2009

DIY Steampunk Pumpkin

  Hans Scharler has been busy making a DIY Steampunk Pumpkin that is sure to please anyone who sees it. He squished tons of parts in there from some of the best DIY providers. His own ioBridge, some sensors from Adafruit, some ThingM (designed by Tod Kurt) parts from Sparkfun. "Using the ioBridge IO-204, I rigged up the fog machine to trigger when someone walked in front of the pumpkin.

MicroRAX mini T-Slot Construction

  If you played with a Meccano set when you were younger as I did this MicroRAX mini T-Slot Construction system may bring back some of those construction ideas. I have seen a larger version of this system used in industry for constructing modular systems that are very rigid and simply to modify. It looks like it could be an ideal solution to building a robot platform where the end

Panoramic Camera Build

  Our friend Carlos Asmat has built a Panoramic Camera with lots of build details. You can find the code that runs the system here and more results of the camera system here.  "Materials Hitec HS-785HB Winch Servo Motor ServoCity SPT200 Direct Drive Pan & Tilt System Pololu Micro Serial 8 Servo Controller Hitec HS-425BB Servo Motor A digital camera Small plastic container Battery holders (Rechargeable) Batteries A piece of

Gear Clock - PIC 16F628A Based

  Here is my latest creation, it’s a Gear Clock. It consists of a bunch of wooden gears, a PIC microcontroller and a stepper motor. The heart of the clock is a PIC 16f628A microcontroller. This microcontroller has an internal oscillator however an external 20MHz crystal oscillator is being used since it will have to accurately keep track of time for weeks and months. The microcontroller is interfaced to two

5K Volt Can Crusher with a 100uF Capacitor

  Bob Davis has made another can crusher with a huge 5 thousand volt power supply eBay score. A 100uF capacitor doesn’t sound that big, heck I have ones that are 10 times that size in a tray right beside me as I type this. Well the big difference is the one that is beside me has a voltage rating of 50 volts. That is a far cry from the

Push-Pull Tube Amp Build

  Our friend Gio from DIY Audio Projects has sent in a cool Push-Pull Tube Amp Build. This tube amp fits into a 8 X 12 inch chassis and looks fantastic! Now if only we could find a drugstore with a tube tester. With cool equipment like this and tube TV troubleshooting guides popping up there is sure to be demand for tube testers once again? "The basic design has

Surface Mount Component Removal using a Heat Gun

  Surface mount rework stations are very expensive, Openschemes shows us that it is possible to perform Surface Mount Component Removal using a Heat Gun. "Now it doesn’t matter much WHICH heat gun you use, although it should be able to produce a good bit of air at >300C. In our experience, long heating times due to using a weaker gun are the biggest cause of PCB burn, bulge, or