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48 items tagged "misc"

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September 01, 2010
15:56
Alarm clock learns new trick, opening doors
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

Waking up at 5:30 in the morning. [Mark Stead] didn’t like the idea either when his chickens started crying to be let out. One simple solution obviously is to eat the chickens build an automatic door opener. The mechanism starts out with an old style mechanical alarm clock, add a geared motor with some creative [...]
August 29, 2010
9:00
Art piece from board artwork
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

[Theo Kamecke] is an artist who produces striking pieces using printed circuit boards. We’ve seen PCBs used as faux stained-glass before, but [Theo's] craftsmanship stands apart from everything we’ve seen. His webpage has at least one piece that sites the usage of vintage 1960′s circuit boards, but we wonder if he doesn’t design some of [...]
August 28, 2010
15:00
Beginner Concepts: Analog circuits
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

We look at a lot of projects that have microcontrollers in them. That’s because microcontrollers do cool stuff, but there are still plenty of tricks you can pull off with analog circuits. [Osgeld's] latest project explores this realm, controlling the discharge of capacitors through an LED. His setup uses just nine components and, if you’ve [...]
August 14, 2010
8:00
RS232 and RS485 networking – no code required
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

Here’s a serial to Ethernet module that you won’t have to write firmware to build. It uses a Lantronix XPORT module which takes care of all the work for you, including an embedded webserver. Both RS232 and RS485 data buses are connected to the XPORT serial input via a level converter to step the signal [...]
August 12, 2010
8:00
Airsoft minigun packs quite a punch
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

[Kuba_T1000] built a multi-barrell Airsoft minigun with an unbelievable firing rate and an almost inexhaustible ammo pack. The gun is made entirely from aluminum which meant some time on the CNC machine. The six barrels don’t rotate but they are all used, resulting in the carnage shown in the video after the break. That large [...]
July 23, 2010
13:39
Spirograph generator
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

The Agnewgraph I can turn out a pretty nice Spirograph drawing. Instead of relying on meticulously acurate CNC hardware, it uses a Spirograph stencil similiar to that business card we’re so fond of. The key to the [Mpark's] design is an analog joystick which is attached to the pen. As the pen follows the plastic [...]
July 15, 2010
11:07
That light switch is disgusting!
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

[Katrin Baumgarten] has fourteen switches that are made to gross you out. From a button that retreats into its hole as your finger approaches, to a mysterious goo-oozing faceplate, to a hairy housing that gets aroused as your try to flip it on, the intrigue is enough to get you to try out the next [...]
July 12, 2010
7:14
Make your own toner transfer paper
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

Who would have thought that some corn starch could be made into toner transfer paper? We’re not sure of the advantages (perhaps its cheaper?), but if you have a lot of time or just love to get sticky [Matthew Sager] shows the proper method for making the paper, printing, and then etching a PCB. If [...]
July 10, 2010
12:00
CubeStormer; quick solutions from LEGO parts
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

CubeStormer solves Rubik’s cubes and it does it quickly! Made entirely out of LEGO, a Mindstorm web camera is used to scan in the cube with four mechanical hands for manipulation. The device is capable of solving a random cube in less than 11 seconds. That’s quite a bit faster than the last Minstorm solver [...]
July 02, 2010
9:00
Three pendulum harmonograph
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

Just the other day we were thinking “You know what we need more of around here? Harmonographs!” And our requests were answered when [Paul] sent in his three pendulum harmonograph. For those unaware, it’s a mechanical device that draws Lissajous curves or “really cool circles” to quote some of our staff. [Paul] includes all the [...]
June 29, 2010
14:00
Power cycling a problematic modem
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

[Gigawatts] struggled against a shoddy Internet connection for quite some time. Changing modems, having the line serviced, and spending far too much time on the phone didn’t do any good. In fact, the only thing that fixed the problem was power cycling the modem once it stopped responding. His solution was to automate the power [...]
8:08
Programmable Origami
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

Researchers at MIT have come up with this slick demo of, what they call, programmable matter. This flat sheet covered in tiny foil actuators can be programmed to fold into specific shapes. Shown in the video above is a boat and an airplane. Using the concepts set down by origami through the years, they can [...]
June 28, 2010
14:29
Cameras perch on power lines, steal electricity
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

