2014

Propane – Oxygen Cannon & Shock Tube

  This Propane – Oxygen Cannon & Shock Tube is one heck of a project. Looks great and should work very well, don’t think there is a video of this one in action though.  “When a stoichiometric mixture of gasses is ignited, it is known as a deflagration, which results in a subsonic pressure wave. The principal behind the shock tube is to use the subsonic wave to compress a

Bluetooth Smart Car Project

  Have a look at the Bluetooth Smart Car Project from Elecfreaks. If you are looking for a new project they provide some nice step by step instructions to get you going on this one. Thanks for the tip Kathy “DIY enthusiasts can build their own smart car with simple kits like building blocks, controlled with Bluetooth 4.0 joystick or app.  With simple communication protocol, the car can achieve human-computer

100 Amp Double Pole Breaker Teardown

  I had one of these Siemens 100 Amp Double Pole Breakers go bad I was curious what went wrong. The failure mode was one phase was good under a load of 20 or 30 amps but the second phase dropped to around 60 or 70 VAC under load. You can see in the video that the copper braided cable had a weld that failed. I make some wrong assumptions

Talking Autonomous Robot

    DonEduardo built a Talking Autonomous Robot that has some personality. It wonders around looking around with his ultrasonic sensors, it can look to see if it is enclosed where it can take a nap. Every now and then he speaks. Very cute robot! The brains of the robot is Parallax based, the locomotion comes from a Roomba.  

Name the Thing Contest – 261

    The prize this week is the thing you are guessing. 🙂 There are always a few entries where the guess is the prize, this week all of those entries will be correct!  This contest will run for one week (Nov 29 – Dec 5, 2014). Ending time is based on central standard time. To enter, identify the item above and what it can be used for. Please note

Mechanical Light Switch Timer Teardown and Repair

  Ever wonder what marvelous things were inside a Mechanical Light Switch Timer? Me neither, but I had one go bad on me and I was curious what caused the failure. Turned out a tiny piece of plastic cause the failure. This could have been built just the tiniest bit beefier and it would still be working. To see the below pictures in hi-res click here.    

Syma X5C-1 Quadcopter Review and Teardown

    Thanks to Gear Best for sending in a Syma X5C Remote Quadcopter for us to take apart and review. Use the coupon code below to get a special Hacked Gadgets price for this unit. This is the first quadcopter I have looked at so I am no expert. Unfortunately the weather conditions in Winnipeg are not the best for doing any outdoor flying so the most we could