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    Re: The ghetto mod thread

    nice dim bulb tester.
    Things I've fixed: anything from semis to crappy Chinese $2 radios, and now an IoT Dildo....

    "Dude, this is Wyoming, i hopped on and sent 'er. No fucking around." -- Me

    Excuse me while i do something dangerous


    You must have a sad, sad boring life if you hate on people harmlessly enjoying life with an animal costume.

    Sometimes you need to break shit to fix it.... Thats why my lawnmower doesn't have a deadman switch or engine brake anymore

    Follow the white rabbit.

    Comment


      Re: The ghetto mod thread

      Congratulations, your 10 EE points are in the mail...
      "Tantalum for the brave, Solid Aluminium for the wise, Wet Electrolytic for the adventurous"
      -David VanHorn

      Comment


        Re: The ghetto mod thread

        While on that topic, here's mine:


        and the back:
        https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1414452772
        I still haven't put a power cord on it yet, but now that I have a lot of jumper leads on my disposal, I don't use it too much.

        As one might guess, the switch is used to control power. The top plug is where I plug in the current limiting device (usually desk lamp with incandescent bulb, but sometimes other high-power resistive devices too, like a toaster oven), and on the bottom is where I plug the device I want current to be limited to (so the two plugs are in series, basically). Technically, I can swap the devices, but the top plug limits current through Live, so if the device has any non-isolated surfaces connected to Neutral for any reason, that might not be a very good thing.

        Ground is the same for both devices and properly connected to ground.
        Attached Files
        Last edited by momaka; 10-27-2014, 05:43 PM.

        Comment


          Re: The ghetto mod thread

          Originally posted by momaka View Post
          While on that topic, here's mine:

          img>

          and the back:
          https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1414452772
          I still haven't put a power cord on it yet, but now that I have a lot of jumper leads on my disposal, I don't use it too much.

          As one might guess, the switch is used to control power. The top plug is where I plug in the current limiting device (usually desk lamp with incandescent bulb, but sometimes other high-power resistive devices too, like a toaster oven), and on the bottom is where I plug the device I want current to be limited to (so the two plugs are in series, basically). Technically, I can swap the devices, but the top plug limits current through Live, so if the device has any non-isolated surfaces connected to Neutral for any reason, that might not be a very good thing.

          Ground is the same for both devices and properly connected to ground.
          i raise your two socket my eleven. made in the usa. both had a UL listing, until i got ahold of them. and chopped out there MOVs
          Attached Files
          Things I've fixed: anything from semis to crappy Chinese $2 radios, and now an IoT Dildo....

          "Dude, this is Wyoming, i hopped on and sent 'er. No fucking around." -- Me

          Excuse me while i do something dangerous


          You must have a sad, sad boring life if you hate on people harmlessly enjoying life with an animal costume.

          Sometimes you need to break shit to fix it.... Thats why my lawnmower doesn't have a deadman switch or engine brake anymore

          Follow the white rabbit.

          Comment


            Re: The ghetto mod thread

            ^How many devices do you test at the same time to need that?!

            Comment


              Re: The ghetto mod thread

              DIY screwdriver holder with leds
              Attached Files

              Comment


                Re: The ghetto mod thread

                ^ Very cool blue light.

                Now, I haven't posted anything that is "proper" in a long time. So...

                Ladies and gentlemen, brace yourselves!
                I present you the next generation of headphone and headset design:

                Yes, that head-strap piece consists of two pieces of crude steel wire twisted together and bent to fit over the head. The wire for the right ear piece is twisted around that.

                This is how the ear pieces are held on the wire:
                https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1415496679
                Basically, a small piece of thin galvanized sheet metal (30 AWG maybe? if not thinner) was cut and folded around a screw driver. It is held on each ear piece with a single screw (the screws were actually part of the original headset there - they held the behind-the-neck strap to the ear pieces). The clear tape on the steel wire is to kill some of the loose fitting, because I made the holes on the steel sheet straps too big. I could have used electrical tape to try to "match" the color of the steel wire, but electrical tape is not good for places where a lot of movement is anticipated. Plus, I hate the sticky residue it leaves after a year or so. Masking tape was considered too, but it tends to catch hair and dirt too easily, so was rejected. Thus, mailing tape it was .

