The first annual Guthman Musical Instrument Competition proved to be a very interesting place to be as hacked musical instruments competed for $10,000 in prizes. 60 people applied and 25 were chosen to show off their hacked together, strange, and whimsical instruments. There were all kinds of creations, from keyboard controlled motor cycle engines to tongue controlled synthesizers. We can’t imagine trying to pick some kind of a winner from the bunch this diverse.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnUufutxAzQ]
[Barrett] sent in this hack he did to an airsoft pistol. He was using “tracer rounds” or glowing airsoft pellets and found that there was no commercially available way of charging them up with uv light before they are shot. He cracked open his pistol, removed the safety mechanism, and placed a UV led in it’s place. Now, when he turns it on, it charges up the pellets so they’re nice and bright. If he’s playing airsoft at night, won’t that bright purple light give away his position? yeah, we know he was probably just using that pistol to show the mod off.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG3FQYe4rBc]
[Jared] has updated his paintball gun turret page with more detailed assembly videos. You can read more about the project in our original post.
We’ve been eagerly anticipating this, [Larry] has published the entire build of the Shmooball gun for 2009. This design is more compact and elegant than the one for 2008 and has a slightly more Ghost Buster’s aesthetic about it. The pictures are great and there’s lots of good tips along the way. We can’t wait to see what they make next year. How about a gattling version?
Serious rocket hobbyists aren’t content with merely launching their rockets into the air. [wwgd] wants to have an on board computer to control his flights and log the data. He doesn’t quite know how to do it all yet, so he’s starting with the basics. He has built the basic GPS data logger using an accelerometer, a GPS unit, and a BS2P microcontroller. The overall weight is 62 grams and it can record for the whole 5 minute flight. At roughly $200 though, we’d be thinking twice before launching it into the stratosphere.
The AVR STK500 has been Atmel’s standard AVR development platform for many years. Recently though, hobbyists have embraced the Arduino. [Alessandro] has decided to bring the two together so that you can use the Arduino environment with the STK500. Unlike the Arduino, it comes with 8 LEDs, 8 switches, a variable power supply, and variable analog reference. It’s a great way to get hardware you might already have back into service.
According to the author, the HP 50G is an awesome calculator. But as awesome as it is, it is powered off of not-so-awesome AAA batteries. These little batteries don’t last long under the load of the calculators awesomeness, so a mod needed to be done. The battery chosen for installation was a replacement battery for a Sony PSP. He was able to find one, including the external charge regulator board for $10. Dropping it into the case and wiring it to charge off of the existing mini USB port looks fairly simple, very few actual modifications are necessary to the body. Unfortunately, they did end up with an LED protruding from the bottom that makes it wobble a bit, but they’re guessing that they get about 2x the battery life now.
