Contraptions

Electronic and Mechanical Gadgets and Small Tools.

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A Typical Hardware Hobby Enthusiast is a Hacker when he starts learning, it is sometimes given the name of reverse engineering in another context. The Hardware Hobby Freelance hacker is better off, he is doing it for Learning and Education. Students should be given new and challenging projects in well equipped labs, to augment their skills and make them productive in their jobs from day one.

Hobby Projects – Insulation tester, LED Circuits, Meters.

Hobby DIY Electronics and Making Things at delabs

We all learn by breaking up things, to see how it works, then Fix things around Home etc. Later Create and Innovate perhaps, thats the way to go. To Invent something someday.

Circuit Diagrams Archives Reference

Here are some people doing just that, inspire you to create useful things for your Home. We should never become over dependent on others for everything, this will erode our knowledge base, skills and freedom.

Silicon Chip – Electronics Hobby DIY Magazine, Projects to Build and Kits too.

Nuts and Volts – Aimed at the electronics hobbyist, with articles covering amateur radio, cellular. communications.

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Here are some Metal Detector Projects that are quite interesting for the purpose of education and experiments in the Art of electronics. This site may be as old as Y2K, but the url / domain may have changed.

Metal Detector Projects

If you are interested in the theory behind the mag I can highly recommend the book The Magnetics Measurement Handbook by J.M. Janicke. Besides a good coverage of magnetics theory, it contains much of what you need to build a useful fluxgate Magnetometer, plus other devices.

Traditional Geophysical instruments include ground-penetrating radar, earth resistivity meter, infrared, and sonar, to name a few. Currently, earth resistivity projects are the most practical for the do-it-yourselfer, although some people have been tinkering with side scan sonar.

Metal Detector Projects

Detection of Gold

Just the Jeohunter really works and directly detects Gold – see below screen. And even gold-worth 9-15cm diameter cannon-balls get detected as “Gold” (golden ring & cannonball analyses has identical values), but thats because of the huge metal mass and special shape – alot MDs have “problems” in such situation and perhaps only a magnetometer really works here. btw. there is no difference if you search with Ground Balance minus 200, zero or plus 200, the gold detection always remains the same.

Detection of Gold - Metal Detection

There are historical records of DIY Enthusiasts having created what is known as the “Donkey Kong Gold Hunter”. This Gold Detector uses a Nintendo Unit after many Mods.

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I  was enlightened about this Battery Less wonder. This is a boon for rural areas and an emergency tool which depend only on your will and your tendons. I found this bright flash of information when i was looking for supercap vendors.

Learn about Supercaps, dynamo and White LED

Richard J. Nelson on the LED Forever Flashlight. – The future of low power lighting is in the use of the Light Emitting Diode, LED. Sooner or later you will buy one or more LED lights or lamps. The two primary advantages of an LED light source is it’s efficient light generation (exceeding that of fluorescent lamps) and long life, typically 100,000 hours. That is 50 to 100 times more life than most of the bulbs in your house.

Learn about the Eternal Torchlight

This is a Linear Dynamo LED Torch which uses a SuperCapacitor to store the energy. Easy to repair and maintain if necessary.

It uses no batteries and requires only the single LED included. You can even leave the flashlight unused in your car’s glove box for years and you’ll always get that all-important light when you need it most. Forever Flashlight lll pays for itself quickly by saving you the cost of batteries and bulbs.

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Sometime around 2008 i wrote this. It is more of Humor and less of Reality.

Vibration  Pressure are Related, Pressure is related to Temperature, Sunlight has Infra Red & Heating Ability. This should Ring some Bell.

You have Heard of Solar Cells and Panels, Sunlight to Power. Heard of Piezoelectric Energy, Vibration to Electricity

Solar Calculator

Solar – Heat – Pressure – Vibration – Electricity !! New Hybrid Solar Cell ! Someone has to just Invent it. It should Flash a few Lamps.

Micro Mech Lithography. Tiny Cantilevers, Tiny Silicone bulb of Volatile Liquid. Mini Lens Heats the bulb. Cantilever is bent a few Microns.

Pressure sensitive valve deflates Bulb suddenly, The Piezoelectric Cantilever goes Twang. The Electric Pulses charge a Supercap and battery.

The Vaporized Liquid has Condensed, it goes back to the cells by Gravity, The Shrunk Bulb draws the liquid. Ready for next Cycle.

If it works, credit me, else all credits go to Tweedledum and Tweedledee.
Once upon a Time –  by delabs