Hasta La Gadget!

When it comes to Lego’s building blocks, basically, your imagination’s the limit – not the sky, although I do admit, the amount of money that you have in your bank account too, does play a role considering how the more complicated your creations get, the more unique Lego sets that you will need to fork out money for in the first place. Well, someone has decided to use his knowledge of Lego’s NXT range and inspired to do something out of this world, has created a machine which can be controlled by an app that is available over on the Google Play Store – doing away with the need to write custom hardware, resulting in this Xbox 360 disc carousel.

The carousel will be controlled by a trio of Lego NXT bricks, which are basically the brain of a Mindstorms creation, and the Lego claws gain their movement courtesy of a pneumatics system. Individual disc slots are numbered, hence the moment the player selects the relevant slot, the rig would be smart enough to know just which one to spin to, and the claw will grab the relevant disc. It is rather slow, however, taking approximately 42 seconds to change a disc, but it sure has its own novelty factor thrown into the mix!

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We’ve seen some Dead Space Plasma Cutters before – even some with real lasers, but hey, lasers are always cool, so check this one out and be very impressed. The craftmanship and attention to detail here is simply stunning.

It was made by Patrick Priebe of Laser Gadgets. This weapon can actually do some serious damage, which is great if you find yourself on a derelict spaceship full of killer aliens.

Just like the video game gun it can go from vertical to horizontal and back again and as shown in the video, it can burn things of course.  It’s powered by three bright 30mW green lasers for aiming, and a 1.5W blue laser for burning stuff. While Patrick doesn’t offer plans or a build guide for his Plasma Cutter, he will build and sell you one if you have enough money.

[via Obvious Winner]

The thing I love about the intersection of geekdom and art is that we end up with some really ingenious and non-traditional mediums for creativity. For example, what was once an innocent champagne cork has been transformed into the ultimate evil – Darth Vader.

DIYer SJ Roth took an ordinary cork and embellished it with markers, clay, fabric, foam rubber, and even a little LED lightsaber to create the cutest little Vader you’ll see today.

You can learn how to make your own Cork Vader over on Instructables. And while you’re over there, be sure to check out SJ’s Mario Corky, Ezio Auditore Corky, and Iron Man Corky.

Now that you’re all about dressing up and heading out to your local Avengers movie opening – Iron Man 3 coming up quick(!) – you’ll want to know how to make a prop that’s above and beyond the pale. This week a custom-made and home-made Thor’s Hammer has appeared amongst the DIY ranks, bringing with it 80,000 volts of electricity to boot. All it takes is some foam and teeny tiny tesla coil!

The hack you’re about to see comes straight from Caleb Kraft over at Hack A Day who, loving the greatness of the hammer, aka Mjolnir, decided it was time – finally – to create on of his own. This creation was initiated when he met up with the folks at ArcAttack and decided the time for electricity was nigh.

The creation you’re seeing above is not one your everyday average comic book film lover is going to be able to build. Instead you’re going to need to create a tesla coil yourself, make sure it’s perfectly sized to fit in the head or the arm of the hammer, and you’ll want to be at least a bit of a refined sense of 3D crafting style to boot. The coil created for this project was made by Staci Elaan and is shown in the video below. This coil is entirely battery powered!

The hammer itself isn’t entirely ready for high-action films – in this form it’s still a bit fragile – but it’s certainly ready to be taken to your local movie opening. Then again, it could very easily be considered a dangerous weapon, so watch yourself. Using this at home to impress the kids is probably as far as you should go – but again, don’t let them grab hold of it for too long – the insides may very well come out.

DIY Thor’s Hammer blasts 80,000 user-friendly volts is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
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The modern day portable device such as smartphones and tablets are generally great devices to own – only when they have enough juice to keep them going, that is. If only someone could come up with a smartphone that has an uber long battery life without compromising on its multimedia features. Well, what are you to do when you are all out of juice, and do not have access to a power outlet or a charger? Instructables user David Johansson has come up with a DIY solution, calling it the “portable, compact and adjustable thermoelectric emergency generator” which juices up your device using a…you’ve guessed it, candle.

This DIY charger looks like a Bunsen burner that carries a heat sink on top, and when plugged into a USB cable, your smartphone should start to recharge its exhausted battery. Johansson’s DIY setup allows it to generate enough power to charge a smartphone, courtesy of a Peltier element. When used as a cooler, the Peltier effect will then transfer heat from one side of an element to another, and can also double up as a generator by heating up one side of the element to a greater temperature compared to the other. This would then result in a difference in voltage, which is known as the Seebeck effect. Yes, we’re knee deep in geek territory now. Sure, we’ve seen like minded “chargers” in the past, but this one does look as though it is one of the smallest versions around. Got any spare candles lying around?

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