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https://hackaday.com/2010/12/02/vacuum-forming-at-home/ | Vacuum Forming At Home | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"form",
"forming",
"pegboard",
"vacuum"
] | A little dumpster-diving let [Nick Skvarla]
build his vacuum form machine
for around $5. He pulled a vacuum cleaner out of the trash, which was tossed away because of a broken power plug. He put it into a box which had been sealed with spray foam and used a piece of pegboard for the top side of the enclosure. He takes a piece of 40 mil PETG plastic from the hobby shop and mounts it in a wooden frame. That goes into the oven on broil until the entire sheet is sagging, then onto the vacuum former. Above he’s making forms out of some figurines which he’ll walk you through in the video after the break.
There’s a whole world of manufacturing processes that use these forms as a starting point. What would you use this for? | 50 | 48 | [
{
"comment_id": "235196",
"author": "Calculon",
"timestamp": "2010-12-02T22:20:43",
"content": "Looks pretty good!Way much better than the Kipkay crap from in here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5CGfoxnKaQ",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "235229... | 1,760,377,327.964167 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/29/drill-press-for-through-hole-pcb-manufacturing/ | Drill Press For Through-hole PCB Manufacturing | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"bit",
"drill press",
"pcb"
] | This drill press was built to
drill through-hole printed circuit boards
. [Rhys Goodwin] didn’t want to shell out for new equipment, so he dug through his scraps to see what he could accomplish. He already had the power drill, and there was no shortage of wood and fasteners. Once he had a mounting platform for the power tool he grabbed a pair of slides from and old rack-mount server rail. This provides smooth and precise movement, along with a tension sprint to keep the rig elevated above the work surface. Turns out the only thing he didn’t already have was the mini-chuck for gripping the 0.8 mm drill bit.
It seems as if [Rhys] is hacking up a storm lately. This drill press is for use with
his Inkjet/Toner PCB process
from two weeks ago. We also covered his bulk component salvaging system in
Sunday’s Links post
. | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "221115",
"author": "Jordan",
"timestamp": "2010-11-29T23:33:51",
"content": "I am totally going to do this.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "221135",
"author": "Spork",
"timestamp": "2010-11-30T00:14:07",
"content": "... | 1,760,377,328.088713 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/29/diy-oleds/ | DIY OLEDs | Devlin Thyne | [
"chemistry hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"glowsticks",
"jeri ellsworth",
"led",
"oled"
] | [
Jeri Ellsworth
] has put together a couple of videos that cover how she made her own organic light emitting diodes, or OLEDs. In the first video, after the break, it discusses the difference between regular, rigid semiconductor LEDs and organic LEDs. The video then goes on to show how to make an OLED as successive layers of materials. Indium tin oxide (ITO) on glass forms a transparent anode. That is then coated with
PEDOT:PSS
, a conductive polymer mix that is used as a hole transport layer. Then a red diamond ruthenium complex is added to create the emissive layer. The cathode layer is a low work function metal, initially, gallium indium eutectic alloy then later other metals were shown to work. The second video, shows how to juice a glowstick and make OLEDs with the liquid. The dye in blue glowsticks,
9,10-Diphenylanthracene
, is an organic semiconductor and will emit light as an electric current is passed through it. The glow stick method seems to have some problems as the ITO coated glass plate is degraded by the glowstick chemicals. It would be interesting to see if using the porous aluminum or similar technique from [Jeri]’s
flexible electroluminescent displays
could be used as an electrode.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAgRF8TibJ0&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2qGKJLkDyc&w=470] | 43 | 40 | [
{
"comment_id": "221047",
"author": "Walter Schreppers",
"timestamp": "2010-11-29T22:51:54",
"content": "Nice experiment and well documented. As for results I was a bit disappointed because the screen just looks dark with and without the power on the oled? Is the light not visible on camera or is th... | 1,760,377,328.470746 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/29/climbing-bike-storage-thwarts-thieves/ | Climbing Bike Storage Thwarts Thieves? | Mike Szczys | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"bike",
"carrier",
"climb",
"lock",
"pole"
] | If you’ve got an expensive bike and don’t mind carrying around a whole bunch of extra weight in your courier bag you’ll like this concept. A design team
built a pole-climbing bike rack
in about 14 days. The video after the break shows the prototyping process as well as the finished “lock” in use. It’s a commercial for the company that employs the designers, but this is one kind of advert we don’t mind watching.
Square channel makes up the body of the device, with a set of Rollerblade wheels which grab a light pole and use three 12V gear motors for climbing. The controller is a wireless fob similar to those used for keyless entry on cars. In the video you can hear the cliché sound of a car alarm being set once the carrier reaches its finished height. Nice.
[Thanks JonnieCache] | 51 | 48 | [
{
"comment_id": "221007",
"author": "Mouseclone",
"timestamp": "2010-11-29T21:34:28",
"content": "looks like a town will need more light poles soon.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "221008",
"author": "ReKlipz",
"timestamp": "2010-11-29T2... | 1,760,377,328.282037 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/29/warm-tube-clock/ | Warm Tube Clock | Mike Szczys | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"atmega328",
"led",
"nixie",
"rgb",
"tlc59401",
"tube"
] | The
Warm Tube Clock
is the new kid on the block of Nixie Tube clocks. It takes inspiration from, and uses the same voltage driver circuit as
the Ice Tube Clock
. But this one uses four tubes instead of that hard-to-find single tube. It has a few other tricks up its sleeve. The shield that hosts the tubes has been designed for two different types. It also hosts an RGB LED for each tube, which adds the green glow seen above, and has a couple of small neon indicator bulbs which serve as the colon between hours and minutes.
The driver board centers around an ATmega328 running about three thousand lines of code. The firmware offers a lot of options including sound feedback, and a setting for every clock, calendar, alarm, and LED color toggle imaginable. See for yourself as the settings video, embedded after the break, walks you through each stage of the menu. We can’t help but think you need an instruction manual to set this thing up.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szHUmyoqAvA&w=470]
[Thanks Mark] | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "220990",
"author": "Marvin",
"timestamp": "2010-11-29T21:01:21",
"content": "Nice idea with the RGB LEDs…Good “UI design” :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "220992",
"author": "Bill",
"timestamp": "2010-11-29T21:13:47",
... | 1,760,377,327.880335 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/29/chumby-webserver-using-upgraded-internal-storage/ | Chumby Webserver Using Upgraded Internal Storage | Mike Szczys | [
"Linux Hacks"
] | [
"chumby",
"lighttpd",
"lighty",
"sd",
"usb",
"web server"
] | The Chumby One has an internal SD card offering a fair amount of storage. [Kenneth Finnegan’s] came with a 1 GB card that had about 500 MB left over which he filled with a collection of MP3s. But he wanted to do more and so installed a pre-compiled version of lighttpd to act as a web server. The problem is that this binary requires a thumb drive to be plugged in because it maps the storage directory to the mounted USB folder. He wasn’t happy with that so he
upgraded the internal SD card and rolled his own webserver
to run from the internal SD card.
The upgrade involved going from a 1 GB to an 8 GB microSD card. In order to run the webserver internally he needed to recompile lighttpd to use a different root directory. This meant setting up an ARM cross-compiler and eventually finding a new place for the start up script. The location change for the ‘lighty’ directory leaves us wondering if a symlink couldn’t have solve the problem without recompilation. But we don’t have the hardware on hand to try this out ourselves.
But if you want to give it a shot, check out [Bunnie’s]
post about Chumby-based hardware
. Looks like you can head out to the big-box store and have one in hand without shelling out too many clams. | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "220981",
"author": "charliefreck",
"timestamp": "2010-11-29T20:24:46",
"content": "good to see some chumby love. the chumby hacking scene seems all but dead as of late. I did something similar back when i got mine. combined the webserver with a python bittorrent client and some c... | 1,760,377,328.522907 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/28/radar-gun-teardown/ | Radar Gun Teardown | Chris Nelson | [
"Radio Hacks",
"Teardown",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"radar",
"toy"
] | [Jeri Ellsworth] is at it again, this time she
takes apart a hot wheels speed
gun
and in the process she does a good job of explaining how radar can be used to measure speed. She also demonstrates a way to determine if an object is approaching or receding from the radar gun.
The
Doppler
shift
is one way to remotely measure the speed of an object. It works by measuring the change in frequency of a wave after it strikes an object. Rather than measuring the Doppler shift of the returning wave most radar guns use the phase shift. The reason is that the frequency shift of a relativly slow object (60mph), to a relitivly high frequency signal(10GHz) is small (about 0.893Hz), where the phase shift varies based on the distance of the object. This is all just a stepping stone in her quest to build a crude TSA body scanner. | 30 | 30 | [
{
"comment_id": "220496",
"author": "CGross",
"timestamp": "2010-11-28T23:21:02",
"content": ">Implying the body scanner is refined",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "220503",
"author": "JEDITALIAN",
"timestamp": "2010-11-28T23:47:09",
... | 1,760,377,328.037437 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/28/strong-enough-to-lift-a-person-yet-gentle-enough-to-embrace-a-child-%e2%80%9d/ | “Strong Enough To Lift A Person, Yet Gentle Enough To Embrace A Child.” | Joseph Thibodeau | [
"classic hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"60s",
"fetso",
"Kraken",
"robot",
"tentacle",
"vintage"
] | Tentacles have inspired fear and respect in humans long before anime came into the scene. Sailors shivered in their timbers at the thought of the great Kraken, or that octopus from
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
. It’s no surprise to know that humans have been trying to harness this fear and respect in technological form since the mid-20th century at least.
The fascinating world of tentacle robots has come a long way. It used to be that every breakthrough in tentaclebot technology had to be justified with either a military or misogynistic application, as demonstrated in
this remarkable MIT project
from 1968.
Thankfully our society has moved on since those misguided times, and while there is still the ever-present military-industrial complex to push for
tentacled combat-omatons
, forward-thinking people on the domestic front like [festo] demonstrate that at least some of us want to use tentacle robots for
peace, love and food handling
.
Catch the video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuXQPdd0hjI&w=470] | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "220461",
"author": "Brett",
"timestamp": "2010-11-28T22:09:46",
"content": "1968? Very nice, Its actually very smooth too :D",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "220469",
"author": "Jenna Fox",
"timestamp": "2010-11-28T22:35:... | 1,760,377,327.82153 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/26/cheap-audio-equipment-makes-atm-theft-easier/ | Cheap Audio Equipment Makes ATM Theft Easier | Mike Szczys | [
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"atm",
"audio",
"recorder",
"skimmer"
] | ATM information theft is nothing new. Neither is the use of skimmers to gain access to the data. But it’s a little surprising just how easy it has become to
hack together the devices using audio equipment
. The images above are samples of a skimmer for sale from an Eastern-European do-no-good. It is the magnetic stripe sniffer portion of the attack which captures card data as an audio recording. That is later turned into the binary code that was read from the card. We’re just speculating, but that looks an awful lot like the PCB from a pen recorder, something you can pick up for just a couple of bucks.
Of course this is used in conjunction with a camera to capture PIN data as the second part of the security protocol, but it really underscores the need for new ATM technology. Some skimmers
don’t even require retrieval of the hardware
, and you never know
where the sketchy machines might pop up next
.
[via
Engadget
and
Slashdot
] | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "219233",
"author": "jcprojects",
"timestamp": "2010-11-26T16:51:50",
"content": "So is it using the microphone to sense the card’s magnetic signature? I guess I could see that but not sure if it’s just the standard mic or not.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies":... | 1,760,377,328.142606 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/25/hopefully-detect-trolls-before-they-devour-you/ | Hopefully Detect Trolls Before They Devour You | Joseph Thibodeau | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"accelerometer",
"arduino",
"Norway",
"seismic",
"troll"
] | In the cold and mysterious wilderness of Norway, it pays to be ready for anything–especially heavy-walking trolls. The team at [nullohm] decided to prepare thoroughly for their trek into the woods to witness the Leonids meteor shower by putting together an
Arduino-based “troll detector”
.
The device is
based on the superstition
of hammering a steel spike into a tree to keep trolls away from camp. This goes one step further by including an accelerometer and LED indicators so that you can tell
exactly what type of troll
is just about to feast upon your tender human flesh.
When the detector is installed into a nearby tree, it takes an average seismic measurement and then looks for telltale footfalls. Even if you’re not concerned with perpetuating superstitions, you might find a use for the
source code
for simple seismic activity monitoring at home to supplement your
miniature seismic reflector
. | 24 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "218698",
"author": "jeff-o",
"timestamp": "2010-11-25T22:09:21",
"content": "I wonder how they tested it? With elephants?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "218720",
"author": "Daid",
"timestamp": "2010-11-25T22:39:49",
... | 1,760,377,328.202974 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/25/elder-robots/ | Elder Robots | Joseph Thibodeau | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"robot",
"senior",
"vintage",
"walking",
"wwii"
] | It’s always nice to show our appreciation for our elders. Today’s young robots may be whippier, snappier, and go-gettier than their forbears but you have to admit that few of them have the moxie to dust themselves off after 45 years and have a walk around town (although it still wouldn’t qualify for a senior’s discount). George, a British humanoid robot made out of a WWII bomber, was
resurrected by his inventor
after decades in the garage–and all it took was a little bit of oil and some new batteries.
Respect.
George is very impressive, but he’s not the oldest robot by any means. Ever-popular Buddha inspired a
Japanese robot some 80 years ago
that has recently been updated (pics
here
)–do robots meditate in solid state?
In a similar aesthetic vein to George, Chinese farmer Wu Yulu made a
robotic rickshaw driver
, one of his many eccentric projects since the 80s.
Here on hackaday we see a lot of modern robotics, but what about a return to the old school? Next time you have a scrap airplane on hand why not weld together a classic robot, and while you’re at it give your regards to old George. | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "218633",
"author": "mjrippe",
"timestamp": "2010-11-25T20:29:16",
"content": "“George was pictured carrying the shopping, hovering and even mowing the lawn.”Um, shouldn’t that be “hoovering” (vacuuming)? I don’t think George had anti-gravity capabilities!",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,377,328.566341 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/25/making-music-with-tech-stolen-from-predator/ | Making Music With Tech Stolen From Predator | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"controller",
"manta",
"max",
"msp",
"touch sensor"
] | This is
a second generation Manta
, a touch-based controller with visual feedback made to use with Max/MSP. The hexagonal size and the patterns seen in the video after the break remind us of the arm-based computers the Predators sport in the movies. Like the previous generation, this controller can tell not only which of the 48 sensor you’re touching, but how much of your finger is touching it. The sky is the limit on extensibility with this type of data, but for now you can just try out the pre-built plugin and see how it goes. New with this rendition of the Manta is the use bi-color LEDs which adds another lay of interaction with the PC to which this is tethered.
If you don’t mind giving up the touch controllers for good old push buttons perhaps
this Harmonic Keyboard
is right up your alley.
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/15372834]
[via
Engadget
] | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "218550",
"author": "MrX",
"timestamp": "2010-11-25T18:50:06",
"content": "That is a really nice build. I usually go the capacitive way when building touchscreens, but this time I got a feeling I should try resistive next time.Wouldn’t he get more precision by decreasing the width of... | 1,760,377,328.619532 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/25/thanksgiving-with-thermite/ | Thanksgiving With Thermite | Caleb Kraft | [
"News"
] | [
"thanksgiving",
"Thermite"
] | For those in the states, Happy Thanksgiving. Whether or not you
celebrate
the traditional holiday, you might still want to take a moment to think of what you are thankful for. We are thankful for our readers, who drive us to keep posting projects and challenge us to improve our skills. The Hackers, who supply us projects to write about, both simple and complicated. We are thankful for our bosses, who employ us to do this awesome stuff and only beat us occasionally. And we are thankful for
thermite
, which burns oh so bright and looks oh so pretty.
Join us after the break to see a turkey, roasted with thermite in slow motion.
[via
Neatorama
]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU8iRYbnAb0&w=470] | 38 | 38 | [
{
"comment_id": "218480",
"author": "Necromant",
"timestamp": "2010-11-25T16:22:04",
"content": "Looks like those guys are insane: Such a cooking method sucks. It will be burned on the outside and raw on the inside. Look carefully and you see that only a thin layer is cooked ok.",
"parent_id": n... | 1,760,377,329.365279 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/24/the-quest-to-build-a-better-stairmaster/ | The Quest To Build A Better Stairmaster | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"AT89C51RD2",
"exercise",
"heart rate",
"stairmaster"
] | [Eric Feldman] likes to use the Stairmaster in his exercise routine during the winter months. But apparently the exercisers that are designed for mere mortals don’t satisfy his need to climb stairs really, really, quickly. After mastering the upper speed limits of some top-of-the-line equipment he contacted the company asking if there was a way to unlock the software-imposed speed restriction. They laughed at him; a motivation that he used to
build his own that is already five times faster
. He calls it the Stairmonster, and after being tested at over 500 stairs per minute that name is quite fitting. It’s got a nice interface for choosing an exercise program and recording data from his routines. It uses an AT89C51RD2 along with a quadrature decoder and a heart rate monitor module that talks to a chest strap worn during each session. A 320×240 touchscreen gives feedback on the routine, which is altered to achieve targeted heat rates for optimum results. Nice job [Eric]! | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "217979",
"author": "John Harrison",
"timestamp": "2010-11-24T23:39:16",
"content": "I had thought that he had hacked an existin unit, but no. He designed and built this thing from scratch. Impressive. Nearly as impressive as 500 steps a minutes?!?!!",
"parent_id": null,
"de... | 1,760,377,329.292669 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/24/double-the-hertz-double-the-pleasure/ | Double The Hertz, Double The Pleasure | Joseph Thibodeau | [
"hardware",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"bandwidth",
"dso",
"oscilloscope",
"Tekway"
] | [tinhead] has opened up a Tekway DST1102B oscilloscope and doubled its bandwidth to 200MHz,
sharing his work in the eevblog forum
. This is great news to anyone who is looking for a faster sampling rate but can’t afford the high-end models. Mind you, for a lot of us even these Hanteks and Tekways are hard to afford but there are
more appropriate options
for the ramen-dependent hacker.
