"
] | You can do a lot with acrylic and few tools. If you’re just starting out we’d suggest taking a look at [Michael Colombo’s]
guide to heating, bending, and gluing to create custom acrylic enclosures
. Chances are you already have most of what you need. The one tool you might be lacking is a heat gun.
The process starts with math. Before cutting the acrylic down to size you need to calculate how much you need. Next [Michael] demonstrates his cutting technique using a Dremel and a cut-off wheel. We prefer to clamp along the cut line, score many times with a razor knife, and snap the stuff. But you can also send it through a table saw if you have the right blade.
The bending technique he uses starts by clamping boards on either side of the bend. The acrylic left sticking out is pushed with a scrap board while the bend is heated with the heat gun. Once all of the corners were made in one piece the sides were glued in place. This last step can be tricky. The acrylic glue is made to work with perfect seams, so make sure your cuts are clean and the bent pieces line up.
The process was documented in the clip found after the jump. If you’re looking for a more targeted heat source check out
this dedicated acrylic bender
.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIBS93jgiLk | 17 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "956000",
"author": "haha666413",
"timestamp": "2013-02-07T14:17:42",
"content": "the video seems to be broken",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "956001",
"author": "sneakypoo",
"timestamp": "2013-02-07T14:21:44",
"conte... | 1,760,376,616.24495 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/07/gifsockets-websockets-using-animated-gif-files/ | Gifsockets: WebSockets Using Animated GIF Files | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"websockets"
] | Using animated GIF images as a crude WebSocket
is an idea we’ve never come across before, but it actually makes a lot of sense. Not in terms of it’s overall usefulness, but just for the fact that the animated files work in a similar way. The nature of these animated containers is what makes it work. A GIF doesn’t tell the browser how many frames to expect, so the connection is kept open until the “hey this is the last frame” command is received. This can be used to stream data to anything that can play the animations.
The demonstration after the break shows this in action. Hello World and a couple of other test messages are pushed to the browser without refreshing the page. In our mind that’s what’s useful — real time updates without a refresh or any underlying client-side code structure. But we haven’t looked into the particulars like does this eat bandwidth even when nothing new is being sent?
When [Hans] wrote into us about this gif hack he referenced
this discussion panel on WebSockets
. We didn’t watch the whole thing yet, but apparently someone calls the gif trick the WebSocket of the ’90s. | 15 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "955963",
"author": "Jeff",
"timestamp": "2013-02-07T12:27:13",
"content": "What I would havve done to know about this 10 years ago!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "955965",
"author": "Happosai",
"timestamp": "2013-02-07T... | 1,760,376,616.346309 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/09/adventures-in-3d-printing-our-first-week-with-the-lulzbot-ao-100/ | Adventures In 3d Printing: Our First Week With The LulzBot AO-100 | Caleb Kraft | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"lulzbot"
] | Recently, we acquired a
LulzBot AO-100
. It was given to us, free of charge. After having it for about a week, I’ve figured out enough that I feel I can finally share my thoughts, impressions, and experiences. I will be completely honest about the machine. It was given to us, which is insanely awesome, but hey, I have to share the real information with the readers.
When we first started looking for a printer, we decided we didn’t want to build one from scratch. While that might seem initially to be the opposite of Hack a Day, there is a reason. I simply can’t build every tool I use from scratch. I have projects in mind that could benefit from a 3d printer, and I want to work on
those
. This meant that I was looking for a pre-assembled unit. Many people asked for an article on getting a reprap going, so we started to consider reprap based kits as well.
When LulzBot contacted us, I was initially skeptical. I mean, the name is
lulz
Bot. Is this an internet troll? Is this somehow connected to
Lulzsec
, the hacking group? Did they seriously name their printer LulzBot? Well, as it turns out, they are legitimate. Not only that, we’ve seen them before, they are also AlephObjects,
who sent in the video of the wall o’ printers working
. Why did they name it LulzBot? The answer was basically, for the lulz. It is worth noting that [Jeff] has been a strong proponent for free software for a long time and that
Lulzbot is built from the ground up to be completely open
and shareable. You can go to the website right now and download the list of parts as well as all source code and configurations.
As you read further, please remember that the model they sent me was not their newest. They don’t even sell this model any more. Technically speaking, it is roughly 2 generations behind.
The LulzBot arrived in two packages. One was the printer itself and the other was a box full of spare parts, including 15 pounds of filament for printing and a complete and fairly extensive toolset. The printer was packed very nicely. They had some kind of expanding foam that conformed to the shape of the printer and held it very tightly. It had an inspection slip, list of included parts, and a sample print that I assume was from this very machine in the box with it. That’s a nice little touch.
I pulled it out, set it on my kitchen counter and thumbed to the section in the manual that explained the unpacking and set up process. It really only involved removing a few bits that held things in place for shipping, and assembling the filament spool holder.
At this point, I’ve already noticed that the bulk of the parts connecting the frame are 3d printed. This isn’t new, we’ve seen this tons of times, but the 3d printed multi-piece adjustable filament holder suddenly made me very excited. Here was a complete tool, made by a machine exactly like the one in front of me. Not just a part, a complete tool with moving parts. Once assembled, I installed the prerequisite software for the Arduino, Gslicer, and PrintrFace.
After the quick assembly, all that is left is to level the bed, set the z-home, and load new filament into the extruder. Loading the filament was quite easy. All that was required was that I loosen a couple bolts, pull the temporary one out, and stuff the end of the new one in.
Setting the Z-height is simple. Hit the Z-home button and watch the nozzle drop. There is a fat thumb screw on one side of the z-axis that the z-stop switch hits when it comes down. A small twist of this can adjust the home position of the nozzle accurately. The manual had pictures showing roughly how close it should be.
Next, I had to level the bed. I load a file that was on their site available for download. The file prints a square and a big pattern on the entire build surface. This allows you to see where the bed might be a fraction of a millimeter to low or high. Adjusting is done by four small bolts on the corners.
Then I began printing things.
At this point, I could have stopped! That’s all there was. Easy as can be.
However, if you recall, this isn’t the newest model. There is a list of things I could upgrade on this to get better quality. I couldn’t just leave it alone, I had to start messing with it.
I chose to print a few items that I had previously printed on a Makerbot Replicator for comparison. It is worth noting that the LulzBot ships with a .5mm nozzle and the replicator I used had a .35mm nozzle (I think, possibly .4).
The initial prints were pretty good. Especially when I got my Z-height smashed down the way it should be. [Jeff] gave be a slightly newer config file that made a pretty big difference too.
Here’s a timelapse video showing an early print. You’ll notice I didn’t set my height low enough and it caused one of the tentacles to pop up. This isn’t a huge deal, and a minor adjustment has resolved it.
I was actually a little frustrated with some peculiar fluctuations I had found in my prints. My z-axis just seemed to need constant adjustment and wasn’t reliably returning to home each time. I ultimately found that this was just a couple loose screws on a z-axis guide rail, I problem I should have noticed on visual inspection when I took it out of the box.
x-Axis carriage mount lower piece upgrade.
