Co41D 2020 MIDI Theremin Sounds Pretty Sick

As the pandemic rages on, so does the desire to spend the idle hours tinkering. [knaylor1] spent the second UK lockdown making a sweet Theremin-inspired noise machine with a low parts count that looks like a ton of fun.

It works like this: either shine some light on the photocells, …read more

Continue reading Co41D 2020 MIDI Theremin Sounds Pretty Sick

Useless Box with Attitude Isn’t Entirely Useless

What is it about useless machines that makes them so attractive to build? After all, they’re meant to be low-key enraging. At this point, the name of the game is more about giving that faceless enemy inside the machine a personality more than anything else. How about making it more …read more

Continue reading Useless Box with Attitude Isn’t Entirely Useless

Nightmare Robot Only Moves When You Look Away

What could be more terrifying than ghosts, goblins, or clowns? How about a shapeless pile of fright on your bedroom floor that only moves when you’re not looking at it? That’s the idea behind [Sciencish]’s nightmare robot, which is lurking after the break. The Minecraft spider outfit is just a …read more

Continue reading Nightmare Robot Only Moves When You Look Away

Reel in the Years with a Cassette Player Synth

Variable-speed playback cassette players were already the cool kids on the block. How else are you going to have any fun with magnetic tape without ripping out the tape head and running it manually over those silky brown strips? Sure, you can change the playback speed on most players as …read more

Continue reading Reel in the Years with a Cassette Player Synth

Greeking out with Arduinos

Learning a new language is hard work, but they say that the best way to learn something is to teach it. [Angeliki Beyko] is learning Greek, and what better way to teach than to build a vocabulary flash-card game from Arduinos, color screens, 1602 text screens, and arcade buttons? After …read more

Continue reading Greeking out with Arduinos

Hex Matrix Clock is Spellbinding

Just when we think we’ve seen all possible combinations of 3D printing, microcontrollers, and pretty blinkenlights coming together to form DIY clocks, [Mukesh_Sankhla] goes and builds this geometric beauty. It’s kaleidoscopic, it’s mosaic, and it sorta resembles stained glass, but is way cheaper and easier.

The crucial part of the …read more

Continue reading Hex Matrix Clock is Spellbinding

Robotic Cornhole Board Does the Electric Slide

There’s a reason why bowling lanes have bumpers and golf games have mulligans. Whether you’re learning a new game or sport, or have known for years how to play but still stink at it, everyone can use some help chasing that win. You’ve heard of the can’t-miss dart board and …read more

Continue reading Robotic Cornhole Board Does the Electric Slide

This Freezer Failure Alarm Keeps Your Spoils Unspoiled

Deep freezers are a great thing to have, especially when the world gets apocalyptic. Of course, freezers are only good when they’re operating properly. And since they’re usually chillin’ out of sight and full of precious goods, keeping an eye on them is important.

When [Adam] started looking at commercial …read more

Continue reading This Freezer Failure Alarm Keeps Your Spoils Unspoiled

Cakeday Countdown Clock is a Sweet Little Scroller

If you want strangers to give you well wishes on your birthday out in the real world, you have call attention to the occasion by wearing a pointy hat or a button that says ‘today is my birthday, gimme presents’. But on your reddit cakeday, aka the day you joined, …read more

Continue reading Cakeday Countdown Clock is a Sweet Little Scroller

Score Big Against Boredom with Tabletop Bowling

Bowling has been around since ancient Egypt and continues to entertain people of all ages, especially once they roll out the fog machine and hit the blacklights. But why pay all that money to don used shoes and drink watered-down beer? Just build a tabletop bowling alley in your spare …read more

Continue reading Score Big Against Boredom with Tabletop Bowling