In the hacking guide [tinhead] includes comprehensive information on the different scopes he originally considered (a
Rigol
,
Atten
and
UniTrend
) before settling on the
Tekway
, as well as links to regional distributors for the hackable scope. Good quality benchtop units are invaluable for development and troubleshooting, and it pays off to understand their inner workings. It’s heartwarming to know that even the tools of hacking can be hacked. | 41 | 41 | [
{
"comment_id": "217967",
"author": "grenadier",
"timestamp": "2010-11-24T23:04:34",
"content": "Now all he needs to do is make it play DOOM and we’re golden.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "217975",
"author": "tinhead",
"timestamp": "20... | 1,760,377,329.235147 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/27/automated-chicken-coop-door-is-solar-powered/ | Automated Chicken Coop Door Is Solar-powered | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"chicken",
"coop",
"door",
"phototransistor"
] | [Fileark] has been busy with the hacks lately. This time around he’s built a
solar-powered chicken coop door
that opens in the morning, and closes at night. A single motor slides the door open and closed using a loop of spring-loaded string. There are limiting switches on either side of the door jamb to ensure proper positioning. The grey box seen above houses the hardware; a regulator for the solar panels perched atop the roof line, a battery from a broken UPS, and the driver board itself. An AVR chip running the Arduino bootloader monitors a phototransistor to detect sunup and sundown, driving the door motor appropriately using a pair of relays.
Check out the demonstration and hardware overview after the break. [Fileark] was inspired to build his after seeing
the alarm-clock coop door
. We don’t know if he got a chance to look at
the vertical coop door
, but we think his less mechanically-complicated solution is just as elegant.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLNiZuKgPtM&w=470] | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "220113",
"author": "Amos",
"timestamp": "2010-11-28T08:28:21",
"content": "Coops are out of date, anyway. Chicken tractors are much more efficient.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "220189",
"author": "MarkF",
"timestamp":... | 1,760,377,329.156611 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/27/surprisingly-simple-magnetic-card-spoofer/ | Surprisingly Simple Magnetic Card Spoofer | Mike Szczys | [
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"attiny2313",
"coil",
"eletromagnet",
"magnetic stripe",
"spoofer"
] | [Craig’s]
magnetic card spoofer
is both simple and brilliant. There are two parts to spoofing these cards and he took care of both of them. The first part is getting the actual card data. He designed the spoofer board with a header that connects to a card reader for doing this. The second part is the spoofing itself, which is done with an electromagnet. As with
past spoofers
, he wrapped a shim with enamel-coated magnet wire. An old knife blade was picked for its thickness and
ferromagnetism
. This magnet is driven by an ATtiny2313 which stores the data, and is protected by a transistor driving the coil. There were a few design flaws in his board, but [Craig] was able to get the same track data out of the spoof as the original card despite the LED being used as a protection diode and an ‘aftermarket’ resistor on the transistor base. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "219794",
"author": "Squirrel",
"timestamp": "2010-11-27T18:04:37",
"content": "Now this would be interesting to see as a business card…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "219851",
"author": "JEDITALIAN",
"timestamp": "2010-... | 1,760,377,329.408595 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/26/arduino-electronic-speed-control-explained/ | Arduino Electronic Speed Control Explained | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"brushless",
"electronic speed control",
"esc",
"motor"
] | You can salvage some nice motors out of optical drives but they can be tricky to control. That’s because brushless DC motors require carefully timed signals used in a process called Electronic Speed Control (ESC). [Fileark] built and ESC using an Arduino and
has a couple
of
posts
explaining the concept and demonstrating how it works. His test circuit uses six 2N2222 transistors to protect the Arduino from excessive current. You can see six red LEDs above which are inline with the base of teach transistor. This gives visual feedback when a transistor is switched, a big help for troubleshooting your circuit.
Once you’ve seen the videos after the break you’ll probably come to the conclusion that this is an impractical way to use a brushless motor. But it is a wonderful way to learn about, and experiment with the concept of ESC. Chances are you can get your hands on an old optical drive for free, making this an inexpensive weekend project.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL0YqvxwTKc&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRZXTG6SEEM&w=470] | 29 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "219402",
"author": "minipimmer",
"timestamp": "2010-11-26T22:16:50",
"content": "Very cool project. I was shocked because actually I was doing something quite similar this week. My idea was to build a small platform to teach control theory and what I do is to control a three wire co... | 1,760,377,329.054381 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/26/thanksgiving-turkey-quadcopter-shenanigans/ | Thanksgiving Turkey Quadcopter Shenanigans | Mike Szczys | [
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"bomb",
"pumpkin pie",
"quadcopter",
"thanksgiving",
"turkey"
] | The challenge: can you build a flying turkey that drops pumpkin pie bombs? That’s the question that Utah Aerials asked themselves and
they did manage to make it happen
. Of course they’re not starting from scratch, but adding a little holiday cheer to an existing quadcopter in the form of a spray painted turkey fuselage. The cheapest pumpkin pie they could find was hung from the copter with care, and dumped thanks to a servo motor. Check the video after the break to see if they were able to hit their balding-bullseye or not.
Seems like
the wicked witch music
should have been the background for that video.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDGsr3B2H4s&w=470]
[Thanks Bill via
DiyDrones
] | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "219352",
"author": "Steve",
"timestamp": "2010-11-26T21:34:12",
"content": "As god is my witness I thought turkeys could fly…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "219395",
"author": "RM",
"timestamp": "2010-11-26T22:04:47",
... | 1,760,377,329.105069 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/26/ubertooth-board-for-bluetooth-experimentation/ | Ubertooth Board For Bluetooth Experimentation | Mike Szczys | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"arm",
"bluetooth",
"cc2400",
"cortex-m3",
"lpc1758",
"ubertooth"
] | Ubertooth Zero
is the first offering in [Michael Ossman’s] quest for a Bluetooth sniffing and hacking hardware platform. We’ve seen some of his hacks in the past, like the
build-in guitar tuner
and some
pink pager fiddling
. The Ubertooth dongle is his original design based around an LPC1758 ARM Cortex-M3 processor paired with a Texas Instruments 595-CC2400-RTB1 to handle the 2.4 GHz RF communications. Looking at the bill of materials shows a very low cost for the components at just under $30 (if you can get your hands on a PCB to mount them on). He’s written firmware as well as host code to help you up start pulling Bluetooth packets out of the air as quickly as possible.
What can you do with this? That’s up to you, but whatever it is you accomplish,
we’d like to hear about it
. | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "219337",
"author": "MS3FGX",
"timestamp": "2010-11-26T20:49:23",
"content": "Well, you can count me in on this.If he manages to get this thing into production, he could make a lot of money. Commercial Bluetooth sniffers are insanely overpriced due to lack of competition.",
"pare... | 1,760,377,329.471103 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/26/roller-curtains-with-your-graphics-on-them/ | Roller Curtains With Your Graphics On Them | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"blind",
"curtain",
"fabric",
"ikea",
"shade"
] | [Lenore] added a bit of customization to her office window hangings by
fitting roller curtains with custom printed fabric
. The treatment seen above is a $20
Enje roller blind
from Ikea but that logo is all
Evil Mad Science
. The weight at the bottom of the fabric uses a friction-fit plastic insert that can be stapled onto new material. Some fusible tape was ironed onto the sides to finish those edges, and the roller at the top has strong adhesive that remains for a second use after peeling off the original material.
A fabric printer was used to produce this rendition of shades. But we’d like to see some conductive thread added for a
f
abric-based
display
that can be rolled up when not in use. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "219290",
"author": "Addidis",
"timestamp": "2010-11-26T19:13:58",
"content": "‘A fabric printer was used to produce this rendition of shades. But “we’d like to see some conductive thread added for a fabric-based display that can be rolled up when not in use”.’This is a great idea, r... | 1,760,377,329.51447 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/26/dodecapod-to-offset-segway-as-futuristic-transport/ | Dodecapod To Offset Segway As Futuristic Transport | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"dodecapod",
"legs",
"rider",
"segway",
"theo jansen",
"walker"
] | Who doesn’t love
a 12-legged robot
, especially if you can ride it around work? You can watch this one running around the patio with rider perched atop it. The machine translation is a bit crude, but it seem this is based on the
wicked walking sculptures of [Theo Jansen]
. The rider can shift their center of gravity to control the walker, much like a Segway. We’d bet this makes for a rough ride on anything but a smooth level surface, but we’re fine with indoor use only. After all, you’ll need to be close to a charging station as this boasts 45 minutes of juice when transporting a 165 pound operator. See it scurry after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5dpGAw4cOU&w=470]
[via
Neatorama
and
PopSci
] | 35 | 34 | [
{
"comment_id": "219249",
"author": "svofski",
"timestamp": "2010-11-26T18:08:40",
"content": "(75 kg)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "219268",
"author": "Imanoss",
"timestamp": "2010-11-26T18:32:28",
"content": "11.7 stone",
"pa... | 1,760,377,329.584751 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/24/building-a-bandwidth-meter/ | Building A Bandwidth Meter | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"analog",
"arduino",
"bandwidth",
"gauge",
"meter",
"perl",
"router"
] | Here’s an
analog bandwidth meter
made to look like an old pressure gauge. It’s actually new, but the paper showing the graduated scale was stained in a bath of black tea, then dried in an oven to give it an aged appearance. We think it’s quite effective.
The dial itself is a volt meter driven by an Arduino in much the same way as
the multimeter clock
. Bandwidth data is pulled from a Linux router, filtered down to the target data using ‘grep’, and sent over the serial connection by a Perl script. Since the meter itself is just waiting for serial data, alterations to the router’s scripting make it easy to represent a count of unread emails, tweets, or whatever data your code can scrape.
[Thanks Ben] | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "217874",
"author": "CGross",
"timestamp": "2010-11-24T20:36:12",
"content": "Lifehacker takes from HAD, HAD takes from Lifehacker about 5 days late.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "217877",
"author": "ladz",
"timestamp":... | 1,760,377,329.698177 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/24/interface-up-to-12-servos-using-arduino/ | Interface Up To 12 Servos Using Arduino | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"Joystick",
"python",
"serial",
"servo"
] | [Brian] is using an
Arduino to control multiple servo motors
. This is nothing new and has been happening since the earliest days of Arduino. But rather than develop a project and share it, [Brian] did a fantastic job of making the code scalable, readable, and even explained how the different parts work.
His code listens for serial commands and manipulates the motors accordingly. He wrote a Python script using pyserial which talks to the Arduino. As an example, he uses a joystick to send data for X and Y axes as well as pitch and roll. Want to know how those serial communications work? He explains that in detail. He also outlines the process of scaling up from the 4 servo demo to 12 servos on a standard Arduino. Sounds like it might be time to build your own version of
a mouse-controlled Lynxmotion arm
using the tools [Brian] has put together. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "217845",
"author": "Hackius",
"timestamp": "2010-11-24T19:43:57",
"content": "I hadn’t seen this before but it seems like this is from 2008!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "218463",
"author": "Navic",
"timestamp": "2010-... | 1,760,377,330.183681 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/24/sparkfun-free-day-2011-now-with-gambling/ | SparkFun Free Day 2011: Now With Gambling | Mike Szczys | [
"News"
] | [
"free day",
"sparkfun"
] | SparkFun has just announced
a Free Day for 2011
. Last year was
the first time they decided to give away $100,000
in the form of $100 credits that
melted down their servers
and made the rest of the world (you know, the non-geek sort) ask what SparkFun was when it started trending on Twitter, Google, and every other form of digital communication.
Well, they’re doing it again this year, albeit quite differently. Mark your calendar for Thursday, January 13th at 9am Mountain Standard Time. But it’s not as simple as having your cart pre-filled and trying to bum rush the checkout pages. Now you’ve got options; take a loyalty payout of $10 for each year that has passed since you registered an account with them, or gamble for a $100 credit. The latter involves answering ten questions, rewarded with $10 for each correct answer and penalized $3 for each wrong answer. If you don’t finish all ten before the money runs out you get zip.
There’s several bits of good news here. First,
they just picked up a new rack of servers
which should help keep the website from crashing. Secondly, the prize money has been ramped up by %50 to a total of $150,000. And finally, if you choose to answer the trivia questions, $2 is being donated to charity for each correct answer. So study up on your electronic theory and you can help others while trying to help yourself.
[Thanks Diego] | 52 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "217808",
"author": "BiOzZ",
"timestamp": "2010-11-24T18:22:18",
"content": "i bet every business teacher in the world is crying right now XDbut i loved free day 2010made an entire project with no out of pocket expense and thats unheard of in the usa XD",
"parent_id": null,
"... | 1,760,377,330.135191 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/24/meggycade-when-handheld-pixel-gaming-isnt-enough/ | MeggyCade: When Handheld Pixel Gaming Isn’t Enough | Mike Szczys | [
"handhelds hacks"
] | [
"arcade",
"cabinet",
"game",
"meggy jr",
"pixel"
] | [Bomber Punk]
built his own arcade cabinet
, but you won’t find any MAME games here. He made the enclosure to house
a Meggy Jr.
8×8 pixel graphics game console. Proper coin-op buttons and a joystick replace the stock tactile switches that come with the kit. [Bomber Punk] has also added a lighted coin slot. A three-cell battery pack powers the beast, with a programming port to one side so that different games can be loaded from a PC. We’d like to see a processor upgrade that would allow multiple games to be stored on a stand-alone system.
Take a look at the video after the break, it’ll bring a smile to your face.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiiA_OVhYjs&w=470]
[via
Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories
] | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "217765",
"author": "jensma",
"timestamp": "2010-11-24T17:03:30",
"content": "“This Video contains copyrighted material”I just hate it :(",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "217776",
"author": "tomas",
"timestamp": "2010-11-2... | 1,760,377,330.365616 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/23/vga-interfacing-avr-microcontrollers/ | VGA Interfacing AVR Microcontrollers | Caleb Kraft | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"AVR",
"vga"
] | [Lucidscience] is back again, this time showing us how to
push data to a VGA monitor from your AVR project
. It turns out that it is pretty simple, requiring only n open port and a few resistors and diodes. Well, it is that simple for the most basic version which gives you 56×60 pixels. Of course he couldn’t live with that and had to expand. Version 2 outputs 240×240 resolution and has additional sram and a double buffer making animations smoother and flicker free. As usual, the project is quite well documented with photos of the entire build process and schematics for you to build your own. A video of version 1 and version 2 are available after the break.
[via
HackedGadgets
] | 34 | 34 | [
{
"comment_id": "217240",
"author": "SlurmMcKenzie",
"timestamp": "2010-11-23T19:11:37",
"content": "i think it’s awesome",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "217253",
"author": "ftorama",
"timestamp": "2010-11-23T19:18:34",
"content": "T... | 1,760,377,330.256452 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/23/timelapse-circuit-for-point-and-shoot-cameras/ | Timelapse Circuit For Point And Shoot Cameras | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"attiny",
"camera",
"photography",
"timelapse"
] | [Andyk75] has done some fantastic work documenting his
timelapse addition
to his digital camera. Most of the more expensive models of cameras have a remote shutter release, but the point and shoot jobs usually don’t. He decided to add the ability to turn the camera on, then shoot a picture, then turn it back off. Pretty smart, since these things tend to eat batteries pretty quickly if left on. He is using an ATtiny24 for the brains, but the circuit should be pretty adaptable to others. The final piece has several features, like the ability to change the length of time between shots and automatically shut down when it gets too dark outside to continue. He has posted the schematics as well as the board layouts if you can find them amongst the ads in instructibles. You can check out a video of a sunset taken with this camera after the break.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV6Lg__62j8&w=470 | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "217205",
"author": "svofski",
"timestamp": "2010-11-23T17:40:21",
"content": "Cool. I thought of making a similar setup that doesn’t involve modifying the camera itself: a servo (or two) could be used to press the buttons. This contraption is of course more efficient. It’s too bad I... | 1,760,377,330.04964 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/23/pr2-kinect/ | PR2 + Kinect | Caleb Kraft | [
"Kinect hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"Kinect",
"pr2",
"ros"
] | Willow Garage, the makers of the PR2 robot have been
playing with the Kinect
. You might be a little tired of seeing every little new project people are doing with it, but there’s something here we couldn’t help but point out. When we posted the video of the guy doing
3d rendering with the Kinect
, many of the commenters were speculating on how to get full environments into the computer. Those of you that said, “just use two, facing each other” seem to have been on to something. You can see that they are doing exactly that in the image above. The blue point cloud is one Kinect, the red cloud another. The Willow Garage crew are using this to do telemetry through the PR2 as well as some gestural controls. You can download the
Openkinect stack for the Robot Operating System here
. Be sure to check out the video after the break to see the PR2 being controlled via the Kinect as well as some nice demonstrations of how the Kinect is seeing the environment.
[via
BotJunkie
] | 21 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "217168",
"author": "Sariel",
"timestamp": "2010-11-23T16:25:32",
"content": "thats absolutely amazing! makes me want two now.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "217172",
"author": "washer",
"timestamp": "2010-11-23T16:29:2... | 1,760,377,330.312173 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/22/hacking-together-a-bedbug-exterminator/ | Hacking Together A Bedbug Exterminator | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"bedbug",
"exterminate",
"hot box",
"insect"
] | We’ve seen so many stories in the news about the growing plague of bedbugs. It kind of infuriates us because the spin of these “news” pieces is always that we’re going to have to live with these insects and there’s nothing you can do to avoid it. Bullcorn! [Ed Nisley] was dealt a bum hand in the form of a bedbug infestation but instead of
losing
his mind he used it to get himself out of the mess. One of the steps in the dis-insecting process was to
develop a bedbug killing box
that raises the contents above the kill temperature for the pests. He built an insulated chamber, with a grate to raise the target material off the bottom and allow for heat exchange around all edges of the item. Light bulb combinations of 60, 100, and 120 Watts were tested along with a fan for air circulation. He graphed the results and plans to use what he learned to build a more efficient heater for the box.
But the hot box isn’t his only defense. His household developed barriers, blocking the insects by height or with a sticky zone. Check out
the collection of his bedbug posts
and stop being afraid of these things! We can fight back and we can do it using common items and ingenuity.
