April 2014

DIY Linear Actuator Design

   Rolandvanroy is building a six degree of freedom motion platform for a flight simulator. The to move the user large powerful Linear Actuators are needed. Purchasing these actuators would increase the price of the simulator significantly, making a DIY version is a big undertaking bit it looks like a great design that should work well for a long time.  

USB SD Card that looks like a Apple II Floppy Drive

  If you don’t look at the scale of the things around it you might think this drive was ripped out of some vintage gear. It is actually a fully functional USB SD card reader that looks just like an Apple II Floppy Drive. “A typical USB SD card reader is boring. Why not show your retro affiliation with a Disk II styled reader? Modeled after the iconic Apple II

PCBs made using a Laser Cutter

  If you have a laser cutter and need a double sided PCB made the same day you can give this method a try. You first paint the PCB on both sides with spray paint to act as a etching resist. The laser machine is then used to blast away the pain to expose the copper in the areas that you need to etch, a quick flip will let you

The Decoliner - Vehicle you can Drive from the Upper Bridge

  Check out the The Decoliner, (starts at 4:32) this vehicle can be driven from the Upper Bridge. It is designed to be the max height to still fit under the normal road obstructions. This amazing vehicle can be driven from the the regular lower driving position but to spice things up you simply take the steering wheel upstairs and continue cruising. I would love to see it pulled over

Thermometer and Hygrometer with Analog Displays

   Kerry Wong built this Thermometer and Hygrometer with Analog Displays instead of the typical digital display.  Via: Electronics Labs and Dangerous Prototypes  “The circuit itself is as simple as it gets. SHT21 is mounted on a breakout board and connected to the ATMega328p board via ribbon cable. The sensor is placed at some distance away from the MCU board so that the measurement is not affected by the heat

Nixie Bargraph Clock

  This is a cool Nixie Bargraph Clock that has an hour and minute tube, the heights of the plasma in each tube indicates the time. There are some wires wrapped around the tubes so you can easily see what time it is without estimating.  The electronics are tucked out of sight in a box out of sight so when you are admiring the clock you don’t see the modern