The Big Book of Hacks: 264 Amazing DIY Tech Projects

FOREWORD

Anyone can make anything. That is the lesson of the 140 years that Popular Science has been in print. A determined person, working on the weekends, can escape gravity, break the speed of sound, or create a new means of communicating across great distances. And that inventive process begins by tearing things apart and rebuilding them again.

I cannot claim to have been the kind of kid who did that. My instincts around technology were always to keep my belongings clean, dry, and otherwise in perfect working order, not to dismantle or modify them. But my years at Popular Science have taught me that that instinct is the wrong one. There is simply too much technology at our disposal not to mess around with it. And when a determined person brings his or her inventive instincts to bear on the gadgets and gizmos that fill our lives, great things can result.

But this book isn’t necessarily about building great things. It’s about messing around, usually for the simple fun of it. The projects on these pages are based, in part, on the years we’ve spent pursuing the lone, sometimes crazed hackers who don’t just modify technology but blow it apart, just to be able to say they’ve done it.

I spent an afternoon with our staff photographer, John Carnett, who in his off time had replaced the motor on a four-wheel ATV with a jet engine. The thing required an elaborate start-up procedure and ear protection just to get it rolling, and as he drove me through his Philadelphia neighborhood in it, I cringed to imagine the incredible racket we were making, essentially that of a 747 taxiing past. And yet throughout the process, oblivious to the enemies he was making among the local parents, dogs, and nappers, John wore a look of joy and pride that had nothing to do with serving humanity or inventing something new. He’d just tricked something out—hacked it—in his own way, and in doing so had made his mark on the universe, not to mention on the neighborhood noise ordinances.

It’s in that spirit that we, and especially our tireless senior editor Doug Cantor, bring you this entertaining collection of projects. We did it for the hell of it.

Jacob Ward

Editor-in-Chief

Popular Science

INTRODUCTION

I was an unlikely candidate to become the editor of How 2.0, Popular Science’s do-it-yourself column. I’ve always been reasonably handy, but when it came to real hands-dirty, open-things-up-and-rearrange-the-parts hacking skills, I was a complete novice.

So I got into the DIY world the same way an experienced DIYer would work on a project: I did some research, talked to seasoned tinkerers, and then dove in. Early on I managed to build a tiny flashlight, hack my cell phone’s firmware, and make a pair of bookends from old CDs, all without causing too much damage. Over time I found that with a few hours, a small pile of parts from Radio Shack, and a little patience, I could build some really cool stuff.

Editing How 2.0 has also given me a window into the vast community of smart, dedicated people who have found about a million uses for things like solenoid valves and Arduino microcontrollers. The breadth of their innovations is truly astonishing, and that’s what Popular Science has tried to show in the pages of How 2.0 each month. We’ve featured projects ranging from a remote-controlled helicopter only 2 inches (5 cm) high to a remote-controlled bomber with a 20-foot (60-m) wingspan; from a portable solar-powered gadget charger to a 200-pound (90-kg) solar-powered 3-D printer; from a robot built from a toothbrush head to one that can mix and serve cocktails.

Many of these projects have found their way into this book, along with a host of entirely new ones. A few of them are just amazing, audacious things that almost no one could (or probably should) try. Most, though, are easier to replicate. Some take only a few minutes and require little more than gluing parts together.

So if you’ve never attempted to make anything before in your life, this book provides plenty of ways to start. From there you can take on some of the more challenging projects and develop new skills. Eventually, you might actually find yourself advancing your projects far beyond the versions in the book.

Whatever your skill level and area of interest, I encourage you to roll up your sleeves and (safely) give one of these projects a shot. At times you may get frustrated or even break something. But ultimately you’ll be surprised by what you can make, hack, tweak, improve, and transform—and by how much fun you’ll have doing it.

Doug Cantor

Senior Editor

Popular Science

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

So you want to hack stuff—to tear it apart, put it back together with other components, and make it new. We at Popular Science salute you, and we’ve put together these projects to get you started. Many of them come from our popular How 2.0 column, and many come from amazingly inventive individuals out there making cool stuff. (Check out the Thanks to Our Makers section for more info.)