[Thanks Steven] | 57 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "216688",
"author": "ferdi",
"timestamp": "2010-11-22T23:08:30",
"content": "gread idee but if you life in a clean house you dont have bed bugshere in the neteherlands we dont have bedbugsa see on tv it,s more a probleem in america",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repli... | 1,760,377,330.45764 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/22/anaglyphic-photography-made-easy/ | Anaglyphic Photography Made Easy | Mike Szczys | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"3d",
"anaglyph",
"filter",
"gimp",
"stereoscopic"
] | [ProfHankD] came up with a pretty easy way to
take 3D photos using a single lens
. He’s making
Anaglyph images
which use color filtering glasses to produce stereoscopic 3D effects. We’ve seen stereoscopic imaging hacks that
use two cameras
or a clever
combination of mirrors
, but this one uses a special filter and post-processing. [ProfHankD] drew up a template that can be used to properly align two colored filters, like those in the lens cap seen above. Once installed, just snap all the pictures you want and then hit them with your favorite photo editing software. This involves separating the color channels of the photograph and offsetting them to increase the depth of focus.
It’s a nice little process, and his writeup is easy to understand even if you’re not a hardcore photography guru.
[Thanks Paul] | 13 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "216663",
"author": "ProfHankD",
"timestamp": "2010-11-22T22:17:06",
"content": "Minor oops: NO POST-PROCESSING IS NEEDED. None at all. The JPEG from the camera is the anaglyph. Yes, the instructable gives some ways to improve things in post-processing, but it’s optional.",
"pa... | 1,760,377,330.507877 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/22/mix-your-own-photo-developing-emulsions/ | Mix Your Own Photo Developing Emulsions | Mike Szczys | [
"chemistry hacks"
] | [
"canvas",
"emulsion",
"gesso",
"photograph",
"silver chloride"
] | If you’re into developing your own photographs you might
try mixing your own emulsion
. [Jimmy Hartnett] worked out the chemical reaction necessary to make a photosensitive medium using Silver Chloride. His process lets him manufacture canvas that can be use like photo paper. The gist of it involves coating the back of a canvas with
Gesso
to prevent the emulsion from passing all the way through. He then floats the canvas face-down to apply the emulsion and skims it with a straight edge before it has time to set. You can see the results of some contact print testing in the image above. If anything, this makes a great piece of art to hang on the wall as it’s visually interesting and [Jimmy] has a personal connection because he not only made it himself, but came up with the process. | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "216644",
"author": "svofski",
"timestamp": "2010-11-22T21:05:47",
"content": "The title is incorrect, it’s photo emulsion. Emulsion is what receives light and changes its properties accordingly. Photo development, done in photo developer (development solution) and fixer, is what you... | 1,760,377,330.556228 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/22/ridiculous-exerciser-become-useful-as-a-charger/ | Ridiculous Exerciser Becomes Useful As A Charger | Mike Szczys | [
"Cellphone Hacks"
] | [
"charger",
"dyna-flex",
"dynamo",
"generator",
"rectifier"
] | [Scott Nietfeld]
built a charger from a Dyna-flex
wrist exerciser. We hadn’t heard of a these gyroscopic devices before but once we saw the promo video (embedded after the break) we realized that this is the kind of thing that infomercials were made to sell. [Scott] knew the internals spun to fairly high RPM and figured that adding a few magnets on the inside and coils on the outside would turn this thing into a generator. Four rare-earth magnets fit the bill, with two external coils feeding a rectifier and linear regulator. Below you can see his demonstration video where he takes the orb apart, then spins it up, generating 250 mA at about 7.5 volts to drive the regulator and charge a cellphone. Not bad!
Dyna-flex promo video
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5cM84qSj5o&w=470]
[Scott’s] walkthrough video:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqLHxbneAus&w=470] | 41 | 40 | [
{
"comment_id": "216532",
"author": "Karlo",
"timestamp": "2010-11-22T18:48:51",
"content": "Available commercially since 2006:http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/27/manual-power-gyroscopic-phone-charger/And the powerball is great!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,377,330.629917 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/21/smartlcd-makes-video-for-microcontrollers-easy/ | SmartLCD Makes Video For Microcontrollers Easy | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"2g",
"arm",
"cortex",
"ipod",
"m0",
"nano",
"smartlcd",
"tft"
] | [Rossum] developed a host board that makes it easy to
drive a TFT screen using an inexpensive microcontroller
. He’s
looked around at a bunch of LCD’s
that are easy to get your hands on and decided that the iPod Nano 2G screens are the right balance of performance (176×132 TFT) and low cost ($1-$5). They’re not particularly difficult to talk to, but with 22 pins they’re a bit hardware hungry.
He takes us through the signal sniffing he used to figure out the communications process. From there he harness the power of an ARM Cortex M0 processor, which he’s
worked with in the past
, to drive the screen. His implementation results in a driver board called the SmartLCD that takes care of the screen’s parallel protocol, power, and backlight. From there it’s just four connections and you can use a small microcontroller like the Arduino seen above with ease. See what it can do after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQVbI7Ss4ns&w=470] | 28 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "216158",
"author": "Solderguy",
"timestamp": "2010-11-21T23:37:33",
"content": "Mini XBMC here we come!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "216171",
"author": "Roberto",
"timestamp": "2010-11-22T00:35:56",
"content": "Wh... | 1,760,377,330.692499 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/21/led-wall-and-kinect-join-forces/ | LED Wall And Kinect Join Forces | Mike Szczys | [
"Kinect hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"3d",
"Kinect",
"ping pong",
"processing",
"video",
"wall",
"xbox"
] | [Alex] wrote in to let us know about this
Kinect controlled LED wall
that was whipped up at the
Tetalab hackerspace
in Toulouse, France. The wall, which was built earlier in the year, uses some MAX7313 LED intensity controlling shift registers. Each gets its own board and controls the intensity of sixteen different red LEDs. They’re embedded in the wall module and
covered with ping-pong balls
as diffusers.
The recent activity on the project takes advantage of the Xbox Kinect. As you can see in the video after the break,
they’ve used the open source Kinect drivers to capture 3D environment data
, processing it into color gradients which are displayed on the Pong wall. Shouldn’t be long before they someone comes knocking on their door to install this in a dance club. We love the effect, especially because it works in a dark room and the LEDs don’t cause any interference with the video capture.
Kinect controlled:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWTvYQtvLHI&w=470]
Processing tests on Ping Pong wall:
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/12441790] | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "216119",
"author": "alias",
"timestamp": "2010-11-21T22:14:39",
"content": "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9AySS3Ff2YSet it up in there, would be awesome.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "216133",
"author": "Phil",
"time... | 1,760,377,331.198301 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/21/motion-activated-wildlife-camera-or-a-spy-device/ | Motion Activated Wildlife Camera (or A Spy Device) | Mike Szczys | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"air freshener",
"camera",
"motion",
"pir",
"sensor"
] | Now you can capture pictures of our furry friends by
building a motion activated wildlife camera
. [Doug Paradis] took
his Air Freshener hack
and used it to trigger a camera. The white dome in the picture above is the PIR sensor from an Air Wick Freshmatic, along with a cheap keychain camera and an MSP430 microcontroller. He used one of the chips that came with
the TI Launchpad
, a transistor, and some discreet components to interface the devices and then put them into a project box. Now he’s got a fully configurable motion-sensing camera. | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "216107",
"author": "Manjeet Dahiya",
"timestamp": "2010-11-21T21:29:11",
"content": "Cool! Nice one.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "216146",
"author": "ChrisE",
"timestamp": "2010-11-21T23:11:07",
"content": "OWM, I... | 1,760,377,330.91943 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/21/adding-pan-and-tilt-to-a-webcam/ | Adding Pan And Tilt To A Webcam | Mike Szczys | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"08m",
"ir",
"picax",
"remote control",
"servo",
"webcam"
] | [Brent] and his wife wanted a way to provide more family time for Grandparents that lived far away. They tried a webcam, but their daughter just didn’t oblige by staying in the frame. Instead of chasing her around the room with with the camera
he added pan and tilt features to the device
. He settled on IR control using a common television remote, similar to our
USB remote control receiver tutorial
except that it drives servo motors instead of forwarding signals over the serial connection. [Brent] used a Picaxe 08M, connecting two servos together as a base on top of the project box. If you try this yourself there’s a lot of room to grow. Once you’ve assembled the hardware it wouldn’t be too hard to make this web enabled so that Grandpa can click on a web interface to look around the room. | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "216031",
"author": "Abbott",
"timestamp": "2010-11-21T17:46:03",
"content": "Cool! Nice and (fairly) simple, I like it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "216073",
"author": "PCB Assembly",
"timestamp": "2010-11-21T19:32:22... | 1,760,377,330.865729 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/20/retro-adapter-for-canon-slr/ | Retro Adapter For Canon SLR | Chris Nelson | [
"classic hacks",
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"camera",
"macro"
] | [calculon] was able to modify a “dumb” adapter to allow his Canon SLR to use the aperture and focus on a
retro lens
. With his new flip mounted wide angle lens he was able to achieve some pretty neat macro shots. By cutting away some of the cheaper ring he was able to feed the wire through and glue it onto the the cameras contact points. The wire was then attached to the inputs on the “new” lens. With a new adapter running about $375 not only was this a neat little hack but it was also a money saver. You can see some more of his photos on his
flicker | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "215495",
"author": "Fallen",
"timestamp": "2010-11-20T18:10:03",
"content": "Holy macro batman.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "215500",
"author": "JB",
"timestamp": "2010-11-20T18:33:01",
"content": "Not bad at all ... | 1,760,377,331.069923 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/20/beginner-concepts-powering-your-projects/ | Beginner Concepts: Powering Your Projects | Chris Nelson | [
"classic hacks",
"hardware",
"how-to"
] | [
"power supply",
"voltage regulator",
"zener"
] | Powering your gadgets generally seems like a necessary evil. To help with this [Felipe La Rotta] made a really nice
bench power supply
using a PC power supply and a LM317 adjustable voltage regulator. PC power supplies are an example of a switched power supply(more on that later). The LM317 is a type of linear voltage regulator that allows for adjusting the output voltage by varying some resistors. Whats the best way to power your circuits? well that depends…
Usually the first step for powering your product is batteries, they are easy, cheap, and can be strung together to get a voltage close enough to what you need (hey sometimes it doesn’t really matter that much). But What do you do when your super picky sensor only accepts 3.3V? A quick and dirty
voltage divider
will bring the battery voltage down to 3.3V.
Unfortunately the more the sensor pulls on the divider the farther from 3.3V it will be. This is the basic principle of load regulation. The general idea is that the more current you need the farther off your voltage will be. Well what if there was a buffer in there so that the circuit doesn’t affect the voltage divider at all. Maybe something like this.
But then after a day or so the sensor isn’t sensing very accurately. The voltage going into the sensor is now only 2.8V. This is the second problem with a voltage divider; it’s sensitive to the supply voltage. This is called line regulation. Basically as your battery voltage drops so will your output voltage. What would be useful is a voltage that doesn’t change, that way the output could be based on that. Here is where the
Zener diode
comes in. The voltage across a Zener is set when it’s made and it varies very little with respect to current (after it gets into breakdown). So now the Zener can be used as a reference, and then the OP-AMP buffers that to the output.
This is the general idea of how voltage regulators work. Luckily there is no need to make one of these for every project because companies sell them in nice little 3 pin packages. All you have to do is hook up ground, the unregulated voltage, and it will regulate the output on the third pin. Linear regulators address both load and line regulation and everybody’s happy, right? Well maybe not. Say a regulator takes in 9V from the battery and supplies 3.3V to a circuit and the circuit responds by drawing in 500mA. This means that the power going into the regulator is 9V*500mA = 4.5W and the power out of the regulator is approximately 3.3V*500mA=1.65W. What happened to the other 2.85W? It was burned off as heat inside of the voltage regulator. That means only about 57% of the power even makes it to the load; The rest is wasted.
Enter switched mode power supplies (like the one in your pc). These circuits are made using inductors, capacitors and switches (transistors) in order achieve much higher efficiencies. They work by constantly adjusting the current through an inductor resulting in higher or lower output voltages. Switching supplies may be more efficient but they are also more complex, harder to implement, and can be rather noisy circuits.
so generally:
voltage divider: very easy, cheap, bad regulation
Linear voltage regulators: easy, good regulation, poor efficiency
switching power supplies: hard, noisy, good efficiency | 44 | 44 | [
{
"comment_id": "215460",
"author": "brad",
"timestamp": "2010-11-20T16:25:25",
"content": "the schematics were nice; they make the concepts easier for the layman to understand, but isn’t the conclusion already a bit obvious?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"c... | 1,760,377,331.151254 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/19/avr-programming-04-writing-code-etc/ | AVR Programming 04: Writing Code, Etc. | Mike Szczys | [
"Featured",
"how-to",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"ATmega168",
"AVR",
"avr programming",
"bicycle",
"bike",
"light"
] | Welcome back to this fourth and final installment of the series. The first three parts should have been enough to get you off the ground, but a few more learning examples wouldn’t hurt. It’s also a good time to discuss some of the other things these little chips can do. Join me after the break to:
Expand the sample code, adding features to our simple program while I challenge you to write the code yourself.
Discuss AVR fuse bits, how to use them, and what to watch out for
Touch on some of the peripherals you’ll come across in these chips
As a grand flourish to the series, I’ve used the example hardware from this final part to build a bicycle tail light. Hopefully this will inspire you to create something much more clever.
Series roadmap:
AVR Programming 01: Introduction
AVR Programming 02: The Hardware
AVR Programming 03: Reading and compiling code
AVR Programming 04: Writing code
Adding to the Example Hardware
The example code that I’ve been working with on the last two parts of this tutorial is a bit boring. It makes one LED blink on and off at a rate of about 1 Hz. That LED was connected to the pin for PD0, so let’s start out by adding an LED and resistor to the rest of the PORT D pins for a total of 8 LEDs. We should also talk about inputs, so let’s add a switch on PC0. Here’s a schematic showing our changes:
I moved the original LED over to some open space on the right side of the breadboard. I’m connecting the cathode to the ground rail on the bottom, jumping the trench with a resistor, and connecting a jumper from that resistor to the Port D pins on the microcontroller. I organized the LEDs in ascending order from right to left making it easy to address them when writing code:
If you know your
resistor color codes
you’ll notice that the Brown-Green-Red resistors I’m using are 1.5 kOhms, strangling the current to a tiny trickle for LEDs. Well, I’m using super bright LEDs, and these resistors were the first that I pulled out. They work just fine for prototyping but should be replaced with a correctly calculated value on a finished product.
Next I hooked up a button. Digital inputs on microcontrollers need to have a value of 0V or VCC (input voltage which is 5V in our case). If they don’t have a clear value they are said to be “floating” which can lead to false button readings and other unhappy occurences. We need to set up hardware that will force a value of 0V or 5V at all times. This turns out to be quite simple. By connect the switch from the pin to ground and a resistor from the pin to VCC (called a pull-up resistor) there will always be a very small 5V current trickling into the pin, except when an unrestricted path to ground is created by pressing the button. We don’t even need our own resistor as there’s one inside the microcontroller that we’ll take advantage of. Here’s a schematic showing what this connection, along with the internal pull-up resistor, looks like:
That description is a mouthful but all we’re really doing is placing a button between PC0 and Ground. Pin 23 is PC0 on the ATmega168 and the pin right next to that (pin 22) is GND. I’ve connected a switch accordingly. In the following image please note that Pin 22 is connected with a jumper wire to the ground rail above it, but is obscured by the black wire from the push button:
And finally, I want to make connections to the chip for In-System Programming. I like to do this using
a patch board that I created
. This lets me use a 10-pin IDC cable for easy connection to my programmer:
That’s it. I plan to use this hardware with several different firmware examples so double-check your wiring and then start writing code.
Writing Code
Time to practice writing your own code. I have come up with
four firmware examples
ranging in difficulty from “Hello World” to “Damn That’s Slick”. I’ll discuss each of them briefly but along the way you should try to write your own code, using my examples as… examples. The best way to learn to code is to write a small portion of code, let the compiler yell at you for messing up, and then figure out how to fix it.
Blinking all 8 (8led_1hz)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssBfFUoLjFI&w=470]
First thing’s first, can
you
make the
example code from Part 2
blink all 8 LEDs instead of just one?
There’s really only two things that you need to change from the original to make this happen. First, when setting up the input/output, make all of the pins on Port D outputs, then turn them all on. Second, when toggling the bits in the Interrupt Service Routine use a bitmask that affects all eight bits.
The source package for this part
of the series includes this alteration. Grab a copy of it and look at the 8led_1hz code. In it you’ll find these changes:
DDRD |= 0xFF; //Set PortD pins as an outputs
PORTD |= 0xFF; //Set PortD pins high to turn on LEDs
PORTD ^= 0xFF; //Use xor to toggle the LEDs
As you can see, both portions of code use 0xFF as a bit mask. This is a byte containing all ones, which will manipulate every pin on the registers to which we apply it. Before I had shifted a bit using this:
'1<<0'
It resulted in a bit mask of 0x01, protected the upper seven bits from being changed during register manipulation.
Make the LEDs do something interesting (m168_led_effects)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-wyP7iYaWg&w=470]
Now I’m going to take a big step forward in C code difficulty. But I challenge you to develop three different types of LED effects by yourself:
A binary counter which counts up at 1 bit per second
A flasher that alternates lighting every other LED
Larson scanner
(a simple one, doesn’t need to use PWM)
You’ll find my example code in the m168_led_effects directory. Here’s some of the new things I’m using in my code:
Definitions:
I’m using definitions for common settings and for I/O pins, ports, and direction registers. These are constants that the compiler will replace with appropriate values but they make your job much easier. If you get most of the way into a project and realize you need to change some of the hardware this will make it simple to do. Need to change from Port D to Port C? No problem, change the #define and the rest of the code will still work
Delay:
AVR libc has a nice delay utility called delay.h. You can see that I’ve included it at the top of the source file and also written a function called delay_ms(). This is a moderately accurate way to mark the passage of time. The drawback to using this is that you are literally wasting time when the processor could be doing other things. Still, it’s simple and if you’re new to microcontrollers you’ll probably find yourself using this frequently at first.
