Motorizing a Plasma Cutter on the Cheap
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/23/motorizing-a-plasma-cutter-on-the-cheap/
A hand-held plasma cutter is an excellent tool to have if you are working with sheet metal, but it’s not particularly well suited to making long or repetitive cuts. Which is why [workshop from scratch] worked his usual scrapheap magic and built his own motorized track for making perfectly straight …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/23/motorizing-a-plasma-cutter-on-the-cheap/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/23/motorizing-a-plasma-cutter-on-the-cheap/
A hand-held plasma cutter is an excellent tool to have if you are working with sheet metal, but it’s not particularly well suited to making long or repetitive cuts. Which is why [workshop from scratch] worked his usual scrapheap magic and built his own motorized track for making perfectly straight …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/23/motorizing-a-plasma-cutter-on-the-cheap/)
Replacing A Non-Replacable Laptop Keyboard
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/23/replacing-a-non-replacable-laptop-keyboard/
Spilling a drink on a laptop is a terrifying experience. If you’re lucky you’ll ruin just a keyboard, and if not, your entire machine could go up in smoke. Assuming you’ve just suffered the latter, you can still be out of luck, as many laptops come with fancy integrated keyboards …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/23/replacing-a-non-replacable-laptop-keyboard/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/23/replacing-a-non-replacable-laptop-keyboard/
Spilling a drink on a laptop is a terrifying experience. If you’re lucky you’ll ruin just a keyboard, and if not, your entire machine could go up in smoke. Assuming you’ve just suffered the latter, you can still be out of luck, as many laptops come with fancy integrated keyboards …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/23/replacing-a-non-replacable-laptop-keyboard/)
Robot Insect Survives Swatting
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/23/robot-insect-survives-swatting/
There is an old saying, that ‘the hand is quicker than the eye;, but somewhat slower than the fly.” However, with a little practice you can swat a fly, although it sometimes doesn’t seem to faze the fly. École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) has announced they have used nanotech …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/23/robot-insect-survives-swatting/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/23/robot-insect-survives-swatting/
There is an old saying, that ‘the hand is quicker than the eye;, but somewhat slower than the fly.” However, with a little practice you can swat a fly, although it sometimes doesn’t seem to faze the fly. École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) has announced they have used nanotech …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/23/robot-insect-survives-swatting/)
Ted The Talking Toaster
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/23/ted-the-talking-toaster/
The team behind [8 Bits and a Byte] have built a talking toaster. More accurately, they retrofitted their existing toaster with some hardware components to make it appear to talk and get angry at its users. While the actual toaster functionality isn’t necessary for the build, it certainly allows the …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/23/ted-the-talking-toaster/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/23/ted-the-talking-toaster/
The team behind [8 Bits and a Byte] have built a talking toaster. More accurately, they retrofitted their existing toaster with some hardware components to make it appear to talk and get angry at its users. While the actual toaster functionality isn’t necessary for the build, it certainly allows the …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/23/ted-the-talking-toaster/)
Hard Drive Data Recovery – Why Not DIY?
