Hacks, Mods & Circuitry How-Tos — Page 2 of 26 « Hacks, Mods & Circuitry

How To: Build a Water Balloon Launcher

Video: .

How To: Make a "Shocking" Deck of Prank Playing Cards Packed with 330 Volts of Electricity

A deck of cards may be a magician's best way to demonstrate his or her's sleight of hand, but for the prankster, it's the perfect way to deliver a shocking 300 volts of electricity! And that's exactly what I'm going to show you how to do today. Stuart Edge used it in his "Electric Shock Kissing Prank" to show the ladies how a man can really put the sparks in a kiss.

How To: Make the Scariac (A Poor Man's Variable Power Controller)

Mixing water and electricity is extremely risky and potentially lethal, yet that's exactly what I did with the Scariac. In its simplest form, the Scariac is just a glorified version of two wires in a bucket of water, but it's actually one of the cheapest power controllers you can make.

How To: Turn a Hard Drive into a Desktop LED Penholder & Hidden Drive

This is a illuminated pen holder that I made out of a couple recycled hard drives. The LEDs receive power from the standard USB cable connected to a computer. The stand for the penholder is taken from a clip light, and the penholder itself is made from 3 hard disk drive platters. Also, I hid a small 4GB flash drive inside the base hard drive for some hidden storage.

How To: Install MS-DOS on a Modern Computer

For those needing to replace old controller hardware on cutting mills, those into native retro gaming, or for those who want to see what all the fuss was about in the 1980's, or for those who just want a play with old but great technology, this tutorial shows you step-by-step processing getting the breakthrough desktop operating system running on the latest greatest hardware.

How To: 10 Unique & Practical Ways to Repurpose Your Old Hard Disk Drives

At one point in the '90s, about fifty percent of the CDs produced worldwide had an AOL logo. About fifty percent of the CDs in my home still have that AOL promise of 500 free hours on them. Though they never got me to join their internet service, I did get a lifetime supply of coasters. Thanks to the rise of high-speed internet access and bigger and better hard drives, there's no reason for companies to snail mail any more of those obnoxious plastic discs.

How To: DC Versus AC and the Diode

Direct current (DC) by definition flows in one direction. Alternating current (AC), on the other hand, periodically changes direction, or reverses polarity. It is indeed possible for a portion of a circuit that is normally DC to periodically change direction, or reverse polarity like an AC circuit.

How To: Make an AC Arc Welder Using Parts from an Old Microwave, Part 2

Last time, I showed how to start putting together an AC arc welder from scavenged microwave parts, focusing on the transformer modifications. Now, I'll show you how to finish up your DIY stick welding machine by fixing up the electrical system and performing the finishing touches.

How To: This Easy DIY Money Indicator Light Makes Sure You Always Have Cash in Your Wallet

Obviously, millionaires like me don't really have to worry about an empty wallet, but for the rest of you out there, having no cash when it comes time to paying a bill can be excruciatingly embarrassing.

How To: Make an AC Arc Welder Using Parts from an Old Microwave, Part 1

In a previous article, I demonstrated an Arc Welder made using parts from old microwave ovens. Video: .

How To: DIY Stick Welder from Old Microwave Parts

Lurking inside your old junk microwave is an abundance of useful parts that can let you melt metal, spot weld, and make electrifying Jacob's ladders. You can even make a powerful AC arc welder, perfect for making hard-to-solve puzzles and even makeshift weapons for the zombie apocalypse.

How To: Hungry for a Light Snack? Try Making These Gummy LEDs (aka Nerd Candy)

LEDs have slowly become the standard for DIY lighting projects because they consume less power and last way longer than regular light bulbs do. Light-emitting diodes have no filament, meaning they generate their light solely by the movement of electrons in a semiconductor material.

How To: Tired of Turning Your Bicycle Light Off? This Hack Disables It Automatically When You Park

Biking at night is dangerous. Seriously. If you've ever taken a night ride, you've probably experience a few close encounters with a set of headlights. Which is why you use bike lights—to make yourself more visible. Problem is, unlike modern car lights, bike lights don't turn themselves off when you're done riding.

How To: Control a Real-Life Maze Game with Your Windows Phone and a Netduino

There are tons of different versions of maze games. First, there were paper mazes that you had to draw your way out of. Then, there were computer and video games, and later, smartphone apps.

How To: Measure the Drive Current.

There is thousands of motor driver, do you find an easy way to measure the drive current? That is what this motor shield do. The drive chip is L298N. The following steps is how to control two DC motors and how to measure the drive current. With it, you will make your control system more smart.

How To: New to Arduino? Start with This Simple RC Car Controlled by Your Android Device

Thanks to its open-source platform and easy-to-use hardware and software, there's literally thousands of Arduino projects detailed online for anyone to make—a magic mirror, DIY polygraph machine, and hotel-hacking dry erase marker just being a few examples. Hell, you can even make the Daft Punk helmet.

How To: Cycle Safer with This DIY Turn Signal Backpack, Complete with Accelerometer-Activated Brake Lights

If you ride your bike or motorcycle a lot, especially in a large city, you've probably had a few close calls. No matter how safely you're driving, you never know what other people are going to do, and being on a smaller vehicle makes you difficult to see.

