Author: Inderpreet Singh

110 Articles

Vintage Vending Machine Makes The Perfect Gift

April 30, 2017 by 10 Comments

Nothing says ‘I Love You’ like an old vending machine, and if it is a restored and working vintage Vendo V-80 cola dispenser then you have yourself a winner. [Jan Cumps] from Belgium was assigned the repair of the device in question by a friend. He started off with just a working refrigerator and no electronics. In a series of repairs, he began with replacing the mechanical coin detector’s switches with optical and magnetic sensors to detect the movement of the coin. These sensors are in turn connected to an Arduino which drives the dispensing motor. The motor itself had to be rewound as part of the repair. Since the project is on a deadline, the whole thing is finished using protoboards and through-hole parts. The final system works by dispensing one frosty bottle every time a coin is inserted.

In contrast to most vending machine repairs, this project was a simple one. Instead of using an off-the-shelf coin detector, a simple LED and photodiode pair brought the hack to life. This could easily be adapted to any machine and even be used to create a DIY vending machine on the cheap.  Continue reading “Vintage Vending Machine Makes The Perfect Gift” →

The Connected Calculator With ESP8266

April 29, 2017 by 12 Comments

Calculator hacks have been around for a while now and we have seen the most action around the Texas Instruments TI-83 and TI-84. When [johnkimdinh] found a way to add an ESP8266 to a scientific calculator (machine translation) and this time around it’s a Kenko FX-82M calculator which appears eerily similar to the Casio FX-82M.

In his video, [johnkimdinh] demonstrates his hack which has a web interface for transmitting numbers to the calculator. This is accomplished by accessing the keypad using the ESP8266 GPIOs and it is essentially the equivalent of typing remotely. The rest of the circuit remains intact so bit more work and the other functions should be available remotely as well.

Perhaps this hack is best suited as a dedicated display for outputting measurements and other data which requires some type of post-processing to be human readable. If the next iteration delivers the ability to read from the display we’ll really be getting somewhere. We envision such calculators being used as the future of education where the connectivity is used to retrieve an array of real time parameters for assignments. Add a few sensors into the mix and it could be the next big thing for STEM.

In the past, we have had calculators brought to life to do vector and matrix math and ESP8266s connected to TI-84 calculators. After all, everyone has calculators, they simply must be hacked!

Continue reading “The Connected Calculator With ESP8266” →

Heavy Metal Detectors

April 25, 2017 by 14 Comments

Helsinki has a strong underground Heavy Metal scene, so what better way to show it off than to have listeners literally unearth the local sounds themselves with converted metal detectors that play, naturally, Metal? [Steve Maher] built these modified detectors and handed them to a bunch of participants who went on exploratory walks around the city. The tracks from local bands changed as the user moved from one concealed metallic object to the other to create the experience of discovering the hidden soundscape of the land.  Continue reading “Heavy Metal Detectors” →

Lens Mount

X-Ray Imaging Camera Lens Persuaded To Join Micro Four Thirds Camera

April 22, 2017 by 16 Comments

Anyone who is into photography knows that the lenses are the most expensive part in the bag. The larger the aperture or f-stop of the lens, the more light is coming in which is better for dimly lit scenes. Consequently, the price of the larger glass can burn a hole in one’s pocket. [Anthony Kouttron] decided that he could use a Rodenstock TV-Heligon lens he found online and adapt it for his micro four-third’s camera.

The lens came attached to a Fischer Imaging TV camera which was supposedly part of the Fluorotron line of systems used for X-ray imaging. We find [Anthony’s] exploration of the equipment, and discovery of previous hacks by unknown owners, to be entertaining. Even before he begins machining the parts for his own purposes, this is an epic teardown he’s published.

Since the lens was originally mounted on a brass part, [Anthony Kouttron] knew that it would be rather easy to machine the custom part to fit standardized lens adapters. He describes in detail the process for cleaning out the original mount by sanding, machining and threading it. Along the way you’ll enjoy his tips on dealing with a part that, instead of being a perfect circle on the outside, had a formidable mounting tab (which he no longer needed) protruding from one side.

The video after the break shows the result of shooting with a very shallow depth of field. For those who already have a manual lens but lack the autofocus motor, a conversion hack works like a charm as well.

Continue reading “X-Ray Imaging Camera Lens Persuaded To Join Micro Four Thirds Camera” →

Process for Fused Silica Glass stereoslithography

3D Printing Glass Using Stereolithography

April 21, 2017 by 18 Comments

3D printing is one of the best things that has happened to the maker community in recent years, however the resulting output has always been prone to damage when used in high temperature applications or places where the part may be exposed to corrosive chemicals. In a recent paper titled “Three-dimensional printing of transparent fused silica glass“, [Kolz, F et. al.] have proposed a method which uses stereolithography printers to create glass objects that can be used in research applications where plastic just won’t cut it.

When we say stereolithography you probably think of resin printing, but it refers to the general use of light beams to chain molecules together to form a solid polymer. The researchers here use amorphous silica nanoparticles as a starting point that is later cured by UV light creating a polymerized composite. This structure is then exposed to high temperatures of 1300 °C resulting in models consisting of pure fused silica glass. This means that the part has excellent thermal and chemical properties, and is also optically compatible with research grade equipment.

Continue reading “3D Printing Glass Using Stereolithography” →