Author: James Hobson

1404 Articles

DIY Laser Lumia Lights Up The Night

January 15, 2016 by 20 Comments

Lasers are awesome, and as the technology continues to advance, they keep getting cheaper! If you’ve ever wanted your own laser light show in your man cave, it’s never been easier.

In the 70’s [rgrokett] was a planetarium technician, responsible for building and operating laser shows. Back then, the laser modules were huge and expensive. After being reminded of days gone past, thanks to an article about laser light show operators, he decided to try his own hand at building a Low-cost Laser Lumia Lightshow.

And it couldn’t be easier.

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Smart Mirror Notices You And Turns On

January 14, 2016 by 22 Comments

Smart, technology filled bathrooms are inevitably coming, but until then, be the first in your group of friends to make your very own smart mirror!

Gaining popularity in recent months, it’s not that difficult to make a smart mirror. In fact, it’s really just an LCD monitor with a one-way mirror slapped on top. Similar to how Infinity Mirrors work.

The build makes use of an older LCD monitor [Tmonaco189] had laying about. He went to the hardware store and picked up some wood to build a frame that would fit the aspect ratio of the monitor perfectly — and of course to be large enough to cover up the rear casing of the monitor. Once built, it was time to make it smart! Continue reading “Smart Mirror Notices You And Turns On” →

Finally, An Upgrade For The TI-86

January 13, 2016 by 60 Comments

The eternal and everlasting TI-86 graphing calculator is a great calculator: first made back in 1997, and still used by students today. But its battery life kinda sucks. So [Dalius] decided to bring his TI-86 into the 21st century.

If you’re not familiar, the TI-86 runs off of 4 AAA batteries, preferably alkaline. If you use rechargeable NiMH they don’t last very long since they have a lower voltage per cell, which means it ends up draining even faster to a voltage level the TI-86 cannot operate at.

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Using Over 3000A To Rapidly Charge An IPhone

January 11, 2016 by 63 Comments

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of doing something very stupid with another YouTuber. We wanted to see what would happen if you push over 3000A through an iPhone. The result? Fire. You get fire.

To perform this experiment we prepared a few different setups for maximum electrocution. The first was with the tried and true technique of re-wrapping a transformer to put out low volts at high current — essentially, a DIY spot welder. Now while most of those use a little transformer taken out of a microwave, I happened to have an industrial transformer about four times the size. Once re-wrapped to become a step-down transformer, it can produce approximately 1000A @ 1V … Or if you plug it into a 240V outlet, upwards of 2000A @ 2V — all depending on the resistance of whatever you’re putting in-between the contacts.

During the actual test we read about 1400A going through the iPhone with an ammeter. Which puts an iPhone 6 at a resistance of about 0.0014 ohms.

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Drinking With Your Robot

January 11, 2016 by 26 Comments

We’ve seen tons of bartending robots before, but we’re not sure we’ve ever seen a robot that actually drinks with you… Until now anyway.

Designed and built by a South Korean inventor, [Eunchan Park], he built this robot to drink with, quite literally.

The story goes that he tried drinking alone in 2012 because he did not have a girlfriend at the time. He didn’t enjoy drinking alone and promptly stopped. But then recently he tried drinking with two glasses on the table, and cheers himself when drinking. According to him, the alcohol tasted much better that way, which drove him to build Drinky, the Alcohol Drinking Robot.

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Laser Cutting A Bread Knife

January 10, 2016 by 19 Comments

What started out as simply a question of whether or not they could… [G2AS] decided to try making a laser cut serrated bread knife — out of plastic.

Now from a distance this may look like they just took their laser cutter and cut out the pattern of a knife, with a jigsaw edge. But no, they actually laser cut a jig which allowed them to cut the serrated edge on an angle, creating an actual sharp edge. It’s quite the setup, but a pretty awesome result. Continue reading “Laser Cutting A Bread Knife” →

Conductive Silicone Makes Flexible Circuits

January 7, 2016 by 46 Comments

Flexible circuits and wearables seem to be all the rage these days. We’ve got conductive paint, glue, and even thread. So how about conductive silicone? Well, as it turns out — it’s not that hard to make.

[Andrew Quitmeyer] has been researching flexible circuits for a while now, and recently stumbled upon an expired patent for flexible ignition cables, using carbon fibers mixed with a conductive silicone. He started playing around with it, and discovered that by dissolving pieces of carbon fiber in rubbing alcohol, letting it dry, and then mixing it into a 2-part silicone you get pretty good electrical conductivity. In fact, in the range of 40-150ohms, which is actually pretty darn impressive!

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