Take Better Pictures Of Your Projects

August 25, 2010 by Mike Szczys 11 Comments

[PT] let us know about a fantastic guide to taking better photographs of your projects. It’s a hefty read but well worth the effort. Author [Johngineer] helps us understand how to use simple (and possibly inexpensive) tools like lights, mirrors, and a background material. He also gives some tips on how to recognize what your image processing software is telling your about your photography skills (get the correct camera setup and you won’t need correct your levels in The GIMP). There’s even some tips on photographing LEDs, a topic we’ve seen before, which you’re bound to find useful when trying to make that blinky thing you built into an Internet sensation.

Wristwatch Board With Throwback Digits

August 25, 2010 by Mike Szczys 22 Comments

This wristwatch circuit board has some pretty interesting digits. They’re older components that give a classic look to your wristwatch display. On board you’ll find a PIC 16F628A running with an external clock crystal. The display isn’t always illuminated (kind of like Woz’s watch) in order to save the batteries, but can be woken up for a short time with the push of a button. The steam-punk-ish body seen to the left is the just first try. This guy has four more boards left so it should be fun to see what he comes up with.

[Via Hackaday Flickr Pool]

PET-Gaming Computer Module

August 24, 2010 by Jakob Griffith 9 Comments

This 64×48 full color LED display goes much further than we expected at first glance. The display is actually a computer with a Zilog eZ80F91 core utilizing an FPGA for the hardware interface. Some nifty applications currently built include mostly games, but there is also visualizations, network file systems, video streaming, and even a MIDI synth.

It originally looked to be more of a console, with controllers, game pads, and cartridges, but the latter ended up not working out. What else would you do with a giant LED display?

ATtiny2313 Prime Number Generator

August 24, 2010 by Mike Szczys 9 Comments

[Scott Harden’s] prime number generator exhibits a great way to use an LED matrix to present readable information. The project resides in a hinged wooden box with a grid of holes on the lid for the LEDs. [Scott] has overlaid the matrix with a printout showing powers of two that represent different prime numbers. Inside you’ll find an ATtiny2313 microcontroller that handles the column scanning and prime number testing. We’ve embedded a video the break where [Scott] explains the project in great detail, but you should also check out his prototyping and construction pages.

Continue reading “ATtiny2313 Prime Number Generator” →

Surgical Microscope Gets LED Retrofit

August 24, 2010 by Mike Szczys 16 Comments

[Roberto Barrios] picked up a surgical microscope to add to those other fun lab toys you seen in the background. These work very well when soldering small components because they don’t have to be as close to the viewed objects as traditional microscopes. But [Robert] didn’t care for the heat generated by the incandescent bulb so he build his own LED replacement. If you recognize his name it’s because we saw a beautifully crafted in-visor GPS system that he built back in April. This project exhibits the same level of craftsmanship in which he utilized the base of a spare bulb to add an LED, heat sink, and driver board that is adjustable on all three axes.

He also mentioned that he overhauled his site design and it now plays nicely with all browsers.

Needs More LEDs, EMSL Biggified Conway’s Game Of Life

August 18, 2010 by Jakob Griffith 33 Comments

Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories has proven bigger is better with their colossal LED table running Conway’s Game of Life. At the heart of the system is 44 ATmega164Ps controlling 352 LEDs on a 32×44 inch table; and to make it interactive IR LEDs detect the presence of objects.

The display is set up as an exhibit at the San Jose Museum of Art in tribute to [Leo Villareal]. To see a demo, catch a video after the divide.

Related: Colossal LED tables, and Conway’s Game of Life. Why has it taken so long to combine them?

Continue reading “Needs More LEDs, EMSL Biggified Conway’s Game Of Life” →

2 Foot Tall POV Globe

August 12, 2010 by Jakob Griffith 18 Comments

[Ytai] let us know about his POV globe, all four parts of its current progress. While he says he was inspired to write up the project from a YouTube clip, we know the real reason. Regardless, the plan is to have a 2 foot diameter globe with 256 LEDs spinning at 50 revolutions per second streaming images from an SD card using SPI. While the project isn’t completed yet, we know [Ytai] will pull through like he has in the past, and you can be sure we’ll keep you up to date on his progress.