Aha!
Puzzles for makers
Fun & Games
The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for bikes, rockets, R/C vehicles, toys and other diversions.
DIY Projection clock
Raph writes “Since the first time I saw a projection clock, I knew one day I would build my own by converting a watch with an LCD display. Last week, I bought a watch in a dollar store and managed to convert it to a projection clock. I can finally project the time on my bedroom ceiling.” Link.
DIY Homelink
Patrick Keane writes “Here’s how to add a homelink to your car: 1) Buy homelink visors from ebay as cheap as you can get them from any car you like. 2) Tear them apart, and remove the Homelink module. 3) Cut small opening in headliner / dash panel / or opt to rewire the buttons and creatively locate them. 4) Attach +12V (black) and GND (brown) wires to nearby power source (overhead lamp). 5) Train it using your garage door opener(s) (see homelink.com). 6) Admire your $25 (maybe less) homelink installation. 7) (optional) Deprogram your old battery powered garage door openers and sell them on ebay for a profit.” Link.
PC joystick interface circuits
Here are a ton of PC joystick interface circuits “Fake Joystick circuit, the wire between multi-IO card and joystick connector, adding second joystick to PC joystick interface, Y-cable problems with soundcards and how to solve them, soundcard joystick port problem solver, build your own joysticks and controllers , convert Atari-style joystick to PC joystick port, use PC joystick port to measure temperature and light levels, connect other circuits to PC joystick port , using the joystick port as general purpose input .” Link.
DIY Headcam…
Here’s a how to on making a head mounted camera from a Neuros MPEG4 Recorder…“The AdventureCAM project started because we needed a way to hike and shoot video footage at the same time. We are constantly reworking this setup, but the basic configuration is pretty much the same (digital storage, remote camera, remote trigger, backpack). Our most recent update to this setup is to replace the tape-based DV Camcorder with a solid state recording mechanism.” [via] Link. I found a Tony Hawk low res camera on sale for $30 at Gamespot in Seattle, it’s not freat quality but I took it apart for a project, worked ok…
HOW TO – Fix your old NES
DIY live has some good tips on fixing that old NES “I took apart my nintendo, and found the 72 pin connector. I took my smallest flat head screw-driver and pried every pin up a little. Over time, they had lost their springiness (I don’t know if that is a word, but it describes what I am talking about). This is a pretty good fix. It may not be the best, but it works. Another thing to help out is to clean the pins of your old cartridge. You can take a wooden pencil with the red eraser, and rub it on the pins of the cartridge. Make sure you get all of the eraser off of the cartridge.” Thanks Star! Link.
