Author: Zoe Skyforest

3683 Articles

Digital Organizer Given Modern Upgrade

May 18, 2026 by 13 Comments

Remember digital organizers? They were like the lower-spec version of a PDA that couldn’t really do much more than store a few phone numbers and calendar entries. [TundraLegendZ] recently grabbed such a device from 1995 and set about transforming it into something a little more capable.

The device in question is a Casio Business Organizer Scheduling System SF-5580. The original guts have been replaced , though, with the power of a Raspberry Pi Zero. The single-board computer is hooked up to a small color LCD screen with a resolution of 480 x 800, which is tucked neatly into the spot where the original display lived. There’s also a Raspberry Pi Pico on board, which is charged with interfacing all 82 keys of the original keyboard. Power is courtesy of a 6000 mAh battery which should last a good few hours on a single charge. Hearing the buzzer hacked is fun, too. It’s more mobile phone ringtone than outright chiptune, but we still enjoyed listening to the results. Screencaps of the software show just what this setup can do with better hardware and a nicer screen than 1995 could provide. Future work is planned to give the build more capabilities with a HackRF upgrade.

We’re not convinced anyone ever got much use out of these diminutive digital organizers, but a great many were sold in the 1990s.

Voltmeter Clock Has The Time Dialled In

May 18, 2026 by 31 Comments

You could make a clock with three hands spinning about nested central shafts. If you did that, we probably wouldn’t publish it on Hackaday unless you really found a way to make it interesting. Make a clock out of voltmeters, however, and that usually catches our eye. [lcamtuf] has done just that.

The heart of the build is an AVR128DB28 microcontroller, an 8-bit microcontroller that is still currently in production. It runs at 8MHz, and drives a series of three Baomain 65C5 voltmeters to display hours, minutes, and seconds. Each has a custom printed face with the correct number of 13 or 61 divisions as needed. The voltmeters are driven by a continuous stream of 1-bit pulses with a software-controlled duty cycle determining exactly how far the needle moves. Yes, it’s using simple pulse width modulation, coded by hand by [lcamtuf] to do the job. All the components are wrapped up in a beautiful wooden case, with delicately kerf-bent panels to create the attractive curved lines.

We’ve featured similar builds before, too. As it turns out, hackers just really love clocks and old-school dials. Video after the break, which is worth watching for the rollover behaviour alone.

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How To Make Steel That Breathes

May 18, 2026 by 15 Comments

There are plenty of porous materials out there that we’re all readily familiar with. Fabrics and wood are great examples, allowing liquids or gases to pass through to a certain degree—a property which is useful or problematic depending on the application.

Metals, however, are not something we would readily consider to be porous. They are solid, unyielding, and impermeable. However, with the right techniques, it is possible to produce so-called “breathable” steel, which has particularly interesting applications in the molding industry.

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Small Engine Gets DIY EFI Upgrade

May 18, 2026 by 27 Comments

Small internal combustion engines usually keep things simple, relying on carburetors to handle metering the correct amount of fuel and air. Recently, [Carlos Takeshita] decided his small engine could use an upgrade in the form of electronic fuel injection (EFI).

The build began with a Predator 212, a popular gasoline engine from Harbor Freight. [Carlos] set about kitting it out with a missing tooth trigger wheel to measure the crankshaft position with a hall effect sensor. The engine also scored a custom-built aluminium fuel cell, complete with a high-pressure fuel pump and regulator suitable for driving the solitary fuel injector installed in the custom intake manifold. A Teensy 4.0 is charged with monitoring a manifold air pressure (MAP) sensor and the crank position, and choosing when and how long to fire the injector to dose the engine with the correct amount of fuel. Files are on GitHub for those eager to dive deeper.

It can be quite a job to convert an engine to run with electronic fuel injection, but you’re certain to learn a lot during the install and tuning process. We’ve featured similar builds many times over the years.

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A Status Screen For Bambu Labs Printers

May 17, 2026 by 14 Comments

If you’ve got a Bambu Labs printer, it’s usually pretty straightforward to keep an eye on it via the onboard display or the various apps the company has released. However, if you want a dedicated display somewhere remote from your printer, you might like this build from [Keralots].

The project is based on an ESP32-S3 Super Mini, paired with a 1.54″ TFT display with a 240 x 240 resolution. It’s set up to talk to Bambu Labs printers over MQTT with TLS. It harvests status data and uses it to display a real-time dashboard with critical printer parameters display on arc gauges. There’s also plenty of live stats to pore over, as well as buzzer notifications if you want auditory alerts about what is going on. It’s possible to use with just about any Bambu Labs printer with a Bambu Cloud access token; otherwise, you can tinker with LAN Direct connections on certain models, but you might need to enable Developer Mode depending on your rig.

If you want to monitor your printer’s vital statistics at a glance, this project is a great way to do it. It breaks out the fundamental numbers in a clear and obvious fashion that’s a little easier to parse quickly compared to the interface of the official software. We’ve featured similar builds before, too. If you’re also paranoid about prints and using that to motivate you towards creating useful hardware, don’t hesitate to let us know on the tipsline. 

Mixapps: The Mixtape Of The Internet Age

May 16, 2026 by 53 Comments

Mixtapes used to be a way that we cultivated a personal selection of music for our own enjoyment, or to give as gifts to those we wanted to impress with a personal touch. These days, we’d typically try that with a playlist, but it’s less romantic despite also being more ephemeral. Songs fall off streaming services all the time, and few of us have the exact same subscriptions as those we’re trying to flirt with. Thus, [Hunter Irving] whipped up a more lasting solution for this modern age.

The concept is simple—it’s a collection of songs that are packaged together in a easily portable format that won’t disappear because of corporate bureaucratic nonsense. [Hunter] has termed their project Mixapps—because it’s a method of sharing music based around Progressive Web Apps (PWA). To create a custom mix, you start by running a Python script, which will then let you add tracks and reorder them as you desire. From there, you run a second script that builds the web app for you.

You can then upload the prepared app directory to a web host to share it with anyone you like. They can then save the PWA to the home screen of their mobile device, where it will live happily ever after. There’s no need to keep hosting the app online or for the user to remain connected to the Internet; everything is self contained on their device. If you’re curious, there’s a demo you can check out online.

It’s worth noting that there are intellectual property concerns to be had as with any form of music sharing, but what else is new? We’ve explored the magic of mixtapes in the past, anyway, to be sure. If you’re finding new ways to trade music and playlists, romantically or platonically, don’t hesitate to let us know.

Building A Die Filer From Scratch

May 15, 2026 by 21 Comments

A die filer is a useful tool to have if you find yourself filing parts on the regular. It’s basically a machine that reciprocates a file up and down for you so you can focus on filing the part to your desired dimensions. They’re not commonly manufactured these days, so [Richard Huberjohn] set about building his own. 

This die filer relies on a simple mechanism to turn rotational motion from a motor into reciprocating linear motion in the vertical plane. A rotating shaft is connected to a crank, which turns a pin in a slotted carrier attached to a linear bearing. As the wheel turns, the pin slides in the carrier, driving it and the linear rod up and down in turn. Attach a file to this, and you have a working die filer. In this case, the rotating shaft is driven by a pair of DC brushed motors, with output stepped down via a gearbox and then a short belt drive. Speed is varied with the aid of an off-the-shelf controller.

If you’re regularly filing small parts, a build like this could speed your work to a great degree. We’ve featured other DIY machine tool builds before, too. If you’re cooking up your own gear for the home workshop, don’t hesitate to let us know on the tipsline!