Giant Analog CO2 Meter Sweeps Away Doubt

November 14, 2019 by Kristina Panos 11 Comments

Most of us are aware that trees turn CO₂ into oxygen, but we’d venture to guess that many people’s knowledge of this gas ends there. Is it feast or famine out there for the trees? Who can say? We admire [rabbitcreek]’s commitment to citizen science because he’s so focused on making it easy for people to understand their environment. His latest offering, a giant analog CO₂ meter, might be our favorite so far.

The brains of the operation is an Adafruit Feather Adalogger. It reads the CO₂ sensor that’s mounted close to the business end of the nautilus, and becomes the quill that writes the CO₂ value to a FeatherWing e-ink screen. For the giant needle, this lovely meter uses one of those fiberglass poles you mark your driveway with so you can find it under a blanket of snow. The needle is counter-balanced with washers encased in printed plastic.

As you can see in the GIF, there’s a decent delay between the CO₂ blast and the needle response — we like to imagine the CO₂ spiraling slowly through the nautilus like a heavy, ill wind on its way to gravely move the needle.

Want a way to monitor air quality that’s a bit more discreet? Slip this portable meter into your pocket.

Aging Alcohol In 30 Minutes

November 14, 2019 by Lewin Day 38 Comments

Many alcoholic beverages are aged in barrels for long periods of time. The aim is to impart flavors from the wood of the barrel into the liquid, and allow a whole host of chemical reactions to happen, changing the character of the taste. However, this takes time, and time is money. There’s potentially a faster way, however, and [The Thought Emporium] set out to investigate.

Inspired by several research papers, the goal was to examine whether using ultrasound to agitate these fluids could speed the aging process. Initial tests consisted of artificially aging milk, apple cider, and vodka in a small ultrasonic jewelry cleaner for 30 minutes, with cognac chips for flavor. Results were positive amongst the tasters, with the vodka in particular showing a marked color change from the process. A later test expanded the types of wood chip and beverages under test. Results were more mixed, but with a small sample size of tasters, it’s to be expected.

While taste is subjective, there were definite visible results from the aging process. It’s a technique that’s being explored by industry, too. We’ve seen hackers brew up plenty of tasty beverages before, too – often with a little automation thrown in Video after the break.

Continue reading “Aging Alcohol In 30 Minutes” →

Tindie Seller Reviews A Knock-Off Of His Own Product

November 13, 2019 by Dan Maloney 66 Comments

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, online creators are being sincerely flattered at an alarming rate these days. We Hackaday scribes see it all the time, as straight copy-pastes of our articles turn up on other websites under different bylines. It’s annoying, but given prevailing attitudes toward intellectual property rights, there’s very little point in getting upset about it anymore. But what if it’s hardware that’s being infringed upon?

Hacker and Tindie store proprietor [Brian Lough] recently ran into this problem with one of his products, but rather than get upset, he did a remarkably fair and thoughtful review of the knock-off. The board in question, a D1 Mini Matrix Shield, makes it a snap to use LED matrix panels in projects like his Tetris-themed YouTube sub counter. The knock-off came via Ali Express, with the most “flattering” aspect being the copy and the images on the Ali Express listing, some of which are pulled straight from [Brian]’s Tindie store. While the board’s layout is different, it’s pretty clear that it was strongly inspired by the original. And the changes they did make – like terminal choices and undersizing some traces – only serve to lower the quality of the knock-off. Surely this was a cost-cutting move, so they could undercut sales of the original, right? Apparently not – the knock off is more expensive. Yes, [Brian]’s board is a kit and the imitator is fully assembled, but it still begs the question of why?

Hats off to [Brian] for not only making a useful product, but for taking the time to engineer it properly and having the ambition to put it on the market. It’s a pity that someone felt the need to steal his work, but it seems to be a rite of passage these days.

Continue reading “Tindie Seller Reviews A Knock-Off Of His Own Product” →

Simulate City Blocks With Circuit Blocks In A LEGO Box

November 12, 2019 by Kristina Panos 4 Comments

Have you ever looked around your city’s layout and thought you could do better? Maybe you’ve always wanted to see how she’d run on nuclear or wind power, or just play around with civic amenities and see how your choices affect the citizens.

