[Jared] posted the latest version of his remote control airsoft gun. The new one allows USB and R/C control. It’s got four seperate firing mechanisms, a laser and uses a pair of servos for motion… and lots of ammo. Whatever you do, don’t make fun of [Jared]. They’ll have video up on the site after a couple of days to save bandwidth.
(Just a note: embed youtube or netscape videos and you’ll have video and save your bandwidth.)
[Wayne] sent along this interesting read on circuit board repair. Even if you’re not uh, repairing, it’s interesting to get some ideas for modification techniques. Pictured is a DIP IC that’s been placed upside-down over the old one with a set of jumper wires. I can only aspire to produce solder joints that look that nice. Good stuff.
Just so the Unofficial Team-Hack-A-Day guys don’t crucify me, they too have been making their own shirts. Thanks [mastershake916].
[F00 f00] sent in his excellent piece of iPod artistry. It’s one of the most original iPod hacks I’ve seen yet. (Aside from his funky dock) I haven’t checked up on the latest iPod dock specification, but I’d guess he’s sending the command signals via the serial (TTL) interface with a microcontroller(pic/atmel etc) to encode the button presses.
Over on the Ben Heck forums, moderator G-Force made his own Hack-A-Day T-shirt. I dunno guys, do we need to start selling them? In the past, our swag has been by give away only. Thanks [Marshall]
It’s been a couple of exhausting weeks since the deadline for the Design Challenge. I’m going to finish up going through the entries and we should have a winner sometime next week.
Laptops aren’t always the bomb/drool/mountain dew proof machines we wish they were. [TomTheGeek] was suffering from a loss of his I, 8 and K keys. Like a laptop Reaver, he sliced out the old keyboard and spliced in a compact USB keyboard. He likes the look, I’d probably whip up some acrylic spacers at the least and fill the exposed areas.
[Jason] sent in this nice palmtop C64 (cache) project based on a PSone screen. Notable hacks: PIC 16F88 to encode rs-232 to PS/2 keyboard output, Atari keychain joystick and a SD card slot (not functioning yet). The case was made of wood and laminated over with contact paper.
[Waggy] submitted this handy device for his entry. It uses several 556 timers to clock a driver chip that drives the mosfet output. If you’re not familiar with PWM – think of it as a six channel motor speed controller, but far more flexible. [Waggy] did a nice job writing up the details on the board – definitely a strong entry.
