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Archive: DIY Projects
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September 18, 2007
FM Crystal radio
Larry writes -
I have heard, even from a physicist, that it is impossible to build FM crystal radios. On the other hand some experimenters claim that they have built them. This argument intrigued me to try and build an FM crystal radio, which I have done successfully. To my surprise, the result is an astounding performer, pulling in four local stations in Tucson. When connected as a receiver to a good sound system the sound fidelity is as good or better than more expensive AM radios. In fact, it sounds "high-fidelity".FM Crystal Radio, thanks Pekar! - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Sep 18, 2007 12:00 AM
DIY Projects, Telecommunications |
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| Comments (2)
September 17, 2007
Magtable coffee table
This clever coffee table has slits for all your magazines to hang from, good (re)make project... - [via] Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Sep 17, 2007 09:00 PM
DIY Projects |
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Binder clip device dock
Binder clips have a 101 uses. Here's one of them. (Not sure I'd want my gadget just hangin' out there like that.)
The Ridiculously Clever Dock - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Sep 17, 2007 08:00 PM
DIY Projects, Instructables, Portable Audio and Video, iPod |
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| Comments (2)
Gyro-stabilized camera rig for RC plane
It's Chris Anderson Day on MAKE: Blog. Here, he shows off a gyro-stabilized camera mount he built for his RC plane. You can see more of his (and others) efforts at building amateur UAVs at DIYDrones.com.
Gyro-stabilized camera mount - [via] Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Sep 17, 2007 06:00 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Flying, Imaging |
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HOW TO - Transform hand warmers in to liquid ice sculptures
Popular Science shows you how to make cool ice sculptures from the liquid inside hand warmers... -
The mechanism behind this is supersaturation. Hot water dissolves much more sodium acetate than does room-temperature water. Keep adding sodium acetate to a pot of nearly boiling water until it stops dissolving, and you've saturated the water. Let the pot cool and it stays liquid, even though now it's holding far more sodium acetate than it should at the lower temperature: It's now supersaturated.HOW TO - Transform hand warmers in to liquid ice sculptures - Link.The excess sodium acetate should precipitate out as the water cools, turning back into solid crystals. But it won't do so without a trigger. In most hand warmers, that comes from a small piece of metal inside, but even a mote of dust could set it off. Once the process starts, it doesn't stop until it's all solid. The substance is not really freezing--in fact, the rapid precipitation releases heat, hence the hand-warming.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Sep 17, 2007 05:00 PM
DIY Projects, Science |
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Simple Roomba bumper hack
When we got our Roomba and it whirred off on its first cleaning detail, as it headed for one of the stuffed chairs in our living room, I had an oh-no moment realizing that the chair was above the floor almost at the exact height as Roomba's bumper. Luckily this wasn't the case, but if it had been, we would've spent a lot of time unsticking the robo-maid (sorta defeating the whole autonomous vacuum concept). Chris Anderson, from the most awesome Geekdad, did have this annoying problem. But while visiting iRobot in Boston, they hipped him to the simplest mod. He added a couple of screws to Roomba's bumper high enough to prevent the stickage. As he points out, if you have scratch-prone furniture, you probably want to use a softer material (or cover the screws).
Testing the new Roomba (as a LEGO battle platform) - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Sep 17, 2007 04:00 PM
DIY Projects, Robotics |
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Light traces
MAKE Flickr photo pool member Sebastian writes -
All the pictures were taken with a regular digital camera set to an exposure time of 0.5 to 2 seconds. The lines you see were created by LED lights attached to moving objects.Light Traces - a photoset on Flickr - Link & more.You can use any small light source to make the trace of a moving object visible (bicycle light, flash light, key light). Just attach the light to the object, and make sure the room is completely dark. Then take a long exposure picture of the moving light using your Digi Cam.
