For this weekend, I thought it would be a good idea to remind you all that we’re still running a special build challenge for our Weekend Project series. Build a franken-mod of any of our current projects and you could win.
Readers of the Weekend Projects Newsletter (sign up below!) have already been aware of this new giveaway challenge for a couple days, but now we’re opening the challenge to the wider public and upping the ante in the hopes of seeing some really sweet mods. The rules are simple but the challenge is great.
As part of our Weekend Projects series of beginner-friendly electronics projects, the 555 Timer Ball Whacker proves that you don’t always need a microprocessor to perform complex actions. This project uses similar components to some of our other Weekend Projects, and will also introduce you to the field of cybernetics, or “self-governing” principles.
To date, most of our Weekend Projects, by design, have been battery-powered, save our inaugural project, the USB Webcam Microscope, which uses a USB cable (5V) as its power supply. In our Floating Glow Display project, the battery clip even provided a sculptural element, doubling as the base for our display. Our latest project still uses batteries, only now, you’ll never need to swap them out for fresh power! The Solar TV Remote project will teach you first and foremost how to fabricate a solar power pack capable of supplying two rechargeable AA batteries with 3V of renewable energy goodness!
Here’s another super-simple mod from Weekend Projects, our beginner-friendly electronics series where we introduce you to projects you can make in a weekend. Actually, the Solar TV Remote should only take you a couple of hours once you’ve gathered all your parts.
I can’t believe it was just a week ago today that makers were finishing preparations for the 2nd annual World Maker Faire in NYC. We did our best to cover the event in real-time, using services such as our Posterous-powered Maker Faire Daily (a good read a week later, I might add), but lots of content is still trickling in.
A circuit that requires so little and yet says so much (literally), that’s the Light Theremin. Following our step-by-step photos for our latest Weekend Project, this light-sensitive instrument should take no longer than one hour to assemble once you’ve gathered all your parts.
