Circuit Pattern Cards Provide a Resource for Tinkerers
Nick Johnson’s circuit pattern cards feature an important circuit that you’re likely to need if you’re an electronics tinkerer.
Technology
Making a DC Motor Driver With a L293D
A L293D is a great motor driver IC used in a wide array of control boards ranging from the Bricktronics Megashield to the Adafruit motor shield.
How-To: Pong-Playing T-Shirt
Apparently retro video games can make for some cozy casual attire as this tutorial from Instructables user TheGreatS on making a pong-playing T-shirt with a flexible screen demonstrates.
From DeArmond to Photoresistors, the Optical Tremolo Box Looks and Sounds Great!
The Optical Tremolo Box was inspired by Charles Platt’s “Stomp Box Basics” article (MAKE Volume 15, page 82), which theorized using a light sensor to read patterns on a rotating disk to create a tremolo effect. Taking the project from theory to reality, MAKE Technical Editor Sean Ragan used a cadmium sulfide photoresistor to provide us with our light sensor. Watch the video to see – and hear! – this project in action.
How to Salvage Transformers From Dead Microwaves
Matt, AKA YouTube user MattsAwesomeStuff, has three video tutorials describing how he hacks broken microwave ovens in order to harvest transformers from the junk.
DIY Hacks & How To’s: Laser Tripwire Alarm
No security system is complete without lasers. We have all seen movies where the main character has to get past a high tech security system and there is always a room full of lasers somewhere.
So in this project, I show you how to build a laser tripwire alarm. All you need is a cheap laser point, a couple of mirrors, and a few dollars of electrical parts. With this you can cover an entire house with an array of light beams. If any one of them is crossed it sets off your alarm. And unlike in the movies, these lasers are practically invisible.
LitteBits and Korg Release Synthesizer Kit
Combine snap-together electronics gurus littleBits with Korg’s synthesizer mastery and you get an impressive kit for creating modular synths.