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Over the last year, [James] has been a part of a few commercial projects that used a thermal receipt printer as part of the build. Something must have cracked in his mind, because [James] spent a lot of time developing a way to print customized content on receipt printers, connecting these printers to the Internet, and sharing [...]

Tags:  printer part receipt james thermal-receipt-printer receipt-printers commercial-projects parts  

Your experience with making things, building projects, and hacking hardware is directly proportional to the amount of components you have on hand; as our experience grows, so do our space and storage requirements, it seems. [Danh Trinh] must have decades of experience, because his StorageBot robotic parts drawer is as awesomely absurd as it is clever and useful. [...]

Tags:  storage storagebot experience trinh storage-drawers storage-requirements building-projects parts  

Here’s a nifty programmer for a cheap Bluetooth module. So just how cheap is this part? Does $6.60 sound like an extreme deal? The information on this hack is spread throughout a series of posts. The link above goes to the completed programmer (kind of a look back on the hack). But you might start [...]

Tags:  programmer bluetooth module hack parts  

Temperature and humidity measurements are a nice addition to many hobby projects. But [Rajendra Bhatt] makes the point that many of these sensors have a price tag that is well above what most hobbiests are willing to spend. He decided to take an in-depth look at the DHT11 sensor; which you can get your hands [...]

Tags:  temperature dht humidity hobby-projects sensor-package temperature-sensor parts  

ElecFreaks is selling a new color sensing module based on the TSC230 sensor. They’ve posted a demonstration using an Arduino that shows off what this sensor is capable of. The module includes four white LEDs which give a baseline of light to help normalize readings when reflected off of differently colored surfaces. The white balance [...]

Tags:  color module tsc white-leds colored-surfaces arduino parts  

Take a moment to think about how many old or damaged computer motherboards you have tossed away over the years. Sure we try to repurpose everything we can, but reclaiming electronic components from complex devices can be overly time consuming if you don’t have the proper means of doing so. Ideally, if we were to [...]

Tags:  pcb moment computer computer-motherboards electronic-components parts  

[Will] had a cheap power supply sitting around, and decided to turn it into a full-featured benchtop PSU. Inspired by some of the other benchtop supplies we have featured in the past, he decided that he wanted his PSU to be more than just a simple-looking box sitting on his work bench. Taking some cues [...]

Tags:  benchtop power psu work-bench casemod cues parts  

We asked for responses to our last Development Board post, and you all followed through. We got comments, forum posts, and emails filled with your opinions. Like last time, there is no way we could cover every board, so here are a few more that seemed to be popular crowd choices. Feel free to keep [...]

Tags:  part development board popular-crowd forum-posts last-time parts  

Cheap paper accelerometers? Put us down for a dozen to start. They’re not quite ready for mass production yet but it looks like they’re on the way. [George Whitesides] led a team to develop the new technology that uses simple manufacturing methods to produce the sensor seen above. Graphite and silver inks were screen printed [...]

Tags:  dozen mass paper george-whitesides silver-inks accelerometers parts  

The researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory are looking for a way to harden photomultiplier tubes. In order to make a more durable tube the researchers decided it would be a good idea to first observe how the tubes are failing. So they got their hands on an old torpedo test bay and smashed some bulbs inside of it. Check in after [...]

Tags:  science imploding vacuum vacuum-tubes photomultiplier-tubes test-bay parts  

Here at Hackaday, we see microcontroller based projects in all states of completion. Sometimes it makes the most sense to design systems from the ground up, and other times when simplicity or a quick project completion is desired, pre-built system boards are a better choice. We have compiled a list of boards that we commonly [...]

Tags:  completion development board project-completion simplicity system-boards parts  

When it comes to using servos in projects, there is a definite distinction between the cheap ones and the expensive high power and precision models. The OpenServo project gives you a couple options for enhancing your servo experience. By replacing the control board with a new one based on a familiar microcontroller, a whole new [...]

Tags:  project openservo distinction precision-models couple-options power-and-precision parts  

Are you looking for a good source of information to get started into making and hacking electric circuits? We would like to refer you to Lessons in Electric Circuits. Even if you have good knowledge of electronics, this is another tool you can use. The book is a work in progress and will have some [...]

Tags:  electric circuits lessons lessons-in-electric-circuits work-in-progress source-of-information parts  

[Dustyn Roberts] takes us through the process of designing gears for a specific application. Using Inkscape and Ponoko.com [Dustyn] takes us from equation to physical gear. While there is a plugin for Inkscape that allows you to basically drag and drop gears, this writeup will take you through the math to get exactly what you [...]

Tags:  dustyn roberts inkscape writeup gears parts  

If you’re attached to that favorite DB-9 interfaced device you should look into this part. FTDI is selling a USB-RS232 adapter as a replacement for DB-9 connectors. They come with USB male or female connections depending on the application and have the same serial footprint and pinout to which you’re accustomed. Using converter cables is [...]

Tags:  form usb-rs replacement usb-rs232-adapter ftdi footprint parts