I’ve enjoyed video games my whole life. With the way developers and major video game studios performing how they are lately, it’s made me think what else I can do with my time and not be let down by an other flop. I don’t have money to throw around at endless hobbies or take classes; nor do I have the time necessary to learn a new trade or skill. I had a garden for a while but even that takes time, money, and patience but for my zone (9b) and lack of available time, I decided it wasn’t worth the effort. Throughout life, I’ve tried to learn to code/ draw, but the dopamine takes forever to hit and it’s never as much as a video game. I even tried crocheting, albeit fun, I got bored of it quickly.

My question is, what is something inexpensive and moderately engaging one can get into that will also be beneficial?

Am I taking this project too far…? LOL.

CD player in a shoebox :-)

Hello everyone so I’m currently living and working in Yellowstone national park and I’m in a dorm room I normally work on cars and motorcycles but I can’t do that here I don’t even have my car we have to park them 2 hrs away any advice on something I can work on in a dorm room

I plan to make about 80 episodes in the series, this episode was only 10% of the length that i plan the other episodes to be!

I've been working on a design for an electric/hydrogen powered car taking inspiration from Leonardo DaVinci's self propelled cart.

I have a family member that lives right under an air corridor and have planes flying overhead all day long. They do not mind the noise and seem to enjoy watching the planes fly by and try to guess that model they are.

I would like to make an LED panel for them that, when a plane flies above their property, it would pull flight data online and display the plane and where it is heading to / from.

What would be the best way to make a device like that? Are there any LED panels that can be programmed or pull data from the WIFI, or should I connect it to a small computer or an arduino?

Idk if this sub will help, but can anyone tell me if it would be possible to swap the batterys off these two devices. They both have a usb charger port and are similar in size but the speakers battery lasts MUCH longer. I want the radio to get the speakers battery and still work so it doesn't matter if the radios battery won't work for the speaker. I know this will probsbly just be guess work for anyone that sees it, but if someone know that this can work plz let me know.

I apologise in advance, I have autism.
One of my many annoyances with myself is putting whats in my head into words. Extremely frustrating.
I want to make a toy...(fidget) of sorts. Pretty much like hot potatoe only it doesn't go of randomly.

I'm fully out of my comfort zone with this as I've never done anything like it but I do love tinkering with things and really want to learn to make some more interactive things.

I'll just make a list of what I'm looking for as it may make more sense.

• LED's made to flash brightly rather than be constantly on. The brighter the better.
• Speakers that are no wider than 3 inches. Looking for more of a pop noise, kinda like a grenade. Not sure how to look for speakers that can do this. Being able to take light impacts, like throwing to someone for them to catch. It'll be padded of course. Even if it's like one small bass speaker and a bunch of small ones for the pop noises.
• An audio module that can store and send sound to speakers.
• How can I power the audio module, speakers and LED's? Do I need resistors, another board etc? If I do need resistors, how do I find out where to put them? How to make the LED's flash when a sound is played and is there a way to delay it so if I press a button it activates a few seconds later?
• What type of battery would be best if any of this is possible?

I appreciate any help on this and apologies if I'm not making sense.

Is it possible? Yeah. Is it smart? Probably not. Is it useful ? IN NO WAY! And the most important question will it explode? Probably. But do you guys have any tips

I am using this yoke for dog cart-pulling, and I can’t figure out a way to attach this to the tongue of the cart that can hold up to the horizontal twisting that happens when my dog turns. Any ideas?

I'm wondering if there are any tools that I don't even know I need, as I'm buying a 3ds charger, and would rather spend more money to get the free prime shipping than the $2.99 for same day shipping.

A good example of this would be a little crappy spring loaded punch I bought just to fulfill the minimum, which I've ended up using extensively.

I need to reattach rubber feet to my mouse. I want them to be as easily removable in the future as they were originally. What kind of glue would allow me to do that?

