Alan Parekh

Name the Thing Contest – 296

    The prize this week is a HMC5883L Triple Axis Compass Magnetometer Sensor so you can add some directionality to your next project. This contest will run for one week (May 23 – May 27, 2016). Ending time is based on central standard time. To enter, identify the item above and what it can be used for. Please do not give the answer in the comments. Send an email to

Spring 2016 Cornell University ECE 5760 Advanced Microcontrollers Final Projects

  It is that time again! There is a new batch of Cornell University ECE 5760 Advanced Microcontrollers Final Projects. If you have done any PID work in the past the FPGA controlled Magnetic Levitation by Gautham Ponnu, Ryan Land, Nathan Spallone should be of interest. They are using a Altera DE2-115 FPGA board to monitor and control a steel ball about 1mm above the position sensor with great accuracy. “The LDC1000

SOLAR Powered Plane

  Prometreus has a great concept here. This plane has autopilot and a camera to capture the trip. With a 6 hour 200km range you can certainly cover a huge area. “A SOLAR powered RC plane flies over 6 hours, only powered by the sun. The plane travels a distance of over 200km. It is self sufficient like the solar impulse system. ”    

DIY Spotwelder

    If you do any metal work projects there will come a time when you would like to bond some metal together without using mechanical fasteners. Easiest way to do this is by welding, a spot welder is a type of welder that is simple since there are no welding rods needed. Make it Extreme built this great looking DIY unit. A high current is simply passed through the two metals

Drawing To Laser Engraving System

  When it comes to converting something drawn to a laser etched image there are often quite a few steps needed. Martin Raynsford has built this Drawing To Laser Engraving System to allow him to easily go from drawing to laser etched images by using a bit of hardware and some custom software. Of course you can do this type of thing manually like was done in the Halloween Hanging

Concrete Creations to Inspire

    When you think of concrete you probably think about parking garages and and house foundations. Here are some projects that might cause you to add a few bags of concrete to your next DIY project. In the first video you will see that by using a simply mold and a simple jig you are able to create some wonderful bends in concrete. The concrete in many of these

Name the Thing Contest – 295

  The prize this week is a relay module to get your next project started. This contest will run for one week (May 7, 2016 – May 13, 2016). Ending time is based on central standard time. To enter, identify the item above and what it can be used for. Please do not give the answer in the comments. Send an email to contest @ hackedgadgets.com with “Name the Thing