                Now, onto the ear cups for the ear pieces. Originally, my idea was to make big "stylish" ear cups, just like on many modern headphones . The white plastic is actually thin vinyl. It was cut from some leftover vertical vinyl blinds scraps (due to a former roommate trashing our old dorm apartment ). The fabric that goes on top of the ears is made from a pair of shorts I used to wear for many years (those shorts finally gave out about two years ago and ripped to pieces, so I stashed them in the garage to use as a "rag"). The fabric is simply hot-glued to the vinyl piece. Finally, all that was left to do was to find a soft filling material to go between the fabric and the vinyl piece. It would have been nice if I had some cotton or scrap foam... but I didn't. However, thanks to my sloppy former roommate again, there was a lot of fluff accumulation in the dryer's fluff collector. Yeah . So... there goes that . If this is not ghetto enough for you, I don't know what is.

                That said, the results came out surprisingly good. First off, those ear cups are quite soft and comfortable. They also seem to do quite well at blocking outside noise. Moreover, I think the "fit" is what made it work this well. The steel wire does have some springy-ness to it, but not too much. As a result, the headset fits well on the head - not too tight and not too lose. And the steel sheet straps that attach the ear pieces to the steel wire allows the ear cups to rotate up and down freely around the ear. Here's what I mean:
                https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1415496679

                The only sad part is that headset makes for some very poor headphones. But this was so prior to my handy work. The drivers are just run-of-the-mill standard 32 Ohm impedance cans. Bass response is not great (though not as bad as on some other sets I've seen), the mids are muddy, and the highs are nearly non-existent.

                So why all of this work then?
                Simple: I needed a headset with a mic to use with Skype, and since I already knew we had this crappy set in our house doing nothing (the behind-the-neck strap was broken), I decided to make something out of it. And also free time and the desire to create something shitty .

                Hope that brought you all some joy as much as it did to me when I made these. I almost literally made this as a bad joke. Except, now I am using that .
                Attached Files
                Last edited by momaka; 11-08-2014, 08:47 PM.

                Comment


                  Re: The ghetto mod thread

                  Awesome! And since telephony has shit audio bandwidth anyway, those drivers are a perfect match!
                  "Tantalum for the brave, Solid Aluminium for the wise, Wet Electrolytic for the adventurous"
                  -David VanHorn

                  Comment


                    Re: The ghetto mod thread

                    Originally posted by Agent24 View Post
                    Awesome! And since telephony has shit audio bandwidth anyway, those drivers are a perfect match!
                    Thanks

                    Here's another ghetto-mod:

                    I found this piece of circuit board in the scrap pile of my friend's repair shop a few years ago. I saw the 2.5" PATA/IDE HDD connector, and though it must be some kind of a USB to 2.5" PATA adapter (or perhaps part of an external 2.5" PATA HDD).

                    As you can see in the upper-right corner, the power/signal connector must have gotten ripped off. Not knowing what it was, I simply desoldered a USB B-type connector out of a scrap HP OfficeJet logic board (becuase I didn't have anything with mini USB).
                    Some hot glue and scrap enamel wire later (enamel wire, because I'm too cheap to use proper wire and because my cup of "scrap enamel wire" pieces doesn't get much use otherwise), and this was the result:


                    Of course, it works fine too! Why else would I post it?
                    Attached Files
                    Last edited by momaka; 11-14-2014, 05:37 PM.

                    Comment


                      Re: The ghetto mod thread

                      Originally posted by momaka View Post
                      Thanks

                      Here's another ghetto-mod:

                      I found this piece of circuit board in the scrap pile of my friend's repair shop a few years ago. I saw the 2.5" PATA/IDE HDD connector, and though it must be some kind of a USB to 2.5" PATA adapter (or perhaps part of an external 2.5" PATA HDD).

                      As you can see in the upper-right corner, the power/signal connector must have gotten ripped off. Not knowing what it was, I simply desoldered a USB B-type connector out of a scrap HP OfficeJet logic board (becuase I didn't have anything with mini USB).
                      Some hot glue and scrap enamel wire later (enamel wire, because I'm too cheap to use proper wire and because my cup of "scrap enamel wire" pieces doesn't get much use otherwise), and this was the result:


                      Of course, it works fine too! Why else would I post it?
                      your 10 ghetto mod points are in the mail!
                      Things I've fixed: anything from semis to crappy Chinese $2 radios, and now an IoT Dildo....

                      "Dude, this is Wyoming, i hopped on and sent 'er. No fucking around." -- Me

                      Excuse me while i do something dangerous


                      You must have a sad, sad boring life if you hate on people harmlessly enjoying life with an animal costume.

                      Sometimes you need to break shit to fix it.... Thats why my lawnmower doesn't have a deadman switch or engine brake anymore

                      Follow the white rabbit.

                      Comment


                        Re: The ghetto mod thread

                        I fixed the fan in my old HP laptop.

