DIY Clocks are great since there is an inherent motion element. Most of the clocks that we use are very boring but that doesn’t have to be the case, have a look at this Arch Ball Clock for example. It tells the time in a very interesting way. Code and plans are available so that you can make your own, you could also purchase a kit from Nuts and Volts.

Via: Nuts and Volts Blog

"Each arch has a steel ball bearing which is allowed to roll freely on the arch.

1. Print and cut out the arch patterns downloaded earlier.
2. Use spray glue to attach the patterns to 1/2 inch medium Density fiberboard (MDF).
3. Cut the wood almost to the pattern line and then sand to line. Make sure that the inner portion of the hour and minute arches are smooth and nick free as the ball bearings need to roll freely.
4. Cut two 2"x3-3/4" pieces of MDF for the feet at the end of the large arch.
5. Cut a groove on the inside of the hour and minutes arches leaving a track for the balls to ride on. The balls do not ride inside the groove but on the outer rim.
6. For mounting the hour and minutes arches drill a hole that will allow for a tight press-fit onto the motor shaft.
7. Cut out a recess in the large arch for the stepper motor to sit in. This allows the motor shaft to stick through far enough to allow the the"

Csaba Bleuer has completed version 2 of his spinning LED display. Here is what version 1 of the spinning LED display looked like.

"Improvements are:
The rotation speed is 25/s instead of 7/s like in the earlier version, thanks to a cooling fan motor, which can give about 10W power and enough torque at 1800rpm. Also the power supplying is changed for the rotating part. It gets negative through the axe, positive through a sliding contact. The rotation speed is monitored, so the image does not collapse when it decreeses. "

Ben Heck has just finished his latest hack which is version 5 of the XBox 360 Laptop. This time it looks even more polished than the previous versions. Unfortunately the laptop is spoken for so if you want one of these special units you may have to shell out some big bucks.

Via: Techeblog

“A few months ago I announced that I would be building a few more Xbox 360 portables, and well, here’s one now! While it looks similar to the previous model it’s once again a from-scratch redesign and has the following features:

• Built-in Ethernet port, finally.
• Built in WIFI adapter, as usual.
• Digital pushbutton volume control rather than a clunky knob. I used a different audio amp as well, and it sounds a lot better.
• Flush-mount DVD door and side panels (such as the memory card slots)
• IR sensor for the remote control.
• Two user USB ports.
• More air holes!
• Jasper motherboard.”

Fireworks are lots of fun and around this time of year there are in abundance. Instead of purchasing them next time why not try your hand at making some fireworks yourself. It goes without saying that fireworks are very dangerous and great precaution must be taken if you decide to roll your own. If you are going to make your own fireworks you might want to build your own ignition system for your fireworks show. This behind the scenes peek at some large fireworks shows is quite amazing also.

"Stars
A batch of 75 grams of 10 mm pumped "Tiger tail" stars were made for this shell, however only 70 grams were used. Remember always to make more than you need. It’s better to have a bit more, than be needing. The stars were primed in meal black powder to ensure ignition. Since Tiger tail stars ignite easy, you might find that this might be unnecessary. If a ‘rising comet’ is desired, a 20 mm or 3/4" comet is pumped with the compostion. Make sure that the comet has a burn time equal to the time fuse or spolette (3 seconds).

Tiger tail stars:
Potassium nitrate………………44
Charcoal (Pine airfloat)……..44
Sulphur………………………………6
SGRS or Dextrin…………………6"

This is a very cool Automatic Cat Food Dispenser project. Who wouldn’t want to feed their cats automatically. The project could have stopped at about 10 percent of where it is at and still accomplished the goal of automatic feeding but that would be no fun. If the project is worth doing it is worth over doing, and this is exactly what happened here. Andres Leon built this automatic cat food dispenser using an Arduino as the main automation brain, it controls a rotating drum of food that funnels food into two cat food bowls as it rotates. It is of course able to accept wireless commands from a computer and there is of course a web-cam pointed at the apparatus to watch the live action. Did I mention that a laser is used to monitor the position of the food drum? This is one total geek project!

"When the motor runs, it makes the cylinder rotate a certain amount of times. However, since the cylinder may provide varying resistance due to its weight (due to the amount of food in it) then a laser-driven sensor is also put in place to make sure the cylinder is repositioned in the right place to prevent premature spillage."

The prize this week is a loupe magnifier. This contest will run for one week (July 4 – 9, 2009) . Ending time is based on central standard time. To enter, identify the item pictured above and give an example of what can be done with it.

Please do not give the answer in the comments. 

Send an email to contest @ hackedgadgets.com with "Name the Thing Contest" as the subject, and the message body consisting of:

• The name of the item in the above picture
• An example of what the item pictured above can be used for

The winner will be chosen at random from all of the correct entries.

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Added July 11, 2009

The item to guess was a Tech Scarf (for viewing privacy)

The winner is Jeremy P. (There were 47 entries)

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Below is a picture of the prize.

Who says our youth are out of shape because of all the video game playing they do? These guys were probably influenced by a video game but have probably taken it a bit farther than is healthy. With a camcorder strapped to his head the guy does some Spider-Man like moves. I don’t see any camera trickery but who knows…