This design has been around for a few years, but it looks like a good introduction to ultrasonic sensors. The design is surprisingly simple with a low parts count. Of course, if you prefer PIC controllers, you might like this version.
Misc Hacks4086 Articles
Printer Networked Light Control
[Andy] sent in his ‘Network Something‘ hack. For his proof of concept, he used a parallel port printer network adapter to create a set of network controllable LEDs. The virtual printer was implemented with a set of shift registers and a set of nand gates. (and a power regulator). Old print servers can be had pretty cheap – my HP $8 on ebay. Definitely an interesting way to get inexpensive network control of your projects.
Note: We’ll be making some server changes today and tomorrow, so comments will be offline for a bit. They’ll be back.
DIY RF Remote Control
I was plotting one of my future projects and found this diy RF remote control. I was struck by how simple the circuits are thanks to the micro-controller and RF modules. This is an older write up, and I know you can get newer modules from Spark Fun electronics, but when I was younger, RF controls always seemed to be the black magic of diy electronics.
USB CNC Controller
This one reminds me of a MAME arcade controller. This control panel is just the gravy on top of a very nice CNC conversion for a Sieg X2 mini mill. (Like mine.) [Hoss] used a Logitech attack 3 joystick and a philips PC game pad to provide the interface. Of course, the case was machined on the mill. The thread covering his conversion provides DXF diagrams of all the parts he used for his CNC conversion, as well as explanation diagrams. (If you need a decent DXF viewer/cad program, try Qcad in the ubuntu repositories.)
Bluetooth Enabled… London Bridge
[Mike] sent in a different sort of hack – as part of the switched on London festival, these guys added bluetooth sensors to London Bridge. When a bluetooth enabled device is detected on the bridge, a blue ‘pixel’ will show up on the upper tower bridge. Once the device is detected at the other side of the bridge, the ‘pixel’ will move across the bridge at the same speed as the device did. You’ve got a few more days to check it out if you’re in the area.
Update: Just to be clear – the sensors are on the new London bridge, and the pixel/light appears along the top of Tower bridge. Sorry for the confustion, I haven’t been in London since 1995 or so. I mistakenly assumed that the lights were on the upper tower of the bridge.
Remote Control Lawn Mower
[Terry] sent in the first of his projects that he’s posted on his site. Having grown up in the midwestern US, I can’t even express how badly I wanted to build one of these puppies when I was a kid. His remote control lawnmower is essentially the bastard child of a three way between a R/C car, a wheelchair and the lawnmower. The radio is interfaced with the control box from a wheelchair, otherwise it’s a good welding project.
Nice work. I’ve one suggestion – a safety circuit that disables the mower if radio control is lost. There are a few devices designed just for R/C projects that’ll do the trick. (Update: ok, there’s a failsafe in the design but I wouldn’t call it optional!)
Modded TI-83 Calculator
[Christopher] sent in his modded TI-83 calculator. (Hit the read link, a bug is broke the one I tried to embed) Besides the uh, racing stripes, he added a PS/2 port (though I see drivers for this mod are up on ticalc.org) and an integrated (cpu controlled) RGB backlight. The backlight is controlled with a programmable AND array that’s slaved off a pair of the CPU I/O lines. Just to top everything off, I poked around and found that you can overclock these puppies, as well as expand their memory. I’m hopeful that wetsanding and varnishing the thing 10 times smoothed out the paintbrush lines, but an inexpensive airbrush would yield much smoother results.
