[Daniel] at diybookscanner.org posted a roundup of the best automatic book scanner builds to date. A lot of the comments on our last coverage of book scanners were summed up by [Spork] with, “No automatic page turning = no use.” Turning a page in a book with a robot is really hard, though, and these builds do a really amazing job at automating very tedious work.

First up is [jck57]‘s servo actuated auto scanner. From the video, this build is very good and we caught it skipping only one page. Check out the video in action and the overview.

Next up is the Berlin Hackerspace c-base’s vacuum box scanner. The video shows a large diamond-shaped box with a vacuum cleaner hose attached to the top. The box is pressed down into the binding of the book where the vacuum picks up the next page. The build is a manual version of this very expensive machine, but does have the bonus of not poking a centuries-old book with robotic manipulators.

[dtic] was one of the first people to look into automatic page turning. His prototype (video here) uses servos, but has a very simple construction. The downside is that the book can only scan one side of the book at a time; to get other side, the user would have to turn the book upside down and scan it again.

Project Gado was an unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign whose goal was to develop a scanner to archive photos at Johns Hopkins University. The build used a vacuum-powered suction cup to lift pages onto a flatbed scanner. It’s a lot slower than some of the other builds, but we think there would be less of a risk of skipping a page.

As for processing the images captured by a digital camera, [Steve]‘s book scan wizard handles a lot of the necessary post processing tasks. Converting everything to a PDF, changing the DPI, and putting all the pages in order can be done with [Steve]‘s app. Download here.

Turning a page of a book is a very hard problem – books are designed for hands, not grippers. If you’ve got a book scanner build you’d like to show off, send it in on the tip line. We’ll be sure to put it up.

When the idea of an engine hacks theme was being kicked around at Hack a Day, the subject of rocket engines was one of the first to come up. There was a problem though; solid rocket motors are far too common to be interesting, and even hybrid rocket engines are becoming passé. We’ve never seen a liquid-fuel rocket build before, so that’s what this roundup evolved into.

First up is [Robert Watzlavick], who has been has been building liquid fueled engines for the last decade. He started out with an uncooled kerosene/LOX whose death is seen in the title pic for this post. Lately he’s been working on a monster of an engine that is projected to deliver over 1,000 Newtons of thrust. As with many of the early rockets that launched man into space, [Robert] uses kerosene and liquid oxygen for fuel. This man knows his stuff.

Next up is a ‘kit’ liquid fuel rocket, the SS67B-3, that’s based on the German WWII Taifun missile. This engine is about as basic as you can get. There’s one fuel tank that holds both the Hydrogen Peroxide oxidizer and gasoline fuel. Both are blasted into the combustion chamber with pressurized gas. we found a write-up on this kit with some good pictures, but no video.

If high pressures, glowing metal, and huge flames pique your interest, there’s also a fabulous e-book (PDF warning) available that is a reprint of How to Design, Build and Test Small Liquid-Fuel Rocket Engines by [Leroy J. Krzyck]. This book was originally written in 1967, but lathes and mills haven’t changed that much over the past 44 years. Why not give it a go? There’s still plenty of time to complete the build before the 100th anniversary of Goddard’s first flight.

[Denha's] been building marble machines for years and decided to look a back on some of his favorite marble-based builds  (translated). There’s a slew of them, as well as some thoughts about each. Our favorite part is the digital simulations of the projects. For instance, the image above shows a flip-flop marble machine that was built in a physics simulator. This makes it a lot easier to plan for the physical build as it will tell you exact dimensions before you cut your first piece of material. Both of these images were pulled from videos which can be seen after the break. But this isn’t the most hard-core of pre-build planning. SolidWorks, a CAD suite that is most often used to design 3D models for precision machining, has also been used to model the more intricate machines.

[via Make]

If you’re an avid Hackaday reader chances are that you immediately recognized [Matthias Wandel's] name. He’s been featured many many times to go along with his many many talents. Most notably, his ability to do some amazing things with wood. But really, it’s the idea that counts, and he seems to have a duffle bag full of them. [Rachel adn Justin] over at WonderHowTo recently published a full interview with Mattias. In it he shares his thoughts on where some of these ideas come from, how he approaches his projects, and even shares some advice for those just getting started.

