Author Archives: Fernando Gomes

Roll Your Own Trackball Mouse

Posted on June 23, 2018 by Fernando Gomes

What do you do when you’re into trackball mice, but nothing out there is affordable or meets all your murine needs? You build one, of course. And if you’re like [Dangerously Explosive], who has a bunch of old optical mice squeaking around the shop, you can mix and match them to build the perfect one.

The mouse, which looks frozen mid-transformation into a rodential assassin, is a customized work of utilitarian art. Despite the excellent results, this project was not without its traps. [Dangerously] got really far into the build before discovering the USB interface chip was dead. Then he …read more

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Posted in computer hacks, computer mouse, custom, hardware, mouse, optical mouse, ping pong ball, reuse, track ball, trackball | Leave a comment

ROPS Will Be The Board x86 Robot Builders Are Waiting For

Posted on June 23, 2018 by Fernando Gomes

If your robot has outgrown a Raspberry Pi and only the raw computing power of an x86 motherboard will suffice, you are likely to encounter a problem with its interfaces. The days of ISA cards are long gone, and a modern PC is not designed to easily talk to noisy robot hardware. Accessible ports such as USB can have interfaces connected to them, but suffer from significant latency in the process.

A solution comes from ROPS, or Robot on a PCI-e Stick, a card that puts an FPGA on a blazing-fast PCI-e card that provides useful real-world interfaces such …read more

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Posted in 2018 Hackaday Prize, fpga, interface, PCI-E, robot, robots hacks, The Hackaday Prize | Leave a comment

Arduino and Pidgin C++

Posted on June 23, 2018 by Fernando Gomes

What do you program the Arduino in? C? Actually, the Arduino’s byzantine build processes uses C++. All the features you get from the normal libraries are actually C++ classes. The problem is many people write C and ignore the C++ features other than using object already made for them. Just like traders often used pidgin English as a simplified language to talk to non-English speakers, many Arduino coders use pidgin C++ to effectively code C in a C++ environment. [Bert Hubert] has a two-part post that isn’t about the Arduino in particular, but is about moving from C to a …read more

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Posted in arduino, Arduino Hacks, c++, C++ 2014, Software Development | Leave a comment

Digitizing Domesday Disks

Posted on June 23, 2018 by Fernando Gomes

After the Norman invasion of England, William the Conqueror ordered a great reckoning of all the lands and assets owned. Tax assessors went out into the country, counted sheep and chickens, and compiled everything into one great tome. This was the Domesday Book, an accounting of everything owned in England nearly 1000 years ago. It is a vital source for historians and economists, and one of the most important texts of the Middle Ages.

In the early 1980s, the BBC set upon a new Domesday Project. Over one million people took part in compiling writings on history, geography, and social …read more

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Posted in Domesday, domesday project, fpga | Leave a comment

A MIDI Sequencer To Be Proud Of

Posted on June 23, 2018 by Fernando Gomes

MIDI sequencers are surprisingly expensive, making them an excellent target for [RH Electronics] who has created a sixteen-step device. It supports up to eight playable parts per step, which can be either MIDI or drum triggers.

The case and front panel are built to a very high standard, and on a piece of stripboard within lies an ATmega644 which does all the MIDI work, an ATmega328 that runs the many LEDs, and an ATtiny85 that reads the front panel buttons. The whole is kept in sync by a timer on the 644 set to produce the required MIDI clock. There …read more

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Posted in ATmega 644, midi, midi sequencer, musical hacks | Leave a comment

The History and Physics of Triode Vacuum Tubes

Posted on June 22, 2018 by Fernando Gomes

The triode vacuum tube might be nearly obsolete today, but it was a technology critical to making radio practical over 100 years ago. [Kathy] has put together a video that tells the story and explains the physics of the device.

The first radio receivers used a device called a Coherer as a detector, relying on two tiny filaments that would stick together when RF was applied, allowing current to pass through. It was a device that worked, but not reliably. It was in 1906 that Lee De Forest came up with a detector device for radios using a vacuum tube …read more

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Posted in de forest, fleming valve, history, patents, radio hacks, triode | Leave a comment

The History and Physics of Triode Vacuum Tubes

Posted on June 22, 2018 by Fernando Gomes

The triode vacuum tube might be nearly obsolete today, but it was a technology critical to making radio practical over 100 years ago. [Kathy] has put together a video that tells the story and explains the physics of the device.

The first radio receivers used a device called a Coherer as a detector, relying on two tiny filaments that would stick together when RF was applied, allowing current to pass through. It was a device that worked, but not reliably. It was in 1906 that Lee De Forest came up with a detector device for radios using a vacuum tube …read more

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Posted in de forest, fleming valve, history, patents, radio hacks, triode | Leave a comment

Linear Track Makes Plasma Cuts Neat And Simple

Posted on June 22, 2018 by Fernando Gomes

No microcontroller, no display, and not even an LED in sight. That’s how [Made in Poland] decided to roll with this motorized linear plasma cutter, and despite the simplicity it really gets the job done when there’s metal to be cut.

Plasma cutting makes slicing and dicing heavy stock a quick job, but it’s easy to go off course with the torch or to vary the speed and end up with a poor edge. This tool takes the shakes out of the equation with a completely homebrew linear slide fabricated from square tubing. A carriage to hold the plasma cutter …read more

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Posted in cnc, cutter, linear, metalwork, motorized, plasma, tool hacks | Leave a comment

Linear Track Makes Plasma Cuts Neat And Simple

Posted on June 22, 2018 by Fernando Gomes

No microcontroller, no display, and not even an LED in sight. That’s how [Made in Poland] decided to roll with this motorized linear plasma cutter, and despite the simplicity it really gets the job done when there’s metal to be cut.

Plasma cutting makes slicing and dicing heavy stock a quick job, but it’s easy to go off course with the torch or to vary the speed and end up with a poor edge. This tool takes the shakes out of the equation with a completely homebrew linear slide fabricated from square tubing. A carriage to hold the plasma cutter …read more

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Posted in cnc, cutter, linear, metalwork, motorized, plasma, tool hacks | Leave a comment

Evolving the 3D Printed Linear Actuator

Posted on June 22, 2018 by Fernando Gomes

Our open source community invites anyone with an idea to build upon the works of those who came before. Many of us have encountered a need to control linear motion and adapted an inexpensive hobby servo for the task. [Michael Graham] evaluated existing designs and believed he has ideas to advance the state of the art. Our Hackaday Prize judges agreed, placing his 3D Printed Servo Linear Actuator as one of twenty winners of our Robotics Module Challenge.

[Michael]’s actuator follows in the footstep of other designs based on a rack-and-pinion gear such as this one featured on these pages, …read more

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Posted in 2018 Hackaday Prize, compliant mechanism, hobby servo, linear actuator, micro servo, Robotics Module, Robotics Module Challenge, robots hacks, servo motor, The Hackaday Prize | Leave a comment