have you ever taken an rate of interest in something, as well as then discovered it’s got a bit out of hand as your purchases spiral into a tidal wave of bags as well as boxes? [Jacques Mattheij] discovered himself in just that setting with Lego. His on the internet purchases had run away with him, as well as he had a garage packed with “two metric tonnes” of the bit coloured bricks.

Disposing of Lego is relatively straightforward, there is a vibrant second-hand market. however to maximise the return it is crucial to be in manage of what you have, to prevent packaging up fake, discoloured, damaged, or filthy parts. This can ended up being a big task if you do it by hand, so he developed a Lego sorting maker to do the task for him.

The maker starts with a hopper for the loose Lego, with a sluggish belt that ideas private parts down a chute to a quicker belt originated from a running trainer. on that they run past a cam whose pictures are analysed with a neural net, as well as based on its identification the parts are directed into proper bins with very carefully timed jets of compressed air.

The result is a surprisingly quick method to kind big amounts of bricks without human intervention. He’s published some videos, one of which we’ve put below the break, so you can see for yourselves.

Lego has appeared so lots of times on these pages that it’s tough to pick links, however automated sorters it’s a bit easier. exactly how about sorting M&Ms as well as Skittles, or perhaps automatic resistor sorting.

Thanks [Robert] for the tip.

Hydroponics is an efficient method of growing plants inside your home with the utilize of water medium as well as artificial lighting. It commonly includes having a system to raise as well as lower the water level around the plants to let the roots breathe, nevertheless this can need some non-trivial plumbing. [Peter] wished to instead check out the realm of wheel hydroponics to grow some components for salad.

The concept is to have pods mounted on a turning assembly, similar to the carriages on a Ferris Wheel. By turning the wheel slowly, each pod spends a specific amount of time submerged, as well as a specific amount of time in free air. This allows the water level to stay constant as well as only the pods requirement to move.

The storage tank for the develop is a simple plastic storage bin from a regional hardware store, with the wheel assembled from different chances as well as ends as well as laser cut components, making this a build very possible for those with access to a hackerspace. A stepper motor provides the motive power, with the assembly completing approximately one rotation per hour.

[Peter] has run the gadget for several months now, noting that there are problems with specific plants maintaining their hold to the wheel, in addition to algae growth in the water medium. There’s space for advancement however overall, it’s a excellent develop as well as we hope [Peter] will be serving up some tasty fresh salads soon.

For one more take, perhaps you’d like your hydroponics solar powered?

[Thanks Nils!]

reader Ran Mokady took a pretty huge gamble with this project, however didn’t really have any type of other choice: his power supply was damaged as well as he couldn’t get a replacement. He ended up replacing it with a conventional ATX power supply. comply with along for all of the details.

For anybody who is having problems with their Xbox 360 power supply, or who (like me) have managed to end up with a burnt out PSU as well as can’t get a replacement, here’s exactly how I managed to run the console off a conventional ATX computer power supply.

The added advantage for me, living in a 220V country as well as having gotten a 110V console from Japan is that I no longer requirement a big stepdown transformer to run my console.

I have been running my console off a 250W computer PSU for a week now with no problems

Related: Xbox 360 Hacks, Xbox Hacks

It is simple to forget, however the Arduino does utilize C++. Typically, the C++ part is in the libraries as well as the framework as well as many people just tend to code their main programs utilizing a C-style just utilizing the library objects like C-language extensions. [Fredllll] just recently produced a design template library to speed up Arduino I/O as well as he shared it on GitHub.

If you’ve ever done anything major with the Arduino, you most likely understand that while digitalWrite is handy, it does a great deal of work behind the scenes to make sure the pin is configuration as well as this adds overhead to every call. [Fredllll’s] design template versions can switch a pin’s specify in two cycles. You can cut that in half if you don’t mind bothering the specify of other pins on the exact same port.

You can utilize a constant to turn on a pin, like this:

switchOn<1>();
If you don’t like to utilize magic numbers (and that’s smart) you can define a constant:

const uint8_t ledPin=1;
switchOn();
Because you most likely want to do some elegant timing, there’s likewise a nop design template that lets you delay a set number of cycles. Here’s some test code from Reddit that produces a 1.3 MHz square wave, for example:

const uint8_t myPin = 5;
void loop(){
cli(); //disable interrupts as they would screw up the timing
do {
switchOnExclusive(); // 1 cycle
nop<5>(); // 5 cycles
switchOffPortOfPin(); // 1 cycle
nop<3>(); // 3 cycles
} while(1) //jump back to do is 2 cycles
}
Obviously, this isn’t the maximum, either, because there are eight delay cycles in the loop.

