Playstation 2 Controller To PSP Adapter

April 23, 2010 by Mike Szczys 17 Comments

[TokyoDrift] built an adapter that allows you to connect a PlayStation 2 controller to a PlayStation Portable. It’s a bit different from similar hacks as this adapter doesn’t require any hardware alteration to the PSP or the controller. To do so, a plug-in is used on the PSP firmware side of things. The adapter then makes use of video out and PS2 controller extension cables, along with an ATmega8 microcontroller to handle the signals between the two devices. We posted a picture of the guts because we like that king of thing but the finished project is nicely housed inside of a project box. See for yourself in the video after the break.

If you liked this hack, check out [TokyoDrift’s] method of using a mouse with a PSP. Continue reading “Playstation 2 Controller To PSP Adapter” →

Flux-cored To MIG Welder Conversion

April 23, 2010 by Mike Szczys 32 Comments

[Rob] sent us some information on how he converted his flux-cored welder to a metal inert gas welder. He used a piece of DOM tubing as a collet with a side inlet tube that he uses to inject carbon dioxide. The gas is sourced from a 12 ounce paint ball CO2 tank and it looks like there’s a valve right at the junction with the collet. We wonder how long it would take to tear through one of those tanks, but if you’re not doing a lot of MIG welding this saves on the upfront cost of buying a separate setup.

WiFi And Bluetooth Sniffing Rifle

April 23, 2010 by Mike Szczys 52 Comments

[.ronin] built an all-in-one WiFi and Bluetooth sniffer. He used a Nerf rifle as a base and added two Pringles cantennas, a tablet PC, and other various bits to tie it all together. Now he wanders the streets, explaining the device to bewildered passersby. After showing the device at CarolinaCon 2010 (here’s a PDF of his presentation) he stopped by the mall nibbled about 250 Bluetooth devices using SpoofTooph. The software is running on a Fujitsu u810 tablet and he’s making good use of Backtrack 4 during his wireless adventures.

Get Serious About Building A Sequencer

April 22, 2010 by Mike Szczys 55 Comments

This is the fourth generation MIDIbox sequencer which has a features set that’s several screens long. We’ve embedded the teaser video of this 16-track marvel after the break. You can use it via a traditional MIDI connection or with USB. Standalone Ethernet features are also in the works. It’s fully documented and you can etch your own PCB if you’re brave but it might be easier to get in on the group PCB buy if you just have to have one of these. There’s no all-in-one kit, but that will just make the taste of success sweeter once your soldering iron cools down.

Continue reading “Get Serious About Building A Sequencer” →

Build A Foam Machine

April 22, 2010 by Mike Szczys 32 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO7d11X8uT4]

Spice up your next house party with this diy foam machine. [Stephen Martin] posted his PDF plans for version 1 and version 2 of the device. It seems the deciding factor on the machine is the type of fabric screen used to create the suds from a bubble bath liquid. This is the reason he’s got two versions. They share a lot of the same components (especially the expensive ones) but the first version is easy to swap out different fabrics and the second is a more permanent installation. In the end, we’re looking at a sump pump feeding foam to a fabric net that is attached to a blower. This will be a nice addition to that fog machine you built last fall.

VFD As A Sound Amplifier

April 22, 2010 by Mike Szczys 16 Comments

[Alessandro Lambardi] had some vacuum flourescent displays that he pulled from junked VCRs. His latest project is an experiment to use one of the VFDs as a headphone amplifier (Wayback Machine Cache). This means he’s trying to use them as vacuum triode amplifiers, aka vacuum tubes. He did get it to work but as he suspected, the output is fairly low power. It may be possible to use this setup as a preamp and build an actual tube amp to use along with it.

Update: Thanks to [Fallen] for mentioning that we’ve covered this concept in the past.

[Thanks Muris]

Are You Human? Resistor Edition

April 21, 2010 by Mike Szczys 72 Comments

[PT] tipped us off about a new way to screen bots from automatically leaving comments. Resisty is like CAPTCHA but it requires you to decipher color bands on a resistor instead of mangled text. This won’t do much for the cause of digitizing books, but if you can never remember your color codes this is a good way to practice. Resisty comes as a plug-in for WordPress, add it to your blog and for a geek cred +1.