RSSArchives: September 2006
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September 6, 2006
HOW TO - Make a DIY LED Mood lamp
Toon writes - "After making my pyramid mood light with 12 high power leds, i decided to make a bigger and better version, without the emphasis on the low budget.. After all, the pyramid mood lamp was more of a proof of concept with its shortcomings. I wanted the new mood lamp to be more powerful, so it could also be used in daylight conditions. I did this by using a z-power 3 watt RGB power led. This one led is far more powerful than the 12 ones combined i used before. The colors also mix better because of the wider opening angle and because the rgb chips lay very close together." [via] - Link.
Related:
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Sep 6, 2006 02:16 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (4)
Homemade FigRig (a small DV camera stabilizer made from PVC)
MAKE Flickr photo pool member Method8 posted up an enhanced "FigRig" (a small DV camera stabilizer made from PVC) - "I used shygantic's model and measurements to build mine. I included some enhancements so as to be able to use the camera's remote control on the figrig. I used black PlastiK spray (like the one used for plastic car bumpers) and did two stickers on the sides at a Car Graphics Shop to give it a pro look. More comments with the other pics... " [via] - Link.
Related:
- DIY "Fig Rig" - DV Camera stabilizer made from PVC - Link.
- Manfrotto's Fig Rig (commercial version) - Link.
- $14 Video Camera Stabilizer. You don't have $10,000 to spend on a Steadicam? Make this ultra-low-cost video camera stabilizer and see how much better your video shots turn out. MAKE 01 - Page 84.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Sep 6, 2006 01:59 PM
DIY Projects, Imaging |
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| Comments (2)
HOW TO - SMD soldering (Surface mount devices)
Curious how to solder those tiny parts on to PCBs? (Printed circuit boards) Here's a 6 page tutorial that covers the basics as well as hot-air rework... Nathan writes - "More and more ICs come in surface mount packages only these days. And I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone say 'Well I can't solder that because it's SMD'. They're wrong! You can solder anything. That's right, anything from your own dorm-cell-room. That's 0.5mm from pin to pin! 50 pin connector for the GM862. You too can solder this! This tutorial will show you just how to solder crazy things like this connector, leadless ICs, etc. " - Link.
Related:
- Using SMT components in your electronics projects - Link.
- Solder surface mount parts with a toaster oven... - Link.
- More SMD soldering - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Sep 6, 2006 12:22 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (3)
HOW TO - Make a USB phone
Noelix writes - "Want to talk to people through your computer but are sick of using those cheap headsets out there? Do you want that unique, styled, classic look in a USB phone? The standard Singapore-slung mic/line input knockoffs are so unsexy. Look no futher, this how-to guide will show you how to make a Western Electric 2600 headset telephone work with your computer using USB." [via] - Link.
Related:
USB / phone projects - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Sep 6, 2006 11:27 AM
DIY Projects, Instructables, VoIP |
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| Comments (1)
Watch HDTV on your PC
Popular Mechanics has a brief how-to on outfitting your PC with a $100 ATI HDTV card and indoor HDTV indoor antenna for (free) hi-def viewing - [via] - Link.
Related:
- Record HDTV on Windows Media Center - Link.
- HDTV on Your Mac - Link.
- DIY PVR and HDTV hacked into a 1952 Philips TV console - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Sep 6, 2006 09:37 AM
DIY Projects, Home Entertainment |
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| Comments (6)
FREE Poser 5 (English) full version Mac/PC
Looks like Content Paradaise is giving away Poser 5 ($79) if you register with them (also free) by September 8th, if you're thinking of dabbling with 3D figures, animations and art, might be worth checking out while the price is right - "Poser 5 is the award-winning 3D character design tool for artists, illustrators and animators. Easily create 3D figures from ready-to-use human and animal models. For realism map facial photos, grow and style dynamic hair, or add dynamic cloth that flows. Quickly output movies and images for use in any project. Poser 5 is easy to master and affordable, yet rich in professional features." [via] - Link.
Related:
- Avimator - Make your own animations for the virtual world! - Link.
- Developers Corner: Import custom Poser animations to Second Life - Link.
- How to make animations with Poser - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Sep 6, 2006 08:04 AM
Toolbox, Virtual Worlds |
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| Comments (1)
Keyboard painting
MAKE Flickr photo pool member Digitalapollo writes - "I have always found beige keyboards depressing, so I decided to spice mine up with a coat of different colors of paint. Five colors to be exact. The bottom sports a flat grey with red flip-out stands. The top panel is metallic slate. The keys are painted with red latex paint (some with flat plastic specific paint). The new look makes the most bland Hewlett Packard look like something from the Matrix." [via] - Link.
Related:
Tons of keyboard projects - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Sep 6, 2006 07:22 AM
Computers, DIY Projects |
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| Comments (2)
$30 Hot Wheels radar gun
John writes - "I saw this at my local Walmart today and HAD to get one. At first I thought it couldn't be a real radar gun but the package says "10.525 GHz". I took it apart enough to find what looks like a waveguide antenna. The screws are all covered with plastic plugs so taking it apart takes some doing." - Link.
