Building An IR Thermometer That Fits On Your Keychain

July 5, 2024 by Tom Nardi 11 Comments

Non-contact infrared (IR) thermometers used to be something of an exotic tool, but thanks at least in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they’re now the sort of thing you see hanging up near the grocery store checkout as a cheap impulse buy. Demand pushed up production, and the economies of scale did the test. Now the devices, and the sensors within them, are cheap enough for us hackers to play with.

The end result is that we now have projects like this ultra compact IR thermometer from [gokux]. With just a handful of components, some code to glue it all together, and a 3D printed enclosure to wrap it all up, you’ve got a legitimately useful tool that’s small enough to replace that lucky rabbit’s foot you’ve got on your keys.

If this project looks familiar, it’s because the whole thing is closely related to the LiDAR rangefinder [gokux] put together last month. It shares the same Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32-C3 microcontroller, 0.49 inch OLED display, and tiny 40 mAh LiPo battery. The only thing that’s really changed, aside from the adjustments necessary to the 3D printed enclosure, is that the LiDAR sensor was replaced with a MLX90614 IR temperature sensor.

[gokux] has put together some great documentation for this build, making it easy for others to recreate and remix on their own. Assembly is particularly straightforward thanks to the fact that both the display and temperature sensor communicate with the ESP32 over I2C, allowing them to be wired daisy chain style — there’s no need for even a scrap of perfboard inside the case, let alone a custom board.

ATtiny85 Mouse Jiggler Lets You Take A Break

June 3, 2024 by Tom Nardi 53 Comments

The good news is that more and more people are working from home these days. The bad news is that some of the more draconian employers out there aren’t too happy about it, to the point of using ~~spyware~~ software to keep tabs on their workers. Better make that bathroom break quick — Big Brother is watching!

One simple way to combat such efforts is a mouse jiggler, which does…well it does exactly what it sounds like. If you find yourself in need of such a device, the WorkerMouse from [Zane Bauman] is a simple open source design that can be put together with just a handful of components.

The WorkerMouse is designed to be assembled using through-hole parts on a scrap of perfboard, but you could certainly swap them out for their SMD variants if that’s what you have on hand. The circuit is largely made up out of passive components anyway, except for the ATtiny85 that’s running the show.

[Zane] decided to embrace modernity and couple the circuit with a USB-C breakout board, but naturally you could outfit it with whatever USB flavor you want so long as you’ve got a cable that will let you plug it into your computer.

The project’s C source code uses V-USB to connect to the computer and act as a USB Human Interface Device (HID). From there, it generates random speed and position data for a virtual mouse, and dumps it out every few seconds. The end result is a cursor that leaps around the screen whenever the WorkerMouse is plugged in, which should be enough to show you online while you step away from the computer. As an added bonus, [Zane] has put together a nice looking 3D printable enclosure for the board. After all, the thing is likely going to be sitting on your desk, might as well have it look professional.

If you’ve got the time to get a PCB made, you might also be interested in the MAUS we covered last year, which also keeps the ATtiny85 working so you don’t have to.

Printing A Replacement Case For The ThinkPad 701c

May 29, 2024 by Tom Nardi 11 Comments

Even among ThinkPads, which are nearly universally loved by hardware hackers and Linux tinkerers alike, the 701c is a particularly rare and desirable machine. Best known for it’s “butterfly” slide out keyboard, the IBM-designed subnotebook from the mid-1990s has gained a following all its own, with active efforts to repair and restore any surviving specimens still out in the wild.

[polymatt] has already taken on a number of 701c restoration projects, but the recent release of a 3D printable case for the vintage laptop is arguably the most impressive to date. After spending an untold number of hours with an original case and a pair of calipers, the final design has been released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license — in other words, you’re free to print one to spruce up your 701c, but don’t run off a stack of them and start trying to move them on Etsy.

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Printed Case Lets Pair Of RTL-SDRs Go Mobile

May 29, 2024 by Tom Nardi 25 Comments

We’ll admit to not fully knowing what [Jay Doscher] has planned for the pair of RTL-SDR Blog V4 software defined radios (SDRs) that are enclosed in the slick 3D printed enclosure he’s designed. But when has that ever stopped us from appreciating a nice design when we see one?