[Jeff] suggested I download the lower piece of the x-axis carriage mount. This upgrade gives some more stability and should reduce wobble. I downloaded it and printed it out. To mount it, I had to disconnect the large Acme screws from the z-axis motors. This upgrade got put back to stock in the next step.
z-axis-acme-adapter upgrade.
I quickly became annoyed at the z-axis-acme-adapters. They had recessed holes for their bolts, but he holes weren’t the exact size of the bolt, so it spun freely in the indention. Since it was indented, I couldn’t put a wrench on it either. I ultimately ended up putting super glue in the hole which, once dry, gave the nut enough friction to stay still. During this process while I was explaining my frustration with [Jeff], he pointed out I could print newer better ones, like they use in the new model. I should point out that I’ve seen this used other places, not just the lulzbot. For tiny nuts, it is a bad idea. The flat surface is just too small to grip. The plastic has too much flex.
I had to fight these
back on the printer
, then print the new ones. Again, I was struggling with the fact that the nut would spin freely, so I couldn’t get it tight enough. The motor kept spinning in the mount because it was too loose. Not only that, but I noticed the new fancy x-carriage mounts were hanging all the way down far enough to interfere with the z-axis-acme adapter. I didn’t have the linear bearing this mount was supposed to hold, so I ended up just putting the stock ones back on.
While inspecting the new z-adapters, I noted that they had the same recessed nut area. The theory here is that the nut will fit snugly and not turn, in practice I found that they do turn if they are small enough. Larger ones do not have this issue. To resolve this, I just put the head of the bolt in that section which left the nut on the surface of the opposite side. Since the bolts have an allen socket head, this worked fine. This was a really annoying problem with a ridiculously easy solution.
The problem holes. They look like they would hold the nut, but slips.
the easy solution
The new adapters were much nicer, having a keyed hole on the bottom that fit the motor’s rotor very snug. I put everything back together, tightened everything as tight as I dared, loaded the smaller .35mm nozzle and began to print. The corners were tighter, details finer, but I also had this new and annoying wavyness.
more detail, but now wavy
stock printing
After some quick research I found that my lack of experience with the repraps had sent me in the wrong direction. It appears that the z-axis motors/acme screws aren’t all supposed to be as rigid and tightly mounted as possible. They’re supposed to be able to wiggle a little bit so that the slight imperfections in mounting angle, or screw straightness won’t have enough force to push the whole carriage off course by a fraction of a millimeter.
I loosened the new adapters. This was rather easy now that I had reversed the mounting of the bolts that tightened them. I backed the motor and the acme screw out so that they were barely inside the adapter and tightened it back down. This allowed for more wiggle. My print improved!
Some very nice folks on the #reprap channel in IRC suggested that I try rubber tubing as a coupler instead. It has enough squash stretch to eat up most of the inconsistencies. Sure enough, a couple pieces of rubber tube worked fine!
at this point, I have detail and quality. It is humming away right now printing some fun stuff.
a big issue with an easy fix
My son got really excited when he saw all the gear related files on thingiverse. Naturally, I downloaded a simple one and printed it it. I chose this simple
planetary gear set
. Unfortunately, even though it looked good, the gears didn’t fit in the outer ring. Everything was slightly too large. I could force it in, but the pressure was so much that it wouldn’t spin. I then tried a
gear heart
, which I happened to have an example of from another printer. I could assemble it, but something was wrong and the gears wouldn’t spin like they’re supposed to. I was quite frustrated, since this meant that nothing very precise I would print would work.
I contacted [Jeff], who took the same file to their machines and printed it. He said that the file worked for them. We went back and forth for quite a while before [Jeff] figured out that I had loaded the wrong configuration files. Even though I have the AO-100, I needed the configuration files for the AO-101 which were correct for the newest version of slicer.
After that update, my parts were meshing just like they are supposed to! I am quite happy.
Too scared to reprap
While talking to a few people, I’ve found that the biggest issue with repraps are, well, that you have to build them yourself. When you look at the detail they achieve, then consider that maybe you’ve never built something that is that precise, it can be daunting. One great way to overcome that trepidation would be to go to a build party. There are folks out there that throw parties where groups of people all come together and build their repraps all at once. When I spoke to
[Sonny] who does these parties
, he said that everyone goes home with a functional reprap for under $1k. You get help and expertise from the whole group. Hackerspaces will sometimes organize these events as well, so be sure to find your local hackerspace and ask. In fact, there’s one at the
Hacker Consortium
in Nashville on Feb 15th and one at
LvL1
in Louisville KY, on March 9th.
Of course, you can always just get a machine that is pre-assembled like we did. | 57 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "957378",
"author": "mattbed",
"timestamp": "2013-02-09T18:15:18",
"content": "the youtube video doesnt exist?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "957579",
"author": "Caleb Kraft",
"timestamp": "2013-02-10T02:21:49"... | 1,760,376,616.889267 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/09/hackaday-links-february-9th-2013/ | Hackaday Links: February 9th, 2013 | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"binary clock",
"fume extractor",
"led",
"toys",
"ultrasonic"
] | Hobby electronics from 1982
[Lennart] came across one of his projects from several decades ago. It’s
a twinkling star which blinks LEDs at different rates
using some 7400 logic chips and RC timers.
Solder fume extractor
We’re still blowing the solder fumes away from us using our mouth, but this might inspire us to do otherwise. It’s
a large PC fan mounted on a lamp goose neck
. It clamps to the bench and is quite easy to position.
Ultrasonic liquid level measurement
Wanting a way to measure the liquid in these tanks without submerging a sensor, [JO3RI] turned to
an Arduino and an ultrasonic rangefinder
. His method even allows the level to be graphed as shown in
his Instructible about the project
.
Adding an ‘On’ light to save batteries
Dumpster diving yielded this electronic drum machine for [MS3FGX’s] daughter to play with. The problem is that pushing any of the buttons turns it on, it doesn’t have an auto-off, and there’s no way to know when it’s on. This is unacceptable since it runs on 5 AA batteries. His
quick fix adds this green On LED
. We wonder if he’ll improve upon this and add an auto-off feature?
CMOS Binary Clock
This is a portion of the guts of [Dennis’]
CMOS Binary Clock project
from the early 2000’s. He even built a nice case with a window for the LEDs which you can see are mounted perpendicular to the protoboard. | 6 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "957342",
"author": "Mohonri",
"timestamp": "2013-02-09T16:14:53",
"content": "Ultrasonic level measurement is actually one of the methods used in real-life industry, and it’s cool to see it used by a hobbyist. It’s only good if you have a real clearly-defined water-air boundary, th... | 1,760,376,616.528796 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/09/arduino-as-an-inexpensive-ham-radio-frequency-counter/ | Arduino As An Inexpensive Ham Radio Frequency Counter | Mike Szczys | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"frequency counter",
"ham radio"
] | [Todd Harrison] really has our number. Like him, we don’t want to spend money when we don’t have to, and hacking our own solutions is a lot more fun anyway. This time around he’s helping out a friend who is a ham radio enthusiast. The friend’s radio didn’t come with a frequency display, and buying the add-on would cost more than the radio did. So [Todd] has set out to
build an Arduino frequency counter for a Kenwood TS-520S HF ham radio
.