Looks like something to check out for cheap parts / testing / radar projects.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Sep 6, 2006 06:40 AM
Toolbox |
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| Comments (6)
"Lumalive" textile garments
At IFA2006, Philips showed off their Lumalive light emitting textiles, the jackets and shirts can play animations as well as change colors. The video has a few clothing examples and a big clock inside a couch... - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Sep 6, 2006 05:58 AM
News from the Future |
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| Comments (3)
Jazz recordings etched into old x-ray film
Kevin Kelly's Street Use blog has an article about jazz recordings etched into old x-ray film - "In the USSR and Eastern Europe in the 1950s underground night spots would play music pirated from the west. The only media they had were recorders etched into discarded X-ray film. I've long sought some images. Researcher Camille Cloutier pointed me to these, collected and posted by József Hajdú." [via] - Link.
Related:
József Hajdú's collection - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Sep 6, 2006 04:06 AM
Made On Earth, Music |
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| Comments (0)
September 5, 2006
Wooden Touchscreen Terminal
Cool project that combines the aesthetics of a wood-paneled den with touchscreen functionality.
The green button is a nice touch.
This is a 15" LCD touchscreen with a Celeron 633MHz board with 128MB RAM in a wooden case of my construction. The case also contains the PSU. The bottom part of the screen surround hinges down to allow access to the monitor controls. The button mounted on the base is the power button and indicator light.
It has no hard drive and boots using PXE from my server, then mounts its filesystem over NFS. It runs Debian Linux, xorg, XFCE4, Metacity and Firefox. The button on the left of the panel at the bottom of the screen pops up a screen keyboard.
Currently I'm a bit concerned about the amount of heat that builds up from the PSU (reaches 75°C after a while), an external PSU might be required. Also it tends to run out of RAM when viewing stuff on google video (no swap, no hard drive). - Link
Posted by Bre Pettis |
Sep 5, 2006 01:55 PM
Computers |
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| Comments (0)
Large Tesla Coil Overview
Roger Smith makes Tesla coils and then makes videos explaining his work to share. The thunder in the background audio is particularly great!- Link
Posted by Bre Pettis |
Sep 5, 2006 01:19 PM
Electronics |
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| Comments (4)
John Cabrer Beats NASA To The 3D Sun
John Cabrer wrote me to tell me about his 3D sun photo. Get your 3D glasses on and check it out!
Science Daily has an article today on how NASA has scheduled a lauch of two space craft which are to take the "FIRST EVER" 3D pictures of the sun. I beat them to it using archive images from SOHO and Anaglyph software. With a wider time separation, you can get a really pronounced 3d effect.
Here are the two pics he used taken a few hours apart. Here are the bigger images that John sent in, check out the software and do it yourself!
Posted by Bre Pettis |
Sep 5, 2006 12:18 PM
Imaging |
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| Comments (3)
HOW TO - Make a cardboard stool
Mark says, "Instructions on how to make a bar stool completely out of cardboard! Very simple and elegant design." Link.
Posted by Natalie Zee Drieu |
Sep 5, 2006 11:51 AM
DIY Projects |
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| Comments (4)
DIY mood lamp
Toon Beerten says, "After making my pyramid shaped mood lamp I created a new and better mood lamp with a newly added random function." Link.
Posted by Natalie Zee Drieu |
Sep 5, 2006 10:30 AM
DIY Projects |
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| Comments (0)
HOW TO - Make a hard drive picture frame
Windell says, "How-to article on recycling the printed circuit boards from old hard drives as picture frames." Link.
Posted by Natalie Zee Drieu |
Sep 5, 2006 09:03 AM
DIY Projects |
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| Comments (0)
September 4, 2006
Make Video Podcast: Robot Motors - Steppers and Encoders
Stepper motors and motors with encoders are the muscles of robots.
Stepper motors have a magnet in them and a set of electromagnets push and pull them around. Motors with encoders have a disc at the end with lots of little bars and an eyeball that counts how many bars have passed.
Watch the video to see what they look like on the inside. Robot making is hard if you don't know what you're doing, I was lucky enough to stay up all night last night until daybreak with some robot-making friends and we got my computer set up to talk to the Make: controller and made an LED go on and off. More about the robot making get-together I went to in tomorrow's robot installment.
You can watch the embedded flash movie above, or you can download the mp4, or you have it all done automatically for you by subscribing in itunes for free. - Link
Posted by Bre Pettis |
Sep 4, 2006 09:28 PM
Robotics |
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| Comments (7)
LED flashlight from garage door remote
Mark made an LED flashlight from an old garage door remote. Link.
Posted by Natalie Zee Drieu |
Sep 4, 2006 06:28 PM
Electronics, Gadgets |
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| Comments (1)
Pumpabike: Human Powered Hydrofoil
As a kid I saw a diagram of a human-powered hydrofoil and since then, I've always considered it a mythical creature lurking somewhere just out of reach... the wait is over.
Once you've left shore, you need to start bouncing frantically. The knack, however, is rhythm rather than power: if you lose your rhythm, you dive underwater faster than a German U-Boat dodging the RAF. - Link
Posted by Bre Pettis |
Sep 4, 2006 03:59 PM
Something I want to learn to do... |
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| Comments (5)
Simple Drawing Robots
The title of this page is "Simple Robots" but they are the coolest robots ever to be made out of cardboard. it appears that this site has been on the internet for a while, but I'd never seen it and I'm totally inspired.
It is hosted at geocities, which means that linking to it may crash it... I don't know anything about mirroring sites, but maybe someone can help David out and mirror this page so we can all stand in awe of the coolness of his "Simple Robots." - Link
Update: The rest of David's site is blowing my mind with it's insanely cool mechanisms made out of plastic bits, coathangers, rubber bands, and cardboard.
Posted by Bre Pettis |
Sep 4, 2006 12:12 PM
Robotics |
Permalink
| Comments (4)
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