This is usually the time where we make a witty remark and try to work in links to feature articles from the past. If we were limited to just one it would be pretty tough (although there’s a special place in our hearts for the wasp sucker). Luckily we’re not limited, so here’s a list of some of [Matthias'] projects which Hackaday covered previously:

• The Wasp Sucker
• DIY disc duplicator
• Ball bearing playground
• How to build a bandsaw
• LEGO domino placer
• Wooden keyboard case
• One-pin dot-matrix printer
• Wooden binary adder

Today we have a special treat, three projects combining the “fastest selling consumer electronics device”, Kinect, and the “fastest selling indie java game that once kept us from sleeping for an entire weekend”, Minecraft!

[Sean Oczkowski] writes in to tell us about his efforts to play Minecraft with Kinect using no more than the OpenKinect Java wrapper on Ubuntu.  The code was written in about 4 days with some help from Wikipedia.  Using  histograms to locate the player in the field of view, the script calculates the center mass of the body and defines interactions for the limb occupying that quadrant of the screen. [Sean] does an excellent job of running through the whole process as well as the decisions made along the way. The whole thing is a bit like running in place, and we can’t imagine the flailing that will occur during the inevitable creeper encounter.

Next we have  [Wade McGillis] with his award winning Minecraft Kinect Controller. [Wade] provides source code and executables at his site. This version of control uses skeletal tracking data to sense the user’s gestures. This still involves holding your hands out like a zombie but it is a bit more versatile as one can pass their arms in front of their own body.

Finally [Nathan Viniconis] has been doing some very interesting work using the Kinect to import giant three dimensional models into the game world. [Nathan] then goes the extra mile and animates the figures! Check out the video below for the really impressive results. We here at Hackaday feel that this is the most appropriate use of this technology, and may begin building gigantic statues of ourselves on public servers.

Check out the the tricrafta (minefecta?) of videos after the jump!

The end is near and Lifehacker is looking back on their favorite how-to articles from 2010. We found at least half of these interesting, including the hidden HTPC, lockpicking, and micro-TV-b-gone showcased in the image above. But you can also find tips on using your WRT54G router, stacking malted beverages, and making things glow through chemistry. If your heart goes out to our plague carrying house-mates there’s a no-kill mouse trap. They’ve even included a hack to add a USB port to your car… an article which we covered back in 2009. Enjoy!

You’ve probably been fantasizing about getting amazing gifts this December, like robots with servo-mounted laser pointers and authentic battle damage. It’s time to realize that it’s unlikely that this will happen. Stay calm. You can still get sweet hacky things if you just forward this gift-giving guide to your friends and loved ones.

Join us after the break to see what we want and be sure to let us know what you’ve got your eye on.

Basic Tools

Everyone needs a good set of tools, but a depressing number of people lack even the most basic elements of an electronics workshop. Teeth may have served you for years but we highly recommend an adjustable wire stripper (fun fact: if you dress it up with googly eyes it looks like a dinosaur). This pair of flush cutters is honestly the most fulfilling hand tool available, making every hacking session a cathartic series of precise snips. For the ultimate experience consider the ever-useful electronics multitool. You can’t very well make good use of these tools without good visibility, so shed some light on the situation with the humble clamp lamp and its more capable cousin, the magnifying clamp lamp.

Luxurious Options

If you’re more of a martinis-and-caviar hacker you can spare some cash for fancy kits like those drool-worthy makerbot apparatuses or the succulent-sounding synth kits from PAiA. For a homegrown approach, you could put together simple kits for your own project ideas–a perfect excuse to teach the little ones how to solder!

Development Platforms

Nothing beats the narcotic possibilities of powerful general-purpose hardware. For an affordable and pint-sized software dev machine this Dell Mini comes to mind, great for a hackintosh. Does your hacker giftee really want a dog but can’t handle the constant stream of cleanups? Give them a beagleboard and encourage them to build a no-mess robopuppy. If you’re comfortable giving a child’s toy to a grown adult, don’t forget the ever-hackable furby. For a more personalized approach we recommend hacking a dancing santa from the local department store and converting it into a terrifying and festive Santapede gift–win prizes while you’re at it, but you’d better have it done by November 30th!

