How To Control Your Cheap RC Car With A Computer

August 29, 2012 by Jeremy Cook 23 Comments

[Jon] wrote in to tell us about his programmable RC car, and the Howto guide that he’s made. According to him, this project can be constructed with $9 worth of parts plus an Arduino and a small toy car. So around $50 if you’re starting from scratch.

At it’s core, this project is about using the Arduino to allow your computer to send signals to the toy car. For this, [Jon] has included JAVA code that should be able to run on Mac, Linux, and PC operating systems. The Arduino code is also included.

Most small RC cars like those used in this project switch on at full speed or turn off, but this project allows the PC/Arduino to give the car PWM signals to control the speed. As pointed out in the video after the break, this can be a bit jerky at slow speed, but still a neat effect. A decent amount of soldering is required to get this project working, but it may be a good project especially if you have some of the parts already available! Continue reading “How To Control Your Cheap RC Car With A Computer” →

Forget Treating Your Diabetes – Use Your Insulin Syringe As A Logic Probe

August 29, 2012 by Mike Nathan 35 Comments

syringe-logic-probe

Hackaday reader [JumperOne] was in need of a logic probe that he could use to reliably test some tiny .5mm pitch IC pins. The probe that came with his oscilloscope was a bit too big and not near sharp enough to do the job, but he figured that a syringe might do the trick nicely.

He drilled a small hole near the business end of the syringe, through which he fed a piece of stripped twisted pair cabling. [JumperOne] then soldered a pair of pins to a small piece of coaxial cable, attaching the opposite end to the twisted pair already in the syringe. After carefully coiling the thin cable around the needle, he secured the coaxial cable and its pins in place with a bit of hot glue.

[JumperOne] says that his makeshift logic probe works very well and the sharp needle would easily pierce through any oxidation or solder mask that stands in its way. One extra benefit of using a syringe as a probe is that they come complete with caps which help protect both ends of the delicate tool.