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/hard-drive-data-recovery-why-not-diy/
Hard drive failures can be tough to bear, particularly for the average person who doesn’t back up. When it comes to data recovery, there’s always those bleating from the sidelines that it’s a job that must be left to the professionals. However, this is Hackaday, not HireSomeoneADay, so [Matt]’s …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/hard-drive-data-recovery-why-not-diy/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/hard-drive-data-recovery-why-not-diy/
Hard drive failures can be tough to bear, particularly for the average person who doesn’t back up. When it comes to data recovery, there’s always those bleating from the sidelines that it’s a job that must be left to the professionals. However, this is Hackaday, not HireSomeoneADay, so [Matt]’s …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/hard-drive-data-recovery-why-not-diy/)
Advancing the State of Cyberdeck Technology
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/advancing-the-state-of-cyberdeck-technology/
It’s somewhat rare to be able to witness the birth and subsequent evolution of a technology, at least on a short enough time scale to appreciate it, but right now we’re lucky enough to see it happening within the burgeoning community of cyberdeck builders. We’ve seen an absolute explosion of …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/advancing-the-state-of-cyberdeck-technology/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/advancing-the-state-of-cyberdeck-technology/
It’s somewhat rare to be able to witness the birth and subsequent evolution of a technology, at least on a short enough time scale to appreciate it, but right now we’re lucky enough to see it happening within the burgeoning community of cyberdeck builders. We’ve seen an absolute explosion of …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/advancing-the-state-of-cyberdeck-technology/)
AMD Introduces New Ryzen Mini PCs to Challenge Intel
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/amd-introduces-new-ryzen-mini-pcs-to-challenge-intel/
For the majority of hacker and maker projects, the miniature computer of choice these last few years has been the Raspberry Pi. While the availability issues that seem to plague each new iteration of these extremely popular Single Board Computers (SBCs) can be annoying, they’ve otherwise proven to be an …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/amd-introduces-new-ryzen-mini-pcs-to-challenge-intel/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/amd-introduces-new-ryzen-mini-pcs-to-challenge-intel/
For the majority of hacker and maker projects, the miniature computer of choice these last few years has been the Raspberry Pi. While the availability issues that seem to plague each new iteration of these extremely popular Single Board Computers (SBCs) can be annoying, they’ve otherwise proven to be an …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/amd-introduces-new-ryzen-mini-pcs-to-challenge-intel/)
Addressable LED Strings In Your USB
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/addressable-led-strings-in-your-usb/
WS2812Bs, or NeoPixels, or whatever else you call them brought full-color LEDs to maker projects a meter at a time in recent years. Hooked up to a microcontroller, they make creating vibrant, full-color glowables a cinch. They won’t work on their own though, and a some point you want to …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/addressable-led-strings-in-your-usb/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/addressable-led-strings-in-your-usb/
WS2812Bs, or NeoPixels, or whatever else you call them brought full-color LEDs to maker projects a meter at a time in recent years. Hooked up to a microcontroller, they make creating vibrant, full-color glowables a cinch. They won’t work on their own though, and a some point you want to …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/addressable-led-strings-in-your-usb/)
Possible Fifth Force of Nature Found
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/possible-fifth-force-of-nature-found/
Over the years, humans have come up with four forces that can be used to describe every single interaction in the physical world. They are gravity, electromagnetism, the weak nuclear force that causes particle decay, and the strong nuclear force that binds quarks into atoms. Together, these have become the …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/possible-fifth-force-of-nature-found/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/possible-fifth-force-of-nature-found/
Over the years, humans have come up with four forces that can be used to describe every single interaction in the physical world. They are gravity, electromagnetism, the weak nuclear force that causes particle decay, and the strong nuclear force that binds quarks into atoms. Together, these have become the …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/possible-fifth-force-of-nature-found/)
Tiny Tree is a Thermometer for Christmas Fever
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/tiny-tree-is-a-thermometer-for-christmas-fever/
Tired of the usual methods for animating all those RGB LEDS for your holiday display? How about using trendiness in a non-trendy way?
[8BitsAndAByte] caved in to increasing holiday madness and bought the cutest little Christmas tree. A special tree deserves special decorations, so they packed it with NeoPixels that …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/tiny-tree-is-a-thermometer-for-christmas-fever/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/tiny-tree-is-a-thermometer-for-christmas-fever/
Tired of the usual methods for animating all those RGB LEDS for your holiday display? How about using trendiness in a non-trendy way?
