Mouse Trap Game Used As An Actual Mouse Trap

August 6, 2018 by Tom Nardi 7 Comments

Just when you thought you had explored all the weird stuff on YouTube, along comes [Shawn Woods] with his channel dedicated to testing different types of mouse traps. His weekly videos demonstrate the construction and ultimate effectiveness of everything from primitive traps that can be made in the field from sticks and rocks to 3D printed creations sent in from viewers. But his latest video might just be the weirdest one yet, as he found a way to use the classic “Mousetrap” board game to capture an actual rodent.

Well, sort of. For one, [Shawn] admits the “trap” is completely impractical and is just for fun. Which should be pretty obvious considering the thing is enclosed in a box the size of a small refrigerator. Second, the lucky rodent that gets to test drive this Milton Bradley-powered gadget is actually the family’s pet chinchilla which is obviously rather calm and we dare say accustomed to these sort of shenanigans.

The key to the whole contraption comes via two traditional mousetraps, one on either end of the game’s more fanciful rendition of the same device. The first trap is used to pull the crank which gets the board game going when the mouse steps on the pad (a piece of wood with padding prevents the bar from actually hitting the animal). The game goes through its nostalgic routine featuring metal balls rolling down tracks and figurines on jumping boards, eventually triggering the second real mouse trap. In this case, the trap pulls a rope which closes a door at the opening of the box.

Assuming your target rodent is very patient and not startled by the cacophony of plastic machinery, the whole thing works perfectly. To use the parlance of his channel, this is what’s known as a “Live Catch” trap as it doesn’t hurt the mouse and lets you easily remove them after the fact. Which is the least you could do after humiliating it like this.

While likely the most unique, it surely isn’t the only mouse trap we’ve ever covered here at Hackaday. This clever soda bottle trap can be built cheaply and easily, but if you want something expensive and complex you can always use a Raspberry Pi.

[Thanks to Pete for the tip.]

Continue reading “Mouse Trap Game Used As An Actual Mouse Trap” →

Glimmies, As Logic

August 3, 2018 by Jenny List 10 Comments

[Jacob Christ] writes in with a hack that’s going to be this summer’s fidget spinner. Why? The favourite toy of his youngster’s generation is a Glimmie. And while fidget spinners were useful for, well, spinning, the small animal-like Glimmie seems to have an unexpected property, they can function as logic gates.

They form an optical inverter, in their head is a phototransistor and in their belly an LED which goes on when the head is in the dark. He’s found through experimentation that they can be combined to form an AND gate, and thus a NAND gate with the addition of a further inverter. Since all logic functions can be made from NAND gates, it should therefore be possible to go as far as to make any device based upon logic, even up to a fully functional computer. He estimates the cost of a single gate at $16.30. A computer would require in the region of 80,000 Glimmies to work, but maybe someone with deep enough pockets will be foolhardy enough to give it a try.

You can see the AND gate in action below complete with camera work from a youngster, and if unexpected logic gates are something that’s caught your attention you can take a look at the battery booster pack logic we brought you a while back.

Continue reading “Glimmies, As Logic” →

Self-Vacuuming LEGO Box Makes Life Better

July 27, 2018 by Steven Dufresne 16 Comments

The last chapter of the fourth book of the Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy mentions two hacks that made life pleasant enough to prevent a war: a super-fly that could fly out of the open half of a half-open window, and an off-switch for children. This is one of those types of hacks. Plus, it’s just an awesome idea, fun to watch, and possibly adaptable for the workshop.

After the kids have gone to bed and LEGO bricks are scattered all over the floor, furniture, stairs (ouch), and everywhere else, wouldn’t it be nice if you could simply vacuum it all up directly into the LEGO box? This ingenious hack from [The King or Random] YouTube channel shows how to just that. They put two holes in opposite corners of the box’s lid, one a tight fit for a flexible intake hose and the other for the Shopvac hose, or a normal household vacuum cleaner hose if you prefer. A disk cut from flyscreen covers the Shopvac hole in case the suction is strong enough to pull the bricks back out of the box and into the Shopvac. They also make a gasket for the lid by mixing up some silicone sealant and cornstarch, the cornstarch is to prevent the cured mix from remaining sticky. We of course really like the version they made which has a window in the side of the box for watching the bricks as they fly in. Check out their build and the action in the video below.

We wonder what other uses this can be put to. How about a container for sucking up a mess of loose hardware from a workbench or a garage floor for later sorting?

Where else can a vacuum come in handy? Here’s a vacuum table for holding down flexible material when using a laser cutter and another for holding parts on a CNC machine.

Continue reading “Self-Vacuuming LEGO Box Makes Life Better” →

3D Printed Upgrade For Cheap Foam Glider

July 9, 2018 by Tom Nardi 13 Comments

We know you’ve seen them: the big foam gliders that are a summertime staple of seemingly every big box retailer and dollar store in the world. They may be made by different companies or have slight cosmetic differences, but they all adhere to the basic formula: a long plastic bag containing the single-piece fuselage and two removable wings and a tail. Rip open the bag, jam the wings into the fuselage, and go see if you can’t get that thing stuck on a roof someplace.

