A variety of LEGO and the damage they've done to cardboard.

Stepping On LEGO For Science

November 20, 2024 by Kristina Panos 2 Comments

You might say that the worst LEGO to step on is any given piece that happens to get caught underfoot, but have you ever thought about what the worst one would really be? For us, those little caltrops come to mind most immediately, and we’d probably be satisfied with believing that was the answer. But not [Nate Scovill]. He had to quantitatively find out one way or another.

And no, the research did not involve stepping on one of each of the thousands of LEGO pieces in existence. [Nate] started by building a test rig that approximated the force of his own 150 lb. frame stepping on each piece under scrutiny and seeing what it did to a cardboard substrate.

And how did [Nate] narrow down which pieces to try? He took to the proverbial streets and asked redditors and Discordians to help him come up with a list of subjects.

If you love LEGO to the point where you can’t bear to see it destroyed, then this video is not for you. But if you need to know the semi-scientific answer as badly as we did, then go for it. The best part is round two, when [Nate] makes a foot out of ballistics gel to rate the worst from the first test. So, what’s the worst LEGO to step on? The answer may surprise you.

And what’s more dangerous than plain LEGO? A LEGO Snake, we reckon.

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Boss Byproducts: Calthemites Are Man-Made Cave Dwellers

November 20, 2024 by Kristina Panos 6 Comments

Some lovely orange calthemite flowstone colored so by iron oxide from rusting steel reinforcing. Image via Wikipedia

At this point, we’ve learned about man-made byproducts and nature-made byproducts. But how about one that’s a little of both? I’m talking about calthemites, which are secondary deposits that form in those man-made caves such as parking garages, mines, and tunnels.

Calthemites grow both on and under these structures in forms that mimic natural cave speleothems like stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, and so on. They are often the result of an hyperalkalinic solution of pH 9-14 seeping through a concrete structure to the point of coming into contact with the air on the underside. Here, carbon dioxide in the air facilitates the necessary reactions to secondarily deposit calcium carbonate.

These calcium carbonate deposits are usually white, but can be colored red, orange, or yellow thanks to iron oxide. If copper pipes are around, copper oxide can cause calthemites to be blue or green. As pretty as all that sounds, I didn’t find any evidence of these parking garage growths having been turned into jewelry. So there’s your million-dollar idea.

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Illustrated Kristina with an IBM Model M keyboard floating between her hands.

Keebin’ With Kristina: The One With The Typo

November 18, 2024 by Kristina Panos 13 Comments

Ceci n’est pas une keyboard, sure. But it’s keyboard-adjacent, and how. [Joshua Bemenderfer]’s wrists are tired of moving off the keyboard in order to mouse, and he decided to create a trackball that can sit just below the Space bar. The idea is to get rid of the regular mouse entirely if this works out.

A split keyboard with a DIY trackball beneath the Space bar. — Image by [Joshua Bemenderfer] via Hackaday.IO

And sure, the Ploopy family of open-source mice would welcome him with open arms, but they don’t come cheap. [Joshua]’s plan here is to make something for under $10. Ideally, less than $5.

Starting with an off-the-shelf trackball, the first BOM came in around $25 if you throw in $5 for the 3D printing of the case. [Joshua] added some cheap ceramic bearings to make it better. Since this was still too high, he turned to the internals of cheap mice.

Trial and error has resulted in a 99-cent special from Ali being the idea candidate. There are even cheaper mice to be had, but this one has an ideal layout for doing a bit of surgery. It also requires remapping since [Joshua] is flipping the sensor upside down and using a POM ball on top of it. Now he just needs to figure out how to add buttons and make them split keyboard-friendly.

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Keebin’ With Kristina: The One With All The Espionage

November 11, 2024 by Kristina Panos 6 Comments

[Ziddy Makes] describes this cute little guy as a biblically-accurate keyboard. For the unfamiliar, that’s a reference to biblically-accurate angels, which have wings (and sometimes eyes) all over the place. They’re usually pretty scary to behold. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

A cube keyboard with adorably vibrant pastel keycaps. — Image by [Ziddy Makes] via GitHub

But this? This is the opposite of scary. Sure, there are keys everywhere. But it’s just so darn adorable. You know what? It’s those keycaps.

