The actuators he’s using are too slow and rounding off the corners. Looks like he’s gotten much farther than the two previous attempts at a LASER MAME. One important bit is correcting for distortion caused by projecting onto a flat surface. The old vector monitors avoided it by using ...
[Hank Drum], as explained here , is a steel drum-type instrument made out of a propane tank. The name comes from the [Hang] or [Hang Drum] which is significantly more expensive than that $40 or so an empty propane tank costs. Of course, you’ll have to do some work to get it to play be...
For the last time, you cannot create an entire firearm with a 3D printer! You still need to use a steel barrel, bolt assembly, and other related parts. Meanwhile, I see there is a “we want freedom but will only snark on the internet for it” crowd, and then there are the gun owners. He...
![“Hacking the Xbox” Released for Free in Honor of [Aaron Swartz]](http://static.openruby.com/assets/pages/78/1b/781bb425a3f1b4dced49e65cf47f4101_100.jpg)
[Bunnie], the hardware hacker who first hacked into the original Xbox while at MIT, is releasing his book on the subject for free. The book was originally released in 2003, and delves into both the technical and legal aspects of hacking into the console. The book is being released alo...
[Tom] didn’t need a buck-converter. Just remove the shunt resistor from the meter (you can even see it in the photo) to drop the range. Should give you something that works well (and very easily) with a transistor driver and 3 – 5V. Also, [Tom] should do some more research on VU meter...
When you’re getting close to a production run the prototypes really need to hit the mark before pulling the trigger. [Bob's] still hard at work getting his scoreboard off the ground and his most recent endeavor was to find a way to prototype the rubber gasket without blowing his shoes...
The camera attachment can be seen attached to the right lens of the scope. It’s an old security camera which he already had on hand. The stock lens wasn’t going to bring the picture into focus, but he had some different optics on hand and one of them fit the bill perfectly. The rest o...
[Debraj] wrote in about his 2-wire serial backpack he developed for a Graphic LCD screen . It’s build on a hunk of protoboard and uses a pair of 595 shift registers to translate incoming serial data to the parallel interface which is used by the LCD screen. It takes more time to push ...
This component is a one-shot thermal fuse. When the body rises above the specified temperature the two leads stop conducting. They’re useful in applications like motors, where you want to make sure power is cut to an overheating piece of hardware before permanent damage happens. They’...
There’s some really cool stuff to find if you wander around a Michaels craft shop or Hobby Lobby long enough. Recently, [Ben] picked up a craft cutter – a small vinyl cutter-like device meant for scrapbooking and other crafty endevours. He’s using this machine to create solder paste s...
Centuries ago, craftsmen and smiths of all sort spent hundreds of hours crafting a crossbow. From the fine craftsmanship that went into making the bow to the impeccable smithing a windlass requires, a lot of effort went into building a machine of war. Since [Chris] has a 3D printer, h...
[Todd Harrison] wrote in not with a project but with a video tour of his local hackerspace: HeatSync Labs in Mesa, Arizona. He took a camera along with him over the weekend to record what you can expect when visiting the space. You’ll find the tour embedded after the break. It starts ...
The popularization of FPGAs for the hobbyist market means a lot more than custom LED controllers and clones of classic computer systems. FPGAs are also a great tool to experiment with computer architecture, creating new, weird, CPUs that don’t abide by the conventions the industry has...
It’s no secret that cats have a weakness for the little red dot produced by a laser pointer. [Rodney] put that trait to work by automating the movement of a red laser pointer. After mounting it on a servo motor he got down to work programming an Arduino to move it in a playful manner....
The two main components are already in place: a clear glass vessel for the water and a way to heat it. The real trick is to use the heating element to gently warm the water to the appropriate temperature. Perhaps the key piece of the project is that the device already had a timer that...
The return vehicle is unpowered, but that shouldn’t be a problem as launching from a weather balloon will provide plenty of altitude for the flight. Because the temperature experienced in that part of the atmosphere is so cold [David] had to take several things into account. Obviously...
Their “MakerBot Digitizer” is most likely based entirely on open source technology or readily available hardware that people have already been using for several years. And I’ll take some issue with the statement “the fact remains if you’re sourcing a 3D printer for a high school shop ...
I think the development environments and toolchains available for each platform are vital. I switched from PIC to AVR because AVR-GCC is a strong development option that lets me work on my preferred systems with no hassle — when I made the switch, the PIC dev tools were lackluster on ...
With daylight savings time starting up, you might not have quite as much need for lighting, but this pair of hacks should keep everything well lit whether outside or indoors. Check out the videos of both in action after the break. The first lighting solution comes to us from [Ben]‘s Y...
This is [Paul Mandel's] Ground-truth velocity sensor . That’s a fancy name for a device which tracks the movement of a vehicle by actually monitoring the ground its travelling over. This differs from simply measuring wheel rotation (which is how traditional odometers work) in that tho...
Android is the prime OS for developing applications in today for many reasons. The main reasons being that it is Open Source and Intuitive. In addition it uses Java for development, which is quite an easy language to get used to and develop in. This being said, a lot of you have great...
[Ken Foster], owner and creator of this $40K+ beast, worked with welder [Gary Webb] to custom design and fabricate every component of the vehicle, from hinges to hydraulic systems. They claim not a single part came from a box. The cooking area, complete with speakers and spotlights, h...
The narration and subtitles of the video found after the break are both in Portuguese, but it’s not hard to figure out what’s going on here. He begins by using double-sided foam tape to secure the piece of copper clad board to the hard drive platters. You’ll want to center it as best ...
Dispensing change for low-stakes gambling March 9, 2013 By Brian Benchoff Leave a Comment Every year, [Nathan] hosts an Oscar party with a lot of drinking, adoring the off-color comments of [Joan Rivers] and some low stakes wagering. Everyone throws a dollar into the pot for a particu...
Thought of the same thing aswell when i first learned about peppers ghost, but i don’t think it would work in the context your giving. you’d just get a strange image that can only be viewed from one angle, you wouldn’t be able to rotate around it and see different ‘views’ because the ...
At this point the series includes six lengthy segments. The first episode, which you’ll find embedded after the break, starts with an external overview of the hardware. [Mike] mentions that it’s not functional at that point. He guesses that this has to do either with security settings...
None of it is. It’s got a static sound to it because this was about the best you could by rapidly changing the volume of the SID chip to play a rudimentary digitized sample. The C64 was never designed to play digitized samples and so it was a hack that worked although very primitive. ...
In regards to bandit’s comments, they are something the abled bodied community may no be able to understand. Alex’s comment goes to show that those within the disability community can’t fully understand the experiences of others within the community. I don’t think it’s not that bandit...
This is [Wpqrek's] Commodore 64 modified to go on the road with him . The elderly machine has a special place in his heart as it was what he learned to code on. He performed a series of hacks which house everything necessary to use the machine inside the original case. Obviously the h...
A 2:1 gear reduction slows down a spinning shaft to half speed and doubles the torque. Repeat this a few times, and you’ve got a ludicrous amount of torque moving too slowly to see with even precision instruments. That’s the idea behind [Jeshua]‘s project, a Printed Machine partially ...
