Author Archives: Adam Fabio

Parallel Compressors for Sandblasting without Crashing Your Grid

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[Hannah] is restoring a 1962 Volkswagen Bug. The goal is to get the car on the road in time for her driver’s test. This is no easy task, as the lower 3 inches of all the body work is rusted out, and the engine is…. well, missing. Basically, the car needs a frame off restoration. This means that [Hannah] will have a lot of metal bodywork to clean up. One of the easiest ways to do that is sandblasting.

Large scale sandblasting is a bit different from most air-powered operations. Sandblasting needs only a modest air pressure, but a high …read more

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TritiLED Lights Up The Night, Doesn’t Make You Glow

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Tritium, or 3H is an isotope of hydrogen which has been used as everything from radiolabel in analytical chemistry to a booster to kickstart the chain reaction of nuclear weapons. Lately tritium’s most common use has been in key chains and jewelry. A small amount of tritium is stored in a phosphor coated glass tube. The beta decay of the tritium causes the phosphor to glow. The entire device is called a Gaseous Tritium Light Source (GTLS).

In the USA, GTLS devices are only allowed to be used in specific cases such as watches, compasses, and gun sights (MURICA!). …read more

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Hacklet 115 – More Quick Tool Hacks

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Some of the best hacks are the tools people make to help them complete a project. I last looked at quick tool hacks back in Hacklet 53. Hackers have been busy since then, and new projects have inspired new tools. This week on the Hacklet, I’m taking  a look at some of the best new quick tool hacks on Hackaday.io.

We start with [rawe] and aquarium pump vacuum pickup tool. Tweezers work great for resistors and caps, but once you start trying to place chips and other large parts, things quickly become frustrating. Commercial machines use high dollar vacuum pickup …read more

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Triple Monitor Travel Battlestation

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[AbyssalUnderlord’s] schedule has him packing up and moving between school, home, and internships every three months. Not an easy task when your computer is a triple monitor CAD and gaming powerhouse. To make his moves easier, he built this portable computer / monitor frame.

The design started with a CAD model. The basic materials for the build are aluminum angle and steel-slotted angle stock. There was no welding involved in this build. Pop rivets, nuts, and bolts hold just about everything together. An angle grinder was used for all of the cutting. [AbyssalUnderlord] used drawer slides to move his monitors …read more

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Hacklet 114 – Python Powered Projects

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Python is one of today’s most popular programming languages.  It quite literally put the “Pi” in Raspberry Pi. Python’s history stretches back to the late 1980’s, when it was first written by  Guido van Rossum. [Rossum] created Python as a hobby project over the 1989 Christmas holiday. He wanted a language that would appeal to Unix/C hackers. I’d say he was pretty successful in that endeavor. Hackers embraced Python, making it a top choice in their projects. This week’s Hacklet focuses on some of the best Python-powered projects on Hackaday.io.

We start with [Jithin] and Python Powered Scientific Instrumentation tool, …read more

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HALT In The Name Of Testing

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“Did I forget something?” It’s that nagging feeling every engineer has when their project is about to be deployed – it may be a product about to be ramped into production, a low volume product, or even a one off like a microsatellite. If you have the time and a few prototypes to spare though, there are ways to alleviate these worries. The key is a test method which has been used in aerospace, military, and other industries for years – Highly Accelerated Life Testing (HALT).

How to HALT

The idea behind HALT testing can be summed up in a …read more

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Hacklet 113 – New Robots

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I start each day checking out the new and updated projects over on Hackaday.io. Each day one can find all manner of projects – from satellites to machine vision to rockets. One type of project which is always present are robots- robot arms, educational ‘bots, autonomous robots, and mobile robots. This week’s Hackaday.io had a few great robot projects show up on the “new and updated” page, so I’m using the Hacklet to take a closer look.

We start with [Jack Qiao] and Autonomous home robot that does things. [Jack] is building a robot that can navigate his home. He’s …read more

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Skateboard Hackers Trick on 3D Printed Wheels

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The team over at [Braille Skateboarding] is willing to ride just about anything. This week they’re testing out 3D printed skateboard wheels. We’re not just talking rolling around here, the [Braille] team takes their experiments out to the skate park and gives them to the locals to test out. Tail whips, jumps, ollies, and grinds were on the agenda. The skaters were a bit apprehensive, as this is the third time they’ve tested 3D printed wheels.

The first set shattered upon landing a jump. That set appears to have been made from PLA with about 10% infill. The second set …read more

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Hacklet 112 – Skateboard Projects

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Skateboarding is a sport that was born of hacking. The identity of the person who first nailed roller skate wheels to a board with a milk crate box is lost to history. Those crate scooters were a staple of the 1940’s and 1950’s neighborhoods. Everyone built their own scooter, so the designs evolved. Eventually the milk crates disappeared. At some point, surfers realized that they could use these wheeled boards to surf the concrete jungle. Things just took off from there. Skateboarding is now a multi-billion dollar industry, but at its heart there are still hackers trying out new designs. …read more

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Forming Voltron’s Blazing Sword For Real

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Activate interlock! Dynotherms connected! Infracells up! Mega thrusters are go! If you grew up in the 80’s you undoubtedly know that quote means it’s time to form Voltron. The 1984 Lion Force Voltron series has shown an incredible amount of staying power. These 5 lions have come together to form no less than 3 reboot series, the most recent coming out just this month from Dreamworks and Netflix.

[Matt and Kerry Stagmer], blacksmiths for the Man at Arms web series haven’t forgotten Voltron either. Every episode of the original series ended with the mighty robot defeating enemies using an iconic …read more

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