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13718 items (89 unread) in 18 feeds

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74 items tagged "misc"

Related tags: hacks [+]

• March 03, 2010
• 14:00

  Monocle fixes webcam farsightedness

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [Vik Oliver] came up with a webcam focus fix that is so quick and simple we never would have thought of it. He received the webcam as a gift and mounted on an articulated lamp so that it could easily be positioned around his projects. The problem is the camera lacks a focus adjustment so [...]
• March 02, 2010
• 14:19

  FanWing is like a harvester in the sky

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  The FanWing aircraft concept has been around for a while but this is the first time we’ve seen working models. It gets rid of the propeller and adopts a rotating cylinder for propulsion. The look reminds us of a combine harvester and in a way it does reap the air, pulling the craft through the [...]
• February 27, 2010
• 9:26

  WRT54GL, meet Alice

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  When it comes to routers, there is one that is hacker’s favorite, the WRT54GL. But a slightly lesser known company, Pirelli with their “Alice Gate2 plus Wi-Fi”, seems to be a popular choice among our Italian friends. [Esteban] has done everything from installing serial and parallel ports, to unlocking firmware while installing Debian. Our personal favorite [...]
• February 22, 2010
• 11:25

  Is that some type of new Kindle?

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [Mr C Camacho] picked up an inexpensive digital picture frame hoping to hack into it. He hasn’t had the time to crack open the hardware so that it will do his bidding but he did find a creative way to make it an ebook reader. Using a python script he processes books, creating images of [...]
• February 20, 2010
• 16:21

  RFID tracking system

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [Nicholas] built an active tracking system using RFID tags. The system’s tags operate in the 2.4 GHz band and are used to track either people or assets. The readers are on a mesh network and can triangulate the location of any tag for display on a map. His system is even set up to show [...]
• February 19, 2010
• 13:00

  Basement fusion reactor

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  Do you ever wonder what projects your neighbors have going on in their basements? [Will Jack's] neighbors might be surprised to find he’s building a fusion reactor. The first step toward completing a Farsworth-Hirsch Fusor is up and running. The picture above shows heated plasma contained in a magnetic field. Next he just needs to [...]
• February 13, 2010
• 8:16

  Workshop tour makes us drool; ache with envy

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [Mtneer_man] has a workshop to die for. The slide show that he set up covers the different workbenches and shop setups that he’s had over the years. He’s got a core set of beliefs when it comes to his work area. He prefers to have several different work areas for varying degrees of dirty, greasy, [...]
• February 07, 2010
• 17:18

  FAT support for any microcontroller

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [Rahul Sapre] sent us a guide to porting EFSL to any microcontroller (PDF). The Embedded Filesystems Library adds FAT support to C compiled microcontrollers. It is targeted at the AVR line of chips but can be adapted to any architecture that works with a C compiler. [Rahul's] guide will take you through the process of [...]
• 6:41

  Altoids upstaged by gift card tins

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  Nothing Earth-shattering here. Just, dare we say it, really cute! The venerable Altoids mint tin has become an icon of the maker culture. Browsing through past articles on Hack a Day, Adafruit or Instructables, you’ll find project after project for which these pocket-sized enclosures provided just the right fit. Eminently practical, affordable, but the aesthetics have occasionally left something [...]
• February 03, 2010
• 14:10

  The mechanical diode

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  A diode allows current to travel in only one direction. With that in mind, [Alex] built a mechanical diode that will only allow gear rotation in one direction to be transmitted through the system. But wait, by connecting two of these devices together he’s built something of a mechanical rectifier. An electrical rectifier converts alternating [...]
• 7:00

  PHP runtime rewritten, by Facebook?

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  Yes, its true. Facebook has completely rewritten the PHP runtime to make it faster and more efficient, and its completely open source. Named HipHop, its described as a source code transformer, changing PHP into optimized C++ which is then compiled using g++. Thus keeping the best aspects of PHP while taking advantage of the performance [...]
• February 02, 2010
• 9:27

  Beginner concepts: 555 push button toggle

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  PIC, AVR, and Arduino are ubiquitous in projects these days and a lot of the time it’s easy to over-complicate things with their use. In this case, [Tod] wanted to use a momentary tactile switch to turn something on and off. Instead of going with a microcontroller he built the circuit around a 555 timer. [...]
• January 19, 2010
• 17:41

