Microwave Oven Foundry

microwave oven foundry

microwave oven + metal = fun

our pal barb dybwad from the unofficial apple weblog sent us this link.   (Editor from the far future: try the Wayback Machine).  david reid discusses a cheap and easy method for melting and casting metals in a common microwave.  apparently, this method requires only very minor modifications to the oven and is able to reach temperatures of around 1000 degrees celcius, thereby melting small amounts of cast iron.  i find this amazing since i still can’t figure out how to thaw the center of a frozen burrito of similar external temperature.  it looks like there is still some hacking to be done to find a process capable of melting steel, so i’ll leave that as an exercise for the reader.

when you are done making pewter army men, you may also want to check out the detailed photos of barb’s new mac mini.  lucky!

Continue reading “Microwave Oven Foundry”

Radio Controlled Airplane From A Micro R/c Car

mini r/c plane

hackaday reader dan really made my day by sending us a great hack that shows you how to turn a microsizer/bitchar-g/zipzap micro r/c car into a 2 channel airplane for a total cost of $35.

those cars cost about $10, are incredibly tiny, and you can find them everywhere.  that’s definitely worth considering next time you want some sort of r/c functionality in your own hack.

update: page has moved to a new url.  i’ve linked to it below.

Continue reading “Radio Controlled Airplane From A Micro R/c Car”

How-to Make A ‘usb Battery’

usb battery

found out yesterday that there’s a shuffle shortage and gadget battery life can only be expected to get worse.  bummer.  at least you can make the most of your waiting-for-shuffle blues and solder yourself a ‘usb battery’.  this little gizmo runs off a 9 volt battery and supplies your favorite little device with the proper 5 volts of mobile power.

in lieu of running an ipod off of it, i tested it with an mpx220 smartphone and it should work fine with any low power mobile device that can charge via usb cable.  read more for instructions on how to make your own.

Continue reading “How-to Make A ‘usb Battery’”

Hack Your New Mac

mac mini

it’s begun.  you may have seen news of the ipod shuffle disassembly on engadget earlier this week, and now the mac mini is subject to hacking as well.

to begin hacking an ipod shuffle, follow the disassembly photos here.
to begin hacking a mac mini, view how to safely open the case here.

regarding the shuffle disassembly, i’d recommend you don’t remove the navigation pad if you ever intend to reassemble the device.  as for the mac mini, supposedly opening and servicing the machine won’t void your warranty.

unless you break something.

happy hacking and make sure to send us your creations.  we’ll be posting our own, so it only seems fair.  if you can’t find the time to create, send in any ideas you have and we’ll put our team of highly skilled hackers to work.

here are some examples to get the ideas flowing:

  • mac mini media player

  • external battery pack for the shuffle

  • integrated shuffle or mac mini car audio or navigation system

  • the most mini mac mini

Continue reading “Hack Your New Mac”