[8BitsAndAByte] caved in to increasing holiday madness and bought the cutest little Christmas tree. A special tree deserves special decorations, so they packed it with NeoPixels that …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/tiny-tree-is-a-thermometer-for-christmas-fever/)
Now Even Your Business Card Can Run Linux
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/now-even-your-business-card-can-run-linux/
It takes a lot of work to get a functional PCB business card that’s thin, cheap, and robust enough to be practical. If you can even blink a few LEDs on the thing and still hand them out with a straight face, you’ve done pretty well for yourself. So you …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/now-even-your-business-card-can-run-linux/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/now-even-your-business-card-can-run-linux/
It takes a lot of work to get a functional PCB business card that’s thin, cheap, and robust enough to be practical. If you can even blink a few LEDs on the thing and still hand them out with a straight face, you’ve done pretty well for yourself. So you …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/now-even-your-business-card-can-run-linux/)
Minimalist Mate Maker Keeps You Caffeinated
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/minimalist-mate-maker-keeps-you-caffeinated/
Americans love their coffee. The Brits adore their tea. In South America, the number one way to get through the day is with yerba mate, a tea made from the yerba plant. It is typically shared in a social setting, with one person preparing the beverage for everyone to enjoy. …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/minimalist-mate-maker-keeps-you-caffeinated/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/minimalist-mate-maker-keeps-you-caffeinated/
Americans love their coffee. The Brits adore their tea. In South America, the number one way to get through the day is with yerba mate, a tea made from the yerba plant. It is typically shared in a social setting, with one person preparing the beverage for everyone to enjoy. …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/minimalist-mate-maker-keeps-you-caffeinated/)
LuaRadio Gives Insight into SDR
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/luaradio-gives-insight-into-sdr/
In theory, you shouldn’t need any help to develop a software-defined radio (SDR) application. But in real life you really don’t want to roll your own code every time to read the IQ samples, perform various transformations on them, and then drive audio output. At worst, you’ll use some libraries …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/luaradio-gives-insight-into-sdr/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/luaradio-gives-insight-into-sdr/
In theory, you shouldn’t need any help to develop a software-defined radio (SDR) application. But in real life you really don’t want to roll your own code every time to read the IQ samples, perform various transformations on them, and then drive audio output. At worst, you’ll use some libraries …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/luaradio-gives-insight-into-sdr/)
Color Coded Clock Runs On Roman Numerals
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/color-coded-clock-runs-on-roman-numerals/
Roman numerals are, by modern standards, a bit unusual. By virtue of using designations for both 5 and 10, and not scaling well to higher numbers, they’ve fallen out of favor outside of some specific uses. One of those is in time keeping, in which many clocks use the classical …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/color-coded-clock-runs-on-roman-numerals/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/color-coded-clock-runs-on-roman-numerals/
Roman numerals are, by modern standards, a bit unusual. By virtue of using designations for both 5 and 10, and not scaling well to higher numbers, they’ve fallen out of favor outside of some specific uses. One of those is in time keeping, in which many clocks use the classical …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/24/color-coded-clock-runs-on-roman-numerals/)
Laser Welding With A Tattoo Removal Gun
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/laser-welding-with-a-tattoo-removal-gun/
Dating as far back as the early 1960’s, researchers were zapping tattoo inks with laser light was an effective way to remove the markings from human skin. At the time it was prohibitively expensive. But the desire to have an undo-button for badge choices is strong, and thus the tattoo …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/laser-welding-with-a-tattoo-removal-gun/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/laser-welding-with-a-tattoo-removal-gun/
Dating as far back as the early 1960’s, researchers were zapping tattoo inks with laser light was an effective way to remove the markings from human skin. At the time it was prohibitively expensive. But the desire to have an undo-button for badge choices is strong, and thus the tattoo …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/laser-welding-with-a-tattoo-removal-gun/)
Arduino Polygraph Shows How It’s Done
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/arduino-polygraph-shows-how-its-done/
Sometimes, a project comes along that makes a good reference design for anyone doing similar work. In this particular case, it’s a DIY USB polygraph-like machine by [Juangg] using an Arduino and sensors on the hardware side, and a Python front end for data visualization. It’s even complete with 3D …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/arduino-polygraph-shows-how-its-done/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/arduino-polygraph-shows-how-its-done/
Sometimes, a project comes along that makes a good reference design for anyone doing similar work. In this particular case, it’s a DIY USB polygraph-like machine by [Juangg] using an Arduino and sensors on the hardware side, and a Python front end for data visualization. It’s even complete with 3D …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/arduino-polygraph-shows-how-its-done/)
Team Scores Big Points with Pinball Final Project
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/team-scores-big-points-with-pinball-final-project/
For their final project in [Bruce Land]’s class on designing with PIC32 microcontrollers, [Sujith], [Julia] and [Andrew] wanted to do something fun. And what could be more fun than bending to the electromechanical siren song of the pinball machine?