  Servo hacked linear actuator

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [AntonB] has modified a servo into a powerful linear actuator (think: changing rotational motion into linear motion). The process is simple enough, modify a servo for continuous rotation and then add the custom built actuating shaft. You do of course lose the precision of the servo, but a small price to pay to be able [...]
• January 14, 2010
• 12:00

  Engineering with magnetic spheres

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  We would imagine these experiments were spawned by a devastatingly boring day at the office. [Sparr] found himself the proud owner of one thousand rare-earth magnets and decided to see what geometric shapes he could build with the spheres. These are gold-plated N35 Neodymium magnets that measure just 6mm across. He discovered that every structure [...]
• January 13, 2010
• 11:02

  Vacuum tube tesla coil

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [xellers] may have been in 8th grade when he built this vacuum tube tesla coil, but he did a fantastic job. Unlike most of the tesla coils we have shown, this one doesn’t use a high current transformer from a neon sign. Instead, he’s gone the direction of vacuum tubes. He spent a total of [...]
• 9:00

  Neon lamp and other crazy clocks

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Enclosure: [download]

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  Quick quiz, what came before transistors? Why vacuum tubes of course. If this clock doesn’t make you thankful for the luxury of integrated circuits, nothing will. We had never heard of using Neon Lamps as logic circuits, and they definitely produce a much cooler effect when counting. [Thanks Philippe] And finally, we’re just suckers for a good Nixie [...]
• January 03, 2010
• 14:00

  Laser-cut puzzle box

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  One of our fondest memories from the 1980’s is watching Magnum P.I. on television. Higgins, Magnum’s employer, had a puzzle box that Magnum could never figure out how to open. Now you can laser cut a puzzle box for yourself and recreate some scenes from television’s glory days. The design for the box pictured above is [...]
• 12:00

  Qube, not an Arduino clone

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  What allows the everyday user to tinker with microcontrollers, IO, interrupts, serial communication, and even analog readings? How about individual modules that add the ability to communicate over bluetooth or add LCD support? If you were thinking Arduino, you would be wrong. It’s actually [Nilok's] Qube, which at first seems like another Arduino clone however [...]
• 11:00

  RFID emulator

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [Alexander] built an RFID emulator. It uses a wire coil (not pictured here) and an ATmega8 to represent any tag that is EM4001 compliant. This iteration requires connection to a computer to send the tag ID information to the microcontroller. In the video after the break it looks like he’s using a DIY RFID reader [...]
• January 01, 2010
• 8:00

  Making a rail gun (again!)

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [Rp181] is at it again with version 2 of his rail gun project. The original did have some power with 18 400V 3900uf capacitors, but he’s ramped it up to now using 40! Reaching more than double the amount of joules of energy, 12kJ vs. the 5.6kJ! Some other changes include a new injector solenoid [...]
• December 30, 2009
• 13:30

  Simplest most useless machine

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [Brett] posted about his most useless machine build. His project gives us a chance to massacre the language in the title because it uses the lowest parts count we’ve see with these machines. The logic is controlled by our friend, the 555 timer. Add to that just one servo motor, two switches, three resistors, two [...]
• December 28, 2009
• 14:00

  Shadow buttons

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  This art installation uses buttons made of light. A projector fills up the walls and ceiling of a room while a webcam monitors the pattern for changes. When the luminosity of a given area changes due to a shadow, a midi event is triggered. The software that controls the system is written in C# and [...]
• December 21, 2009
• 15:00

  Hacking ZigBee chips: CC2430

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [Travis Goodspeed] took an in-depth look at the debugging protocols for some ZigBee chips and posted his findings. In particular he’s looking at the CC2430 System-on-chip. These chips have a debugging protocol that is not hard to implement if you know what you’re doing. Certainly his tips make it easier for the rest of us. [...]
• December 17, 2009
• 9:00

  Static Bleeder

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  When you are in the middle of the desert, pretty much every solution to a mechanical or electrical problem is a hack. [Sgt.M] who was deployed in Iraq sought out the help of radio guru [H.P. Friedrichs] about a static problem he was having. When dust storms would blow in strange things would happen in [...]
• December 15, 2009
• 7:28