Also notable in this version of the code is my use of functions to take the complexity out of MAIN. I like to do this when I can to make program flow more readable. If you use descriptive function names it will be easy for others to see how the firmware works just by looking at main. This is also why I comment my code quite a lot. Not just for others, but so I can read it quickly if I come back to it later and don’t remember what I originally wrote the program to do.
Before we move on here’s a quick synopsis of how I solved the three goals:
When displaying a binary counter at 1Hz I simply start Timer 2 the same way I did for the blinking LED in Part 2 of the tutorial. Each time it fires I don’t toggle the pins, but set the entire port to an 8-bit variable value while incrementing it at the same time. The ++binary_counter increments that value just before it sets Port D. It is crucial that this value be a global variable using the keyword ‘volatile’ because it is changed by both the ISR and in the main loop. If you don’t make it volatile the compiler might optimize the code in a way that disturbs or disrupts the intended functionality.
Creating an alternating flasher is much the same as toggling a single LED. I set up for the effect by instantiating a variable with every-other bit as 1. When using an exclusive OR operator (XOR) on this value, all of the bits will flip. I could have set up an interrupt with a shorter delay than the 1 Hz interrupt to take care of this but for learning purposes I used a delay instead.
The Larson scanner is a classic bit of blinky goodness. The core function is to illuminate one LED and sweep it back and forth. To do this I just created a loop to shift the bits, waiting after each change. Once the LED on the end is lit the program leaves the loop and enters another one to shift bits the other way. The same could have been accomplished with a variable that keeps track of which direction the LED is moving, testing during each iteration.
When you’ve read and understood how this code works it is time to get the button up and running.
Make the button do something (m168_led_button)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7AJeXsk_KQ&w=470]
We brought a button to the party, let’s alter our LED effects so that the button is used to change between the three possibilities. If you’ve never written code for a button input before there’s little chance you’ll be able to pull this off yourself, so open up the code in the m168_led_button folder and lets walk through it.
Debounce:
Buttons often register more than one press if not handled correctly, a process called debouncing. There is a hardware fix for this, but you can learn about that on your own time. Recently, I gathered a
post full of different debounce code
, but
the one I almost always use
is based on code by [Peter Dannegger]. It relies on several parts:
Code to start a timer with an overflow interrupt
An ISR to service the timer overflow, resetting the timer for 10ms interrupts and polling the button pin.
A bit mask and pin definitions that identify how the buttons are hooked up
A function used to check if a button press has been registered
Code to check that function and act when a button has been pressed.
The magic is in the ISR debounce code. It flips bits in a binary counter to register four successive button press readings totalling 40ms. That signals a legitimate button press and when the get_key_press function is called it will return a populated key mask. To help understand how this debounce code works, I have included a code example called button_debounce. This has been slimmed down to include only the code used to debounce. Pressing the button will toggle the LEDs.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjI0GsT0bVI&w=470]
During the hardware setup I talked about using the internal pull-up resistors. I have to remember to set those up at the beginning of the program or the input pin will be floating. The datasheet talks about this on page 71. When a pin is set to input using the Data Direction Register, writing a high value to the Port bit for that pin will enable the pull-up resistor. From there the current status of the pin can be grabbed from the appropriate Pin register. Notice the ISR used for debouncing reads KEY_PIN, which is defined as the PINC register at the top of the source code. You don’t have to read the Pin register because the ISR is doing it for you.
My implementation of button debouncing in the m168_led_button code is just fine, but my use of the button is a hack. I should have used a state machine and gotten rid of the delay functions in the code. For simplicity I just littered calls to get_key_press throughout the code whenever I was trapping the program in a loop. I used the detection of a key press to return to main from the function the program is stuck in.
Pick this apart, writing simple code that you understand and slowly you will build the knowledge base necessary to understand this code as a whole.
Creating something useful (m168_bike_light)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxZPDY5Kf-Y&w=470]
I wanted to finish the code writing section with a useful application for our test hardware. Behold, a bicycle tail light. It has a button to scroll through several different red light patterns, and it uses sleep mode to shut off the LEDs and conserve battery power.
I’ve changed the program flow to use a state machine. This is a bit of a juggling act. I use an interrupt to set a flag called ‘timer’. The main loop constantly polls that flag, as well as the button, and acts accordingly. Whenever that flag is set the next step of the LED effect is performed.
Sleep mode is also used in this example. One thing to note: when in sleep mode the chip uses almost no current, conserving batteries. But the linear power regulator still burns away like crazy. For this to be useful the code should be ported to a chip that operates at low voltages. For instance, you could use a tiny13 and two AA batteries without a regulator. Adjustments would need to be made for less pins and corrected LED resistor values, but these are not difficult changes to make. Have a look at the code in the m168_bike_light folder. The comments and your hard-earned AVR knowledge will help you understand how this works. Good luck!
Now I’ll move on to the discuss one of the most important parts of theses microcontrollers:
AVR Fuse Bits
The fuse bits are a set of registers that control some core features of the AVR line of chips. You can think of them as another type of memory, programmed separately from the code that you want to execute.
Read the datasheet
Fuse bits for the ATmega168 are covered starting on page 285 of
the datasheet
. You should make yourself thoroughly familiar with this information.
Incorrectly programming these registers could render your chip useless
unless
you have a programmer capable of High Voltage Programming (HVP).
There are three fuse bit registers on our chip, the Extended fuse byte, the High fuse byte and the Low fuse byte. All of them use inverse logic, meaning that a ‘1’ means the corresponding feature is NOT selected. I start every project with these registers set to the factory default, information I keep in a text file with the factory fuse defaults for all the chips I work with. At the beginning of every project I try to talk to the chip using the ‘-v’ option of AVRdude to make sure the programmer and chip are both working correctly to save time on later debugging. Here are the ATmega168 defaults:
efuse: 0b11111111 (0xFF)
hfuse: 0b11011111 (0xDF)
lfuse: 0b01100010 (0x62)
I’ll touch on most of these features in the next section. But of particular concern are the bits that select the clock source, and the reset disable bit. If you disable the reset pin, by accident or in order to use it as an I/O pin, you will need to use HVP or debugWire to use ISP programming again. If the clock pins are changed you will need the appropriate external clock signal, or HVP for the same reason.
You can program the fuse bits using AVRdude. In fact,
there’s an example in the documentation
. This command will reset the fuses to the factory settings:
avrdude -c dragon_isp -P usb -p m168 -U efuse:w:0xff:m -U hfuse:w:0xdf:m -U lfuse:w:0x62:m
AVR Peripherals (A Whirlwind Tour)
Take a whirlwind tour of the features available to you on this chip. This is gonna be quick, but you already have the core skills you need. Just read the datasheet and using the Internet to connect the rest of the dots.
EEPROM memory
Most (if not all) of the AVR chips come with Electronically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory. This is persistent memory that stores data between resets and when there is no power to the chip. This is where data loggers store information and often contains things like text strings, font data, etc. AVR-GCC will generate an .EEP file at compile time with any EEPROM data that you use in your programs. This needs to be programmed to the chip separately from flash data.
Timers (Regular and Watchdog)
Timers are where it’s at in terms of functionality. They go far beyond simply measuring time, and can be used to wake the chip up from sleep mode, to generate pulse width modulation frequencies, and much more. Some chips have asyncronous timers, like Timer/Counter 2 on the ATmega168, that can use an external clock signal separate from the other timers.
Also not to be missed is the Watchdog timer. These timers can save money, and even lives. They are a hardware timer enabled through the fuse bits that will reset the microcontroller if not handled in software. Why would you want to do that? Because nobody writes perfect code. When using a Watchdog timer you frequently reset its counter during successful code execution. That way if your code ever hangs or gets caught in a loop the Watchdog timer will automatically reset the device, getting you out of a software-caused bind. See
what [Jack Ganssle] has to say
about them.
Real time counter
I mentioned above that Timer/Counter 2 can be run asynchronously from the rest of the timer/counters. Why is that valuable? One of the uses is as a Real Time Counter (RTC). This works in conjunction with a clock crystal to keep track of the time and date.
Hardware PWM
Continuing with the theme of timer/counter based featured, these chips have hardware-based pulse width modulation. PWM generates a signal between 0V and VCC by turning a pin output on and off frequently. The frequency used, and the duty cycle (ratio of high versus low over one period) are set in the registers and you don’t have to think about it again until you want to change them. This is useful for a slew of things, like dimming an LED, driving a servo motor, or generating sound on a piezo.
ADC
If you want to measure an analog value you need an Analog-to-Digital Converter. Most AVR chips have several of these with varying degrees of precision. This enables you to do things like measure light levels using a photoresistor and reading the value of a potentiometer (using it like a settings knob).
USART
The ATmega168 has a Universal Synchronous and Asynchronous serial Receiver and Transmitter which allows it to communicate in many different ways. This includes serial communications like USB (by taking advantage of
the V-USB stack
), as well as chip-to-chip communication standards like SPI, I2C, and TWI.
SPI
The AVR family often incorporates Serial Peripheral Interface bus communications protocols into its hardware. The USART on the ATmega168 offers master SPI functionality, used to control other chips that also use the protocol via three connections; two for data one for clock.
I2C/TWI
The USART also offers hardware I2C and Two Wire Interface features. Like SPI these are common chip-to-chip protocols but they use just two wires; one for data and the other for a clock signal.
Analog comparator
The analog comparator uses two input pins to compare analog signals. Based on their relation, the chip can be set to fire interrupts if one changes value compared to the other. The two inputs can be mapped to any of the ADC pins, but only two values can be compared at one time. I’ve never used this feature and I’m basing this description purely on what I’ve read in the datasheet. Sorry!
Lock bits
Any code you write to these chips can be read back and stored (albeit what comes back out is machine code, the C code we’ve been writing can never be reproduced perfectly from what you get off the chip). That can then be used to program other identical chips. But there is a feature called lock bits that can protect that code. Once set, the chip cannot be read, and depending on which bits are set it may not be able to be reprogrammed. That is, until the chip has been erased, which resets these lock bits.
JTAG, debugWire, and High Voltage Programming
In this tutorial we’ve been using In System Programming, but there are a few other ways to program AVR chips. JTAG is a standard hardware debugging (and programming) interface that some chips have, but the ATmega168 does not. Many of these chips can use the debugWire protocol to program and debug with just one wire communicating on the reset pin. Both JTAG and debugWire protocols are configured using the fuse bits.
High Voltage Programming is used to rescue chips that cannot be reached using other programming methods. There are two kinds, High Voltage Parallel Programming, like the ATmega168 uses, or High Voltage Serial Programming which chips with a low-pin count use. If you disable the Reset pin or enable debugWire, or set the clock source incorrectly in the fuse settings, HVPP or HVSP should be able to reset the fuses and rescue the “bricked” chip.
Power and Sleep
Microcontrollers operate so quickly there is often just wasted time as they scroll the infinite loop waiting for an interrupt to happen. If you are operating under battery power this just wastes juice. By using the power saving and sleep modes batteries can last longer. This is accomplished by turning off power hungry peripherals like the ADC, and shutting down the processor when not needed by putting it to sleep. They’re a bit tricky to understand, but often worth your while
Conclusion
That’s it really. I’ve had a great time writing about this. Fiddling with microcontrollers is my favorite hobby and I hope it has become yours as well. These are really very simple concepts that grow in complexity as you pile them atop each other. Just compare the original Part 2 source code with the bicycle tail light code. But that’s the fun of it. This is the inventor’s equivalent of a choose your own adventure novel. So come up with a challenge and see where it takes you!
Follow Me
@szczys
Resources
Part 4 Firmware package:
Github repository
Atmel AVR
ATmega168 Datasheet
(PDF)
AVR Libc manual
http://www.ganssle.com/watchdogs.htm | 24 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "215134",
"author": "Gdogg",
"timestamp": "2010-11-19T23:15:37",
"content": "Great tutorial.I sincerely hope you continue this series to something more advanced like PWM, Timers, hardware interrupts, etc etc.That or make these same tutorials for pic programming",
"parent_id": nul... | 1,760,377,331.37386 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/19/communicating-with-an-led-matrix/ | Communicating With An LED Matrix | Mike Szczys | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"conways game of life",
"led",
"matrix",
"python",
"serial",
"sure electronics",
"Teensy",
"terminal"
] | Most of the LED matrix posts we run delve into the hardware design. This time around [J Bremnant] used prefab modules and
focused on writing code to address the display
. The hardware combines two 24×16 LED boards from Sure Electronics with a Teensy 2.0 to drive the display and provide a USB connection. The firmware comes in just under 8k, leaving graphic manipulation up to a PC.
[J Bremnant’s] Python script offers a lot of flexibility when working with the display. There are three modes selectable through a terminal interface. One just tests the display and then drops into
Conway’s Game of Life
. The second mode lets you send commands via serial interface so it can be used as a message ticker. The final feature is frame addressing that allows graphics to be dropped into the display. See each of these featured in the video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yuv5SUVp5ik] | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "215103",
"author": "acidice332",
"timestamp": "2010-11-19T21:33:21",
"content": "Pretty neat",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "215107",
"author": "BiOzZ",
"timestamp": "2010-11-19T21:51:04",
"content": "you think these... | 1,760,377,331.307076 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/19/arduino-java-joystick/ | Arduino + Java + Joystick | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"adc",
"analog",
"java",
"Joystick",
"sensor"
] | Interfacing your own hardware with a Java app couldn’t be easier than
this example
. [Pn] created this proof-of-concept using an Arduino, an analog joystick from a gaming controller, and a few lines of Java code. The Arduino reads an ADC value from the joystick’s x-axis and transmits it over the serial connection ten times a second. The Java program triggers on every serial event, parsing the data based on the @ symbol that the Arduino sends as a start and end condition.
We like this kind of example because there’s nothing extra involved. It lets you take the concept and run with it in any project imaginable. Be it
a more complicated Joystick
, or simple sensors that you’d like to interface with. | 14 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "215097",
"author": "nes",
"timestamp": "2010-11-19T21:04:15",
"content": "Nicely written project. I beg to differ regarding the easiest way to do this. If you don’t already have a ready made Arduino then Byron is way simpler as it uses the OS’s built in HID driver for USB and will h... | 1,760,377,331.26058 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/19/key-chain-lcd-as-screen-for-a-dockstar/ | Key Chain LCD As Screen For A Dockstar | Mike Szczys | [
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"dockstar",
"key chain",
"lcd",
"lcd4linux"
] | [Peter Gunn]
added an LCD screen to his Dockstar
. Now that we think of it, this really shouldn’t be all that hard since the Dockstar can run a Linux kernel and it has USB ports. [Peter] took inspiration from [Sprite_TM’s] key chain LCD4Linux hack that
we looked at many moons ago
. He used a cheap Coby DP182 digital picture frame that can be picked up for less than $5 used. A bit of firmware hacking and LCD4Linux has no problem pushing images to the device via USB. [Peter’s] setup refreshes the screen at one frame per second, but if all you need is a bit of feedback from
the otherwise headless system
this is a great solution.
[Thanks Mikka] | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "215082",
"author": "The Moogle",
"timestamp": "2010-11-19T19:26:56",
"content": "neat!I’ve been looking into using a Didj or LX as a display for the dockstar using usb gadget modified",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "215143",
... | 1,760,377,331.422602 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/17/2010-hacker-gift-guide/ | 2010 Hacker Gift Guide | Joseph Thibodeau | [
"Hackaday links",
"Roundup"
] | [
"christmas",
"gift",
"guide",
"hanukkah",
"holiday",
"kwanzaa"
] | You’ve probably been fantasizing about getting amazing gifts this December, like robots with servo-mounted laser pointers and authentic battle damage. It’s time to realize that it’s unlikely that this will happen.
Stay calm
. You can still get sweet hacky things if you just forward this gift-giving guide to your friends and loved ones.
Join us after the break to see what we want and be sure to let us know what you’ve got your eye on.
Basic Tools
Everyone needs a good set of tools, but a depressing number of people lack even the most basic elements of an electronics workshop. Teeth may have served you for years but we highly recommend
an adjustable wire stripper
(fun fact: if you dress it up with googly eyes it looks like a dinosaur).
This pair of flush cutters
is honestly the most fulfilling hand tool available, making every hacking session a cathartic series of precise snips. For the ultimate experience consider the
ever-useful electronics multitool
. You can’t very well make good use of these tools without good visibility, so shed some light on the situation with the humble
clamp lamp
and its more capable cousin,
the magnifying clamp lamp
.
Luxurious Options
If you’re more of a martinis-and-caviar hacker you can spare some cash for fancy kits like those drool-worthy
makerbot apparatuses
or the succulent-sounding synth kits from
PAiA
. For a homegrown approach, you could put together simple kits for your own project ideas–a perfect excuse to teach the little ones how to solder!
Development Platforms
Nothing beats the narcotic possibilities of powerful general-purpose hardware. For an affordable and pint-sized software dev machine this
Dell Mini
comes to mind, great for a hackintosh. Does your hacker giftee really want a dog but can’t handle the constant stream of cleanups? Give them a
beagleboard
and encourage them to build a no-mess robopuppy. If you’re comfortable giving a child’s toy to a grown adult, don’t forget the
ever-hackable
furby
. For a more personalized approach we recommend hacking a
dancing santa
from the local department store and converting it into a terrifying and festive
Santapede
gift–win prizes while you’re at it, but you’d better have it done by November 30th!
Undecided?
You can always go the route of gift certificates and let people pick out their own gift, you uncreative buffoon, to juicy sites like
Adafruit
,
Seeed Studios
,
Sparkfun
,
Macetech.
seeedstudio
,
littlebirdelectronics
, and
MakerSHED
.
