Nixie Tube Dashboard Is Period-Appropriate Hack To Vintage Volvo

December 24, 2025 by 1 Comment

There’s no accounting for taste, but it’s hard to argue with The Autopian when they declare that this Nixie tube dash by [David Forbes] is “the coolest speedometer of all time” — well, except to quibble that it’s also the coolest tachometer, temperature gauge, oil pressure indicator, and voltmeter. Yeah, the whole instrument cluster is on [David]’s Volvo PV544 is nixified, and we’re here for it.

He’s using a mixture of tubes here– the big ones in the middle are the speedo and tachometer, while the ovals on either side handle the rest. There’s a microcontroller on the front of the firewall that acts a bit like a modern engine control unit (ECU) — at least for the gauges; it sounds like the Volvo’s engine is stock, and that means carbureted for a car of that vintage.

The idea that this hack could have been done back in the 50s when the car was new just tickles us pink. Though you’d have probably needed enough valves to fill up the boot, as our British friends would say. Translate that to “enough vacuum tubes to fill the trunk” if you’re in one of the rebellious colonies.

We’ve featured [David]’s projects previously, in the form of his wearable video coat. But his best known work is arguably the Nixie Watch, famously the timepiece of choice for Steve Wozniak.

Thanks to [JohnU] for the tip!

All images by Griffin Riley via The Autopian

Exploring Modern SID Chip Substitutes

December 23, 2025 by 1 Comment
The SIDKick Pico installed on a breadboard. (Credit: Ben Eater)
The SIDKick Pico installed on a breadboard. (Credit: Ben Eater)

Despite the Commodore 64 having been out of production for probably longer than many Hackaday readers have been alive, its SID audio chip remains a very popular subject of both retrocomputing and modern projects. Consequently a range of substitutes have been developed over the decades, all of which seek to produce the audio quality of one or more variants of the SID. This raises the question of which of these to pick when at first glance they seem so similar. Fret not, for [Ben Eater] did an entire video on comparing some modern SID substitutes and his thoughts on them.

First is the SIDKick Pico, which as the name suggests uses a Raspberry Pi Pico board for its Cortex-M0+ MCU. This contrasts with the other option featured in the video, in the form of the STM32F410-based ARMSID.

While the SIDKick Pico looks good on paper, it comes with a number of different configurations, some with an additional DAC, which can be confusing. Because of how it is stacked together with the custom PCB on which the Pi Pico is mounted, it’s also pretty wide and tall, likely leading to fitment issues. It also doesn’t work as a drop-in solution by default, requiring soldering to use the SID’s normal output pins. Unfortunately this led to intense distortion in [Ben]’s testing leading him to give up on this.

Meanwhile the ARMSID is about as boring as drop-in replacements get. After [Ben] got the ARMSID out of its packaging, noted that it is sized basically identical to the original SID and inserted it into the breadboard, it then proceeded to fire right up with zero issues.

It’s clear that the SIDKick Pico comes with a lot of features and such, making it great for tinkering. However, if all you want is a SID-shaped IC that sounds like a genuine SID chip, then the ARMSID is a very solid choice.

Thanks to [Mark Stevens] for the tip.

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Breathe Easy While Printing With This VOC Calculator

December 23, 2025 by No comments

We love 3D printing here, but we also love clean air, which produces a certain tension. There’s no way around the fact that printing produces various volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and that we don’t want to breathe those any more than necessary. Which VOCs, and how much? Well, [Jere Saikkonen] has created a handy-dandy calculator to help you guesstimate your exposure, or size your ventilation system, at least for FDM printing.

The emissions of most common FDM filaments are well-known by this point, so [Jere] was able to go through the literature and pull out values for different VOCs of concern like styrene and formaldehyde for ABS, PLA, Nylon, HIPS and PVA. We’re a bit disappointed not to see PETG or TPU on there, as those are common hobbyist materials, but this is still a great resource.

If you don’t like the numbers the calculator is spitting out, you can play with the air exchange rate setting to find out just how much extra ventilation you need. The one limitation here is that this assumes equilibrium conditions, which won’t be met save for very large prints. That’s arguably a good thing, since it errs on the side of over- rather than underestimating your exposure.

If you want to ground-truth this calculator, we’ve featured VOC-sensing projects before. If you’re convinced the solution to pollution is dilution, check out some ventilated enclosures. If you don’t want to share chemistry with the neighborhood, perhaps filtration is in order. 

Thanks to [Jere] for the tip!

Be Wary Of Flash-less ESP32-C3 Super Mini Boards

December 23, 2025 by 6 Comments

Everyone loves tiny microcontroller boards, and the ESP32-C3 Super Mini boards are no exception. Unfortunately if you just casually stroll over to your nearest online purveyor of such goods to purchase a bunch of them, you’re likely to be disappointed. The reason for this is, as explained in a video by [Hacker University] that these boards are equipped with any of the variants of the ESP32-C3. The worst offender here is probably the version with the ESP32-C3 without further markings, as this one has no built-in Flash for program storage.