This machine looks great, and as you can see in the …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/team-scores-big-points-with-pinball-final-project/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/team-scores-big-points-with-pinball-final-project/
For their final project in [Bruce Land]’s class on designing with PIC32 microcontrollers, [Sujith], [Julia] and [Andrew] wanted to do something fun. And what could be more fun than bending to the electromechanical siren song of the pinball machine?
This machine looks great, and as you can see in the …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/team-scores-big-points-with-pinball-final-project/)
Need Hackable Melodies? Here’s The TETRIS Theme and More
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/need-hackable-melodies-heres-the-tetris-theme-and-more/
[Robson Couto] started to get interested in musical projects and as a side effect created downloadable code with simple notation for a good variety of themes, songs, and melodies. They are all for the Arduino and use only the built-in tone() function, but don’t let that distract you. If you …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/need-hackable-melodies-heres-the-tetris-theme-and-more/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/need-hackable-melodies-heres-the-tetris-theme-and-more/
[Robson Couto] started to get interested in musical projects and as a side effect created downloadable code with simple notation for a good variety of themes, songs, and melodies. They are all for the Arduino and use only the built-in tone() function, but don’t let that distract you. If you …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/need-hackable-melodies-heres-the-tetris-theme-and-more/)
Honoring Chuck Peddle; Father of the 6502 and the Chips That Went with It
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/honoring-chuck-peddle-father-of-the-6502-and-the-chips-that-went-with-it/
Chuck Peddle, the patriarch of the 6502 microprocessor, died recently. Most people don’t know the effect that he and his team of engineers had on their lives. We often take the world of microprocessor for granted as a commonplace component in computation device, yet there was a time when there …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/honoring-chuck-peddle-father-of-the-6502-and-the-chips-that-went-with-it/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/honoring-chuck-peddle-father-of-the-6502-and-the-chips-that-went-with-it/
Chuck Peddle, the patriarch of the 6502 microprocessor, died recently. Most people don’t know the effect that he and his team of engineers had on their lives. We often take the world of microprocessor for granted as a commonplace component in computation device, yet there was a time when there …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/honoring-chuck-peddle-father-of-the-6502-and-the-chips-that-went-with-it/)
Finishing FDM Prints with SLS Resin
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/finishing-fdm-prints-with-sls-resin/
[Thomas Sanladerer] has a filament-based 3D printer and a resin one. Can the two types of raw material combine to make something better? [Thomas] did some experiments using some magnets to suspend the parts and a hot air soldering gun to heat things up.
The trick turns out to be …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/finishing-fdm-prints-with-sls-resin/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/finishing-fdm-prints-with-sls-resin/
[Thomas Sanladerer] has a filament-based 3D printer and a resin one. Can the two types of raw material combine to make something better? [Thomas] did some experiments using some magnets to suspend the parts and a hot air soldering gun to heat things up.
The trick turns out to be …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/finishing-fdm-prints-with-sls-resin/)
A Car That Runs On Homemade Chemical Reactions
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/a-car-that-runs-on-homemade-chemical-reactions/
The race for chemical engineering is quite literally on. Every year, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AlChE) brings together hundreds of university students to face-off to design the fastest car using techniques they’ve learned from chemical engineering courses.
The Chem-E-Car competition races cars which are only powered by chemical …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/a-car-that-runs-on-homemade-chemical-reactions/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/a-car-that-runs-on-homemade-chemical-reactions/
The race for chemical engineering is quite literally on. Every year, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AlChE) brings together hundreds of university students to face-off to design the fastest car using techniques they’ve learned from chemical engineering courses.
The Chem-E-Car competition races cars which are only powered by chemical …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/a-car-that-runs-on-homemade-chemical-reactions/)