BuffaloFeeds » Hack A Day

Hack A Day (7 unread)

Machining a horizontal Stirling engine

Posted: June 24th, 2010, 3:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

Satisfy your need to view some quality machining by looking through this Stirling engine worklog. We’ve seen these engines used a few other times in creating electricity from solar energy, powering a car, and even built from aluminum cans. [David Morrow] built this rendition to push the limits of his machining skills. We’d say he [...]
Adding a serial port to the Zipit

Posted: June 24th, 2010, 2:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

[Geordy] added a serial port to his Zipit. It uses a 3.5mm jack as the connector. He managed to include an RS232 level converter inside the case. Both components were hard to fit into the cramped quarters but he did it and he kept the hacker-friendly device looking nice too.
Unwrapping 360 degree video

Posted: June 24th, 2010, 12:30pm MDT by Mike Szczys

[Golan Levin] found a way to unwrap the 360 degree images he created with his camera. He’s using a Sony Bloggie HD camera which comes with a 360 degree attachment for the lens. This produces a donut shaped image (seen in the upper left) that was not all that palatable to [Golan]. He used Processing [...]
Multi Multimeter clock

Posted: June 24th, 2010, 10:57am MDT by Mike Szczys

[Alan Parekh] built this clock to look like a Multimeter using analog multimeters for the three displays. A PIC does the timekeeping and feeds a specific amperage to the three displays which show hours, minutes, and seconds. We’ve seen clocks that use analog meters before. [Alan] took the concept to the next level, replacing the [...]
Mushroom terrarium automation

Posted: June 24th, 2010, 9:00am MDT by Caleb Kraft

Like many specialty plants, growing mushrooms requires that you keep a fine balance between humidity and temperature. this can be fairly tedious at times, so many opt for automated systems. [Anthony_p1234] has chosen to build his own. Using an Arduino, he controls power to two heating pads, a sonic humidifier, and an air pump to keep his [...]
Mr. Burns prevents sun burns

Posted: June 24th, 2010, 8:16am MDT by Caleb Kraft

[nmcclana] wrote out this very detailed instructible on building Mr. Burns, a sun burn alarm. Enter your skin type, sunscreen type, and UV levels for the day and Mr. Burns will let you know when it is time to go seek shelter or re-apply that sunscreen. Built on a Propeller platform, he’s using a blue [...]
Fusion, in my backyard?!

Posted: June 24th, 2010, 7:35am MDT by Jakob Griffith

Here is the 32nd amateur fusion reactor built in a basement. [Mark Suppes] is right behind [Will Jack], the (then) 17 year old [Thiago Olson], and [Mileiux] in engineering a homemade nuclear reactor. By taking two light elements and colliding them under extreme speed and pressure, a heavier element and energy are produced. [Mark's] goal [...]