[Tim] let us know about a video outlining some covert camera devices the Air Force is developing. The video takes a lot of time to explain induction to those who’ve never heard of it but we liked to see the bird-like concept animations. They’ve already developed cameras that will clamp on to power lines in [...]
9:00
Sonoluminescence
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

Sonoluminescence is one of those strange phenomenon that many would never encounter outside an academic environment. For those who have never heard of it, Sonoluminescence is when tiny bubbles suspended in a liquid emit light while being vibrated at certain frequencies. We were pleased to see that some plans are out there on how to [...]
June 19, 2010
11:00
Coachella lamp
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

This little art piece might be just the thing to add that mad scientist look to your room. It’s called the Coachella lamp and it makes use of several throwback display devices. At the top an Argon discharge lamp puts out ultraviolet light. Protruding from each of the four sides you can see a set [...]
June 17, 2010
12:00
Student Soaker, wireless water gun
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

As far as pranks go, [Austin Shaf's] wireless hidden water gun is a real treat. The video above goes over a brief explanation and shows the setup in action. The prankster holds onto a wireless AVR remote, and when the unsuspecting victim walks by, he activates a second AVR controlling a pump; spraying water everywhere. [...]
8:14
No nonsense mbed development demo
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

This tweeting RFID reader is a great working example for the mbed. When an RFID tag is read it is matched with the name of the owner and a Twitter message is sent out. This is very similar to the RFID cat tracker that used an Arduino. The code is short and simple due to [...]
June 15, 2010
15:00
(Real) Stargate built in backyard
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

PVC, wood, and some creativity bring this Stargate duplicate to life. [Mango] and his father started with AutoCad drawings taped together, and ended with the Stargate you see before you. Sure it’s not 22 foot in diameter and not made of Naquadah, but its inner ring rotates and dials like the real thing and it [...]
12:03
Preparing your PCB design for manufacture
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

[Colin] has cut his teeth with about fifteen PCB orders. He wrote a tutorial describing the process and sharing his tips on avoiding common problems. You may remember our own How-To prepare designs for manufacture early last year. In that post, [Ian] shared his veteran knowledge by outlining BatchPCB’s board design process. This time, [Colin] is [...]
June 08, 2010
17:00
DUO 128 Elite, 4 bit CPU
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

We’re not sure how we missed [Jack Eisenmann's] 4 bit TTL CPU when we were tipped off the first time, but we’re glad it was sent in again for us to feature it. 41 different ICs (mostly TTL) come together to comprise the DUO 128 Elite. While the architecture is a little different than what [...]
June 04, 2010
12:08
1000W induction heater
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

[Tim Williams] likes to heat things up with this induction heater he build. At peak it can use 1000W and as you can see in the video, that’s more than enough power to heat, burn, and melt a plethora of different objects. The case design uses a center divider to isolate switching noise from the [...]
May 31, 2010
13:00
Beginner Concepts: Cascading shift registers
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

There’s a million tutorials out there describing how to use shift registers. If you’re just getting into embedded systems you should know how to use them as they allow you to take three microcontroller pins and expand them virtually without limits. This is due to the serial-in parallel-out nature of these integrated circuits. A key [...]
May 28, 2010
9:00
Russian Roulette… for EEPROM
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

There’s a loaded gun but its got only one bullet. Spin the cylinder, point at head, and pull the trigger. The game’s not over until the bullet is used and a player is done. This game’s got a twist though, the cylinder has at least one million chambers. The Flash_Destroyer is testing the limits of [...]
May 26, 2010
15:00
Unlocking the crippled potential of an unmanaged switch
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

[Sprite_TM] outgrew the features of the cheap unmanaged TL-SG1005D switch he was using on his home network. Instead of buying a new and much more costly switch he cracked the cheap one open and found that the RTL8366SB chip inside possessed the ability to work harder but was crippled for sale as a low-end model. [...]
May 25, 2010
11:09
Mass storage business card
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

