Hacks, Mods & Circuitry Features
How To: Hook up an iPod to a laser
Combine your iPod and a laser to send your music on the beam. Easy project that anyone can do, with the help of a little soldering. You will need your iPod, a solar cell, a laser, and a soldering tool. Watch this video circuitry tutorial and learn how to hook up an iPod to a laser for a laser-wired music experience.
How To: Make an iPhone stand, fart gadget & mini BB gun
It's amazing what you can create with a few, everyday household and office supplies. Most of these items are already sitting in your junk drawers, so there's no need to spend money! Kipkay shows you 4 awesome hacks you can make in this "household hack pack" video.
How To: Make the gantry linear slide bearings for a CNC router
A CNC router machine is probably the most useful tool a hobbyist can own, but the price for a CNC machine on the market is way more than the average hobbyist is willing to spend. You can build your own CNC with very basic tools, little knowledge of machinery, mechanics, or electronics, but be warned, these machines are inherently dangerous, so wear the proper protection and use common sense. At the very least, read the instructions and precautions on every tool you use.
How To: Make LED ice cubes
Learn how to make LED ice cubes with this tutorial! Steps:
How To: Build a light bulb
The final version of Build a Bulb, an Edison creation.
How To: Etch your own circuitboards
A step-by-step how-to video from grooveshark.com explaining how to make your own circuit board or PCB. It's a simple, but long process for copper etching a printed circuit board, so pay attention and pause when needed.
How To: Hack together a Star Wars light saber
Systm presents this detailed tutorial on how to make a custom Star Wars style light saber. Luke, Darth and Obi-Wan's Lightsabers were pieced out of junk piles. David shows you how to build exact replicas and an original design from The Custom Saber Shop. Then he picks a fight with Patrick.
News: DIY Laser Tripwire System That Tweets Whenever Sharks Swim Past
If you've ever wished you could keep tabs on the fish in your aquarium, Justin of Antipasto Hardware Blog has just the mod for you! He created this DIY "shark detector" that sends out a tweet whenever Bruce the shark breaches a perimeter that he set up in the tank.
How To: Make a USB crystal ball light
Make a crystal LED light from the chemicals in a cold compress that runs on USB power.
How To: Solder a pair of headphones
Find yourself faced with a dead channel on your headphones? Before them out, you might take the opportunity to see what you can learn from trying to fix them yourself with a soldering iron. The repair can often be straightforward. For detailed step-by-step instructions on resoldering a broken connection on your own cans, watch this headphone repair tutorial. Take a look.
How To: Modify a solar yard light into electronic crickets
Create a nighttime chorus of insect sounds by modifying a solar yard light! You'll need some components, and the circuit board is not for the timid. It's pretty complicated with resistors, capacitors, thermistors, amplifiers, and some transformers. If you can manage all of this soldering work, then you will have one hell of a cricket show!
How To: Assemble a CNC machine router kit
A CNC router machine is probably the most useful tool a hobbyist can own, but the price for a CNC machine on the market is way more than the average hobbyist is willing to spend. You can build your own CNC with very basic tools, little knowledge of machinery, mechanics, or electronics, but be warned, these machines are inherently dangerous, so wear the proper protection and use common sense. At the very least, read the instructions and precautions on every tool you use.
How To: Hack a PlayStation monitor into a digital television
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.
How To: Make a 3D scanner with free software
Scanners have been around for a while. They allow us scan photos and documents into digital versions that are a lot less susceptible to damage over time. But what if you want to digitize the memories of something that isn't 2D? With this hacker's how-to, you'll learn a method for making a 3D scanner. To follow along, you'll need a computer, a printer, a web cam, white foam board and a laser pointer.
How To: Install a cross dowel to adjoin wood for a CNC router
A CNC router machine is probably the most useful tool a hobbyist can own, but the price for a CNC machine on the market is way more than the average hobbyist is willing to spend. You can build your own CNC with very basic tools, little knowledge of machinery, mechanics, or electronics, but be warned, these machines are inherently dangerous, so wear the proper protection and use common sense. At the very least, read the instructions and precautions on every tool you use.
How To: Build your own circuit boards for guitar effects
This video tutorial will tell you how to make your own circuit boards for guitar effects. There are hundreds of great gadgets out there and a lot of the good ones don't come in a ready-to-build kit, so this video teaches you how to make your own circuit board. This method uses acids that etch copper so follow the safety instructions.
How To: Make a gadget electric charging station
Check this PopSci 5-Minute Project out to see how you can make your very own gadget charging station.
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.
News: Pop popcorn with your cell phone...NOT!
Watch this first 'tutorial'.FauxTo! Hoax! Con! May 28, 2008, this video was uploaded to YouTube illustrating the popcorn popping power of a circle of ringing mobile phones. Radiation. Amazing. Viral. Millions viewed.
News: The Revolution of the Hacked Kinect, Part 4: The Future Is YOU
Our hacked Kinect series has demonstrated amply how the Kinect is changing the worlds of business, art, medicine and robotics. But where does it go from here? That will be determined by the thousands of dedicated DIYers out there doing work like you've seen here over the last week.
How To: Build your own computer interface
This video tutorial will show you how to take an old computer keyboard and use its circuitry as a physical computing input device. Once you have this device, you can then use it to interface with programs that you write using software such as pure data processing, MAX/MSP, and Ableton Live to name a few. What you are doing is replacing the switches within your keyboards with others for input devices. Make sure the interface is plugged in when you are testing but it's probably a good idea to u...