You don’t requirement to understand much about templates to utilize this library, however if you want to understand more, we’ve covered them in the past. We’ve noted before that digitalWrite is about fifty times slower than a direct port access, as well as the other I/O operations aren’t much better. It would be fascinating to check out if templates might make other operations much more efficient.

who knew you could build your own digital computer out of paperclips? EMSL did a terrific feature on the guide which was published in 1968.

Trying to keep your Raspberry Pi from overheating? Make it log its core temperature on the web.

[Lennart] need to be some kind of Eagle CAD guru. check out these PCBs that incorporate his logo in a very artsy way.

No need for a tripod when you can just strap the video cam to your safety glasses for some POV project videos.

Turn your Pogoplug E-02 into a Shairport (Airplay clone) music hub. just follow this guide which installs Arch Linux and all the supporting packages you need.

We don’t have the background to judge the quality of this build. but you have to admit it’s pretty neat to see a radio telescope built using a tin can and an umbrella.

Dead rodent email: get a notification whenever your mouse trap springs.

I’m hiring a new ‘How-to’ editor for Engadget. We’re looking for somebody who can contribute at least 2 how-tos a month. original how-tos can cover hardware, software, as well as anything in between. We’ve covered software application how-tos like streaming with VLC as well as setting up Synergy. We absolutely want somebody who isn’t terrified of a soldering iron as well as can do things like building WiFi antennas as well as embedding sensors in clothing.

To apply for the setting you requirement to:

Post a ‘fresh’ how-to post in the style of Engadget with pictures/screenshots somewhere  on the Web (like a complimentary blog from Blogger).

Write a sample publish for a ‘found’ hack (like the Hack-A-Day everyday feature).

Send both links, a bit information about yourself, as well as 5 extra how-to concepts with the tip type before 1PM EST Dec. 27th. utilize the subject ‘Engadget writer’.

For inspiration: right here are how-tos we’ve performed in the past. For extra inspiration: this is a paid position.

It seems like everybody is building belt grinders these days. You may believe [Jeremy Schmidt] is just hoping on the bandwagon, however you’d be wrong. He took a full two years to style the perfect belt grinder for his needs. now he’s developed his perfect beast, as well as we must say, it’s rather impressive!

[Jeremy] had seen grinders which can tilt, however most of them tilt the entire machine, including the table. He designed his machine with an independent table. This means the belt can be put at any type of angle, while the table stays flat. He’s accomplished some truly fascinating completes with a program grind on a 45-degree angle to the workpiece.

No develop is without its problems. In [Jeremy’s] case it was building the box which acts as a receiver for the machine as well as the tables. routine square tube stock wasn’t rather stiff enough, so bar stock was the method to go. The very first attempt at building the box resulted in a warped tube, because of the stresses of welding. [Jeremy] was more cautious the second time, moving from section to section of the four welds. This kept the warm from building up, as well as the box stayed straight.

The final result is an incredibly stiff machine which definitely will withstand anything that [Jeremy] can throw at it.

If you want to see more belt grinders at work, inspect out [Bob]’s treadmill belt grinder, or [Mike’s] conversion.

The photo above doesn’t do this huge and whimsical Steampunk Battleship justice. It’s an amazing project that took its creator, [Ed Ross], over 2500 hours to complete.

Called Barnum’s Dream, it was said to be originally commissioned by Queen Victoria as a ship for the Crimean war, and was the largest paddle wheel steam warship ever built. It was then retrofitted with a massive train carriage to be used in the Franco-Prussian war (that’s right, on land!).

The model is just over 4 feet long and just under 4 feet tall. Aside from the steam engine (which was modified) it was completely build by hand. practically all of the mechanical linkages and powered by the internal steam engine. The level of detail that went into this is absolutely awe-inspiring. 

If you delighted in the background history of the ship, there’s a delightful tale of the ship’s obvious origins on [Ed’s] blog which is thoroughly enjoyable. Make sure to check it out after enjoying the video after the break.