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Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?

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Re: Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?

#291

Post by neontomo »

stankot wrote: post #279

I'm a sucker for old games and good pixel art and I've built a pixel art frame powered by a LED matrix. It is not the most impressive thing I've built, but it is the one that brings me the most joy. Videos: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Stanko/retro-frame/dev/ret... https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Stanko/retro-frame/dev/ret... I wanted something that has a feel of an art object and sits on the shelf, rather tha…

Love it! You might wanna experiment with Flip-disc displays too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip-disc_display

Re: Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?

#292

Post by tky »

leipert wrote: post #198
cushychicken wrote: post #99

I'm an EE by trade, and my work has shipped in numerous consumer products. I was lead hardware designer for Sonos Amp, Sonos Port, and a few of the IKEA/Sonos collaboration products. I've since moved on from that job, but it's a very cool resume item. It's also a pretty cool shameless self promotion thing to point out when I need to. Was asked by an executive why I should run a hardware development effort at my curre…

What do you think about the longevity of these Sonos products? I got sucked into the ecosystem via IKEA/Sonos collab and now added one to my TV setup. The ecosystem is nice _currently_ but do you think the hardware+software will be useable in 5,10,15 years from now? Do you think it could be liberated software wise. Thinking about this because I am contemplating moving my vinyl setup to Sonos as well.

I recently added a new Sonos Beam to my TV and used Sonos One speakers from 2017 to serve as my rears. While Sonos has done some weird stuff with old product retirement in the past, being able to pair 6 year old speakers with current hardware was delightful and restored my faith in Sonos product longevity.

Re: Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?

#293

Post by samhuk »

Due to two things:

1. I'm a bit of a klutz

2. I'm somewhat of a perfectionist-closeted-as-a-realist-for-money kind of person, so physical things that I make/do never scratch that "must be perfect" itch.

...I almost never make anything physical (other than food? Is that cheating?). However!

First tiny backstory: Around 5 years ago I had a Clevo shitbox laptop for gaming (all I could afford then). It was loud and overheated (obviously). It was back in the "desktop replacement" days when there was a weird trend craze of putting desktop GPUs and CPUs into huge laptops, at the peril of...everyone?

So after a few months of having it, I decided to integrate an AIO water cooler "onto" (into?) it.

From a Youtube videos I learned the ins-and-outs of molex, lapping copper (how to not breath in ultra toxic metal dust was a welcome bonus), 12V and 24V switching power supplies, soldering, wire stripping, etc., then I just stuck the AIO cooler on with thermal adhesive, hooked it all up with a nice rocker switch and electric wizbangs, and I had a cute little switchable AIO cooler for my gaming laptop.

It looked gross, but actually resulted in a ~10% gaming perf boost and made it a lot more quiet (the AIO was taking a tonne of heat from the CPU where most of the heat and gaming bottlenecks came from.

It really did look hilarious. It was a fun story when guests came round for food/drinks/whatever; I would often get asked about what the heck it even is, as it just looked like some kid hot-glue-gunned a bunch of random wires, fans, and boxes to the back and under-side of a laptop.

Re: Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?

#296

Post by simeonf »

I built a two-story straw bale house with lime exterior stucco and clay plaster on the interior walls.

Many details in the house use reclaimed/salvaged lumber (fake box beams on the ceiling, deep window sills in every window, wood paneling, fireplace mantel, pantry shelves, etc).

I had construction skills at the start of the project due to my dad who is a contractor. But through the project I started doing some finer woodworking and ended up with some hand tool woodworking skills and was able to all the trim: recessed baseboard (bent around curves some places), door casings, window details, some custom cabinetry, etc.

Re: Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?

#297

Post by netsharc »

kmm wrote: post #77

A few years ago I made a "string art" portrait for my girlfriend at the time. It's made from a continuous† 2 km long black thread, woven around a loom made from a bicycle wheel rim. I'm still very proud of how it turned out. †OK fine, it broke at a few points and I had to knot the ends together, but it's the principle that counts. https://imgur.com/gallery/ljoJeal I really wanted to make something creative for her, b…

If I could guess, the gift is in a box somewhere in her garage/attic/etc, too nice to throw away but too awkward to display.

Re: Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?

#299

Post by itintheory »

bicx wrote: post #120

I've rebuilt most of the electrical system in an RV I recently bought. It started out with a basic "shore power" system as the dominant source of electricity along with a couple lead acid batteries. I've replaced the old batteries with LiFePO4 (lithium) batteries, swapped out the AC->DC charger/converter with one that can charge lithium, extended the main AC power cable into a central electrical bay, installed a 2000…

I'm interested in learning how to do this kind of work. I ultimately plan to install it in a van or trailer, but I'm thinking of starting with some kind of portable solar system to use while camping. Do you have any recommendations for resources to learn about these types of systems?

Re: Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?

#300

Post by _zoltan_ »

kmm wrote: post #77

A few years ago I made a "string art" portrait for my girlfriend at the time. It's made from a continuous† 2 km long black thread, woven around a loom made from a bicycle wheel rim. I'm still very proud of how it turned out. †OK fine, it broke at a few points and I had to knot the ends together, but it's the principle that counts. https://imgur.com/gallery/ljoJeal I really wanted to make something creative for her, b…

would you consider sharing the python code?
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