If you have more gift ideas please for goodness sakes share them in the comments! We all need to band together, some of us are really sweating about the holiday season. Whatever hacky loot you end up distributing, don’t forget to include the greatest hack of all: love. | 28 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "214079",
"author": "Roon",
"timestamp": "2010-11-17T23:40:10",
"content": "If only there was a company that kits and other hackful goodies in the UK, I bought some stuff from adafruit earlier this year and the shipping was nearly the same price as the actual items…",
"parent_id"... | 1,760,377,331.490668 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/17/pc-monitor-sleep-mode-using-iphone/ | PC Monitor Sleep Mode Using IPhone | Mike Szczys | [
"iphone hacks"
] | [
"nircmd",
"php",
"quickphp",
"sleep",
"windows"
] | [Mike Silverman] rigged up a way to
make his monitor sleep from an iPhone
. Working with a Windows system, he installed QuickPHP and NirCmd to add PHP and command line controls. Some quick PHP code writing and this has the effect of creating a sleep button toggled via a network address. He loads up the IP and port information in the Safari browser of his iPhone, creating a Home Screen short cut seen in the image above. Now he clicks on the button and puts the screen to sleep.
It’s not that we find this functionality useful since most monitors sleep after a few minutes of inactivity. But we like the methodology and you can bet we’re already planning uses for this. Any PHP server (like the copy of Apache running on this machine) will do as long as it’s on the same LAN as the iPhone’s WiFi connection. | 31 | 31 | [
{
"comment_id": "214010",
"author": "Alex Rossie",
"timestamp": "2010-11-17T21:10:27",
"content": "How is this a hack.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "214012",
"author": "Josh",
"timestamp": "2010-11-17T21:14:05",
"content": "Have be... | 1,760,377,331.619334 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/17/build-a-pong-gaming-console/ | Build A Pong Gaming Console | Mike Szczys | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"8x8",
"arduino",
"matrix",
"MAX7219CNG",
"pong"
] | A lot of thought went into [Patrick Mccabe’s]
Pong gaming console build
. He used components we’re familiar with; an Arduino as a controller, 8×8 LED modules as the display, and potentiometers (with fancy knobs) in project boxes as the controllers. But every step along the way he took care to build this cleanly and robustly. Even the MAX7219CNG drivers for the six LED modules reside on PCBs from a fab house. The finished project is something you’d be proud to pull out and play when you have friends over. Even if they’re not part of the geek elite we think they’d enjoy a game or two. Great job [Patrick]. We hope to see an internalized microcontroller and scoring in your next update!
Want to do this but the cost of the matrix drivers scared you away?
Follow our tutorial
to build your own display using an AVR for the multiplexing. | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "214000",
"author": "spiritplumber",
"timestamp": "2010-11-17T20:45:31",
"content": "This is a Pong game table. All craftsmanship is of the highest quality. It menaces with spikes of awesome.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "21400... | 1,760,377,331.54834 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/17/make-a-point-and-shoot-see-infrared-light/ | Make A Point-and-shoot See Infrared Light | Mike Szczys | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"canon",
"filter",
"infrared",
"ir",
"Kinect",
"night vision",
"powershot"
] | [Daniel Reetz] has caught the Kinect hacking fever. But he needs one important tool for his work; a camera that can see infrared light. This shouldn’t be hard to accomplish, as the sensors in digital cameras are more than capable of this task, but it requires the removal of an infrared filter. In [Daniel’s] case he
disassembled a Canon Powershot
to get at that filter. There’s a lot packed into those point-and-shoot camera bodies and his teardown images tell that tale. He also ended up with extra parts after putting it back together but that didn’t seem to do any harm.
After the break you can see video that shows the Kinect’s speckled IR grid, which is why he needed IR sensing in the first place. But there’s also some interesting photos at the bottom of his post showing the effect achieved in outdoor photography by removing the filter.
The flash never made it back in the camera. That’d be a perfect place for an IR light source. You’d end up with
a night-vision camera
that way.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28JwgxbQx8w&w=470] | 29 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "213976",
"author": "Nabil",
"timestamp": "2010-11-17T19:36:29",
"content": "Cell phone cameras are another way to achieve this as they are all able to pick up light in the infrared spectrum even without a hack!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,377,331.761234 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/17/crt-art-wobbulator/ | CRT Art: Wobbulator | Mike Szczys | [
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"crt",
"june paik",
"television",
"tv",
"wobbulator"
] | The Wobbulator
is a black and white CRT television that has additional hardware to manipulate the electrons as they bombard the phosphor layer of the screen. It was created by [June Paik] and you can find it at
The Experimental Television Center
. [Blair Neal] took some time to share the background information and some video on this interesting device.
The television has a second ”yoke” of coils around the ray tube. The TV still functions normally with these coils installed, but running a signal through them can further manipulate the picture. Hook, them up to a function generator and you can get some pretty wild effects. In this case, the signals from a sound generator are controlling the coils, resulting in the audio/video artwork which you can view after the break.
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/16906546] | 24 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "213953",
"author": "Fallen",
"timestamp": "2010-11-17T18:50:15",
"content": "Very cool!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "213956",
"author": "leadacid",
"timestamp": "2010-11-17T19:00:53",
"content": "Neat! I do wonde... | 1,760,377,331.814701 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/17/learn-to-reverse-engineer/ | Learn To Reverse Engineer | Caleb Kraft | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"Kinect",
"ladyada"
] | The most common email we get is “how do I learn how to hack things?”. It looks looks like [ladyada] gets that question a lot too. She didn’t waste any time writing up a step by step
guide to reverse engineering USB devices
, specifically the Kinect.
She goes into depth on how USB works, how to record the communication, what to look for, how to deconstruct what you’ve found, and how to put it all to use. This is all done with real world data from the Kinect so you could easily follow along at home. There is source code available so you can download her example and see how to control the device as well.
We wish every hack could be so well written that it could also be called a tutorial. | 37 | 37 | [
{
"comment_id": "213888",
"author": "Jake",
"timestamp": "2010-11-17T16:46:57",
"content": "How do you reverse engineer something?You just do it. If you don’t know how, then you figure it out. You learn all of the theory and techniques needed to understand how a system works.If you are going around ... | 1,760,377,331.88717 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/17/newest-hardware-bounty-the-open-lidar-project/ | Newest Hardware Bounty, The Open Lidar Project | James Munns | [
"contests",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"bounty",
"contest",
"lidar",
"Neato",
"robot",
"XV-11"
] | Inspired by the successful Kinect bounty put out by Adafruit, [gallamine] of the RobotBox community has posted his own
$200
$400 bounty
for the first person who can hack the scanning LIDAR from Neato Robotic’s XV-11 vacuumbot. This sensor would be particularly useful to any robotic makers out there, because even the full retail price of the vacuum is less than the cost of most standalone LIDAR units, which often run upwards of $1000. The bounty seems to be growing every day, starting out at $200, and doubling thanks to a couple of other interested parties.
Luckily, from what we hear, the sensor was never made to be hack-proof (and perhaps even secretly hack friendly?), seeing as one of the prime developers of the sensor is a member of a certain Home Brew Robotics Club. We love it when
companies are nice to hackers
, and we hope to see more examples of this in the future. Not sure what the XV-11 is? Be sure to check out the video after the break for info about the vacuum and its scanning LIDAR. | 29 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "213867",
"author": "????",
"timestamp": "2010-11-17T15:44:40",
"content": "(From a modders standpoint of the product)I hope a dev can reverse engineer the machine, it looks like a great ‘parts’ machine for the price.(From a consumer standpoint of the product)If reverse engineering d... | 1,760,377,332.011564 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/19/projector-introduces-augmented-reality-to-reality/ | Projector Introduces Augmented Reality To Reality | Mike Szczys | [
"Multitouch Hacks"
] | [
"augmented reality",
"infrared",
"ir",
"whiteboard"
] | [Raj Sodhi] and [Brett Jones] have been working on interactive augmented reality as part of their research at the University of Illinois. What they have come up with is
a stylus-based input system that can use physical objects to create a virtual landscape
. Above you can see that an environment was built using white blocks. A camera maps a virtual world that matches the physical design. From there an infrared stylus can be used to manipulate virtual data which is projected on the blocks.
What they’ve created is a very advanced
IR Whiteboard
. There are buttons on the stylus, one of which opens the menu, made up of circles that you can see above. From there, you can select a tool and make it do your bidding. After the break there’s a video demonstration where a game is set up, using the menu to place tanks and mines on the 3D playing field. We wonder how hard it would be to do this using a projector and
a Kinect
.
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/12154930] | 8 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "215060",
"author": "TODD",
"timestamp": "2010-11-19T18:06:30",
"content": "This would be awesome for D&D!!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "215064",
"author": "fartface",
"timestamp": "2010-11-19T18:30:35",
"content":... | 1,760,377,333.745351 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/18/hack-a-day-classifieds/ | Hack A Day Classifieds | Caleb Kraft | [
"News"
] | [
"buy",
"classifieds",
"sell"
] | Announcing
Hack a Day Classifieds
! Buy, sell, trade your tools and junk with other Hack a Day readers.
Quite often, we get emails or comments with people asking “do you want this piece of junk?” or “Would you sell that thing?”. We usually just push them off on craigslist, but we realize that it can be hard to find our specific flavor of stuff in craigslist. Who posts a half smashed tube radio on there?
Our answer is to give you guys the Hack a Day Classifieds. We know it isn’t perfect, but we wanted to supply this service to hackers. Feel free to post what you’ve got. Think of it like a little mini craigslist, just for us. It should be fully functional and ready to go, but who knows what issues we’ll see when you all start going there. Please be patient and understanding with us. | 42 | 41 | [
{
"comment_id": "214710",
"author": "Girrrrrrr2",
"timestamp": "2010-11-18T22:27:32",
"content": "Awesome! cant wait to browse, now… I just need something to put up there.Anyone want a Slightly used size 10 washer?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id":... | 1,760,377,334.009979 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/18/five-free-evalbots/ | Five Free Evalbots | Joseph Thibodeau | [
"contests",
"Hackerspaces",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"evalbot",
"giveaway",
"hackerspace",
"stellaris",
"thanksgiving"
] | If you’re a member of a hackerspace and you’ve been hoping and wishing for an evalbot to tear apart with your bare hands, you’re in luck! [Dave Bullock] is
giving out five evalbots
to five lucky hackers chosen at random. We thought that the
$125.00 deal
we saw the other day was good but this is right outta town!
The draw is on Black Friday, so you’ve got a few days to submit your details. We’ve only had a few posts about the evalbot to-date covering the
initial examination of the hardware
and a
USB power modification
. We’re interested in seeing where people take this, and we’d love to follow how each of these free ‘bots turns out. For those already working on an evalbot, keep it up and take lots of pictures!
[Photo credit:
Dave Bullock
from
eecue
] | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "214679",
"author": "polossatik",
"timestamp": "2010-11-18T21:16:22",
"content": "Nice, aldo it’s US only (micht want to stress that) , i’ll want to see what the hackerspaces come up with.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "214680",... | 1,760,377,333.701955 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/18/build-your-own-soic-progamming-clip/ | Build Your Own SOIC Progamming Clip | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"clip",
"pci",
"programming",
"socket"
] | [Pyra] was looking for a way to reprogram some ATtiny13 microcontrollers in a SOIC package. He’s re-engineering some consumer electronics so adding an ISP header to the design isn’t an option. He had been soldering wires to the legs of every chip but this is quite tedious. What he needs is an adapter that can make physical contact with the legs just long enough to program new firmware. After looking around he discovered that
a PCI socket can be used as a progamming clip
(
translated
). It shares the same pitch as a standard SOIC package but is not wide enough for the chip. He cut out 4 rows of the socket and the section of motherboard it was soldered to. Then he made a cut down the middle of the plastic and bent the two sections apart. The image above illustrates this, but not shown are the eight wires that he later added to connect to the device.
We wonder if this can be adapted to program SOIC parts without removing them from a circuit board. That would be a handy tool for finishing up
the LED lightbulb hack
. | 22 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "214558",
"author": "tim",
"timestamp": "2010-11-18T19:26:08",
"content": "very well done !thank you for this hack",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "214573",
"author": "Erik Johnson",
"timestamp": "2010-11-18T19:30:34",
... | 1,760,377,334.228657 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/18/well-balanced-flight-simulator/ | Well-balanced Flight Simulator | Mike Szczys | [
"home entertainment hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"cockpit",
"flight simulator",
"virtual reality"
] | Here’s a flight simulator
which uses concepts simple enough for anyone to build. As you pilot your virtual craft, the cockpit you’re sitting in moves as well. But unlike some of the
more extreme
simulator builds
we’ve seen, this uses basic materials and simple concepts to provide that motion. Its center of gravity is balanced on a base frame. The joystick slides as you move the nose of the craft up and down, shifting the center of gravity causing the cockpit to tilt as well. The pilot sees the simulated flight through a wearable display. There is a stationary reference in front of him which allows the system to measure head movements, panning and tilting the virtual display to match. Check out the overview video after the break, or click through to the page linked above and watch all 22 episodes of the video build log.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrC0_EFnLFE&w=470]
[Thanks Bill and Charper via
DIYdrones
via
Make
] | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "214479",
"author": "xeracy",
"timestamp": "2010-11-18T18:16:20",
"content": "this is probably the only way I would play a flight simulator",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "214510",
"author": "Aero",
"timestamp": "2010-11-... | 1,760,377,333.877222 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/18/global-village-construction-set/ | Global Village Construction Set | Mike Szczys | [
"green hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"bricks",
"global village construction set",
"gvcs",
"open source ecology",
"tractor"
] | The Global Village Construction Set is an open hardware initiative aimed at sharing tool-building knowledge. They believe that to build civilization you need forty basic tools, eight of which they’ve already
prototyped and made available on their wiki
. Included in these is a tractor which reminds us of a beefy bobcat. It has a soil pulverizing attachment which can be used to break down soil and feed it to their soil brick compressor. That machine spits out compressed dirt bricks which are
used as building materials
. They’re stacked on concrete footings and then limewashed to protect the un-baked bricks from water erosion. Does this remind anyone else of real-life
Minecraft
?
Above you can see a group of Open Source Ecology developers showing off bricks in front of the machine that made them, with the tractor/soil pulverizer to the right. Take a look at the videos about the construction set and brickmaking after the break. And learn more by
perusing their weblog
.
If you think an apocalypse is on the way you might want to buddy-up with these folks. They seem to know what they’re doing.
Global Village Construction Set
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/16106427]
Building with soil
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/16547692]
[Thanks Chris] | 56 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "214428",
"author": "PapaMac",
"timestamp": "2010-11-18T17:13:28",
"content": "Ugh, you had to plug that Minecraft shit. Do you realise that there are hundreds of refund requests everyday that are going un-honored because the guy is ‘not sure how to process them right now’?",
"pa... | 1,760,377,333.834659 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/18/electromechanical-computer-built-from-relays/ | Electromechanical Computer Built From Relays | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"computer",
"cpu",
"relay",
"wire wrap"
] | This is Zusie,
a computer built out of electromechanical relays
. [Fredrik Andersson] picked up a lot of about 100 telephone exchange circuit boards, each with about 16 relays on them. After getting to know a heat gun really well he ended up with 1500 working relays with which to play. The machine runs slowly, it iss noisy, but it definitely works. After the break you can see it running and assembly code program that he wrote.
The instruction set is based on boards running microcode. These store the operational commands for each instruction the processor has available to it and they run in parallel with the rest of the operations.
We’re always surprised to see that these home-built processors work. Mostly because of the complexity involved in assembling them. How hard is it to find a shorting connection or a malfunctioning relay? Those problems aren’t limited to this application either, what do you do if
a transistor-logic CPU
has a malfunctioning chip?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLnUukOJyZE&w=470]
[Thanks Daniel] | 41 | 40 | [
{
"comment_id": "214408",
"author": "Iddeen",
"timestamp": "2010-11-18T16:31:20",
"content": "Wonder how do they run the program",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "214409",
"author": "J. Peterson",
"timestamp": "2010-11-18T16:35:23",
"c... | 1,760,377,334.087608 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/15/excuse-me-my-pinky-is-ringing/ | Excuse Me, My Pinky Is Ringing | Mike Szczys | [
"Cellphone Hacks"
] | [
"bluetooth",
"finger",
"handset",
"phone",
"pinky",
"prosthetic"
] | We get a lot of email challenging us to hack things. Sometimes we ignore them, other times we send some words of encouragement. But this time around we thought [Tait] had really come up with a great hack; to build a Bluetooth handset into his prosthetic finger. He hasn’t done much hacking in the past and was wondering if we could put out a challenge to our readers to make this happen. After a bit of back-and-forth brainstorming he decided to take on the challenge himself and was met with great success.
Like
other Bluetooth handset
hacks [Tait] started with a simple ear-mounted module. He extended the volume button with a piece of plastic and placed it under the battery. A couple of wooden matchsticks space the battery just enough so that it can be squeezed to adjust the volume level. He then extended the speaker with some wire. Next, he used
the Oogoo recipe from our previous post
to mold a false-finger and a thumb-ring. The PCB and battery fit in the finger, which places the microphone near a hole in the pad of the plastic pinky. The thumb ring houses the speaker to finish the look. Don’t miss the photos [Tait] sent in after the break.
