[David]‘s been building his own game platform based on an ATMega chip and an eight by eight LED matrix. Looks like he’s used the project as an excuse to get familiar with eagle and doing his own PC board design. Even if the game doesn’t really interest you, future project designs can probably benefit from his roadmap.… Read the rest
AVR LED Game project
March 17, 2008 By 4 Comments
No laser? Get your laptop etched for free!
March 17, 2008 By 28 Comments
Want to get your laptop custom etched… for free? During the next couple of months, I’ll be giving away some free etching sessions. How do you get one? Just submit a fresh new hack via the tips line. If it makes the cut and gets published, you’ve got a chance to get your laptop or gadget etched in this … Read the rest
Plumb in your espresso machine (cheap)
March 16, 2008 By 3 Comments
A while back, I wrote up a how-to on some mods I made to my ECM Giotto espresso machine. After giving it some break-in time, I finally wrote up my cheap plumbed in espresso trick. Plumbing kits use a $50 solenoid that requires special plumbing. My version uses a $12 fridge solenoid, easily adds on to my previous mods, and … Read the rest
li-ion for your roomba
March 15, 2008 By 7 Comments
[gim] gutted some li-ion laptop batteries to replace his roomba’s battery pack. He had to pick up a li-ion charger and add a protection circuit to deal with the li-ion cells, but ended up with a new lighter pack for his roomba. If you head this way, the protection circuit is a vital component to prevent fires/explisions/etc. Looks like a … Read the rest
M3 headphone amp
March 14, 2008 By 11 Comments
If you’re serious about your headphone amps, you probably already know about the M3 headphone amplifier. Instead of going for the extra tiny, they’re going the ‘screw the size, it’s all about the sound’ route. Thsi thing needs a 24v .5amp power supply. Boards are available, and the discussion has gotten so long on headwize that they exceeded the … Read the rest
Contactless voltage detection
March 13, 2008 By 17 Comments
[Tim], builder of that sweet NES pad controlled Silvia espresso machine put up an interesting idea for voltage current monitoring – at least, for AC circuits. In a nutshell, he created a mini transformer by wrapping some wire around the outside of one wire of an insulated AC power cord. Espresso machines use 120/220VAC actuated solenoids, so that’s why he’s … Read the rest
Underwater GPS (sorta)
March 13, 2008 By 25 Comments
Since water blocks the radio frequency used for GPS triangulation, GPS is considered pretty useless for SCUBA divers. Apparenlty some of them are finding it useful to waterproof off the shelf units for tracking the beginning and end of dives. (Dives in open water often involve currents that can really move you along.) To avoid any wiring, a floating case … Read the rest
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