This post (and the video found after the break) doesn’t cover the entire project. It’s rather involved just to make sure that [Todd’s] initial idea is viable so he spends about 35 minutes explaining the problem, then measuring the radio outputs and testing to see that the Arduino can read them accurately. Because the radio has a very large range of operation, [Todd] will need to add external component to facilitate this. That extra circuit design will be the topic of the next project segment. | 8 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "957321",
"author": "junkbox",
"timestamp": "2013-02-09T14:44:06",
"content": "Huh, I was just beginning to look into designing a frequency counter, but using 7400 series logic and an AVR.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "957335",... | 1,760,376,616.572533 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/08/nasa-inspired-circadian-rhythm-lights/ | NASA Inspired Circadian Rhythm Lights | Mike Szczys | [
"LED Hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"adafruit",
"circadian rhythm",
"iss",
"led",
"nasa",
"rgb",
"RPi",
"strand",
"WS2801"
] | After reading about an initiative between NASA and Boeing to develop lights for the International Space Station [Rasathus] decided to give it a go at building his own. The project uses
RGB pixels to build a circadian rhythm light installation
. Without the normal rise and fall of the sun the sleep wake schedule for the astronauts can be pretty rough. This uses color and intensity of light in a well-defined schedule to help alleviate that. [Rasathus] is trying to bring his project in well under the $11.1 million mark which was established for the ISS.
The light modules he’s using are from a strand of LEDs from Adafruit. Each is driven by a WS2801 controller, a common driver used for easy and complicated projects
like this huge ball of light
which our own [Jesse Congdon] tackled. The board above is the start of an adapter board for interfacing with the Raspberry Pi GPIO header. [Rasathus] wanted to make certain he didn’t fry the control electronics so he built some protection into this adapter. The control software is covered in
the second portion of the write up
. We’ve embedded the video from that post after the break. | 10 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "957100",
"author": "lloyd",
"timestamp": "2013-02-09T06:12:42",
"content": "Very cool!I’m really struggling to understand the cost of NASA’s expected $11.1 million. Just another example of how everything seems to cost a ridiculous amount of money for something that could also be ach... | 1,760,376,616.727026 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/08/another-take-on-the-6502-computer/ | Another Take On The 6502 Computer | Mike Szczys | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"6502",
"65c02",
"ATmega32",
"AVR"
] | [Mark] is just
starting off on his own 6502 computer odyssey
. He was inspired by some of the other projects we’ve seen around here, like [Quinn Dunki’s]
Veronica Project
, but with a spin that leverages modern processors to alleviate some of the messy work. As you can see above, there’s an Atmel chip perched above the 65C02 processor. This chip not only feeds the processor data (through all those slightly diagonal yellow wires) but also provides the clock signal and operates the reset and bus enable lines.
This is more of a hello world post for [Mark]. The chip is simply running NOP commands right now. But it shows that the basic idea works, and the video after the break lets us see another time-saving aspect of the circuit. He’s using a character LCD to display memory location and data values. The plan is to get a blog going, which he’s hesitant to do as it takes valuable hacking time away from the project. We disagree. The write-up (although incredibly fun for us to read) ends up being a reference manual for him once the project starts to get really hairy. | 17 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "957049",
"author": "Mark Baseggio",
"timestamp": "2013-02-09T02:33:57",
"content": "Hey guys. Thanks for posting my n00b 6502 adventures :) I look forward to making this thing actually do something meaningful.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"... | 1,760,376,616.791328 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/08/scara-arm-3d-printer/ | SCARA Arm 3D Printer | Mike Szczys | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"extruder",
"printer",
"scara",
"stepper motor"
] | [Quentin Harley] must really have wanted to test his snuff when it comes to mechanical engineering. He’s been hard at work for a couple of years now
designing his own SCARA arm 3D printer
. That link leads to a recent summary article in which he shows off the build as seen above. It’s not fully functional yet, but he’s at the point where it’s time to develop the driver circuitry and firmware so he’s close. His blog is dedicated to this single project so click around and see what he went through along the journey.
The SCARA arm is seen in blue, using a couple of stepper motors to move the extruder mount along the x and y axes. The bed itself moves along the Z axis via two precision rods with a threaded rod in the center. As you can see, some of the parts are made of wood, and he used PVC for the cross supports between the upper and lower base platforms. But the majority of the build uses 3D printed parts, including the arms, drive gears, and mounting brackets.
[Thanks Peter] | 29 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "957021",
"author": "oegjpa",
"timestamp": "2013-02-09T00:22:04",
"content": ">robot arm>open loop controlthat does not compute bro.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "957161",
"author": "quentinharley",
"timestamp... | 1,760,376,617.02857 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/08/a-pair-of-automatic-fish-feeders/ | A Pair Of Automatic Fish Feeders | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"attiny85",
"feeder",
"fish"
] | Sometime the hacking topics come in waves. For instance, we were tipped off about this pair of automatic fish feeders just an hour apart from each other. Maybe it’s that time of year when people are about to go on Holiday and want to make sure their marine pets don’t go hungry?
The feeder on the left is a true hack. It’s built from
a pair of servos and a pill bottle
. An ATtiny85 drives the motors. One is mounted to the other, allowing the cap which catches and distributes the food to move along two axes. When it rotates into place under the pill bottle it bumps against a stick to open a flapper releasing more food.
On the right is a feeder that precisely doses the food. That’s because
it includes a separate chamber for each feed
. A worm gear drives the hopper, with screw heads pressing against a leaf switch for position feedback. This one is well designed and built to last. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "956992",
"author": "lastchancename",
"timestamp": "2013-02-08T23:08:34",
"content": "Darn. This would be great if I had a pair of ‘automatic fish’.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "957198",
"author": "slick_dude",
"times... | 1,760,376,616.931491 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/06/rack-mount-home-automation-with-a-rpi/ | Rack Mount Home Automation With A RPi | Eric Evenchick | [
"home hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"api",
"home automation",
"raspberry pi"
] | [Patrick] wanted to have centralized sensing and control over various parts of his house. His
Raspberry Pi Home Automation System
integrates a bunch of functionality in one rack mount package, salvaged from an old network switch.
The automation system is based on a Raspberry Pi running Arch Linux, which talks to an ATmega over SPI. We’ve seen this setup used many times before to add additional ports to the Raspberry Pi, but what makes [Patrick]’s build unique is the amount of control he’s built into the system.
The box controls outdoor lighting at sunset and sunrise, generates wakeup calls, controls IR cameras, and plays sounds based on events. It’s capable of monitoring sump pump water level, the state of a house alarm, and more. A custom REST API is used to interact with the device. This allows for programs on any platform to interface with his home, and acts as an API for his house.
