A 3D Printed Car Jack? No, Seriously!

November 25, 2015 by James Hobson 48 Comments

Ah nuts, I lost my car jack again. What will I do? Well, why not 3D print a new one?

Uploaded to Thingiverse earlier this week, this design allows you to 3D print a fully functional car jack — provided your build platform is large enough. It’s actually a bit of a promo for the Cheetah 2, a massive modular 3D printer by [Hans Fouche]. Earlier this year we shared his 3D printed lawn mower; which spoiler, also works.

The neat thing about the Cheetah 2 is that it doesn’t use filament. It actually processes plastic pellets right inside the hot end, allowing for much cheaper material — typically dollars on the kilogram, as opposed to the $30+/kg we’re all used to being gouged on. Of course, you could also make your own filament. Continue reading “A 3D Printed Car Jack? No, Seriously!” →

Imagination Not Necessary With This Helicarrier Bed

November 24, 2015 by James Hobson 8 Comments

We think we have another dad-of-the-year award to give out. When [Andy’s] five-year-old son won a Raspberry Pi 2 and needed a new bed, they decided to build the ultimate bed. It’s loosely based on the Helicarrier from S.H.I.E.L.D. and it’s packed with so much tech, you barely need to imagine anything to have fun with it.

It looks pretty simple from the outside, until you realize that the detailed little hatch on the side is actually a keypad secure entry automatic sliding door. Controlled by the Raspberry Pi, recordings of [JARVIS’] voice speak to you as you enter the belly of the ship, er, bed.

Inside are glowing display cases featuring some of his son’s favorite Marvel superhero’s equipment — ready for use. But what’s really cool is the command console.

The terminal is expertly crafted to look like something out of the movies, and with the Raspberry Pi 2, his son can play with it and fight off the bad guys. There’s even a sentry turret with camera on the outside, controlled from inside the bed.

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Laser Cutting Bathymetric Maps

November 23, 2015 by James Hobson 7 Comments

Bathymetry is the underwater equivalent to topography. And with the right map data, you can make some amazing 3D laser cut maps that feature both land masses — and the details under the sea. [Logan] just learned how to do this, and is sharing his knowledge with us.

[Logan] holds the typical hacker belief: The best way to learn something is just to start the project and figure it out as you go. Which also makes him an excellent candidate for helping others to learn what not to do. His goal of the project was to create a visually stunning map of Vancouver that helps to emphasize the depth of the ocean just off the coast.

To do this he obtained bathymetry data from the Fisheries and Oceans of Canada, and city map data from Open Street Map, a service we’re very familiar with that has provided data for many cool hacks, like this Runner’s GPS unit. The tricky part now is combining the data in order to laser it.

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The Easiest Infinity Mirror Build

November 21, 2015 by James Hobson 28 Comments

Infinity mirrors are awesome. They’re great conversation pieces, and even more fun to stare into forever and ever and ever and ever… They can be tricky to build, but there’s actually a really easy way to do it, and [William] shows us how.

The way a infinity mirror works is it uses a one-way mirror with lights around the perimeter in front of a regular mirror. The majority of the light gets bounced back and forth between the two mirrored surfaces, and because you can see into the one-way mirror, you get that really cool infinity effect.

Now if you went out and bought a one way mirror, built the frame, and put it all together — it’d be a lot of work. But there’s an easier way to do it on the cheap. Mirrored car tint foil. Although it’s illegal on your car in most states, it’s still pretty easy to find. Continue reading “The Easiest Infinity Mirror Build” →

Turning A Car Into A Playstation Controller

November 20, 2015 by James Hobson 7 Comments

For a rather obscure brand advertisement, Nissan decided to turn one of their cars into a giant Playstation 4 controller to play a game of football (soccer).

The first question to pop into our heads was why? And that’s because Nissan is a major sponsor of UEFA Champions League. From there, it became why not? We love the companies that get their hands dirty on a hacking level, and actually do something instead of just funneling money into your standard billboard advertising — it’s just more fun this way.

The second question you should be asking yourself is how do you play soccer using a car? Well, it’s pretty simple. Steering is your left and right controls, the indicator switch is forward and backward, the windshield wipers kick the ball, a steering wheel button lets you run faster, the brake pedal passes the ball, and the gas pedal shoots. Simple right? As one of the prototype testers describes:

It’s kinda like tapping your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time, it really messes your head up — but it’s really enjoyable when you get it right.

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Automated Star Wars Themed Nerf Targets

November 20, 2015 by James Hobson 1 Comment

When challenged with making a game for a kids event using only the parts he already had on hand, [Nathan Gray] had to get creative. What he ended up making is pretty awesome. It’s a Star Wars themed Nerf gun shooting gallery.

Using a Teensy 2.0, he’s controlling nine RC servo motors attached to two-sided targets which randomize themselves every round — The Empire is bad, the Rebels, good. They’re also color coded red and green in case the images are too hard to see.

To keep track of scoring, there are piezo elements which register the impact of a Nerf dart. A cute little command console with a big red start button and score display can be set up in front of the range to let the kids know how they’re doing.

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Preparing Images For Laser Etching Isn’t That Hard

November 20, 2015 by James Hobson 10 Comments

Sometimes we forget how awesome laser cutters really are. After all, they’re essentially giant plotters that shoot infrared lasers to cut and engrave almost anything. Most of the time, we’ll use the cutting feature in order to make rapid prototypes for different projects. We might engrave a logo or text on there too — but with a bit of image pre-processing, you can actually etch grey scale images that look really good.

[miststlkr] has been experimenting with different processes to get the best engraving, and he’s decided to share his findings. He’s created a guide on Instructables, and it’s a pretty quick read. You’re going to need some image editing software, for which [miststlkr] recommends Gimp — as do we.

From there it’s just a matter of a few steps to simplify the image. Start by converting the image to indexed colors — this limits the number of colors the image can have, he recommends limiting to about 4 colors for now. From there, convert to grey scale and import into your favorite laser software. Now it’s time to start testing.

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