Make your own cookie cutters this year

In case you needed another reason to build, borrow, or buy a 3D printer, here’s one way to design and print your own cookie cutters. [Nikolaus Gradwohl] put together a processing app that aims to make the design process a bit easier. So if you’ve never designed a printable object before, but can get your hands on a MakerBot or similar device through a friend or your local hackerspace, this is for you. Check out the video after the break to see the process of making a cutter in the shape of a mushroom, or just download the app and give it a go.

Bluetooth temperature module

Wanting to know the outside temperature, [Jamie Maloway] built his own temperature sensor that can be read with a Bluetooth device. Let’s take a tour of the hardware above from right to left. There’s a linear voltage regulator with two filtering caps and a terminal block to attach a 9V battery or other power source. Next there’s an 8 MHz crystal and it’s capacitors, followed by a programming header on top and a 1-wire temperature IC, the DS18B20 we’re all familiar with hanging off the bottom. These both connect to the 8-pin PIC 12F675 that drives the system, and transmits using a Bluetooth module from Sure Electronics. Since this is using a serial protocol and transmitting ASCII data, it can be read using an automated script, or simply by using a terminal program.
Now, who’s going to be the first to get rid of the battery and leech off of the mains through inductance?

Home Brew Coffee Machine

There are already a lot of different ways to brew up a decent coffee at home, from the humble saucepan to the elegant vacuum flask. In an office environment the choice of coffee-making technique can have a major impact on workplace harmony—how can people be expected to work happily when the kitchen is filthy with grounds and the coffee is always stale? “Someone have mercy,” [Christian Finger] lamented, “and boil a pot of fresh.”
In the end he took extreme measures, building a machine that grinds whole beans, measures out a dose, brews a cup and self-cleans. He used all sorts of odds and ends to put the thing together, detailed in his long and hilarious build log (english translation—and check out the dude’s sweet ride). Refer to his shockwave animation for a summary of the intended operation.
The end result is an extremely impressive Goldbergian contraption—download the video from the build log. It is pretty noisy and probably energy- and water-hungry, but that wouldn’t stop us from using it every day, if given the chance. Hell, this here could form a major part of your next breakfast machine.
We’re sure that there is further potential in this, because to get the really freshest possible cup of coffee you’d want to roast the coffee beans just before grinding them. Then you’d be well on your way towards something else entirely: a delicious breakfast machine.

Christmas tree low-water monitor

The end of the year is rapidly approaching and there’s a good chance you have a slowly dying tree in your living room. Help it hold on a little longer by using [Eric Ayars'] Christmas Tree water monitor. He’s built a sensor out of a piece of strip board. Three bus strips on the board allow for a variety of alerts. When all three are submerged everything is ok. When the two longer traces are still under water but the third is not an LED will blink to let you know it’s time. If you don’t pay attention and there’s no water left, a piezo buzzer makes noise until you add water (or the coin cell runs out of juice).
This project centers around an ATtiny85 that [Eric] programmed using an Arduino, one of the methods we covered in our AVR Programming Tutorial. But if this simple circuit isn’t high-tech enough for you, we saw a similar method last year that will send an alert to your iPhone.

Star Trek inspired pocket doors

Do you have enough confidence in your hacking abilities to build a project into the walls of your home? [Marc] used his skills to build an air-powered sliding door for his bedroom. It is similar to the sliding door you’d find on the Enterprise, two sections that slide nicely into the wall to let you pass. Although the picture above shows the internals, he followed through and ended up with a fully finished room that looks fantastic. A compressor in the attic provides the pressure necessary to move the door sections. It is automated, but uses a button press or keypad combination to run instead of detecting motion. Of course, since he’s using a PIC microcontroller to drive the system there’s always room for future changes. Check out how great the finished look is in the video after the break.

Knitting machine hack by keypad emulation

[Travis Goodspeed] and Hackaday alum [Fabienne Serriere] joined forces to develop an alternative interface for a knitting machine. They’re working with the Brother KH-930E machine. We saw [Becky Stern] use the same model by manipulating data on an emulated floppy drive for the device. [Travis] and [Fabienne] went a different route, and are emulating the keypad using an Arduino and a set of transistors.
They started by reverse engineering the keypad matrix using a continuity tester. Once they worked out the column and row layout they connected each to an NPN transistor. The Arduino sketch simulates button presses to set knitting bits for each row, with just one reset button for user input. This can be used to send data from a PC, or as a standalone system. Either way, it’s not only a great way to add functionality to the kitting machine, but a good example of how to interface with the keypad on just about any device.

