Bluetooth Security And Capacitive Sensing Tool Cabinet Handles

Locking tool cabinet

[Andy] needed a new set of locks for his tool cabinets at work, but not wanting to carry around another key (or to remember a combination!) he decided to throw this little hack together — solenoid locking, capacitive sensing, tool cabinet door handles.

To do this he’s using a Bluetooth low energy breakout board coupled with an Arduino, two solenoid locks, and two capacitive sensors. He’s modified a pre-existing iPhone app to control the system, dubbed: The BlueLock Control.

When [Andy] is present with his phone, the system can be activated, allowing for automatic unlocking the moment you touch the metal handle. Usually he leaves it unlocked for the majority of the work day, but as soon as the day is done it’s just a simple swipe on his phone to engage lock mode for the night. And just in case he’s also added manual push-buttons for both solenoids in case anything goes wrong with the capacitive sensors. Cool hack [Andy!]

While you’re at it, why not make a keyless entry system for your car using Bluetooth too?

 

5000 Lumen LED Projector? Naw, How About A Whopping 1 Candela?

1 candle projector

One of our readers recently found a ASK Proxima C170 (also sold as the InFocus LP600) in the waste bin, thrown away because it stopped working — He snatched it up and decided to try tinkering with it. A visual inspection quickly found the problem, a 100uF cap had blown!

He replaced the capacitor and got the projector to turn on again without much difficulty. Not wanting to pay a few hundred dollars for a bulb he’s ordered a 5000lm 50W LED array from China to give it new life as an LED projector, because as it turns out it’s a fairly simple hack to trick the projector into thinking it has an official lamp in it. It’s just a matter of shorting a few leads on some of the photo-couplers!

In fact, once this hack is done, you can use any kind of light source you want! So just for kicks he decided to try using a tea light candle. It actually managed to project an image on the wall thanks to the optics of the projector! Functional? Not really, but it’s a cool way to prove a successful hack towards an even cooler end project though!

For other fun projector hacks, check out this roundup we did a few years ago.

[Thanks thefamoushat!]

Hackerspace Tour: EG MakerSpace In Victoria, Australia

EG MakerSpace

We’ve just heard word that the East Gippsland MakerSpace, located in Bairnsdale, Australia needs more members! They sent us a wonderful tour video, and their place looks simply awesome.

It’s a very large facility (looks like an old school) that might even rival some of the biggest hackerspaces we saw during our Hackerspacing in Europe tour — seriously they have a room for everything!

They have all of the basic stuff like an electronics lab, a woodworking area, a community lounge, the kitchen, a metal working area, a general arts and crafts area. But then they also have a sound booth (in progress), an aromatherapy and massage room, a pottery room, a sculpture room, a multi-purpose hacking room, the network server room, a retro arcade and computer training lab, and loads of storage!

Stick around for an official walk-through tour by the founder [Scott Lamshed]!

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Make plastic string

Super Simple Way To Re-use Plastic Bottles

One of our tipsters just sent in a fascinatingly simple trick for re-using plastic bottles and turning them into useful plastic string. It’s in Russian but between the translated English subtitles and visual demonstration, it’s quite easy to understand.

YouTube DIY survivalist [Адвокат Егоров] makes a lot of really cool tutorial videos on anything from making knives, forming parts with heated PVC pipe, making rings out of coins, or even how to increase the yield of your potato farm (what?). In this one he shows us how to make a very simple jig using a small piece of aluminum extrusion which can slice a plastic bottle into long ribbons which can then be used for many different things.

The jig is adjustable and you can easily produce different widths of the ribbon with ease. Why would you want plastic ribbon? He uses it as twine for tying things (it’s very strong), as well as a grip for his tools — simply by wrapping it around the handle of something tightly, and then using a hot air gun, you can form it in place to create a plastic handle.

Again, the video is in Russian, but you can translate the subtitles — it kind of helps.

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Clever Re-purposing Of A Power Drill Results In A Mini Wood Lathe

Power Drill Wood Lathe

Ever use a lathe? No? Neither had [Jack Hauweling], but that didn’t stop him from building his own and learning how!

Lathes are a lot of fun, especially for small wood working projects. Using mostly wood and a few small pieces of hardware, [Jack] was able to build one in an afternoon that works quite well!

He’s using a cheap corded power drill to drive the work piece, but what we really like is how he made the spur center and spur live center out of a few pieces of threaded rod and a standoff. It’s a simple system that lets him secure the work piece fairly easily simply by tightening the threaded shaft of the live center.

In the video after the break he goes through the entire build process and even shows off his first attempts at using the lathe — he actually was able to make a very nice tool grip on his third try!

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This Useless Machine Now Plays With Fire

The Useless Machine, Candle Edition

Useless machines are a lot of fun, if not just a little overdone. Looking for a new twist, [bd594] decided to try making one that integrates a candle — it works quite well!

While not quite as impressive as some of [bd594’s] previous projects, like his rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody on old school computer equipment, we like how he used regular DC motors in this design, instead of servos (the easy way).

A PICAXE14M2 microcontroller controls the H-Bridge responsible for the geared DC motors (taken from a Mac floppy drive), and a light sensor checks for the flame. He’s also made use of some NPN transistors to invert some logic levels to show you if you’re running low on I/O pins, its always possible to incorporate some other discrete components like a transistor to achieve your design.

Among others, some great alternative spins on the “useless machine” include the moody useless machine, an even more useless machine (featuring 8 switches!), a pull-string version, and even a rather ridiculous elevator button pressing useless machine!

Stick around to see this one put out the candle (Caution: Very exciting).

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Oculus Rift + Head Tracking = The Ultimate Drone Experience

oculus rift quad

What happens when you strap a stereoscopic camera onto a drone and transmit the video feed directly to your Oculus Rift? A pretty amazing experience, that’s what!

Several students from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology recently finished a term project dubbed Oculus FPV. In it, [Erik Hals], [Jacob Prescott], [Mats Svensson], and [Mads Wilthil] succeeded in combining virtual reality, a head mounted display, and a UAV for a great result.

Drones with cameras are the next big step in search and rescue, remote inspection, and many other use cases in other environments that are typically inaccessible for a human to poke around. What we really like about this project is they also mounted the stereoscopic cameras on a gimbal, allowing for full head movement — this means the pilot can “park” (read “hover”) his drone in remote locations, and then look around, without having to worry about performing complex aerial acrobatics to get the right camera angle.

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