The 39th annual Chaos Communication Congress (39C3) is underway, and it kicked off with a talk that will resonate deeply with folks in the Hackaday universe. [Kliment] gave an impassioned invitation for everyone to start making hardware based on his experience both in the industry and in giving an intro-to-surface-mount workshop to maybe thousands of hackers […]
Everyone generally knows about piston and rotary engines, with many a flamewar having been waged over the pros and cons of each design. The “correct” answer is thus to combine both into a single engine design. The resulting birotary engine comes courtesy of Czech company [Knob Engines] which makes their special engine for the aviation […]
In almost every measurable way, a lossless digital audio file is superior to any analog media. This doesn’t mean that analog audio isn’t valuable though; plenty of people appreciate the compression, ambiance, and other side-effects of listening to a vinyl record or a cassette tape despite the technical limitations. To combine the audio technology of […]
Over on YouTube [Lockdown Electronics] reviews an old bit of kit known as the Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR). Invented in the 1950s the SCR is a type of thyristor and they were popular back in the 1970s. They are often replaced these days by the TRIAC and the MOSFET but you might still find some […]
The reason photographic darkrooms are needed is because almost any amount of light can ruin the film or the photographic paper before they are fixed. Until then these things are generally kept in sealed, light-proof containers until they are ready to be developed. But there are a few things that can ruin film even then, […]
To make aerated concrete, add a foam-forming agent and stir in a significant amount of air. This serves to make the concrete significantly lighter, better insulating, and more resilient to fire. Making it can however be a bit of an issue, often requiring ingredients that aren’t purchased at the average DIY store. This is where […]
There’s a seemingly unending list of modifications or upgrades you can make to a 3D printer. Most revolve around the mechanical side of things, many are simple prints or small add-ons. This upgrade is no small task: this 17-year-old hacker [Kai] took on designing and building his own 3D printer control motherboard, the Cheetah MX4 […]
Every system administrator worth their salt knows that the right way to coax changes to network infrastructure onto a production network is to first validate it on a Staging network: a replica of the Production (Prod) network. Meanwhile all the developers who are working on upcoming changes are safely kept in their own padded safety […]
Before the Raspberry Pi came out, one cheap and easy way to get GPIO on a computer with a real operating system was to manipulate the pins on an old parallel port, then most commonly used for printers. Luckily, as that port became obsolete we got the Raspberry Pi, which has the GPIO and a […]
These days, it can be hard to remain competitive in online shooters without spending your entire life dedicated to the sport. This leads some to explore the world of competitive aids. (AKA: cheating.) A great example is [Nick], who built a mechanical aimbot to help in this regard. [Nick’s] build moves a mousepad underneath the […]