But after you toss it around a few times, things start to get a little stale. Those of us in the Hackaday Collective who still retain memories of our childhood may even recall attempting to augment the glider with some strategically attached bottle rockets. But [Timothy Wright] has done considerably better than that. With the addition of a 3D printed “backpack”, he managed to add not only a motor to one of these foam fliers but an RC receiver and servos to move the control surfaces. The end result is a cheap and surprisingly capable RC plane with relatively little work required.

[Timothy] certainly isn’t claiming to be the first person to slap a motor on a foam glider to wring a bit more fun out of it, but his approach is very slick and of course has the added bonus of being available for other grownup kids to try thanks to the Creative Commons license he released the designs under. He mentions that variations in the different gliders might cause some compatibility issues, but with the generous application of some zip ties and tape, it should be good to go.

This particular hunk of foam might not set any altitude or distance records, and it certainly won’t be carrying you aloft, but it’s a pretty approachable summer project if you’ve got some RC gear laying around.

Continue reading “3D Printed Upgrade For Cheap Foam Glider” →

Circuit Bent Keyboard Is Pretty In Pink

June 24, 2018 by Tom Nardi 6 Comments

If you’re anything like us, more than a few of your projects were borne out of the fact that you had some crusty bit of gear that was badly in need of a second lease on life. Whether it was a hand-me-down or pulled out of the garbage, we’ve all at one time or another had some piece of hardware in our hands that might not be worth anything in its current form, but would make an awesome excuse for warming up the soldering iron.

That’s what happened when [joekutz] got his hands on this exceptionally juvenile keyboard toy. In its original state, it was so janky it couldn’t even reliably detect two keys being pressed at the same time; sort of a problem for a keyboard. So he decided to pull it apart and use it as a circuit bending playground. Thanks in part to how much free space was inside of the case, he was able to pack in a number of interesting modifications which he’s kindly detailed on Hackaday.io.

[joekutz] started by adding a headphone jack to the device, as well as a switch to disable the keyboard’s speaker. That allows not only listening to digital jams in private, but makes it possible to capture high-quality audio when connected to the computer. He then started poking around the PCB with a resistor and listening for changes. When the pitch of the keyboard changed, he soldered a potentiometer into its place and now had a way to adjust it on the fly.

Of particular note is the clever physical reverb he came up with. A microphone and speaker are connected to each other with a spring made out of an old guitar string. Audio from the keyboard’s PCB is played on the speaker and a TDA2022 low-voltage amplifier boosts the signal from the microphone. The end result is a very cool ethereal metallic effect.

If you’re looking for a slightly larger DIY reverb, we’ve covered a few builds in the past which should give you some inspiration. You might want to check the dumpster behind the abandoned local Toys R’ Us for some donor keyboards while you’re at it.

Continue reading “Circuit Bent Keyboard Is Pretty In Pink” →

Retrotechtacular: Voice Controlled Robot From 1961

June 15, 2018 by Al Williams 17 Comments

We like to think that all these new voice-controlled gadgets like our cell phones, Google Home, Amazon Echo, and all that is the pinnacle of new technology. Enabled by the latest deep learning algorithms, voice-controlled hardware was the stuff of science fiction back in the 1961s, right? Not really. Turns out in around 1960, Ideal sold Robot Commando, a kid’s toy robot that featured voice control.

Well, sort of. If you look at the ad in the video below, you’ll see that a kid is causing the robot to move and fire missiles by issuing commands into a microphone. How did some toy company pull this off in 1961?

Continue reading “Retrotechtacular: Voice Controlled Robot From 1961” →

Spellcasting Gun Uses POV Display, Not Magic

May 29, 2018 by Lewin Day 25 Comments

Persistence of Vision, or POV, displays are ever popular around these parts. Spin a few LEDs and you can make images appear in almost-thin air – just don’t stick your finger in the way. [FriskP] found a great application for this hardware – creating an anime-styled spellcasting gun.

The basic gun is built around a Nerf blaster, which is common in a lot of this type of steampunk and anime build. A Phantom3D POV display is then bolted on to the front along with some 3D printed components for style. The ensemble is then painted in a suitably awesome fashion.

We’re not sure on the software used, but [FriskP] has the gun displaying some amazing spell-type graphics that appear to hover in the air when the user pulls the trigger. The artwork is stunning, showing off some of the best graphics we’ve seen in the POV arena.

Overall, it’s a highly aesthetically pleasing build that any cosplayer would be more than proud to wield. It relies on the builder’s strong finishing and integration abilities more than raw electronic skill, but the end result is truly impressive.

We’ve seen plenty of POV displays around here before – you can get started with something as simply as a PC fan! Video after the break.

Continue reading “Spellcasting Gun Uses POV Display, Not Magic” →