We like clever work bench accessories; especially the kind that make our projects that much easier. [rstraugh] put up his version of the ubiquitous helping hands: thirdhand++. The arms are made from modular coolant tubing that’s made for machine tools. With the basic arms in place, he created several attachments – like this PCB holder, a LCD holder, the usual alligator clips and even an oscilloscope probe holder.
Misc Hacks4179 Articles
Electric Bandages
Silverleaf Medical products has created an electric wound dressing that staves off infection by killing microbes in an open wound and preventing other germs from getting in.
They call it the CMB Antimicrobial Wound Dressing, and it is made of polyester fabric woven with a proprietary material called Prosit. When the bandage is moistened, the Prosit generates a low voltage, killing germs in the wound. One of these bandages can be worn for 3 days at a time, and their clinical trials indicate that they are highly effective in treating infected wounds. Take a look at their brochure (PDF file) for some informative and stomach-turning before and after photos.
[via Medgadget]
Roast Marshmallows With High Voltage
The guys (and gals) over at the NYCResistor definitely know how to have a good time. They decided to roast some marshmallows with a Jacobs Ladder. Mmmm. There’s nothing like fresh 15,000 volt roasted.
LED Painter
The people at Brilldea have come up with LED Painter, a 16-channel RGB LED controller capable of controlling up to 48 independent LEDs. It uses a Texas Instrument TLC5940 to control the LEDs and can be connected to more LED Painter boards, creating a large array of RGB lights. The TLC5940 itself has been modified to make connecting independent LEDs easier.
The team strung together nine of these along with a Propeller-based controller called a Prop Blade and fitted the lights into three windows with semi-opaque glass to create a display of dancing randomized RGB lights. If all the dancing lights have inspired you, the TLC5940s are fairly inexpensive, but you’ll need both through-hole devices and some SMT components to get if off the ground.
TB-303 Teardown
Flickr member and owner of awesome stuff [Firegroove] brought us a teardown of a Roland TR-909 drum machine before, and now he brings us a new photoset of a TB-303 synth teardown. The machines comprise two thirds of the holy trinity of 80’s electronic music machines, so look after the break for more photos.
Cigarette Tin Amp
We’re a little confused: [xXxMrCarlosxXx] built an amp out of a cigarette tin and calls it a Mobile Oppression Unit, but we thought all mobile oppression came in the form of giant, invincible crab-shaped palaces. In any case, or more specifically, in a repurposed Lucky Strikes case, he used an mp3 player, some speakers from a garage sale, and a bread board packing an LM1877N-9 chip “optimized for loudness” to construct a great-looking, compact boom box. Check out his Flickr stream at the read link and begin oppressing your neighbors with sheer volume today.
The Backyard Ogre Catapult
Today we’ll be setting aside the circuits and solder for a little while in favor of good old fashioned wood and bungee chords to make this backyard catapult. Items needed include nine sections of 2×3 wooden beams of varying lengths, some screws and eye hooks, a bungee chord, a broom handle, and a few other things which are all detailed in the read link below.
