RSS
Archive: Electronics
Page 77 of 143 << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 >>
October 17, 2006
HOW TO - Reusing a floppy stepper motor - MAKE Controller kit project!
Did you know that the MAKE Controller can easily drive a floppy disk head positioning stepper motor? Yup, it can - Nelson is kicking butt with a new MAKE controller project and shows you how, he writes - "This is the second in a series of postings about the Makezine controller. The first one was the Jedi Cursor. Most 5.25" floppy disk drives have a stepper motor in them for positioning the head, plus interesting widgets like optical emitters and detectors. With a little bit of work, they can be removed and put back into service with your Makezine controller. I put together a set of photos showing how I disassembled my floppy disk drive and removed the useful bits." - Link.
Related:
- Reusing a floppy disk stepper motor (photos) - Link.
- Obi-Wan the Cursor - amazing project with the MAKE controller! - Link.
- MAKE Controller kit (resources)... - Link.
- Want to make a robot that can draw images for you? The MAKE Drawbot was made using the controller kit! - Link.
- MAKE controller kit (order one today!) - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Oct 17, 2006 08:22 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (1)
HOW TO - Upgrade a TiVo S3 to 1TB
Here's how to increase the TiVo S3's 250GB to 1TB, giving you about 52 days of recording time, wow! Lightrunner @ the TiVo Community forums writes - "I was disappointed to find out that the eSata port on the new S3 was not yet active. So like the Glad Press n Seal, I decided to take matters into my own hands and increase the S3 recording capacity the old fashion way. I opened up my SuSE Linux box and expand the drives via an external RAID with an enclosure developed by Sans Digital via a SATA to eSATA cable. I first tested this by taking the original 250GB hard drive and placing it in an external drive enclosure with eSATA support. The test was successful. The following is what I did..." [via] - Link.
Related:
- Free TiVo: Build a Better DVR out of an Old PC - Link.
- Transcoding video for iPods and PSPs on TiVo... - Link.
- HOW TO - Stream music through your TiVo - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Oct 17, 2006 01:57 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Home Entertainment |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
Whizzer CD-ROM robot - Homemade bot crawls from suspended wire
Hacked Gadgets has a really cool CD-ROM bot made from old junk, in the video the little bot creeps across the wire nicely... Blake writes - "I contructed a simple robot about a year ago. It's chasis is made from an old SCSI CD-ROM drive. It uses the mechanics of the drive to pull itself along a suspended wire. I built it for a project in my high school physics class. The objective of the project was to construct a device that would get from one end of a suspended wire to the other with no physical intervention. Our teacher gave a name for these devices. He calls them "Whizzers". Mine does not really "whiz" but it gets the job done. - Link.
Related:
CD-ROM projects @ MAKE - Link.
Our massively robotic archives @ MAKE - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Oct 17, 2006 05:49 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Robotics |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
October 16, 2006
Swivel lite mod
Nicrosin from the MAKE pool writes - "Found this weird travel light in a thrift store yesterday for $2. It had an odd looking bulb that was burnt out, plus I wasn't about to shell out $5 for the missing battery (it uses one of those square lantern ones). So I converted the bulb into two LEDs and hooked up a 9v battery. The extra space can be used for storage or whatever. " [via] - Link.
Got a thrift store mod? Send it our way!
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Oct 16, 2006 04:21 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (1)
Plushie LED glowing irradiated steaks
What's better than a big juicy irradiated steak? Nothing is better than a big juicy irradiated steak. To illustrate some of the issues being raised with using radiation to kill bacteria, parasites, and mold Rebecca used an Arduino board to make these plushie steaks glow... code included - Link.
Related:
- Arduino Fever - The tale of a cute, blue microcontroller that fits nicely in the palm of your hand, and the expanding community of developers who love and support it. MAKE 07 - Page 58.
- Arduino, the Basic Stamp killer? - Link.
- Make a meat reddening carbon monoxide fridge? - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Oct 16, 2006 03:39 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (7)
World championship PunkinChunkin
JR writes - "Your story on trebuchets reminded me that Punkin Chunkin is only a few weeks away. Mid-Atlantic Makers should consider a road trip to this unique sporting/artillery/MAKEing event: The trebuchets, air cannons, and rotary machines are all great fun to watch -- it's like a cross between a tractor pull, a Gallagher show, and a Boy Scout jamboree!" - Friday Nov 3rd, 2006 at 7:30 PM, Millsboro, Delaware, World championship PunkinChunkin - Link.