How To: Make a DVD stash box
If you're looking for a creative place to stash your cash or small valuables, this how-to video walks you through the process of turning a DVD drive into stash box. Armed with a screwdriver and some time, this video gives detailed step-by-step instruction on talking apart your DVD drive and reassembling it. The video includes helpful hints to make this stash box look and function in an authentic manner. This DVD stash box video will not only help keep your stuff safe, but you may even feel a ...
News: Schoolboy Invents Burglar-Deterring, Post Office-Friendly Doorbell
He may have just started his teenage years, but Laurence Rock's future is looking pretty good after inventing an ingenious doorbell device called Smart Bell. He's already sold 20,000 units to telecoms giant Commtel Innovate, and is securing a second deal with an unidentified company that will land him £250,000. That's over $400,000!
News: Digital Picture Frame Snatches Photos from Public Wi-Fi Networks
You're sitting in your favorite café enjoying a hot cup of joe, then you open up your laptop or turn on your tablet computer to get to work, but as always you get sidetracked and head straight for Facebook. Someone just tagged you in a photo, so you check it out, then you see it out of the corner of your eye—your Facebook picture digitally displayed on the wall in a nice, neat digital photo frame.
HowTo: Make a Trippy 3D Animated LED Cube
chrof Instructables boasts: "This is the most comprehensive step-by-step guide to build an 8x8x8 Led Cube ever published on the intertubes. It will teach you everything from theory of operation, how to build the cube, to the inner workings of the software."
How To: Make time fly
Transform your old analog clock to an crazy clock. This makes the clocks arms spin freely and you can freak out your friends. This is a very cool hack for a clock.
How To: Hack a toy EEG into a working brain-computer interface
In this clip, you'll learn how to extract serial data from the $80 Mattel Mindflex or Star Wars Force Trainer. For more information, including detailed, step-by-step instructions, and to get started creating your own working EEG/BCI, watch this very-neat hacker's how-to.
How To: Build a slide mechanism for a pipe CNC router
A CNC router machine is probably the most useful tool a hobbyist can own, but the price for a CNC machine on the market is way more than the average hobbyist is willing to spend. You can build your own CNC with very basic tools, little knowledge of machinery, mechanics, or electronics, but be warned, these machines are inherently dangerous, so wear the proper protection and use common sense. At the very least, read the instructions and precautions on every tool you use.
How To: Make a Bawls bottle blue LED light
Kipkay shows you how to turn an ordinary Bawls bottle into a cool crystal LED light.
How To: This Arduino Hack Lets You Control a Table Lamp Using Your Voice
The Jetsons may not have gotten everything right about the future, but even though we may not have flying cars or live in the sky (yet), one thing they imagined correctly was our electronics eventually being able to understand us.
How To: Make Your Own Propane-Fueled Cotton Candy Machine at Home
Cotton candy is a treat generally reserved for carnivals, fairs, and other events that don't come around often enough. Through some clever construction and about $45 in materials though, you can have all the sugary substance you could ever want with this awesome DIY cotton candy machine. All you'll need to construct your own are two dollar store stainless steel bowls, a fan motor, a few odd screws and bolts, a drill, and a propane torch. Check out the tutorial video below. As an added bonus, ...
How To: Hack Michigan's optical scanner voting machines
Michael-David BenDor demonstrates how an optical scanner voting machine can be hacked in under five minutes using everyday tools. So, if you want to rig the next election in Michigan, this is the video tutorial for you. Don't agree with the next popular president or governor? Then see how to hack and get around the presidential seal in the voting machine.
How To: Do the express elevator hack
Most people get tired of being in the elevator, being in a rush, and having to stop at every floor to let people on. With the express elevator hack you will not have to stop any more. You can now ride straight up to your floor with ease. First, get into the elevator. Then, press and hold the button that has the floor you want to go to and the close button at the same time for five seconds. Just remember to press the close button and the floor button at the same time. Now, you can ride straigh...
How To: Make your own EL wire at home for Burning Man and other light-up festivities
Did you know that electroluminescent (EL) wire is considered by some to be the currency of Burning Man? If you're thinking of going and want to stock up before (smart) watch this video featuring EL whiz Jeri Ellsworth (smarter) teaching you how to make DIY EL wire.
How To: Make electroluminescent (EL) wire by twisting enamel and bare wire
EL wire is known as the Currency of Burning Man, and it's potential to create beautiful light in all sorts of settings is amazing. If you're tired of buying it and want to stock up on some DIY EL wire (which is more in the spirit of Burning Man anyway right?) watch this video to learn how to twist enamel and bare wire together to make your EL wire.
How To: Make a mood light decorative lamp
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.
How To: Make a low cost rack to store and organize wire spools
Using just a few inexpensive pieces of hardware, you can construct your own rack designed for storing and organizing spools of wire. Bolt a dowel to a wall or another rack, then thread your spools on the dowel. You can still get the wire, and now they won't move!
How To: Hack a voice changing toy to make it sound even crazier
Start with a toy bullhorn that alters the sound of your voice when you speak into it. Then mod it using a few potentimeters and a few resistors as demonstrated in this video. Now you have a toy with an even crazier pitch!
How To: Make a high speed photography trigger with an Arduino
High speed photos are very artistic and look awesome, but taking them without special equipment is nearly impossible. Without this hack and an Arduino, that is. This video will teach you how to use an Arduino and other electronic components to make a DIY high speed photo trigger and take more awesome shots.
HowTo: Make a Flashlight That Will Last Forever
That's right, no batteries required. Ever. Instructables user brunoip demonstrates how to make a flashlight that uses a "small stepper motor to generate energy and many capacitors for keep it stored for several seconds".