Hacks, Mods & Circuitry Features

How To: Scratch-proof the top layer of an audio CD

If your audio discs aren't playing anymore or constantly skip, then your problem might be scratches. Not just the bottom layer matters on an audio CD. The top layer can scratch just as easily and cause just as many problems. That's why it should be protected, and this video shows you a great hack for protecting your music compact discs. You just need to add an extra thin cover to the top of your CD, which comes from a trashed CD or DVD, for which you need to boil to remove the thin plastic la...

How To: Zap and revive old NiCad batteries with a mig welder

Nicad batteries often die in such a way that they won't take a charge and have zero voltage. This usually means they're shorted out by crystal dendrite growth. Here's a method of bringing them back to life by zapping those shorted crystal dendrites away with too much current and/or voltage. We'll use a welder as a power source. You could also use a car battery, a DC powersupply, or almost anything with some voltage. Charged-up capacitors are popular for this because you can get a very fast pu...

How To: Build a laser tripwire that can trigger anything out of a photoresistor

This video, incredibly short for it's massive content, will teach you how to make a laser tripwire that, combined with a photoresistor, can trigger just about any device. You can make traps, alarms, awesome party decorations, and all sorts of other awesome things with this easy-to-make device, provided you have a soldering iron and a local electronics store to buy some parts.

How To: Hack Your Mini-Fridge into a Vending Machine to Take Care of Freeloading Friends at Your Next Party

It always sounds like a good idea to throw a party... until the party gets there. Next thing you know, you're running around hiding anything breakable, and once everyone leaves, you're stuck cleaning up the mess. But the worst part is footing the bill for everything, and if you don't charge at the door, your chances of getting anyone to chip in are slim to none once the party starts.

How To: Turn your doorbell into a guard dog alarm

This video shows you how to make a security device out of a door bell. The concept is that most thefts happen when people are away from home. To make sure of this the thief rings the door bell to make sure that nobody is home, if nobody answers then they will break in. A lot of people have dogs and alarm systems which will scare off the thieves, but this alarm system combines both. To make this devise you have to buy a speaker system that connects to your door bell. When the door bell rings i...

News: Teens Pulled Over in Their Almost Street Legal (And Totally Cool) DIY Wooden Car

Getting pulled over sucks, even when you're in a normal car. Just imagine how these teenagers felt when they were pulled over for driving their wooden car without a license! They also got a citation for not having a speedometer or side indicator lights, but if that's all that's keeping their DIY vehicle from being street legal, I'm already impressed. Photo by WTF.nl/Zaanstreek-Waterland Police

How To: Light Up Your iPhone's Apple Logo in Old School Rainbow Colors

As far as logos go, few are as iconic and instantly recognizable as Apple's old-school rainbow emblem. No matter how sleek their products get, people are still nostalgic for the old, colorful logo, and this mod from Adafruit basically proves it. If you have some pretty decent soldering skills, you can make the Apple on the back of your iPhone light up like the old rainbow logo. In the video below, Becky Stern from Adafruit uses a kit with a replacement glass back, tweezers, screwdrivers, and ...

How To: Make a cheap, bright police grade flashlight

Make a $100 super bright cop flashlight for less than $10, as shown in the steps of this how-to video. This flashlight is brighter than a Surefire and is so easy to do. You will need a compact flashlight, a Krypton flashlight lamp, a file or drill bit, and 3 volt batteries. Watch this video circuitry tutorial and learn how to modify a cheap plastic flashlight into giving off a stronger, brighter light.

How To: Hack a single-use digital camera for continual usage

In the digital age, camera's have gotten better, more advanced and more expensive. Even those throw-away cameras have taken the leap to digital-ness, which means more money. But you don't have to be confined by the one-time use of these single-use digital cameras anymore. Kipkay teaches you how to hack a one-time-use digital camera so that you can use it over and over again— for only twenty dollars. There is a connector behind a sticker, so you have to peel the sticker off and then you must f...

How To: Make a DIY vehicle immobilizer to stop car thieves

We all know the G-spot as that sensitive area that drives women crazy, but for auto enthusiasts, it has a whole new meaning. The G-Spot, designed by Daniel Davies, is a vehicle immobilizer, which keeps your vehicles safe from car thieves. And you don't need to pay a huge amount of money to get one, either! You can make on yourself, right at home, provided you have all the right materials.

News: Truck Driver Reverse Engineers Atom Bomb, Rebuilds Little Boy

You're walking down the street, minding your own business. Then you see it—a large, bright fireball in the near distance. A tremendous heat wave speeds towards you at one thousand miles an hour, and before you can think, before you can even blink, the extremely heated wind pushes right through you. Your skin melts, your eyes liquefy—your face disappears into the wind. Before you know it, your pancreas collide with what’s left of the person next to you, your duodenum is dissolving faster than ...

How To: Hack Frequent Flyer Programs

Screw the airplane man. Ticket prices are too high. Competitive consumer choices are pretty much nonexistent. And need I go into the pain of being crammed into those tiny seats, elbow-to-elbow, thigh-to-thigh with a perfect stranger? Even your average Richie Rich winces at the astronomically high prices for a First Class seat.