2011

Larsen Scanner used to Indicate Computer Status

Mike Szczys from Jumptuck has put his larsen scanner to good use by using it as a status indicator on his computer. He is interfacing it to the computer using the parallel port which seems to be a dying port these days. “I decided to finish up my Cylon Eye (Larson Scanner) project by adding it as a status indicator for my computer. I record over the air programming and

DIY Stroboscope using a Three Phase DC Motor

We have seen some Stroboscopes in operation before, for this  DIY Stroboscope that uses a Three Phase DC Motor which eLabs put together I think the actual stroboscope is the simpler part of the build. Since the project is using a three phase motor actually getting the motor to run is in my mind a huge part of the project. I love the reuse of computer related stuff in this

Solar Pop Can Heater System Build Roundup

Solar Pop Can Heating Systems are getting quite popular these days. As heating costs rise everyone is looking for ways to save on their energy bill. Most people are aware of insulating and using good weatherstripping to keep the heat in and the cold out but many don’t know about the alternate heating methods that are available. One of the alternative heating methods that is gaining some traction is capturing

Criminals Can use Finger Heat to Steal Your ATM PIN Code

I remember about 10 years ago the bank I was using changed the sequence of cash withdrawals, instead of giving the card back then the cash they started giving cash then the card. After withdrawing some money I was about 10 feet from the ATM before I realized that I didn’t have my card, when I turned around the next person in line was already on the withdraw cash screen.

3D UV Laser Printer

This is a cool 3D UV Laser Printer, you can see lots of other details over at the Rob Hopeless site. It uses a UV laser to print items in a container of liquid UV-curable photopolymer. There is a platform that moves the item being printed down as the laser beam traces to solidify each layer in the polymer. The printed items look a bit gooey but this is an

Toaster Oven Hacked into a Reflow Soldering Oven

Frank Zhao, an electrical engineering student at the University of Waterloo just made this cool Toaster Oven Hacked into a Reflow Soldering Oven project. If you are working on a project that has SMD components in it you will need to select a way to reflow the solder paste, there are lots of DIY methods out there and one popular method includes modifying a toaster oven into a reflow oven.

Name the Thing Contest - 191

Thanks to Farnell and Element 14 for sponsoring the contest this week. They will be providing a XL STAR BOARD to the winner. This board contains a accelerometer, Freescale MC9S08MM128, lots of breakout pins and a ton of status LEDs on the PCB. There is a video below so you can see it in action. “The XL STAR BOARD describes the process of developing code for Freescale’s XL_STAR, a low