Category Archives: how-to

The easy peasy stepper driver/stepper motor test circuit

Rohit Gupta writes: I made a very easy to make stepper driver and motor tester that could be useful to people working with steppers for 3D printers or CNC. I saw an article a while back here on DP and HackADay itself that used a controller (ATiny45 i guess). I thought it would be useful […]

chipKIT Project 5: Digital stopwatch on seven segment LED display

Raj of Embedded Lab has a series of chipKIT tutorials.  This 5th project will show you how to build a digital stopwatch  on seven segment LED display with the chipKIT Uno32: In this project, we will use the chipKIT Uno32 board to build a digital stopwatch capable of timing minutes, seconds, and 1/10th of seconds, and with a […]

Modify an off-the-shelf CP2102 module as an Arduino programmer

Kerry D. Wong wrote an article on how to modify a CP2102 module as an Arduino programmer: To make it work with the Arduino bootloader, one easy approach is to disconnect the RST header pin from CP2102 pin 9 and connect it to the DTR pin (pin 28) instead. While in the Arduino schematics, the […]

Push button toggle switch, old style

Bertho of Vagrearg writes: I recently answered a question about how a specific circuit worked and I was so intrigued that I just needed to write down my findings and share it. The circuit uses a single (cheap) push-button to make the output toggle with debouncing and no-delay switching. The circuit used originally two NOR-gates and […]

Interactive LED beer pong table

Jeff wrote this Instructable detailing the build of his LED beer pong table project: This instructable will guide you through all of the steps to in order to create a one-of-a-kind beer pong table complete with cup detecting RGB pods, automatic ball washers, a 32×12 ping pong ball LED grid, side LED rings for spectators and an RF interface […]

Cleanly de-soldering a pin header

boldport has written an article describing a technique he’s used for removing the header cleanly: Know that sinking feeling after realising that you’ve soldered that 40-pin header on the wrong side of the board? I’ve come up with a technique that works for me for removing the header cleanly and I describe it in the video.

How to make your own custom GNU Radio blocks – the C++ way

If you’re a GNU Radio user you know that most of the functions you need are contained the stock group of GNU Radio blocks. However, there are times when you may want to code up a custom block to perform a unique function not found on the stock blocks. Jean-Benoit Larouche has posted the first […]

Breadboard programming cable for ATtiny85, ATtiny88, ATmega328, ATtiny2313, and other AVR MCUs

Here’s a breadboard programming cable for ATtiny85, ATtiny88, ATmega328, ATtiny2313, and other AVR MCUs by Nerd Ralph For programming AVR MCUs, I use a USBasp. Initially, I would connect the USBasp header pins to header pins on the breadboard with individual jumper wires, then jumper the appropriate pins on the MCU. Then I noticed a repeating […]

Piezoelectric crystal speaker build

This video by RimstarOrg demonstrates how to build a Piezoelectric crystal speaker: I make a loud speaker for a clock radio using a piezoelectric crystal. Actually I experiment with a variety of piezo crystals. That includes a piezoelectric igniter crystal from a BBQ lighter and a homemade/DIY rochelle salt piezoelectric crystal. I also try out a piezo buzzer from […]

Academic paper: hacking with RF replay attacks

If you’re new to RF hacking you may have heard the term “replay attack” and wondered what it takes to implement one. In this academic presentation Practicing a Record-and-Replay System on USRP a group of researchers from the Shenzhen Key Lab of Advanced Communications and Information Processing and Shenzhen University, give a succinct and practical […]

Building a breakout board for a TI TMP708

Carl from Hackshed.co.uk writes: Steve recently ordered several Texas Instruments TMP708 temperature switches. What he failed to realise however, is that the chips come in an SOT package which is tiny. After laughing at him for quite a while, I offered to build him a breakout board for the chips. Here are the steps I took […]

How to: compiling Arduino Caterina with new VID/PID

Compiling the Arduino Leonardo bootloader (aka Caterina) is a required step in making your own Arduino Leonardo-compatible board available to others. Steven Casagrande has written this post detailing what you need to do in order to make your derivative board valid for sale. Via the contact form.

Build a robotic air-hockey opponent out of RepRap parts

Jose Julio likes to tinker with robotics; his daughter likes air hockey. From these mutual interests, an Arduino and a handful of surplus parts from a RepRap 3D printer, Jose devised an air hockey game with a robotic opponent. “The project is based on standard RepRap 3D printer parts : NEMA17 stepper motors, drivers, Arduino […]