Author: Fenix Guthrie

21 Articles

How Strong Of A Redbull Can You Make?

September 12, 2025 by 38 Comments

Energy drinks are a staple of those who want to get awake and energetic in a hurry. But what if said energy is not in enough of a hurry for your taste? After coming across a thrice concentrated energy drink, [Nile Blue] decided to make a 100 times concentrated Redbull.

Energy drinks largely consist of water with caffeine, flavoring and sugar dissolved inside. Because a solution can only be so strong, so instead of normal Redbull, a sugar free variant was used. All 100 cans were gathered into a bucket to dry the mixture, but first, it had to be de-carbonated. By attaching a water agitator to a drill, all the carbon dioxide diffused in the water fell out of solution. A little was lost, but the process worked extremely well.

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A Look At Not An Android Emulator

September 10, 2025 by 14 Comments

Recently, Linux has been rising in desktop popularity in no small part to the work on WINE and Proton. But for some, the year of the Linux desktop is not enough, and the goal is now for the year of the Linux phone. To that end, an Android Linux translation layer called Android Translation Layer (we never said developers were good at naming) has emerged for those running Linux on their phones.

Android Translation Layer (ATL) is still in very early days, and likely as not, remains unpackaged on your distro of choice. Fortunately, a workaround is running an Alpine Linux container with graphics pass through via a tool like Distrobox or Toolbox. Because of the Alpine derived mobile distribution postmarketOS, ATL is packaged in the Alpine repos.

In many ways, running Android apps on Linux is much easier then Windows apps. Because Android apps are architecture independent, hardware emulation is unnecessary. With such similar kernels, on paper at least, Android software should run with minimal effort on Linux. Most of what ATL provides is a Linux/Android hardware abstraction layer glue to ensure Android system calls make their way to the Linux kernel.

Of course, there is a lot more to running Android apps, and the team is working to implement the countless Android system APIs in ATL. For now, older Android apps such as Angry Birds have the best support. Much like WINE, ATL will likely devolve into a game of wack-a-mole where developers implement fresh translation code as new APIs emerge and app updates break. Still, WINE is a wildly successful project, and we hope to see ATL grow likewise!

If you want to get your Android phone to talk to Linux, make sure to check out this hack next! 

Turning A $2 IKEA Lantern Into A Stylish Enclosure

September 9, 2025 by 34 Comments

It’s fair to say that the average Hackaday reader enjoys putting together custom electronics. Some of those builds will be spaghetti on a breadboard, but at some point you’ll probably have a project that needs a permanent case. If you’re looking for a small case for your latest creation, check out [Julius Curt’s] modification of an IKEA Vårsyren lantern into a customizable enclosure!

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Making An Ultralight Helicopter

September 8, 2025 by 38 Comments

Ultralight aviation provides an excellent pathway for those who want to fly, but don’t want to get licensed. These quite often cheap and cheerful DIY aircraft often hide some excellent engineering underneath. This is no more true than in [ultralight helicopter’s] four-year-long helicopter build saga!

While most ultralight builds are fixed-wing, a rotocraft can meet all the legal definitions of ultralight aviation. This helicopter is an excellent example of what’s possible with a lot of time and patience. The construction is largely aluminium with some stainless steel on the skids. A 64-horsepower Rotax 582UL engine powers the two-bladed main rotor and tail rotor. The drivetrain features a multi-belt engine coupler and three gearboxes to ensure correct power output to the two rotors.

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The Saga Of Hacking A Bambu X1 Carbon

September 7, 2025 by 34 Comments

Bambu Labs make indisputably excellent printers. However, that excellence comes at the cost of freedom. After a firmware release earlier this year, Bambu printers could only work with Bambu’s own slicer. For [Proper Printing], this was unacceptable, so printer modification was in order. 

First on the plate was the pesky Bambu Labs nozzle. They are a pain to replace, and specialty sizes like 1.8mm are nonexistent. To remedy this flaw, a Bambu Labs compatible heat sink, an E3D V6 ring heater, and a heat break assembly are required. The ring heater was needed for clearance with the stock Bambu shroud. With the help of a 3D-printed jig, fresh holes were cut and tapped into the heat sink to make room for the E3D heat break. Some crimping to salvaged connectors and a bit of filing on the heat sink for wire routing, and Bob’s your uncle!

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Spinning Top Chair Revisited

September 6, 2025 by 11 Comments

Designer furniture generally comes with excellent aesthetics and (sometimes) functionality. However, such furniture comes with a price to match. One such piece of furniture is the Magis Spun Chair. It’s a striking piece with a fun party trick to match: it works like a top spinning while you sit inside. However, it has a prohibitively expensive price tag of $1,200 to match. That’s why [Morley Kert] is on a mission to build one for less. 

This isn’t [Morley]’s first time building a spinning chair. The first attempt featured numerous 3D printed pieces glued together. It did not inspire confidence in spinning, nor was it a striking piece of furniture. So a revisit was in order.

This time around the chair’s construction was CNC milled plywood. Some surfaces featured 3D carving, but the majority were left raw with carving the final shape handled manually. Despite its size, the chair only took four and a half sheets of 3/4 inch plywood by hollowing out the base allowing for more efficient use of material. Once the router had completed the pieces, they were stacked and glued together. Each layer was aligned with hidden dowels making the assembly process fairly straightforward.

However, while usable, the chair looked rather unfinished, so [Morley] went to town on it with a power carving angle grinder. To ensure even carving on the circular profile of the chair, he placed it, or for some sections glued it, on an electronic lazy Susan. After some practice, the carving process turned out really well with a well-shaped and professional looking chair. Some wood varnish and a large amount of sanding finished up the chair very nicely for a total material cost of under $500.

We were happy to see the completion of this chair building saga. If you want to see [Morley] make even more designer furniture for cheap, make sure to check out his other 3D printed chair!

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Restoring A Cheap Fume Hood

September 5, 2025 by 8 Comments

Semiconductor fabrication is complicated requiring nasty chemicals for everything from dopants to etchants. Working with such chemicals at home is dangerous and after releasing hydrochloride acid fumes into his lab, [ProjectsInFlight] decided the time was right to get one for a mere $200.

I can hear the readers down in the comments already saying, “why not just make one?” But a properly engineered fume hood provides laminar flow which absolutely ensures no leakage of fumes out of the hood. However, such proper engineering comes with an impressive price tag, so the used market was the only choice. This is less dangerous then it sounds as companies are required by both OSHA and the EPA to clean their fume hoods before removal, so no chemical residue should remain after purchase.

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