Toy Hacks

968 Articles

A Concealed Model Railway Rises To The Occasion

December 13, 2022 by 5 Comments

Occasional pieces of furniture serve little purpose other than to fill a space and maybe display a prized ornament or two. Who hasn’t got a relative with one two many small tables or display stands overfilling the available space!

If you visit [Peter Waldraff]’s house though, those pieces of furniture may not be what they seem. His display pedestal for example hides an N gauge railway layout that rises from the depths on a system of pulleys, with the action triggered by moving the vase displayed on its top. The vase conceals a magnet, which operates a reed switch that in turn controls the winch motor.

The layout is a loosely Batman themed train chase, with concentric spirals of track forming a continuous loop on which two trains run. There’s an ingenious arrangement with a reed switch and a piece of dead track to ensure that the chasing train is always held to ensure a gap between them. The landscaping is of a set of cliffs with a model of Wayne manor at the top, and there’s even a LED-lit Batmobile. One of the locomotives is recognisably based on a character from the Thomas the Tank Engine books.

All in all we like the ingenuity of this layout, but if you like it too then we’ve got a treat for you. Sharp-eyed readers will remember that this isn’t the first such project from Peter.

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A Simon toy with a robot that slaps little hands against it

Silicone-Slapping Servos Solve Simon Says

December 6, 2022 by 7 Comments

Most modern computer games have a clearly-defined end, but many classics like Pac-man and Duck Hunt can go on indefinitely, limited only by technical constraints such as memory size. One would think that the classic electronic memory game Simon should fall into that category too, but with most humans struggling even to reach level 20 it’s hard to be sure. [Michael Schubart] was determined to find out if there was in fact an end to the latest incarnation of Simon and built a robot to help him in his quest.

The Simon Air, as the newest version is known, uses motion sensors to detect hand movements, enabling no-touch gameplay. [Michael] therefore made a system with servo-actuated silicone hands that slap the motion sensors. The tone sequence generated by the game is detected by light-dependent resistors that sense which of the segments lights up; a Raspberry Pi keeps track of the sequence and replays it by driving the servos.

We won’t spoil the ending, but [Michael] did find an answer to his question. An earlier version of the game was already examined with the help of an Arduino, although it apparently wasn’t fast enough to drive the game to its limits. If you think Simon can be improved you can always roll your own, whether from scratch or by hacking an existing toy.

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3d printed escalator, from side, showing mechanism

Tiny 3D Printed HO Scale Escalator That Works

November 29, 2022 by 25 Comments

[Luke Towan] has a cool HO scale Escalator mostly made of 3D printed parts, with some laser cut acrylic, for a station on his HO model railroad.

Escalators are mesmerizing to watch – there’s something magical about the stairs unfolding at the bottom and folding up at the top. But they’re very hard to model.

[Luke Towan] has done it – his 3D printed version closely resembles the real thing mechanically. Pins are carried around, cantilevered out from a 3D printed chain. A stair swivels on each pin – at the bottom each stair’s free end rests on a ‘bottom’ far enough down for the stairs to be level, while on the incline the ‘bottom’ is just below the pins. It’s a tricky build.

If you like pushing the envelope of what 3D printing can do this is an interesting project, even if you’re not planning to build an escalator. There are lots of tips for making small mechanisms with 3D printing, and for making small mechanisms that work reliably without stuttering.

He’s not the first to build an escalator. Back in 2015 we covered this wooden escalator for slinkies,  and just recently this 3D printed version from [AlexY].

Tiny RC Truck And Trailer Motors Around Tabletop

November 18, 2022 by 17 Comments

Most RC cars replicate real-world race cars or fantastical off-road buggies for outdoor escapades. [diorama111] is an expert at building tiny desk-roaming models, though, and built this exquisite micro semi-truck and trailer.