Inside the ventilated enclosure is the aforementioned pair of RTL-SDR Blog V4 (SDRs), as well as a StarTech USB hub that they’re plugged directly into. It seems like it wouldn’t take much to adapt this design to any other pair of USB gadgets, such as flash drives or WiFi adapters.

In fact, if they’re smaller than the RTL-SDR [Jay] has used here, you could probably get away with only needing to modify the one side panel of the case.

The simple modularity of the design, with two end pieces and the top and bottom plates, makes such modifications easy as you don’t need to reprint the whole thing if you just want a different antenna aperture. It also makes it easy to print without support material, and with just a few tweaks, looks like it could be adapted to use laser-cut panels for the sides. This would not only be faster than printing, but depending on the material, could make for a very stout enclosure.

We’ve covered several designs from [Jay] over the years, including a number of heavy-duty mobile “doomsday” computers that certainly fit in with this same design aesthetic. After all, why not face the end of the world with a little style?

Students’ Leaf Blower Suppressor To Hit Retail

May 18, 2024 by Tom Nardi 82 Comments

Electric leaf blowers are already far quieter than their gas-powered peers, but they still aren’t the kind of thing you’d like to hear first-thing on a Saturday morning. Looking to improve on the situation, a group of students from Johns Hopkins University have successfully designed a 3D printed add-on that manages to significantly reduce the noise generated by a modern electric leaf blower without compromising the amount of air it’s able to move. The device has proven to be so successful in tests that Stanley Black & Decker is looking to put a commercial version of the device on store shelves within the next two years.

The team says the first part of the problem was identifying where the noise was actually coming from. After taking an example leaf blower apart and studying all of its moving components, they determined that most of the noise produced wasn’t mechanical at all — what you’re actually hearing is the complex cacophony of high-speed air rushing out of the nozzle. With this knowledge in hand, they isolated the frequencies which were the harshest to the human ear and focused on canceling them out.

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This Tiny Game Boy Lets The Real Thing Play Online

May 13, 2024 by Tom Nardi 5 Comments

Back in 2021, [stacksmashing] found that it took little more than a Raspberry Pi Pico and some level-shifters to create a USB connection with the Game Boy’s link port. Add in the proper software, and suddenly you’ve got online multiplayer for the classic handheld. The hardware was cheap, the software open source, and a good time was had by all.

Inspired by both the original project and some of the hardware variations that have popped up over the years, [weiman] recently set out to create a new version of the USB link adapter that fits inside a miniature 3D printed Game Boy.

The big change from the original design is that this is using the far smaller, but equally capable, RP2040-Zero development board. This is mated with a SparkFun logic level converter board (or a clone of one from AliExpress) by way of a custom PCB that also includes the necessary edge connectors to connect directly to a Game Boy Link Cable.

Once the PCB is assembled, it’s dropped into the 3D printed Game Boy shell. [weiman] really worked some nice details into the case, such as aligning the d-pad and buttons in such a way that pressing them engages either the RESET or BOOTSEL buttons on RP2040-Zero. The screen of the printed handheld also lines up with the RGB LED on the top of the dev board, which can produce some cool lighting effects.

The original project from [stacksmashing] was an excellent example of the capabilities of the Pi Pico, and we’re glad to see it’s still being worked on and remixed by others. Even though the state of Game Boy emulation is nearly perfect these days, there’s still something to be said for working with the original hardware like this.

Fully 3D Printed Case Is Stacked High With Mini PCs

May 9, 2024 by Tom Nardi 9 Comments

Over the years we’ve seen no shortage of 3D printed cases designed to hold several Raspberry Pi computers, often with the intent to use them as convenient desktop-sized platforms for experimenting with concepts such as server load balancing and redundancy.

The reason the Pi was always the star of the show is simple enough to explain: they were small and cheap. But while the Pi has only gotten more expensive over the years, x86 machines have gotten smaller and cheaper. Which is how a project like the N100 Obelisk was born.

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