Raj made a temperature and relative humidity meter to demonstrate adaptive brightness control on a seven segment LCD. The system uses a LDR light sensor in a closed loop to continuously adjust the brightness of the LEDs. The objective of this project is to illustrate a technique of implementing adaptive brightness control to seven segment […]
Category Archives: DIY
DIY USB OTG cable connects Flash disk to Android phone
Rohit de Sa has an Android phone with a feature known as USB On The Go (OTG), allowing the phone to act as either a host or slave. Thus, it can interface with various USB devices such as mice, keyboards, etc. Since in his region a USB OTG cable is not easily available, Rohit went […]
DIY programming pogo pins
Menno posted a bunch of links with various ideas for building DIY programming pogo-pins. This tool is handy for programming a batch of boards without attaching a header.We especially liked the idea above, it seems simple and very robust. Check out other ideas below the fold.
Aligning sides on DIY two-sided circuit boards
How to get good alignment results when etching two sided boards at home. This method uses marks placed outside of the PCB design to help with aliment. Via Gadget Factory.
Replace a dead surface mount regulator with a through-hole part
Flavor accidentally shorted the power on his Open Bench Logic Sniffer 3.3volt regulator and blew it out. With some quick thinking and a TO-220 through-hole voltage regulator his Logic Sniffer was back in business. Via the forum.
Dorkbot PDX PCB Order evolved into OSH Park automated PCB service
The Dorkbot PDX PCB order has evolved into the OSH Park automated PCB service. Same as before, a bunch of people get their boards assembled together on a single PCB fab panel, and get lower costs for manufacturing them. Only now there is an online interface that allows you to upload your Eagle source files, […]
Parallax Propeller based quadrocopter
Here is a Propeller based quadrocopter, well isn’t that a play on words. The control board is a Parallax Propeller protoboard (a quick prototyping board you can buy for about $20). The only sensor currently in use is a single 3-axis gyroscope (an ITG-3200). I have an ADXL-345 accelerometer mounted as well, but it’s not […]
Simple DIY EMG sensors
Eric Schmiedl writes, “See the signals that make your muscles move… all it takes is an audio recorder and $10 worth of foil, coax, and duct tape. Oh, and some sugar syrup.” Eric constructed these DIY EMG sensors which he interfaced with an audio recorder to record his muscle activity.
Little Wire kit is now available at Seeed Studio
Ihsan let us know that his pet project Little Wire is now on sale at Seeed in DIY kit form. The Little wire is an open source hardware, tinyAVR based multi-tool. Hi ! The day has come. The product is orderable at Seeed studio right now :) Thanks everyone for their interest and good words […]
DIY electronic derailleur for the back-wheel bicycle transmission
Here is an instructable on how to add a servo motor to your back-wheel derailleur with electronic control. This is one part of a much larger fully automatic bicycle project to make gears change automatically based on parameters such as heart rate, cadence, incline, speed, gps, etc…
Makeblock, the make-your-own-robot project!
Seeed Studio started selling Makeblock, a new Arduino controlled modular robotics platform. They are made of aluminum, and come in many modular shapes you can design your robot with: Makeblock is made of strong, hardened aluminum which is able to support the weight of an adult and more. In conjunction with a more durable material, […]
Coil gun version of the “High Striker” carnival strength test
Want to test your strength at home, instead of only at carnivals? Well Bertho is designing a updated version of the popular carnival strength test using electro-magnets to propel the ball. You can easily rig the game so you are the only one that can ring the ball. I have been working on a game-idea […]
Salvaging a touch-pad form an old laptop
Instead of trowing away an old useless laptop, Viktor decided to open it up and salvage what he can. One thing that caught his eye was the touch-pad. The control circuitry was on a separate PCB making his life easier, and to top it off the PCB had test points with PS/2 connections. All that […]
Soldering Iron Driver v1.5 built with a DIY PCB
Download the source files from our SVN, mask the copper layer with toner-transfer, or UV exposure method, and etch the board with some acid. Once complete you’ll have your very own home-built Soldering Iron Driver v1.5. This is what Alex has done, and so far he seems happy with it. Ok, here is a pic […]
Picaxe 08M tone signal generator
VK4ADC is an Australian amateur radio operator whose on-air activities include weak signal/microwave work. As such, he needed a reliable tone generator to modulate his transmitted RF carrier to permit receiving stations to peak their station’s antenna for maximum signal. So he decided to design his own multi-function tone generator around the Picaxe 08-M. Accustomed […]
DIY electomagnetic interference detector
Popular Mechanics presents this simple DIY electromagnetic interference (EMI) detector project. It’s Arduino based and requires only an 8-ohm speaker, 1-megaohm resistor and 3–5 feet of insulated solid core wire. Details on this easy beginner’s project can be found on the Popular Mechanics website, with links to the Arduino sketch on the author’s Github page.
DIY sous-vide cooker
Here is a tutorial on how to build a sous-vide cooker. Sous-Vide cookers cook food placed inside a plastic bag, which is inserted into temperature controlled bath. NerdKits describes all the theory, along with plenty of instruction on how to build your own. Via Hacked Gadgets.
Pinguino32-DIY PIC32 development board with the Pinguino bootloader
Pinguino design team released the design for the Pinguino32 PIC32 development board using their Pinguino bootloader. It supports PIC32MX250F128, and PIC32MX220F032B microcontrollers. The design is open source, and made with KICAD software. Download it from their Google code area.
Replacing resistor arrays with single 0603 resistors
If a project calls for resistor arrays, but all you have are singles and mad soldering skills, you can try this hack. Yoganerdnl used a bunch of 0603 resistors on their side to replace the resistor arrays on his Bus Pirate SOIC DIY edition board. It takes patience and a steady hand, but it’s a […]
DIY Arduino 6-channel temperature monitor
Johnathan Hottell wanted a way to monitor and display the temperature readings at various points around the engine on his LB7 Duramax diesel truck. He developed this project for a six channel temperature monitor employing a bank of thermistors to monitor various engine locations. They are read each second by the Arduino’s analog pins, with […]