Based on a 1/150 scale truck and trailer model, the build starts with the tractor unit. It’s disassembled, and its plastic wheels are machined on a tiny lathe so they can be fitted with grippy rubber tires carved out of O-ring material. The front wheels are given hubs and mounted to a motor-driven screw-type steering assembly. A photodetector is used to aid in self-centering. The rear axle is fitted with a geared drivetrain, running off a small DC motor. Multiple gear stages are used to give the build plenty of torque for pulling the trailer. Remote control of the model is achieved over Bluetooth, with an ATtiny3217 tucked inside with motor drivers to run the show.

The microcontroller also runs a full set of driving, tail, and indicator lights. The trailer is fitted with an infrared receiver and a battery of its own. It receives signals from an infrared LED on the tractor unit, which tell the trailer when to turn on the taillights and indicators.

There aren’t too many modelers working in the RC space at the 1:150 scale. [diorama111] has form here, though, and we’ve featured a previous Toyota Crown build before.

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Building A LEGO Pneumatic Engine

November 17, 2022 by 6 Comments

Pneumatic engines aren’t something we use every day, but they’re compelling things to see working in practice. [Nico71] built an eye-catching example out of LEGO Technic, and it’s remarkably fully-featured.

The build relies on a single pneumatic cylinder driving a flywheel. Flow to the cylinder is determined by camshaft-controlled valves. The valves themselves are custom-built, composed of hose loops that are kinked to shut off flow. In addition to the basic operating components, the engine also features a throttle valve which uses the same kinked-hose principle. The main control valves are installed in a housing that can be rotated relative to the engine’s frame to vary the timing of the valves relative to the flywheel’s rotation. A gear system allows fine adjustment of the timing. The throttle and timing controls are accessible on a tidy control panel complete with a idle-adjust mechanism.

Those wishing to build one themselves can rejoice, for [Nico71] provides instructions for a small fee. We’ve seen other air engines before, too, often of the 3D-printed variety.

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Amphibious Dragster Drives On Water

November 17, 2022 by No comments

Dragsters are typically about peak performance on a tarmac drag strip. [Engineering After Hours] took a different tack, though, building a radio-controlled amphibious dragster intended to cross small bodies of water.

The build is based on a Traxxas Raptor RC car. However, it’s been heavily reworked from a pickup-like design to become a dragster with a motor mounted in the rear. It’s also been fitted with a foam underbody to allow it to float when stationary. The rear tires have been replaced with 3D-printed versions with large paddles, which provide propulsion in the water.

Initial tests showed the car struggled to make progress in the water, as the paddle tires tended to drag the rear end deeper under water. The tiny dragster tires up front didn’t help it steer, in water either. Large foam discs were added to the front tires to enable them to act as better rudders.

Fitted with its water tires and foam floatation aids, the car can only drive slowly on land, but [Engineering After Hours] points out this is enough to call it amphibious. It does a better job at skittering around on water, and it was able to cross a local pond at low speed.

We’ve seen some other creative techniques for making amphibious vehicles, like these crazy star-shaped wheels. Video after the break.

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A 12" LCD screen sits between speakers (on lower half of bezel) and joycon controllers are attached on the upper half of the bezel.

Portable Monitor Extension For Nintendo Switch

November 16, 2022 by 7 Comments

Handheld consoles are always a tradeoff between portability and screen real estate. [Pavlo Khmel] felt that the Nintendo Switch erred too much on the side of portability, and built an extension to embiggen his Switch. (YouTube)

[Khmel] repurposed a Dell XPS 12 LCD panel for the heart of this hack and attached it to an LCD controller board to serve as an external monitor for the Switch. A 3D printed enclosure envelops the screen and also contains a battery, speakers, and a dock for the console. Along the top edges, metal rails let you slide in the official Joy-Cons or any number of third party controllers, even those that require a power connection from the Switch.

Since the Switch sees this as being docked, it allows the console to run faster and at higher resolution than if it were in handheld mode. The extension lasts about 5 hours on battery power, and the Switch inside will still be fully charged if you don’t mind being constrained to its small screen while you charge it’s bigger-screened exoskeleton.

Need more portable goodness? Be sure to check out our other handheld and Nintendo Switch hacks.

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