[Eduard] was kind enough to pass along this airport express psu repair how-to (Translated version). The old Airport had those pesky capacitor issues. Apparently the power supply in the little buggers can have issues. The solution? Add a pile of voltage regulators and some smoothing caps to get things powered back up. No word on how the new PSU affects sound output.
Month: December 2006
DIY Canon Lenses
Remember the cheap tilt-shift lens? [Rodolfo] let me know about his set of modded Canon lenses on Flickr. The FD 50mm prime is pretty cheap off ebay – he removed the FD mount and uses it sans rear-end. We’ve seen a nicer version of this before. His macro lens caught my eye – it’s a combination of a cheap F/1.8 50mm and the handy, but cheap EF-S kit lens that comes with the Rebel XT series. (I might have to make one of those) Finally, we have the most original legal use for a Chinese lantern and duct tape that I’ve seen. It’s like the tilt shift, but the addition of the 50mm creates some interesting effects. Hit up wikipedia If you want to know more about the EF/EF-S mounts and adaptation issues.
OpenTom – Roll Your Own TomTom Distro
TomTom already runs Linux. The OpenTom project (Internet Archive Link as of 2022) has documented the hardware and software to allow custom software builds to run. The Wiki covers everything from build tools to hardware connections. So far, a mp3 player has been released using the build tools. Hmm, I might have to pick one up to develop on myself.
Thanks to [kniVes788] for the tip.
The Simpler USB2LCD
USB LCD interfaces aren’t new around here. [John] sent this latest one. It uses a single ATMega chip and a few cheap components to implement the whole thing. The venerable HD44780 compatible is the text LCD of choice.
I’m on vacation at the moment, but I’ll start putting up some Hack-A-Day design challenge entries pretty soon.
Atmega Oscope
[Jason] sent in a couple tips, and this diy oscilloscope caught my eye. This design uses the A/D sampler on the ATmega to generate the signal for presentation on a regular CRT television. The sample limit is less than 16khz. Not terribly impressive, but not too shabby either.
Speedy2 R/C Speed Controller
Alrighty, this is a pretty straight forward one. [Jason] discovered our tips line – he sent in quite a bit of stuff. I scored a pair of $120+ RC cars for $25 each recently, and this would come in handy. In fact, the store drone that checked me out didn’t believe that I could build my own speed controllers cheaper than they $30 units they had on the shelf. This R/C car speed controller uses a SMD pic 16F84 accepts standard servo input from a stock controller. It uses several fets to drive a motor at up to 40 amps. Everything you need, including eagle cad files is included in the zip file.
(I’m down in San Antonio this week – so far it’s been fun. I finally picked up a panavise junior and restocked my heat shrink and soldering supplies. )
Design Challenge Deadline
Just an official heads up – the deadline for the Design Challenge is up. We recieved some great entries and we’ll be reviewing them on Hack-A-Day as we wind up to our announcement of the winner. (Yes, if you submitted an entry, you’ll get some coverage) Thanks for all your efforts!