Ken Gracey Quadcopter build: Ken Gracey, the President of Parallax is building a huge quadcopter. In the picture above it might not look that big but when you realize that the propellers are 14 inches that might put things into perspective! There are 2 X 4 amp hour 18 volt batteries feeding the 770 KV […]
Category Archives: DIY
Audio/video routing switcher
Benoit Frigon posted his audio/video routing switcher project: It’s an audio/video (composite) routing switcher, i used it to switch between video sources on my tv. The tv I had back then only had 1 video input. It consist of a 8×8 video crosspoint (MAX4456) and a 16×16 analog crosspoint (AD8113) controlled by a small microcontroller […]
Polyimide (Kapton) PCB solder paste stencil
cmiyc wrote this Instructable: Polyimide (Kapton) PCB solder paste stencil Creating a solder paste stencil for a toaster reflow oven or hot plate is simple when you have access to a laser cutter. I used the Laser Cutter at my local TechShop to create this and other PCB stencils. This Instructable assumes you have created a PCB […]
DIY RF Transceiver using MRF49XA and AT90USB162
William Dillon has posted his initial work on a prototype USB RF data packet Transceiver dongle using the MRF49XA and an Atmel AT90USB162 micro controller. He embarked on a journey exploring the development of packet formats and protocols, as well as types of error correction. This open source project’s details, code links, schematic and photos […]
DIY VFD clock
Kerry Wong shows off his VFD clock he built after he completed the filament driver and the circuit to drive the multiplexed VFD segments we cover previously: After I completed the filament driver and the circuit to drive the multiplexed VFD segments, it is time to finish the VFD clock project I had in mind […]
Becks beer bottle with an audio recording scratched on it
Here’s an Instructable by GYRO: Becks beer bottle with an audio recording scratched on it We ground a high-speed steel cutting tool which we polished to mirror finish resulting in a very quiet cut, all this taking place under a microscope! We also have a couple of sapphire tips which we used for some test […]
DIY Little Wire AVR-ISP
Pedantite built his own Little Wire AVR programmer/tool: The Attiny 85 has a neat feature that I had overlooked until I built this in that it has a built in PLL that lets you run the system off the internal RC oscillator at around 16Mhz. Many other AVR’s lack that PLL, and can only run […]
Avalanche pulse generator build using 2N3904
Kerry Wong documented his avalanche pulse generator build using 2N3904: The majority of avalanche pulse generators hobbyists built used 2N2369, the same transistor used in Jim Williams’ original experiment. One of the main benefits of using 2N2369 is that it can avalanche at a relatively low voltage (under 90V). But most general purpose NPN transistors […]
DIY PICKit-2 Lite
oakkar7 made this DIY PICKit-2 Lite : Since, the first use, I stick all with my PIC development and found that very stable and convenience to use. My design is based on Blueroom-electronics design. The Blueroon website is down now. This is the copy of PicKit-2 lite schematic from Blueroom. I used BC547 and BC557 transistors […]
DIY servo tester based on ATTiny85
Trandi made this simple DIY Servo tester based on ATTiny85: I had to test a RC speed controller that I wanted to use to control an electric car window motor, and for the 100th time I was facing the same dilemma: find 8 batteries for my remote control, dismount the RX part from the quadcopter and […]
A DIY vacuum fluorescent display driver
Kerry Wong posted an update on his vacuum fluorescent display driver we covered earlier: As I mentioned before, there are many driver chips (e.g. MAX6921, MAX6931) readily available for interfacing with VFDs. The driver circuit I am showing here is a bit more complex as it uses only the generic 74HC’s and discrete transistors. The basic […]
The Turbo Entabulator – a 3D-printable, fully mechanical computer
Chris Fenton has released the files allowing you to build your own 3D printable mechanical computer. This is is a simple, 3D-printable (caveat: It requires some springs, bearings, rubber bands, and nuts/bolts), fully-mechanical computer. It has 3, single-digit base-10 counters for memory, and processes a chain of 10-position punch cards. With the included program, it […]
ROM dumper test rig
EschatologicalEngineer developed a useful test jig for use in ROM analysis. “Greetings, I thought I would share a picture of my ROM Dumper rig. I used a Teensy 2++, ribbon cables and a “Glomper Clip”. I first learned of these clips from the brilliant works of Don Lancaster. I was able to purchase the clip […]
Custom standalone programming fixture
Bryan Duxbury writes, ” I designed and built a custom standalone programming fixture for an upcoming manufacturing project. Fun with lasercutting, PCB design (hooray SeeedStudio!) and pogo pins!” Bryan’s design uses the Arduino Uno hardware with programming code based heavily on the AdaLoader project. Visit Bryan’s blog for project details and links. Via the contact […]
Jeremy Blum remote controlled graduation cap
Here’s a cool remote controlled graduation cap by Jeremy Blum: Congrats to Jeremy Blum for graduating from Cornell University! He made a cool Remote Controlled Graduation Cap that he controls using a custom built wrist control box. The cap has an RGB LED in it and is capable of not only grabbing user submitted color […]
Lightning LoL necklace wearable
Erin of RobotGrrl has written an article about her simple, blinky, 3D printed necklace. This is up on Thinkiverse: Here was a quick project that I created in time for C2MTL. It’s a simple, blinky, 3D printed, wearable electronic. We wanted to wear something that would be interesting and a conversation starter (it worked!).
DEFCON 20 video: DIY electric car
In this talk from DEFCON 20, IT security professional and robotics enthusiast Dave Brown presents his thoughts on the DIY electric car. Dave’s views result from his experience designing and building his “Voltswagon”, a retrofitted 1974 Volkswagen Beetle. The PDF of the presentation slides should be available soon in the DEFCON media archive.
Indoor Environmental Quality station +Bluetooth +Thingspeak
Want to test the Indoor Environmental Quality in your home or office. Here’s an Instructable by Donmatito on how to build your own. Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) is the measure of comfort and includes factors such as temperature, humidity, pressure, noise level, and indoor air quality. Don’s original goal was to monitor the IEQ of his […]
DIY Metcal 13.56 MHz RF supply
Chris over at the EEVblog forum designed and built this DIY Metcal 13.56 MHz RF supply: A while ago i came up with my own circuit for that, plus some nifty firmware (which basically is optional). You can see what i have done so far on the EEV-Blog forum here As of recently the whole thing is […]
DIY laser engraver
Want a laser engraver for your workshop? Here’s an Instructable by ianmcmill on how to build your own. If you have some old donated scanners and printers chances are you have most of the stuff needed to make your own DIY Laser Engraver. The main thing that all laser engravers have in common is a […]