Posted May 8th 2008 8:53PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: misc hacks
Been looking for some extra range for your R/C projects? [Tron]'s
managed to control his planes from 9.8Km using this kit at 868Mhz. I don't know if I'd have the patience to fly the plane for that long, but this beats the pants off of just about everyone else home R/C gear.
Posted May 7th 2008 10:16PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: transportation hacks
Adding extra battery capacity to hybrids is becoming pretty common, but
this one is better than the average lead acid trunk fest. The pack was built from three prius NiMH packs picked up from salvage yards. These batteries can't simply be bolted together, but with some research and effort you can save some nickel from the junk yards and cut your fuel bill.
Posted May 6th 2008 11:12PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: robots hacks
The
nitty gritty details are a little bit hidden, but [Sylvain]'s work is awesome enough that I just don't care. He's been doing research on robot learning with some
tasty results. After all, who doesn't want a robot to make breakfast for em? He's taken the time to publish some
source code, so robot made breakfast isn't that far out of reach. mmmm.
Posted May 4th 2008 10:42PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: home entertainment hacks
A while back, [Phil]
got ticked off and started working on linux support for the Logitech Harmony remotes for quite a while. Having owned one of these sweet remotes, I can honestly say that yes, they rock, and yes, the driver software can be pretty freakin' annoying. If you've got a Harmony remote and would like an alternative to the usual fare, check out
[Phil]'s project.
Posted May 3rd 2008 10:57PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: misc hacks
[sudija] wrote up a nice
instructable on adding bluetooth audio output to a tomtom gps unit. It's not too technically advanced, but you'll have to add an audio jack if your gps lacks one. This looks like a great way to turn a cheaper unit into something suitable for a motorcycle rig.
Posted May 3rd 2008 2:16PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: HackIt
I got a chance to see the new Ironman movie last night, and it's exactly the kind of film that kick-starts my brain into considering new projects. I'm opening up today's hackit in a few directions:
1) Get any project ideas from Ironman?
2) Got any projects that were inspired by movie/tv/comic tech?
3) What's your favorite source of inspiration?
Posted May 2nd 2008 7:35PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: misc hacks
[Ned] sent in his
USB temperature sensor. This little guy has a PIC controller, FTDI usb serial interface and a dallas temperature sensor. He managed to keep the cost very low - including the PCB.
Posted May 1st 2008 11:26PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: misc hacks
Despite the resemblance to an alien robot that might rebuild your house from scratch,
this is actually the first mod for a solar yard lamp that I've seen. By adding a brighter LED, a couple of tubes, a laser printed transparency and a lens, you end with with a relatively inexpensive image projector that can project custom graphics from odd locations. [
via]
Posted Apr 30th 2008 10:32PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: misc hacks
[Ryan] sent in [Bill]'s
project to build his own JAMMA arcade game console. It's actually a take off from one of [Ben Heck]'s
how-tos, but I thought it might interest people who think that they can't pull off any of the projects we feature on their own. We definitely like to show off some original, complex hacks, but success stories can be just as inspiring.
Posted Apr 29th 2008 9:09PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: misc hacks
[Yuri] spent some time building a computer controlled, arduino interfaced beer brewing rig. A cooler serves as a mash tun, while the arduino controls a steam source that's used to raise the temperature of the mash as desired. A java app talks to the arduino to set the temperature parameters and monitor the steam boiler. You can catch a nice
video walkthrough of the setup, see some
screen shots of his java interface.
Posted Apr 28th 2008 8:44PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: misc hacks, peripherals hacks
Whenever [sprite_tm] sends in his
latest project, it's like getting a Christmas present and a night off. He put together a whiteboard, x/y stepper system, serial interfaced microcontroller and added a webcam with perspective correction for the online view. Me? I'm tempted to build one of these for leaving notes for the wife when I'm out.
Posted Apr 27th 2008 11:27PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: misc hacks, transportation hacks
This one's In honor of my
new project bike. [wildwestsyndey] converted his Suzuki DR 350 from the stock carbs to EFI using the
megasquirt EFI controller and a custom machined throttle body. You can find a few pictures of the conversion
here. To handle the ever annoying need for a high pressure fuel pump, he adapted an in-tank scooter pump with a machined mini-reservoir to fit in-line with the original tank. For more motorcycle builds, check out the megasquirt
success stories forum.Posted Apr 26th 2008 11:03PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: laptops hacks, misc hacks
Certain OS installers cough*osx*cough don't like the on-board displays on some machines. [Ziddan]
posted a paperclip based work around for them on the eeeuser forums (originally posted by [mugan] on insanelymac). Apparently by shorting the pins, the video card will report that there is an unknown external display attached.
Posted Apr 25th 2008 11:20PM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: misc hacks
There's nothing quite like a nice, simple hack.
This serial servo controller uses a PIC12C671 and a pair of resistors. Leaving out the power supply, that's the lowest part count I've ever seen.
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