Undecided?

You can always go the route of gift certificates and let people pick out their own gift, you uncreative buffoon, to juicy sites like Adafruit, Seeed Studios, Sparkfun, Macetech. seeedstudio, littlebirdelectronics, and MakerSHED.

If you have more gift ideas please for goodness sakes share them in the comments! We all need to band together, some of us are really sweating about the holiday season. Whatever hacky loot you end up distributing, don’t forget to include the greatest hack of all: love.

Ask any engineer what originally sparked their interest in technology, and almost universally the response will be a Hollywood film or TV robot — Star Wars’ R2-D2, the B9 robot from Lost in Space, or Short Circuit’s Johnny 5, to name a few. Engineers need a creative outlet too, and some pay homage to their inspirations by building elaborate reproductions. At this year’s Maker Faire, droid-builders had their own corner in the center hall, their work ranging from humble craft materials to ’bots surpassing their film counterparts in detail and workmanship.

Probably the most beloved film robot of all time would be R2-D2, and probably the best-known reproductions originate from the R2-D2 Builders Club, who’ve been profiled in Make and Servo magazines, among others. Every kid’s dreamed of building their own R2, perhaps from a wastepaper basket and scrap, but the club’s astromech droids are anything but kid stuff, with machined aluminum domes and intricate motor and sound systems. The club doesn’t sell robots — that would infringe on trademarks — but they do share techniques and component plans. The finished droids (are they ever really finished?) put in appearances at fan conventions and charity events.

Danger Will Robinson! Career inventor [Andrew Filo] has been engineering practical everyday items for three decades, but he cuts loose by bringing his early inspirations to life. His carefully-researched reproductions include an Apollo-era NASA spacesuit and a talking, walking…er, rolling…B9 robot.

Self-described recluse [ELS] is a builder and collector of film props and reproductions. Though he insists his Robby and B9 aren’t perfectly canon, you’d never know by looking; the detail and finish on these two was amazing. Robby is wearable, and periodically through the weekend he’d climb into the suit and entertain a new generation who otherwise might not be acquainted with this Hollywood classic.

[Matthew Ebisu] is obsessed with all things Pixar. As one of the younger makers exhibiting, [Matthew’s] materials may be simpler, but his enthusiasm more than fills the gap. He’s built — and launched — Carl Fredricksen’s house from Up in miniature form. It didn’t quite reach South America, but did net him a pen pal in Nevada. His Autopilot and Eve droids from Wall-E are more craft than tech, so his latest project, along with a gaggle of like-minded friends on his D.I.Y. Pixar fan site, is to develop a working Wall-E robot.

So readers — is there a favorite Hollywood ’bot to credit for your passion for this hacking madness? And have you built one yet? A HAL-9000 in your kitchen? Tell us about it in the comments, or if you have a build log posted online somewhere, drop us a link at tips@hackaday.com.

Since the previously-posted stills can’t quite convey the chaos of last weekend’s Maker Faire, here’s some video from the event to help get you through hump day. It’s like three liters of Jolt Cola in a two liter bottle.

One thing even video can’t adequately capture is our gratitude toward our readers at the show who took time to express their appreciation for the blog. You guys and gals rock our world. Thank you!

Just when you think it couldn’t possibly get any bigger and crazier, they manage to outdo themselves again. The Bay Area Maker Faire wrapped up Sunday evening, but we have so many story leads that we’ll probably be busy until next year’s event. In the meantime, here’s just a tiny, random sampling of the countless delights that greeted visitors this past weekend.

Setup day was the only time we could get a clear shot of the Hermes space shuttle, [Morris Jarvis’] entry in the suborbital tourist space race.

Early Saturday morning, the line stretches to infinity and beyond.

At the other side of the fairgrounds, scads of locals took advantage of the free bike valet service and scored a $5 admission discount to boot. And this view shows only about half of the bikes present! We only spotted one recumbent parked out here, but quite a few inside as maker exhibits.

So much walking! This kid had the right idea, scooting around in luxury.

It’s not a Bay Area party until the original Doggie Diner heads show up!

Robots were everywhere this year. Of course the R2 Builders Club was on hand…

…but there were no Wookiees present to play chess against this robotic arm.