The Bluetooth module PCB:
The completed prototype can still be recharged:
And it fits like a glove:
Originally he told us this hack was above his skill level. Well congratulations… looks like your hacking skills just moved up a few notches! | 28 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "213035",
"author": "Spork",
"timestamp": "2010-11-15T21:16:50",
"content": "Strange looking, but definitely has the classic spy feel to it. I like the matchstick concept and well the fact that it actually works as a phone.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,377,334.292664 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/15/rendering-a-3d-environment-from-kinect-video/ | Rendering A 3D Environment From Kinect Video | Mike Szczys | [
"Kinect hacks",
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"3d",
"c++",
"Kinect",
"render",
"scanning"
] | [Oliver Kreylos] is using an
Xbox Kinect to render 3D environments from real-time video
. In other words, he takes the video feed from the Kinect and runs it through some C++ software he wrote to index the pixels in a 3D space that can be manipulated as it plays back. The image above is the result of the Kinect recording video by looking at [Oliver] from his right side. He’s moved the viewer’s playback perspective to be above and in front of him. Part of his body is missing and there is a black shadow because the camera cannot see these areas from its perspective. This is very similar to the
real-time 3D scanning
we’ve seen in the past, but the hardware and software combination make this a snap to reproduce. Get the source code from his page linked at the top and don’t miss his demo video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QrnwoO1-8A]
[Thanks Peter] | 76 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "212998",
"author": "Michael",
"timestamp": "2010-11-15T20:05:51",
"content": "I wonder if you took 3-4 of theses and synchronized them, putting one on each wall of a room, you could get a higher quality environment.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{... | 1,760,377,334.169561 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/15/in-button-display-for-your-cars-dashboard/ | In-button Display For Your Car’s Dashboard | Mike Szczys | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"boost",
"dashboard",
"display",
"oled",
"pic",
"temperature"
] | Here’s an interesting take on augmenting a car’s dashboard. [Daniel] is using a button blank to house a
1″ OLED display in his Jetta
. It shows auxiliary data such as boost pressure and several sets of temperature readings. The display itself has a tiny little circuit board with a PIC 24 to drive it. A larger board, seen above, collects the temperature data from some sensors that [Daniel] added as part of the hack. There are some pictures of the installed display inside of the dark car and it looks really easy to read. It also sounds like there’s some dimming functionality built into the firmware. This is the easiest way we’ve seen to add a display to your dashboard as it just requires you to pop out a button blank, rather than disassembling the entire console or
patching into what’s already there
. | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "212981",
"author": "spiralbrain",
"timestamp": "2010-11-15T19:16:52",
"content": "these displays are pretty cool. I remember them from the MPman MP3 players. looks like a job well done!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "212983",
... | 1,760,377,333.931099 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/15/girltech-sugar-cubes-monocrome-lcd/ | Girltech. Sugar Cubes. Monocrome LCD | Greg R. Jacobs | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"girltech",
"lcd",
"sugar cube"
] | We’ve seen these little toys called “sugar cubes” by GirlTech around for a while now. They are a toy block, with an LCD on the front and they respond to movement, button presses and they interact with each other if you stack them up. We’re just as curious as anyone else about their internals, but maybe not quite curious enough to rush out and buy one. Luckily, we don’t have to as [Joby] has done it for us and
documented what he found
. While it may be lacking in extreme detail, at least our curiosity is somewhat satiated.
We can see that it has a 16×16 LCD, an unknown chip hidden under an epoxy blob as usual. To determine what character is shown, you can bridge one of 4 spots on the PCB, though he has only managed to switch to a little ninja and a question mark. Does anyone have any brilliant ideas on a project for these? | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "212926",
"author": "Drake",
"timestamp": "2010-11-15T17:08:19",
"content": "Website already HaDOS – d",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "212930",
"author": "godi",
"timestamp": "2010-11-15T17:20:09",
"content": "maybe h... | 1,760,377,334.337594 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/15/c-portable-settings-provider/ | C# Portable Settings Provider | Greg R. Jacobs | [
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"c sharp",
"c++",
"code",
"content",
"portable",
"provider"
] | We live in a world where everything must be portable, ranging from mobile applications to making an application able to run on Linux, Windows and OS X. Making a C# application to be completely portable across all windows computers is a problem that Microsoft knows about and willingly admits they will not fix. [Mike] from Geek Republic has taken it upon himself to show us how to
hack up some code to make your programs portable
. This code is a good push forward for people loving the portability of modern applications. He will admit that bugs may exist so be on the lookout and he would probably appreciate the feedback. Looking forward to a fully working provider so that .NET applications can be carried wherever people go! | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "212899",
"author": "tristramoaten",
"timestamp": "2010-11-15T16:02:39",
"content": "I clicked the source link thinking it would be a way to make C# applications portable across Linux and OSX. This is not the case. It’s how to make .net applications portable across different versions... | 1,760,377,334.389671 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/14/breadboarding-ram/ | Breadboarding RAM | Chris Nelson | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"bjt",
"cmos",
"flip flip-flop",
"latch",
"memory"
] | If you’ve ever wanted to dive in and take a look at how memory hardware is implemented here is a good example of how to implement some latching circuits with ether
BJT
or
CMOS
transistors. BJTs require biasing resistors which increases the complexity and power consumption when compared to CMOS. If power consumption isn’t an issue you could certainly make some
really fast logic
.
Most modern on chip RAM is made using
SRAM
because it only takes six transistors to implement(vs eight) and is pretty fast. When it comes to density
DRAM
can get one bit of storage by using a single transistor and capacitor(putting the capacitor underneath he transistor can save even more space). All that said, latches and flip flops are still a very useful (and common) tool when working with digital circuits. | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "212479",
"author": "zeropointmodule",
"timestamp": "2010-11-14T21:35:44",
"content": "pretty cool, i remember building transistor based memory on the S-Dec (an early prototyping board)you can also make shift registers this way, single transistor per stage and can clock in data at th... | 1,760,377,335.021048 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/14/direct-to-pcb-inkjet-printing-2/ | Direct To PCB Inkjet Printing | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"copper clad",
"etch",
"inkjet",
"pcb",
"resist",
"toner"
] | [Rhys Goodwin] has been working on a system to
print resist onto copper clad using an inkjet
printer. This is a toner transfer alternative as it still uses toner, just not quite as you’d expect. The first step is to modify an inkjet printer, separating the carriage from the feed rollers in order to increase the clearance for the substrate. Instead of printing with etch resistant ink,
as we’ve seen before
, [Rhys] prints with black ink and then covers the board (ink still wet) in laser toner. Once there’s good adhesion he blows off the excess and bakes the board in a sandwich press, with spacers to keep the iron from touching the surface of the copper clad. This cooks the resist into a hard plastic layer and the board is ready for the acid. Watch him walk you through the process after the break.
[Rhys] uses the same method for silk screen, printing in red and baking the ink onto the substrate without added toner. This produces a nice looking board but it’s still quite a bit of work. It certainly sheds more light on the process than that
laser-printer method
from back in May. We hope you’ve been inspired by this and come up with the next innovation that makes this process easier.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHtiRCVfUPM&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHbzrR5jD6M&w=470] | 31 | 31 | [
{
"comment_id": "212403",
"author": "colin",
"timestamp": "2010-11-14T19:25:50",
"content": "Why does he keep saying “we”?Cool method. Takes forever though, it’s like a day job to run a quick PCB with all the preparations!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"com... | 1,760,377,335.091758 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/14/pulito-the-lego-roomba/ | Pulito: The LEGO Roomba | James Munns | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"flex",
"lego",
"multiplex",
"multiplexor",
"nxt",
"roomba",
"Swiffer"
] | When [Dave] installed hardwood flooring in his house, he needed a solution to help automate the monotonous task of routine sweeping. Rather than go out and buy one of the many existing automated sweep robots out there, he decided to use his passion for LEGO Robotics to design and build a
NXT based Swifferbot
he calls Pulito. His version implements all the important features such as object avoidance using bump sensors, an IR beacon used to automatically return to the charging station, and a photoresistor to monitor the charge of the battery. [Dave] also includes a nifty
LEGO sensor multiplexor
, allowing him to save on I/O ports, which is almost worth sharing by itself.
Videos after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO9buKXiQe8&w=470 ]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZZhOGgeuts&w=470 ]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjcm1EzqlNY&w=470] | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "212389",
"author": "heatgap",
"timestamp": "2010-11-14T18:35:18",
"content": "Pretty cool. I guess the cleaning pattern is still a work in progress? I like the charging bumper idea, kick ass work!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": ... | 1,760,377,334.820765 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/14/renesas-rx-design-contest-110k-of-cash-and-prizes/ | Renesas RX Design Contest: $110K+ Of Cash And Prizes | James Munns | [
"contests"
] | [
"contest",
"design",
"Renesas",
"RTOS",
"rx",
"RX62n",
"uCOS"
] | It seems that we have caught Design Contest Fever here at Hackaday. After covering some other design contests, and asking readers to send in more, we heard from a couple tippers about
Renesas’ challenge
. Like many of the
other
contests
, entrants can submit their ideas, and possibly receive a free development board to get them started. Unlike the other contests though, Renesas board (possibly) free development board is everything but the kitchen sink. Designed with RTOS’s in mind, rather than the normal microcontroller tasks, this board has an astounding number of capabilities.
On top of the excellent development kit, the contest is also offering books, software, and cash
prizes
to the winners. So get out there, design something amazing, and make Hackaday proud. | 34 | 34 | [
{
"comment_id": "212346",
"author": "Life2Death",
"timestamp": "2010-11-14T15:31:24",
"content": "Registered. This thing has almost everything I could ever want in a board. Saweet!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "212359",
"author": "M4CGYV3R... | 1,760,377,335.161525 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/13/debug-mode-lurking-inside-amd-chips/ | Debug Mode Lurking Inside AMD Chips | Mike Szczys | [
"computer hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"amd",
"debug",
"processor",
"register"
] | Looks like some hardware enthusiasts have worked out a method to enable debug mode within AMD processors.
The original site
isn’t loading for us, but the text has been
mirrored in this comment
. Getting the chip into debug mode requires access passwords on four control registers. We’ve read through the writeup and it means very little to us but we didn’t pull out a datasheet to help make sense of the registers being manipulated. It shouldn’t be hard to find an old AMD system to try this out on.
We’d love to hear about anything you do
with this debug system.
[via
Slashdot
] | 50 | 49 | [
{
"comment_id": "212075",
"author": "biozz",
"timestamp": "2010-11-13T22:34:12",
"content": "nice if you can put up with how crappy amd is XD",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1007244",
"author": "Chloe May Dixon",
"timestamp": "... | 1,760,377,335.306034 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/13/final-take-on-the-machine-winners/ | Final Take On The Machine: Winners | Jakob Griffith | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"challange",
"hackerspace",
"scion",
"take on the machine"
] | It’s finally here, the
last episode
of Scion’s Take on the Machine with Mitch Altman. In this episode all the teams are given a recap over their success and failures, and the clear winner is placed on top. We’re not ones to spoil the surprise so you’ll just have to click the link and watch to find out.
But lets take a moment to remember each team,
The Transistor
and their live action zombie game.
Crash Space
and their musical building.
Pumping Station: One
and their ice cream maker.
Artisans Asylum
and their breakfast machine. And lastly,
NYC Resistor
and their drink mixing slot machine.
Who’s ready for next season? There isn’t a next season you say? Perhaps a new influx of sponsored hackerspace competitions will spring up, or the whole concept will die out as quickly as it came. Either way, it’s all about the
money
fun and educating experience, right? And that’s all that matters.
[Thanks Deven, sorry you guys didn’t win.] | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "212081",
"author": "MS3FGX",
"timestamp": "2010-11-13T22:44:13",
"content": "“We’re not ones to spoil the surprise so you’ll just have to click the link and watch to find out.”That’s cute. But if you are going to try and turn HaD into a tech news site, you could at least report the ... | 1,760,377,335.352702 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/13/kinect-and-tisch-combined-for-multitouch/ | Kinect And TISCH Combined For Multitouch | Mike Szczys | [
"Kinect hacks",
"Multitouch Hacks"
] | [
"Kinect",
"libtisch",
"minority report",
"tisch"
] | [Florian] sent a link to
his proof of concept
in creating a multitouch display using the Kinect. He’s the one behind
the libTISCH multitouch package
and that’s what he used to get this working along with the
recently released Kinect drivers
. He did this on an Ubuntu machine and, although it’s not a turnkey solution he was kind enough to share some rough directions on accomplishing it yourself. Join us after the break for his instructions and some embedded video.
Here’s what [Florian] said when we asked if he could walk us through how to replicate his work:
I’ll try, but it’s really a hack :-) You’ll need
– Ubuntu 10.10
– a Kinect (surprise :-)
– the OpenKinect driver from
https://github.com/OpenKinect/openkinect
– go to directory openkinect/c/
– edit lib/CMakeLists.txt so it says “add_library (freenect SHARED ..”
– run “cmake .”
– run “make”
– the TISCH library, 1.1 branch
– svn co
https://tisch.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/tisch/libtisch-1.1
– compile with something like:
CFLAGS=-I/foobar/openkinect/c/include \
LDFLAGS=”-L/foobar/openkinect/c/lib -lfreenect” \
make install
– go to the libtisch-1.1/build/bin directory
– run “export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=../lib/”
– run “./touchd -Vf”
– if it doesn’t work at first try, edit ~/.tisch.touchd
– in the line with the resolution (line 5), change to something like
“640 480 30 5 127 8 255 0”
– play with the ~/.tisch.touchd settings file (I’m aware it’s quite
horrible, the format is somewhat documented here:
http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/tisch/index.php?title=Touchd_config
).
Heh, now that I read that, I’m surprised it worked at all :-)
Florian
Your results may vary so please leave any tips you have on getting this up and running in the comments below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho6Yhz21BJI&w=470] | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "212035",
"author": "Tom",
"timestamp": "2010-11-13T20:26:08",
"content": "Haha “Tisch” means table in germen :D",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "212067",
"author": "Krazeecain",
"timestamp": "2010-11-13T21:59:14",
"co... | 1,760,377,334.965591 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/13/lots-of-spinning-pov-goodness/ | Lots Of Spinning POV Goodness | Mike Szczys | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"excel",
"persistence of vision",
"POV",
"spinning display"
] | [Retrobrad’s]
spinning POV display
has long been our favorite. When it popped up on our radar again this morning we were surprise to see we never ran a feature on it! But now there’s so much more to share. Hit the projects icon at the top of
his page
and you’ll not only get the 8×85 RGB display’s build instructions, but he’s also built a 32×64 pixel spinning display.
Even if you’re not going to make one of these, he explains some pixel-graphics techniques that are useful in other instances. Check out his
video on using spreadsheets for creating the hex arrays
necessary for each frame the 8×85 display. It’s embedded after the break along with demos of the two displays.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f5I2jG72h4&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gklBWwGyreM&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTCIJILSgBo&w=470]
[via
Hacked Gadgets
] | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "212013",
"author": "Addidis",
"timestamp": "2010-11-13T19:44:30",
"content": "Nice, probably some of the best graphics Ive seen done on a POV. This has serious consumer product potential. Parents will gladly buy something like this to keep babies entertained with their favorite car... | 1,760,377,335.219191 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/13/nixie-tubes-live-in-a-cool-box/ | Nixie Tubes Live In A Cool Box | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"contests"
] | [
"arduino",
"laser cut",
"nixie tubes",
"ponoko",
"twitter"
] | This set of four
Nixie tubes display the number of people following bildr
on Twitter. That’s neat; it uses an Arduino and some open source driver boards. But what caught out eye is the enclosure. The image above shows only half, but when assembled it’s a nice little cube that keeps the insides safe. This was laser cut using the
Ponoko service
and kicks off a design contest. Come up with the best idea for using 4 Nixies, their drivers, and $50 worth of Ponoko’s services and they’ll give you the materials to make it happen. | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "212008",
"author": "metropolis",
"timestamp": "2010-11-13T19:10:43",
"content": "Cool stuff! Now let’s all follow him so he has to add another digit…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "212009",
"author": "Alex Rossie",
"tim... | 1,760,377,335.396925 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/16/making-model-rocket-motor-igniters/ | Making Model Rocket Motor Igniters | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"igniter",
"model",
"motor",
"nichrome",
"paint",
"rocket",
"wire"
] | [Stephan Jones] has an easy method for
making your own model rocket engine igniter
. The solid state motors used in this hobby consume one igniter with each electrically triggered launch. Whether you’re
making your own motors
or not, this construction technique should prohibit you from every buying an igniter again. The process involves bending some nichrome wire around a paper clip, adding some structural support to the leads using masking tape, and insulating the business end with a quick dip in paint.
Now would be a good time to s
end us your launchpad hacks
. All we’ve seen so far is
a launchpad for water rockets
.
[via
Make
] | 28 | 28 | [
{
"comment_id": "213540",
"author": "Patrick",
"timestamp": "2010-11-16T21:05:53",
"content": "Sooo happy its not from instructibles…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "213542",
"author": "Chuckt",
"timestamp": "2010-11-16T21:13:50",
"c... | 1,760,377,335.461341 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/16/paper-touchpad/ | Paper Touchpad | Mike Szczys | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"graphite",
"pencil",
"TouchPad",
"voltage divider"
] | If you don’t mind getting your fingers a little dirty you can
replace your mouse with a piece of paper
. [Dr. West] made this touchpad himself, which measures signals at the corners of the paper using four voltage dividers. The paper has been completely covered with graphite from a pencil (which
we see in hacks
from time to time), making it conductive. The user wears an anti-static strap that grounds their hand, allowing an Arduino to calculate contact points on two axes when a finger completes the circuit. See this controlling a cursor in the video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3b68vZQyIc&w=470] | 36 | 34 | [
{
"comment_id": "213506",
"author": "Spork",
"timestamp": "2010-11-16T20:02:36",
"content": "Couldn’t you do this with a metal window screen and have the same effect?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "213507",
"author": "Necromant",
"times... | 1,760,377,336.459517 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/16/how-to-weigh-a-bee-hive/ | How To Weigh A Bee Hive | Mike Szczys | [
"green hacks"
] | [
"beekeeping",
"bees",
"hive",
"luggage",
"scale",
"weigh"
] | Did you know weighing bee hives was even necessary? Of course it is. Monitoring hive weight can tell a beekeeper a lot about the size of the swarm, their harvesting habits, and the yield they are producing.
We had to cover this hack because it’s a fine piece of engineering. [Trearick]
designed a bee hive scale
that lifts one side of the hive to calculate weight. Using easy to find metal brackets, a hinge, a pulley, and some plywood he built a prying device. The three teeth slip in between the hive and its base and can be separated by squeezing together the plywood handles on the opposite side. This lifts one end of the hive, measuring the force needed to do so using a luggage scale. The readout should be roughly 1/2 the total hive weight. This measurement takes seconds to complete, uses a bulb level on the scale to help ensure consistency, and creates little or no disturbance to our flying friends.
