Cool Gadgets

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

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.

BIG DIY LED Matrix Build

Martin Landwehrmann from Germany sent in a ton of great build pictures of this BIG DIY LED Matrix and an English description on what André Zibell, Tobias Mc Fadden and Martin have been working on. By the pictures you can see that this creation wasn’t a simple task to put together but the results are great! Link More Video Links: Video 1 Video 2 Video 3 Video 4 Video 5

Dancing Robot

Thanks to Pabloxid for sending in his dancing robot (translated into English). His movements reminds me a bit of Keepon. “Its output devices are: the 2 DC motors at the base, the 3 servos that move the “head”, clusters of LEDs in the “eyes” and an audio system that plays both the internally generated beeps like sounds stored in a small flash drive, using a car MP3 player. His only

Laser Ball build with a Tennis Ball

Matthew Leone from LeoneLabs has just completed his Laser Ball project, it was built inside a tennis ball and uses an Arduino Teensy to power and control 14 red lasers. The ball modes can be changed using a simple mini remote control. The project looks great and apparently took only 5 hours to complete, I am thinking that documenting the project must have taken just as long as the build

Custom LED Tail Lights

Dave from Plastibots had some fun with the brake lights of his Nissan Juke. He added some red LED lighting strips to the car and made a custom circuit to drive them. He is getting power from the parking lights and taking in a signal from the brake lights. When only the parking lights are on the lighting strip is PWM controlled to a level of 75%, when the brake

Manned Electric Multicopter - e-volo

This thing looks like a ton of fun to fly. I am not sure if a simple helmet would be sufficient for me to take the e-volo for a spin though. It’s one thing to fly a small toy multicopter around using a remote but when it comes to strapping yourself into the center of one that weights in at 90 kg! I hope that the e-volo is what it