Snail mail notification system

[Mime] lives on one of the upper levels of an apartment complex. The mailboxes, being located at the ground floor can be somewhat inconvenient to check regularly. [Mime] decided to rig up a device to let him know when his mailbox had been accessed. He started with a wireless doorbell, thinking he could use the door side button inside his mailbox as a trigger with only some slight modification. On the receiver side, he wanted an LED to flash, letting him know that it was time to check his mail. One simple circuit and a self blinking LED later and the whole setup was finished. Great job [Mime]

Custom enclosures made of paper

[Sivan Toledo] needed a enclosure for a unique sized electronic project, not finding what he needed in off the shelf solutions, he went to the next best thing, … Papier Mâché!
Using a mold made out of standard corrugated cardboard, he slowly built up layers made of magazine paper, and ordinary “white glue” diluted with water. After getting near the thickness wanted he switched over to typing / copy type paper for a nice clean outer surface. Ports were made in the usual fashion when dealing with soft or thin material, drill a smaller hole, going back with successively larger holes, and then follow up with an appropriate file, all while taking things slow along the way to prevent unwanted results. Finishing up with layers of paper carefully cut into strips to meet the circumferences / edges, along with the final outer surface to make it all even.
The end result is awesome as it stands, but we cant help but wonder what some sanding and paint would look like on a enclosure made like this, though any way you finish it, the idea comes down to custom enclosures that do not need special tools or materials to complete (on the cheap).
Thanks [Drone]

8×8 LED infinity mirror

[chromationsystems] put out a couple instructibles on building infinity mirrors. One with an 8×8 array of LEDs and one with a 32 LED ring. These are very well  documented covering the construction of the mirror enclosure as well as the circuit and code. The effect is quite nice. The 8×8 array is interesting, we haven’t seen that before. These would make a fine addition to any geek cave/electronics lab. While it looks like these were basically advertisements for a product he sells, you can definitely make your own from his instructions. We like this kind of advertising.

Charging timer for R/C batteries

Santa brought [Quinten's] son a shiny R/C truck for Christmas, but this new toy had one drawback – its batteries could only be connected to the charger for a maximum of 6 hours, lest he turn his house into a pile of smoldering ash.  With grave warnings from the manufacturer dancing in his head, he searched around for a timer that would allow him to cut power to the battery after charging for its allotted time.  Coming up empty, he decided to create his own timed electric socket regulated by an Arduino he had sitting around.  He grabbed a project box and wired up a nice looking socket timer, complete with an LCD status display.  To make things easy for his son, he added two buttons to the front of the controller – one for selecting the amount of charging time, and one to set the timer in motion.  As with his previous hacks, [Quinten] has provided plenty of documentation in the form of pictures, code, and even a video of the timer in action.

PID controlled smoker

[dafonso] purchased a nice 1500W smoker but was somewhat dismayed that it only had one cooking temperature. To compensate he designed his own PID control system which allows him to set the cooking temperature digitally. At the heart of the system is a PICAXE 18 micro which switches the smoker on and off using a solid state relay. Rather than testing the 110V system on the smoker itself (which would have been a pain indoors) he used a lamp instead. To see if he was getting the correct temperature he taped his thermocouple to the light bulb and let the PID switch the lamp on and off. Also be sure to checkout his video which does a good job of explaining how he was able to solder the surface mount components required for the control board.

3 Benefits of Minimalism in Interior Design

Design aficionado will know that minimalism is a growing trend among modern interior designers. But why is minimalism so popular? For those who might be unfamiliar with the term, minimalism is a design concept that strips things down to their bare essentials – a chair will just be a chair, not a chair/cup holder/sculpture. Minimalism seeks to bring out the core of our interiors, enhancing their functionality while minimizing the unnecessary details and flourishes.
Some people have argued that along with stripping design of its “extras”, minimalism also strips it of its style. Without the little details that makes every piece unique, how can you create an inviting, beautiful space? We’re here to tell you that minimalism can achieve just this, if the right balance is achieved. Here are three benefits of minimalism that we think you’ll love, even if you only incorporate it into one room or add minimalist elements slowly to your home.