It’s nice to see a
Hymenoptera
hack that helps in giving bees a healthy place to live, instead of
killing wasps
. | 14 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "213469",
"author": "xeracy",
"timestamp": "2010-11-16T19:06:51",
"content": "What is the most expensive way to feed a zebra?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "213471",
"author": "Reaper",
"timestamp": "2010-11-16T19:10:57"... | 1,760,377,335.637374 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/16/dtg-improved-printing-on-t-shirts/ | DTG: Improved Printing On T-shirts | Mike Szczys | [
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"direct to garment",
"dtg",
"epson",
"printer",
"r1900"
] | [Jeff German]
improved upon his DIY direct to garment printer
an ended up with a machine he thinks is equivalent to anything you can buy commercially. We last looked in on this project in June but much has been done since then. Most notably, there are build instructions available (
requires login
). [Jeff’s] printer is based around an Epson R1900 plus the base that holds and feed a garment. Take a look after the break to see it printing full color designs in high resolution. From the YouTube description it sounds like he wants to go into production with this. Kudos to him for also sharing the build techniques.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLlzSXmS7Mk&w=470] | 21 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "213458",
"author": "Tex©",
"timestamp": "2010-11-16T18:27:49",
"content": "i want one",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "213472",
"author": "Ryan",
"timestamp": "2010-11-16T19:11:49",
"content": "Anyone wanna rehost the... | 1,760,377,335.585766 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/16/jeri-makes-flexible-el-displays/ | Jeri Makes Flexible EL Displays | Mike Szczys | [
"chemistry hacks"
] | [
"aluminum",
"boric acid",
"el",
"electroluminescent",
"foil",
"jeri ellsworth"
] | A failed chemistry experiment led [Jeri Ellsworth] to discover
a flexible substrate for electroluminescent displays
. We’re familiar with EL displays on the back of a glass panel like you would find in an audio receiver, but after making a mesh from aluminum foil [Jeri] looked at using the porous metal to host phosphors. She starts by cleaning foil and using a vinyl sticker to resist etching portions of the aluminum. It then goes into a bath of boric acid, electrified with the foil as the anode. As the foil etches she tests the progress by shining a laser through the foil. After this the phosphors are applied to the back surface of the foil, covered in a dielectric, and topped off with a conductive ink that will carry the AC necessary to excite the phosphors. This is layering materials in reverse compared to
her EL PCB experiments
. See [Jeri] explain this herself in the clip after the break.
You can see above that this produces a pretty well-defined display area. It reminds us of that
color changing paint display
. We think it would be worth a try to build a few 7-segment displays using this method.
[via
Instructables
] | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "213442",
"author": "Caleb Kraft",
"timestamp": "2010-11-16T17:13:53",
"content": "Can someone other than Jeri please do some cool EL and/or chemistry stuff?We love Jeri’s work but we also love diversity!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"commen... | 1,760,377,335.915958 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/15/gear-indicator-for-suzuki-motorcycle/ | Gear Indicator For Suzuki Motorcycle | Mike Szczys | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"8x8",
"ATmega88",
"gear",
"indicator",
"led",
"motorcycle"
] | This little board serves as
a current gear indicator
for a motorcycle. It was designed with the Suzuki V-Storm motorcycles in mind as they have a sensor built into the gearbox.
Other gear indicators
rely on sensors on the shifters themselves, but reading the voltage level from a gearbox sensor gives much more reliable information.
The voltage measurement is handled by an ATmega88 microcontroller which in turn drives the 8×8 LED display. Also built into the system is a temperature sensor and photoresistor. The firmware takes advantage of both of these inputs, displaying temperature when in sixth gear or at the push of a button, and dimming the display based on ambient light. There are also settings for screen rotation, and user preferences.
We didn’t find schematics or software but this should be pretty easy to replicate. If you need a primer for AVR programming
we’ve got you covered
.
[Thanks Michal] | 26 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "213136",
"author": "tyco",
"timestamp": "2010-11-16T00:49:24",
"content": "small correction – should be “V-Strom.” Don’t ask me why Suzuki chose this spelling; it’s very typo-prone.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "579344",
... | 1,760,377,336.212249 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/15/playing-hacker-with-a-toy-vault/ | Playing Hacker With A Toy Vault | Mike Szczys | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"atmega328",
"game",
"keypad",
"terminal",
"toy",
"vault"
] | [Thomas Cannon]
created his own hacking game
by adding some circuitry to this toy vault. The original toy uses the keypad to control a solenoid keeping the door shut. He kept the mechanical setup, but replaced the original circuit board with his own ATmega328 based internals. He also added a USB port to the front. The gist of the game is that you plug-in through USB to gain access to the vault’s terminal software. If you can make your way through the various levels of admin access the loot inside will be yours. | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "213092",
"author": "BrokenTrace",
"timestamp": "2010-11-15T23:20:28",
"content": "Just in time for Christmas!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "213094",
"author": "poot",
"timestamp": "2010-11-15T23:22:04",
"content": ... | 1,760,377,336.066443 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/13/lessons-in-electric-circuits/ | Lessons In Electric Circuits | Devlin Thyne | [
"Parts"
] | [
"book",
"Getting Started",
"Lessons in Electric Circuits"
] | Are you looking for a good source of information to get started into making and hacking electric circuits? We would like to refer you to
Lessons in Electric Circuits
. Even if you have good knowledge of electronics, this is another tool you can use. The book is a work in progress and will have some incomplete and pending areas, but the basic theory parts to get started are all there. It has six volumes: DC, AC, Semiconductors, Digital, Reference, and Experiments. The DC and AC volumes are the most complete. If your eyes are already glazing over thinking you already know all of this stuff, then the most interesting volume for you may be the
Experiments
, which contains a number of sample circuits like transistor amplifiers and 555 timer circuits. The best part of this book it that it is free, but as with most free things, you can make it better by contributing.
Via
Adafruit Industries
. | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "211909",
"author": "Pouncer",
"timestamp": "2010-11-13T15:55:11",
"content": "Very nice! Thanks for posting it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "211911",
"author": "biozz",
"timestamp": "2010-11-13T16:08:22",
"conten... | 1,760,377,336.267442 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/12/help-me-reverse-engineer-an-led-light-bulb/ | Help Me Reverse Engineer An LED Light Bulb | Mike Szczys | [
"HackIt"
] | [
"attiny13",
"buck converter",
"color change",
"led",
"light bulb",
"reverse engineer",
"sylvania"
] | I went to the last monthly meeting of
Sector 67
, a hackerspace in Madison, WI. One of the things shown off was a color changing LED light bulb that Menards was clearing out for $1.99. Inside there’s two RGB LEDs controlled by an ATtiny13 and powered by an AC/DC buck converter. An ATtiny13 will run you around $1.25 by itself so this price is quite amazing. I grabbed a couple of these bulbs and set to work on them. Join me after the break to see what I’ve got so far.
Update:
read a follow-up to this post
.
These bulbs use a candelabra base so I grabbed an adapter and tried it out in a lamp. Here’s the result, you can see it stepping through color levels a few times a second:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRrYp3qRBXc&w=470]
We’ve seen this in a lot of
mood light hacks
, I want to get at the hardware and make it do my bidding. First thing’s first, time to crack it open. For some reason I thought that carefully drilling some holes around the base would help me figure out where best to use the Dremel cutting wheel. Unfortunately I immediately drilled through one of the inductor coils. Drat.
Well, no stopping now. I’m not too worried as I also bought a solid red version of this bulb. I want to see what’s inside, whether it’s the same design with unpopulated components, or the full shebang with different hardware. I assume there’s no microcontroller inside so I’ll steal the inductor from that one later.
I cut off the diffuser and got to the circuit board. Here’s some images (click for hi-res) as well as a cursory list of hardware.
Top:
R2 – 1004
R3 – 1004
R4 – 3001
R5 – 1302
R10 – 1003
D4 – Looks like a zener… perhaps to set down votage for the tiny13
D5 – RGB LED
D6 – RGB LED
D7 – JF S1J
IC5 – ATtiny13
C1 – smd without label
C7- smd without label
Bottom:
R1 – inline with center conductor of light socket
P1 & P2 – Labels for incoming AC power?
L1 – 102J CEC
L2 – 102J CEC
C2 – 50V 22 uF electrolytic
C3 – 400V 4.7 uF electrolytic
C4 – 400V 4.7 uF electrolytic
C5 – 25V 100 uF electrolytic
C6 – smd without label
D3 – R106 TF
R6 – 1201
R7 – 1Bx
R8 – 270
R9 – 270
IC1 – NGS (transistor for driving LEDs?)
IC2 – NGS (transistor for driving LEDs?)
IC3 – NGS (transistor for driving LEDs?)
IC4 – LNK304GN AC/DC switching converter
I wanted to see if I could talk to the ATtiny13 so I soldered wires onto the pins and hooked it up to my AVR Dragon programmer. ISP was a no go so I soldered more wire to the remaining connection and gave high voltage programming a shot. That was also a failure. But since I already hosed that inductor I have no issue popping the microprocessor off of the board. Here it is soldered onto some perfboard and inserted in a breadboard:
I tried ISP again and that was a no-go. But this time around High Voltage Serial Programming worked. I talked to the chip with AVRdude using this command:
avrdude -P usb -p t13 -c dragon_hvsp -v
That polls the chip and reads back the fuse settings. Currently the lfuse is 0x6A which is the factory default but the hfuse is 0xFA. After checking the datasheet I see that they’ve disabled the reset function (that’s why ISP doesn’t work) and enabled brownout detection. I dumped the firmware and the eeprom and that’s where I’m at. Now I need your help.
I haven’t done much reverse engineering before this so I’m not sure what to do next. I disassembled the firmware using ‘ndisasm’ but I have no idea what I can learn from it, or even how to read it. I’d love some help answering two questions:
1) Why couldn’t I talk to the chip when it was on the circuit board?
2)
What can I learn from
the disassembled code
.
Update:
after running the code through an AVR disassembler it looks like this is just an ascending list of numbers. [Tiago] pointed out in the comments that this is the behavior when the lock bits have been set. It should be possible to reuse the chip by erasing it but I won’t be able to dump the firmware first. Now I’ll focus on figuring out how the board is routed.
Let me know in the comments.
Read Part Two | 101 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "211576",
"author": "Angelo",
"timestamp": "2010-11-12T22:18:40",
"content": "Be careful. Harmful / toxic substance are inside the bulb, as mercury, etc.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "211578",
"author": "Aero",
"timesta... | 1,760,377,336.009209 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/12/nixie-frequency-counter-gone-timepiece/ | Nixie Frequency Counter Gone Timepiece | Mike Szczys | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"clock",
"decade counter",
"emsl",
"frequency counter",
"nixie tube"
] | [Windell] of Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories took an ancient Nixie tube based frequency counter and
converted it into a clock
. The unit he got his hands on is an HP model that was still in great shape. He’s using an internally generated one second pulse as the clock signal, but some modifications are necessary to display time. That’s because the frequency counter is base 10 and clocks use a quirky combination of base 60 and base 12.
It wasn’t too much of a problem to rig up a system to track minutes and seconds. The tens digit for each is monitored by a couple of AND gates that he added to the mix. When they detect a ‘6’ the digit is reset and a pulse increments the next digit as the carry. This is more difficult to accomplish with the hours though. Minutes and seconds count from 0 to 59 but hours don’t start at 0. Instead of over-complicating the logic [Windell] used a bit of slight-of-hand. The Nixie tubes for the hours have been rewired so that when the counter is at 0, the filament in the shape of a 1 lights up. No difference in logic, just a translation that makes them display one digit higher than the actual count. | 25 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "211517",
"author": "biozz",
"timestamp": "2010-11-12T19:07:40",
"content": "damn people are turning these things in to clocks when im spending at least an hour a day on ebay looking to buy a working one cheap >_>if you have an old counter, generator, scope or anything like that you ... | 1,760,377,336.38581 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/12/helicopter-pov-display-is-a-masterwork/ | Helicopter POV Display Is A Masterwork | Mike Szczys | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"atmega8",
"helicopter",
"persistence of vision",
"POV",
"shift register"
] | Yes! A radio control
helicopter with a fairly high-resolution persistence-of-vision display
is a beautiful thing. [Mziwisky’s] handiwork is the result of
several steps along the prototyping path
. He built up a POV test rig on a breadboard, designed his first PCB for the project, and then went to work building it. After initially being inspired by
a POV ceiling fan
[Mziwisky] looked around to see if anyone else had already added a display to a helicopter. Indeed,
this has been done before
but there were very few details on the build.
The helicopter has two blades and each have the same hardware on them and gobbled up about ten hours of assembly time each. He basically built a printed circuit board using the blades as a substrate by attaching adhesive copper foil. This makes up the matrix for the LEDs and connects to a small circuit board with an ATmega8 and some shift registers mounted on the inside end of the blade. There’s also a 180 mAh LiPo battery pack, and a hall effect sensor to synchronize the display on each. The results are spectacular, as you can see in the video after the break, but there’s a few bugs left to work out in order to fully tame the 32 LEDs on each rotor.
Kind of looks like
the future is happening right now
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKTC1lmXnpc&w=470] | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "211491",
"author": "Fallen",
"timestamp": "2010-11-12T18:04:41",
"content": "impressive :D",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "211497",
"author": "Craig",
"timestamp": "2010-11-12T18:29:11",
"content": "Very cool – can i... | 1,760,377,336.324984 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/12/building-a-wooden-vespa/ | Building A Wooden Vespa | Mike Szczys | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"carpenter",
"scooter",
"vespa",
"wood"
] | Scooter fans should start sharpening their chisels if they want to undertake
this project
. This Vespa is the work of a master carpenter and a lot of time. Through the build log photos you can see that it all started with a frame made by bending and laminating wood layers together. Veneer adds the stylish stripe and a lot of carving and turning brings the curves associated with the classic scooters. Even the hand grips, brake handles, and saddle are made out of wood. There’s springs for some shock absorption but we’d bet you don’t want to ride this for too long, or park it outside. Now it just needs
an electric motor retrofit
.
[Thanks Blair] | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "211479",
"author": "CMJ",
"timestamp": "2010-11-12T17:15:30",
"content": "I hope this man passes on his skills to another. This kind of of craftsmanship is quickly disappearing from our society.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "... | 1,760,377,336.557298 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/12/stupid-friggin-robots/ | Stupid Friggin’ Robots | Joseph Thibodeau | [
"contests",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"competition",
"hungary",
"robot",
"useless"
] | Some robots aspire to greatness, revolutionizing our humanoid behaviour in ways we struggle to understand. They have traveled in space, photographing the stars like celestial paparazzi or snatching Martians up like interplanetary bed intruders. Some robots are happy to perform their everyday functions with dignity and grace, scrubbing our floors and thanking us for recycling.
It may seem that every robot has a calling that–whether grandiose or humble–makes it a valuable part of our society. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Some robots use our hard-earned energy resources to no good use, lazing around without a useful function, drinking flux and tonic all night while watching reruns of
Lost in Space
. They are stupid robots.
Many humans look upon such pitiful automatons as nothing more than flotsam in the whitewater rapids of human achievement, but the more empathetic among us are ready to celebrate the unique uselessness of stupid robots in grand style. Enter
Bacarobo
(
translated
), the premier event showcasing the quirkiest and most amusingly useless robots of our time.
This year the contest was held at the end of October, and
the entrants were hilarious to say the least
. The dancing olé-bot drew much applause, while the shivering toque robots wooed the crowd in a desperate attempt to escape their frigid prison. It will be fun to see whether any stupidly adorable robot designs will come out of
our own Santa-bot competition
, considering the source material. If you’ve ever built a stupid or
useless
robot (accidentally or not) please share your story in the comments. Sometimes the most endearing things about our technology are the parts that
don’t work the way they’re supposed to
. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "211452",
"author": "Medodan",
"timestamp": "2010-11-12T16:33:51",
"content": "Stupid robots I can agree with, but useless is difficult to accept. I remember the little tin(yes tin) toy robots that I got for presents as a child. They did nothing productive, ate mercury laden batter... | 1,760,377,336.504581 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/11/under-desk-rgb-keyboard-lighting/ | Under-desk RGB Keyboard Lighting | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"c++",
"desk",
"keyboard",
"led",
"light",
"rgb"
] | [Jay Collett] was having trouble seeing his keyboard when the room was dim. But throwing a light under the desk just didn’t seem cool enough. Instead he built
an RGB light board that is controlled by his desktop
. The board is based around an ATmega328 with the Arduino booloader. He etched a single-sided PCB to connect it to a group of five RGB LEDs, with a programming header for an FTDI cable. The board communicates with a PC via serial connection, with a C# control application that [Jay] coded to control the color. We’ve embedded a couple of videos after the break but check his page for a package of code and hi-res pictures.
If you want something cool that’s a little bit less work to build check out the EL-wire keyboard
from this links post
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtvuBaSUJco&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2rnBi3CSaE&w=470] | 34 | 34 | [
{
"comment_id": "211049",
"author": "fartface",
"timestamp": "2010-11-11T22:20:23",
"content": "I just bought a backlit keyboard.far better solution that this.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "211050",
"author": "sowhat",
"timestamp": "20... | 1,760,377,336.641473 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/11/diy-vaporizer/ | DIY Vaporizer | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"brass",
"copper",
"mason jar",
"soldering iron",
"vaporizer"
] | Here’s
a DIY vaporizer build
. It uses a 30 watt Radio Shack soldering iron as a heat source that is regulated with a common dimmer switch. This is done by removing the soldering tip and replacing it with threaded rod attached to a brass pipe fitting assembly. This is housed inside of a Mason jar with a copper pipe for air intake and another for output. Not surprisingly the creator tipped us off anonymously, saying that this a “smoking accessory”. A bit of searching and we came across this Wikipedia article about
a Volcano Vaporizer
which sheds light on what one is used for.
