[George Foreman] Seedling Starter For Kitchen Herbs

November 8, 2011 by Brian Benchoff 7 Comments

Sometimes the best kitchen hacks aren’t about the best barbecue, the rarest steak, or the baconiest bacon. Sometimes you need a little color on your plate, son, so why not grow your own herbs in a [George Foreman] rotisserie greenhouse?

[Sam] first saw his barely used rotisserie as his friend was throwing it out. Like any good maker, he quickly snatched it up and began work on some modifications. After removing the fun bits like the motor, heating element, and timer, [Sam] installed two compact fluorescent light bulbs to start a few herbs off right.

Kitchen herb gardens are surprising common, so much so that entire forums are dedicated to the practice. [Sam] doesn’t have any soil in his seedling starter yet but when he does, we expect he’ll be harvesting a nice crop of basil, oregano or cilantro in the spring.

Of course, [Sam] could use his seed starter to grow more “unconventional” plants, but some of us have been kicked out of a dorm for growing a pomegranate seedling, so we’ll leave it at that.

A Tesla Coil That Delivers Shocking Candy

November 8, 2011 by Mike Nathan 9 Comments

shocking-candy-tesla-coil

Even though Halloween was a week ago, we are still seeing plenty of cool stuff coming our way. Take for instance this Tesla coil that [JJ] sent us.

He got the idea to build a coil for his Halloween display about a week before the event, but he figured it would be easy enough to do since he had a lot of the parts on hand already. He originally started with some neon transformers and a primary/secondary pair he used in a previous Tesla coil build, but when things were fully assembled he wasn’t completely happy with the results.

He returned to the drawing board, winding a new primary/secondary coil pair, which performed much better. The rest of the coil was pieced together with random parts he procured at IKEA along with other items he had sitting around.

He donned a mad scientist’s outfit, and with a large set of grounded tongs acting as a Faraday cage he proceeded to electrocute trick or treaters’ candy with his Tesla coil, much to the delight of the neighborhood children.

Be sure to swing by his page to see more construction details, and for a sneak peek at the candy zapping process, check out the video below.

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A Simple Method For Expanding Arduino IO Capacity

November 8, 2011 by Jeremy Cook 52 Comments

Although there are other ways to do this, [Rod] has decided to write up his method of using two Arduinos and the I2C protocol to expand an Arduino’s IO capacity. As seen in the picture above, you’ll sacrifice 2 analog pins, but if you happen to need IO and have an extra Arduino lying around, this could really help. [Rod] also notes that this method could be used with many Arduino’s in parallel if the situation called for it. The code for this simple hack is included as well, so be sure to check out his site if you want to try this idea.

Some other solutions for extra IO would be to buy an Arduino Mega with 54 digital IO pins or the Muxshield which gives you 48 IO (and is stackable for other shields). An advantage of using the two Arduinos, is that if they are needed to be split in the future for different projects, this could be done. It’s good to have options for your IO needs as every hack is different.

Check out the video after the break to see everything being hooked up.

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Hackaday Now Officially Has A G+ Page

November 7, 2011 by Caleb Kraft 20 Comments

There was a recent announcement that G+ opened the doors to businesses and organizations for g+ pages. This means we can have an official G+ page with google’s blessing. We’ve opened one up here. We plan on having “hangouts” from time to time so people can show off what they’ve done. Don’t worry if you’re not into the g+ thing. All stories will still be published here on the site. Maybe we can take a page from Adafruit’s book and record some online “show and tell” sessions to share with you guys.

Of course, sometimes it can be more fun to follow the writers individually, since we are more prone to post opinions and things that aren’t official hackaday info, you can find me,( Caleb Kraft ), pretty easily. For the others, you’ll have to search for their names. None of them are online right now so I can ask permission to link to them.

Announcing Our Next Theme: Kitchen Hacks

November 7, 2011 by Mike Szczys 5 Comments

Here’s a theme that has the Hackaday staff quite excited; Kitchen hacks. This is a wide-ranging subject that can include anything having to do with food, food preparation, kitchen implements, and enhancements.

We’ve seen quite a few fantastic examples of this theme already. How about a kitchen island the mixes cocktails to order? Perhaps you’d prefer an AI that keeps track of your shopping list or just a computer kiosk that’s nicely integrated. Of course there’s already an iPod dock for that! You might be looking to supe up a pressure cooker, or add a Sous Vide machine to your culinary arsenal. We shouldn’t leave out the ability to ‘print’ images on toast.

Speaking of toast… we’re still waiting for someone to build a laser bread slicer that toasts as it goes. You get the point. Ladies and Gentleman, grab a computer, document your Kitchen hacks, and send them our way!

G-35 Christmas Lights Do Make A Great LED Matrix

November 7, 2011 by Mike Szczys 16 Comments

This fully-addressable RGB LED matrix was built by [John Graham-Cummings]. He didn’t start from scratch, but wisely repurposed a strand of GE Color Effect lights and built a pleasant looking case in which to mount the G-35 hardware.

We’ve seen this hardware used in a similar way before. Because each ‘bulb’ has its own microcontroller, color data is shifted in via a serial bus. Orient the modules in any pattern you choose and account for that layout in software.

Since the strings have 50 bulbs, [John] simply cut off the one on the end to form his 7×7 matrix with the remaining 49 units. A square of plywood with a grid of holes holds each in place. Cord mess is not a problem as the extra was cut out and the remainders were soldered together again. [John] uses an Arduino Pro to feed in the data, which you can see for yourself in the clip after the break.

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This Panavise Jr. Speed Winder Should Be In Every Maker’s Toolbox

November 7, 2011 by Mike Nathan 34 Comments

panavise-jr-power-winder

Like many makers, [Chris] has a Panavise Jr. on his workbench that he uses for just about everything. The tiny vise is great for all sorts of tasks, and is often considered an indispensable tool. The only problem with the vise is the amount of time it takes to open and close the thing.

[Chris] estimates that it takes somewhere between 2 and 3 million turns of the crank to move the vise’s jaws from fully open to the fully closed position. He figured that his drill is far better at mindlessly turning circles than he is, so he sat down and designed a bit in Google Sketchup to spin the vise’s crank knob.

He fired up his MakerBot and printed out his first “Speed Winder” drill bit. It was decent, but he thought it could be better. After a handful of revisions, he was finally happy with the results. He says it works great, and has posted the model on Thingiverse so that everyone can print one of their own.

Continue reading to see how [Chris] created the bit along with how much time this thing saves him. Continue reading “This Panavise Jr. Speed Winder Should Be In Every Maker’s Toolbox” →