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Ask HN: What have you built? (not software related)

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Re: Ask HN: What have you built? (not software related)

#61

Post by photon_off »

I built a time fountain. I became obsessed with making one after seeing this video. I knew absolutely nothing about making circuits, so I spent the large part of a summer troubleshooting all sorts of minor things (it took forever just to get a blinking light, without toasting it, for example), scrounging for parts at Radioshack (what a rip-off!) and various online catalogs. I bought enough parts to make 10, but after making 1 of them, the thrill was over.

Anybody I show this thing to is instantly amazed. About 10% of people can actually figure out how it works. And, in general, if they don't understand it before having it explained to them, they won't understand it afterword (though they will claim to "get it"). Maybe I'm just not good at explaining the strobe effect. When people first see it, they momentarily believe that I've managed to create some sort of anti-gravity device. Then when they see it going backwards, they sort of lose grip of reality for a moment. It's amazing.

My time fountain kicks the original one's ass. Unlike the one in the video, mine does a full 30fps and has analog adjustment knobs for forwards, backwards, etc. It doesn't relay on a "drip detection" circuit, but rather just two 555 timers. I freakin' love the thing.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvY7NGncCgU Note: I didn't make the one in the video, and this wasn't my idea. I simply implemented the same concept myself with various improvements.

Re: Ask HN: What have you built? (not software related)

#62

Post by photon_off »

supermauerbros wrote: post #26

My friend Ben and I built a piece of art that responds to fluctuations in magnetic fields in the room to move around ferrofluid. http://jakemauer.com/work/fields/ I also built a T-Shirt with EL wire that sync'd to Ableton Live http://jakemauer.com/work/electroluminescent-dj/

What is that instrument, that somebody keeps putting their hand infront of, detecting? Sometimes it goes up when the hand goes near, and sometimes it doesn't.

Very cool project. I think if somebody made an installation / toy that did extreme looking ferrofluid stuff in response to people touching around it (like those glass spheres with electricity arcs tracing all around), it'd have commercial value.

Re: Ask HN: What have you built? (not software related)

#64

Post by benjamind »

roberte3 wrote: post #8

A monorail. 500 Feet long, held two passengers, guts were a rewired electric wheelchair. http://www.flickr.com/photos/espressobuzz/5008514139/in/set-...

Ah....Burning Man.

Loved this, was a very very ambitious project, sadly I didn't get to see it working. :-(

In the same vein I made this this year:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bendelarre/5010762637/in/set-72...

A 16x16 array of RGB LEDs on which we ran animations generated by the community on a website. (Yes, I know, its still software related...I can't help myself!).

Re: Ask HN: What have you built? (not software related)

#65

Post by jacquesm »

crcarlson wrote: post #56
jacquesm wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pictures? One of my babies :) : http://pics.ww.com/v/jacques/renewables/windmill/17_sep_bill...

That is a nice machine. I have been trying to convince myself that if I want to build a custom set of cabinets that should build a 4x8 router to make the whole job easier :) Yes my web page is lame and written by hand 7 years ago, but it does have a few pics. http://www.crcarlson.com/Personal/cnc1/cnc1.html http://www.crcarlson.com/Personal/cnc2/cnc2.html

Those are very slick little machines that you've built there.

I've been busy converting this one off-and-on for the last two years, it's going so slow because the machine is in a warehouse almost 200 miles from here:

http://pics.ww.com/v/jacques/machines/dscf1225.jpg.html

But it's actually getting there, just a few more wires and it will be completely modernized.

Re: Ask HN: What have you built? (not software related)

#66

Post by krschultz »

wjr wrote: post #54
krschultz wrote: post #3

2 boats, a guitar, some furniture, and a race car. I'd like build another boat soon, it has been a while.

I`d love to hear what kind of boat or what you future sailing project would be.

i550 or a Farrier F-22, both are pretty fast sailboats that are pretty straightforward builds.

Re: Ask HN: What have you built? (not software related)

#67

Post by krschultz »

zackola wrote: post #46
krschultz wrote: post #3

2 boats, a guitar, some furniture, and a race car. I'd like build another boat soon, it has been a while.

How did you learn about building the guitar? I'd love to see pics/see design plans. Electric or acoustic?

Also there are books, googling around there is plenty. I actually have a store near my house that supports home built guitars and the guy there was really helpful, but that doesn't scale at all.

http://buildyourguitar.com/resources/links.htm

Re: Ask HN: What have you built? (not software related)

#68

Post by krschultz »

zackola wrote: post #46
krschultz wrote: post #3

2 boats, a guitar, some furniture, and a race car. I'd like build another boat soon, it has been a while.

How did you learn about building the guitar? I'd love to see pics/see design plans. Electric or acoustic?

Well my father has built about 10 guitars (acoustic and electric), so that is kind of cheating.

Electric are definitely easier. Much like a computer the hardest part is figuring out what to buy because there are so many options. Figure out what kind of wood, what kind of neck, what kind of pickups etc to get the sound you want. A lot of people just knock off a common setup like a Les Paul or something well known.

I'd recommend buying the neck off the shelf, then it really comes down to just making the body which is general woodworking type stuff. (The block of wood heavily influences the sound so obviously you order one specifically for guitar building). The electronics are straightforward. The most technical part is the paint. You probably want to spray, I guess you could stain but in my case we had an aircompressor and a spray gun so it was too hard.

If you want to get more advanced, you can start to inlay stuff, I inlaid my name in mother of pearl on the neck, that was tough, but that is not necessary to build your own guitar, that was just for fun.

Actual build time is not that bad. If you have the tools it is cheaper than buying one, if you don't have the tools it is more expensive.

Re: Ask HN: What have you built? (not software related)

#69

Post by lutorm »

photon_off wrote: post #61

I built a time fountain. I became obsessed with making one after seeing this video. I knew absolutely nothing about making circuits, so I spent the large part of a summer troubleshooting all sorts of minor things (it took forever just to get a blinking light, without toasting it, for example), scrounging for parts at Radioshack (what a rip-off!) and various online catalogs. I bought enough parts to make 10, but after…

That is awesome, never seen that idea before.
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