Wooden Computer Case Adds A Touch Of Modern

March 30, 2016 by James Hobson 20 Comments

When [LouisVW] decided to build a new gaming rig, he wanted to try something different. So instead of buying a pre-built tower, he made one — out of wood!

Coming from someone who has no experience in woodworking (or computer building) we’re seriously impressed with what he’s made. He was originally inspired to build the case when he saw boxes made by stacking pieces of plywood together — he got one and decided to turn it into a case.

Using a jigsaw, chisel and Dremel he was able to cut out all of the fan holes and drive bays fairly easily, and thanks to overlapping plastic covers it wasn’t that hard to make everything look perfect.
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An Excellent Primer For Sketching Mechanical Drawings

March 30, 2016 by James Hobson 38 Comments

Mechanical drawings are an excellent way to convey design information, and while sophisticated 3D modeling is slowly taking over, with some companies accepting files over drawings, the mechanical drawing remains the written contract so to speak for complex parts with tolerances and non-modeled features.

But if you didn’t take a technical drawing class (typically Engineering Drawings 101), how do you learn? Well, if you have 15 minutes, this is an excellent video, which speaking from experience, covers the basics from the 101 course.

The lesson covers all the basics, from 2D projection, multi-view drawings, isometric projection, cross sectioning, linear dimensioning, basic tolerancing and alternate views.

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Rotary Subwoofer Combines A Speaker Coil W/ A Fan

March 30, 2016 by James Hobson 55 Comments

What happens when you combine a fan with a sub-woofer? Apparently, you get a high-efficiency ultra low hertz (3-5hz) rotary subwoofer!

First thing’s first, believe it or not, these things really do exist. [Chris] got the idea to build his own after seeing the TRW-17, a commercial offering of a rotary subwoofer.

The concept is pretty simple. If you use a giant subwoofer, you can get low frequency response, but it uses an immense amount of power to move a giant speaker coil. So what if you put something on a smaller speaker coil to increase airflow? Like, a fan or something?

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The Onion Omega Carputer Can Be Controlled Via WiFi

March 28, 2016 by James Hobson 13 Comments

The Onion Omega, a curiously named ultra-tiny linux-based WiFi board, is a useful little device for everything Internet of Things related. [Daniel] decided to use it to connect his car to the internet.

Most new cars these days have remote start built in, and slowly, manufacturers are catching up to modern technology and including apps to control various features of their vehicles. But for old cars, there’s not much you can do aside from after-market remote start kits and the likes.

Undeterred, [Daniel] wanted to bring his car into the 21st century by manually adding an extra key fob, a remote start protocol, and a data connection to the vehicle’s on board computer.

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Turning A Keyboard Into A Pedal Board

March 27, 2016 by James Hobson 24 Comments

Dedicated pedal switches for your computer can be really expensive. Keyboards on the other hand, despite having way more buttons, are dirt cheap! What if you could use a keyboard to build a pedal board? This hack is so simple, it’s almost ingenious.

[Shrodingers_Cat] took one of his spare keyboards, a rather nice Logitech G510 gaming keyboard, and pulled all the keys out except for four. You can do this with a flat head screwdriver quite easily — it’s also rather satisfying sending keys flying with each flick of the blade.

He then cut up some spare DVD cases he had, and turned them into pedal covers. They’re actually just nested inside the keyboard — he added some electrical tape to make sure they stayed in place and put it under his desk for the first test — it works great!

Of course you could always make something like this with an Arduino and some scrap wood instead…

[via r/DIY]

Massive Flexible LED Strip Display Has Too Many Pixels?

March 25, 2016 by James Hobson 27 Comments

This massive LED display was assembled on a PVC banner (it can be rolled up!) measuring 2m by 1.5m, it boasts well over 6000 pixels, and as you can see from the photo — looks fantastic.

We recently published a post on How Many LEDs are Too Many, which spawned many comments showing off even more impressive displays with even higher LED counts. This is just one of them — and making it flexible as well? That’s just the icing on the cake.

To make the display flexible, [Elektric-Junkys] had a custom PVC banner printed with stripes to help them align 58 parallel strips of WS2811 LEDs on the surface.

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Resistance Is Futile: Balancing Cubes Are Taking Over!

March 25, 2016 by James Hobson 32 Comments

It’s been a while since we’ve seen a balancing cube, but as different companies and universities start making them, we’re excited to see how they continue to develop. This one doesn’t really have a catchy name, but its designers [Erik Bjerke] and [Björn Pehrsson] call it a Nonlinear Mechatronic Cube.

Very similar to Cubli — the first self-balancing cube we remember seeing — this cube can jump up from surfaces, “walk” and balance in any orientation.

The system features an IMU to determine orientation, three gyros powered by beefy 70W motors, three bicycle brakes powered by servo motors, and a microprocessor to control it all.

The way it balances is quite obvious with the gyros, but the ability to jump comes from the rapid breaking of the “reaction wheels”, allowing for a sudden impulse of force that is powerful enough to reorient the entire cube. The interesting part is how both systems are actually controlled individually with separate control systems.

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