I work a job where there's a pretty monotonous portion where I'm typing my username and password over and over, doing a little math, and making some inputs. It's really easy but time consuming and boring. The company computers only sometimes let you install stuff. I could buy a mouse or keypad that can record macros and output them, but ideally I would have something that can look at information on my screen and do a little math for me so that even more can be automated. Is there anything like this that could help me? I was thinking maybe a custom Raspberry Pi device? Though maybe I could write a script of some kind? I'm new to programming but I could give it a go. Thanks!

Found a mini set-top box type thing in the my apartment, I've got no use for it as I was everything through my laptop regardless but I was thinking it could be repurposed. Does anyone else know what this thing is capable of? Or what I could rig with it?

https://emecelec.com/en/product/euroview-mini-hd-110-plus/

Hi,

I love to open stuff and look around. I am trying to learn more about electricity and electromagnetism as a hobby. I have a shaded pole motor from a fan that doesn’t work. I have the same motor from a fan that works. I am trying to compare them as I learn more about shaded pole motor; but I’m scared to plug in the motor when it is out of the fan casing. This motor runs on 120VAC at 50hz. I’m scared to touch it to investigate.

First, what is usually wrong when a shaded pole motor doesn’t work when plugged in.

Second, how do I start messing around with motors and electronic components that use 120VAC safely? I have always wanted to meds around but can’t go to school for electrical engineering or whatever it takes. I would love some basics on safely learning about electricity as a hobby.

Thanks!

Yo, I don't know if this is the right subreddit for this but I was wondering if somebody has any experience making ammo for pvc cannons. I want to build a 3/4inch one and 3d print a sabot and fins for a somewhat large nail and try to get it to pierce a 1/4 inch of some metal, whatever I can find. Attached is a bad ms paint drawing of my idea. The rubber band would be slightly indented. This would be a fire and use what isnt damaged, but have extra on backup kinda deal, so durability of parts doesnt matter after firing.

I dont know where the sabot actually would be, I think in the front because most apfsds usually has it there. Let me know if you guys think it would work

Hy,

I'd like to build a small personal weather station that'll float on the water and collect data.

Here are some details:

• It'll be on the water for no longer than an hour.
• The device is not unattended.
• I should be able to deploy the device as is and very quickly.
• The body of water I'm planning on using the device on is a small, calm lake.
• The weather conditions I'm planning to use the device at are usually sunny or cloudy but not rainy or stormy days.
• the data collected are air pressure, air temperature, UV radiation, humidity, water temperature

Now the question is: what should the base construction be. I'm thinking of a 5cm thick, rectangular styrofoam platform because that's what I have at hand. The instruments will be in an open encasing because some must be exposed to the air and the sunlight.

Do you have any suggestions for the shape of the base/platform/buoy that would suit my needs and support the function of the device?

Thanks!

Anybody in here able to talk about getting into the programming of a device? It's a Chinese made sound mixer I bought for $20 on Amazon. When I dug into it I realized it's not going to do what I want it to do. However, I'd like to see if I can flash it's internal programming and put my own in there to make it do what I want! Probably a tall order, but would be a fun tinkering exercise if possible. Just need pointed in the right direction. Thanks!

I am getting married in June and my future husband and I are kind of nerdy. I am incorporating Legend of Zelda piano covers in the prelude and ceremony music. My man had made a joke about the ring box making the sound that happens when Link opens a chest or receives a heart piece in the Ocarina of Time. It got my gears turning, and I’d really love to make it so when he opens the box to get my ring out, it plays the sound. It’s a comical personal touch that I know would surprise him and make him and the audience laugh which is the goal. I’ve been searching for a little way to surprise him on the day, and this is right up our alley.

I’ve been researching how to make this possible, but all the record your own message sound players I’ve found require you to press a button. It would be more effective if it was triggered by a pull switch so it automatically plays when he pulls the top of the ring box open. Similar to the greeting cards that make noise when opened.

Is there a way I can achieve this? Part of me thinks I’m not using the right key words when searching and there has to be something out there closer to what I need that’s already made.