Remember the cheap tilt-shift lens? [Rodolfo] let me know about his set of modded Canon lenses on Flickr. The FD 50mm prime is pretty cheap off ebay – he removed the FD mount and uses it sans rear-end. We’ve seen a nicer version of this before. His macro lens caught my eye – it’s a combination of a cheap F/1.8 50mm and the handy, but cheap EF-S kit lens that comes with the Rebel XT series. (I might have to make one of those) Finally, we have the most original legal use for a Chinese lantern and duct tape that I’ve seen. It’s like the tilt shift, but the addition of the 50mm creates some interesting effects. Hit up wikipedia If you want to know more about the EF/EF-S mounts and adaptation issues.
Misc Hacks4181 Articles
The Simpler USB2LCD
USB LCD interfaces aren’t new around here. [John] sent this latest one. It uses a single ATMega chip and a few cheap components to implement the whole thing. The venerable HD44780 compatible is the text LCD of choice.
I’m on vacation at the moment, but I’ll start putting up some Hack-A-Day design challenge entries pretty soon.
Atmega Oscope
[Jason] sent in a couple tips, and this diy oscilloscope caught my eye. This design uses the A/D sampler on the ATmega to generate the signal for presentation on a regular CRT television. The sample limit is less than 16khz. Not terribly impressive, but not too shabby either.
Speedy2 R/C Speed Controller
Alrighty, this is a pretty straight forward one. [Jason] discovered our tips line – he sent in quite a bit of stuff. I scored a pair of $120+ RC cars for $25 each recently, and this would come in handy. In fact, the store drone that checked me out didn’t believe that I could build my own speed controllers cheaper than they $30 units they had on the shelf. This R/C car speed controller uses a SMD pic 16F84 accepts standard servo input from a stock controller. It uses several fets to drive a motor at up to 40 amps. Everything you need, including eagle cad files is included in the zip file.
(I’m down in San Antonio this week – so far it’s been fun. I finally picked up a panavise junior and restocked my heat shrink and soldering supplies. )
Make Your Own CO2 Laser
We all remember the diy cnc laser. In my quest to bring you guys fresh stuff, I found an interesting design [archived page](the author says he built his in the 80s) for a home-built CO2 laser. The dimensions are missing, but the design is pretty simple. If you like some textbook style reading, the hyperphysics server is your friend. I finally bought a mini mill to go with my lathe – this could make an interesting machining project. Get a mini-fridge compressor to for the vacuum source, and the gas is easily acquired from the local welding shop. I’d bet Surplus shed probably has some workable optics.
The 25th is the deadline for the Design Challenge. Don’t freak out, just get it submitted before I get up on the 26th, and I’ll call it good.
Gauss Pistol Redeux
Remember this? We hit it last year. [William] has been working hard, and made plenty of improvements. Aside from building it in black, he’s built a new model. He’s even hoping to release it as a kit in 2007. The latest version uses a PIC to fire the coils and manages the batteries, uses a pair of IR sensors to time the projectile, laser sighting and improved charging. It’s still only slightly more powerful than a CO2 BB gun, but one hell of an engineering challenge. Theoretically, these could be more powerful than traditional firearms, but power limitations keep them repressed like mid-evil peasants.
DIY MP3 How-to
Just a quick note – my How-To on building your own MP3 player is up. It’s more of a build walk-through and a review of MAKE’s Daisy MP3 player kit.
In case you missed it, Ben Heck put up a How-to on making your own robotic hand. It’s more of an exercise in CAD design with the intent to cut the parts on a CNC machine. It’s a great view into Ben’s workflow. He used to torture er train graphic artists at some point, and he puts that experience to work in his designs. Speaking of which, you might dig his SCART video switcher.
I’ve got to say that I’m impressed with the effort I’ve seen so far on the Design Challenge. You’ve got five more days to get em in.
Before I forget, I need a good supplier of teflon/ptfe insulated wire (at a decent price). Suggestions?
