NerdBeach

Tardis MAME Cabinet is Nerd Cool

Building a MAME cabinet is not that unusual, at least to a lot of NerdBeach readers.  Yes, it is a subset of culture that does so, but usually it ends up more or less as an arcade cabinet.  But building one into a replica of Doctor Who's Tardis?  Now that takes classy and adds an air of cult that I find to be pretty cool. 

If having a Tardis Mame cabinet is appealing to you, the Tardis Mame Console website breaks down all the steps needed to make a run of the project.  The website does a great job of explaining the construction, with plenty of pictures to help (and a good dose of humor along the way).

Of course, I do have to state for the record that such a Tardis will not be larger on the inside than it is on the outside, nor will it actually travel through time, no matter how much you tinker with the central controls.  However, you should consider adding that infamous grinding sound from the show when the Tardis travels -it seems only fitting.

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Remote Control Sweeper Project

Evil Mad Scientist has a simple but entertaining DIY project that may help getting younger members (and spouses) of the family interested in helping with cleaning.  The concept is a relatively inexpensive (cheap) RC car with a swiffer type dust mop attached to the front. 

Simple in construction, but possibly big in payoffs from both an effective end result and a project satisfaction standpoint.  The video shows the RC sweeper in action.

 

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Del Makes Cool Contraptions

Del is cool.  He has made a contraption that has a lot of moving parts, works very well, and is actually a work of engineering art.  The different types of mechanical devices in his work are quite numerous, and as you watch the video you will find the different applications and techniques of delivering mechanical force.  

Luckily Del is happy to tell us about his creation, and he does so with a veritable twinkle in his eye.  Otherwise it would be easy to miss a lot of what is going on when he cranks the handle.  The entire work is made of various types of wood, and all goes together without screws or nails.  As a matter of fact, some of it even started out as a tree by his house.  

 

 

In the video Del calls the contraption his crowning achievement and that he won't tackle another one. Personally I would hope that he does another one or something along those lines.  A creative mind like his could not be kept still for too long. 

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How to Hack a One Time Use Video Camera

In this how to the infamous KipKay shows us how to hack a one time use digital video recorder and turn it into a handy personal video recorder which can be dumped to computer and reused over again.

The project will require making (or buying) a custom cable along with downloading a piece of software to talk to the camera.  But it is straightforward, and as usual it is presented here only in the interest of education only.