digitalTRASH.org 01 082007

Wed, 01 Aug 2007

The 99 Cent Store
OK, you may be shaking your head and thinking that I'm crazy, but the 99 Cent Store (and other 99 Cent-like stores) can have some really useful stuff. The good stuff comes and goes so if you see something that's really cool it's best to grab one, or twenty, when you have a chance.

When shopping, really take a good look at the stuff. Think about what's inside and the shape of the case. Turn it upside down. Ask yourself, "What could I make out of this which may be completely different from what it's supposed to be?"

Some of the parts in these things you might be able to get cheaper if you bought in large lots, but what are you going to do with a ten thousand LEDs? (don't answer that) Depending on what you get, the components may be way cheaper than if you bought them at the local hobby shack. I saw a flash light with eight high intensity white LEDs. That's a deal. Most of their calculators have "fake" solar cells but every once in a while they have one with a real 1.5V solar cell. Cool! Even the coin cell batteries in these things cost way more if you bought them separately. Buy it, pull the batteries and chuck the rest!

Anyway, here's some cool, or strange, stuff that we've found.

posted at: 21:11 | path: /Materials/NinetyNineCent | permanent link to this entry

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
This stuff is a wonder material. digitalTRASH and our friends have made a number of things from PVC and it's cousin Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). You can get it cheaply down at your local home improvement megaplex. You can also scrounge it out of the trash at construction sites. It's light so it often falls off of trucks. (No, not the figurative "falling off a truck", the literal one)

There are many types of connectors and adapters available for PVC and ABS. It's easy to cut and shape, no special tools required. Building is quick with the fast setting glue. It can be structurally strong, if the design is well thought out, and the pipe is rated to support a range of PSIs. Once it is glued together it is water tight.

Whenever I need to build something, my first thought is "How I could do this with PVC?"

posted at: 20:32 | path: /Projects/PVC | permanent link to this entry

Cons (Conventions)
digitalTRASH attends a number of Cons every year. The most notable include DefCon, the grand pappy of all hacker Cons; ToorCon, a great hacker Con held in San Diego and LayerOne a relatively new Con held in Pasadena.

posted at: 19:06 | path: /Cons | permanent link to this entry

Projects
Here a several projects that digitalTRASH Labs have been working on.

I guess the vogue term for these are "Makes" as a result of the popularity of Make Magazine. Some view "Hacks" as a subset of " Makes" but I don't. I'll have to draw a Venn Diagram...

posted at: 19:01 | path: /Projects | permanent link to this entry

Weapons of moderate Destruction (WmD)
This section contains various projects that involve projectiles, small explosions and other things that you mother would never let you do (but you did them anyway).

posted at: 18:53 | path: /Projects/WmD | permanent link to this entry