DIY Hacks

Rave Rover - Mobile LED Dance Floor

This Rave Rover is a cool build and it is very well documented so you can see all the details of the system and how it was done. They are using a ton of high power RGB LED modules that can be controlled via SPI. The control of the LEDs is being done with an Arduino. Thanks to a very sturdy frame, some pneumatics and a few wheel chair motors

Playing Floppy Drive Music using a TI-83+ Calculator

If you are done with university and are looking for a new use for your TI-83+ Calculator then look no further than this project. The guys over at Cemetech are Playing Floppy Drive Music using a TI-83+ Calculator. To make your own you will need to download mobileTunes and build the small circuit. “Inspired by other projects such as the Star Wars Imperial March played on two floppy drives and

Boil water using a Satellite Dish Energy Collector

It is quite amazing how much energy is in the sun. Using the energy that strikes a satellite dish the guys at Green Power Science can boil 20 ounces of water in 90 seconds. In the video Dan holds up a piece of wood into the focal point and it immediately begins to smoke! That is some serious energy being focused there. “The starting temperature was 80f (27 C) and

Arduino based Bartender

Students from the Florida International University have completed their Arduino based Bartender project. A computer has the menu of drink items, there are 6 solenoids that are controlled by the arduino. The 6 solenoids are able to dump certain drink options. There is a sensor that makes sure a cup is in place before the drink is poured. The system is able to mix a large variety of drinks with

Mint Tin Alarm

Mint tins can be used for a lot of great projects. They are just big enough to be stuffed with some great electronics. This Mint Tin Alarm by Aaron from x2Jiggy is a great example of this. The video has a great beat and check out the cool schematic, no hard to read symbols here! Check out the Instructable Article for more details. “Combine a mint tin, piezo siren and

Nixie Tube Meter Clock

James Hartnett took an old nixie tube meter and converted it into a clock. By using an arduino microcontroller to interface to the clock he is able to get the time to display. It is a bit finicky and needs to be calibrated very carefully to get the right time to display. Read more.

Espresso Machine Microcontroller Temperature Regulation

Cameron Charles from The Adventures of Cameron Charles has a Saeco Aroma espresso machine and wanted a bit more control. Of course this means a custom PCB with an onboard microcontroller. 🙂 Have a look his Espresso Machine Microcontroller Temperature Regulation project where he shows how he takes over control of exactly how the espresso is being made. There is still a small amount of tweaking to be made but