Hacker News with Generative AI: DIY Projects

Project Mini Rack – compact and portable homelabs (jeffgeerling.com)
Today I'm announcing Project MINI RACK, an open source project to help those building homelabs, RF/wireless rigs, and other electronics projects into mini 10" racks.
Open Source, Homelabs, Electronics, DIY Projects
96 points by ferriswil 14 hours ago | 38 comments
Virtual Vette – Racing Simulator Built from Wrecked Corvette (instructables.com)
This project started because I was looking for a way to encourage and reward my son, Daniel, for earning his Eagle Scout rank.
Virtual Reality, DIY Projects, Automotive, Video Games
94 points by starkparker 6 days ago | 11 comments
Morse Code Clock (temporaldiscombobulator.com)
Morse Code, Timekeeping, DIY Projects
10 points by thunderbong 6 days ago | 2 comments
Lego Retro Radio #10334 – play your own music using a Raspberry Pi (sean.co.uk)
Discover how to play your own music on the Lego Retro Radio (10334) set by putting a Raspberry Pi computer inside. My project description includes Python code you can use to play your own music.
Lego, Raspberry Pi, Retro Computing, DIY Projects, Music
7 points by akirk 8 days ago | 0 comments
Show HN: Belshazzar's Clock, luminous paint night clock (karliner.net)
With generations of Belshazzars languishing in storage, I decided it was time to make a version of Belshazzar more suited to domestic environments, and settled on a clock.
DIY Projects, Clockmaking, Design
73 points by mkarliner 10 days ago | 17 comments
Show HN: E-Paper Life Organizer with Pico and Inky Frame (github.com/jaeheonshim)
A simple e-ink dashboard for planning and organizing your life.
Hardware, Software, Productivity, DIY Projects
23 points by jaeheonshim 12 days ago | 3 comments
Guten: A Tiny Newspaper Printer (amanvir.com)
Hardware, Printing, DIY Projects, Open Source
265 points by thunderbong 13 days ago | 106 comments
Shmøergh Hog – The making of a simple analog synth (peterzimon.com)
We finished the first version of a synthesizer that starts to resemble a real product. It's the same concept that I've already written about – a simple switches-over-knobs style analog synth for live performance, called Hog – but with completely reworked circuitry and enclosure.
Electronics, Music Production, Analog Synthesizers, DIY Projects
209 points by b6dybuyv 18 days ago | 24 comments
The Cody Computer (codycomputer.org)
The Cody Computer is an 8-bit home computer intended to be built as a DIY project.
DIY Projects, Hardware, Retro Computing
235 points by classichasclass 19 days ago | 41 comments
Building Your First LoRa Mesh Network from Scratch [video] (media.ccc.de)
In a world of centralized internet control, building your own mesh network isn't just a technical challenge—it's digital independence. This beginner-friendly guide walks through creating resilient mesh networks using accessible hardware like LoRa and ESP devices. From antenna selection to node placement strategy, learn how to build networks that operate independently of traditional infrastructure.
Mesh Networking, LoRa, DIY Projects, Hardware
40 points by doener 21 days ago | 0 comments
Scale Model of Boeing 777-300ER, Made from Manila Folders (lucaiaconistewart.com)
This project traces its beginnings to an architecture class in high school where we learned to use manila file folders to roughly model our building ideas.
Scale Models, Engineering, Aviation, DIY Projects, Papercraft
561 points by uticus 22 days ago | 100 comments
Reverse Engineering the Duco Connectivity Board (github.com/kokx)
My newly built house came with a promising feature: a DucoBox Energy Comfort D325 ventilation system with heat recovery. While the system efficiently preheats incoming air using outgoing air’s heat, its control options were limited to four basic modes through a simple button interface. I wanted more - specifically, integration with Home Assistant. The official solution? A Duco Connectivity Board. But when I noticed it was just an ESP32 in disguise, I knew there had to be a better way.
Reverse Engineering, Home Automation, ESP32, DIY Projects
35 points by kokx 22 days ago | 4 comments
Monkey Island PC speaker music player (thanassis.space)
TL;DR: I modified DOSBox to extract the frequency/delay value pairs of the Monkey Island PC-Speaker songs. I then used Huffman compression to squeeze all music inside an ATtiny85 (512 bytes of RAM, 8 KB of flash) Once I managed that, I then created a small circuit with a speaker - to play the music... ...as a gift for my nieces and nephews; whom I'll see next week after more than a year's isolation (COVID)!
Retro Gaming, Microcontrollers, Music, DIY Projects
15 points by fanf2 24 days ago | 1 comments
Build a Low-Cost Drone Using ESP32 (digikey.com)
Drones have rapidly evolved from niche hobbies to versatile tools with a wide range of applications, from photography to agriculture or even for defence and military purposes.
Drones, DIY Projects, Electronics, Microcontrollers
443 points by m3at 25 days ago | 149 comments
2solitude – Honeywell TPE 331-12 refitted Antonov AN-2 camper (2solitude.com)
In a crowded world, finding a slice of paradise feels harder than ever
Aviation, Travel, Adventure, Campervans, DIY Projects
28 points by palmfacehn 27 days ago | 8 comments
CandyFab: A DIY 3D Sugar Printer (candyfab.org)
The CandyFab 4000, 5000, and 6000 were early DIY 3D printers, built as hobby projects in the years 2007, 2008, and 2009, respectively, by Windell Oskay and Lenore Edman of Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories.
