Major corrections and additions made 9/9/2014 For my off-grid Ham Radio and Solar projects, I needed a way to measure volts, amps, watts, amp hours and watt hours. There’s a couple of commercial products that can do this, but not with the flexibility I wanted. I designed a Arduino micro-controller based solution that is very […]
My wife bought me a Hasbro Interactive R2D2 Astromech Droid for my birthday a few years ago after I said how much fun it would be to hack it and I’ve finally managed to get inside and start playing!Although the built-in voice control functions are fun and cool to play with, and our 2 year […]
This tutorial will show you how to make a thermal cycler from scratch for about $85. In short, PCR (polymerase chain reaction) amplifies bits of DNA, creating millions of copies of a target sequence. You can use it to test a DNA sample for a specific gene, for instance, to check for genetic modification in […]
Nature has a way of speaking to us in a way that soothes and revitalizes. Sounds of the wind in various places create low volume tones that we barely hear. They have a certain beauty and randomness to them that are unique to nature. We’ve all heard the wind rustling the leaves, hitting our cars, […]
This instructable will show you how to use an Arduino to send and receive a variety of MIDI messages so you can start building your own MIDI controllers and instruments. First I’ll talk a little bit about MIDI protocol, if you’re just looking for sample code skip ahead to steps 5-9. If you know absolutely […]
Top hats are cool; just like bow ties. Not only are they stylish, but they give you a lot of room for incorporating techno goodness. I recently had cause to buy a tuxedo, which necessitated a kilt, and then a top hat. You know how it goes. To the tux I added silver buttons, the […]
HandSight is a prototype glove to aid the blind. It can sense the lightness or darkness of a surface with tactile feedback from a vibration motor for each individual finger. It can also sense distance from physical objects or obstructions and indicate direction and distance with the same vibration feedback. It supports additional modes, and […]
Paint Pulse is a project which seeks to build upon the water marbling crafts of Ebru and Suminagashi with digital behavioral additions. The idea is to design intricate, flowing patterns of paint directly on the surface of water which you can capture on the surface of paper. Expert crafters can hold an intricate mastery over the art and […]
I always wanted an old traffic signal and finally got one recently. However, it was very simply wired so that all the lights were fixed on. What fun is that? I also wanted to try out an Arduino controller and thought this would be a nice simple project to incorporate it into. This Instructable will […]
This instructable describes how to upgrade your globe to a motorized version. It looks amazingly better on the shelf when it is slowly rotating, and any demonstration with your kids (to explain the day/night cycle or the seasons) will gain in interest. No need to rotate the globe by hand while painfully holding the flash […]
