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RE: 1980's Heathkit Hero robot teardown / modern equivalent

Praxnar — Sat, 29 Jul 2023 23:54:22 GMT

I have a Heathkit Hero model ET-18 that I am planning to rebuild soon. I am also looking into finding a way to control it with a Raspberri Pi.

1980's Heathkit Hero robot teardown / modern equivalent

beacon_dave — Mon, 02 Jan 2017 17:51:28 GMT

This cropped up in discussion elsewhere on Element 14 and may be worth considering for a future show.

https://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-83675#comment-96896

Heathkit in the 1980's produced and sold an educational/personal robot in kit form or pre-assembled called the 'Hero 1' and then later the 'Hero 1 Jr.' and the 'Hero 2000' models.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HERO_(robot)

They were much sought after by young technical enthusiasts at the time, but the pricing probably placed them more in the college/university domain.

If one can be obtained (around 20,000 were sold according to Wikipedia) then it may make an interesting teardown project for the show. If not, then perhaps building a modern equivalent would be an alternative idea for the show.

Super 8/8mm Film Converter

mglafond — Mon, 30 Jan 2017 19:12:52 GMT

As I envision it, the idea for a film converter screams for the use of an Arduino or Raspberry Pi to automate the process, some mechanical engineering to figure out film transport, 3D printing to create the "sprockets" that precisely advance the film, and image capture capabilities. My idea is to create what is called a telecine converter that would automate the digital capture of each frame of the film as an image, and then allow those images to be strung together at the proper frame rate to create a digital copy of the film.

A little background:

I have a box full of 8 mm and Super 8 movie film that my parents shot of my brother and sisters when we were kids. Though I do have a projector, fiddling with it is always tricky, and you end up watching 3-5 minutes of film before you have to rewind it, and load the next roll. Needless to say, I never pull it out to watch the film.

There are commercially available systems, but the decent ones are prohibitively expensive, and the affordable ones are too low resolution to even bother spending your time doing the conversion. There are "devices" that allow you to project the film into one side, and then use a digital camera/video camera to capture the image from the other side in real time, but these systems suffer from incongruous display and capture rates, resulting in a "beat frequency" or "flicker" in the finished capture. They also suffer from a hot spot in the center of the film image (and relatively poor illumination in the corners of the image) caused by the filament in the lamp on the projector. And projectors can't be stopped to capture a single frame without danger of melting the film with the heat of the lamp.

Commercial sites (WalMart, Costco, and others) will also transfer film for you, but they are expensive, usually in the $10 range for a 50' (3-5 minute) reel captured at Standard Def, and more for HD. If you have a sizable number of rolls, this quickly adds up, if you are even willing to let precious old home movies out of your possession for 3-5 weeks to a lab located who knows where.

Of course digitization would allow for color correction, scratch reduction, and various other types of repairs to the digitally captured copy of the original film. Also, though I don't have any film with sound, but I understand there are 8 mm films out there that do have an audio track, and that could also be captured and synchronized with the film. Converting the images to a movie, and post-processing (color correction, scratch reduction, etc.) could be an interested second phase to the project. Or maybe there is an open source or Linux based solution to do it on the fly at the time of capture?

I imagine an Arduino (or preferably a Raspberry Pi) using a stepper motor to advance the film one frame, and trigger a digital camera (or phone) to capture an image of the frame and save it to an SD card or computer (via USB, WiFi or Bluetooth). Most cameras and phones today have sensors that are 10 MP or bigger, which means the resulting film created from these captures should be 4K or better (I think). Of course we're limited to the quality of the original film, but why capture it at less than 4K?!?! Another option would be to use the Raspberry Pi camera, which has a resolution of 5MP, I believe, enough for 1080P but not 4K. I was thinking something like a Canon Powershot with CHDK installed would do nicely. Of course whichever capture solution is used, the optics have to be worked out to enlarge the film frame and focus the camera (maybe one of those clip on smart phone lenses... or an old slide projector lens used in reverse???). I also figure the frame could be evenly illuminated with an LED or LED array to provide a cool, even light source.

