Rotary Shortcut Button

Benni (Tinker-Fun) made custom USB shortcut button to use with your favorite software.

In his work, Bennie uses drawing software and was wanting the functionality to quickly activate the full screen and do things such as rotate the drawing sheet.  After looking at a few commercially available devices, he decided to make his own custom USB device that he could program with the specific functions he wanted.

The device has a single click, double click, turn left, and turn right functionality.  The configurations include:

Double Click: Fullscreen
Turn left: Rotate sheet left
Turn right: Rotate Sheet right
Normal click: The LED ring start to blink and you have now new features:
Turn left: Undo last step
Turn right: Redo last step
Normal click: Back to normal Setting

You can find some additional information about the project on his web page.

Code for the project can be found on GitHub.

LED Scarf

Liana B made a fashionable LED scarf.

As Liana says, wearables are not just for raves anymore; they’re a practical solution to being seen at night as well as a fashion statement to wear at parties an events.   On her Instructables page, she offers a pretty good tutorial on making your own light up scarf.

Example code for the project is available on GitHub.

 

Si5351 Signal Generator

wb8nbs created an Si5351 powered signal generator.

This compact signal generator is packed into a tin that’s just slightly bigger than the ones those curiously strong mints come it.  It uses a breakout board with Si5351 and a TCXO from Etherkit.com.  A TCXO (Temperature Compensated Crystal Oscillator) allows for very accurate frequency.  The unit brings out all three signal outputs, individually programmable for frequency (500 Khz to 160 Mhz), sweep width and limited level control. There is a Teensy LC for control using Si5351 libraries from Jason Milldrum NT7S. The battery and charger are out of a cheap cell phone booster.

You can read more about the project on wb8nbs’s blog.  A zip archive of the code for the project as well as a schematic can be found here.

Solar Powered Chairoplane

Michael Diesing (forum user Joegi) built a solar powered chairoplane model.

Inspired by a chairoplane model  he already owned that only worked on bright summer days, Michael made this improved version that works even in winter.  He did this by creating a circuit where two solar cells charge 2 5F, 3V super capacitors.

Infinity Portal

Freeside, a hackersapce in Atlanta, built a 10-foot tall infinity mirror.

They did a great job documenting the build in this video.

This impressive build features a 7 x 4 ft infinity mirror mounted in a 10 ft tall archway.  They used WS2812 addressable LEDs driven by a Teensy to create the infinity effect.

Merlin Armor

Alex Glow made some pretty cool light up Merlin Armor.

This carbon-fiber armor has an LED underbelly.  It uses NeoPixel LED strips to run light animations.  The armor pieces can be made to mix and match.  All pieces hook up to a battery back and micro-controller – both of which Alex made some 3-D printed holders to wear on a belt.

The LEDs are mounted so they face towards the skin to create an under-lit effect.

Code for the project, as well as the plans for the 3-D printed utility pockets, can be found on Hackster.IO Project page.