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I have seen projects that use the resistance of objects around us as feedback into an electronic circuit but I didn’t know that inkjet ink was conductive. I would have thought that it would not have been but I guess at least the type that the project creator is using is. Unfortunately I only have laser printers around me these days since I can’t stand the issues surrounded by replacing tiny inkjet cartridges and clogged nozzles. Have a look at this Printed Microcontroller Input Device that Txapuzas Electronics created Via: Dangerous Prototypes “You can create a keypad/keyboard using Inkjet printer, paper, tape, and some cables. Strips made of ink are slightly conductive, as the length of the strip increases, the resistance increases, and as the width of the ink strip decreases, the resistance decreases. Two ink strips can act as a voltage divider, and when pressing one against the other, the value of the voltage divider changes. Looking at this value you can determine which button was pressed.”
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Damia Soler created this cool Paper Sundial Creator, at first I thought it was just a template you could print, cut and stick. I could not have been more wrong, this paper sundial is full of tech. You use this sundial creator web page to find the building that the sundial will be mounted to, then based on your time zone it plots a custom Sundial for your exact location! “Sundials are instruments that tell you the time with the shadow of the sun. To design a sundial you need to know exactly where you are going to put it, i.e. you need to know the longitude, the latitude and the orientation of the wall with respect to North. “
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Have a look at the cool project that the guys over at Pumping Station: One made, it’s a Tron Bike! You can see the look they were going for below the video below. Via: Make “By far the coolest part of the project was making UV reactant ice cream. The secret ingredient in this is Fluoroscine, whose only side effect is turning your urine neon yellow. “
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The prize this week is a loupe magnifier, this will let you get a close look at whatever you are working on. This contest will run for one week (October 16 – October 22, 2010). 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 winner will be chosen at random from all of the correct entries. ———————————–———- Added October 30, 2010 The item to guess was a Huge Bearing The winner is Umphress B. (there were 249 entries) ————————————–———- Below is a picture of the prize.
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Remember the MegaHex that we featured here earlier this year? Well the Aerobot RC copter was recently on location showing off what it’s good at. I can just imagine how much effort it would have taken to get these shots using traditional equipment. My favorite effect is poolside shot where the camera explodes into the air. I think I will have to volunteer to operate the copter next time it’s on location. “This was shot using a range of custom aerial platforms, We had a crew of 5, different techniques were used during this production. Our machines are proven and tested added with years of experience. Safety was considered at all times. “
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I’m not much of a gamer but I think this Racing Simulator by Motion Sim could cure me! Have a look at the first video below to get an idea of what this system can do. The company that makes it is actually in the industrial automation business so they clearly have a good handle on what is needed to fling around the 300KG that the system is rated to handle. “The full motion platform was created on the bases of the development for the 737NG project www.737ng.cz Its development took almost 2 years to reach the pre-serial production stage. A series of problems had to be solved throughout the development. The particular realization of the projects itself is quite a unique solution with regard to the components used and their connections. This would justify a separate article alone. Nonetheless, a big problem was to find a solution that would facilitate clean and quiet operation and also provide adequate load carrying capability and motion dynamics. After a line of experiments, a concept using non-synchronous motors and cogged belt gearing was used. It was necessary to work out a way to use these electromotors as servo drivers, especially at low RPM settings. In the end, a solution was found using intelligent converters and a specially designed control system. The result is an almost noiseless, compact platform which is able to operate without any special requirements.”
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Use this method to make your life a bit more productive. When I have setup a job on the CNC machine I used to babysit the machine to make sure nothing bad would happen and a few times I was very glad I was sitting there. Usually it was a mistake that I made which caused issues. However it’s such a waste of time sitting beside a dusty and loud machine but I didn’t feel comfortable leaving it on its own for more than a minute or two. My initial thought was to install an IP camera and just plug it into the network to allow me to keep my eye on what was going on. Once I looked at the cost of an IP camera that idea fizzled out. My next thought was to use a cheap USB cam but they are limited in distance, the CNC location is about 30 or 40 feet away from the office so that would too far for normal USB. I found these cool Ethernet USB extensions which will allow you to stretch your USB port up to 150 feet away from your computer (I accidentally said 300 in the video but it isn’t quite as long as normal Ethernet can go). Plugging in a cheap web cam into the computer using the Ethernet extender worked great! Now to make things even more flexible the Yawcam software that I was using has a cool streaming feature, this allows you to setup a port on your computer so that other devices (or computers) on your network can view the stream. All I needed to do was type in the IP address of the laptop into the browser bar of the iPod Touch with the port number and bingo there was the wireless live picture of the CNC in action. Monitoring the machine with a reassuring glance is so much better than sitting beside it and I am still very close if something needs attention in a hurry. Items you need to make this work.
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