Easy SMS messaging from arduino

from Make Club

Cheap and easy SMS via GSM for your MCU

http://hackaday.com/2010/10/18/cheap-and-easy-sms-via-gsm-for-your-mcu/

Non acronym version of the title: send and receive text messages via cell phone communication towers using an Arduino or other microcontroller. “We’ve been doing that for years!” you cry, well yes, technically. But [Fincham] lays it outs simply; commercial offerings are expensive and finding a cell phone that uses RS232 now a days is getting difficult, so a new way of doing the same old is necessary. The good news is USB GSM modems are readily available, cheap, and only require a few interface pins to get them talking with an Arduino. In fact, the image above is all you need.

Larson scanner for Halloween

Small project for a Larson scanner to put in a pumpkin.
 runs on an arduino, wired up as a Hackduino project. The speed of the LEDs is controlled by a pot linked to the arduino chip running a larsonscannerwithpot sketch.

Low cost CNC

Instructable using servo motors

We got our timing belts and pulleys from McMaster-Carr (but they are available elsewhere):
part # 6484K454 Trapezoidal Tooth Neoprene Timing Belt .200" Pitch, Trade Sz 770XL, 77" Outer Circle, 3/8" Wide
part # 57105K21 Acetal Pulley for XL-Series Timing-Belt for 1/4" & 3/8" Belt Width, 1.63" OD, 22 Teeth

Bearings and Collars
For the timing belt pulley bearings, make sure to get the extended inner ring ones so they don't rub against the shaft collars. You could also use regular ones with small washers on the inner ring. We used flanged ones to make mounting easier.


We got our timing belts and pulleys from McMaster-Carr (but they are available elsewhere):

part # 6462K12 Type 303 SS Set Screw Shaft Collar 1/4" Bore, 1/2" Outside Diameter, 9/32" Width
part # 57155K337 Miniature Precision SS Ball Bearing - ABEC-5 Flanged Shield, Extended Inner Ring, .25" ID, .5" OD

After building these, we noticed that Home Depot has ball bearings for patio doors, and these may work almost as well at a much lower price. Rather than mounting the bearing in a hole, you could put a couple bolts right through the outer plastic ring and bolt it right to an L bracket.

Modifying a Canon A70

Great site on moding a Canon to make an IR only camera.  Good instructions on removing and exposing shutter release which is what I want.

Powerleap and piezo technology

Using piezo power to harness the kinetic energy of people walking, cars moving, dancers and then create energy - Powerleap

Links to piezo kits and the humdinger, a piezo related wind turbine

energy harvesting clearing house of information VERY COOL

and a cool copper sconce from Holly Solar Products

Clock that writes time

Using two servos to control a pen, a RTC can send the time to a pen that writes the time on a piece of paper that then moves forward and shows the time.
If the sketch can control the pen, then the door is wide open to get the pen to write anything.  Could use a joystick learning program to "learn" numbers and letters.

There is some interesting work on candlebot from a Bristolian that may be helpful.

Candlebot video on YouTube

Multiple options on controlling pen movement.

1) 2 servos, easy but could be messy!
use the servo.h and joystick tutorial

2) X and Y stage using rods or belts.
Makerbot uses both and there are some interesting images and ideas there.  For the threaded rod version, the Z axis of the Makerbot works, uses belts as well.
Makerbot also has a great X-Y stage, controlled by stepper motors and belts - lot of work there

Also some ideas at bothacker and reprap

Pulleys can be sourced from McMaster

Draw shape with arduino

I could potentially use a PIR sensor or  IR sensor to draw shapes of 3-D objects. In a housing the PIR could be passed over an object then the distances calculated and plotted in processing to draw the shape.  Data could be stored on an SD card as a coordinates and then subsequently plotted.  Real time plotting would require a PC to be attached.