Fresh hacks every day
[Jerry] missed the laser cutters he had been using at the local TechShop. It closed down and after seeing some hardware in a surplus store he decided to build a laser cutter to call his own. You won't be disappointed by his build log. It's got a ton of hi-res images and plenty of explanation. Often, cost is the key consideration in these types of builds. [Jerry] spent a little more than … [Read more...]
Landing a fixed-wing through hotel balcony french doors As you can see, launching an RC airplane off of a hotel balcony is easy. But watch the video and you'll find out trying to fly through the french doors for a landing is another story. [Team BlackSheep] hits (har, har) Thailand in this collection of breathtaking flights. Quieting rack-mount switch for home use [VictorB] got … [Read more...]
It's neat to watch these lilies open and close during the time-lapse movie. But what makes it even better is to see the camera slowly move during the time-lapse event. It's thanks to a special dolly which the photographers built for this purpose. The system is based on two curved and inclined pipes which make up the rails of the system. The dolly that rides along the rails has a geared motor on … [Read more...]
Texas Instruments just open preorders for the new Stellaris LaunchPad. The boards won't ship until the end of September, but if you don't mind the wait you can get one for $4.99 including delivery (we'd wager non-U.S. addresses have to pay for delivery, but leave a comment if you know for sure several readers have reported that international shipping is free). We routinely pay more in shipping … [Read more...]
We thought that connecting an Arduino to a Raspberry Pi was overkill, but one thing caught our attention. [Jan Stevens] mentions that the RPi is less expensive than the Ethernet Shield. Interesting. As we looked into his writeup a bit more we began to think he's onto something. [Jan] uses the PHP serial class to communicate between the RPi and Arduino. This ends up being a very inexpensive way to … [Read more...]
Just a few weeks ago we were wondering if we'd try to build our own prosthesis if we were ever to lose a limb. This pair of hacks answers that query with a resounding "YES!". To the right is a replacement pointer finger. The missing digit took the first two knuckles with it, but there's enough left to easily interface with this creation. It's a mechanically clever assembly that moves as you … [Read more...]
Here's a way of transmitting audio that makes it virtually impossible for someone else to listen in. Instead of sending radio waves bouncing all over creation, this uses the focused light of a laser to transmit audio. In the image above you can see the silver cylinder which houses the laser diode. It is focusing the beam on a light dependent resistor to the right which looks almost like a red LED … [Read more...]
Subscribe for weekly videos
Recent comments