  Make Magazine – Open Source Hardware 2009

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  Former HaD’er [Phillip Torrone] has written an extensive collection of Open Source Hardware projects for Make Magazine. This impressive list covers over 125 projects and kits, broken into 19 categories including 3d Printing, Music, Robotics, and Wireless systems. A number of these projects have been either extensively detailed or mentioned on HaD, so there is [...]
• December 10, 2009
• 16:32

  Remote control pellet gun – with scope

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  Project Thunderbird is an automated predator and pest control system. It consists of a pellet gun mounted in a motorized base. The icing on the cake is a 60x zoom camera that has cross-hairs superimposed on the picture. This reminds us of the Internet hunting for the handicap we heard about years ago. In the video [...]
• 7:27

  Bendërbrau now a reality

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  It appears to be 5 o’clock somewhere as everyone seems to have only one thing on their mind. [Simon] set out to make his own Bender Brewer from the television show Futurama. But he made sure to include some key functions from episodes in the series. First and most notable Bender’s stomach contains a beer [...]
• December 08, 2009
• 14:31

  Fully-automatic crossbow

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  We received an excited email from [Noah] regarding a gentleman who works with crossbows and crossbow pistols. Begrudgingly, we took a look and what we saw made our day. [TheDuckman666] must have an insatiable love for all things crossbow. His webpage has details and pictures covering seven different models that he built. His YouTube channel [...]
• December 05, 2009
• 7:55

  (Remote controlled robot) car vs (solar charged) tank

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [Matthias] sent in his team’s iPhone Robot (CAR) project in response to yesterday’s iPhone controlled solar charged tank. Unlike the tank, the iPhone car is controlled via Bluetooth BTnode and BTstack, and also isn’t solar-powered. However, both projects utilize iPhones and readily available components. We particularly liked how it not only used a multi-touch input, [...]
• December 04, 2009
• 11:56

  Eureqa discovers equations

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  While “Software to discover equations and mathematical relationships in data” isn’t at the top of our christmas wish list, we have to admit that Eureqa is pretty cool. Developed at Cornell University, Eureqa uses machine learning algorithms to determine the underlying math behind data sets. It derived Newton’s second law of motion in a few hours on a [...]
• December 03, 2009
• 15:59

  Make a Mac on the cheap

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  We’re not usually the type for PC case mods, but when we received the tip for the Macbook Mod of hiding a Macbook inside of two Linksys routers, we decided to make an exception on three accounts. [Tyler's] original intent was acquiring a Mac, the total price for a full functioning system was a little [...]
• November 30, 2009
• 7:00

  NXT Turing machine

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  This interesting use of Lego popped up on the mailing list of the University of Bergen. Build by a group of Norwegian Danish students, it’s a simple computer that implements Alan Turing’s design from 1937. Having both read and write functions, it implements its own (somewhat inefficient) medium of non-volatile memory. What we find interesting is that rather than move the [...]
• November 19, 2009
• 10:47

  AVR8 virtual processor on FPGA

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [Jack] wrote in to let us know about a project that creates a virtual microprocessor core based on the ATmega103 by using a Field-Programmable Gate Array. Great, we thought. Here’s another rather esoteric project like the NES on a FPGA, but what’s the motivation behind it? We asked [Jack] and he provided several scenarios where [...]
• 6:56

  (Mini) Earthquake in your living room

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  Today we stumbled upon [jimthree's] Seismic Reflector while looking at projects that employ the Processing language we mentioned a few days ago. Utilizing a Boarduino and some vibration motors from a game controller, the Seismic Reflector does just as its name implies – rattles itself around whenever there is an earthquake. While this does seem [...]
• November 18, 2009
• 9:03

  PIC powered AVR programmer

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [Texane] wrote in to let us know he has implemented AVR ISP programming using a PIC microcontroller. He wrote some code for an 18F4550 that uses the STK500 standard for In System Programming. This means that his hardware is compatible with AVRdude, the open source AVR programming software. There has long been an argument over [...]
• November 12, 2009
• 7:30

  Linear optical encoder

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  Optical encoders are nothing new; they can be found in everything from mice to printers. They’re great for allowing DC motors to know their exact position and even current direction. If this is sounding like old hat, it’s because we’ve shown you rotational versions before. [Chris] uses the same concept, but produced a linear optical encoder [...]
• November 10, 2009
• 10:00

