Hack N Mod - Amazingly Cool Hacks, Mods, and DIY Projects » Leds & Light

Fantastic Liquor Bottle Illumination using El Wire

dean — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:59:48 +0000

This is a cool mod we found whereby liquor bottles are illuminated by electroluminescent wire (El wire). As you can see from the picture above, the whisky and liquor bottles look absolutely stunning. Below is a video of a bottle of Smirnoff demonstrating how it looks in real life and you can view more demonstrations too.

Since this was done by a private company, they don’t have a how-to tutorial for it. However, El Wire is fairly easy to master by checking out some of our tutorials below:

El Wire Illumination Projects

Voice to Text LED Message Board

dean — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:11:19 +0000

Learn how to and shows you how to link an LED sign to your Google Voice account which can physically show you your voicemails through an array of LEDs. The video below walks you through a quick demonstration of how the LED message board system works.

What you’ll need:

Firstly, you’ll need a Google Voice account. Then you have to download some python scripts to program the system correctly with a ‘trigger word’ – that way your system can pick voice messages and display them on the screen. You can set it to display all messages or just those of your choice. You’ll also need plenty of LEDs (of course), a soldering iron, and a 9v battery.

How it Works:

A Python script accesses your Google Voice account which finds the text version of you voicemail messages. Then, it downloads them to a text file on your system which then displays it on the LED board.

More LED Projects:

DIY Professional Closet Photography Studio

dean — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:59:23 +0000

Even taking simple photos for items we’re tying to sell on eBay can be tricky. Most of us want to have a certain degree of professionalism to our photos that say something out us. You have to have a fancy, expensive setup, right? Nope: Learn make a DIY photography studio in your closet.

The Setup

This guide shows you how to set up a small but completely functional DIY photo studio in a space no bigger than a closet. It works by using some basic framing and material which could be soured from a hardware shop or even your tool shed.

Above is the inside setup with a watch on a reflective surface on top of a black cloth. For such a simple setup, the results are astounding!

The Final Result:

Superb quality photos! There are also instructions to set up the different kinds of lighting which are nothing more than basic domestic lights you can but at your local home furnishings store. Overall, the guide is very well written and has great illustrations and pictures to help you along the way to building your own photography studio in your closet!

DIY Photograph Articles:

Make a DIY Arduino Word Clock

dean — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:21:37 +0000

Find out how to build your own ‘Word Clock’ using the power of Arduino. It’s definitely unique and eye-catching clock which literally tells you the time unlike your standard digital clock.

The instructions are really easy to understand and well written. As far as materials go, a laser printer and a few electrical components like the LEDs and connectors are about all you’ll need. As you can see from the picture, it comprises mainly of an homemade stencil (which you can build using a CNC plotter we covered or simply trace it out). The author can provide the circuit board for the project – or you can do it yourself at home.

The project instructions also include all of the source code you’ll need to get the clock working correctly, a detailed PDF schematic, and a template for the stencil. Check out more arduino and clock posts below:

Arduino and Clock Projects:

Geo-Location Game “Urban Defender” using Arduino

Joe L — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:41:54 +0000

By using an Arduino, GPS, and an accelerometer, this group put together the “Urban Defender” – A hyper-local geolocation based game which allows users to “claim” various districts of a city by throwing the ball against a wall to claim the territory. The ball tells you whether you’re in friendly or enemy territory through it’s built in speakers and LEDs. The concept video below does a great job of demonstrating the project.

The map above is how the users can track which geo-locations are owned by different groups. It’s just a concept for now, but it would make for a great iPhone app to use to monitor which territories are owned by each team.

The Concept:

The superb concept video above demonstrates the goal of the game, mapping out your “territory” by claiming and taking over blocks of a city. Awesome stuff!

The Execution:

The Plan: The entire project is incredibly well documented, full of flow charts, diagrams, concept photos and videos so you can learn how to recreate the build.

The Code: Full details including flow charts, initial sketches, and source code can be obtained under their coding section.

The Build: Pictured above is their first prototype with all the electronics stuffed inside the ball, comfortably protected by foam. You can view a walk through of the entire project build if you’d like to learn more.

Final Results:

The final result reminds us a lot of Foursquare, a popular location based game. Full project details can be found at the links above at the project build site. Be sure to subscribe to HacknMod for free to stay in the loop on future projects.

LED “Graffiti” using LED Throwies

Joe L — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:51:46 +0000

With all the exceptional LED projects we’ve featured, it’s amazing we haven’t published this one yet. Take some basic LED throwies (a magnet, an LED, and a battery) and place them into a stencil. Then, place the stencil on a pole and you can “write” any message you’d like and stick it on any magnetic surface. Full details can be found in the video above and detailed instructions are below (from their site):

Buy LEDs in our store – Blue, Green, Red, White in multiple sizes.

