Ep 133: Caustic Lenses, Not Ice-Cream Automation, Archery Mech Suit, and the Cheapest Robot Arm
Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams wade into a week of wonderful hacks. There's an acrylic lens that hides images in the network of caustics: the light rays that shine through it. Boston Dynamics is finally showing the good stuff; people wrenching on 'bots, and all kinds of high-end equipment failure, along with some epic successes. Can you grow better plants by inferring what they need by accurately weighing them? In more turbulent news, a police drone slammed into a Cessna mid-flight, the ISS went for an unexpected spin, and McDonald's not-ice-cream machines have a whole new layer of drama around them. You know you want to read the show notes!
27 Elo 202146min
Ep 132: Laser Disco Ball, Moore's Law in Your Garage, Cheap Cyborg Glasses, and a Mouse That Detects Elephants
Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Mike Szczys debate the great mysteries of the hacking universe. On tap this week is news that Sam Zeloof has refined his home lab chip fabrication process and it's incredible! We see a clever seismometer built from plastic pipe, a laser, and a computer mouse. There's a 3D printed fabric that turns into a hard shell using the same principles as jamming grippers. And we love the idea of high-powered lasers being able to safely direct lighting to where you want it. You know you want to read the show notes!
20 Elo 202150min
Ep 131: Have a Heart, Transputer Pi, Just the Wing, and a Flipped Cable Fries Radio
Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams recount the past week in hardware hacking. There's a new Tamagochi hack that runs the original ROM on plain old microcontrollers like the STM32. Did you know you can blast the Bayer filter off a camera sensor using a powerful laser and the sensor will still work? We didn't. There was a lot of debate this week about a commercial jet design alteration that would remove windows -- but it's for the good cause of making the plane more efficient. We marvel at what it takes to pump blood with an artificial heart, and go down the troubleshooting rabbit hole after the magic smoke was let out of a radio. You know you want to read the show notes!
13 Elo 202142min
Ep 130: Upside Down 3D-Printer, Biplane Quadcopter, Gutting a Calculator Watch, and GitHub CoPilot
Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Mike Szczys get charged up on the best hacks the week had to offer. The 3D printer design gods were good to us, delivering an upside-down FDM printer and a hack that can automatically swap out heated beds for continuous printing. We look at a drone design that builds vertical wings into the frame of a quadcopter -- now when it tips on its side it's a fixed-wing aircraft! We chew the artificially-intelligent fat about GitHub CoPilot's ability (or inability?) to generate working code, and talk about the firm future awaiting solid state batteries. You know you want to read the show notes!
6 Elo 202151min
Ep 129: Super Clever 3D Printing, Jigs and Registration Things, 90s Car Audio, and Smooth LED Fades
Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams have found a critical mass of projects this week that wouldn't be possible without 3D printers. There's an absolutely astounding model roller coaster that is true to the mechanisms and physics of the original (and beholden to hours of sanding and painting). Adding sheet material to the printing process is a novel way to build durable hinges and foldable mechanisms. Elliot picks out not one, but two quadruped robot projects that leverage 3D-printed parts in interesting ways. And for the electronics geeks there's a server rack stuffed with Raspberry Pi, and analog electronic wizardry to improve the resolution of the WS2811 LED controller. We wrap it all up with discussions of flying boats, and adding Bluetooth audio to old car head units. You know you want to read the show notes!
30 Heinä 202150min
Ep 128: 3D-Printing Injection Molds, Squiggly Audio Tape, Curvy Mirrors, and Space Cadets
Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Mike Szczys bubble sort the best hardware hacks so you don't miss 'em. This week we're smitten by the perfection of a telephone tape loop message announcer. We enjoyed seeing Blender's ray tracing to design mirrors, and a webcam and computer monitor to stand in for triple-projector-based fractal fun. There's a bit of injection molding, some Nintendo Switch disassembling, and the Internet on a calculator. We close the show with a pair of Space stories, including the happy news this week that Wally Funk finally made it there! You know you want to read the show notes!
23 Heinä 202144min
Ep 127: Whippletree Clamps, Sniffing Your Stomach Radio, Multimeter Hum Fix, and C64 Demo; No C64
Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams help you get caught up on a week of wonder hacks. We don't remember seeing a floppy drive headline the demoscene, but sure enough, there's a C64 demo that performs after the computer is disconnected. What causes bench tools to have unreliable measurements? Sometimes a poor crystal choice lets AC ruin the party. We dive into the ongoing saga of the Audacity open source project's change of ownership, and talk about generator exciter circuits -- specifically their role in starting grid-scale generators from shutdown. You know you want to read the show notes!
16 Heinä 202153min
Ep 126: Cable 3D-Scanner, Tesla Charger Robot, Ultrasonic Anemometer, and a Zoetrope
Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Mike Szczys dive into a week of exceptional hacks. Tip-top of the list has to be the precision measuring instrument that uses a cable spooling mechanism. There's news that the Starlink base station firmware has been dumped and includes interesting things like geofencing for the developer modes. We saw a garage robot that will plug in your electric vehicle if you're the forgetful sort. And we close up by talking about heavier-than-air helium airships and China's Mars rover. You know you want to read the show notes!
9 Heinä 202148min
