In the average year I need to change 5 or 6 sets of locks. My usual practice is to purchase an inexpensive lock from the local hardware store and simply toss out the original lock and install a new one. This is normally cheaper and faster than having the locks re-keyed. The old lock can also be used in less secure locations if desired. I was thinking it might
When you walk through a factory full of automated machines that are doing repetitive tasks you will usually see a large metal electrical cabinet beside each machine. Inside that box will most likely be a PLC that is controlling the machine by monitoring inputs and controlling motors and valves. This all sounds fine until you look at the price of this equipment, $10 or $20K will get you a
Parallax just completed their Hack the Halls Contest. Ben Kenobi made a project called How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the user aims a laser at a Christmas scene and shoots things up. Sensors detect if a hit was made and gives the player some feedback. Looks like fun! “Materials – I picked up a few cheap Christmas decorations at the dollar store and walmart as well as cotton balls,
This spinning motor makes for a great Christmas tree decoration, best of all it doesn’t need to be plugged in. The creator is hoping for a 100 year run time! Not sure if it will last that long since most batteries have an internal discharge rate that will kill it in a handful of years without powering anything but this motor is running from home made Crystal Cells. The
  We have seen a bunch of useless machines in the past but this Microcontroller based Useless Machine is a lot more fun since unlike the original versions there are almost endless possibilities on what will happen when the switch is toggled. Rest assured the machine will turn it off, but how it will go about doing it will chance every time! With the clicks and knocks as it
The µCurrent GOLD – Precision Multimeter Current Adapter Kickstarter by our friend Dave Jones form the EEVBlog is in full swing. This is a big upgrade from the previous µCurrent that Dave was selling. The price is more than before but on a previous episode of The Amp Hour Dave was talking about some of the precision resistors that were needed for the Gold version. If I recall correctly
The new year is just around the corner, how would you like some cool swag from Hacked Gadgets to kick it off? There will be 4 winners this time around. We will be giving away a cool binary watch to a lucky winner, two subscriptions to Nuts and Volts will be going to two more winners, and finally an Arduino Pro Mini will be given to the 4th winner.