It's even more fun to go further and analyze the speed of the object! To do that, use a fast blinking LED light (such as the Inova pulsed LEDs you can buy at Target Stores for $7). The distance between the dots is a measure of speed.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Sep 17, 2007 03:00 PM
DIY Projects, Imaging |
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Shortwave radio kit
The shortwave radio projects keep coming in, here's a great kit-
Many pieces of ham radio equipment are available as kits. Ten-Tec offers two kits in the $30 range that are good beginner projects. One is the 1054 4-band Shortwave Regenerative Receiver and the other is the 1056 "any band" CW/SSB Direct Conversion Receiver. The experience gained building either of these kits is similar to and is applicatable to many other projects. Here we'll walk through constructing a Ten-Tec 1054 Shortwave Receiver.Ten Tec 1054 Shortwave Radio Kit - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Sep 17, 2007 01:00 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Kits |
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| Comments (3)
Laser engraving on an iPhone
Tyler writes -
I customized my iPhone with a "No Stealing" logo and my name. The results turned out great and I wanted to share it with your readers. I've included the artwork file for readers to download and customize to their own needs (for example, change my name to their name, etc). I figured this project falls right in line with your tee shirt "MAKE: Void your warranty, violate a user agreement, fry a circuit, blow a fuse, poke an eye out..." ...laser engrave.Thanks for a great magazine!Laser Engraving on an iPhone - Link.
Related:
Toasters! - Link.
Apple iPhone Engraving tutorial from Epilog (interesting) - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Sep 17, 2007 12:00 PM
Cellphones, DIY Projects |
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| Comments (2)
HOW TO - Build a crystal shortwave radio
jmluber writes in with another radio project -
In the old days, people used radios that used a germanium diode (crystal radio) to receive am radio without the need for a battery (the radio wave powers this type of radio). This site modernizes that concept by showing you how to build a shortwave radio that utilizes a germanium diode.Build a crystal shortwave radio - Link.
Related:
Make a Foxhole Radio - Weekend Project Podcast - Link.
Make a Foxhole Radio - Weekend Project PDFcast - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Sep 17, 2007 11:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Retro, Telecommunications |
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| Comments (0)
Arduino-based optical tachometer
Chris writes -
I am the author of the original Beakman's Electric Motor page. Over the years, I have received dozens of e-mails asking me how to measure the speed of the motor. I got one such e-mail last week on the same day my Arduino Diecimila board arrived from the Make Store, so I had an idea for my first Arduino project. I built an optical tachometer for the Beakman's Motor using the Arduino, an IR LED/photodetector, a red LED, two resistors, and some KNex pieces. It sends the speed in RPMs back to the computer over the serial port. I wrote it up on Instructables and posted more pictures up on Flickr and in the Flickr Make pool.Arduino-Based Optical Tachometer - Link.
Related:
Arduino Diecimila - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Sep 17, 2007 09:00 AM
Arduino, DIY Projects, Electronics |
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HOW TO - Install and boot 145 operating systems on a PC
Wow, here's how to install and boot 145 operating systems on a PC (3 Dos, 5 Windows, 137 Linux) - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Sep 17, 2007 08:00 AM
Computers, DIY Projects |
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| Comments (2)
Grabby table
Senseless writes -
I built a table from left overs that will have a grab bar so it will provide a stabe place for the wife to grab. The intercom is buit into it plus a switch she can reach without having to sit up all the way that will go to an outlet on the back so I can plud a desk lamp. I'll add a picture to the post tommorrow with it in place and the grab bar attached.Grabby table - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Sep 17, 2007 07:00 AM
DIY Projects |
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Hacking the Hot Wheels radar gun
Jason writes -
Ed Paradis has put some thought into a couple of hacks for the Hot Wheels toy radar gun. You can use the radar to detect the speed of moving objects, but Ed also posted some semi-successful (and some not-so, but worth reading) experiments with using the device in a custom circuit to detect the distance of objects for robotic projects. It's also worth noting that the LCD can be repurposed as a display output for your other electronic gizmos. For 30 bucks, it's a pretty good collection of useful robot parts.Hacking the Hot Wheels Radar Gun - [via] Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Sep 17, 2007 04:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (2)
Convert PDF to Gerber and NC Drill formats
Matt writes -
A few months ago, I had a problem -- I wanted to design a printed circuit board in Adobe Illustrator, but also wanted to send it out to BatchPCB for manufacturing. Board houses require that designs be submitted in Gerber format, the creation of which generally requires special CAD software. At first I thought my only recourse would be to etch the board at home, but I did a little research and came to the conclusion that converting PDF files to Gerber format was a viable option.Convert PDF to Gerber and NC Drill formats - Link.After a week of Perl hacking, I had a script that would convert each layer of an uncompressed PDF 1.3 file to its corresponding Gerber and NC Drill files, ready for submission to any PCB manufacturer. The result is pdf2gerb, which you've found here.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Sep 17, 2007 01:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (0)
September 16, 2007
Foxhole Radio Making - End of the weekend... projects!