[Patrick] provides a lot of details in his build log, which should be helpful to anyone looking to roll their own home automation system. The source is also provided. | 19 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "955321",
"author": "fartface",
"timestamp": "2013-02-06T14:41:17",
"content": "How cute :-)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "955325",
"author": "Eirinn",
"timestamp": "2013-02-06T15:07:54",
"content": "B... | 1,760,376,617.100924 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/06/reload-an-open-source-dummy-load/ | Re:load, An Open Source Dummy Load | Eric Evenchick | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"bts117",
"constant current",
"dummy load",
"Tindie"
] | When testing power supplies or LEDs, a constant current dummy load is needed. These devices will draw a constant amount of current, regardless of the voltage at the input terminals.
[Nick] was looking for a load to test out a power supply, and found commercial offerings to be too large, too powerful, and most importantly, too expensive. This lead to the design of the
Re:load
, his open source alternative.
Like other constant current sources, the Re:load uses an opamp to control a pass element. While most constant current loads will just use a transistor, [Nick] opted for a BTS117 smart low side switch IC. This device has a built in current limiter, over-voltage protection, over-temperature protection, and short circuit protection, which makes it much safer. The project write up goes into detail on how the device works.
If you need a constant current load, [Nick] is selling kits on
Tindie
. All the design files are available on
Github
so that you can build your own. | 14 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "955272",
"author": "Nick Johnson",
"timestamp": "2013-02-06T12:30:48",
"content": "Thanks for the attention!Note the link to Github goes to the old repository URL. It’s now athttps://github.com/arachnidlabs/reload/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,376,617.152557 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/05/quick-fixes-for-smd-population-problems/ | Quick Fixes For SMD Population Problems | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"reflow",
"smd",
"surface mount"
] | Here’s
a collection of tricks to get over some surface mount prototyping issues
the next time you find yourself in a bind. But first we have to address the soldering atrocity seen on most of the components above. [Rxdtxd] admits he’s using a firestick for soldering his SMD parts. The non-brand 40W iron is just about the worst thing he could be using (well, we guess
a candle would be worse
). Try to overlook those joints and enjoy his solutions to a couple of other problems.
First up is what to do when you lift a fine-pitch trace like would be found on a TQFP footprint. The fix for this is to grab a junked transformer and use a bit of the enameled wire from the wrappings as a jumper. The wire is quite fine, and the insulation will burn off when soldered which means you don’t need to strip it first.
The second and third tricks both deal with resistors. As you can see above he placed two 1K resistors on a single resistor footprint to make his 2k resistor. The 0603 packages were both soldered standing on end, then connected with a lead from a through-hole component. The other resistor hack piles five components on top of each other to build resistance in parallel. This is not a great idea as it will fail over the long-term, but it will get you though the prototyping stage as long it doesn’t require precise tolerance. | 33 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "955027",
"author": "macegr",
"timestamp": "2013-02-06T03:46:15",
"content": "Why would the parallel resistor method fail over the long term?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "955048",
"author": "SYNTRONIKS",
"tim... | 1,760,376,617.215835 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/05/one-kindle-launcher-to-rule-them/ | One Kindle Launcher To Rule Them | Mike Szczys | [
"Kindle hacks"
] | [
"epaper",
"jailbreak",
"kindle",
"kual",
"launcher",
"root"
] | Ask around and chances are you can find a friend or family member that still has their early generation Kindle but doesn’t use it anymore. There are quite a number of different things you can do with them, and now there’s
a single Launcher that works for all models of hacked Kindles
. KUAL is the Kindle Unified Application Launcher.
Loading the launcher on your device does require that it be Jailbroken/Rooted, but that’s really the entire point, right? Once on your device the system is easy to configure. Menus themselves can be customized by editing the XML and JSON pair for each list. The screenshot on the left illustrates some of the applications you might want to run. We could see a VNC viewer being useful, and everyone likes to have games —
like Doom II
or the entire Z-machine library — on hand when they unexpectedly get stuck somewhere. But MPlayer? Does anyone actually use their ePaper device to watch videos? | 18 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "954991",
"author": "Spike Snell",
"timestamp": "2013-02-06T02:22:12",
"content": "Awesome.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "955008",
"author": "geekmaster",
"timestamp": "2013-02-06T03:09:17",
"content": "” Does anyon... | 1,760,376,617.282389 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/05/bash-games/ | BASH Games | Mike Szczys | [
"Linux Hacks"
] | [
"bash",
"dos",
"game",
"scripting",
"snake",
"terminal",
"video game"
] | Get serious about your shell scripting skills and maybe you can pull this one off. It’s
a game of snake played in a BASH shell
. It seems like a coding nightmare, but the final product turns out to be organized well enough for us to understand and took less than 250 lines of code.
[Martin Bruchanov] started on the project after pining for an old DOS game called Housenka. It’s another version of the classic Snake game which
we’ve coded ourselves
and seen in several projects including
this head-to-head version using musical recorders as controllers
. When using a terminal emulator capable of ANSI sequences the game is displayed in color using extended characters.
We give [Martin] bonus points for the way he wrote about his project. It describes the mechanics most would be interested in, like how the user input is captured and what drives the update function and food generation. The rest of the details can be gleaned by reading through the code itself. | 18 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "954949",
"author": "Papa Smurf",
"timestamp": "2013-02-05T23:21:06",
"content": "I guess well done… but really it is just another example of bash being used where a compiled application should have been. I wonder how much quicker a Linux machine would be if all it’s start-up scripts... | 1,760,376,617.488685 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/05/introducing-the-deconstruction-a-collaborative-experiment/ | Introducing The Deconstruction: A Collaborative Experiment | Caleb Kraft | [
"News"
] | [] | The goal of The Deconstruction is to bring people together (physically and digitally) to share ideas, collaborate, create, problem solve, and have a good time. The event is open to anyone, anywhere, of any age and skill level.
If you enjoy a bit of good competition and feel like taking on a little bit of a challenge, you should definitely check out
The Deconstruction
. This event pits a bunch of teams from all over the place against each other in a timed hack-a-thon. The whole time they are building their project, they’re broadcasting live using their webcams too.
If this brings to mind the Red Bull Creation contest, it is because the root idea is from the same guy [Jason Naumoff], but this is NOT a RedBull thing. When I met with him last year in New York, he clued me in that he was working on something much more open ended and inclusive. The Deconstruction is that thing. He explained that they’re really hoping to reach out to families, clubs, and high school groups as well as the usual hackerspaces.
Join up, make something cool, have fun. | 12 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "954931",
"author": "kuang (@kuangmk11)",
"timestamp": "2013-02-05T22:06:40",
"content": "must be “A device for rapid delivery of concussions/removal of teeth.”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "954970",
"author": "Hirudi... | 1,760,376,617.335806 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/05/military-steals-idea-of-anyone-who-ever-tied-a-cellphone-camera-to-quadcopter/ | Military Steals Idea Of Anyone Who Ever Tied A Cellphone Camera To Quadcopter | Mike Szczys | [
"Weapons Hacks"
] | [
"Afghanistan",
"camera",
"helicopter",
"military",
"prox dynamics"
] | Check out the toy this solder is using. It’s a tiny remote-controlled helicopter. The thing comes in a kit that includes a small tablet through which the nose-mounted camera image can be viewed. These are in use in Afghanistan by the UK Military. The purpose is to help protect foot soldiers by allowing them to perform discrete reconnaissance. What would you pay for this type of life saving technology? How does
$31 million for 160 units sound
? For that price we expect
eight propellers and a cinema quality camera
.
