Junk CD/DVD

Teacup Stirling Engine

Teacup Stirling Engine

There’s energy all around us, just waiting to be tapped. Whether it’s a hot cup of coffee on a cold day, light from the sun, scented candles, or waste heat wafting from electronics, it’s all potential power waiting to be harnessed! This is the world of the Stirling engine. Have you ever tried this fun […]

CD/Suction Cup Status Dial

CD/Suction Cup Status Dial

This project is derived from LifeHacker alum Jason Fitzpatrick’s improvised clean/dirty dishes indicator, which uses the same CD + suction cup idea. When I tried Jason’s trick for myself, however, I found that, while the hole in an optical disc does fit nicely over the hub of a hardware-store suction cup, all the cups I […]

Arduino Drum Pad & Game

Arduino Drum Pad & Game

This fun and easy project shows you how to create a simple input device with little more than a cheap piezo sensor, an old mousepad, and an Arduino board. Using household supplies and a few passive electrical components, you can create a basic physical-computing game input device for your Arduino.