There are homebrew hacks described on the web where projectors have been retrofitted with LEDS, instrumentation to advance a single frame, and microswitches to trigger a camera, but it seems a complete solution using modern maker tools would be very much in Ben's wheelhouse!

RE: Super 8/8mm Film Converter

mranton — Sun, 28 May 2023 17:03:53 GMT

you may also want to check out this:

https://hackaday.io/project/167426-8mm-film-scanner/discussion-186801

RE: Super 8/8mm Film Converter

shabaz — Thu, 13 Apr 2023 16:01:45 GMT

Very poor quality AI spam.. reported

RE: Super 8/8mm Film Converter

Former Member — Thu, 13 Apr 2023 15:45:35 GMT

[deleted]

RE: Auto Pause Movie/Video When Distracted

Proxifiex — Sun, 19 Feb 2023 08:11:58 GMT

Did someone ever make this???

Auto Pause Movie/Video When Distracted

Former Member — Thu, 26 Nov 2015 06:18:51 GMT

Media Center (PC) that automatically pauses a video you are watching when you look away from the TV/Monitor via a camera with face (eyes) recognition software and then resume the video only when you look back at the screen.

If more than 1 person is watching you can program a logical gate AND so that the movie only plays when everyone is watching. (If the camera has support for multiple face recognition)

Waterprofe Heart Rate Moniter

Anonymous-241635 — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 15:38:17 GMT

Hi Ben

I'm a Swimmer and 1 thing we have to do often is to check, our heart rate.

one thing that could eb usefule would be a a device that can check your heart rate quickly withiung 6 seconds and be waterprofe.

So you would have the device sitting on the side of the pool and in-between swimming set's you plug you finbger to a strap or sumthing, and it can output your heartrate and even other usefule fitness information

Thanks in Advance

RE: Waterprofe Heart Rate Moniter

Sobia — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 09:38:45 GMT

Teguar Waterproof Monitors are completely sealed with an IP66/IP69K waterproof rating. IP69K is the highest level of waterproof protection and it means the monitors can withstand close range, high temperature, high pressure water spray.

RE: Shrinking a modern pc motherboard

permission — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 00:14:55 GMT

[deleted]

Shrinking a modern pc motherboard

Former Member — Mon, 04 May 2015 14:30:59 GMT

Hi Ben,

I was thinking of building a small device like i tablet or phone but with the hardware of a computer, so i could take it with me every were and plug-it in a doc on my desk, that would connect it to a moniter, a mouse and a keyboard. But I think it be almost impossible for me to build a motherboard from scratch so i thought that you might have some ideas on how to shrink an existing one.

Thanks!

N64 Portable PSone LED screen displaying static

dataguru1111 — Mon, 09 Aug 2021 15:31:26 GMT

I've been having continuous issues with my N64 portable console after a short happened on one of the cells. Before that shortage situation the batteries charged perfectly + the LED screen showed zero static (when charged). I believe that the short also caused the LED screen to display static continuously, but I can't seem to solve this issue. These are the steps I attempted to solve the issue:

I measured the voltage of the 2 cells (with a multimeter) [when the system is on & off] and they were both measured at around 3.9v, but while charging the charger reads that Cell #1 is 3.97v & Cell #2 is 4.10v.

I replaced the majority of the wires connected to the batteries banking on maybe the wires became damaged after the short, thus causing the screen to show static & causing an error with the charger
I replaced the LED screen with a new one, but still no difference, the screen still shows up with static

I think that the issue is that for some reason the screen static is indicating that something isn't able to draw enough current off your batteries or something.

I'm out of ideas as to what could be the cause for the screen static.. Can anyone assist me with what might be the issue?