Materials:

1/2-inch, 3/16-inch and 1/8-inch foam core, preferably black
5-minute epoxy
Clay
Paint Edger attachment
15-foot telescoping pole
A few hundred LED throwies
Shrink Tube or electrical tape

Tools:

An exacto-knife
T-square/ruler

Instructions:

Above we can see the final product. The LEDs are positioned in the grid and the “artist” has the extension pole ready to place them on an unsuspecting build or overpass.

Above is the “stencil” to fill with LEDs for posting on surfaces. The yellow attachment on the left attaches to the pole allowing the user to post the message well off the ground.

Step 3 (shown above) demonstrates one method for shrinking heat wrap tubing and also an assortment of blue led throwies ready to go. For full instrcutions and detailed build photos, check out the project website.

More Superb LED Projects:

DIY Halloween: When Pumpkins meet Circuitry

Joe L — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 08:27:02 +0000

No honorable hacker or modder can be satisfied with a simple candle inside of a pumpkin. How boring! Us proud nerds step up and create unique, appealing, and downright stunning pumpkins complete with lasers, LEDs, robotics, motion sensors, whatever it takes! Here are some of our DIY Halloween favorites:

If all else fails, just build a gigantic pumpkin cannon and launch them.

Lasers and LEDs:

Learn to stuff a laser light show inside your pumpkin or stuff it full of LEDs which flash to music. Check out the laser pumpkin featured at the top of the screen.

The SteamPunkin:

Based on the super popular steampunk craze, this pumpkin is fitted with plenty of gadgets including LEDs and motion sensor which shoots steam out of its ears when someone walks by.

Silly String Motion Sensor:

A simple motion sensing circuit using infrared LEDs and a servo motor sprays silly string at unsuspecting trick-or-treaters. A superb, simple project to make your house unique.

Wireless Surveillance Pumpkin:

Although this project barely made the list since it involved little hacking, the concept is still pretty unique and worth a mention.

Super Mario 1-Up:

Instead of using the complex circuit in the pumpkin below, this project keeps it simple by flashing some RGB LEDs to create multicolored mushrooms from Super Mario brothers.

Color Changing Pumpkin:

Instead of buying store bought merchandise like the surveillance pumpkin above, this guy built a completely custom infrared sensing circuit to control the color of his pumpkin via a universal remote.

The Classic Cylon:

The classic “knight rider” circuit is a great edition to any pumpkin and is a simple, straightforward circuit to build.

The SpiderBot Pumpkin:

Even though this is a basic hexapod robot with a pumpkin on top, it’s still guaranteed to freak out trick-or-treaters.

Honorable Mention:

While these don’t involve electronics or circuitry, they’re still incredible and deserve to be part of this list. Be sure to subscribe to HacknMod because you dont want to miss out on future DIY posts!

GhostBusters DIY Halloween Costume (Arduino Powered)

Joe L — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:17:53 +0000

For your DIY Halloween costume this year, Learn how to make your own Ghostbusters Proton Pack equipt with red and green lasers (above). There is a full tutorial on how to build your own along with a detailed photogallery of the proton pack. An Arduino is used for basic controls of the various flashing and fading lights on the suit.

The video above walks you through some features of the DIY Halloween costume. Included are some ecto goggles (seen below) and various other non-fuctional, but super cool-looking widgets.

The full tutorial walks you through the costume build and here’s a second tutorial to help you construct your own. More of our favorite DIY costumes are featured below.

DIY Halloween Costumes & Projects:

DIY Football Hero Using the Arduino

Joe L — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:56:54 +0000

We’ve seen plenty of guitar hero projects and even a laser harp hero, but now we have a football hero (Soccer for us Americans). Made for the music industry, the director pulled together a team of DIYers and football players to make the game a reality. Using some piezo sensors to detect impact vibrations using the Arduino, he projected the game on a warehouse wall to play.

More details on the project’s background can be found in this video. Not too much detail of the project such as source code is available, but setting up piezo’s with an Arduino is pretty straightforward. Check out some of our other Arduino projects below:

DIY Blu-Ray 300mw Laser Raygun

Joe L — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:56:27 +0000

We’re plenty familiar with the famous phasers of Star Trek, set to stun or kill and now you can build your own blue laser phaser gun. Taking the shell from a toy laser gun, this modder user two blu-ray laser diodes. Although blu-ray lasers can be expensive, you may be able to salvage them from disc drives or buy them on eBay. Learn how to make one below.

How to Build Your Own:

The video above demonstrates how to make a blu-ray laser for less than $100. The major cost in the project is the blu-ray diode itself. Otherwise, the tutorial is very straightforward and demonstrates step by step how you can recreate the laser gun. Below is video of the first gun in action.