A row of Anybots, all ready to take up their overlord duties.

Our favorite giraffe joined the rave, replete with his new animatronic head.

The Mondo Spider, like its smaller biological inspiration, manages to be simultaneously fascinating and potentially deadly. It is, however, anything but silent.

Back outside, this MIDI-controlled pneumatic dinosaur alternately entertained and terrified children. We were hoping to witness a one-on-one battle against…

…Saphira, the fire-breathing dragon! Rar!

Nearby, [Haley Duke’s] Swamp Kirin puppet loomed over fairgoers. Kirin, we just discovered, appear to be mortal enemies of efficient JPEG compression.

[Todd Williams’] Land Shark is an animated EL wire-framed skeleton atop a large radio controlled car chassis — a great effect in the dark!

We seem to be on a bitey creature kick. Here, have a Velociraptor head popped out of a commercial ABS extrusion 3D printer.

We posted about the DIYLILCNC mill late last year. What struck us when finally seeing it in person is how it’s anything but li’l. This thing bullies RepRaps and takes their lunch money!

They were even making something in the Maker Shed store. What exactly? We’ll give you a hint: it’s printed with green ink on the back. Man, they got us good. Went in needing just one Parallax RFID reader, and somehow couldn’t leave before spending the equivalent GNP of Guam.

This is here just for blog cred.

Our hats are off — again — to SparkFun Electronics. These guys could’ve easily brought enough merchandise to bankroll their retirement from this one show. Instead, they taught kids how to solder. How cool is that?

FPGA pr0n from Art Magnitude’s ORB v.2, a persistence-of-vision globe on a grand scale.

There was always a line waiting to play with Tangile interaction’s digital graffiti wall.

This way to the egress!

If we’ve overlooked or glossed over your favorite subject or display, it may be that we’re expecting to cover it in more detail in the future. Keep your eyes peeled for more wild stuff here!

If you’re like us you’ve got quite a few prototyping tools that are bare PCB boards. If you’re using them a lot you might want to protect them with some type of case but the lack of mounting holes can make this difficult. One popular solution to this problem is to design a case for a perfect fit, then cut it with a laser or print it out of plastic. We’ve got examples of both.

[Stewart Allen] set to work designing laser cut cases for the AVR Dragon and the Bus Pirate V2go after seeing our post about on-the-go prototyping. We think this is especially important if you have an AVR Dragon as it’s been known to bite the dust if the bottom is shorted out. If you have access to a laser cutter you can download is DXF files and the models and cut your own.

If you don’t have a laser cutter but can get some time with a 3D printer check out the Bus Pirate V2go printed case and the Arduino printed case.

Let’s face it, the original Xbox is ugly. It might have looked cool when it first came out but now most would be embarrassed to display that old beast with the rest of their entertainment hardware. This is unfortunate because the old girl still has some life in her. If you have tools, time, and talent you can give the box a facelift and bring it back to see the light of day. We’ve got six of our favorite Xbox to Home Theater PC hacks after the break to inspire you.

Xbox mini by [Ghostavel]

This case was designed in autocad and laser cut from acrylic. The DVD drive was and the HDD swapped for an 80gig laptop drive to save space. A different heat sink and fan added to both the GPU and processor to keep this puppy cool and quiet. To the right in the foreground you can make out a tiny PSU.

Pioneer DVD Case by [Barney_1]

DVD players are designed to sit in your entertainment center and that’s why they’ve been a popular home for Xbox guts. This hack removed the standard AV connector from the Xbox board and routes those solder points to the connections on a Pioneer DVD player case. An LCD display resides in the window for the DVD player’s display, and a PC DVD-Rom (not pictured above) takes the place of the original DVD tray. The power and eject buttons have been wired to work and the original IR receiver wired to the Xbox dongle, leaving the appearance (at least from the front) completely unaltered.

Xbox Slim by [Coca627]

This case is made from methacrylate. The hardware changes include a smaller PSU, a slim DVD-rom, laptop HDD, and added USB ports. WiFi and wireless controllers have been included in the design. The white is a nice touch and will complement that white Wii that looks lonely next to the rest of your black components.

