BuffaloFeeds » Hack A Day » April 26, 2010

Hack A Day (8 unread)

Lawnmower+stake+rope=Analog robotic lawn service

Posted: April 26th, 2010, 4:04pm MDT by Mike Szczys

[Kirov], a regular reader and one of our most notorious commenters, tipped us off about this lawn mowing hack. On one hand we’re wary that this is bait for a huge flame war, but on the other hand it’s a hack that brings a smile to our mischievous faces. By pounding a stake into the [...]
Midi piano instructor

Posted: April 26th, 2010, 3:00pm MDT by Caleb Kraft

The MIDI piano instructor is a tool aimed at those who wish to learn to play piano, but don’t want to take lessons. The LED bar mounted above the keys lights up to show you exactly what key to press and when. We’ve seen this available in some electronic keyboards for some time, but this [...]
Printable appendage with two joints and integrated motors

Posted: April 26th, 2010, 2:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

[Kris Reed] developed this robotic appendage as a follow-up to his original prototype. He printed it using Alumide which is a printable material with aluminum dust mixed into it. [Kris'] design utilizes three gear types; large gear, small gear, and worm gear. The motors are mounted on the middle portion of the assembly and offer [...]
Altair 8800 pc case can emulate the original hardware

Posted: April 26th, 2010, 1:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

The Altair computer is commonly considered the genesis of personal computing and for that reason it has a special place in the hearts of many. [Bob Alexander] brings back the glory of the Altair 8800 plus a lot of added computing power. This PC case houses a Core i5 system but the front panel isn’t [...]
Update: IR controlled lighting

Posted: April 26th, 2010, 12:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

[Muris] is back with another infrared controlled lighting hack. When we checked in with him last year he was showing off an IR controlled dimmer module. Now he’s back with this device that is CFL friendly. Because standard CFL bulbs are not dimmer compatible he’s adapted the project away from dimming and toward switching. The [...]
Biosphere lighting

Posted: April 26th, 2010, 11:00am MDT by Caleb Kraft

Sometimes, sitting in a windowless office can drive you crazy. Adding a little bit of life and color can really help. [Gripen40k] did this by building a biosphere. He didn’t have any windows though, so he made an LED light on a PIC based timer. What is interesting is what he did with a thermistor. [...]
Performance meters for your PC

Posted: April 26th, 2010, 10:06am MDT by Caleb Kraft

We always enjoy a good performance monitor here. Especially when it includes some nice meters to watch jump and bounce as we thrash the system. This particular one is based on a PIC18f2550 pushing a regular old analog VU meter and an RGB LED. There’s a great writeup there, including schematics, PCBs, and massive amounts [...]
Spinning ball of LED awesomeness

Posted: April 26th, 2010, 8:52am MDT by Caleb Kraft

Take a few moments and watch this 3 axis rotating LED light display fire up. The final effect of being an RGB glowing ball is nice, but we’re fascinated with the structure. There are tons of great detailed pictures of the assembly on the forum thread to feast your eyes on. Just getting power to [...]