  Homopolar motor

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  Slow day at the office?  Here’s a trick that’ll make your coworkers smile. Dangerously Fun has a guide to build a homopolar motor from a battery, copper wire, and magnet. A homopolor motor doesn’t rely on electromagnets in an armature changing their polarity to force a rotation movement compared to stationary magnets. Instead, they use [...]
• November 02, 2009
• 10:00

  Ping-pong launcher your wife can’t know about

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  Sometime the projects you see at the local hacker space are better left a secret when you return home for the evening. Case in point, this ping-pong ball launcher that can put holes in a sheet of OSB. The projectile is made more lethal because the ball has been injected with water to dramatically increase [...]
• November 01, 2009
• 7:09

  Happy birthday Internet, here’s $40,000

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  Darpa has another contest coming up. You may remember some past Darpa competitions, like the 2007 Urban Challenge. Where hackers, engineers, and scientists alike came together to build autonomous vehicles. The game this year is to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Internet. The rules are simple enough, find a bunch of red balloons and mark [...]
• October 30, 2009
• 11:00

  How to create TrueType from an image

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [Viacheslav] wanted his virtual terminal to have the look of a DEC VT220. He was unable to find a font set that looked just right so he set out to make his own TrueType font. He managed to find a sample image of the glyphs that the VT220 used as fonts. Using a collection of [...]
• October 29, 2009
• 7:58

  libTISCH 1.0 released

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [Florian] is proud to announce libTISCH 1.0 is finally ready for release. We told you about libTISCH just under a year ago and how it is a multitouch framework that factors more on the software side of things, instead of hardware for multitouch interfaces. A lot has changed including more widgets, more gestures, more hardware [...]
• October 27, 2009
• 13:00

  Piecax the Poltergeist reinvents the Knock Block

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [AndyGadget] built a haunted box as part of his Halloween preparations. This follows in the footsteps of the Knock Block we saw earlier this month but makes several hardware changes. He’s replaced the solenoid with a DC motor that rotates an arm to do the knocking. He’s avoided any CNC work by using a softwood [...]
• October 13, 2009
• 13:00

  Binary adder will give you slivers

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  A while back we looked at [Matthias'] one-pin dot matrix printer. Now we’re jumping over to his woodworking website to feast on his wooden binary adding machine. His creation uses glass marbles as the data for this device. A resolution of up to six bits can be set on the top of the adder, then [...]
• 11:00

  Daft Punk replica helmet

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  For all their varied and entertaining uses, circuits and code comprise only part of the complete hacking experience. To really put your project over the top, sooner or later you’ll want to possess some physical fabrication skills. Consider the works of [Ben Heckendorn]: He’s always done a fantastic job with the electronics, but it’s the fit and finish of [...]
• October 09, 2009
• 7:04

  Beauty in Destruction

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  This is not a hack. In fact it’s a promotional montage for a collection of scientific equipment that few of us could likely afford. But like yesterday’s giant marionettes over Berlin, sometimes even a costly and delicately-orchestrated achievement transcends its own not-a-hack-ness, fulfilling our brains’ lust for wonderment all the same. Kurzzeit of Germany produces ballistics measurement equipment. The [...]
• October 08, 2009
• 17:00

  Maggy, locked and loaded

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  Some readers may remember [Paul] from his project Jak, the blackjack robot; but his interests have moved toward coil gun creation. Maggy, his latest weapon, may not be the prettiest of coil gun we’ve seen, or the most environmentally friendly, but does look to be promising. Featuring a triple stage, logic based accelerator instead of [...]
• 16:00

  Giants roam Berlin

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  I can hear the comments now: “Not a hack.” Yeah that might be true, but it’s still enormous puppets running around Berlin – that in its own right is pretty cool. The show, put on by the street theater group Royal De Luxe, is part of the 20th anniversary for the fall of the Berlin [...]
• October 05, 2009
• 11:00

  Jump start your car with Sega parts

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [Jenn's] family is a single-car household. Because of this, it’s a little more difficult to get a jump start when the headlights run down the battery. Not wanting to ask the neighbors for help, her husband [Richard] decided to come up with his own solution. Rummaging through the parts on hand, [Richard] went with his old [...]
• 11:00