Beyond that basic MCU version we can see the other versions clearly listed in the Espressif ESP32-C3 datasheet. Of these, the FN4 is already listed as EOL, the FH4AZ as NRND, leaving only the FH4 and FH4X with the latter as ‘recommended’ as the newest chip revision. Here the F stands for  built-in Flash with the next character for its temperature rating, e.g. H for ‘High’. Next is the amount of Flash in MB, so always 4 MB for all but the Flash-less variant.

Identifying this information from some online listing is anything but easy unless the seller is especially forthcoming. The chip markings show this information on the third row, as can be seen in the top image, but relying solely on a listing’s photos is rather sketchy. If you do end up with a Flash-less variant, you can still wire up an external Flash chip yourself, but obviously this is probably not the intended use case.

As always, caveat emptor.

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Old FM Radio Upcycled Into Classy Bluetooth Speaker

December 23, 2025 by 9 Comments

[Distracted by Design] loves gear from the 1980s, though some of it isn’t as useful as it used to be. He happened across a cheap old FM radio with a great look, but wanted to repurpose it into something more modern. Thus, he set about turning this cheap piece of old electronics into a stylish Bluetooth speaker.

All of the original electronics were stripped out, while the original speaker was kept since it neatly fit the case. Electronically, the build relies on a Bluetooth module harvested from an existing speaker. 3D-printed bracketry was used to fasten it neatly into place inside the radio housing, with the buttons neatly presented where the original radio had its tone and volume controls. Power is via an internal lithium-ion battery, charged over USB-C thanks to an off-the-shelf charging module.

Where the build really shines, though, is the detailing. The original cheap plastic handle was replaced with a CNC-machined wooden piece, bolted on with machined aluminium side plates. Similarly, the original clear plastic tuning window was replaced with another tasteful piece of wood that dropped perfectly into place. At the back, the charge port is nicely integrated. Where the radio formerly had a removable door for the power cable storage, it now has a machined aluminium plate hosting the USB-C charge port. Little 3D-printed button actuators were also used to integrate the Bluetooth module’s controls into the case.

It’s a very stylish build, overall. Perhaps the one area it’s a let down is in the sound quality. The ancient speaker simply doesn’t sound great compared to modern Bluetooth speakers and their finely-tuned, bassy audio. However, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing—sometimes it’s nice to have an audio source with a limited frequency response. It can be nice for use in an area where you may want to be able to easily speak over the music.

If you want to build a Bluetooth speaker of your own, you might like to whip up an open-source design from scratch. Video after the break.

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Tackling Tremors With DIY Technology

December 23, 2025 by 4 Comments

[It’s Triggy!] had a problem to solve. His grandma was having issues with hand tremors, which made the basic tasks of daily life difficult to perform. He decided to explore whether a high-tech solution could help best the tremors and make life easier.

The video covers multiple ideas on how to stabilize a hand suffering involuntary tremors. The first build involved a gyroscope, which proved unsuccessful, but led to the idea of building a reaction wheel. The concept is simple — get the reaction wheel to counteract the forces from tremors to stabilize the hand. To achieve this, an accelerometer was employed to track the movements of the arm and the hand. The magnitude of the movement was then used to control a powerful brushless motor mounted on the wrist. If the tremor was driving a hard tilt to the left, the motor would spin up to create a counter-torque, cancelling out the involuntary movement. This worked to a degree, but the resulting device was large and noisy, which made it impractical.

This thus inspired a return to earlier work involving the use of a tuned mass damper to settle tremors. The combination of some 3D printed wrist mounts along with various spring and cantilever designs… ultimately didn’t work that well. By this point, [It’s Triggy!] had noticed the tremor was mostly in the hands, while the wrist stayed steady. Thus was inspired a wrist-mounted handle for the wearer to wrap their hand around. This allowed the use of simple handheld objects like kitchen utensils, with the wearer’s own grip suppressing the tremor successfully.

As this project demonstrates, sometimes high-tech solutions are the way to go, and other times… a more passive design will actually serve you better.

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Illustrated Kristina with an IBM Model M keyboard floating between her hands.

Keebin’ With Kristina: The One With The Ultimate Portable Split

December 23, 2025 by No comments

What do you look for in a travel keyboard? For me, it has to be split, though this condition most immediately demands a carrying solution of some kind. Wirelessness I can take or leave, so it’s nice to have both options available. And of course, bonus points if it looks so good that people interrupt me to ask questions.

A pair of hands poised above a blue split keyboard that packs easily for travel in a 3D-printed case. The case doubles as a laptop stand.
Image by [kleshwong] via YouTube
Depending on your own personal answers to this burning question, the PSKEEB 5 just may be your endgame. And, lucky for you, [kleshwong] plans to open source it soon. All he asks for is your support by watching the video below and doing the usual YouTube-related things.

You’ll see a couple of really neat features, like swing-out tenting feet, a trackpoint, rotary encoders, and the best part of all — a carrying case that doubles as a laptop stand. Sweet!

Eight years in the making, this is the fifth in a series, thus the name: the P stands for Portability; the S for Split. [kleshwong] believes that 36 keys is just right, as long as you have what you need on various layers.

So, do what you can in the like/share/subscribe realm so we can all see the GitHub come to pass, would you? Here’s the spot to watch, and  you can enjoy looking through the previous versions while you wait with your forks and stars.

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