Just snap off the corners and this business card can be used as a mass storage device. Well sort of. The tab left over has four traces on the back to make it USB compatible. The PIC 24FJ64GB002 microcontroller on the card registers as a storage device and launches [Ramiro's] resume and a cover letter [...]
May 24, 2010
14:00
Maple R3 now shipping
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

Leaf Labs is now shipping the Maple R3 boards. [Phil Burgess] gave the platform a look just before launch last fall and the high-powered prototyping board is now even better. New features come in both hardware and software varieties. The bootloader can now be upgraded without additional programming hardware, there’s hardware SPI and I2C interfaces, [...]
May 22, 2010
15:00
Open Source STM
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

We hope you paid attention in advanced theoretical and quantum physics classes, or making your own Open Source Scanning-Tunneling Microscope might be a bit of a doozy. We’re not even going to try to begin to explain the device (honestly we slept through that course) beyond clarifying it is used for examining the molecular and [...]
May 17, 2010
12:44
Building an oak telescope
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

You might not think about the finish of your homemade telescope but if it’s build from solid oak you probably should. [Gregory Strike] built this 8″ telescope a few years back but just posted about it a few days ago. The optics are quite expensive but the rest of the build was done dirt cheap [...]
8:29
Final Projects: WiFi coil gun turret
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

[Chris Farnell] and [Michael Helms] are the brains behind this scary looking piece of machinery. It is a Coil gun, mounted on a turret, that is controlled over WiFi. If that wasn’t scary enough, they have rigged it to their iphone/ipad for remote shooting. Though it looks bulky, you can see that it is surprisingly [...]
May 15, 2010
14:00
Hack a Day’s Dictionary of Questionable Utility™
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

We frequently receive inquiries from eager readers asking how they can best get started in electronics and computer projects. Countless great books have been written on these subjects, and of course now there’s our answers.hackaday.com site. But there’s a difference between being “book smart” and being “street smart.” What are the terms that you really need to know [...]
May 11, 2010
8:18
Open3DP looks at 3D printing in common materials
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

[Buddy Smith] sent us a link to Open3DP which he calls “REAL 3d printing hacks”. Open3DP showcases the projects of the Solheim Rapid Prototyping Laboratory at the University of Washington. They’re working on 3D printing in materials that can be commonly acquired and to that end they publish recipes for powder printing in materials such [...]
May 10, 2010
14:18
Hack Your Crystal’s Frequency
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

[Drone] tipped us off about [Joachim]‘s efforts to alter a crystal’s frequency. Through a process called penning, a crystal’s resonant frequency is lowered by painting the crystal with an indelible ink marker. Our curiosity piqued, we went off and found more information about penning crystals. It turns out this technique has been around for nearly [...]
May 08, 2010
7:29
Cornell final project list
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

Looking for an interesting project to do using an Atmel Mega644? Students at Cornell University have got you covered. They were required to choose, design, and build a project using the microcontroller; and this year is quite promising with video object tracking, the always popular theremins, helicopters, Potentiostats, even Pavlovian conditioned mosquitoes, and more. Of [...]
May 07, 2010
13:02
Toner transfer explained step-by-step
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

[Tanjent] send us a link to his tutorial on the toner transfer process for fabricating circuit boards. We’ve seen a lot of these in the past, but we liked how his is straight to the point while also sharing several tips and options along the way. Notably, he ”tints” the copper clad before trying to [...]
May 05, 2010
13:12
Mad machinist masterpieces
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

If a picture is worth 1000 words, by our count, [Ryan Commbes] has said 1.68×10^6 different things about his custom robot, airsoft, and monster truck builds. While we’re not ones to pick favorites, we agreed his Alpine TPG-1 (picture at the top) build is a step above the rest. Sadly, the forums with his build [...]
April 30, 2010
9:00
Perfect spiral, every time
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

[Carmine] let us know about his team’s Automated Football Launcher. Their goal was to combine a football launcher with motion tracking, to allow a player to practice running and catching with the perfect throw. Unfortunately, and we’re not quite sure when, they ended up changing out the Jugs machine for an air cannon, which resulted [...]
April 28, 2010
10:00
Multiple buttons and a pot on one pin
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

