Blink Thrice To Let Me In

April 8, 2015 by James Hobson 52 Comments

Now here’s a really cool home hack. [Luis Rodrigues] has automated his garage door to open, simply by flashing his headlights at it.

But wait, doesn’t that mean anyone could break into his house? Nope. At first we thought he had just added some photo-sensors and a bit of computer logic in order to turn a pattern of lights into an output to open the garage, but no, it’s actually specific to his car only. Which is awesome because if anyone ever tried to copy him to break in, all they break into is a very confused state of mind.

You see how it actually works is the headlight output is connected to a control box under the hood of his car. A Moteino (RF Arduino variant) reads the input signal of the headlights flashing three times, and then communicates wirelessly to the garage door in order to open it.

But [Luis] also has a gate outside his property — so if you hold the lights on for a second, both the garage door and the external gate will open as well.

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Tank Track Motorcycle Goes Anywhere, Slowly

April 4, 2015 by Rich Bremer 18 Comments

There are just somethings you don’t see often when it comes to motorcycles, 2 wheel drive and tank tracks. Well, [jeep2003] has combined both those oddities into one project he calls the Track-Powered 2×2 MiniBike.

As his descriptive project name suggests, this minibike has tracks instead of wheels. The track assemblies originally came off a snow blower. As if just having tracks wasn’t difficult enough, both sets are powered. The back has a straight forward chain and sprocket setup while the front ads in a clever jack-shaft and universal joint contraption which is shown in the video after the break around the 3:08 mark.

[jeep2003] doesn’t say where the tubing for his custom made frame came from, but from the photos available it appears they were once old bicycle frames. The powerplant is a 6.75hp vertical shaft Briggs & Stratton engine. The output shaft connects to a Peerless 5 speed transmission that also has reverse. This transmission usually outputs to two rear drive wheels of a riding lawnmower. [jeep2003] dedicates each axle output from the transmission to power one of the two track systems.

Although this minibike won’t be breaking any land speed records anytime soon, we here at HaD still think it’s a pretty rad build.

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The Best Project We Never Did Yet

April 2, 2015 by Brian Benchoff 97 Comments

Back when [Caleb] was around here at Hackaday, he was tasked with making a few YouTube videos. His Portal Gun got 1.6 Million views, and we got a takedown request because of this video even though that company was more than willing to use [Caleb] as a guinea pig at CES.

This post is not about those videos. This post is about the best project we never did yet.

The grand plan for The Best Project was a zombie survival van. It’s exactly what you think it is: a van armored and armed for driving through a herd of walkers. Proposed mods included a cow catcher and roof rack, a motorized turret, a poofer (propane tanks shooting fire from underneath the van), a bartender that launches molotov cocktails, and a beautiful little contraption called an ankler. The Ankler is just a pair of chainsaws that fold out from under the van.

The base vehicle would be a 60s VW bus. [Caleb]’s a big fan of aircooled stuff, and if you think about it, 60s VWs are pretty good for the zombie apocalypse. If you’re doubting that, just ask how many tools it would take to change out the engine in your car.

Although the dream of a Hackaday aircooled zombie apocalypse van died when [Caleb] left, that doesn’t mean we’re still not considering an official Hackaday ride. All of this is still in the planning stages, but we have a few ideas; the first, and biggest, is a mobile hackerspace on a trailer. This would be a standard semitrailer, loaded up with tools, 3D printers, a laser cutters, and a couch. It would be the perfect thing to load up with swag and haul to events.

We’re considering another more sensible vehicle, and right now the top contender is an early 2000s Astro or Safari cargo van. Yes, I know what you’re thinking: the coolest vehicle we could come up with is a minivan. There’s actually some logic to this, so hear me out.

The Astro/Safari shares a lot of parts with the S10, and that means parts are everywhere. The Astro has an AWD variant, and with a 4″ lift, upgraded suspension and big, knobby tires the Hackaday van would be very, very fun to take out into the desert. It can haul eight foot sheets of plywood, they’re cheap, everywhere, and they just don’t die.

While the best idea right now is an Astro van, we’re also considering other AWD vehicles: an AMC Eagle would be cool, and I think RedBull has a few Suzuki X-90s sitting around. An M35 Deuce And A Half would be fun. A US Mail Truck would probably last forever, and if we go with the semi-trailer concept we would probably want a smaller vehicle on site wherever we park the truck. Current options for this parasitic vehicle include a Nash Metropolitan, a Trabant, a Citroen 2CV, a Renault Dauphine, a Lada, or a Yugo. Yes, they’re all ridiculous but they’re small and can fit in the back of a semi trailer.

It’s still an idea we’re throwing around, but we really need a reason to have a van before we go out and build a hackaspace on wheels, a zombie survival van, or something to launch off some sweet ramps. We don’t go to that many events, and driving a crappy old van across the country a few times a year sounds like fun but surely isn’t.

You can check out [Caleb]’s pitch video for the zombie survival van below.

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20 MPH IKEA Poäng Chair With Aerospace-Inspired Control Panel

March 31, 2015 by Anool Mahidharia 21 Comments

Spending time at work sitting on the same drab chair can get boring after a while, even if you’re lucky to use a comfortable recliner. If you want to win the Office Olympics, you need something with a bit of pep. [StuffAndyMakes] wanted to build a completely ridiculous motorized office chair. A couple of years in the making, and he’s ready to unleash the 20 MPH IKEA Poäng chair with aerospace-inspired control panel!