Before starting a project, you can look to the following symbols to decode what you’re facing.

If you’re just breaking in your screwdriver and have never even heard the word microcontroller, try out these projects first. Designed to be doable within five minutes—give or take a few seconds, depending on your dexterity—and to make use of basic household items, these tech crafts are the perfect starting ground for the newbie tinkerer.

These are the big ones—the ambitious projects that you’ll want to sink some real time and cash into, and that will challenge your skills as a builder. How much time and cash, you ask? And just how challenging? The helpful rubric below will give you an idea.

Popular Science has been doing DIY for a very long time—almost as long as the 140 years the magazine has been in print. Occasionally this book shares a DIY project from our archives so you can try your hand at the hilarious retro projects your grandfather and grandmother built back before, say, television or smartphones.

Everyone loves a good success story—tales of everyday individuals who created something so wild that it makes you say . . . well, You built WHAT?! You’ll find several of these stories throughout the book, and it is our hope that they will inspire you to take your projects to the next level.

WARNING

If you see this symbol, we mean business. Several of the projects in this book involve dangerous tools, electrical current, flammables, potentially harmful chemicals, and recreational devices that could cause injury if misused. So remember: With great DIY comes great responsibility. Use your head, know your tools (and your limitations), always wear safety gear, and never employ your hacking prowess to hurt others. (See our Disclaimer for more information about how Popular Science and the publisher are not liable for any mishaps.)

001 PUT TOGETHER A SOLDERING KIT

Soldering is playing with fire, or at least with hot metal. So you need the right tools.

If you’re working on electronics projects, chances are you’ll want to connect lightweight metal objects like wires, and soldering is the way to get that done. You heat pieces of metal with a soldering iron, then join them together using a molten filler, or solder. Once it cools and hardens, you’re left with a strong, electronically conductive bond.

SOLDER This is the good stuff—the material you’ll melt to connect metals. Traditionally, solder was a mix of tin and lead, but these days look for lead-free types to avoid nasty health risks. Choose thinner solder for delicate projects, like attaching wires to a circuit board, and thicker solder for projects involving heftier wires or bulkier pieces of metal.

SOLDERING IRON This tool has a metal tip and an insulated handle. When it’s powered on, the tip heats up so it can melt solder. There are low- and high-wattage versions: Low wattage is useful for fragile projects, while high wattage is better for projects involving bigger pieces. There are also different types of tips available for the soldering iron.

SOLDERING IRON STAND Buy a stand that fits your iron so you’ll have a place to put it down safely when it’s hot. (Leaving this thing lying around when it’s turned on is a good way to burn down the toolshed before you’ve even made anything cool with it!)

WIRE-MODIFYING TOOLS You’ll likely be soldering a lot of wire, so it’s useful to have wire cutters, wire strippers, and needle-nose pliers on hand so you can manipulate the wire. Before connecting wires, you must peel back their insulation to expose the wires, so wire strippers are definitely a must.

CLIPS AND CLAMPS Soldering requires both hands, so you’ll need something to hold the materials you’re soldering in place. Clips, clamps, and even electrical tape can do the job.

LIQUID FLUX Soldering works best when the items being soldered are squeaky clean, so have liquid flux on hand—it chases away oxides and other goop that can make soldering difficult.

HEAT-SHRINK TUBING You can use plastic heat-shrink tubing to insulate wires before you apply heat and solder them. It’s available in several diameters for projects with various wire sizes.

TIP CLEANER Your soldering iron’s tip will get a bit nasty as you work, so keep a wet sponge on hand to periodically wipe down the tip.

EXHAUST FAN The fumes from soldering are not healthy to breathe, so you need good ventilation from a fan or an open window to help clear the air.

SAFETY GOGGLES Bits of hot solder can go flying as you work, so don’t do it without wearing safety goggles.

002 LEARN SOLDERING BASICS

Now that you have your soldering gear together, here’s how to get it done.

At its most basic, soldering is simply attaching wires to wires. The process is a bit different when you’re soldering directly onto a circuit board, but don’t worry: We’ve got you covered with info for each.