The drone is
manufactured by Prox Dynamics
. They’ve been in development since 2008 and you can bet that a lot of that time went into making it “inaudible” which is the main difference we see between this and hobby-built versions. For now you’ll have to deal with trying to make your own since they will only sell to the government.
The best we can do for you when it comes to video of the thing is prototyping footage from 2009 (after the break). If you have a link to a newer clip we’d love to see it in the comments.
[via
Reddit
] | 62 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "954858",
"author": "Parker Dillmann",
"timestamp": "2013-02-05T19:08:29",
"content": "Well you probably also pay for a vast increase in reliability. What would be worse then dropping the quad at the feet of an enemy soldier?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,376,617.859901 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/01/populate-smd-boads-using-a-toothpick-and-tweezers/ | Populate SMD Boads Using A Toothpick And Tweezers | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"Glass PCB",
"reflow",
"smd",
"solder paste",
"surface mount",
"tweezer"
] | Here’s a demonstration which proves
you don’t really need special tools to populate a surface mount PCB
. We’ve seen this board before, it’s the glass PCB server which [Cnlohr] developed and demonstrated by
connecting the real world to Minecraft
. It’s a tiny board and we were happy to have the chance to see his method for populating the parts before reflow soldering.
In the video after the break [Cnlohr] starts by dispensing a glob of solder pasted from its storage container. He mentions that as long as you store the stuff in the refrigerator it’s rather easy to work with. Because most of his projects are single boards it’s not worth it to have a solder stencil produced. Instead he picks up a bit of the solder glob on the end of a toothpick and applies it to each pad.
This isn’t really as bad as it sounds. The fine pitch TQFP footprints can just be dragged with a bit of the paste. After this application — which took around seven minutes — he grabs some tweezers (not
the vacuum type
) and begins placing each component. If he missed some paste he’ll discover it in this step and add where necessary. The last step is a trip through his toaster oven.
[via
reddit
] | 25 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "952602",
"author": "ripper121",
"timestamp": "2013-02-02T00:40:55",
"content": "Were can i get transparent pcb?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "952976",
"author": "Nifft",
"timestamp": "2013-02-02T15:58:14",
... | 1,760,376,617.604314 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/01/barometer-tells-you-to-take-your-bike-or-the-train/ | Barometer Tells You To Take Your Bike Or The Train | Brian Benchoff | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"bicycle",
"nanode",
"subway"
] | Before beginning his day, [Richard] needs to decide whether he should ride his bike to work or take the London tube. All the information to make that decision is available on the Internet – the current weather report, and the status of the subway lines and stations he’d be taking. The problem, though, is all these pieces of information are spread out in multiple places. [Richard]’s solution to this was to
make a bicycle barometer
that pulls data from these places and makes the decision to ride a bike or the tube for him.
[Richard]’s barometer is built around
a nanode
and an old clock he found at a flea market. The nanode queries the UK’s weather bureau and the London underground’s line and station status. All the variables under consideration are weighted; if it’s snowing, the output is much more likely to decide on the tube than if there was a slight drizzle.
It’s a really cool build that certainly makes a great use of the publicly accessible APIs made available by the London underground. You can check out a video of the barometer after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP6LIhDopQk&w=580] | 18 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "952492",
"author": "EccentricElectron",
"timestamp": "2013-02-01T22:19:53",
"content": "Awesome, innovative build!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "952501",
"author": "pff",
"timestamp": "2013-02-01T22:39:32",
"conten... | 1,760,376,617.65866 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/01/getting-rid-of-telemarketers-with-a-banana-phone/ | Getting Rid Of Telemarketers With A Banana Phone | Brian Benchoff | [
"Phone Hacks"
] | [
"phone",
"raspberry pi",
"robocall",
"telephone"
] | The Federal Trade Commission really doesn’t like robocalls and other telephone solicitors selling you vinyl siding or home security upgrades. The FTC is even offering $50,000 to anyone who can do away with these robocalling telemarketers, and [Alex] looks like he might just claim the prize. He
developed The Banana Phone
, a device that eliminates those pesky telemarketers.
The basic idea of the Banana Phone is requiring callers to enter a four-digit pass code (played via text to speech over
a relevant song
to prevent a bot from getting through) before connecting them to the main line. Once a caller has been verified as human, their number is added to a white list so they won’t have to listen to [Raffi] every time they call.
The Banana Phone uses off-the-shelf parts including a Raspberry Pi and a
phone/Ethernet adapter
with the total build cost under $100. You can check out a demo of the Banana Phone in action after the break starting at about 2:25.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovaWvFQgrqU&w=580] | 78 | 39 | [
{
"comment_id": "952396",
"author": "Justin",
"timestamp": "2013-02-01T20:09:47",
"content": "Same as captcha, will work for a short while until they use (readily available) speech to text software.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "952405",
... | 1,760,376,617.981846 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/01/y-combinator-and-upverter-host-hardware-hackathon/ | Y Combinator And Upverter Host Hardware Hackathon | Eric Evenchick | [
"contests"
] | [
"hackathon",
"upverter",
"y combinator"
] | Startup accelerator Y Combinator and Upverter are joining forces to run a
hardware hackathon
. This event aims to encourage hardware hackers to get together and design new products in a twelve hour sprint. Startups including Pebble, Octopart, and Lockitron will also be participating.
It’s a free event, and the winning teams will get their design manufactured. Participants will retain the rights to their designs, get free professional Upverter accounts, and have the chance to chat with some of the Y Combinator partners. This makes it a great opportunity for people looking to create their own hardware startup.
The event takes place on February 23rd at the Y Combinator offices in Mountain View, CA. Registration is open until February 8th. If you’re in the Bay Area and do hardware, you should check this event out. | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "952374",
"author": "Do you know who I am? I'm the CEO of a multi-million dollar hole in the ground.",
"timestamp": "2013-02-01T19:12:53",
"content": "Y-combinator is always looking for grist for their mill. I thought the hardware world was free of the venture capital-silliness, but ... | 1,760,376,618.021832 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/01/siri-controlled-arduino-using-ruby/ | Siri Controlled Arduino Using Ruby | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"iphone hacks"
] | [
"dino",
"ruby",
"siri",
"siriproxy"
] | This snippet of Hello World code lets [Nico Ritschel] turn the Pin 13 LED on his Arduino on and off using Siri, the voice-activated helper built into iPhones. The trick here is
using the Ruby programming language to get Siri Proxy talking to Arduino
via the USB connection. He calls the project
siriproxy-arduino
.