The OfficeChairiot MkII, as he has christened it aptly, is a motorized IKEA Poäng comfy chair. It uses off-the-shelf scooter parts to roll around : Batteries, motors, chains, sprockets, tires, axles, and bearings. The OfficeChairiot MkII is basically three main parts – the Chassis, the Control Panel and the comfy chair. One of the main parts of the chassis is the motor controller – The Dimension Engineering Sabertooth 2×60 motor controller – which is also used in beefy battlebots. It’s capable of carrying 1,000 lbs. of cargo and can feed the drive system up to 60 amps per motor channel .

The brain on the chassis is an Arduino Mega which can be controlled via a hand held remote. The Mega also receives data from various sensors for motor temperature, power wire temperature, ambient air temperature, wheel RPM’s, Accelerometer’s, seat occupancy and GPS data. The firmware is designed to ensure safety. The hand held remote needs to ping the on-board Arduino twice a second. If it doesn’t hear from the Remote for whatever reason, the unit stops and turns off the lights.

The Control Panel is one crazy collection of switches, buttons, displays, a missile switch, a master key switch – in all over 30 switches and buttons. All of the devices on the panel are controlled via a second Arduino Mega, helped by a custom multiplexer board to help connect the large number of devices.

Here are a few more features the OfficeChairiot MkII boasts of :

1.5 Horsepower from two 500W scooter motors
20W stereo and MP3 sound effects
Weapons sounds, 15 different fart sounds, car alarm, horns, etc.
All LED lighting: Headlights, turn signals, 88 undercarriage RGB LEDs
Plenty of homemade PCB’s
Custom built aluminum body panels (with help from Local Motors, the people behind the 3D printed car)

Aside from the handcrafted wood chassis and circuits boards and firmware, it’s all off-the-shelf stuff. [StuffAndyMakes] plans on open-sourcing the schematics, C++ code and CAD drawings – so post some comments below to motivate him to do so soon. We’d sure like to see a few more of these being built, so that Office Chair racing becomes a competitive sport. Check out the video after the break.

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Electric Skateboard Rev’ed To Version 2

March 29, 2015 by Rich Bremer 5 Comments

What’s cooler than a sweet skateboard? A sweet electric skateboard! And the only thing cooler than that is a DIY electric skateboard. [comsa42] has proven to be a DIY electric skateboard aficionado with his new project. It’s a rebuild and upgrade from his electric longboard that has previously been featured on Hackaday.

The most noticeable change is the size of the deck, it was cut down to be 31 inches long to enhance its maneuverability. The electronics are housed in an updated fiberglass compartment that attaches to the bottom of the deck. The old compartment had a large port that had to be removed in order to charge the battery. The new compartment has a plug for easily connecting the charger.

The drive components still consist of a brushless DC motor, RC hobby ESC and a LiPo battery. Previously, an RC transmitter and receiver were used to control the motor. [comsa42] wrote an app for his phone to send throttle signals to a Bluetooth module which controls the ESC as well as relays battery life back to the phone.

We think this project is pretty rad and wouldn’t mind taking this skate for a spin around the block.

Portable 120V To 240V Converter; Or How To Fast Charge At Your In-Law’s House

March 21, 2015 by Mike Szczys 73 Comments

[Nick Sayer] falls into the “would rather build it than buy it” category. This particular project is a clone of a fast electric vehicle charger. There are commercially available versions sold under the Quick 220 brand name. The idea is that for fast charging, some electric vehicles call for a 240V outlet and Americans without electric cars often don’t have one. If they do it’s for an appliance like a stove or clothes dryer and probably not found in the garage.

The device uses two hot and one ground to supply the 240V output which is, in some business where there is three phase power this will be closer to 208V but should still work. Obviously you shouldn’t be doing this unless you know exactly how it works, and we applaud [Nick] for airing these hazards while at the same time supplying the knowledge behind the concerns.

Two inputs for the beefy converter are supplied from outlets not just on separate circuits, but on two circuits whose hot lines are 180 degrees out of phase. That means identifying where there are two plugs, not protected by GFCI outlets or breakers, which are on two separate hot lines of split phase power. To protect the user, [Nick] designed in a set of relays which kill the circuit when one of the two supplies is unplugged. A system that didn’t have these protections would have mains voltage on the prongs of the disconnected plug.

We’ve seen very few car charging hacks. If you know of one, or have been working on your own, let us know!

Dirt Cheap Plywood Bike Holder

March 9, 2015 by James Hobson 24 Comments

Commuting to work on a bicycle saves tons of dough, but sometimes storing your bike isn’t that easy. [Lewis] has been playing around with a few prototype bike stands and seems to have found the ticket, and it’s way cheaper –maybe even free, if you have the supplies. All you need is a single strip of plywood, and some wood screws, or wood glue! Well, that and a woodworking clamp.

The stand is designed to clamp onto 4×4 posts, or even a 2×4 stud. It’s great for storing bikes along your fence! It’s built purposefully snug, which allows you to add a small clamping force to make for a very rigid stand, suitable for even old steel-framed clunkers. Hooray for friction! Oh and if you’re happy with the location you could always get rid of the clamp and screw it in place instead.

Simple? Yup. Effective? Totally.

Oh and if it’s still crummy old winter where you live, why not beat the cold weather blues with an indoor bicycle roller?