1. Reduced clutter and more peace of mind. Minimalism is all about trimming the fat of the often excessive modern design trends. A fully minimalist room will naturally be clutter-free, as clutter is hidden by chunky cabinets and concealed closets. Along with less clutter, a minimalist room will give you a subtle peace of mind, as you survey complete Zen in your surroundings.
2. Minimalism is money-saving. Depending on how you incorporate minimalism into your home, you can save hundreds of dollars on the little accent pieces that you don’t buy. No more throws, pillows, or wall art that you love and then leave a few weeks later.
3. Simply space. Minimalism will free up the space in your home, making it look larger and more inviting. You’ll love walking into your living room and taking a sweeping look across a wide-open space.

Decorating Your Home for Fall: The DIY Way

This post is for all of our do-it-yourself readers: those who aren’t afraid to get a little dirty, work with their hands, and create home accents on their own. Making decorations for the fall can range from the very easy (think carving a pumpkin) to the extreme. We’ve hand-picked three DIY projects that beginners can tackle over the next few days to have a beautiful autumn-ready home for September 22nd when the seasons change.

1. A nature walk’s bounty. When the leave begin to turn, take your family out on a relaxing walk through a forest or other area surrounded by nature. Bring a tote bag with you, and gather up all of the fall goodies you see – leaves, acorns, pine cones. When back at home, you can make a family project out of combining these fall items into several displays. Using earthy, woven bowls or flower vases to hold your found items, you can be really creative with colors, textures and placement around the home.
2. Life’s about the little things. You can use dried fruits, nuts, grains and seeds to create beautiful accents as well. Small grains like dried wheat or corn kernels can be used to fill up a glass jar about two thirds of the way, surrounding a thick, honey-dew candle in the center. Or, you can take one or two handfuls of dried cranberries and fill a wineglass, adding a red candle for effect.
3. Pumpkin 2.0. Pumpkin carving is a nice activity to do with the kids, but why not make a more adult-friendly pumpkin for your home? Cut a circular hole in the top and scoop out the insides like you would when preparing to carve, but don’t cut any holes into the sides or base. Instead, fill the pumpkin (which is conveniently waterproof) with water and use it as a fall flower vase.

Water-dosing coffee maker augmentation

[Arthur Benemann] has the worst part of making coffee licked. His add-on for a drip coffee maker fills the water to the proper levels for you, saving the drudgery of rinsing out the carafe, carefully filling it to the appropriate level, then pouring it into the machine without getting everything wet. This isn’t limited to a full pot, but is user selectable by the cup based on how many times in a row you hit that red button. One LED gives feedback on the selected mode, then the device uses a washing machine water valve to turn on the tap for the appropriate amount of time. We’re a little bit leery of connecting homebrew hardware to the water pipes in our house. Make sure you’ve done a good job of debugging so that an infinite loop doesn’t flood you out.

Building infra red light sources with regular lights

[Oneironaut] sent us another IR hack. This time it is a writeup on the best ways to create IR light sources from regular lights. Since normal flashlight bulbs emit a broad enough spectrum to include visible light and IR light, this basically comes down to filtering. [Oneironaut] explores different light sources and different materials in depth, along with great pictures to show his results. This is a great resource if you’re needing to do some night vision for cheap.

A Modern Home Theater Must: Hidden Cables

You’ve invested a fair bit of time and money into your home theater, so you no doubt want it to look its best. While simply having that gorgeous black flat screen TV mounted to the wall or on a black glass shelf is stylish enough, you’ve also got to pay attention to the details if you want the room to maintain its clean, organized look. And that means gathering up those bundles of audio and video cables.
Hiding your home theater cables is not as complex as it might seem when you first stare despondently at that mess at the back of your TV. It just takes a few small tools, a little effort, and an eye towards the moment when your home theater is complete.
You can get cable ties from your local electronics store, in black or white, and use these to tie your cables in a bundle. You’ll want to tie them every few feet, and then run the bundle along your baseboard. You can tack it to the corner, but be sure you don’t pierce any of the cables themselves.
For the more daring (and for an even more concealed look), try hiding the cables under the carpet. Lift up the carpet at the edges, and tack the cables down underneath, just along the baseboard.
Or, if you aren’t really a do-it-yourselfer, you can get a professional to hide your cables inside your walls and along the floor.
It might seem like a lot of work, but trust us: an organized, clean home theater will be a much better environment for your next family movie night.