On one end of the hack resides SiriProxy, a package not approved by Apple which is
capable of intercepting the Siri messages headed for Apple’s own servers
. The messages are still relayed, but a copy of each is available for [Nico’s] own uses. On the other side of things he’s building on the work of [Austinbv’s]
dino gem
; a Ruby package that facilitates control of the Arduino. It includes a sketch that is uploaded to the Arduino board, opening up a Ruby API. The collection of code seen above defines the pin with the LED connected and then listens for a specific Siri commands to actuate it.
Take a look at [Nico’s] explanation of the module in the video after the break. | 7 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "952287",
"author": "Sparky's Widgets (@SparkysWidgets)",
"timestamp": "2013-02-01T16:19:47",
"content": "I had this done well over a year ago I wish someone would have noticed(I did submit here). works on doors, lights and a lot of other stuff (http://youtu.be/bHlU4kviZ84), I even h... | 1,760,376,618.264361 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/01/reverse-engineering-salvaged-part-footprints/ | Reverse Engineering Salvaged Part Footprints | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"caliper",
"digital caliper",
"footprint",
"measurment",
"microscope",
"pcb"
] | So you just pulled a fancy component off of a board from some broken electronics and you want to use it in your own project. What if the data sheet you found for it doesn’t include measurements for the footprint? Sure, you could pull out your digital calipers, but look at the measurements in the image above. How the heck are you supposed to accurately measure that? [Steve] found an easy answer for this problem.
He uses microscope software to process an image of the board
.
One common task when working with a microscope is measuring the items which are being viewed under magnification. [Steve] harnessed the power of
a piece of free software called MiCam
. One of its features is the ability to select an area of the photograph so serve as the measuring stick. To get the labels seen in the image above he selected the left and right edges of the board as the legend. He used his digital calipers to get a precise measurement of this area, then let the software automatically calculate the rest of the distances which he selected with his cursor.
MiCam is written for Windows machines. If you know of Linux or OSX alternatives please let us know in the comments. | 35 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "952227",
"author": "ino",
"timestamp": "2013-02-01T14:18:34",
"content": "it’s a freeware that could be useful.Thx for the link",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "952228",
"author": "James Larkin",
"timestamp": "2013-02-01T... | 1,760,376,618.163602 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/01/tweeting-beer-dispenser-requires-co-worker-approval/ | Tweeting Beer Dispenser Requires Co-worker Approval | Mike Szczys | [
"Beer Hacks"
] | [
"beer",
"beer fridge",
"dispenser",
"fridge",
"refrigerator",
"tweet",
"twitter",
"vending machine"
] | Having been faced with an empty beer fridge one too many times the team at Metalworks came up with
an approval system for dispensing malted beverages
. The trick was to remove the physical controls on a can dispenser. The only way you can get a cold one is to ask the machine via its twitter account. If there’s beer inside, it waits for one of your approved co-workers to give the go-ahead.
There are two versions of the machine. The first is a hacked refrigerator with a dispenser hole cut in the door. This resides in their Sydney office, apparently doesn’t work all that well, and is only shown in the video after the break.
The image above is version 2.0 which is located at their Singapore branch. It’s a much smaller device, but works very well since it started as a commercially available can dispenser. You can see the Arduino Leonardo and breadboard which make up the driver circuits.
There aren’t a ton of details on this, but it’s not hard to find about a million examples of an Arduino using Twitter. Here’s one that takes Morse code as an input and
posts the message as a Tweet
.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OapSmcw7MmY | 6 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "952202",
"author": "Tom K",
"timestamp": "2013-02-01T13:20:04",
"content": "Thanks for the write-up, Mike. The trick was to use a Rails app to handle some of the more complex authorisation and parsing of Twitter’s realtime Stream API – all of this proved too complex for Arduino.Anot... | 1,760,376,618.064544 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/05/web-connected-treat-dispenser-appeases-the-pets/ | Web Connected Treat Dispenser Appeases The Pets | Mike Szczys | [
"cnc hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"dog",
"email",
"RPi",
"treats"
] | [John] was looking for a project for his newly acquired Raspberry Pi and decided to include his dog in the fun. although his finished project looks a lot like an old time camera, it’s actually
a web-connected treat dispenser
that uses his dog’s email address for dispensation.
Let’s take a look at the hardware from top to bottom. There’s a camera with a eagle’s eye shot of his furry friend waiting for treats. The cylinder below that is the motor which drives the treat dispenser. You can see the chain tensioner on the back which connects the motor to the tube dispenser in the center of the box. Just above that outlet is the character display which gives feedback to anyone watching the dispenser. Nearing the bottom is a hopper that catches the treats, then flips over to dump them onto the floor. And finally at the bottom is a slot for the Raspberry Pi which drives everything.
Most of [John’s] projects revolve around CNC work. In addition to the demo video found after the break there’s a second that focuses on CAD design. About half way through that clip he gives us a close-up tour of all the hardware.
[Thanks Joseph] | 8 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "954824",
"author": "fartface",
"timestamp": "2013-02-05T17:41:32",
"content": "“that uses his dog’s email address for dispensation.”Really? Why not the dog’s twitter account?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "954829",
"... | 1,760,376,618.219878 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/05/learn-a-little-assembly-language-for-the-6502-processor/ | Learn A Little Assembly Language For The 6502 Processor | Mike Szczys | [
"computer hacks",
"how-to"
] | [
"6502",
"assembly",
"tutorial"
] | Evern wanted to write your own Atari 2600 games? This won’t get you quite that far, but it will teach you the very basics. It’s
an assembly tutorial for the 6502 processor
. The nice thing is that you need nothing more than your browser to participate thanks to the embedded JavaScript emulator which acts as assembler, machine, and debugger in one.
The 6502 was in a lot of early equipment. In addition to the previously mentioned Atari they can be found in the Commodore 64, Apple II, and the original NES. You can even find folks building their own computers around the chip these days (most notable to us is
the Veronica project
). The guide starts off slowly, providing a working program and challenging the reader to play with to code in order to alter the outcomes. It moves on to an overview of registers and instructions, operators and branching, and culminates in the creation of a simple game.
[Thanks Mathilda] | 29 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "954727",
"author": "Jonathan Wilson",
"timestamp": "2013-02-05T14:04:24",
"content": "I remember learning ASM for 65816 (which was a 16-bit derivative of the 6502) for SNES development (the 65816 was also used for the Apple IIGS)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies... | 1,760,376,618.33207 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/05/using-nichrome-wire-to-repair-broken-plastic-parts/ | Using Nichrome Wire To Repair Broken Plastic Parts | Mike Szczys | [
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"nichrome",
"plastic",
"wire"
] | It’s a real bummer when injection molded plastic parts break. We’ve never found a gluing technique that works for a part which is exposed to force like the clamp on this camera tripod. But [Matthias Wandel] may be on to something. Here he’s
using nichrome wire to reinforce the broken plastic part
.
The repair process is demonstrated in full in the video after the break. He scavenged the wire from the heating element of broken hair driers. the idea is to wrap the wire across the broken piece, then apply power from a bench supply. This heats the wire, which can then be pulled beneath the surface of the plastic. [Matthias] likens it to using rebar in concrete.
