Full fabric soft switches

November 16, 2008 By 7 Comments

soft_switch

When we created our backpack strap WiFi detector for Engadget, we embedded soft switches to control the device. They used two sheets of aluminum foil separated by a layer of foam with holes punched in it. [Plusea] has taken a similar approach but has replaced the aluminum foil with conductive fabric. The end result is a set of three … Read the rest

Filed Under: classic hacks, peripherals hacks, wearable hacks Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Case prototyping

November 16, 2008 By 11 Comments

[Deviant Ollam], lockpicker and beverage cooling contest host, was recently in Vienna, presumably for DeepSec. While there, he stopped by the Metalab hackerspace and checked out their RepRap rapid prototyping machine. You can see video of his visit above. He had them construct a custom fitted cover for the flash of his point and shoot camera. That’s what we … Read the rest

Filed Under: misc hacks Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Simple PWM

November 16, 2008 By 12 Comments

pwm

We mentioned Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) when talking about [sprite_tm]‘s marquee control. It’s a method of power control. While [sprite_tm] did it in software, [Afroman] sent along a very straight forward introduction to PWM using just a 555. Check out his video for coverage of this fundamental electrical design technique.… Read the rest

Filed Under: misc hacks, tool hacks Tagged With: , , , ,