[Kevin Fodor] shares his method of reading multiple inputs on one pin of a microcontroller. The analog to digital convert function of the microcontroller is used to read a potentiometer but with some careful calculations a resistor network can be built into the circuit that provides a unique voltage value for each button pushed. The [...]
April 21, 2010
7:00
Egg incubation chamber
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

[Mazomen] left the expensive ready-to-order options for others and built his own egg incubation chamber. It keeps the eggs warm and happy in a Styrofoam lined box. Temperature regulation is handled by an ATtiny26 microcontroller in conjunction with a DS18B20 temperature sensor. When the temp drops, two 60-watt light bulbs in the chamber above the [...]
April 17, 2010
15:50
Beginner concepts: Using an accelerometer
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

Accelerometers make for nice user interaction, that’s why every Apple product seems to have one included and the Nintendo Wii is still alive despite its underpowered graphics capabilities. Adding one to your project is pretty simple, just a matter of reading in analog data and interpreting it according to the datasheet. If you’re just starting [...]
April 08, 2010
13:00
PIC USB host shortcuts
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

[Simon Inns] is still hard at work making USB connectivity for PIC microcontrollers easier for the hobbiest. He’s released a framework for PIC based USB devices under Windows. It includes the firmware needed for USB compatible 18F PIC chips as well as a C# class library and example programs for the Windows side of things. [...]
April 07, 2010
9:44
Fully-automated golf ball gun
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

If you get in the line of fire this golf ball launcher is gonna leave a mark, or worse. It’s based on the same premise as the sausage gun, but now everything is automated and no meat products are used. A hopper stores a row of golf balls. When it comes time to load, a ball [...]
March 31, 2010
14:21
Home fabricated boards in any color
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

Tired of every printed circuit board you etch coming out brown? Take a page out of [Dane's] book and dye your PCB to just about any color you want. One hour submerged in a 200 degree bath of Rit dye turned his brown FR4 substrate to the desired dark green. We give him points for [...]
March 23, 2010
15:30
Floppy disk augmented reality is a head-scratcher
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

[Iain Gildea] tipped us off about a drill-powered coffee grinder he made but it was the floppy-disc augmented reality display a few paragraphs down that caught our attention. He’s taken 36 white floppy discs, sprayed one side black, then mounted them each with a center pivot into a 6×6 grid. Through a convoluted system of [...]
7:10
1-Wire LAN with an LCD
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

[Viktor], one of our favorite avid hackers, has been playing around with 1-wire systems all this month. What started out as a MicroLAN Fonera has turned into an iButton interface, to a 1-wire powered hub, and finally a 1-wire character driven LCD. Anyone looking at 1-wire systems or OWFS could surely benefit from his testing. However, [...]
March 19, 2010
15:00
Flip-book style digitization
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

This method of book digitization allows you to scan an entire book by fanning through the pages. It uses a high-speed camera that captures 500 frames per second to get a good look at each page. Processing software isolates each pages, analyzes any curve in the paper due to the flipping, and smooths out the [...]
March 18, 2010
11:00
Ditch the LPs and build your own 3D scanner
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

Find yourself an old record player, a laser level, and a digital scanner and you can build a 3D scanner. That’s what [Rob] did. The camera and laser level are mounted on the turntable for steady rotation. The camera captures the vertical laser line traveling around the room by recording 30 fps at a resolution [...]
March 15, 2010
8:16
JeeNode development platform
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

It is basically a nice compact layout for an Atmel Atmega 328 with a wireless module. Fully compatible with the Arduino IDE. The JeeNode is available in kit form, but also all schematics and CAD files are available to download. It looks like they are mainly using it for home monitoring and control. So far we’ve seen [...]
March 14, 2010
10:00
Storage for your hacking needs
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

Sometimes your project needs a lot of non-volatile ROM, right on cue [Matthew] let us know how to not only connect, interface, read, and write to SD cards with a PIC over serial, but also how to do the above mentioned with an old PATA HDD. For those without a PIC/serial connection don’t fret, [nada] [...]