Category: DIY

There was supposed to be an article in the latest MAKE (Fringe, Vol. 9) that Editorial decided to pull at the last minute. It was on building a “Lifter”, a lightweight “craft” that floats through the air using high-voltage to create a lifting/propelling force. After talking to the Advisory Board (on which I sit), it was decided that, even with stern disclaimers, there was just too much risk, of both injury and litigation. But the email discussion about it became so interesting that Mark decided to publish it (the discussion, not the Lifter how-to) as on issue Extra. Here it is on the Makezine website.

BTW: I have several pieces in this issue, a profile of Jake von Slatt and a piece on TokyoFlash.

I hadn’t been to Brass Goggles in a while. They’ve added some cool content, such as Professor Fzz’s Steampunk Lamp. The good Professor shows you how he did it here. All you need is a crapload of copper tubing, some brass fittings, some super-expensive Squirrel Cage bulbs, and a lot of time on your hands.

Ben Heckendorn has a how-to on Engadget today about building your own Audio/Video Switch for your home media center. As you’re likely painfully aware, many of today’s TVs don’t have nearly enough A/V inputs for all of the devices we have (game systems, DVRs, DVD, VHS, etc.). A/V switches allow you to use one TV input to connect multiple devices that you can switch between. You won’t really save much money by DIY, and it involves soldering onto IC pins (although you could get 20-pin sockets and solder onto those and then plug in your Bus chips). Besides this being a fun project to work your newfound soldering chops, where this get truly useful is in customizing the Switch by adding component and S-video inputs/outputs (Ben’s switch only does composite, but you can add component and S-Video I/O too). Ben says in the Comments that you could also add infrared control and make it a remote control A/V Switch. *Now* we’re getting somewhere.

Hackszine has an item on a simple way of bringing a “dead” iPod back to life. Certainly worth a try. The piece also has links to several other pieces offering other iPod resuscitation tricks.

Command-Tab, a recommended site of “mac geekery,” has an excellent how-to piece on replacing the hard drives on various models of iPods. Includes a list of supported Pods and what HDs will work with them.

Printers have always fascinated me. Maybe that’s because I was trained in printing and co-ran a small print shop. So I can relate to that romantic Franklinian idea of the power of “the press.” Now we each have one of these engines of liberty on our freakin’ desktops!

Anyhoo… I’m surprised there aren’t more printer hacks out there. Many of the hacks that have made their way online have been featured on Hack-a-Day. Yesterday, they did a round-up of projects they’ve covered so far and some new ones.

I wish there was a book on printer hacks, but I guess it wouldn’t have a very large audience.

Check out this nifty LED light sequencer that uses the Atmel ATtiny13v microchip and a Light Dependent Resistor (LDR) to create a tiny, programmable LED Throwie (that, at about US$5 each, you wouldn’t actually want to get too throw-happy with too many of ’em). Could be useful for your next guerrilla marketing campaign/mistaken terrorist attack.

[Via Make]

My copy of the latest Nuts & Volts arrived the other day and the cover project is on building a fancy-schmacy benchtop regulated power supply, featuring dual 0 – 20V regulators with simultaneous voltage and current metering on digital panel displays. I’ve been toying around with the idea of building my own, so I was excited to see the piece. But as with a lot with N&V articles, it quickly climbed over my head and left a lot for me to work out on my own. Not that I couldn’t figure it out with a little homework, it’s just a little too much air pressure on the learning curve to keep my attention.

It did, however, spark my interest in other homebrewed benchtop supplies, so I did a search and found this one. It’s a really nice single regulated supply with two modes, a low setting of up to 6v and high at up to 30v, with current adjustment on the low setting between 0 – 1 amps and 1 – 10 amps on the high. The meters are analog. The project is well documented with lots of photos, diagrams, and a PCB layout. This would probably be closer to my speed, although I’d probably be just as well suited building the much simpler, cheaper one we blogged about a few months back.

Here’s quick and easy Instructable on making a schweet little JumpDrive from a LEGO brick (actually, you have to make an uber-brick first, which is most of what’s involved in the how-to).

SparkFun has a nifty little Solar Module with a recharge circuit and a AA battery holder. The collector only manages 2.4V, 80 mA, but the on-board circuitry boosts the output to 3.3V. US$12 each.

[Via Make]