Pictured here, giant Punkin' shooter from Chuck - Link.
If anyone is going to this, let us know - Thanks!
Related:
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Oct 16, 2006 01:31 PM
Electronics, Halloween |
Permalink
| Comments (2)
Halloween robot costume incorporating AVRs
Creatrope writes - "Here's a kid's halloween robot costume with a twist - candy-powered and ATmega16 blinky lights! Most of the material is recycled. The entire costume was assembled from concept to treat-or-treating in about an hour and half (beside the trip to buy the materials above). The only parts are had to buy are the heating duct arms and the silver spray paint. The glued on parts were put on with a hot-glue gun, which seemed to hold the odd-shaped doodads well." - Link.
Related: AVR for the M A K E R:
- Getting started with 8 bit AVR microcontrollers - Link.
- Build a $19 AVR Butterfly MP3 player - Link.
- POV (Persistence of vision) using AVR - Link.
- Open source Atmel AVR microcontroller kits... - Link.
- Atmel AVR Butterfly 4 - Link.
- Arduino, the Basic Stamp killer? - Link.
Enter the MAKE & CRAFT Contests!
- Makers and Crafters, it's time to enter our ghoulishly fun Halloween contests! Anyone, anywhere can enter, and depending on what type of maker or crafter you are, you can enter all or just some of the contests - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Oct 16, 2006 12:12 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
What's new in electronics... 1979
Here's a look back at some of the cutting edge electronics as seen in Popular Science 1979, I like the "Everything set" and the "Goof corrector" - "" - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Oct 16, 2006 09:40 AM
Electronics, Modern Mechanix, Retro |
Permalink
| Comments (3)
More 555 timer projects
Lots of Makers are sending in great projects for Halloween that use the 555 timer chip, so here's another resource to get started for all your LED blinky needs - "Timer circuit has been used in many projects and there are basically 2 types that are used these days. One of them is the use of analog RC circuit where charging of the capacitor circuit determined the T(time) of the circuitry. This type of circuitry has larger tolerance and is used in applications where the T is not so critical as the T is affected by the tolerance of the RC components used.
The other is the use of crystal or ceramic resonators together with microprocessor, microcontroller or application specific integrated circuit that need higher precision T in the tolerance of up to 5 ppm (parts per million). " - Link.
Related:
- Electronics projects @ MAKE - Link.
- 555 timer projects @ MAKE - Link.
- 555 timer projects from the pages of MAKE - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Oct 16, 2006 06:05 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (7)
DIY Burglar alarm - Auto shut off tone generator
Here's a pretty simple burglar alarm you can make and toss in your car/desk drawer/whatever, it uses the handy dandy 555 timer chip... - "In this auto shut off tone generator project, once the switch to the 9V power supply is connected, the alarm will trigger at a frequency of approximately 1.27 kHz. It will remain ON for a duration of approximately 170 seconds or 2.8 minutes before it stopped. This is a typical home burglar alarm system of which once the alarm is triggered ON, it will not be shut OFF until the duration of time set has elapsed. This project is useful when built as one can carry it along wherever one goes or placed it in a vehicle. In times of emergency, one can easily switched ON the switch and the loud speaker will emit a loud sound that will frighten the uninvited guest." - Link.
Related:
- Electronics projects @ MAKE - Link.
- 555 timer projects @ MAKE - Link.
- 555 timer projects from the pages of MAKE - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Oct 16, 2006 05:04 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
Design Contest for new ARM Coretex M3 controllers
Circuit Cellar, Luminary Micro, and Keil are running a design competition with $10,000 in prizes and your entry may be published in the Circuit Cellar hobby electronics magazine - the kits were free, but they ran out, so if you want to enter you need to find a kit ($49 @ Mouser)... [via] - Link & contest.
Related:
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Oct 16, 2006 04:04 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
Spooky Arduino projects #2
One of my favorite makers, Todbot is doing a "Spooky Projects" class held at the Machine Project, the notes from the second class are now posted along with this fun video... - Link.
Related:
- Spooky Projects - Introduction to microcontrollers with Aurdino - Link.
- Arduino Fever - The tale of a cute, blue microcontroller that fits nicely in the palm of your hand, and the expanding community of developers who love and support it. MAKE 07 - Page 58.