3D Printing, DIY Projects, Food Technology
5 points by fanf2 28 days ago | 0 comments
Can anyone help me make an e-ink laptop? Is there a rake on my lawn? (ycombinator.com)
I think this is ultimately a pretty simple project, ~$3000 and some soldering/bios-ing.
DIY Projects, Hardware, Laptops
11 points by singlepaynews 33 days ago | 21 comments
E-Paper weather display powered by ESP32 microcontroller (github.com/lmarzen)
This is a weather display powered by a wifi-enabled ESP32 microcontroller and a 7.5in E-Paper (aka E-ink) display. Current and forecasted weather data is obtained from the OpenWeatherMap API. A sensor provides the display with accurate indoor temperature and humidity.
Microcontrollers, Weather, ESP32, E-Paper Displays, DIY Projects
47 points by walterbell 38 days ago | 4 comments
Making my first robot as a software engineer (github.com/Robertleoj)
I recently made this a vision-controlled pen plotter:
Robotics, Software Engineering, Hardware, DIY Projects
375 points by robertleoj 38 days ago | 68 comments
Making true random numbers with radioactive decay (2021) (partofthething.com)
I plugged my Geiger counter’s audio cable into my oscilloscope just for kicks the other day and saw ~9V pulses coming out when it occurred to me that I could easily read those into an Arduino or Raspberry Pi or ESP8266 microcontroller and respond to them. As a demo, I made a hardware random number generator (HRNG) out of a esp8266.
Hardware, DIY Projects, Microcontrollers
18 points by remoquete 40 days ago | 6 comments
The marvelous disappearing capacitor (lcamtuf.substack.com)
For the past couple of days, I’ve been working on an improved version of the phosphorescence detector circuit.
Electronics, DIY Projects, Science
103 points by peter_retief 41 days ago | 13 comments
DIY Apple iPad Magic Keyboard Portrait Mode Smart Connector Cable (github.com)
I wanted my iPad Pro to be able to use the Magic Keyboard in portrait mode, but the current Smart Connector configuration does not allow this. With too much time on my hands, I made a short jumper cable using a section of USB cable, 5-pin POGO connectors (the 5-pin works using pins 1, 3, and 5, and removing pins 2 and 4), a small electrical project box, 3mm N52 magnets, and some epoxy and Sugru to pack everything into place.
DIY Projects, Apple, iPad, Hardware, 3D Printing
56 points by walterbell 42 days ago | 26 comments
Turn Android Phone to Batteryless Home Server (crackoverflow.com)
In the previous post, we discussed how to install Linux (PostmarketOS) on an Android phone and use Docker on it. Now, we’ll take it a step further and convert your Android phone into a batteryless home server. This setup ensures you never have to worry about charging it regularly or leaving it plugged in with the battery which is dangerous due to potential battery swelling or overheating.
Android, Home Servers, DIY Projects, Linux, Security
11 points by todsacerdoti 43 days ago | 0 comments
Automatic DIY polarity-independent AA battery charger (hackaday.io)
SPINC is an Open-Source NiMH charging station that can automatically load and eject AA battery cells. Simply drop batteries into the top of the device, regardless of their polarity. The internal mechanism picks up one cell at a time and fast-charges them sequentially. Up to 7 fully charged batteries can be conveniently stored inside the device for easy access. In addition, SPINC doubles as a desk clock, displaying the date and time on its high-resolution LCD.
DIY Projects, Electronics, Batteries, Open Source
7 points by kuba-orlik 44 days ago | 0 comments
Building the Ultimate Pi Kubernetes Cluster: A Journey into Cloud Scalability (medium.com)
What if you could bring the power of the cloud into your own home? Imagine learning Kubernetes, scaling apps, and mastering CI/CD workflows — not in a sprawling data center, but on a cluster of Raspberry Pi’s sitting right on your desk. (And I used the Fractal Design North Pi Case :D, a baby variant of my full-size Fractal North Pc case)
Kubernetes, Raspberry Pi, Cloud Computing, DIY Projects
29 points by jandeboevrie 47 days ago | 7 comments
Building a Phosphorescence Detector (lcamtuf.substack.com)
Some time ago, my eldest son decided to make glow-in-the-dark pigments by doping strontium aluminate with rare earth elements.
Science, Chemistry, DIY Projects
39 points by surprisetalk 51 days ago | 3 comments
Useful things I've 3D printed (nathanfriend.com)
3D printers are ridiculously cool. There’s something about seeing a digital object slowly manifest in the real world that is pure magic.
3D Printing, DIY Projects, Creative Projects
13 points by nfriend 52 days ago | 9 comments
The Suckless from Scratch Project (nyght.neocities.org)
Suckless from Scratch, is a project of mine where i'm trying to finally build what i consider to be a true Suckless, linux based system from scratch.
Operating Systems, Linux, DIY Projects, Software Development
11 points by gaws 56 days ago | 3 comments
Monitor WiFi with Raspberry Pi (netbeez.net)
Since our company’s inception, we have recognized the immense potential of the Raspberry Pi as a cost-effective and versatile platform for distributed network monitoring.
Raspberry Pi, Networking, Monitoring, DIY Projects
5 points by sgridelli 67 days ago | 0 comments
My 80s TV can Wirelessly Receive my PC's video signal without transmitter[video] (youtube.com)
Retro Tech, Television, Wireless Transmission, DIY Projects, Video Streaming
4 points by archargelod 68 days ago | 0 comments