Hacks, Mods & Circuitry: Page 14

Check out this Mad Science Experiment with Jason Young and Sean McMains on how to build a hovercraft and send unsuspecting children hurtling down the street on it. To make this cheap and amazing hovercraft, you'll need some wood, plastic sheeting and a leaf blower. This makes a great weekend project for the whole family to enjoy.

Paper rolls in a circle to close modem will help to increase the interference WiFi up a lot. This helps to increase your WiFI range and signal strength is low. This is a parabolic antenna to reflect the signal in the direction of your laptop.

From Systm learn how to build a USB battery supply that can charge your cell phone.

Turn an Altoids can into an outstanding headphones amp. Learn to solder by building yourself the most excellent Chu Moy headphone amp. It sounds great but cheap enough to give away as holiday stocking stuffers.

Find the ins and outs to UPS hacking in this video from Systm! And were not talking about the parcel service here—we're talking about your UPS system—your uninterruptible power supply, which can be pretty weak. That's why you should hack the tiny battery out of it and replace it with a giant car battery! Your UPS will last a lot longer, which is important when it comes to power outages. Though Systm doesn't recommend swapping out batteries, they do walk you through the process so you get it...

The free version of DVD Fab allows you not only to rip DVD's to your computer, but it also removes any regional or right protection from the DVD as it's ripping. Then you can use VLC to play back the DVD's.

See how to make a cosmic nightlight with LEDs and resin with KipKay and MAKE Magazine! Find out how to make a glittering LED constellation jammed in resin!! Kipkay loves his gadgets! This is perfect for moody, cosmic, night light for the nightstand. This is a two-part video tutorial.

See how to make a bytelight from memory chips and a lamp with KipKay and MAKE Magazine! Find out how to make a high-tech mood light from a fluorescent lamp and a bunch of old memory chips! Kipkay loves his gadgets! This is perfect for mood lighting.

See how to make a simple laser communicator with KipKay and MAKE Magazine! Find out how to secretly shoot your voice across the room in stealth mode on the beam of a laser! Kipkay loves his lasers! A simple laser communication device is the perfect way to talk across the room.

Having trouble with people snatching your stuff? Did someone take your lunch from the company fridge? Here is an inexpensive, sneaky gizmo you can make to keep those sticky fingers away. This is a junk drawer hack from Make Magazine's Kipkay. It's activated when an item is moved from it, triggering a clothes pin to close and activate the voice command. See how to make a talking booby track in this video tutorial with KipKay!

Learn how to make a DTV antenna & a steadicam.

John Park poses a kitty conundrum: Who's going to feed the cat while you're on vacation? Using a motor from an old VCR, he creates an automated feline feeder. While building this Make: magazine project, John learned that newer VCRs have safeguard technology, limiting access to the motor. Watch John as he demonstrates his solutions to this challenge.

In this video we manage to power a clock with nothing but two potatoes. In order to make this you will need two potatoes, a triple A battery powered clock, bare wire, galvanized nails, and leads, which you can find at radio shack. The clock is powered by the potato battery.

Hack a PlayStation monitor into a digital television! Get that old PS1 out of the closet and dust it off, because the switch to digital television is coming soon, and you need a DTV, so why not put that PlayStation One to use? You can build a digital television from a new set top digital converter box and that PSone video monitor, plain and simple. It's easy! Don't forget that forty dollar coupon though from the government for the purchase of the digital converter box.

This is my homemade led light system. The main unit has a total of 228 LED's, the corners are using super wide angle LED's to maximize visibility. There are also 48 LED mini lightbar, 5x 16 LED mini modules.The main controller is controlling the light bar as well as the individual lights. All 6 sets of the individual are selectable via a synchronized controller and can be set to either "flicker" or "flash". The video is made with the camera on my phone, so please forgive the quality. The lights...

Here's a quick and simple way to repair small cooling fans and extend their life. It's a video made with a how-to article from http://beecherbowers.com This is a delicate mr. fixit tutorial. Clean the fan so that it runs smooth and quiet. You need oil to do this repair.

Patrick Norton Shows you how to make a simple WiFi antenna booster. This booster is a parabolic reflector made to focus a signal so it is stronger and can project farther. This is perfect if your wireless router is awkward and cannot broadcast a wifi signal to the far reaches of your home. This is called the windsurfer.

Following on from Edison's first lightblub moment back in 1879, the OU's Stephen Serjeant experiments with an alternative power source - the humble potato. Create a potato batter with a couple of screws and a light bulb.

Step by step guide to repairing circuit boards

In this video, we explain some techniques for getting electronic circuits to do things they weren't designed for. As an example, use a speaker phone as a speaker. Hacking items into better or different devices is way cool DIY circuitry. These are ideas of electronics that are cool to splice, rip apart and use recycled electronics for new projects.