If you didn't have a chance to make a foxhole radio this weekend, take an hour or two and make one up!
Watch the video - Link
Read the PDF instructions - Link
Subscribe - Link
Posted by Bre Pettis |
Sep 16, 2007 04:35 PM
DIY Projects |
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| Comments (1)
September 14, 2007
Now THAT's a stash!
The pictures tell you pretty much all you need to know.
Using your initiative - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Sep 14, 2007 06:00 AM
DIY Projects |
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Stitchable Arduino patches
We've mentioned Leah Buechley on the blog before. She's a Ph.D. student in Computer Science at the University of Colorado who does some really innovative things with soft circuits, LED clothing, and other geek couture. She writes of her most recent projects, the LilyPad: e-textile construction kit version 2.0
There is no reason for fabric circuits to mimic the look of traditional PCBs. My version 2.0 construction kit explores a new aesthetic for electronics.The e-textile construction kit was designed to empower novices to work with electronic textiles. Using the kit, you can build your own soft interactive clothing. The patches shown here, built with my iron-on circuit technique, are small, sewable computer chips. Each patch functions as a stitchable Arduino.
LilyPad: e-textile construction kit version 2.0 - Link [Thanks, Thomas!]
Related:
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Sep 14, 2007 05:00 AM
Arduino, Arts, Crafts, DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (1)
Introducing the robo-cane
The first thing I thought, seeing this project which turns an iRobot Create into a robotic cane for the blind, is that it's a prime example of "inappropriate" technology. If you've ever seen a blind person use a cane, you can tell it's this incredibly sensitive and nimble feeler, an extension of the person's arm and their "touch sensors." So the idea of putting a slow, relatively dumb robot on the end of that "feeler" doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. But nonetheless, this is a really cool, ambitious build, with a lot of interesting tech at work, such as the design for the speed detection system (the cane slides along a rail on top of the Create and a slide potentiometer reads the speed of the cane's movement and changes the speed of the bot accordingly). Not sure about the application as designed, but who knows where it could lead? The idea of a "smart cane" certainly has legs (so to speak).
This was any entry in the Instrucatbles iRobot Create Challenge. The contest deadline was Sept 9, but the winners have not yet been announced.
eyeRobot - The Robotic White Cane - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Sep 14, 2007 04:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Instructables, Robotics |
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| Comments (2)
Make a Foxhole Radio - Weekend Project Podcast
During World War II, GIs in the field built really amazing simple radios to listen too. These were made with materials that they could get their hands on and were small enough to carry around in a big pocket. You can modify this design if you want to set it up so that it’s tuneable too! Subscribe Link
Earphone Update: A bunch of folks in the comments have mentioned that you need to use special earphones. Raymond sent me an email explaining the earphone controversy.
An earphone converts electrical energy to sound waves by vibrating the air. We detect sound by sensing these movements in the air. The difference between the crystal earphone and regular headsets is that the crystal earphone is very sensitive to voltage change where as the regular headphones require current change to make its diaphragm move. Since a crystal radio is not going to produce large amounts of current the crystal earphones are the best match and will produce noise from the microvolts being produce by the antenna- coil combination."
Posted by Bre Pettis |
Sep 14, 2007 03:00 AM
DIY Projects, MAKE Podcast, Weekend Projects |
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| Comments (35)
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