We don’t condone using illicit substances. But even more so, we’re skeptical about breathing through this thing because of the warning that [Anon] included about noxious vapors put off by the epoxy putty when it heats up. Still, it’s an interesting build so we though we’d share. | 93 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "211014",
"author": "Copycat",
"timestamp": "2010-11-11T21:13:42",
"content": "+1 for the macgyver pot heads",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "211015",
"author": "me",
"timestamp": "2010-11-11T21:18:10",
"content": "*th... | 1,760,377,336.835783 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/11/gum-ball-maze-updated-now-with-robots/ | Gum Ball Maze Updated… Now With Robots! | Mike Szczys | [
"home entertainment hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"accelerometer",
"gum ball",
"lynxmotion",
"maze",
"rube goldberg"
] | In what is surely becoming an ever-growing Rube Goldberg machine, [Dan] updated his
gum ball dispenser to include a robot arm
. We looked in on this human lab-rat experiment that
rewards successful maze navigation with bubble-gum
just about a year ago. As you can seen in the video after the break he’s added several new features to delight users. The original had a maze actuated by an accelerometer and that remains the same. But when the device fires up, the wooden ball is moved to the start of the maze by a Lynxmotion robotic arm. That arm is mounted on rails so it can also move to deliver the gum ball after a successful run. There’s also an anti-jamming feature that shakes the gum ball dispenser to ensure you don’t come up empty.
Whether
playing chess
or being
controlled by a mouse
the Lynxmotion has been quite popular lately. [Dan’s] solution uses a vacuum pump to grab onto the spheres (both wooden and gum), similar to the method used with the
CNC pick and place
from a while back.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78ucwJMDe7o&w=470]
[Thanks Chris] | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "210977",
"author": "Eirinn",
"timestamp": "2010-11-11T20:34:07",
"content": "bubble yum!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "211004",
"author": "grenadier",
"timestamp": "2010-11-11T20:58:33",
"content": "Candy of the fu... | 1,760,377,336.737804 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/11/dungeon-crawler-game-for-im-me-and-linux/ | Dungeon Crawler Game For IM-ME (and Linux) | Mike Szczys | [
"Linux Hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"game",
"im-me",
"sprite",
"video game"
] | [Joby Taffey] takes the prize for the first
completed homebrew game for the IM-ME
. Over the last few weeks we’ve seen [Travis Goodspeed]
working with sprite graphics
, and [Emmanuel Roussel]
developing game music
for the pink pager. But [Joby] didn’t really use either of those.
[Travis’] sprites were using a framebuffer that fills up a lot of valuable RAM. [Joby] decided to draw the room screens (all of them have been stitched together for the image above) as a one-time background image to keep the memory free. From there, the screen is updated in 8×8 blocks based on cursor movement. He also decided not to add music as he feels the high-pitched piezo is not capable making sound without driving everyone crazy.
Source code is available and for those of you who don’t own this pretty handheld, the game can also be compiled in Linux. | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "210930",
"author": "Requiem",
"timestamp": "2010-11-11T19:06:12",
"content": "Heh, agree with the piezo music. That get annoying fast.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "210934",
"author": "japkin",
"timestamp": "2010-11-11... | 1,760,377,337.064236 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/11/moving-a-resistor-for-evalbot-power-when-programming/ | Moving A Resistor For EvalBot Power When Programming | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"arm",
"evalbot",
"power",
"stellaris",
"ti",
"usb"
] | [Riley Porter] posted a picture of
his EvalBot USB power hack
. In the photo above we’ve put a box around D6 and D7. The development board ships with a 0 Ohm resistor in the D7 location, patching in power from the USB-B connector labeled USB DEVICE. He found that by moving that resistor to D6 he can power the board from the USB-B connector labeled ICDI.
That connector is the In-Circuit Debug Interface. TI sent us an EvalBot bundle so we pulled it out and tried it ourselves. If you plug in the ICDI it doesn’t power the board, and no USB devices register. Shorting the D6 pads changes this and the following USB device registers:
Bus 002 Device 062: ID 0403:bcd9 Future Technology Devices International, Ltd Stellaris Evaluation Board
So it looks like you need to have two USB connections or be using batteries in order to program the board via USB. The uC/OS-III hardcover book that ships with the EvalBot bundle includes board schematics. We took a look and were surprised to see that they show diodes installed on both pads. Rev A of the online schematics have been corrected, showing an omitted diode on D6 and the 0 Ohm resistor on D7. Images of both schematics are included after the break.
It would have been nice to see a selector switch installed here to give you a little more flexibility when prototyping.
Schematic from uC/OS-III page 700:
Stellaris Robotic Evaluation Board Schematics Rev A (
available here
): | 24 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "210912",
"author": "Chris Muncy",
"timestamp": "2010-11-11T17:49:29",
"content": "We started discussing this athttp://ti-evalbot.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=25To me, this was a HUGE oversight on TI’s part but it’s easily fixed.",
"parent_id": null... | 1,760,377,337.476448 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/11/open-source-kinect-contest-has-been-won/ | Open Source Kinect Contest Has Been Won | Caleb Kraft | [
"Kinect hacks",
"News"
] | [
"adafruit",
"eff",
"knect",
"microsoft"
] | Adafruit Technologies
has announced
the winner of the Open Source Kinect contest. [Hector], who
we mentioned
yesterday has won, providing both RGB and depth access to the device. Some of you were asking at that time, why the contest was not over yet. Well, Adafruit had to verify. The image you see above are of another user[qdot], verifying the drivers on his machine.
What is interesting is how Adafruit has chosen to close this contest. Not only are they giving [Hector] his prize money, they are also donating an additional $2,000 to
the EFF
who fight for our right to legally hack and reverse engineer our own equipment.
[Hector] is being generous as well, using his prize money to help pay for gadgets to hack with some teams he is involved with, mainly the iPhone Dev Team and the Wii hacker team “Twiizers” | 25 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "210886",
"author": "landon",
"timestamp": "2010-11-11T16:24:04",
"content": "damn straight.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "210893",
"author": "JA",
"timestamp": "2010-11-11T16:42:36",
"content": "That didn’t take lo... | 1,760,377,337.309246 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/11/japanese-micro-planes/ | Japanese Micro Planes | Chris Nelson | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"aircraft",
"flight",
"servo"
] | Some very well engineered
micro planes
(
translated
) have been buzzing around the net. The goal here is ultra light weight. These suped-up paper planes have a remarkable target weight of around
10 grams
(
translated
). The lighter the micro plane is the slower and more maneuverable it will be leading to some pretty
interesting
and
scary
applications. For controls it looks like many of the planes are using infrared receivers/transmitters (much like you would find in a TV remote hint hint). Getting the lightest plane possible has forced the designers to come up with some pretty ingenious tricks. For example, instead of using packaged servos they use a coil of wire wrapped around a rare earth magnet to control the flaps. You can see these home made “servos” in action after the break.
Some have taken a more classic approach and used
rubber band power
instead of a li-po/motor combo.
[via
Make
]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9avqC4GYiA&w=470 ] | 27 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "210876",
"author": "Nathan Zadoks",
"timestamp": "2010-11-11T15:30:57",
"content": "Those aren’t servos, they are galvos (galvanometers)Servos are a DC motor with feedback.Galvos are what analog multimeters use, except without a needle attached. They’re very accurate, lightning-fast... | 1,760,377,337.009355 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/10/fixing-the-future/ | Fixing The Future | Joseph Thibodeau | [
"Lifehacks",
"Rants",
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"manifesto",
"repair",
"sustainable",
"waste"
] | [
iFixit
] (who we’ve posted about
many times before
) has launched
a passionate manifesto
promoting the skills and knowledge of repair as a solution to technological consumerism and waste. They use powerful footage of electronic waste dumps in Ghana to make the point that we must collectively change the way we use and relate to our high technology–take a look after the break.
The manifesto rallies against the practice of withholding repair knowledge such as manuals, error codes and schematics–putting responsibility in the hands of manufacturers–but also makes it clear that it is up to every one of us to inform ourselves and to value functionality over novelty.
Considering the many-faceted resource crisis that we are headed towards, any efforts to push our behavior towards a sustainable and considerate way of life should be considered. As hackers we repair, reuse and rethink technology as part of our craft–but we are also privileged by our enthusiasm for technical challenges. The real battle is to disseminate the kind of knowledge and skills we possess into the general population. This is where the heart of [
ifixit
]’s message comes into play: the creation of an open, editable online repair manual for every electronic device. If you have something to teach, why not pop over and help expand their database?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMwLUnd_ydI] | 59 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "210651",
"author": "xeracy",
"timestamp": "2010-11-11T02:05:50",
"content": "Printing the poster full size for my wall.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "210652",
"author": "truthspew",
"timestamp": "2010-11-11T02:08:16",
... | 1,760,377,337.152546 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/10/carbon-fiber-part-fabrication-guide/ | Carbon Fiber Part Fabrication Guide | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"carbon fiber",
"mold",
"parts",
"vacuum"
] | If you’re thinking of
working with carbon fiber
this guide should be a big help. The example is aimed at the automotive crowd but the principles transfer quite easily. Carbon fiber parts are constructed in a similar manner as fiberglass parts. A mold is covered in a release agent, the fibers are put in place and covered in epoxy. With fiberglass the fibers are often sprayed on but carbon fiber components use woven mats of the material to build up multiple layers. Vacuum bags are used to hold the layers together, removing air and impregnating the fibers with the epoxy. This guide even outlines the construction of a vacuum pump needed for that step.
The benefits of carbon fiber are many, including strength and weight reduction. This makes it a great material for adding parts to weight-sensitive hacks such as
quadcopters
. But the mesh also has an interesting look which is why it shows up in
custom electronics cases
. The one real drawback is that when this material fails it is a catastrophic failure, tending to crumble across the entire structure rather than limiting damage to a small area. That means that a rough landing might be the end of your new parts.
[Thanks MS3FGX] | 38 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "210552",
"author": "fluidic",
"timestamp": "2010-11-10T22:15:04",
"content": "Catastrophic failure is an issue?Would layering a secondary material help enough to offset the weight / bulk it would add? If it works for automobile windshields…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,377,337.605157 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/10/diving-deep-into-the-game-boy-lcd-protocol/ | Diving Deep Into The Game Boy LCD Protocol | Mike Szczys | [
"Nintendo Game Boy Hacks"
] | [
"lcd",
"logic analyzer",
"nintendo",
"saleae"
] | [Craig] wanted to make the original Game Boy LCD screen do his bidding so
he sniffed out the data protocol that it uses
. We were amused when he mentions that there’s an army of people out there looking to build pointless crap as part of a hobby. Guilty. And he goes on to outline why this LCD screen is a great resource for hobbiests.
As you can see in the pinout above, it uses 5V logic, with a 4 MHz data clock. These traits are both very friendly to a wide range if inexpensive microcontrollers. If you know how to address the display it should be very easy to use. Furthermore, the low pin count is thanks the to a 4-shade grayscale screen, limiting the data pins to just two. [Craig] hooked up his Saleae Logic probe to capture communications and walks us through what he discovered. During this process he proved to himself that he had figured out the protocol by exporting captured data from the logic probe and reassembling it into an image on his computer. | 22 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "210527",
"author": "coreyl",
"timestamp": "2010-11-10T21:13:37",
"content": "@mike> this LCD screen is a great resource for hobbiestsI presume you mean “hobbyists”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "210529",
"author": "hiroshi"... | 1,760,377,337.369095 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/10/single-motor-walker-for-santa-pede-challenge-inspiration/ | Single-motor Walker For Santa-Pede Challenge Inspiration | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"contest",
"hexapod",
"lego",
"santa"
] | This LEGO hexapod uses just one motor for motion. In the video after the break you can see that what [Valetnin Bauer] accomplished is almost magical, using just 210 parts. A central drive shaft uses worm gears to transfer motion to each of the legs. The limb mounting technique results in a sort of rowing motion that closely mimics what you’d expect to see from a biological hexapod.
We thought this might provide some inspiration for the
Buy Break Build: Santa-pede challenge
. Sure, using LEGO is a lot easier than reusing Santa parts. But a lot can be accomplished with a little creativity. Another point of inspiration might be
this one-motor walker
that should be a snap to adapt to the challenge. Better get going, just twenty days let until the project deadline!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeAY8XTzhWo]
[via
Tinkernology
] | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "210512",
"author": "fluidic",
"timestamp": "2010-11-10T20:35:52",
"content": "Yes, using gears to distribute and redirect motion from a single mechanical source is magical.Or at least, it was when the ancient Greeks were playing with them.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,377,337.414639 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/10/wireless-doorbell-rings-a-real-bell/ | Wireless Doorbell Rings A Real Bell | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"chime",
"door bell",
"hand bell",
"lego",
"wireless"
] | Tired of hearing that flat sounding wireless doorbell when visitors happen to come by? Don’t get rid of it,
improve it by adding a real bell
. This hack rigs up a small hand bell to the wireless doorbell receiver. It was prototyped using LEGO pieces to shake the sound out of the bell, but the finished version uses a servo motor on a wooden frame. An Arduino monitors the wireless receiver, driving the servo when a transmission from the front door button is received.
Traditionally door bells have actually been
chimes that are struck with solenoids
. We appreciate this rendition because it adds an element of kinetic art to the home, laying bare the functional hardware instead of hiding it in a box. Don’t miss the demonstration after the break.
This is the finished version:
[flickr video=http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilspikey/4957539834/]
Here’s the LEGO version. We actually like this one bettter.
[flickr video=http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilspikey/4816173880/]
[via
Boing Boing
] | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "210500",
"author": "fartface",
"timestamp": "2010-11-10T19:48:32",
"content": "All that work, and then half ass it with black tape battery holders….Nice.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "210513",
"author": "nah!",
"timest... | 1,760,377,337.527831 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/10/robotic-mobility-for-the-little-ones/ | Robotic Mobility For The Little Ones | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"babie",
"disabled",
"infant",
"Joystick",
"mobility",
"WheelChair"
] | Researchers at the University of Delaware are
helping disabled kids by designing robot transportation
for them. Exploring one’s environment is an important part of early development. Disabilities that limit mobility can prevent young children from experiencing this. Typically children are not offered a powered wheelchair until they are five or six years old, but adding intelligent technologies, like those found in the UD1, makes this possible at a much younger age. Proximity sensors all around the drive unit of the robot add obstacle avoidance and ensure safety when used around other children. When confronted with an obstacle the UD1 will stop, or navigate around it. The unit is controlled by a joystick in front of the rider but it can also be overridden remotely by a teacher, parent, or caregiver.
[via
Robot Gossip
] | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "210467",
"author": "Ronald",
"timestamp": "2010-11-10T18:16:38",
"content": "That joystick is going to poke an eye out of a sleepy toddler….",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "210468",
"author": "harmfulguy",
"timestamp": "... | 1,760,377,337.670472 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/10/monotron-openly-monophonic/ | Monotron Openly Monophonic | Joseph Thibodeau | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"analog",
"korg",
"monophonic",
"schematic",
"synth"
] | Famous synth manufacturer Korg has
released the schematics
(
get them here if you don’t like to fill out forms
) for their wee little Monotron for all to see and use! This is great news for anyone looking to build up a synth from scratch or to circuit bend their existing monotron. The filter circuits alone would be fun to add to an existing electronics setup.
Granted there are
already
many
examples
of monotron mods out there, but that shouldn’t stop you from experimenting with your own variations. Now with the schematics you can make fundamental changes to the architecture of the synth all from the comfort of your own CAD software. Want more oscillators? Distortion? It’s all out there for you to explore. We’re very interested to see how far people will run with this. And big ups to Korg for recognizing the value of hacking!
[via
Retrothing
]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFWpUt9Jt4A] | 17 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "210458",
"author": "nes",
"timestamp": "2010-11-10T17:38:13",
"content": "Nice! Nothing too unfathomable in there. The one thing that shouts ‘unobtanium’ is the way they drew the Q1 in the VCO, but from what I can tell it’s just two discrete transistors in one package.Would be nice ... | 1,760,377,337.723718 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/10/kinect-open-source-driver-demo-and-hacking/ | Kinect Open Source Driver Demo And Hacking | Caleb Kraft | [
"Xbox Hacks"
] | [
"Kinect",
"microsoft"
] | The competition for the first Open Source driver for the Kinect is heating up. [Marcan42] has
released a driver
that does video and depth. He was able to do this without an Xbox and you can see it in action after the break. [LadyAda] has been hard at work as well,
recording and dumping the data
, and even writing a
“hello world” that utilizes the motors in the Kinect
.
We don’t know for sure how [Marcan42] recorded his data, but we can see [Ladyada] is using a high speed Beagle USB 480 to record the data going both ways between the Xbox360 and the Kinect. That’s the kind of toy we would like to have sitting around. For those who don’t know what all the fuss is about,
there’s a contest
to see who can get an open source driver out there first. The prize has grown every time Microsoft says something bad about it.
[thanks Rapps]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKhW-cvpkks] | 33 | 33 | [
{
"comment_id": "210431",
"author": "doragasu",
"timestamp": "2010-11-10T16:05:16",
"content": "MARCAN GRANDE!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "210432",
"author": "Pix3l the B1t",
"timestamp": "2010-11-10T16:08:33",
"content": "“…[Lad... | 1,760,377,338.026488 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/11/10/permanent-root-exploit-found-for-g2/ | Permanent Root Exploit Found For G2 | Chris Nelson | [
"Android Hacks",
"Cellphone Hacks"
] | [
"android",
"g2",
"jailbreak",
"root",
"unlock"
] | The g2 has finally been
rooted
. Even though a temporary root exploit was found shortly after the phones release, a NAND lock prevented modifying the non-volatile RAM for a permanent root. Some controversy surrounded the g2 when it was
erroneously
thought to have a rootkit protecting the OS. Supposedly the rootkit would watch for changes to the file system and then reset the phone to default settings when any unauthorized changes were made. On the other hand a
NAND lock
functions by fooling the operating system into thinking there isn’t any memory available, essentially “locking” the memory in key areas. Once it was discovered to have the NAND lock it was only a matter of time before the g2 was permanently rooted. NAND locks have become a popular (and unsuccessful) deterrent employed by device makers to stop the jailbreaking comunity. While this exploit is nothing groundbreaking it is another notch in the belt for the jailbreaking community and a welcome benefit to g2 users. | 9 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "210420",
"author": "svofski",
"timestamp": "2010-11-10T15:32:19",
"content": "reset the phone to default settings when anyauthorizedchangeswheremadeUh, I thought this was Mike’s article :D",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "21042... | 1,760,377,337.856431 |
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