The Marble Lifting Machine would probably impress even Leonardo da Vinci. Mere words cannot describe the play of physics and craft that goes into this machine which has a single task – take a steel marble and transport it to the top of the wooden structure, then to the bottom, and repeat for 24 hours without any electronic parts.

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That’s right, the only power is provided by gravity. The initial impulse is provided by a system of weights and counterweights. A complex network of wooden channels, lifting devices, pulleys, and trapdoors keep the marble in almost perpetual motion. The smooth flow of the marble towards the top is kept up by a series of governors and escapements.

It’s quite a journey for the marble up and down the 6 feet tall wooden device (a complete circuit takes about 24 hours). The marble makes 1300 trips from the bottom to the summit and back again and travels an equivalent distance of 12 miles.   The video is not only about the motion but also how the sub-assemblies of the Marble Lifting Machine are put together. It’s science wrapped up in art.

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Charles Xavier never really been ‘steamy’ but this superbly detailed steampunk wheelchair begs to differ.  The pseudo-Victorian mechanical recreation of Professor X’s iconic wheelchair would make both Jules Vern and Stan Lee very proud.

Built from an Eastlake Victorian platform rocker from about 1875, the chair has been reframed and reupholstered to give it its beautiful looks.  Added features include pistons from a 1930’s iron works that move along with the wheels and liquid storage in the back holds enough vodka and cranberry juice (pumped through ice!) to make Professor X stand up and dance

The chair is fully drivable with steering, throttle and LED light battery indicator to alert you to when it’s time to go back to the Xavier Institute and recharge (maybe on some of that vodka/cran).   The sound system is built into the chair frame with 30 digitally amped watts into 2 car speakers and special 5” micro sub woofer which all makes the MP3 player attached echo louder then Banshee.  The best part?  The steam billowing out of the stack on the back, truly a wonder of Steampunk modification!

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You won’t normally need a compass in your living room. So, what could you possibly do with a few hundred? Turn them into an incredible coffee table of course! Just watch the video above see the neat effects of such a simple, yet fun project.

The compass table project is just elementary physics in action, but it’s still fascinating to stare at.  So, you place the 500 compasses arranged in a circular pattern and encased with a glass top to form an unusual table. Coasters embedded with small magnets are made to match the table.  Moving your coaster around creates a neat visual effect on the compass needles.

The table itself can be personalized to match the décor. The project starts off with IKEA prefab legs and a glass top. Take your pick of furniture.

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Need a highly portable USB power source that can be replenished with readily available, common batteries?  Look no further my friends .  Inspired by the original Minty Boost project, this modder managed to shove 4-AA batteries into an Altoids tin to charge any USB powered device.  So if you don’t have your laptop or PC nearby, simply pull out your Altiods tin and plug in your device!

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• If you would like your company’s product reviewed on HacknMod, please contact us.

Features:

• Maximum Number of Satellites: 16
• Horizontal Accuracy: 2.5m
• Storage Capacity: 100 hours

As noted on their site, the GPS accuracy is superb.  You can zoom way in on Google earth and view a narrow path you walked on into a doorway.  It was significantly more accurate than I expected.

I had a few minor issues with the device though.  I noticed a few times where the device seemed to lose a sattelite connection momentarily and my path would actually jump from one place to another.  Also, sometimes it would record my walking speed as 15mph.  One final problem was that it couldn’t get any reception from within my trunk.  Although it’s recommended on their site to place on the car exterior or within the glove box, it’s something worth noting.

Regardless, it’s really accurate for such a compact device.  Another really neat feature is the ability to import your data into Google Earth. You can playback your route and watch as you progress throughout your day and how long you stopped at various locations.  However, it’ll set you back at least $250, but if you’re looking for a quality tracking device, this GPS tracking pro is a pretty solid choice.

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While the yellow submarine pictured above doesn’t get marks for pretty looks, put it in the water and the miniature submarine makes up with performance. It’s a powerful remote control beast which also boasts an onboard camera.  While it’s not early as impressive as the Star Trek U.S.S Enterprise Submarine we featured, it’s still a superb DIY build.

The PVC sub is a functional ROV with an on-board video camera. It has also been built as a platform for future add-ons such as leak detection, temperature and pressure sensors, torpedoes, grabbing arms etc. The underwater vehicle is made up of PVC pipes and propulsion is with the help of 6 pumps.

The entire sub is controlled by an Atmel Mega32 microcontroller. The video feeds and system info are fed to the surface using a cable (wireless video is a future feature).  As you can imagine, the PVC makes the submarine naturally buoyant, but the platform is fully capable of underwater diving.  Bonus: detailed schematics are available for reference.

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Occasionally, companies such as Warn Laser and SkyLasers will send us their products to review on the site.  Last fall, for example, we reviewed the massive 150mW LaserGlow Aries which is the size of a flashlight.  While these lasers aren’t nearly as powerful, they are more economical for the average laser enthusiast.

• You can buy 5mW green lasers for $21.99 in our store.

WarnLaser: Blue-Voilet

Typically post laser pointers come in green or red.  This time, we got our hands on a low power blue-voilet laser pointer from WarnLaser.  While it’s only 5mw, it produces a nice violet beam on most surfaces and light blue beam on solid white surfaces. It also came with a second lens which diffracted the laser into a square dot pattern.  I’m not sure what you would ever need it for, but it’s a nice addition nonetheless.  The beam is extremely difficult to see in a dark room – The photos above where taken with smoke present.