- Arduino, the Basic Stamp killer? - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Oct 16, 2006 03:11 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Halloween, Holiday projects |
Permalink
| Comments (1)
October 14, 2006
Hypnocube- 3D LED kit
"The Mad Scientist" sent in these Hypnocubes, they are 3D LED cubes that come in 3-channel Red-Green-Blue (with 4096 possible colors), 2-channel Red-Green (256 colors), and 2-channel Red-Blue (256 colors). The kits are available too, starting at $300-ish - Link.
Update: Dirkus writes - "Actually, the cheapest kit they have is $120, plus $10 shipping for a 2-color cube. The tri-color cube shown here is $170 plus $10 for shipping in kit form. The $300 price is for a completely pre-assembled and tested 2 color cube. If you want to lay down some real cash, you can opt for the tri-color cube pre-assembled: $380 plus $20 shipping. Ka-Ching!"
Related:
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Oct 14, 2006 11:40 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Kits |
Permalink
| Comments (9)
Carl & Jerry - Adventure in electronics: Electronic Eraser
In the 50's and 60's John T. Frye, W9EGV / Popular Electronics published a series of fiction stories called "The Carl and Jerry stories" - In each story the pair acquired new skills, got their ham radio licenses and used their knowledge of electronics to get out of a jam or solve a mystery - there isn't a complete collection of all the stories that I know of, but there are some scans / text online...
In this exciting tale from Popular Electronics August 1962, Carl & Jerry help Chief Morton and a Federal agency foil some dastardly plot by making a bulk electronic eraser... Here's an excerpt...
"Let's try to construct a portable, battery-operated bulk eraser. As you know, a bulk eraser is simply a strong electromagnet with 60-cycle a.c. going through its coil. As a reel of tape is subjected to this strong reversing field and then gradually withdrawn, the little magnetic particJes of the tape are first jerked violently in unison out of their recorded pattern and then are subjected to weaker and weaker pushing and tugging forces that eventually leave them lying in the unpatterned disarray of virgin tape."
"Don't you think it's going to be a little difficult to get a.c. out of your batteries -or are you going to use a.c. batteries?"
"Don't be cute. We can get a first cousin of a.c., pulsing d.c., simply by using an interrupter between the batteries and our coil," Jerry retorted. "Suppose you see what you can do about converting this old 6-volt auto radio vibrator into a simple interrupter while I get started winding a magnet."
Read the rest! Carl & Jerry - Adventure in electronics: Electronic Eraser - Link.
Related:
More Carl & Jerry stories - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Oct 14, 2006 10:22 AM
Electronics, Retro |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
October 13, 2006
Gadget Freak "Scream Fest Edition"
Our pals at DesignNews have a round up of all their electronics projects in their Gadget Freak "Scream Fest Edition". They're also running a contest too, so if you enter the MAKE contest, enter theirs too.
Spooky Sound Generator
Give the little witches and warlocks a real trick when they come clamoring for treats on Halloween with this doorbell-activated sound track. With a moderate hack of a cassette player and a roof-mounted speaker, you'll have trick-or-treaters scattering in every direction at the first blood-curdling scream.
Lightning Strobe
Create an instant dark and stormy night at your house on Halloween with this photoflash strobe project. Sync up a thunder audio track with the common strobe design and impress your stuffy neighbors with some very uncommon special effects.
Flickering LED Pumpkin Light
Carved pumpkins and Halloween go together, but why risk the hazard of a lit candle in an unattended squash? Produce a realistic, flickering flame effect with this timer circuit driving two, ultra-bright orange LEDs. Your local fire department will applaud you!
Fading LED Monster Eyes
Partial to things that go bump in the night? Create your own creature extraordinaire with this circuit, which slowly illuminates and fades a pair of red LEDs for a chilling optical effect. Pair it up with a stuffed moose head for a particularly memorable special effect this Halloween.
Gadget Freak Scream Fest Edition - Link.
Related:
Makers and Crafters, it's time to enter our ghoulishly fun Halloween contests! Anyone, anywhere can enter, and depending on what type of maker or crafter you are, you can enter all or just some of the contests - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Oct 13, 2006 08:30 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Halloween, Holiday projects |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
HOW TO - Make hard drive speakers
MAKE group member Leevonk shows how to make these nice looking (and sounding) hard drive speakers - Link.
