February 2006

Cathode Ray Tube Clock

David Forbes has built a very interesting CRT (cathode ray tube) clock. It uses a 3 inch oscilloscope tube. The clock draws images by bending the CRT beam; this produces a smooth well formed numbers. This is a much different procedure than a TV uses to produce images on a CRT. At the time of writing David does not have any clocks to sell but he does intend to have

Hacking the  Devantech SFR04 Ultrasonic Range Finder

Bert van Dam wanted to alter the default operation of his SRF04 Range Finder. Some Lego, a bit of JAL microcontroller programming and a VB computer program has made an interesting project. Bert has made a number of other interesting projects, have a look. “The Devantech SFR04 Ultrasonic Range Finder indicates the distance to the closest object within range. Echo’s that arrive later are received and processed, but subsequently ignored.

Robosapien V2 LED Vision Mod

Here is a neat mod by Evosapien to make your Robosapien V2 have better vision in low light conditions. Not to mention it looks very cool. You might remember Evosapien from a previous article. Chances are you have all of the required items, if not everything is relatively inexpensive. Here is the entire parts list required: * CD-ROM Audio Cable * white color LED * cable housing/shield * set of

Make your own Video Game System

John Beeckler was not content with playing the standard video game systems. The picture shown is of his version one Alien Slaughter System which used three separate PIC chips. John is now working on version two of Alien Slaughter, the new system is being designed around a LEON2 Processor, this is a 32-bit processor using the SPARC architecture. This is what he said about the version one “After completing the

NES Alarm Clock

Aaron Mavrinac has mad skills when it comes to soldering. “So I built a funky alarm clock out of an old Nintendo console. Why? Because I was at Value Village with my girlfriend and my sister, and while they were browsing through miles of clothing the only thing of interest I could find were two broken Nintendo units without paddles, and I had to do something with them.” read more | digg

CD-ROM Radio

Need a radio? Why not build your own! The materials that are needed are probably in your house already. H. P. Friedrichs has an interesting design available on his Web site. “If you’ve studied the subject of crystal radio for any length of time, you’re already aware that these instruments appear in an endless variety. The diversity found in vintage commercial sets is intriguing enough, though I have a special

LED Throwies

Looking for an interesting LED project? Why not make an LED Throwie… LED Throwies are an inexpensive way to add color to any ferromagnetic surface in your neighborhood. An LED, a battery, some tape, a magnet and lots of fun! Total cost would be under a dollar each and they seem to gaining popularity. Check out this cool video of them in action! read more | digg story