Both lasers from WarnLaser came with pretty sturdy cases.  Unlike some companies, WarnLaser ships their lasers with these quality, velvet covered cases which fits the laser and batteries perfectly.  Definitely a nice touch.

WarnLaser: Green

While very similar in form factor to the blue-violet version, this green WarnLaser is significantly more powerful.  Since green is the color our eyes pick up the easiest, it’s beam is slightly more visible in a dark room.  While it may take a while to pop a balloon or burn through electrical tape, the price isn’t too incredibly steep for your standard green laser pointer.

The only complaints I have about the Warn lasers is the battery connectivity and threading on the battery terminals.  I literally had to carve off some outer “skin” of a battery to create the electrical connection to the back part of the laser.  Also, the threads on the cap which hold the batteries in the laser are rather poor quality and a pain to screw/unscrew.

SkyLasers: Green

Finally, we have another 50mW green laser pointer from SkyLasers.  It’s priced at $100 which is a bit on the expensive side, but it does pop balloons, burn through electrical tape, etc.  The beam was more visible than I expected within a dark room and can be seen for quite a distance.  On the back of the laser, there is a safety key mechanism which allows you to switch from off to low power to high power for various uses of the laser.  The only issue I had with the laser is that you have to remove the back-end of the pointer before placing it back into it’s case.  Also, the case isn’t quite as fancy as others I’ve seen in the past, but regardless of these two minor issues, it’s a pretty sturdy laser overall.

So, what can you do with these laser pointers you ask?  Check out some of our laser projects below for inspiration:

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Your mode of transport says a lot about you. For the geeks in us, sticking a Batman logo on your rear window will simply not do (although a wifi-detecting bumper sticker is rather epic).  For true geeky style you need some top geek transportation:

7. DIY Batman Tumbler

This man, a batman fanatic, built his own Batman Tumbler from the movie Batman Begins. It’s almost identical to the one used in the movie and he managed to build his at home from scratch!  It has full working lights and its fully fuctional (it’s meant for off-roading). It is 15 feet long, 9.5 feet wide and 5 feet tall. Check it out in the full video. For any fan of Batman this is a must see.

6. Trash-Powered Honda Accord

Do you have a spare car lying on the driveway? Well you can convert it to run on trash.This guy managed to use his gasifier to turn household trash into aesthetic fuel thus powering his Honda Accord.

5. Motorized Rail Rider

Rail Riders are cool ways to explore abandoned stretches of railway which can sometime go on for dozens of miles and lead you to weird places. Instead of using a manually operated one, why not build your own? They’re quite similar to go karts, all you need is some train wheels which can be sourced from scrap yards and some go cart materials. You could even use an engine from a lawnmower or a golf cart if you want to go electric.

4. MIT’s Speedy Motorized Shopping Cart

Instead of partying and picking up chicks, this group of students from MIT decided to modify a shopping cart and make it into a speedy motorized shopping cart. As you can see in the video above, it can get up to some good speeds and has a steeping wheel for whoever is brave enough to squish themselves into the cart.

3. Build Your Own Self Balancing Segway

This guy managed to build his own self balancing Segway. All you need is the right hardware (such as the lithium batteries and the motor). You write the code yourself and create your own circuit boards by following the guide. The wooden version can be build very cheaply for around $1000 while a retail Segway costs about $5000 making this is both economical and the ultimate geek transportation.

2. DIY Auto Gyro

Auto Gyros are spectacular machines in that they work so well yet they are incredibly simple. They can be built at home just like this man did. The reason is because they’re completely manual (no computers) and have only basic materials. Imagine the freedom of flying to work in one of these!

1. A Self Balancing Electric UniCycle

This one is really cool because it’s cheap, good for the environment and it attracts a whole lot of attention. It an electronic unicycle which self balances. It takes less than fifteen minutes to learn how to use and it’s built using  basic gyroscopes and accelerometers to change the speed of the wheel thus keeping you balanced. To turn, you simply lean left and right. To accelerate, just lean forward.

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The ‘Drink Making Unit’ is for the geek who loves to create their own custom mixes.  We’ve seen some impressive robot bar tenders before, but now you can have a desktop version.  This one was created by Evil Mad Scientists Lenore and Windell.

This 8×8 RGB LED matrix displays messages during the run operation.  This one has a three valves combo which means that this device is limited to cocktails with three ingredients.  Believe it or not, the machine actually uses breast pumps to siphon the liquids.  This makes them hygienic and also economic in cost and power usage.

The drink making is simple: the controller buttons are pressed in sequence in which the ingredients need to be added. The pump sucks up the liquids from the containers and pumps them into a glass via a valve, through the ice bucket and into the cup.

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Home 3D TV is set to take the world by storm this year since the World Cup is being broadcast through the medium. However, did you know that for a few hundred bucks you too could be filming in 3D?  Indeed my friends

As these tech enthusiasts demonstrated, it’s quite easy to make a DIY 3d movie by recording with two cameras simultaneously. This will enable you to use some video software later on to overlap the images, thus rendering it viewable through 3D glasses.  As you can see from the picture above, the components are fairly simple with the most expensive parts being the cheap HD cameras, naturally.

Materials:

• Kodak Zx1 Digital Camcorders
• L-Shaped Extruded Aluminum
• Nylon Washers, Wingnuts, Machine Screws
• Basic Tripod

An example video is below.  If you have a pair of 3D glasses, let us know how it looks in the comments below.

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