Minibox by [Themikesssta]

This is more of a mod than a hack but it’s a pretty amazing one. On the hardware side he did remove some capacitors for less current draw during boot. The DVD and HDD have been swapped out for smaller ones and an LCD display has been added. The case is made from MDF but it’s the paint job that makes this look so good. There’s a total of five coats on this tiny box.

Xbox Micro by [Bandit5317]

We featured the Xbox Micro last year because it’s a marvel of slimness. It’s got a laptop HDD and long-thin PSU and almost nothing else. Some serious shoe-horning had to be done to make the package this thin, and the finished look greatly benefits from those efforts.

Svelte XBMC by [Richard Wileman]
There’s not much info on this case but we think it’s rather sexy so we’re throwing it in. As you can see, the DVD drive is gone, the HDD is smaller, and cooling has been upgraded with a fanless heat-sink and two case fans. The controller ports were rerouted to the rear of the case and the IR dongle has been built in for use with a remote control. The case cover has a grill above that massive heat sink and we’d be interested in finding out if both case fans are pumping air out of the case, in effect pulling a ton of cool air past the CPU.

Happy New Year and happy hacking to all. We had a great time last year exploring the creativity in the hacks that make the Internet a better place. Below you’ll find the nine most popular posts of the year here at Hackaday. Now’s the time to get working on that great project you’ve had in mind. Let us know once you’ve pulled it off and maybe you’ll be on this list next year!

1. Simple Xbox 360 rapid fire mod
2. BackTrack 4 Beta released
3. PSP 3000 firmware 5.03 hacked
4. Black Hat 2009: Parking meter hacking
5. How-to: USB remote control receiver
6. PSP 3000 hacked
7. Pandora’s battery (unbrick your PSP)
8. Nintendo DS homebrew guide
9. SheevaPlug, tiny linux server

First up is [J-J Shortcut's] MDF based CNC. He’s made three thus far, with the most recent costing about 180 euro and taking 2 months to build.

[Qwindelzorf] has also constructed a multitude of CNC machines including this industrial size router and this smaller miller.

Finally, [Mick's] large steel CNC which just made its first cut only a week ago!

Keep up the great work guys, CNC machines are not easy to build and your accomplishments are ones for the record books.

Cramming Bluetooth headset circuitry into an analog telephone body has become an extremely popular hack. With declines in the prices of these headsets, and older telephones being seen as storage-room-clutter this hack is just waiting for you to get started. Join us after the break for a look at what others have already accomplished.

Traditional:

The most common Bluetooth handset hack involves standard receivers. This is because they are relatively comfortable to hold and readily available. Chances are someone you know will give you an old phone for free if you just ask. Some of the important things to remember when sandwiching a Bluetooth headset into an old school handset is how to handle the buttons and how to charge the device. Some of these examples have routed the buttons and connector into the case of the phone, others just require the removal of the microphone cap for recharging. There’s no doubt that receivers #1, #2, #3, and #4 all achieve the desired retro look.

Unorthodox:

We’ve covered both of these hacks before. The whimsical iGiveUp handgun handset is a social disaster waiting to happen. But if you don’t mind court-mandated counseling give it a try yourself. For those who want a phone that can be used at the airport, the NES set is a safe bet and has the added bonus of allowing you to carry around an old school controller.

True Vintage:

We were quite surprised that we didn’t find more hacks that involve some really old phones. Then again, these are antiques that most would not dream of cracking open. This candlestick phone looks great, but we image it’s not as comfortable to use as the more common receivers we saw earlier.

Steam Punk:

These aren’t handsets and one of them doesn’t have any electronics in it at all! But we couldn’t finish this roundup without a mention of the Steam Punk styled Bluetooth headset. The earpiece on the right is a piece of jewelry by designer [Chris Cobalt]. Truthfully, we’re kind of sick of seeing people wearing ugly plastic headsets everywhere they go. Make a statement and use [Chris'] design as inspiration to customize your dongle.

Commercial:

Handset hacks turned out to be so popular that they’ve started to pop up on the commercial market. Above are two of the better renditions. On the left is a rotary phone model from SparkFun. To the right are two examples of Think Geek’s offering. There’s plenty more out there on eBay and the like, but don’t you want to be able to say “actually, I made it” when people ask where you got your geeky peripheral?