This 16-key macro cube uses a Pro Micro and a system of PH2 5p ribbon cables to connect the four four-key sisterboards to the main board. A 3D-printed base holds all the boards in place. Out of all the switches in the world, [Ziddy] chose Otemu Blues. Clack!

Although it may take some getting used to, this seems like it would be a fun way to input macros. I can see the case for putting some rubber feet on the bottom, otherwise it might scoot around on the desk. That might be cute, but only the first couple of times, you know?

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Boss Byproducts: Fulgurites Are Fossilized Lightning

October 29, 2024 by Kristina Panos 28 Comments

So far in this series, we’ve talked about man-made byproducts — Fordite, which is built-up layers of cured car enamel, and Trinitite, which was created during the first nuclear bomb test.

A fulgurite pendant. — A lovely fulgurite pendant. Image via Etsy

But not all byproducts are man-made, and not all of them are basically untouchable. Some are created by Mother Nature, but are nonetheless dangerous. I’m talking about fulgurites, which can form whenever lightning discharges into the Earth.

It’s likely that even if you’ve seen a fulgurite, you likely had no idea what it was. So what are they, exactly? Basically, they are natural tubes of glass that are formed by a fusion of silica sand or rock during a lightning strike.

Much like Lichtenberg figures appear across wood, the resulting shape mimics the path of the lightning bolt as it discharged into the ground. And yes, people make jewelry out of fulgurites.

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Hackaday Podcast Episode 293: The Power Of POKE, Folding Butterflies, And The CRT Effect

October 18, 2024 by Kristina Panos 2 Comments

This week on the Podcast, Hackaday’s Elliot Williams and Kristina Panos joined forces to bring you the latest news, mystery sound, and of course, a big bunch of hacks from the previous week.

First up in the news: we’ve extended the 2024 Supercon Add-On contest by a week! That’s right, whether you were held up by Chinese fall holidays or not, here’s your chance to get in on this action.

We love to see the add-ons people make for the badge every year, so this time around we’re really embracing the standard. The best SAOs will get a production run and they’ll be in the swag bag at Hackaday Europe 2025.

What’s That Sound pretty much totally stumped Kristina once again, although she kind of earned a half shirt. Can you get it? Can you figure it out? Can you guess what’s making that sound? If you can, and your number comes up, you get a special Hackaday Podcast t-shirt.

Then it’s on to the hacks, beginning with what actually causes warping in 3D prints, and a really cool display we’d never heard of. Then we’ll discuss the power of POKE when it comes to live coding music on the Commodore64, and the allure of CRTs when it comes to vintage gaming. Finally, we talk Hackaday comments and take a look at a couple of keyboards.

Check out the links below if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

Download in DRM-free MP3 and savor at your leisure.

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Keebin’ With Kristina: The One With The Folding Butterfly Keyboard

October 16, 2024 by Kristina Panos 5 Comments

Want to give prospective employers a business card that doesn’t immediately get tossed? Of course you do. If you’re one of us, the answer is obvious: make it some kind of a PCB.

A PCB business card that doubles as a keyboard. — Image by [Ricardo Daniel de Paula] via Hackaday.IO

But as those become commonplace, it’s imperative that you make it do something. Well, you could do a lot worse than giving someone a fully-functioning capacitive-touch keyboard to carry around.

[Ricardo Daniel de Paula] initially chose the CH32V303 microcontroller because it has native USB 2.0 and 16 capacitive touch channels, which can support up to 48 keys via multiplexing.

But in order to reduce costs, [Ricardo] switched to the CH582M, which does all that plus Bluetooth communication. The goal is to have an affordable design for a unique, functioning business card, and I would say that this project has it in spades.

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