Hackaday Links: August 3, 2014

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A ton of people sent in this video of crazy Russians who have taken a microwave, removed the magnetron, taped it to a broom, and turned it on. Don’t try this at home. Or near us.

You know the Google Cardboard kit that’s a real VR headset made of cardboard (and a smart phone)? Google may have gotten their inspiration from Oculus, because every Oculus Rift DK2 ships with a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 inside.

paul allen

Ever design a PCB and be disappointed by the quality of the silkscreen? [Paul Allen] has been defining the edges of his PCB labels with the copper layer, and the examples are dramatic. Etching copper is what you actually pay for when you fab a board, so it should come as no surprise that the quality is a little higher.

Dunk tanks are fun, but how about competitive dunk tanks? [Chad] built a dunk tank (really more of a ‘dunk shower’) out of a 2×4 tripod, a garbage can, and a few parts from a the toilet aisle of Home Depot’s plumbing department. Then he built a second. Set up both dunk showers across from each other, give two people a few balls, and see who gets soaked last. Looks fun.

Want a MAME cabinet, but don’t want it taking up room in your house? Build a MAME coffee table! Here’s the reddit thread. Maybe we’re old-fashioned, but we’d rather have a giant NES controller coffee table.

Last week we saw a 16-bobbin rope braiding machine, but odd braiding machines like this aren’t limited to fibers. Here’s a wire twisting machine for making RS422 cables. It only produces a single twisted pair, but that’s really all you need to create a cable. Somebody get some paracord and make some Cat5.

Easily Silkscreen All The Things

Silkscreening isn’t as hard as it might seem. For instance, it’s easier than block printing because you don’t have to reverse the image. [Jimmy DiResta] shows how easy it is to put a silkscreening setup together and print on wood, metal, and, of course, t-shirts.

Once you decide on a design, print it out on an acetate sheet which can be run through a regular household printer. You can buy ready-made meshed frames or even entire kits, but [Jimmy] shows you how to build a simple frame and staple screen mesh to it. After sealing up the edges, mix up some photo emulsion, cover the mesh, and let it dry in a dark room.

When it’s dry, place your acetate on the screen and expose the emulsion using whatever light is available. [Jimmy] built a milk crate tower up to his fluorescent work light and exposed it for about four minutes. Now you’re almost ready to make your mark. Peel off the acetate and remove excess emulsion with a squirt bottle and compressed air. Dry the whole thing with a hair dryer and you’re done. Load up a squeegee with silkscreen ink and draw it from top to bottom with nice, even pressure, and you’ve got yourself a silkscreened thing.

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BAMF2010: DIY Electroluminescent Displays

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPclj5lbz48]

In this video from Maker Faire, [Jon Beck] of CLUE — the Columbia Laboratory for Unconventional Electronics — demonstrates the unexpected ease of creating custom electroluminescent (EL) displays using materials from DuPont and common t-shirt screen printing tools. Eagle-eyed reader [ithon] recognized the Hack a Day logo among the custom shapes, which escaped our notice at the time. Sorry, Jon! Very cool project, even if the setup is a bit steep. You’ll find links to materials at the project site.

If the interviewer seems especially sharp, that’s because it’s none other than [Jeri “Circuit Girl” Ellsworth], who makes transistors from scratch and designed the C64 DTV. We’re not worthy!