RE: USB/MIDI expression pedal

ravenna — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 08:21:58 GMT

See: https://beatbars.com/en/midi-expression-pedal.html

Very Useful Pedal. Extremely useful, especially in combination with programs such as FL Studio. If you're into MIDI, this is a must have.

The budget option (MIDI Adapter) for regular expression pedals is also extra: EX2M https://beatbars.com/en/expression-to-midi.html

Good luck!

RE: NEC PC Engine (TG16) Ultimate Multi-System

welch — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 23:58:08 GMT

I think it would be cool. Also after seeing many of Ben's portable conversions of many platforms, and of course the TurboExpress/PC Engine GT were the first handheld consoles to play TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine HuCards....

I am curious how a TurboDuo conversion to portable would be.

The only problem with using a TurboDuo for the conversion, is that it is very rare and be a shame to dismantle(I never should of sold mine in hindsight).

Maybe a just a standard PC Engine, with CD-ROM2 and system 3.0 card or Arcade card shall do. Sorry the SuperGrafx is too rare too and a shame to dismantle as well.

However, there is other ways to accomplish what you are looking for, and that would be using a Raspberry Pi and emulator for example.

My apologies for the late response, I just joined this site.

-James Welch

NEC PC Engine (TG16) Ultimate Multi-System

steve.audia — Sun, 28 Aug 2016 18:39:11 GMT

The PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16) had many, many hardware revisions...

http://www.ausretrogamer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/PC-Engine-Genealogy.jpg

...but never an ultimate one, that had every feature.

The build idea is to mod a PC Engine to include every feature of every revision, in one unit. Features...

Level 1 (Hecky dory)...

1) Plays both JP (Hu Cards) and US (TurboChip) games (region free mod)

2) Plays CD games (already region free)

4) Plays games that requires the Arcade Card (Neo-Geo fighting game ports, mostly) by building in the Arcade Card and have a switch for it

5) Has the 5-player adapter built in (normally only one controller port; not even two)

Level 2 (Hecktastic)...

6) Plays SuperGrafx games (only 7 unique games)

7) RGB, component, and/or S-Video out mod

Level 3 (Heckinator)...

8) Slot-loading CD drive

Level 4, They've Gone to Plaid (Heckdiculous)...

9) Plays LD-ROM LaserActive games

The PC Engine was a great system and, because of its extensive lineage, it's begging for such a mod. Call it the Turbo Trio RX Super CD-ROM³

RE: 1980's Heathkit Hero robot teardown / modern equivalent

topls64 — Sun, 30 Aug 2020 04:43:11 GMT

Hi! 30 year Hero 1 owner here. Had to join, just wanted to offer my Hero 1 knowledge to anyone that may stumble upon this in the future.

Heathkit never mentioned some of its cooler abilities in the manuals, like serial up/download and the ability to run BASIC on board. It is just a 6800 series computer after all.

I can be found at personal a+ jeffgolenia.com if you ever need guidance.

If you need parts, ROMs or manuals, I recommend you talk to Robert at https://www.robotworkshop.com/robotweb/

Take care!

Jeff Golenia

Chicago, USA

RE: IBM 5100

yeklas — Thu, 16 Jul 2020 03:50:09 GMT

Hello Bill,

How much would it cost to take that IBM 5100 off your hands?

Thank you.

RE: 1980's Heathkit Hero robot teardown / modern equivalent

bippy — Tue, 28 Apr 2020 02:05:36 GMT

(April 27, 2020) - Hi Folks, I just rediscovered this fine group. I have a 1985 HERO-1 with a voice module working nicely in our living room. (It usually sits and displays the time). I updated the batteries and cleaned it up since my wife and I built it in the late 1980s. Thank you for being here and your interest in teaching electronics to folks. That was one of the reasons this 'Bot was made (I am told). I can be emailed at daveboyer55@gmail.com or text 585-329-4982 . Take care. Stay strong and healthy, Dave Boyer, Rochester NY USA.

