Adding a little polish to your cellphone charging setup

mobile-charging-station

Cable management can really be an eyesore, but a little creative camouflage and you can have a cellphone charging station that also serves as decoration. [Kitesurfer] wanted to use one of the cubbyholes in his new Ikea book shelf for charging but wasn't keen on the rat's nest of wires that would go along with it. Also not wanting to take on the challenge of wireless charging he hit the As-Is … [Read more...]

Amp Hour interviews [Joe Grand]

the-amp-hour

The Amp Hour, a podcast of electronics enthusiasts and professionals alike, just did an epic interview with [Joe Grand]. Along with hosts [Chris Gammell] and [Dave Jones], the discussion runs the gamut of points of interest in the hardware hacking world. The first vignette explores the rise, run, and fall of Prototype This, an engineering-centric TV show that [Joe] did along with a group of … [Read more...]

CheapStat: an open-source potentiostat

CheapStatPhoto

A commercial potentiostat can cost several thousand dollars, but the CheapStat is an open source project that makes it possible to build your own at a tiny fraction of that cost. It is possible to build one for less than $80, breaking down the cost barrier faced by many labs that would like to have this test hardware. A potentiostat is used to measure electrochemical properties. To give you a … [Read more...]

Video – Eagle CAD’s CAM processor

CAM

Here is the next installment in our series of Eagle CAD videos. In this video we skip ahead a bit and show off the CAM processor that you use to create the files necessary to have your circuit boards be manufactured. After watching this video, you will know how create a new CAM program, load a circuit board into the CAM processor, tell it where to save your files, and actually use it to create the … [Read more...]

Making better CNC halftone pictures

small

[Jason] was messing around with CNC machines and came up with his own halftone CNC picture that might be an improvement over previous attempts we've seen. [Jason] was inspired by this Hack a Day post that converted a image halftone like the default Photoshop plugin or the rasterbator. The results were very nice, but once a user on the JoesCNC forum asked how he could make these 'Mirage' CNC … [Read more...]

Quadcopter stabilization system using Wii Motion Plus

auto-stabilization-hardware

If you're contemplating a quadcopter build here's a way to add stabilization hardware without breaking the bank. The BaronPilot project uses an Arduino and a Wii Motion Plus module to ensure an even keel for your flying projects. The hardware inside of the Motion Plus includes two gyroscopes, which the BaronPilot monitors for changes in your flying rig's orientation. The project serves as a … [Read more...]

Keeping simple children’s toys interesting with small modifications

souping_up_slot_cars

[Jaroslav] was racing slot cars with his son not too long ago, but like many of us discovered in our youth, driving cars around a small oval track can get dull after awhile. Rather than buy more track sections, he decided to fiddle with their cars a bit to make racing them a little more exciting. After removing the top of his slot car, [Jaroslav] found that it cruised around corners with ease, … [Read more...]