Posted February 28, 2011 by Chris

Today’s project gave me a quick laugh because it’s short, sweet and to the point. Use two amplifiers and an IR receiver to build a simple IR remote control tester. When you press any of the buttons on the remote the speaker will play a tone depending on the button’s command sequence.

Posted February 6, 2011 by Chris

Named ‘El Relojito’ (relojo = watch in spanish), this seemingly simple design is a great project for anyone ready to move past the rank of ‘amateur’. 60 LEDs surround the 7-segment leds telling you the time. A PIC micro controlls all the action. The write-up is in spanish, but the schematic/pictures should be enough to guide you.

Posted January 26, 2011 by Chris

This robotic clock seems to combine old school thought with cutting edge robotics technology. Every minute the robot updates the clock by moving one number away and replacing it with the actual time. The write-up doesn’t have many details on exact specifications, but the basic theory is pretty obvious.

Posted January 10, 2011 by Chris

For those of you looking to build your own AVR programmer, here’s a DIY avr usb programmer that doesn’t require the FTDI chip at all. This is extremely helpful and cost cutting for anyone in the AVR world. Take a look at how this guy did it!

Posted November 19, 2010 by Chris

The drinking game of beer pong has become extremely popular in the last decade and with that all sorts of custom tables have been made. While any long table works well for playing beer pong, a custom made one will make you the coolest kid on the block. Take a look through these designs if you’re looking for inspiration.

Posted November 9, 2010 by Chris

There’s been a lot of talk about long distance tv remotes that can shut off your neighbor’s annoying TV, or turn the volume down but this project takes a different approach. He uses binoculars to amplify the effectiveness of the remote control IR emitter. Pictures and parts list included in the project write-up, take a look!

Posted September 4, 2010 by Chris

Jacob’s Ladder is a very primitive phenomenon yet it still seems to be able to capture the attention of people everywhere. Maybe it’s the rampant ADD? Anyway, this project guides you on how to easily build your own functional jacob’s ladder. Take a look!

Posted August 29, 2010 by Chris

Since we’ve become to accustom to using PWM to make LEDs fade in and out, we forget about our roots in the analog world. This project & write-up gives a straight forward circuit and a good explanation of it’s operation to those of us whose analog skills are a little rusty. Fading LEDs…they are just somehow simply amazing.

Posted February 6, 2009 by Chris

Hot Wheels makes a cheap radar gun that can actually work to clock the speed of objects. If you’ve ever been interested in radar this is a great place to start. The circuitry inside is as simple as it gets for radar (which is still fairly complex). Take a look!

Posted January 17, 2009 by Chris

Today’s project is an old fashioned one for amateurs and experts: The Battery Tester. It checks to see if the battery has any juice left to power appliances. The design is purely analog so parts are cheap and the tester is very small. Take a look!