  Jump start your car with Sega parts

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [Jenn's] family is a single-car household. Because of this, it’s a little more difficult to get a jump start when the headlights run down the battery. Not wanting to ask the neighbors for help, her husband [Richard] decided to come up with his own solution. Rummaging through the parts on hand, [Richard] went with his old [...]
• October 01, 2009
• 10:00

  Microsoft unveils Open Source multi core OS

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  A new operating system, code named Barrelfish is being developed by Microsoft research labs and ETH Zurich in Switzerland. This operating system is being built with multi core operations foremost in priority. It is supposed to be extremely scalable and able to function on a very wide range of hardware. You can download the current snapshot [...]
• 7:32

  Homemade Bokode

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  We’ve recently been getting a lot of new comments on our Bokode post from a while back, and with good reason.  [M@] has managed to find a way to replicate Bokode at home, using $0 worth of equipment (before the price of microprint). To accomplish Bokode at home, it seems all you need is and [...]
• September 29, 2009
• 15:15

  Jet powered hijinks

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  This jet powered carousel is brought to you by the Madagascar Institute. They convene, or collide, to create large scale art, sculptures, and rides. This one seems to fit the last definition. The two gentlemen are strapped to a jet powered carousel. It actually looks pretty fun, but we would have been needing some fresh [...]
• September 22, 2009
• 10:00

  Cheap Yaris cabin filter

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [Jake] never ceases to amaze with his inventions, from his Powered respirator to his Steampunk LCD and more. Today he proves that not every hack has to be an amazing one requiring hundreds of hours, tons of soldering, and an Arduino. Instead, he was tired of being charged $50 for a $5 cabin air filter. [...]
• September 20, 2009
• 10:00

  Pool-playing robot + ARpool

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  Enjoy losing at pool? Well the folks at Queen’s University just made it a whole lot easier. The Deep Green robot was created with the purpose of playing a flawless game, allowing it to beat even the most skilled human players. More than a couple of research papers have been written on the project. A [...]
• September 19, 2009
• 14:00

  Double the RAM on D-Link router

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [Pelaca] upgraded the RAM on his D-Link DIR-320 router from 32MB to 64MB. This hack is simple enough: swap out the existing RAM chip for another one and change the bios to make use of the upgrade. The actual execution is not that simple because of the pitch of the TSOP II package; you’ll need [...]
• 11:00

  High altitude balloons

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  We received quite a bit of tips, after posting about the 150$ high altitude balloon project, from communities and teams who had done similar tasks. There is more to these projects than simply filling a balloon and attaching a camera, so in order to allow everyone their 7 seconds of well deserved fame, we’ve compiled [...]
• September 15, 2009
• 14:00

  1:35,200 Scale Train is World’s Smallest

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  This train layout is so small it nearly defies photography as much as it defies expectations. Built by model railroad enthusiast [David Smith], this is a model of a model: an N scale (1:160) layout inside a Z scale (1:220) world! For size reference, the entire layout is shown under a ballpoint pen tip in the photo [...]
• September 14, 2009
• 15:00

  Dual voltage power supply

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [Melanie] had some time this weekend so she whipped up a dual voltage power supply from parts on hand. This design plugs right into a breadboard and, unlike the last breadboard power supply we saw, provides two voltages at one time. 5v is delivered to one power bus while 3.3v goes to the other. Her [...]
• September 11, 2009
• 10:00

  Exoskeleton rental now available

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  The HAL two-leg exoskeleton is now available for rent in Tokyo for $2300 per month. We saw the HAL in our power suit roundup from last year. There is footage of this lower-extremity suit demonstrated by three people. The video is a bit creepy because the they are apparently just out for a stroll in [...]
• September 09, 2009
• 14:00

  Drilling precise grids

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  Drilling precise grids without a CNC machine can be tough to pull off. [Ookseer] has come up with a nifty method for dilling aligned holes with a drill press. He uses a right-angle jig on a Dremel drill press with stacks of business cards as spacers. The same number of cards is added between the [...]
• 9:00

  Life size animatronic wolf tail

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  We’re not 100% sure the usefulness of this hack, but it is extremely interesting regardless and will probably make a lot of furries happy. WolfTronix presents their method for creating a realistic animatronic wolf tail. It uses an Atmel MCU controlling two servos alongside a mess of Klixx toys and paper clips to produce a [...]
• September 07, 2009
• 13:34

