Make: Online: hacks Archives

hacks Archive: hacks

October 22, 2009

How-To: TV modulator from salvage

In need of a way to transmit a video signal to an aging antennae-input TV set, John rigged up a working RF modulator from salvaged parts (plus 5V supply) -

I decided not to build my modulator from first principles. A simple design with a UHF cavity oscillator and simple sound and vision carrier and modulation circuits is not impossible to make using parts from a scrap TV set, but when so many set top devices already have a modulator built into them why bother? Instead I lifted the RF modulator from a scrap Salora satellite receiver I picked up at a radio rally.
[…]
To power this modulator I built a simple 5 volt regulator using the ubiquitous 7805 IC. I simply soldered a TO220 heatsink to the module case and built the circuit around it. My choice of capacitor values was based on those I had to hand. I also included an LED to serve as a pilot light to indicate that the unit was turned on.

You've likely come across one of the shiny metal modulators if you've ever disassembled a scrapped VCR - read on for more of details of the conversion over @ TechnoToad.

October 20, 2009

iPod-accelerometer-controlled dance floor lights

John Boiles, he of the iPod-controlled RC car, also produced this sweet wirelessly controlled light dimmer, which he demonstrates in this video, controlling different sets of X-mas lights by shaking his iPod. See it work around 1:40, then be sure to check out the dance party at 2:40. The iPod is enclosed in the "law book" prop everyone is shaking around, together with their booties, while they rock out to vintage Bon Jovi, et. al.

iPod-controlled RC car

More Dorkbot Austin goodness! John Boiles demonstrated this radio-controlled car steered using his iPod's built-in accelerometer via its built-in WiFi transmitter. All you have to do is tilt the iPod, and the car goes. It starts to move around 1:10.

Open Source Nintendo DS Bluetooth adapter

Gordan Savicic and Gottfried Haider of DSbrut fame have tipped us off that they've just released their DS Bluetooth adapter for the Nintendo DS.

Almost two years in the making, we're happy to finally release our DS Bluetooth adapter. The tiny Slot-1 cartridge allows you to hook up the Nintendo DS wirelessly with other devices such as GPS-receivers, robots and so forth. Today we're making all materials of the project openly available, including the schematics and a GPL-licensed software library for the Nintendo DS, because we believe in open hardware design and want to encourage collaboration in the hardware hacking community.

If you've got a homebrew Nintendo DS project that we should know about leave a link in the comments.

October 19, 2009

How-To: Hack motion detectors to trigger props

Hpropman presents a group of four tutorials about how to connect common motion detecting devices to a microcontroller for triggering haunt props. He has separate tutorials for flood light motion sensors, wall switch motion sensors, X10 wireless motion sensors, and Parallax motion sensors.

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

October 15, 2009

Remote controlled shrieking spectre

This video by YouTuber electricunicycle, while dark, shows off a pretty sweet haunt prop he made by attaching a frame, fabric, and lighting to an electric wheelchair base he adapted for radio control.

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

Using sonar to save power

Here's a neat idea: using the standard microphone and speakers that are built into most recent laptops, researchers from Northwestern and University of Michigan have developed a sonar system to detect when a user is near the computer. Why is this interesting? Well, the idea is that it can be used to turn your computer screen off as soon as you walk away, rather than waiting the typical 10 or 20 minutes for the screensaver to kick on. It's a pretty neat idea, especially since it doesn't require any extra components, however I wonder how much power the sonar system itself will draw.

[via slashdot]

Train an army of crows to gather treasure for you

Josh Klein developed a machine that trains crows to trade coins for peanuts. Literally, for peanuts. So you fill this thing with peanuts and set it out, say, in a public park, and the crows will scour the ground for loose change, carry it to the machine, and drop it in a slot in exchange for food. The project, dubbed "CrowBox," made a big splash when he unveiled it back in 2007. Now he's made the complete plans for the CrowBox freely available online so you can roll your own. And there's no reason you couldn't train your fly-monkeys-fly to gather other crow-portable objects. Twenty-dollar bills? Keys? iPods? Human eyes? The possibilities are endless. Set one up at the beach! Train seagulls to trade whole wallets for pre-shucked oysters!

October 9, 2009

Motorola Blur ported to G1

Motorola's new Android UI has been ported to the HTC G1. The accompanying video of the unofficial build shows off many of the user enhancements shipping with the newer Motorola Android based phones. [via Android and Me]

October 5, 2009

Gijs' latest machine hacks both images and sound

Circuit-bending/music machine-building maestro Gijs Gieskes has posted the details of his latest creation, a synth that uses the SEGA video RAM as an audio source (after it's been slowed down via a binary counter).

