Lawnmower Converted To Hoe/scraper

April 27, 2010 by Caleb Kraft 13 Comments

[Torx] wrote this instructable on how to convert a lawnmower to another useful tool. We’re not sure what language he natively speaks, but we doubt it is english, so you might be better off just looking at the pictures to figure out what he’s doing. To summarize, he has lowered the mower and reversed/bent the blade to scrape the ground. He has also added thick rubber edges all around to try to keep debris from coming out. You might be wondering why he would need something like this, but the last page sums it up pretty well. We could imagine this possibly getting some use in the garden as well. This one does look pretty dangerous though, so don’t blame us if you cut off a hand or lose an eye to some debris. Then again, a regular lawnmower looks pretty dangerous too.

Lawnmower+stake+rope=Analog Robotic Lawn Service

April 26, 2010 by Mike Szczys 75 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tNVOhtvPEw]

[Kirov], a regular reader and one of our most notorious commenters, tipped us off about this lawn mowing hack. On one hand we’re wary that this is bait for a huge flame war, but on the other hand it’s a hack that brings a smile to our mischievous faces. By pounding a stake into the center of the yard and connecting a mower to it with a piece of rope, [Korey99] has achieve an automated lawn mower. He tied the self-propelled mower’s throttle bar down to make the machine run unattended. There’s no kill switch or any kind of remote control for the lawn mower so we wonder what happens when the rope gets all wound up?

Update: IR Controlled Lighting

April 26, 2010 by Mike Szczys 11 Comments

[Muris] is back with another infrared controlled lighting hack. When we checked in with him last year he was showing off an IR controlled dimmer module. Now he’s back with this device that is CFL friendly. Because standard CFL bulbs are not dimmer compatible he’s adapted the project away from dimming and toward switching. The new design still uses an infrared remote but now it can turn two devices on and off again or toggle between them. Our favorite part of the build is that the PIC based device can learn the codes of whichever remote you choose, rather than having to rely on one specific type of remote.

Biosphere Lighting

April 26, 2010 by Caleb Kraft 8 Comments

Sometimes, sitting in a windowless office can drive you crazy. Adding a little bit of life and color can really help. [Gripen40k] did this by building a biosphere. He didn’t have any windows though, so he made an LED light on a PIC based timer. What is interesting is what he did with a thermistor. The Cree LED bulb that he salvaged was going to be submerged in the water, so he had to do some workarounds to keep from over heating the biosphere. Read the project log for more details.

Replicating Connectors By Machining PVC

April 21, 2010 by Mike Szczys 12 Comments

[Alex] bought a hang on tank filter for his aquarium. Unfortunately it was made for a different water level than he was using and didn’t have the ability to adjust that he needed. Add to that the non-standard pipe sizing which compounded the problem by making it difficult to extend the intake and output tubes. He overcame this by machining PVC pipe to match the stock connectors. After turning the PVC on a lathe he added a neoprene o-ring and painted the assembly black. The new connector allows standard size PVC fittings for easy changes in the future, and it keeps his turtles healthy and happy.

Toaster Web Interface

April 19, 2010 by Mike Szczys 25 Comments

Within a ten-hour window [Wes Brown] threw together this toaster with a web interface for one of his classes. He sourced the WIZnet embedded webserver for the project but this could be pulled off with a homebrew webserver as well. When you point your browser to the correct address you’re greeted with images of bread that have been charred to various degrees. This greatly complicates the act of making breakfast while at the same time presenting a possible fire hazard. Check out the video after the break.

Continue reading “Toaster Web Interface” →

Virtual Windows That Track A Viewer’s Position

April 16, 2010 by Mike Szczys 44 Comments

Winscape will let you replace that garbage-strewn ally view with just about anything you want. The two windows above are actually plasma screen televisions. In between them you can spot a Nintendo Wii Remote that is used to track an IR badge worn by the person in the room. As they move, the images on the screens are changes to simulate the change in perspective you would see out of a real-world window. Take a look at the video after the break. This is unfortunately not an open source project but the software is available for trial and we find the concept interesting. If you can write video processing algorithms you may be able to take the Wii Remote Whiteboard concept and turn it into a Winscape clone. Continue reading “Virtual Windows That Track A Viewer’s Position” →