Category: Mods

Cheap ‘n Easy Digital Picture Frame

Sub $100 digital frame

 

 

 

Add one part Sony PS1 LCD screen and one part SanDisk Digital Photo Viewer bake for half an hour in a slow oven and you get a sub USD$100 digital picture frame. (I’m kidding about the oven part). I have an TFT LCD screen that I wired up as a remote TV monitor a few years ago that would be perfect for this. I’ll have ro find one of those SanDisk Digital Photo Viewers and build one of these. Funny, I remember seeing one in a store and I thought that it would be the perfect thing to load up and send to the relatives for them to see pictures of the kids. Now I can add a screen and presto! Zero instalation (ok, grandma will have to attach the wall wart, but that’s pretty easy). With 32 MB CF cards costing next to nothing this might be fun to do.

[via MAKE] 

Cheap ‘n Easy Digital Picture Frame

LED Christmas Lights Hacked to Low Voltage

LED Christmas lights

I saw this and just had to share. You know those very neat LED Christmas lights that you could find on the clearance tables a few months ago, you remember them now because your going to kick yourself for not buying a crap load of them. Anyway, ‘ol Joe has a tutorial on how you can hack them to run on low voltages, like 12VDC. Just like the voltage you get from your computers power supply. I think you can see where this is going…

Red-tag Joe’s introduction to LED lighting and how to connect 120 volt LED christmas lights for low-voltage applications redtag

DIY Hollow Out A Light Bulb

Lightbulb project

You can never have enough projects, right? Well I think that’s true. Tonight I finished my tutorial on how to hollow out a light bulb and re-use it for other things like art projects and science stuff. So don’t throw out that dead light bulb, make it into a salt shaker or something… 

DIY Hollow Out A Light Bulb

Camera Coil-Gun

Coilgun 

Now this is the sort of project I can sink my teeth into. What do you get when you cross a disposable camera flash with a bit of wire, and steel BB’s? A coil gun! Yeah… That’s the good stuff. Jeff provides plans and links to build your own weapon of choice. Have fun and be safe, if you can do the two at the same time. If not you can go as a pirate for next Halloween.

Jeff’s Camera Coil-Gun

Beer Magnets, Can It Be?

Beer Magnets

Beer, beir, beeru, call it what you will, it’s good stuff. Even after you have finishing your pints you can still get lasting pleasure from your golden suds. It all has to do with the careful application of hot glue and magnets.

Step one, collect some beer bottle caps, old magnets (mine are from a dry erase board), a knife or clippers, and a hot glue gun.

Beer Magnets

Make sure your bottle caps are flat. Beer might not be good flat but the bottle caps look better that way.

Beer Magnets

Next you will need some magnets. I used old plastic flex-o-mags from the Monopole Magnetic Corp (OK, I made that up). But you can use anything that will fit or be made to fit. Don’t try to cut super magnets or ceramic magnets, you will hurt yourself and your friends will laugh.

Beer Magnets

Mark about where the magnet will be under the cap.

Beer Magnets

I knew I was going to be trimming the magnets so I allowed for a bit of space.

Beer Magnets

Trim…

Beer Magnets

Trim some more so it will be the best fit.

Beer Magnets

Now the fun part. Fill the cap up with got glue. Make sure you use enough to let the magnet ride a little high in the cap. You don’t want to have the magnet below the edge of the cap or you will scratch the hell out of what ever you place it on. Trust me, you don’t want to mess up your  fridge or cubicle wall with heavy heavy scratches.

Beer Magnets

Finished! Yes, they work.

Beer Magnets

Now you can relax and start collecting some more raw material for your next round of magnets. 🙂