Thundercats, HO!

June 26, 2013 by Brian Benchoff 1 Comment

[Tony Swatton], blacksmith, armorer, and prop maker, has built hundreds of custom swords for hundreds of movies and TV shows. He’s also the maker behind Man at Arms, the YouTube series where weapons from your favorite shows and movies are recreated, be they improbable weapons from a James Bond movie or a sword from a cartoon. This time, he recreated the Sword of Omens from Thundercats. It’s a work of art in its own right, and amazingly practical for a cartoon sword.

The Sword of Omens is one of [Tony]’s more complex sword making endeavors he’s done. The grip is made of seven different pieces cast in bronze, while the hilt of the sword is over a dozen of different pieces of steel welded together. The jewel in the sword was cut from a piece of glass, carefully ground on a lapidary wheel to a perfect dome.

Of course, this isn’t the only weapon from popular media that [Tony] has crafted. He’s also done Oddjob’s hat from James Bond and Finn’s golden sword of battle from Adventure Time.

Prototyping A Maglev Train Using LEGO

June 26, 2013 by Mike Szczys 20 Comments

lego-maglev

Serious research using not-so-serious equipment? We don’t know about that. What’s wrong with using LEGO as a research platform for a Maglev? This team has been doing so for quite some time and with great results.

A Maglev is a vehicle based on the principles of magnetic levitation. Similar poles of magnets repel each other and this concept can be used to create a friction-less track system. But this raises the problems of braking and locomotion. The build log linked above covers the conception in what is the eighth iteration of the research project. But the video below offers the most concise explanation of their approach to these issues.

The researchers are using magnets positioned in trench of the track as a kind of magnetic gear to push against. A series of electromagnets on the Lego vehicle ride in that track. The can be energized, working as a linear motor to push against those permanent magnets. But how do you know which direction of travel this will cause? That problem was solved by adding a hall effect sensor between each electromagnet. Before switching on the coil the hall effect sensors are polled and a timing scheme is selected based on their value. This is used to push the train up to speed, as well as slow it down for braking.

Continue reading “Prototyping A Maglev Train Using LEGO” →

The Ondes Martenot; Better Than A Theremin

June 25, 2013 by Brian Benchoff 12 Comments

Monotrondes+logo

[Ville] loves the sound of an ondes martenot and decided to build his own. No, it’s not made of vacuum tubes like a 1920s original, this one is made out of a cheap, off-the-shelf analog synth and just a few extra parts.

The ondes martenot is a theremin-like musical instrument; instead of waving your hands around aerials on the theremin, the ondes uses a small ring attached to the player’s finger on a wire loop and a volume lever. The ondes isn’t a common instrument by any means, but Radiohead uses ~~one~~ several in any event.

[Ville] began his build by taking a small, cheap, and new Korg Monotron analog ribbon synth, cracking it open, and reading the schematics. A 100k multiturn pot was wired into the monotron and fastened to a printed paper keyboard with a system of pulleys and a small metal ring. With the multiturn pot wired into the pitch input on the monotron, [Ville] had a semi-accurate and very functional ondes martenot replica.

You can hear [Ville]’s ondes in action after the break. It’s a little rough starting out, but by the time he’s looping multiple phrases it really does sound wonderful.

Continue reading “The Ondes Martenot; Better Than A Theremin” →

Chest Freezer Kegerator Conversion Has Six Beers On Tap

June 25, 2013 by Mike Szczys 17 Comments

keg-freezer-conversion

Drawing a pitcher of frosty cold beer out of your own keg fridge is a liberating feeling which [Danodemano2] can enjoy all the time since he pulled off this 6-tap chest freezer conversion. You won’t have to kill yourself to get it done, this image shows the custom cuff sitting between the chest freezer body and lid which is where all the added hardware is anchored.

Chest freezers are popular because they’re efficient. And let’s face it, if you’re going to devote an appliance to storing cold beer you better make certain it doesn’t drive up utility bills. That’s the reason for the rigid foam insulation around the ring, with the spray foam to ensure energy isn’t lost around the openings in the wooden frame.

This design goes above and beyond the functionality from the last offering we looked at. That one had a pretty nice tile job, but the finished wood contrasts the black freezer very nicely on this one. It’s the PC fan used for circulation and the properly terminated wiring that we really like. The one thing we wonder about is the feasibility of fitting all six corneilus kegs and the carbon dioxide tank into this beast.

[via Reddit]

Life Sized Katamari Damacy Ball Controls Game But Isn’t Sticky

June 25, 2013 by Mike Szczys 9 Comments

life-sized-katamari-damacy

If you haven’t ever heard of Katamari Damacy we highly recommend you unite a copy of the game with that PlayStation 2 console that’s been collecting dust and then kiss the rest of your summer goodbye. The quirky game, driven by remarkably catchy background music (Na Naaaaah na na…), revolves around a ball that attracts objects of every kind to it. As you accumulate more stuff the ball goes from the size of a mouse to that of a house and then some. Perhaps the biggest appeal of the game is playing it with groups of people and that’s where this hack hits the mark. It brings the game outdoors to a festival in London with video projected on a wall and this life-sized ball as the controller.

The project uses the same electronics laid out by the original work coming out of NYC Resistor back in 2009. That project originally wanted to use a 36″ yoga ball but they couldn’t quite hit the mark. This attempt did make it happen. The ball was decorated in the style of the game (also note the presenters are in costume). Guts from an optical mouse detect the motion. This is processed by an Arduino board which then uses a digital potentiometer to mimic the joystick movements on a PS2 controller.

Continue reading “Life Sized Katamari Damacy Ball Controls Game But Isn’t Sticky” →

Tearing Apart An Organ And Making A MIDI Keyboard

June 25, 2013 by Brian Benchoff 5 Comments

pedul

What do you do if you’re in a band and have an old, dead organ lying around? Build a MIDI foot controller, of course.

After dispensing of the old organ guts, [Mark] mounted the pedals in a handsome road case and started working on the electronics. His first inclination was to mount an Arduino Pro Mini on a piece of stripboard, but after that failed decided to learn Eagle and fabricate a PCB. each key of the organ pedals are connected to a switch read by the Arduino which sends data to a Korg Microsampler over MIDI.

The swell pedal from the organ was also reused, but because the old incandescent light in the pedal was toast, this was replaced with an LED. It still works, allowing [Mark] to do volume swells on his new, fancy, MIDI foot controller.

You can check out a video of the controller below.

Continue reading “Tearing Apart An Organ And Making A MIDI Keyboard” →

LED Tie Plays Tetris

June 25, 2013 by Brian Benchoff 10 Comments

tetris

[Bill] has been working with a gaggle of 8th graders this summer at a STEM camp, impressing them with his geeky attire such as an 8-bit and PCB ties, and an LED illuminated lab coat. The adolescent tinkerers asked him what he would be wearing on the last day. Not wanting to let the kids down, he whipped up an LED Tetris tie in an evening.

The Tetris board is a 20 x 4 grid of WS2811 based RGB LED strips, controlled by a Digispark dev board. Structurally, the tie is just two bits of card stock with the electronic bits sandwiched in between. and taped to a cheap clip-on. In the video below, the tie doesn’t have any sort of input to control the movement and rotation of blocks. [Bill] plans to update his tie with some rudimentary AI so it can play itself.

All the code is over on [Bill]’s git. It’s still a work in progress, but from the STEM student’s reaction, there’s a lot of potential in this tie.

Continue reading “LED Tie Plays Tetris” →