Collaborate Disseminate
A knob is a knob, a switch is a switch, and that’s that, right? And what about those knobs that have detents, set in stone at the time of manufacturing? …read more Continue reading Haptic Smart Knob Does Several Jobs
Placing two motors together in a shared drive is a simple enough task. By using something like a chain or a belt to couple them, or even placing them on …read more Continue reading Differential Drive Doesn’t Quite Work As Expected
So you say you want to fly above the waves on an electric hydrofoil, but you don’t have the means to buy a commercial board. Or, you don’t have the …read more Continue reading Shoot Above the Waves on This E-Foil Made from a Rifle Case
[Mark Aren] purchased a pair of Turbomolecular pumps (TMP) sans controllers, and then built an FPGA based BLDC controller for the Turbomolecular pumps. A TMP is similar to a jet turbine, consisting of several stages of alternating moving turbine blades and stationary stator blades, and having turbine rotation speeds ranging …read more
Continue reading Custom Controller makes Turbomolecular Pump Suck
Brushless motors can offer impressive torque-to-size ratios, and when combined with complex drive control and sensor feedback, exciting things become possible that expand the usual ideas of what motors can accomplish. For example, to use a DC motor in a robot leg, one might expect to need a gearbox, a …read more
Continue reading How To Improve a Smart Motor? Make It Bigger!
The “Spin Cycle” is an amazing electric bicycle built using a motor salvaged from a washing machine; when the puns are this perfect you have to roll with them. [jimminecraftguy’s] creation is one of the most hacked-together yet functional electric vehicle we’ve seen in a long time.
The drive train …read more
Continue reading The Spin Cycle: Washing Machine Motor Converts 10-Speed to E-Bike
We’ll be honest right up front: there’s nothing new in [David Cambridge]’s brushless motor and controller build. If you’re looking for earth-shattering innovation, you’d best look elsewhere. But if you enjoy an aimless use of just about every technique and material in the hacker’s toolkit employed with extreme craftsmanship, then …read more
Continue reading Steampunk Brushless Motor Demo Pushes All the Maker Buttons
It used to be a staple of junior high physics class to build some sort of motor with paperclips or wire. A coil creates a magnetic field that makes the rotor move. In the process of moving, brushes that connect the coil to the rest of the circuit will reverse …read more
Continue reading Take a 3D Printed Brushless Motor Demo for a Spin
We get all kinds of tips about “the world’s something-est” widget, which normally end up attracting the debunkers in droves. So normally, we shy away from making superlative claims about a project, no matter how they bill themselves. But we’re comfortable that this is the world’s smallest Tesla, at least …read more
Continue reading Fun-Size Tesla Might Be The World’s Smallest
Disclaimer: no dams were actually busted in the making of the video below. But that doesn’t mean that a scale-model homage to the WWII Dam Busters and their “Bouncing Bombs” isn’t worth doing, of course.
In a war filled with hacks, [Barnes Wallis]’ Bouncing Bomb concept might just be the …read more