Check out Steve’s amazing paint ball shooting, RC controlled tank made from printer parts. There are dozens of photos on how he made it and best of all Steve talks about the different parts, problems that needed to be solved and documents some clever solutions to power, move and use compressed air for the paint balls.[via] Link.
Nice outdoor webcam installation – “…the final webcam installation including painting to comply with our homeowners’ association. You may need a stepladder and a piece of cardboard to “frame” (as a movie director might) your intended view from a workable location in space. If you’re lucky, you just attach your cam housing to an existing surface. Get a sense of the angle of coverage afforded by your camera before you do this. High school geometry and its study of triangles may be finally useful to you here.” [via] Link.
Matthew writes “A project I’m finishing off involves a simple little front end that I’ve decided to implement using some DHTML. As I was reading up on JavaScript’s setTimeout method as part of my DHTML research, an interesting thought crossed my mind: would it be possible to make a strobe light out of that old archaic CRT monitor sitting on my closet floor and such a weak (as in weakly typed) language as JavaScript? Well, I decided to give it a try and it actually worked out pretty well — although it did give me a mild headache after I had the not so keen idea to stare directly at it for a few seconds. Here’s the code you need to make use of that old dust magnet.” Link.
Ian writes “This ‘instructable’ covers my new design that programs 8/14/18/28/40 pin PICs. The circuit is based on the JDM2 programmer, with two enhancements: clock and data line filtering; selectable programming voltage. The ZIP archive contains all the project files. Schematic layout for an updated JDM2 PIC Programmer. Includes clock & data filter, Vpp voltage divider for modern PIC microcontrollers (eg USB PIC 18F2455/4455).” Link.
TTF’s Instructable on making a cool Japanese boken – “Here I describe the method for making a boken, which is a Japanese wooden sword. The skill level required using this method is relatively low. A more challenging option would be to do this only using hand-tools. I suggest that you borrow or buy a boken before you start, so you can get the feel and see the details of what you are making. It will also help you set up the curvature of the one you create. Hopefully you are already training with one at some level, so you have an understanding of the balance it should have. Ganbate kudasai (Japanese for good luck).” Link.
Poulw has a good guitar stand how-to on Instructables – “A simple and cheap stand for one or more guitars. Takes maybe two hours to build. The Mod is based on imarunner2’s pvc bike rack. This is a 4 guitar version. I bought two 10 foot 3/4 inch pvc pipes and had them cut in half at the store. 11 3/4 “T” connectors 6 elbows 5 caps 2 sections of self adhesive insulating pipe foam. Total cost was less than 30 dollars. Similiarly manufactered items go for $50 to $100 in music shops.” Link.
Here’s how to make a very cool motor from a disposable plastic drinking cup, aluminium foil, glue-stick, bamboo or dowel, wire and a non-conducting base, such as a plastic plate or a wooden board. Kiteman writes – “Normal motors are driven by electromagnetic forces. This motor needs no batteries, mains supply or solar cells. Electrostatic motors are turned by the kind of electricity generated by wearing nylon clothes in a modern office. Think of it as gigantic nano-technology as well, because this is how the microscopic motors of nanobots work.” Link.
