[Ned] sent in his USB temperature sensor. This little guy has a PIC controller, FTDI usb serial interface and a dallas temperature sensor. He managed to keep the cost very low – including the PCB.
Solar Lamp To LED Projector
Despite the resemblance to an alien robot that might rebuild your house from scratch, this is actually the first mod for a solar yard lamp that I’ve seen. By adding a brighter LED, a couple of tubes, a laser printed transparency and a lens, you end with with a relatively inexpensive image projector that can project custom graphics from odd locations. [via]
How-To: Make A Digital Synthesizer
This week’s How-To comes from our newest contributor: Logan Williams.
This simple guide will show you how to build a digital synthesizer that generates and manipulates square waves. Your synthesizer will have one oscillator, which produces a variable pitch controlled by a potentiometer, as well as an LFO which modulates that pitch at a variable frequency. The part count for this project is quite low, and it can be built for under $20.
Two Degrees Of Ben Heck How-To’s
[Ryan] sent in [Bill]’s project to build his own JAMMA arcade game console. It’s actually a take off from one of [Ben Heck]’s how-tos, but I thought it might interest people who think that they can’t pull off any of the projects we feature on their own. We definitely like to show off some original, complex hacks, but success stories can be just as inspiring.
Arduino Beer Brewing
[Yuri] spent some time building a computer controlled, arduino interfaced beer brewing rig. A cooler serves as a mash tun, while the arduino controls a steam source that’s used to raise the temperature of the mash as desired. A java app talks to the arduino to set the temperature parameters and monitor the steam boiler. You can catch a nice video walkthrough of the setup, see some screen shots of his java interface.
Remote Control Whiteboard
Whenever [sprite_tm] sends in his latest project, it’s like getting a Christmas present and a night off. He put together a whiteboard, x/y stepper system, serial interfaced microcontroller and added a webcam with perspective correction for the online view. Me? I’m tempted to build one of these for leaving notes for the wife when I’m out.
EFI Your Motorcycle
This one’s In honor of my new project bike. [wildwestsyndey] converted his Suzuki DR 350 from the stock carbs to EFI using the megasquirt EFI controller and a custom machined throttle body. You can find a few pictures of the conversion here. To handle the ever annoying need for a high pressure fuel pump, he adapted an in-tank scooter pump with a machined mini-reservoir to fit in-line with the original tank. For more motorcycle builds, check out the megasquirt success stories forum.