SOLDERING WIRES

STEP 1 In a well-ventilated space, with your safety goggles on, plug in your soldering iron to heat it up. Be careful not to touch the tip, which will heat up fast.

STEP 2 Prepare the materials you want to join with solder. If you’re connecting two wires, peel back any insulation about ½ inch (1.25 cm), and twist the wires together. Place your materials on a surface you don’t mind burning a bit, like scrap wood.

STEP 3 Cut a length from the spool of solder and coil it up at one end, leaving a short lead. You can hold on to the coiled end as you apply the solder.

STEP 4 Touch the iron to the point where the wires are twisted together. Leave it there until the wires are hot enough to melt the solder (about 10 seconds), then touch the solder to the wire joint every few seconds until it begins to melt. Allow enough solder to melt onto the wires to cover them, then pull the solder and soldering iron away. Don’t touch the solder directly to the soldering iron during this process—that will melt the solder onto the wires, but won’t form a firm joint.

STEP 5 When you need to fix a mistake, you can reheat your joint, melt the solder, and reposition the components. If you want to break the connection you made for any reason, you can desolder a joint. For connections like joined wires, you can often simply heat up the joint and pull the wires apart, or cut each wire below the joint and resolder as desired.

SOLDERING A CIRCUIT BOARD

STEP 1 Place the component that you wish to solder in the correct spot on the circuit board and clamp it down, then push the leads for each component through the holes on the board.

STEP 2 Solder the leads to the bottom of the board. (This is easier to do with a fine-tipped, low-wattage soldering iron.) Press the soldering iron to the lead and the metal contact on the board at the point where you want them to connect. Once they heat up enough to melt the solder—just a few seconds—melt a small amount of solder at the connection point (too much can cause a short, too little won’t make a strong connection).

STEP 3 Pull the solder away, then remove the soldering iron a second or two later. Once you’ve soldered all the leads onto the circuit board, trim off excess wire with a wire cutter.

TRY TINNING

If you’re working with components that have to be surface-mounted on a circuit board—ones that don’t have leads you can thread through to the back of the board—you’ll need to use a technique called tinning.

STEP 1 Touch the soldering iron to the point on the board where you want to attach the component. Melt a small drop of solder on this point, then remove the soldering iron.

STEP 2 Pick up the component with tweezers, heat up the drop of solder on the board, and carefully place the component on the solder.

STEP 3 Hold the component in place for a few seconds until the solder cools.

STEP 4 If you need to desolder joints on a circuit board, use a desoldering pump with your soldering iron to melt and remove the solder.

003 STUDY CIRCUIT COMPONENTS

To build a circuit, first you’ve got to understand its building blocks.

Maps of how current flows through a circuit are called schematics. Each component is represented by a labeled symbol, which is connected to other components by lines to represent the current’s path.

In this book, we use several circuitry diagrams to show how to attach projects’ components, so here we’ll introduce you to some of the main circuit components that show up on these diagrams.

TRANSISTORS A transistor amplifies energy flowing to its base pin, allowing a larger electrical current to flow between its collector and emitter pins. The two basic types of transistors, NPN and PNP, have opposite polarities: Current flows from collector to emitter in NPN transistors, and flows from emitter to collector in PNP transistors.

POTENTIOMETERS When you need to vary resistance within a circuit, use a potentiometer instead of a standard resistor. These have a controller that allows you to change the level of resistance: B potentiometers have a linear response curve, while A potentiometers have a logarithmic response curve.

SWITCHES Switches open or close a circuit. Some are normally open as a default; others are normally closed.

RESISTORS A circuit needs resistance to function. Without it, you’ll end up with a short circuit, in which the current flows directly from power to ground without being used, causing your circuit to overheat and otherwise misbehave. To prevent that from happening, resistors reduce the flow of electrical current. The level of resistance is measured in ohms, so check those numbers to make sure a component’s resistance matches the level indicated in the circuitry diagram.