How To: This Arduino 'Loudness Guard' Caps Your TV's Volume to Banish Annoyingly Loud Commercials

Have you ever fallen asleep watching television only to be rudely awoken by one of those obnoxious commercials that randomly play three times as loud as everything else? While the FCC actually made excessively loud commercials illegal as of last December, it's up to providers to comply, so the problem will probably take a while to go away.

How To: Make a Difference in Your Neighborhood with This Urban DIY Glowing Bollard Crosswalk

Walking the streets at night can be uncomfortably dangerous. In 2010, there were 32,885 motor vehicle deaths in the United States. Of those, roughly 13%, or 4,280, were pedestrians. Two-thirds of those pedestrian deaths occurred at nighttime. Along with darkness, drivers also have to deal with rain and other harsh weather conditions. Combined, all of these factors can be very dangerous for anyone taking a walk at night. As it happens, pedestrian deaths are on the rise since 2009.

How To: Hack a 20-Year-Old "Brick" Phone into a Digital Cell You Can Text On

The cell phone has come a long way. The very first "mobile devices" were made and used by the military in the late 1930s, with the first commercial mobile telephone service introduced by Bell in 1946. These devices were hardly what we'd call mobile today—some took up the whole trunk of a car, and others had to be carried on your back in a heavy bag.

How To: Crazy Dad Enters Guinness World Records with Fastest Baby Stroller Ever (50+ MPH!)

Babies are pretty cool. They do whatever they want, have beautiful women drool all over them, and have more one-on-one boob action than any grown man (or woman) I know.

How To: Make a Working Speaker Using Only a Magnet, Wire, and Masking Tape

Duct tape is the king of all household items. You can use duct tape for practically anything, like this sweet wallet. But duct tape isn't the only crafty tape out there; masking tape holds its own, too.

How To: Hack an Old Cassette Tape into a Retro-Style MP3 Player

Cassette tapes, much like the boombox, Walkman, and record player, aren't used much anymore. With the ability to put music on our smartphones, most of us don't carry tapes or CDs around because it now seems inconvenient.

How To: Make the Deadliest Looking Redneck Pen Set Ever

Do you guys remember those things you hold with your fingers to write stuff down? I think they're called pens, or something like that...

How To: This DIY 'Bicycle Barometer' Lets You Know If You Should Bike to Work or Catch the Bus

If you don't have a car, or just prefer to take public transit to work, you know that an unexpected change in the weather can quickly...er, dampen your day. If you're not expecting it, rain or snow can turn your trip into a long, hellish ordeal—especially if you bike.

How To: Scare Yourself Out of Bed with This Explosive TNT Alarm Clock

The first alarm clock in recorded history can be traced back to ancient Greek philosopher Plato, known for laying the foundations of Western philosophy and science. Plato was said to possess a very large water clock with an alarm signal similar to that of a water organ.

How To: This DIY Can of Pepper Spray Shoots a Photo of Your Attacker While You Spray Them

Unfortunately, there are plenty of situations where having a can of pepper spray could come in handy. Even worse, in most of those situations your state of mind isn't really conducive to remembering important details like the facial features of the person who's trying to mug you, which means the police will have a harder time catching the culprit.

How To: This DIY WiFi-Detecting 'Sting' Blade Is Perfect for Any Hobbit Looking for a Hotspot

There are very, very few things better than a solid Hobbit songI mean, I was almost brought to tears when Pippin busted out this one in The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.

How To: Use a Flatbed Scanner and Raspberry Pi to Take Super Sharp Macro Photos

You can take macro photos on a huge variety of devices, whether you're using a DSLR with expensive lenses or just your iPhone (or any smartphone, for that matter). One common issue, though, is that it can be hard to get the image as crisp as you want because the depth of field is so small.

Open Sesame: Make Siri Open Your Garage Door via Raspberry Pi

You can make Siri do all kinds of things it was never designed to do. From installing it on older jailbroken iDevices to using it to bypass an iPhone's lock screen, people have managed to come up with some interesting hacks—and that's only the beginning.

How To: Make a Dandelion Lamp Using LEDs, Optical Fibers, and Straws

Albert Einstein once said, "We know less than one thousandth of one percent of what nature has to reveal to us."

How To: This DIY Deathly Hallows LED Clock Is Perfect for Any Harry Potter Loving Muggle

In the Harry Potter world, there was a character by the name of Beedle the Bard, who told a story about witnessing the three Peverell brothers building a bridge out of magic and successfully crossing a very dangerous river that had claimed many lives.

How To: Convert Your LG Optimus G into a Google Nexus 4

Since the introduction of the Nexus 4 to the Google Play Store last November, the phone's been in constant demand thanks to the low price and sleek design. Even today, the phone is still listed as sold out. LG's Nexus 4 is also the only smartphone in circulation that can run a naked version of the Android operating system; one that does not come loaded with a manufacturer UI running over top of it.

How To: Convert Your Classic Game Boy into a Powerhouse Emulator That Plays Practically Any Retro Game

If you've got old game consoles lying around and aren't sure what to do with them, there's no shortage of projects you can undertake. From turning a Game Boy and Wii Remote into an Android phone gamepad to combining a GameCube and N64 to make a hybrid console, there's something for everyone.

How To: Turn Your External Hard Drive into a Colossus—Complete with Glowing Eyes

Whether or not you like its minimalist, "puzzle" style, it's hard to argue that Shadow of the Colossus is a gorgeous game. It got rave reviews from critics and players alike, was the 11th highest rated game of 2005, and was so popular that it even has its own wiki.