His implementation could be improved just a bit. Getting the wire to embed evenly is a problem, but using a pair of pliers instead of just alligator clips may yield better results.
[via
Reddit
] | 44 | 28 | [
{
"comment_id": "954679",
"author": "egjoa",
"timestamp": "2013-02-05T12:15:50",
"content": ">[Matthias] likens it to using rebar in concrete.nope, you’re making it even weaker.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "954711",
"author": "alive... | 1,760,376,618.421475 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/04/space-invaders-played-on-a-16x2-character-display/ | Space Invaders Played On A 16×2 Character Display | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"character lcd",
"piezo",
"space invaders",
"video game",
"wii nunchuk"
] | This Space Invaders game does more with less. [Rjk79] managed to
make a video game using a two-line character display
. The game consists of a wave of invaders on the top line, with the defender cannon on the bottom. The invader isn’t just stationary, but randomly moves to the left and the right. The image above captured a little bit of motion blur from the defender moving into position before firing on the enemy.
An Arduino board controls the 16×2 HD44780 character display. The game also includes sounds generated by the piezo buzzer seen on the breadboard. All the way to the right you can see the Wii Nunchuk breakout board which provides directional control and the firing trigger. If you want to recreate this one for yourself [Rjk79] is sharing
the source code on Pastebin
. There’s also a demo video found after the jump.
If you don’t have a character LCD on hand you might try this other
Space Invaders clone that uses an 8×8 led matrix
.
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”file/d/0B0nOlQ9bqIadTkY4cXVYbXRzWWM/preview” query=”” width=”800″ height=”600″ /] | 10 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "954541",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2013-02-05T04:47:57",
"content": "Wouldn’t it make more sense to play it 2×16 rather than 16×2? Nice graphics within the limits of the display though, good job.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"com... | 1,760,376,618.537561 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/04/building-a-linear-motor/ | Building A Linear Motor | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"attiny44",
"coil",
"linear motor",
"magnet",
"rare earth magnets",
"solenoid"
] | We admit that this project doesn’t have very many details available, but it was just too neat for us to pass up. It’s
a small linear motor which [ligonapProduktion] built
after seeing a very brief description of a commercially available version.
The video after the break shows him testing the motor. In this screenshot he’s holding the center shaft while the coil assembly moves back and forth. But it works with a stationary coil moving the rod as well. The motor is basically a modified solenoid. There are sixteen neodymium magnets inside the shaft. The set of four coils is driven by an ATtiny44. Just like a stepper motor, energizing the coils in the correct order pushes against the rare earth magnets creating motion.
We’re not sure if he has any use in mind for this build. For us we just like to see the concept in practice (we feel the same way about
a homopolar motor build
).
[via
Reddit
] | 23 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "954474",
"author": "Jimmee",
"timestamp": "2013-02-05T02:19:01",
"content": "Hmm, seems like basically a controlled coil gun?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdZo_keUoEs",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "954665",
"author":... | 1,760,376,618.490566 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/04/stellaris-launchpad-shield-shows-good-fabrication-technique/ | Stellaris Launchpad Shield Shows Good Fabrication Technique | Mike Szczys | [
"ARM"
] | [
"buttons",
"charlieplexing",
"launchpad",
"led",
"shield",
"stellaris"
] | Here’s
an LED and Button shield for the Stellaris Launchpad
(
translated
) which you can fabricate at home. It gives you access to a 5×5 matrix of LEDs, and adds four more buttons. In order to cut down on the number of I/O pins required to operate the lights [Cosimo] is using
the concept of Charlieplexing
. This lets him get away with just six driver pins and four button pins.
It’s not just the finished product that interests us here. The fabrication itself is worth clicking through to his project post. What initially caught our eye is the use of Kapton tape as an insulator so that clipped off LEDs could be used as jumpers flat against the top side of the board before populating the LEDs themselves. After those are soldered in place he masks them off, as well as the button footprints, and uses spray paint to protect the top side of the board. The final look is more polished than most at-home project boards. | 6 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "954440",
"author": "anon",
"timestamp": "2013-02-05T00:40:20",
"content": "I don’t know… I think it looked better before the spray paint",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "954592",
"author": "Alex",
"timestamp": "... | 1,760,376,618.797276 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/04/casual-seeks-to-make-android-hacking-os-agnostic/ | CASUAL Seeks To Make Android Hacking OS Agnostic | Mike Szczys | [
"Android Hacks"
] | [
"adam outler",
"casual",
"recovery",
"root",
"scripting"
] | [Adam Outler] tipped us off about
a cross-platform Android hacking suite
he’s been working on. The project, which is called CASUAL, brings several things to the table. First and foremost it breaks down the OS requirements seen on some hacks. It can perform pretty much any Android hack out there and it doesn’t care if you’re using Linux, OS X, or Windows.
We’ve embedded two videos after the break. The screenshot seen above is from the first clip where [Adam] demonstrates the package rooting the Oppo Find5 Android phone. He then goes on to show off the scripting language CASUAL uses. This layer of abstraction should make it easier to deploy hacking packages, as CASUAL handles all of the underlying tools like the Android Debug Bridge, fastboot, and Heimdall (an open source Odin replacement which brings the low level tool to all OS platforms) . The second video demonstrates a Galaxy Note II being rooted, and having a new recovery image flashed. | 7 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "954429",
"author": "lloyd",
"timestamp": "2013-02-05T00:15:55",
"content": "Looks interesting, shame there’s no binary downloads.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "954431",
"author": "lloyd",
"timestamp": "2013-0... | 1,760,376,618.749087 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/04/adaptive-technology-used-to-fly-an-ir-helicopter/ | Adaptive Technology Used To Fly An IR Helicopter | Mike Szczys | [
"Lifehacks",
"Medical Hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"adaptive technology",
"assistive technology",
"AsTeRICS",
"ir helicopter",
"openeeg"
] | This gentleman is using
electrical impulses from his neck muscles to fly a toy helicopter
around the room. The project is a demonstration of
the AsTeRICS project
which seeks to reduce the complexity of adapting the set of skills a disabled person can use to do a wide range of functions. In this case, controlling the helicopter could easily be switched to other tasks without changing the user interface hardware.
One of the plugins for the AsTeRICS project uses the OpenEEG library. This reads the signals coming from a pair of electrodes on top of each shoulder. In the video after the break you can see that as he flexes these muscles the changes in signal are mapped to the altitude of the helicopter. This is just one example of a wide range of inputs that include things like building a webcam-based mouse or using facial recognition.
The toy itself is being driven by an Arduino sending IR commands. We’ve seen quite a few project where
the helicopter communications protocols are laid bare
.
[Thanks Peter and David] | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "954458",
"author": "HC",
"timestamp": "2013-02-05T01:32:21",
"content": "Dude flies that thing better with his neck than I do with hands and the remote. : /",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,376,618.695334 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/04/shooting-ping-pong-balls-at-mach-1-2/ | Shooting Ping Pong Balls At Mach 1.2 | Brian Benchoff | [
"News",
"Weapons Hacks"
] | [
"ping pong",
"ping pong ball",
"PVC gun"
] | Next time you’re in a Nerf gun battle, you better hope you’ve got
this absurdly powerful ping pong ball gun
. It shoots common celluloid spheres at over 400 meters per second, or Mach 1.2.