CAPACITORS These store electricity, then release it back into the circuit when there’s a drop in power. Capacitor values are measured in farads: picofarads (pF), nanofarads (nF), and microfarads (μF) are the most common units of measure. Ceramic capacitors aren’t polarized, so they can be inserted into a circuit in any direction, but electrolytic capacitors are polarized and need to be inserted in a specific orientation.

BATTERIES These store power for a circuit, and you can use more than one to increase voltage or current.

WIRE These single strands of metal are often used to connect the components in a circuit. Wire comes in various sizes (or gauges), and it’s usually insulated.

DIODES These components are polarized to allow current to flow through them in only one direction—very useful if you need to stop the current in your circuit from flowing the wrong way. The side of a diode that connects to ground is called the cathode, and the side that connects to power is called the anode. Light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, light up when current flows through them.

INTEGRATED CIRCUITS These are tiny circuits (usually including transistors, diodes, and resistors) prepacked into a chip. Each leg of the chip will connect to a point in your larger circuit. These vary widely in their composition, and will come with a handy data sheet explaining their functions.

TRANSFORMERS These devices range from thumbnail-size to house-size, and consist of coils of wire wound around a core, often a magnet. Made to transfer alternating current from one circuit to another, they can step the power of the current up or down depending on the ratio of wire windings between one coil and another.

004 BUILD A CIRCUIT

Now that you know what goes into a circuit, you can make one.

STEP 1 Assemble all the components that appear on your schematic, along with any tools you’ll need to make connections, clamp parts, or trim wires.

STEP 2 To test your circuit before you solder it together, set it up on a breadboard first. Breadboards are boards covered in small holes that allow you to lay out and connect components without soldering them in place.

STEP 3 Once you’re ready to construct the circuit, it’s best to start by installing the shortest components first. This helps you avoid having to move taller components out of the way, and allows you to flip the board over to hold the component you’re working on in place. As you install components, orient their labels in the same direction so they’re all legible at once.

STEP 4 Many components have lead wires that you can insert into a circuit board. Bend these leads before you insert the component so that you don’t stress the part or the board.

STEP 5 You’ll need to hold your parts in place while you solder the circuit together. You can do this by clinching lead wires (bending them slightly on the other side of the board to hold them in place), using tape, or bracing the parts against your work surface.

STEP 6 As you solder, check that each component is aligned correctly after you solder the first pin or lead—it’s easier to make adjustments at this point, before you’ve finished soldering the part in place.

STEP 7 When everything’s soldered in place, trim all your circuit’s lead wires and test it out.

005 CHOOSE A MICROCONTROLLER

Most geeks know a thing or two about microcontrollers. So get these basics under your belt.

A microcontroller is essentally a tiny computer, complete with a central processing unit (CPU), memory, and input and output. It’s really useful for controlling switches, LEDs, and other simple electronic devices. Here are a few features you’ll want to consider when choosing one for a project.

PROGRAMMABILITY Ideally, you want a microcontroller that you can erase and reprogram a number of times. Some can only be programmed once—these are fine if you’re building something more permanent—and some allow you to add external memory for complex projects.

MEMORY Microcontrollers come with a set amount of memory, which is sometimes upgradable, but only to a certain extent. Make sure that the microcontroller you choose has sufficient memory to handle your project.

COMPLEXITY For a more complex project, you’ll need to seek out a model with lots of input and output pins and more memory than the lower-end microcontrollers.

PHYSICAL PACKAGING A microcontroller’s construction can influence how easy it is to use. For instance, less space between pins can make the device harder to work with. Check out the setup before you put down your cash.

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE Different microcontrollers use different programming languages. Choose one that uses a language you know or are willing to learn.

SOFTWARE Some microcontrollers have better, easier-to-use software tools than others. If you’re a beginner, be wary of using a microcontroller with poorly designed software tools. Ask around among your tech-savvy friends to get a sense of what’s right for you.

006 PROGRAM AN ARDUINO

An Arduino is a popular open-source single-board microcontroller. Learn how to program one and let the possibilities take shape.

STEP 1 Arduino microcontrollers come in a variety of types. The most common is the Arduino UNO, but there are specialized variations. Before you begin building, do a little research to figure out which version will be the most appropriate for your project.

STEP 2 To