Blue Bawls Automatic Light Ok get your mind out of the gutter. I am talking about the beautiful blue glass bottle that the Bawls soft drink comes in. I tried one the other day and thought the glass bottle could be used for something interesting. At first I was just going to stick an LED into it, but I wanted something a bit more interesting. So I threw together a
Want your own piece of history? Why not build an Enigma machine. This Enigma kit is not a true reproduction since it uses modern components. For example LEDs replace the original lamps, but the operation is the same! “During WWII the German army used Enigma coding machines to encipher most of their radio messages. At the time the Germans were convinced that this machine was unbreakable, but recent history has
Not sure if I would have the effort to build a model like this! But the 15 years of work shows, the details are amazing. Many of the hand crafted parts were made under a microscope. “Fully scratch built, this model took just over 15 years (8000-10,000 hours) to complete. Begun in Kiev (Ukraine), in 1986 this masterpiece was profoundly difficult to construct due to the extreme scarcity of information
Jos van Eijndhoven has proved that high end audio equipment does not have to be bought at a store. His audio DAC (digital to analog converter) is proof that with lots of knowledge and some hard work it can be a DIY project! “Features of this new DAC: * Four separate SPDIF inputs are provided. For now one is configured as optical-in, the other 3 as coax-in. The microcontroller that
Using a card reader that was purchased for $1.50 Mondo Technology used a PIC12F675 to bring it to life. “The unit provides the magnetic head on a spring mechanism along with low level head signal amplifiers and data slicers. Three signal lines comming from the unit provide card presence, clock, and data. When actively reading a card, it draws about 50ma of current at 5 volts.”
I would like to see a crook steal this record player. The platter is made from a 25 pound piece of concrete! “The 25 pound platter is a 12″ in diameter and 3 1/2″ thick piece of poured concrete.The plinth is a 15 1/2″ square piece of marble 1/2″ thick sitting on top of another 15 1/2″ square piece of marble with layers of PORON® in between.This in turn sits
If you want a unique pocket watch, you can’t beat this one. You will have to be patience though since it takes some time for the CRT to warm up and show you the time. “The time is displayed on a tiny 3/4” diameter screen at the press of a button. (Well, you do have to wait 10 seconds for the tube to warm up.) This watch is powered by