Decorating with Maps

Today’s Friday Fun post is all about cartography. While it might not spark that “fun” sensation on first glance, your standard map has the potential to spice up your home and add a unique splash that your neighbors can’t compete with.
Take a gander at the image above. The world map above the sofa brings in a lovely blue color, and compliments the beige colors around it. And, it’s a wonderful talking piece – your guests will love examining the map as they chat during cocktail hour before a scrumptious dinner in your modern dining room.
Maps come in all shapes and sizes. For instance, the world map above is oversized and extremely detailed. You can also find maps that enlarge a certain area. Try looking for a map of your hometown, or where your house is, to add an interesting conversation piece to your wall.
Sepia toned maps are also a wonderful addition to any wall. That warm, “archived” look is something special, and will give your room an inviting atmosphere.
Some of the best maps are the authentic ones – those old maps you’ll find at flea markets and in antiques shops. You can also find local artisans to hand paint older maps to give them a touch of color, like the azure in the map above.
If you are already a map collector, putting your collection up on the wall is a viable option to improve your home’s aesthetic value. However, if you haven’t considered maps as both an investment and a style statement, maybe it’s time you should!

How to Incorporate a Circular Rug

The rug has been a part of interior design for generations, and it’s usually a safe bet for bringing any room together. But you don’t want to just be “safe” with your design, do you?
Rectangular rugs are safe, no doubt about it. There are some stunning ones available, featuring florals, geometric patterns, swirls, colors… A rectangular rug will always fit your room, so there’s no worrying about positioning or spacing. It’s a natural fit. Not so the circular rug.
A circular rug needs coaxing to look great, but if you get the sweet spot with positioning, color, pattern and texture, it will make your room pop.
Circle rugs are great for small spaces, as they open up a room. If the rug you choose is a bolder color than the colors around it, it will draw the eye inward, away from the walls, and make the space appear larger than it is.
Circles have no edges, no boundaries. They represent infinity, and when incorporated into a space, this sensation of never-ending form will permeate the atmosphere.
Think about adding a circular rug underneath a sofa to pull it, visually, away from the wall and move it towards the center of the room. Or, you can add a circular rug to the center of a room for a great, eye-catching symmetry.
The possibilities are as endless as the edge of a circle.

Grid Art is Ultra-Modern

Sometimes a big, blank wall is an exciting canvass – but other times it can be a daunting hurdle. How do you dress it up? Do you paint it? Install some shelving? Put up art?
One fantastic new modern trend that can be installed on a large scale is grid art.
Smaller painting, pictures, photos or images can be framed or left unframed and put up behind a sofa or along a blank wall. In three rows of three, or four rows or five, or whatever combination you choose, grid art is a fantastic way to create an eye-catching artistic landscape without having to purchase a single oversized canvass.
It’s a great way to bring together some thematically similar art you might have lying around, and display it all together. Think of colorful photos of different flowers, black and white pictures of Paris, or close-ups of textured surfaces. These would look stunning lined up in grid form.
If you are going to frame the images behind your sofa, it’s best to use the same or similar frame for each. This will give the grid some consistency, and let you play around with the actual images inside the frames.
You can do a single line of three photos for the most basic grid art, or go the extra mile and include a dozen small photos in a circular or triangular grid. The way you set up your grid art is limited only by your imagination.

Modular Furniture for the Urbanite in All of Us

Modular furniture is an urbanite’s dream. It can be moved, shaped and re-shaped to fit whatever space you need it to, large or small. And because of its modularity, it usually features a bubbly, minimalist, or artsy form.
At their core, modular furniture are sets of pre-made furniture pieces that can be combined in several different ways. They are often storage units that can be stacked, chair and table sets that can be folded into each other, or sofas and coffee tables that can slide together when not in use.
Because of their movable, flexible nature, many modular pieces are minimalist in design. They are made for people looking for a compact way to incorporate functionality and style into their home.
For the urbanite with a flair for interior decorating, modular furniture is just perfect. Take the above laptop stand – it is a cabinet in its most basic form, but it includes several compartments that can be opened up to reveal a laptop stand, a mouse pad, four large drawers and electrical plugs. All in one unit!
The benefits of modular furniture are both fashionable and functional. Modular furniture looks stunning in a small space, and it makes it feel larger, too. In a downtown, one-bedroom apartment, bringing in furniture that is both stylish and has multiple functions is a great way to embrace the urban lifestyle without sacrificing your sense of interior design.