This ping pong gun is the work of [Mark French], [Craig Zehrung], and [Jim Stratton] at Purdue University. As you would expect, the gun is powered by compressed air housed in a length of 3 inch schedule 80 PVC pipe. One end of the pressure vessel is sealed with a PVC end cap, while the other is closed off with a doubled up piece of duct tape to contain the pressure.
The interesting bit of the build is a
de Laval nozzle
between the pressure vessel and the barrel. Just like a rocket engine nozzle, this bit of machined PVC compresses the air coming through the burst duct tape seal and allows it to expand again, propelling the muzzle-loaded ping pong ball at supersonic speeds.
The guys have written a report on their gun, you can grab that
over on arxiv
. | 48 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "954296",
"author": "Denbo",
"timestamp": "2013-02-04T18:07:32",
"content": "Video of said ping pong gun shooting a ping pong paddlehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=I9zBGgpzl0I#t=323s",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"... | 1,760,376,618.992004 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/04/finding-1s-and-0s-with-a-microscope-and-computer-vision/ | Finding 1s And 0s With A Microscope And Computer Vision | Brian Benchoff | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"masked rom",
"opencv",
"reverse engineering",
"rom"
] | One day, [Adam] was asked if he would like to take part in a little project. A mad scientist come engineer at [Adam]’s job had just removed the plastic casing from a IC, and wanted a little help decoding the information on a masked ROM. These ROMs are basically just data etched directly into silicon, so the only way to actually read the data is with some nitric acid and a microscope. [Adam] was more than up for the challenge, but not wanting to count out thousands of 1s and 0s etched into a chip,
he figured out a way to let a computer do it
with some clever programming and computer vision.
[Adam] has used OpenCV before, but the macro image of the masked ROM had a lot of extraneous information; there were gaps in the columns of bits, and letting a computer do all the work would result in crap data. His solution was to semi-automate the process of counting 1s and 0s by selecting a grid by hand and letting image processing software do the rest of the work.
This work resulted in
rompar
, a tool to decode the data on de-packaged ROMs. It works very well – [Adam] was able to successfully decode the ROM and netted the machine codes for the object of his reverse engineering. | 18 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "954243",
"author": "kmmankad",
"timestamp": "2013-02-04T16:05:27",
"content": "Just pure badassery.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "954251",
"author": "nigglet",
"timestamp": "2013-02-04T16:14:53",
"content": "DO it ... | 1,760,376,619.050932 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/04/elemental-display-is-also-a-led-wall/ | Elemental Display Is Also A LED Wall | Brian Benchoff | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"element",
"led"
] | [Dan] is an element collector, someone who gets his socks knocked off by bismuth crystals and the orange vapor of bromine. Of course every element collector needs a proper display case, and since the periodic table table idea is cliché, [Dan] decided to build an elemental display that’s also
a really awesome LED wall
.
The build started off as most do with
a few sheets of plywood
and
120 acrylic shelves
for each item in [Dan]’s collection. The real magic happened when [Dan]’s buddy [Bill] was called in to make the display
a little more interesting
.
Behind each acrylic shelf is a three-LED section of a LED strip, each part of the periodic table having a different color. The 120 individual shelving units are broken down into 16-shelf groups, each driven by a custom LED driver board. These driver boards are connected to a master Arduino with phone cables and make wonderful use of
a very neat TCL5940 Arduino library
.
The elemental display has a few options; all-on, twinkling, an Apple ‘breathing’ mode, and a graphic eq, as shown in the video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKnnKbogDro&w=580] | 14 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "954244",
"author": "Jerry Tremble",
"timestamp": "2013-02-04T16:07:23",
"content": "“Elements in harmony…”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "954250",
"author": "madsci1016",
"timestamp": "2013-02-04T16:14:06",
... | 1,760,376,619.10645 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/04/diy-solder-stencils-from-soda-cans/ | DIY Solder Stencils From Soda Cans | Brian Benchoff | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"solder paste",
"stencil",
"toner transfer"
] | Even if you’ve overcome your fear diddling about with tiny SMD components, applying solder paste – especially if you’re populating more than one board at a time – is still a chore. The pros use very expensive laser cut stainless steel solder paste stencils, something still a bit out of reach to the casual hobbyist. [Felix] solved this problem by
making his own solder paste stencils
very cheaply using empty soda cans.
The process begins just like any other home etching tutorial by lightly sanding the un-bent aluminum can and applying the etch resist via the toner transfer method. Etching is done with off-the-shelf HCl and hydrogen peroxide, resulting in an amazingly clean stencil comparable in quality with a professional stencil.
Sure, going through a dozen-step process to make a solder paste stencil may not be as convienent as [Cnlohr]’s
toothpick and tweezers method
, but [Felix]’ method is just about up to par with extraordinarily expensive laser cut stainless steel stencils. Not bad for something that came from the recycling bin. | 29 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "954172",
"author": "jacques",
"timestamp": "2013-02-04T12:19:59",
"content": "You can also do it with pizza plates instead of soda can",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "954177",
"author": "Arlet",
"timestamp": "2013-02-04T... | 1,760,376,619.174368 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2013/02/03/making-high-concentrations-of-hydrogen-peroxide-at-home/ | Making High Concentrations Of Hydrogen Peroxide At Home | Brian Benchoff | [
"chemistry hacks"
] | [
"analytical chemistry",
"Chemistry",
"density",
"hydrogen peroxide"
] | Hydrogen peroxide – the same stuff you can pick up from a drug store or beauty supply store – is one of those very interesting chemicals that belongs on every maker’s cabinet. At concentrations of about 30%, it’s perfect for etching PCB boards, and at even higher concentrations – about 70% – it can be used as rocket fuel. Unfortunately for the home hacker, it’s very difficult and expensive to obtain peroxide in concentrations above 3% or so. That’s alright with [Charlie], though, because
he’s come up with a way to concentrate peroxide
and measure the concentration once he’s done.
There are a few YouTube videos of kitchen chemists concentrating peroxide by heating it on a stove to just under 100°C. Because hydrogen peroxide boils at 150°C, they’re simply boiling off the water and increasing the concentration of peroxide. This is a qualitative method, and you’ll never know what concentration you’re getting. [Charlie] rigged up a small-scale with a pipette to measure the weight of his concentrated peroxide per unit of volume, giving him the density of his concoction and thus the concentration.
We have to note that concentrated peroxide is dangerous stuff, but the results of [Charlie]’s lab work aren’t much more dangerous than what hair stylists work with every day. If you’re going for high-test peroxide,
good job, that’s awesome
, but do be aware of the risks. | 87 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "953633",
"author": "luckybot",
"timestamp": "2013-02-03T18:14:13",
"content": "Hydroponics stores and sometimes pool stores carry hydrogen peroxide at 30%.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "2616850",
"author": "lifehacks... | 1,760,376,619.316891 |
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