Collaborate Disseminate
The dystopian future you’ve been expecting is here now, at least if you live in New York City, which unveiled a trio of technology solutions to the city’s crime woes …read more Continue reading Hackaday Links: April 16, 2023
If we were to talk to engineers about the childhood toys which most inspired them, it’s likely that the older among them would mention either Meccano or Erector Set. These …read more Continue reading The Last Meccano Factory Is To Close. Will We Miss It?
Whether in a shop window or mounted to the top of consoles in NASA’s Mission Control Center, edge lit acrylic is a popular choice for making high visibility signs. Partly …read more Continue reading Building an Edge Lit Sign From the Scrap Pile
There are plenty of “smart” toys out in the marketplace, some with more features than others. Nevertheless, most makers desire complete control over a platform, something that’s often lacking in any commercial offering. It was just this desire that motivated [MrDreamBot] to start hacking the Meccano Max.
Meccano Max is …read more
[Mohamed Sami] built a syringe pump out of Meccano building set parts. It consists of a simple framework with a DC motor mounted on it that actuates the syringe when powered. A check valve harvested from an ordinary household spray bottle keeps the syringe from sucking back liquid that it has just pumped out, so it can keep pumping forever. A lead-acid battery powers the whole thing.
Syringe pumps are typically used to deliver precisely measured quantities of substances. Right now [Mohamed]’s rig is just an uncontrolled pump, but he hopes to get a better understanding of and control over …read more
“Human relationships can be hard to define.” Continue reading I Talked to Four Humanoid Robots and They’re Mostly Dumb as Doornails
“Human relationships can be hard to define.” Continue reading I Talked to Four Humanoid Robots and They’re Mostly Dumb as Doornails
Have you ever wanted to roll your own pinball machine? It’s one of those kinds of builds where it’s easy to go off the deep end. But if you’re just getting your feet wet and want to mess around with different playfield configurations, start with something like [joesinstructables]’ Arduino Laser Pinball.
It’s made from meccano pieces attached with standoffs, so the targets are easy to rearrange on the playfield. [joesinstructables] wanted to use rollover switches in the targets, but found that ping pong balls are much too light to actuate them. Instead, each of the targets uses a tripwire made …read more
[Brian Leach] of the South East London Meccano Club has put an impressive amount of ingenuity into making his pinball machine almost entirely out of Meccano parts. He started in 2013 and we saw an earlier version of the table back in 2014, but it has finally been completed. It has all the trappings of proper pinball: score counter, score multiplier with timeout, standing targets, kickouts, pot bumpers, drop targets, and (of course) flippers and plunger.
The video (embedded below) is very well produced with excellent closeups of the different mechanisms as [Brian] gives a concise tour of the machine. …read more
Continue reading Amazing Meccano Pinball Machine Fully Functional Before Meeting Its Fate
[Brian Leach] of the South East London Meccano Club has put an impressive amount of ingenuity into making his pinball machine almost entirely out of Meccano parts. He started in 2013 and we saw an earlier version of the table back in 2014, but it has finally been completed. It has all the trappings of proper pinball: score counter, score multiplier with timeout, standing targets, kickouts, pot bumpers, drop targets, and (of course) flippers and plunger.
The video (embedded below) is very well produced with excellent closeups of the different mechanisms as [Brian] gives a concise tour of the machine. …read more
Continue reading Amazing Meccano Pinball Machine Fully Functional Before Meeting Its Fate
