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All items in category Hobby & Modelling
Darts: always a bullseye!
July 20, 2018
Source: The Verge

Darts: always a bullseye!

Darts is definitely much harder than it looks – perhaps it has something to do with that fact that this game is often played in bars and the accuracy tends to be inversely proportional to the beer consumption...
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Build a bike inclinometer
July 3, 2018
Proposal
by Clemens Valens

Build a bike inclinometer

The 2018 edition of the Tour de France, the world’s most famous bicycle race, starts next week. If you are going to follow this event you will hear and read a lot about the categories of hills and mountains and the steepness of slopes. But how to relate that information to the slopes you encounter when you ride a bike yourself? How tough is your workout compared to the pros? With this little project you can find out.
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Review: SunFounder Smart Video Car Kit for Raspberry Pi
May 20, 2018 by Clemens Valens

Review: SunFounder Smart Video Car Kit for Raspberry Pi

We have a look at the ‘Smart Video Car Kit for Raspberry Pi’ manufactured by SunFounder, a kit for a small Raspberry-Pi-based Wi-Fi-remote-controlled car with color video camera. We built one and tried it; here are our findings and tips.
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Cubiio: a crowdfunded desktop laser engraver
April 18, 2018 by Thomas Scherer

Cubiio: a crowdfunded desktop laser engraver

Taiwanese startup Cubiio Muherz ran a successful crowdfunding campaign last year on Indiegogo to finance a mini desktop laser engraver. By campaign end, it had raised 55 times the target to fund production of the project, but there are still a few perks available on the campaign page...
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Build a balloon tracker using LoRa 
March 14, 2018
Proposal
by Clemens Valens

Build a balloon tracker using LoRa 

Even though LoRa is intended for communication between devices at the surface of the earth, nothing forbids us (except maybe regulatory agencies) to use it vertically, between a flying object like a (weather) balloon and a ground station. Here is a way of doing this.
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At last… an end to costly energy!
February 20, 2018 by Thomas Scherer

At last… an end to costly energy!

Sometimes you get really odd projects touted on crowd-funding sites. One such novel ‘device’ that appeared recently on Indiegogo promises free electrical power, I think I’ve seen one of these before, if I remember correctly it was titled something like ‘So-Called Alternator Magic’ (SCAM) device...
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Protect your LiPo batteries, build a deep-discharge protection
February 7, 2018
Proposal
by Clemens Valens

Protect your LiPo batteries, build a deep-discharge protection

Deep discharging of lithium-ion polymer (LiPo) batteries to under 3 volts per cell may permanently damage them. Luckily it is easy enough to build a deep-discharge protector using a microcontroller. Here is a design based on an ATtiny84 programmed in Flowcode.
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SAMD20 Machine Tool Digital Readout
January 16, 2018
Proposal
by Clemens Valens

SAMD20 Machine Tool Digital Readout

Often projects are started on Elektor Labs with lots of enthusiasm and good intentions. Experiments are done, circuits are breadboarded, and a schematic begins to emerge. And then, for reasons only known to the initiator, everything stops. Why? Lost interest? Lack of time? Maybe the spectators can pull the project loose by shouting all together as if they were watching a Punch and Judy show?
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Build a dual PS/2 keyboard MIDI controller
January 9, 2018
Proposal
by Clemens Valens

Build a dual PS/2 keyboard MIDI controller

When you can build a device exactly as you want it, the result may not be useful to many people. However, often the project itself contains inspiring ideas and techniques. This two-keyboard PS/2-to-MIDI converter is such a project.
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Design a LoRa-based wind measuring system for sailboat racing
January 2, 2018
Proposal
by Clemens Valens

Design a LoRa-based wind measuring system for sailboat racing

Sailboat racing requires mastering the winds (among others). How about displaying wind speed and direction data for each course marker on a large display at the clubhouse using LoRa? Can you help with programming?
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