Check out his use of magnetic patch bays to switch up the sounds. His tutorial on how to make the patch cords can be found here.

Video Ram Synth 1

More:
Make: Online's coverage of Gijs Gieskes' instruments

October 2, 2009

How-To: Install a ball valve on a cooler

If you're thinking of building your own wort chiller for homebrewing, you might benefit from seeing how Instructables user iPodGuy installs a ball valve on a cooler.

October 1, 2009

Want a lathe? Make one from junk

This project is kind of mad, but the results could be pretty useful. Instructables user catwood guides you through the process of building a wood lathe from mostly discarded parts. Along the way you will need things like the motor from a washing machine and the frame from a bike. It might make sense to buy or construct a more sturdy piece of equipment if you plan to make wood turning a full time hobby, but for light duty projects I could definitely see this coming in hand.

Vertical panorama of redwood tree

How do you photograph a 300' tall tree in a dense forest with no clear sight lines? Wildlife photographer Michael Nichols did it by taking a bunch of close-ups using a special camera rig and stitching them together digitally. NPR has the full story. [via Hack-a-Day]

My people call them maize mazes

Cool post over on Hack-A-Day about corn maze entrepreneur Scott Skelly, shown above with his trusty GPS-enabled riding lawn mower. Scott explains his maize-maze-making process thusly:

A maze starts as nothing more than a large field of corn. The design is created using a computer, then translated into GPS coordinates by fitting it into a field whose outline coordinates were previously captured on foot. Once the field coordinates are reconciled with the map design the data is used in one of two ways; the routes can be made by tilling under a path when the corn is very young, or more commonly it is cut lawn-mower-style when the corn is anywhere from knee-high to full grown. This corn-meets-satellite hack makes for a whole lot of fun!

September 30, 2009

Melting Pot: distributed coffee aroma for teambuilding

The Melting Pot is an older 'visualizer' project, however it was way ahead of it's time. Developed back in 2001 by Itiro Siio and Noyuri Mima, it's purpose is to bridge the physical distance between a team that is scattered across an office building together by bringing the them together using sweet, sweet coffee. Rather than an audio or visual cue, however, they opted to appeal to the olfactory system, and developed a system to simultaneously broadcast the siren's call of fresh brew to the whole team. The idea is that everyone would subconsciously smell the fine flavors, decide to grab some coffee, and then meet up in the break room.

To accomplish this, they hacked a wireless transmitter into the office coffee machine, so that it would send out a signal when a fresh pot of coffee is ready. Next, they built a bunch of aroma generators that start releasing a coffee aroma when a ready signal is received. The aroma generators are pretty simple- just a fan that blows over a couple of bags of instant coffee.

I've worked in several environments where this would have been a great way to bring my team together. Anyone up for a remake? Have better ideas about what kinds of smells to use to subtly influence people?

September 29, 2009

Soldering station strip heater

Michael Linnell e-mailed us these shots showing a clever hack he uses to bend small plastic strips at his soldering station. The soldering pencil is reversed in the holder to position its barrel near the surface of the strip held in the "helping hands." Radiant heat from the barrel softens the plastic along a parallel line for folding. Michael adds, "Just make sure you leave about 1/4 to 1/8 inch of air space between the pencil and the plastic. Both of the items used for this bender are standard Radio Shack items."

September 28, 2009

Linux on Zipit

Zipit hacker Hunter Davis runs through installing Linux on the low-cost WiFi connected IM device in his latest tutorial. Complete with Fluxbox window manager, mouse, audio and wireless, the Zipit can be transformed into an inexpensive Linux mobile device that begs further modification.

[via hackaday]

September 25, 2009

How-To: Use hard drives for image stabilization

Instructables user BobS made a gyroscopic image stabilizer from two harddrives and some spare parts. I'll save this one for my next helicopter trip over the Serengeti.

Helping hand upgrade

Here's a simple helping hand upgrade that makes soldering wires to potentiometers and switches tons easier. Just replace one of the alligator clips with a squeeze style "wide mouth" clip. Here's one from mouser.com that will work.

September 24, 2009

Recumbent mobile media stand hack

If you've ever tried to watch a movie on your phone in bed then you'll definitely appreciate this free-standing phone stand hack from Andrew over at Recombu. There's never been an easier way to get your lazy on. Enjoy.

[via recombu]