[Robbe Nagel] made this physical-digital simulator for a Creative Programming class within an industrial design program. We don’t have all the details, but as [Robbe] explains in the video after the break, each block has a resistor on the bottom, and each cubbyhole has a pair of contacts ready to mate with it. An Arduino nestled safely in the LEGO bunker below reads the different resistance values to determine what block was placed where.

[Robbe] wrote a program that evaluates various layouts and provides statistics for things like population, overall health, education level, pollution, etc. As you can see after the break, these values change as soon as blocks are added or removed. Part of what makes this simulator so cool is that it could be used for serious purposes, or it could be totally gamified.

It’s no secret that we like LEGO, especially as an enclosure material. Dress it up or dress it down, just don’t leave any pieces on the floor.

Continue reading “Simulate City Blocks With Circuit Blocks In A LEGO Box” →

Tearing Down A PS3 Blu Ray Drive

November 12, 2019 by Lewin Day 16 Comments

Optical drives are somewhat passe in 2019, with most laptops and desktops no longer shipping with the hardware installed. The power of the cloud has begun to eliminate the need for physical media, but that doesn’t mean the technology is any less marvellous. [Leslie Wright] and [Samuel Goldwater] took a deep dive into what makes the PS3’s optical drive tick, back in the heyday of the Blu Ray era.

The teardown starts by examining the layout of the assembly, and the parts involved. This is followed by a deep dive into an exploration of the triple-laser diode itself, There are tips on how to safely extract the delicate parts, which are highly sensitive to electrostatic discharge, as well as exhaustive specifications and measurements of performance. There’s even a break down of the optical package, too, including a patent search to shed more light on the complicated inner workings of the hardware.

And if this lures you to dig deeper into Sam’s Laser FAQ, prepare to spend the rest of the week.

We’ve seen other optical teardowns before, too – like this look inside a stereo microscope. It’s quite technical stuff, and may fly over the heads over the optically inexperienced. However, for those in the know, it’s a great look at the technology used in a mass-produced console.

Real Life QWOP Probably Stings A Fair Bit

November 8, 2019 by Lewin Day 8 Comments

QWOP was a flashgame released by [Bennett Foddy] in the distant past. Players would use individual keys to trigger muscle spasms in their character’s legs, attempting to sprint as far as possible without hitting the ground. Hackaday alumus [The Hacksmith] wanted to recreate this in real life, and set to work.

Initially planning to hack some TENS units to cause muscle contractions, instead a pair of lithium batteries were used. Supplying up to 48 volts through a MOSFET using PWM control, it’s quite effective at triggering muscle movement, albeit with a slight pain factor. With the MOSFETs under the control of an Arduino fitted with a USB keyboard, it allows a player to control [The Hacksmith]’s leg muscles, albeit without much finesse.

While the jumps are just video magic, the players do succeed in making some purposeful spasms happen. It’s about as effective as our attempts to play the original game, anyway. Don’t try this at home if you’d like to avoid possible burns or nerve injuries! It’s not the first moderately dangerous build we’ve seen from [The Hacksmith], either. Video after the break.

Continue reading “Real Life QWOP Probably Stings A Fair Bit” →

Easy Optical Drive Sharing With PYODS

November 7, 2019 by Lewin Day 41 Comments

For many of us, the optical drive is a thing of the past. Once considered essential, the technology is no longer featured in the average laptop,where their omission saves plenty of precious space, and they’re rare on desktops, too. However, every now and then, something comes up and it’d be useful to have one on hand. [Klattimer] has just the solution for the MacOS set.

The Python Online Disk Server, or PYODS, is a tool that allows one to serve optical drives or ISO images over a network to MacOS clients. In its basic configuration, it shares all optical drives on a system, as well as all images found in a select folder. Thanks to using Python, it allows other operating systems to share their drives with Macs. It relies on Apple’s existing API to function, and should be a handy tool for anyone that regularly finds themselves having to scratch around for a way to mount an ISO in a pinch.

Thankfully, outside of legacy applications, cumbersome optical technologies and image files are a thing of the past. If you’ve got drives laying around that you’re not using anymore, why not repurpose them into a plotter?