Simple Binary Watch Uses A PCB Body

July 21, 2022 by 3 Comments

There are many ways to tell the time, from using analog dials to 7-segment displays. Hackers tend to enjoy binary watches, if only for their association with the digital machines that seem to make the world turn these days. [Vishal Soni] decided to build one of their own.

It’s a straightforward design, that uses six bits to show the time. A red light is illuminated at the top of the watch to indicate the watch is showing minutes, and these are displayed in binary on the six blue LEDs below. Then, the watch indicates it is showing hours, and again uses the six blue LEDs to show the relevant number. Continue reading “Simple Binary Watch Uses A PCB Body” →

Tiny Pinball Machine Also Runs X86 Code

July 21, 2022 by 13 Comments

As arcades become more and more rare, plenty of pinball enthusiasts are moving these intricate machines to their home collections in basements, garages, and guest rooms. But if you’re not fortunate enough to live in a home that can support a space-intensive hobby like pinball machines, there are some solutions to that problem. This one, for example, fits on the palm of your hand and also happens to run some impressive software for its size.

The machine isn’t a mechanical pinball machine like its larger cousins, though. Its essentially a 3D printed case made to look like a pinball machine with two screens attached. It does have a working plunger for launching the ball and two buttons on the sides for the approximation of authenticity, but it’s actually running Pinball Fantasies — a pinball simulator designed to run on x86 hardware from the 90s. This sports an ESP32 on the inside, which has just enough computing capability to run an x86 emulator that can load these games in DOS.

The game includes haptic feedback and zips along at 60 frames per second, which really brings the pinball experience to its maximum level given the game’s minuscule size. It’s impressive for fitting a lot into a small space, both from physical and software points-of-view. For more full-sized digital pinball builds, take a look at this one which comes exceptionally close to replicating the real thing.

Continue reading “Tiny Pinball Machine Also Runs X86 Code” →

Don’t Miss Your Last Chance To Enter The Hack It Back Challenge

July 21, 2022 by 3 Comments

While the 2022 Hackaday Prize as a whole winds its way through a good chunk of the year, each individual challenge that makes up the competition only sticks around for a limited time. As hard as it might be to believe, our time with theHack it Back challenge is nearly at a close, with just a few days left to enter your project before the July 24th deadline.

Each challenge in this year’s Hackaday Prize has been designed around the core themes of sustainability, resiliency, and circularity — and for the Hack it Back phase of the competition we asked hackers to essentially keep as much hardware out of the landfill as possible. That could mean making a simple fix that puts a piece of equipment back into service, or it might be a be complete rebuild of an older device to bring it up to modern standards. These are the kind of projects Hackaday was built on, so turning it into an official challenge this year made perfect sense. Continue reading “Don’t Miss Your Last Chance To Enter The Hack It Back Challenge” →

Building A Modular Joystick For Star Citizen

July 21, 2022 by 16 Comments

Joysticks are great for gaming, but sometimes it’s hard to find one that suits your personal playstyle. [Nixie] developed the TinkerJoy to suit their own needs, while giving it a modular design to make it easy to customize as well.

It’s built around a metal core, with 3D printed panels attached to the user’s liking. In addition to the body panels, parts like the trigger assembly and button panels can be moved around and adjusted to suit different games or different players.

A test unit has been built in a right-handed configuration, featuring four buttons and two switch sliders. In addition to the main X and Y axes, it also has a Z axis activated by twisting the joystick, as well as an analog brake. There’s a trigger, too, as every good joystick must have. For now, the electronics is not integrated. Instead, a STM32 BluePill board sits on top of the stick to read all the controls and talk to a PC. The test setup looks to work well, with [Nixie] putting the gear through its paces in Star Citizen.

The benefit of building your own hardware is that you can often do ergonomics better yourself. After all, companies often have to build for the 5th-95th percentile for reasons of economics and scale.

Continue reading “Building A Modular Joystick For Star Citizen“ →

Teardown: How Many Teddy Ruxpins Does It Take To Start A Coven?

July 21, 2022 by 35 Comments

Well, I did it. I conquered my childhood fear of talking bears and brought a vintage Teddy Ruxpin animatronic stuffed bear into my home. There were and still are plenty of his brethren both young and old to choose from on the auction sites, and when I saw this particularly carefree barefoot Teddy in his Hawaiian shirt and no pants, I was almost totally disarmed. Plus, the description promised a semi-working unit with a distorted voice, and who among us could resist a specimen in such condition? Maybe the tape deck motor is going out, or it just needs a new belt. Maybe the tape itself messed up, and Teddy is fine. I had to find out.

But let me back up a bit. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Teddy Ruxpin was a revolutionary toy that dropped in 1985. It’s a talking teddy bear that reads stories aloud, all the while moving his eyes and mouth to the sounds. Along with Teddy came special cassette tapes, corresponding story books, and outfits. I wanted one when I was a kid, but was also kind of scared of them. Since they were so expensive — about $250 inflation-adjusted for the bear and a single tape / book / outfit, plus another $15 for four D cells — I never did get one in my youth.

Continue reading “Teardown: How Many Teddy Ruxpins Does It Take To Start A Coven?” →

Nokia 5110 Gets Android Stowaway And A Keyboard

July 21, 2022 by 11 Comments

Even though Nokia is largely an afterthought in the phone market now, there was a time when their products represented the state-of-the-art in mobile devices. Some of the their handsets even featured slide-out keyboards and the ability to sent emails; largely unheard of for a device from the late 90s. [befinitiv] was a kid back then and couldn’t afford one of these revolutionary devices, so he built his own modern version that still looks and feels like the original.

To do this he borrowed the case and structure of a Nokia 5110 phone, but modified it to hold a small Android device in the old battery compartment along with a tiny Bluetooth keyboard (which was also built from scratch by [befinitiv]) that connects to the Android phone to mimic the old slide-out style. This isn’t just a case mod, though. He also reverse-engineered the original PCB of the phone and included a Bluetooth module there as well, which allows the phone’s screen and keypad to work mostly as originally intended.

This project goes pretty far to scratch the 90s phone nostalgia itch while still being largely usable as a real phone in the modern world. Assuming you aren’t too hung up on the literal phone aspect, the Notkia project is also an impressive effort to bring new life to these old handsets.

Continue reading “Nokia 5110 Gets Android Stowaway And A Keyboard” →

3D Printing A Check Valve In Metal

July 21, 2022 by 34 Comments

[SunShine] has been working on 3D printed pumps and similar parts with an aim towards building smaller and more compact hydraulic systems. His latest effort involves printing working hydraulic check valves that can be integrated seamlessly into his designs. 

Unlike many 3D printing enthusiasts, [SunShine] works with metal printers of the laser powder bed type. His expectations for his parts are thus very high, and he aimed to create check valves that could withstand high hydraulic pressures.

After much work, [SunShine] came up with two designs for 3D-printed check valves that would work. However, they both needed internal removal of support structures that couldn’t be achieved without cutting them open. He then figured out that he could use a special process using nitric acid to carefully eat away a very precise amount of metal inside the valves, which would remove the support material without destroying the whole valve itself.

While the valves couldn’t be tested beyond 400 bar due to the available equipment, they did work as intended. As a bonus, they actually sealed better as they were used more, as the sealing surfaces bedded in and deformed to match each other.

The video is then rounded out with a simple plastic check valve design you can print at home. It reminds us of other valves we’ve seen created with 3D printing before. Video after the break.

Continue reading “3D Printing A Check Valve In Metal” →