Related:
- Hard Drive Speaker System - Link.
- More hard drive speaker videos - Link.
- Things you can do with 20 hard drives - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Oct 13, 2006 07:21 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Instructables |
Permalink
| Comments (2)
Blinking eyes circuit for halloween gadgets
Here's a super handy/easy circuit for making LED eyes blink for your Halloween gadgets and projects, Paul writes - "The eye blink circuit consists of a timer and light emitting diodes, which function as the eyes. The timer circuit for the blinking eyes is based on the 555 timer. Figure 1 illustrates the standard timer circuit. The resistors and capacitor on the left control the charge and discharge of the circuit, which runs the pulse rate and duty cycle of the timer. The values in Figure 1 were chosen for a eye blink rate of approximately a second or two and a duty cycle of 85%. This simulates the blinking rate of eyes. The variable resistor allows the eye blink rate to be adjusted." - Link.
Related:
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Oct 13, 2006 03:06 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (4)
re-MAKE: Vintage Wi-Fi internet radio
Al made a modern Internet Wi-Fi radio with the looks of a vintage radio, here's the build photos (nice work!) - Link.
Related:
- Retro Radio Computers - Link.
- Sparkbench - old radio restoration - Link.
- HOW TO build a Vintage Digital Jukebox - Link.
- DIY Retro iPod - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Oct 13, 2006 11:33 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Retro |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
HOW TO - LED "Flickers" for Jack-O-Lanterns
John writes - "This website shows how to build a bunch of flickering LED circuits that can be used instead of using candles to illuminate your pumpkin this halloween. It has videos of all the different circuits and parts lists and links to schematics. The different circuits fall into a variety of price ranges and difficulty levels. - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Oct 13, 2006 06:24 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Halloween, Holiday projects |
Permalink
| Comments (1)
New stuff @ Spark Fun Electronics
It's the end of a long week, time to blow the paycheck on the new stuff from Spark Fun (darn you guys!)... They have a few new items, here are a couple that caught my eye...
Critter Board with Media (The critter board is a hardware platform for creating self-contained electronic music devices) - The critter board is based on a single ARM7TDMI microcontroller, the Philips LPC2138. It is a powerful 32 bit processor with a good amount of flash (program) memory and RAM. It is a fast controller, capable of up to 60 MIPS. It has many peripherals, including analog to digital and digital to analog converters, making it especially suitable for audio work. The LPC2138 users manual is a great source of information on the microcontroller.
20 Channel EM-406 SiRF III Receiver with Antenna - The EM-406 GPS module from USGlobalSat based on the spectacular SiRF StarIII chipset. This complete module is built upon the same technology as the ET-301, but includes on-board voltage regulation, LED status indicator, battery backed RAM, and a built-in patch antenna! 6-pin interface cable included.
New stuff @ Spark Fun Electronics - Link.
Related:
Electronic projects @ MAKE - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Oct 13, 2006 02:22 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (1)
Page 77 of 143 << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 >>
Features and more @ MAKE!
MAKE @ The NYC Toy Fair 2008 - Covering DIY!HOW TO - Build the arms of assistance.
MADE in Japan - Part I.
MADE in Japan - Part II.
MADE in Japan - Part III.
Make store - Blinky bug kit - Blink!
Make store - Loud Objects Noise Toy Kit
Makers - MAKE Flickr pool contest. Win cool stuff!
Makers - Join the MAKE Facebook page - Meet other makers.
MAKE on Twitter - Tweet! Tweet!
What you're reading in MAKE - Data!
Add MAKE to your RSS reader - Real simple.
Why advertise on MAKE?
Read what folks are saying about us!
Click here to advertise on MAKE!
Phillip Torrone
Senior Editor
Tel: 707-827-7311
Gareth Branwyn
Robot Maker
Jonah Brucker-Cohen
Researcher
Natalie Zee Drieu
Senior Editor
CRAFT
Becky Stern
Culture jammer
Collin Cunningham
Sound Maker
Marc de Vinck
CNC Maker
Current Podcast
AHAB High Altitude Ballooning - Best of Weekend Projects
mp4|mov|hd|3gp|3g2|itunes This week on Best of Weekend Projects, we look back at part two of the AHAB (High Altitude Balloon Adventure). In this epic Bre & Co. travel to Eastern Washington to launch a GPS and camera enabled balloon...
More...
