Sometimes you wanna test a piece of USB hardware, but you don’t just want to plug it into a random old phone charger. [KS-Elektronikdesign] has whipped up a useful tool for just that case, allowing one to easily power USB hardware from a common bench supply. It would have been simple enough to whip up […]
If you’re working with surface mount components, you’re likely going to want a reflow plate at some point. [Vitaly] was in need of just such a tool, and thus whipped up a compact reflow plate that is conveniently powered via USB-C. This reflow rig is designed for smaller work, with a working area of 80 […]
Although it dates back to the early days of the Marconi Company in the 1920s, the Franklin oscillator has remained a relatively obscure circuit, its memory mostly kept alive by ham radio operators who prize its high stability at higher frequencies. At the core of the circuit is an LC tank circuit, a fact which […]
Last year, we brought you a story about the BhangmeterV2, an internet-of-things nuclear war monitor. With a cold-war-era HSN-1000 nuclear event detector at its heart, it had one job: announce to everything else on the network than an EMP was inbound, hopefully with enough time to shut down electronics. We were shocked to find out […]
Depending who you ask, 3D pens are silly toys or handy tools. Those who use them as tools find them handy to fill gaps in printed assemblies or to use them as a PLA or PETG-based hot glue gun for their prints. [half-baked-research] on YouTube is in the second category, but knows that welding is […]
Out of all of Batman’s massive array of tools which turn a relatively ordinary person into a superhero, perhaps his most utilitarian is his grappling gun — allowing him the ability to soar around his city like Spiderman or Superman. [John Boss] isn’t typically fighting crime, but he did develop his own grappling gun of […]
Picture this: you have an irregular opening you need to fabricate a piece to fill. Maybe it’s the stonework of a fireplace; maybe it’s the curved bulkhead of a ship. How do you get that shape? The most “Hackaday” answer would be to 3D scan the area, create a CAD model based on the point […]
MRI machines come with a variety of safety warnings. Perhaps most importantly, you have to be very careful not to take ferrous metal objects anywhere near them, since strong magnetic fields can send them flying, causing damage and injuries. To that end, you might find yourself in need of magnetically-safe tools when working on such […]
Even entry-level oscilloscopes today have simple math functions such as adding or subtracting two channels. But as [Arthur Pini] notes, more advanced scopes can now even do integration and differentiation. He writes about using these tools to make measurements on capacitors and inductors. The post in EDN is worth a read, even if your scope […]
Magnet placement tools are great because they remove finger fumbling while ensuring correct polarity every time. [EmGi] has made a further improvement by making a version that auto-feeds from an internal stack of magnets. A stack of magnets auto-feeds with every press of the plunger. That is a trickier task than one might imagine, because […]