Sometimes there is a part of a circuit that you need but it's on a huge circuit board. This is one technique to cut it out. Take out the PCB part that is necessary. This is a great DIY electronics technique.

This shows you how to modify an old camera so it flashes at the push of a button. Annoy your friends. It's a perfect practical joke by modifying an old camera flash to create a strobe effect. This will make it so you don't have to wind it, just push the button

In this Household Hacker experiment, we'll demonstrate how to completely remove scratches from your CD or DVD media. For this project, we used:1) 1 tablespoon peanut butter2) Toothpaste3) Diet Soda (must be sugar free or seltzer water)4) Plastic container5) Baking soda6) Lots of paper towels

Here is the Weekend Project: The Bytelight, a mood light from Kipkay and Make Magazine. Build a cool mood light out of obsolete sim memory chips from recycled old computers.Make a high-tech mood light from a flourescent lamp, household goop, lexan, and a bunch of old RAM chips. Glue the chips, chips side down. This is a super cool looking light that changes over time.

Using the instructions on the MAKE blog (04/2008) We made this portable fume extractor for soldering.  Works great at close proximity (2 inches).  Note: We didn't screw down the voltage regulator, just stuffed it in the side. This will keep the fumes from seeping into your lungs by trapping them with an Altoids tin.

Use a motor to make a fan and a speaker. People often take for granted the common items and devices they use in everyday life. Looks can be deceiving. It's not what things appear to be, it's what they can become.

This Weekend Project is the USBattery from MAKE Magazine Volume 16. Conceal a flash drive in a AA battery! This is a way cool USB battery mod or hack project. It makes a cool secret storage space for your spy projects. Wear gloves, safety goggles and a non alkaline battery.

Secretly shoot your voice across the room in stealth mode on a laser beam in this fun and easy project! Make Magazine and Kipkay present this cool spy trick. Build a simple laser communicator that transmits your voice across a room. You need an amplifier, radio, laser pointer, battery pack and a solar cell.

The Five Minute Project crew is back, and bringing you six fresh projects sponsored by Craftsman. Break out the tools and protective eyewear and brace yourself for the best how-to videos a DIY-er could ask for. Learn to make Geek-Chic Cuff Links, a Cereal Box Spectrometer and more, all in Five Minutes Time!

Project 5 from Popular Science's 5 minute Projects with Craftsmen Tool is 'Integrated Circuit Cufflinks'.

There's probably a reason that laser pointers are banned from most schools: They're just to fun to put down! Whether you're using them as a pointer, to distract your classmates, or to very wickedly point them in people's eyes, they are toys that are quite addicting.

Don't use a perfectly good DVD burner to get your laser that will pop balloons, light matches, and burn stuff. Just buy a laser diode at mfgcn.com and also a laser housing, and you won't be tearing a computer DVD player apart. This is the easy way to make a 200mW burning DVD laser. Use a Mini Maglite and some rechargeable batteries so you don't burn out the laser.

Dave and Pat break down the basics of RFID technology and show you how to put it to use by building an RFID beer safe!

Light up your world with these beautiful and easy-to-make illuminated LED balloons.

This week on Make Magazine is a project with parts from the Arduino Starter Kit. Skip over building the Proto Shield. Otherwise, it's a simple build that doesn't require any soldering. Arduino is a speaking control for robotics. It can be used in other Make kits or robotic projects. This is a circuit bending and circuit board project that involves basic circuitry and wiring.

Take a tour through the world of the light-emitting diode. Learn - who invented it, how to use it, and how to make your own.

This is an instructional video featuring Doug Prime, founder of the Future Engineers Center at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Strip the wire and make sure the wire is tied on tightly before soldering. Don't drip balls of solder. Make sure the tip is clean. Then hold it on the joint to be soldered for 4 seconds. Then poke the solder on the surface and it will melt with the heat.

This is an instructional video featuring Doug Prime, founder of the Future Engineers Center at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Use wire strippers where they are like scissors. To cut off the wire's insulation and strip it you need to know the wire's gauge. Check the gauge on both the wire and the stripper.

A nifty step-by-step guide to making your very own laundry detergent lamp. Upcycle that recyclable detergent bottle and gain a swell lighting fixture for your home! This involves some basic circuitry and wiring of a cheap lamp fixture. You use the laundry detergent bottle as the base of the lamp. It's a bit arts & crafts project and a bit conservation! Help our mother nature with this nifty at-home craft decoration project!

Did you know you can stimulate yourself to have a lucid dream? Well, it may take a little bit of practice first, but this sleep mask can certainly help you have the most interesting and realistic dreams of your life (yes, kinda like "Inception.") Just check out this video to learn how to make a super cheap lucid dream mask out of two LED lights and a pair of goggles.