RE: Arduino powered system for electric guitar pickup selection.

ragin62 — Sat, 04 Jan 2020 07:48:01 GMT

Hello Peeps,

I am working on controlling my guitars pup selection and cap selection...phase series parallel...etcetcetc...with the Arduino, also adding in possibly a Rasp Pi (IF I send any signal through the IC (microcontroller), a shift register or two. The cavity in my guitar thus far is extremely large...it caused me concern so I reinforced the bridge and also made it a floating one...added metal bondo fiberglass and a hand cut piece of red oak painted black on back to cover the extra circuitry and extra springs in there. The guitar resonates better then it did new...it is a Washburn Lyon Black strat-style. So-far out of all my 9 guitars this ones sounds and plays the BEST. I also hand cut a solid copper pickguard...lined the cavity with copper foil creating a Faraday shield...and also tying the neck tightly all the way down to the bridge tremelo that is mounted TO the copper shield and the added metal reinforcements beneath. Giving the guitar a SOLID one piece sound. Very resonant. The pups are twin single coils wired in series as homemade humbuckers with one of each "sin-bucker" ceramic magnets replaced by neodyium...or whatever they are called...lol The bridge pup is a new Seymour Duncan Dimebucker. I am adding a voltage octuppler with mini tesla coil and a booster (preamp) made from discrete components etcetcetc...and THAT is why I am pursuing the arduino microcontroller route...have been for some time now. I am glad I found you...this post. Please tell me if you have made any progress...I have...and when I am certain it will be damn near perfect...I will tell you as well.

Play loud play often! CHEERS! David Sellers

Oh! The guitar was very light weight...WAS...it now weighs MORE then an old Les Paul. I LOVE it! Peace out...

RE: Hack for old style crank phone

mfetting — Thu, 15 Aug 2019 15:01:52 GMT

I purchased an old crank phone at a second-hand store last year that I'm planning to add a Google Voice AIY Kit. By modifying the keyword to respond to "operator" or by the turn of the hand crank it will work more like the original phone (simulation at least). I will be using a Raspberry Pi 3 with the Google Voice AIY kit and will make modifications for microphone and speaker to use the earpiece and voice receiver. I plan to use a relay for a button by connecting it to the output of the Crank Magneto, which can produce approx. 80 to 100 volts AC.

Hack for old style crank phone

dearperson — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 14:49:50 GMT

Convert an old style crank phone to accept voice commands. Pick up the hand set and speak into the phone "hello operator" then tell the operator what number to dial or something you want to do like turn on the lights, unlock the front door or make a reminder. I thought about using a PC or a smart phone but I can't get Seri or Cortana to change their name to operator.

A Height Adjustable Normal Desk Add-On

Former Member — Sat, 21 Mar 2015 00:23:26 GMT

Hello Ben,

I was wondering if you could make a height adjustable desk add-on similar to the VARIDESK Height-Adjustable Standing Desks. I have a 39 3/8 x 23 5/8 Desk and two 20 inch monitors. I think the style of the build should be one flat surface just like the VARIDESK Pro 48.

Thanks for all the awesome content you make,

Omar

RE: A Height Adjustable Normal Desk Add-On

sophiaedward64 — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 10:59:36 GMT

It's quite old post, I dont understand what to say.

RE: Arduino powered system for electric guitar pickup selection.

alanarnoldguitars — Thu, 18 Jul 2019 19:31:08 GMT

I've been working on a similar idea (purely planning so far), using the ras pi 3b+, to control digitally, the analog signals from the 4 coils, of 2 humbuckers. Digital pots for vol and tone, and OR logic gates, or digital spdt switches, for pup selection.

Big problem I'm having, is choosing which are the most suitable ICs for the task ?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Alan Arnold Guitars.

Ps. I don't want to digitise the signal. That will stay analog, but digitally controlled. Therefore able to be saved, presey, and recalled. Probably with rotaty encoders.