Theremin!

A few days ago at work we got some new computers in and decided to call one of them 'Theremin' since all the others were named after instruments and we were running out of ideas. A quick browse later and I found Art Harrison's web site on Theremins. This is built from his '2006 Minimum Theremin' instructions and I found it pretty easy to find all the components at Maplin. It's a simple design, meant more for demonstrations and science fairs than musical use - Art has designs for more sophisticated theremins on his site. I've no doubt reduced its musical quality by deviating from his design, but you can still get a tune out of it. I've left off the tone control - it's an preset on the board rather than a proper control - but you can alter the range quite adequately by adjusting the length of the telescopic antenna.

Tiny memory cards

microsd 2GB!! On that tiny thing? Crazy. In the gallery I've got pictures of that next to an 8MB Playstation memory cartridge, which is about 100 times the volume. If I could find it, I'd have a picture of my 8" floppy disc drive next to it. Kids these days. Honestly. Tsk.

I've bought this for my new M3 DS Simply cartridge, which promises to allow me to put some homebrew software onto my Nintendo DS. I was introducted to it by a friend at work who has ScummVM working on his DS using the same cartridge, but I'm mainly interested in writing my own software for it. At the moment though, I have no idea what that entails - I'm led to believe the thing has a couple of ARM processors but apart from that I know nothing.

Mechanical-digital clock

mdclock/
I like mechanical digital displays. I had a clock radio with such a display but the existing case was a hideous 50s-style plastic effort, so for a while I've planned on making a new case for it.

While in the pub a few weeks ago, a friend came up with the idea of using copper pipe and plumbing fittings as a structural system. I've started making a frame and it's working out well so far. It'd be nice if they made three way corner plumbing connectors, but I suppose you don't have much call for those when you're connecting up taps.

The biggest challenge in making this is going to be making the mains components safe. There's a transformer for most of the radio, but the clock itself runs off a 250V AC motor. The case will have to be finger-proof and carefully earthed.

Look at the twisted-together connections in the photos of the original radio - they didn't always make things better in the old days.