  Proto-board Z80 computer

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  We’ve seen  Z80 processor based computers before but they usually use a printed circuit board to easily and reliably connect all the components. [Marton] sent us his Z80 based computer from a while back that is built entirely on prototyping board. He made his own video board that utilizes a TV as the monitor and [...]
• September 06, 2009
• 12:00

  Diamond thermal paste: update

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  The need to conduct laboratory-style experiments runs deep in some people. [Freddyman] built an apparatus to test out several commercial and homemade thermal pastes, including the DIY diamond thermal grease we reported on last month. He setup each experiment in the middle of an air conditioned room, ran the heat sink fan for 30 minutes [...]
• 11:00

  DIY coffee table scale

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [Guus] screwed together this coffee table which doubles as a scale. No welding was required to put it together - just some bolts, pulleys, miscellaneous fittings, and an original design. The weight is indicated through the (unlabeled) position of the counterweight arm. Currently it is limited to measuring 10kg (22 pounds), but can easily be boosted by adding a [...]
• September 04, 2009
• 10:00

  Tap-controlled metronome

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [Adam] and his buddy [Matthew] sent in their tap-controlled metronome, or as they prefer, “metronome with an attitude.” Using the piezo speaker you can tap patterns and rhythm into the memory and it will repeat it back to you in loop. The two buttons allow you to speed up or slow down the beat which [...]
• September 02, 2009
• 16:31

  Fire Horn

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  Artist [Ariel Schlesinger] has managed to replace an air horn’s compressed air tank with butane fuel. This hack manages to change the pitch of the horn slightly, as well as making one very noisy flamethrower. While not as impressive as other flamethrowers, this would probably take the cake for most achievable. Currently the site containing [...]
• August 29, 2009
• 20:09

  Bokode, a new barcode

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  The MIT Camera Culture Group utilized Bokeh, an effect where the lens is purposely placed out of focus, in order to vastly improve current 2D barcode technology. Dubbed Bokode, the team claims that an off the shelf camera can read data 2.5 microns from a distance of over 4 meters, compared to today’s average barcode [...]
• August 27, 2009
• 13:31

  Interfacing a digital rotary switch

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [hw640] has put together a well written and detail packed explanation of how to interface with a digital rotary switch. These digital opto encoders have just two outputs with four possible logic levels (00, 10, 11, 01). The relative position of the switch is insignificant but the direction of rotation is what matters. The short and [...]
• August 22, 2009
• 8:30

  Bottled Nixie clock

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  Who could not love the tender glow of a Nixie display? It isn’t a new concept for them to be used in clocks, and usually it’s how they are housed or encased for display that sets them apart. [crazy_phisic] did the near impossible by building his Nixie clock almost entirely inside of a glass bottle. [...]
• August 14, 2009
• 11:34

  Quote of the Day

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  i have no idea why sites focused around diy electronics have such aggressive comments – Hack a Day applicant That is weird. What do you think? Comments go!
• August 03, 2009
• 6:54

  Diamond thermal paste

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [Jared Bouck] over at InventGeek  writes about his experience making his own thermal paste. Diamonds can be up to five times as thermally conductive as silver, the primary ingredient in most popular thermal compounds.  He combines 60,000 mesh diamond dust he ordered off eBay with non-conductive silicon grease using a special mixer he constructed to [...]
• July 25, 2009
• 16:00

  Propeller-based Terminal

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  [Vince Briel] has created an embedded device based on the Parallax Propeller chip that acts as a serial terminal. It takes input from a standard PS/2 keyboard and outputs color VGA. It also has a second serial port to connect to a PC for debugging or programming. He is selling kits and has the schematics [...]
• 13:57

  Custom flex sensors

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  Flex sensors, like the ones used in the Nintendo Power Glove, are generally expensive and hard to find. However, [jiovine] demonstrates that they are easy enough to make from spare parts. He sandwiched a strip of plastic from ESD bags between pieces of copper foil, and wrapped the whole thing in heat shrink tubing. The [...]
• July 21, 2009
• 9:00

  4D Systems micro drive

   » ‎ hack-a-day

  Tags:  misc hacks  

  4D  Systems micro drive provides both raw and FAT level access to microSD cards. The module contains a dedicated host controller that transforms what may be an otherwise intimidating card spec into a group of simple serial commands. With a wide supply range of 3.6-5.5 and .1″ lead spacing, this should be cake walk to [...]