The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for bikes, rockets, R/C vehicles, toys and other diversions.
For any of you Second Life makers who have been itching to create the ultimate virtual home there are a couple of bidding wars over on Ebay. Both Linden Lab and Anshe Chung (largest virtual land owner) are holding auctions for your very own island, which includes 120 hours of in world consulting and building. Also, special thanks to everyone who came out to the virtual MAKE meet up on Friday write up here.
Chris has a great arcade building how to, he writes – “…the cabinet construction was completed in 24 hours, but it took about three months to get around to the last few bits (like decorating the unit), so don’t complain if after one day you don’t get something that looks like the unit on the left! Please browse through the links at the top and bottom of each page. They will cover the construction diary (in blow-by-blow detail), the finishing of the unit together with a shopping list, prices and then information on the PC inside the unit. Finally you will be able to download some plans we created after building the device, together with some of the graphics that are on the unit.” Thanks Rick! Link.
Great step-by-step guide on hacking the Atari Flashback 2 Console, adding a cartridge port to play old 2600 games – “So, you’ve decided to take your Atari Flashback 2 console to the next level? Well then, here are the basic details to help assist you in hacking/modding your console into a full fledged Atari 2600 system that can use your original cartridges.” Link.
Escher’s “Relativity” in LEGO! “…our fourth Escher picture rendered in LEGO. Once again, no camera tricks, but the picture has to be taken from exactly the right place, and boy did we get tired of trying to find where that place was. The whole thing took five or six evenings spread over two or three weeks. Most of the last evening was taken up with setting up the lighting the way we wanted it and trying to get the camera position just right…” Thanks Techhat! Link.
Nice mod if you have an old Dreamcast laying around, Raph writes – “The image on a TV is always a little too blurry for my taste, and the quality of a VGA image is very superior. I had always dreamed to be able to use my SNES on a PC monitor, but the SNES did not have a VGA output. When I learned that the Dreamcast could output a VGA signal, I installed a VGA connector on it almost instantly.” [via] Link.
Tips for getting rid of the annoying hum – “Of all the annoyances that can afflict any audio/video home theater or even a simple stereo installation, the notorious “ground loop” may well be the most difficult and persistent one to track down and eliminate. A “ground loop” is caused by the difference in electrical potential at different grounding points in an audio/video system. (All the grounds in an A/V system should ideally be at “0” potential.) A ground loop typically adds a loud low-frequency hum or buzz as soon as you plug in any of various audio or video components, including subwoofers, cable-TV outboard boxes, satellite-TV feeds, TV displays, amplifiers, A/V receivers or turntables. The buzz/hum is a byproduct of the multiple power supply cables and a ground voltage differential within your system and its network of interconnecting cables.” Link.
Matt writes “Strangely aesthetically pleasing window blinds made out of junk mail. By affixing strips of junk mail to an existing set of venetian blinds, one can drastically reduce the amount of light allowed through without losing the ability to raise and lower the blinds. In my case, about three months’ worth of junk mail, but your mileage will vary. Your trusty roll of duct tape (color to suit). Two rolls of scotch tape. A ruler. A spool of uninsulated wire. A pair of needle-nosed pliers. A thumbtack. Space to work.” Link.
