Knob controllers can control volume settings, scroll through web pages and help edit movies among other uses. You can buy a commercial one from Griffin Technology for $US45 or build one yourself with an old scroll-wheel mouse and a few electronics components and tools. More »
The word Arduino may conjure up an image of a wide-mouthed geek huddled over a work table, but its simplicity makes it an entry point into electronics for even the most electronically inept. We’ll outline the basics of the Arduino itself, what the crazy jumble of wires means, and then step through how to use other people’s code and schematics to build your first electronics project, no programming required. More »
If your headphone cables are starting to fray or you have a bad habit of getting your cables hung on random items and nearly pulling out (like I do) you may want to consider installing headphone jacks on each earpiece. You’ll need two 1/8″ mono jacks, two 1/8″ mono plugs and heat shrink tubing as well as access to a soldering iron, heat gun and a drill or dremel tool. More »
Instructables user yardleydobon was tired of waving his hand around in the dark trying to find the pull chain of his ceiling fan to light up the room. He took apart a solar garden light and used the parts to create a night light for the ceiling fan pull chain that comes on automatically when the light is off and charges from the light given from the ceiling fan lamps. More »
Instructables user Random_Canadian turned a power drill and miscellaneous other power tool parts into a functioning mini-metal lathe that can machine copper and aluminium. As assembled the mini-lathe has a three-jaw chuck and a 2-axis tool holder. More »
In the past we’ve covered how to turn the inexpensive Ikea Sunnan solar lamp into a solar display case and today we have a hack from electronics manufacturer Voltaic Systems to turn the same lamp into a solar charging station for an iPad or other power-hungry phone or tablet. More »
Bugs can be annoying and while most bug zappers aren’t terribly expensive, Instructables user Electorials shows off a simple way to make your own that also sucks the bugs in. More »
Instructables user scraptopower designed a thermoelectric lamp that can convert heat into small amounts of electricity. One of the best uses for this is building an LED lamp that runs from tea candles. More »
Software developer and maker John Riney hacked a thermal label printer into accepting standard receipt paper rolls and then wrote code to create an app that checks Twitter every 30 seconds and will print out any tweets that have a particular hashtag. This modern interpretation of a ticker tape was inspired by how the author was alerted to the recent US east coast earthquake by tweets before it appeared on any other online or broadcast news source. More »