                        I've included the schematic for the new motor driver. R1 is a load I used for the simulation. That's actually where the motor winding is connected. Q3 is really a KSA1298, and Q4 is a KSC3265.
                        Attached Files

                        Comment


                          Re: The ghetto mod thread

                          The OEM heatsink that comes with the AM1 Athlon 5950 (left one) looked a bit pathetic for my taste ...



                          ... so I -modded an ole copper-core Intel heatsink from a P4 Preshott ...

                          Comment


                            Re: The ghetto mod thread

                            Originally posted by goontron View Post
                            your 10 ghetto mod points are in the mail!
                            lol, thank you. I hope you didn't use ductape to seal the envelope, though. Probably would never come if you did .

                            Originally posted by lti
                            I fixed the fan in my old HP laptop.
                            Cool mod. What was wrong with it, though? Fan didn't spin?

                            Originally posted by TELVM View Post
                            The OEM heatsink that comes with the AM1 Athlon 5950 (left one) looked a bit pathetic for my taste ...
                            ... so I -modded an ole copper-core Intel heatsink from a P4 Preshott ...
                            Nice! Those Intel heatsinks meant for the Pentium D/4 Prescotts are very very good at getting rid of heat. I have a D830, and that thing is rated for 130W TDP (and peaks at 150W).

                            Comment


                              Re: The ghetto mod thread

                              Momaka that USB to IDE concoction of yours is just epic!!!

                              Comment


                                Re: The ghetto mod thread

                                Originally posted by momaka View Post
                                Cool mod. What was wrong with it, though? Fan didn't spin?
                                That's correct. The fan wouldn't spin, and I found that the driver IC in the fan was dead. I actually had it connected to a motor driver IC from a CD-ROM drive for a while just to see if the rest of the fan was still good. That might have been more worthy of this thread since it was a 4-channel motor driver that was still soldered to the drive's PCB. It is now powered directly from 5V instead of being connected to the motherboard's fan header because it doesn't spin the fan until the CPU temperature reaches 80°C.

                                All of the components were removed from junk boards (and they're all surface mount), so it's definitely ghetto. It still doesn't beat your use of enameled wire as USB 2.0 cable.
                                Last edited by lti; 11-19-2014, 10:12 PM.

                                Comment


                                  Re: The ghetto mod thread

                                  80s yamaha receiver driving vintage console radio speakers, drawer enclosure.
                                  Attached Files
                                  Things I've fixed: anything from semis to crappy Chinese $2 radios, and now an IoT Dildo....

                                  "Dude, this is Wyoming, i hopped on and sent 'er. No fucking around." -- Me

                                  Excuse me while i do something dangerous


                                  You must have a sad, sad boring life if you hate on people harmlessly enjoying life with an animal costume.

                                  Sometimes you need to break shit to fix it.... Thats why my lawnmower doesn't have a deadman switch or engine brake anymore

                                  Follow the white rabbit.

                                  Comment


                                    Re: The ghetto mod thread

                                    ^- I like how the dynex is "accident prone."

                                    What did you use to repair those speakers?

                                    Originally posted by momaka View Post
                                    Now, I haven't posted anything that is "proper" in a long time. So...

                                    Ladies and gentlemen, brace yourselves!
                                    .....


                                    Hope that brought you all some joy as much as it did to me when I made these. I almost literally made this as a bad joke. Except, now I am using that .
                                    What can I say? It sure beats leaving them as useless junk. Or, the audio you'll get from them still beats what that lousy skype codec delivers...

                                    How do they sound for music? Beats me.



                                    ( me for the very obvious joke)

                                    I've got ya tied for bad jokes. I once put a 6x9 car speaker in a cardboard gift box when I was much younger. What can I say- it sounded better than when it was free air... The bad-joke of bad-jokes was when I added a Radio Shack piezo tweeter to it. You can't say I didn't have fun with it!

                                    Last edited by kaboom; 12-09-2014, 11:31 PM. Reason: combined dupes
                                    "pokemon go... to hell!"

                                    EOL it...
                                    Originally posted by shango066
                                    All style and no substance.
                                    Originally posted by smashstuff30
                                    guilty,guilty,guilty,guilty!
                                    guilty of being cheap-made!

                                    Comment


                                      Re: The ghetto mod thread

                                      Originally posted by kaboom View Post
                                      ^- I like how the dynex is "accident prone."

                                      What did you use to repair those speakers?


                                      i've already had to resolder the main filter cap on that TV because it rattled loose.
                                      i used RTV silicone, i really need to get those speakers reconed though.
                                      remember Sanford and Son? heard of Mumford and Sons?
                                      i bet you would like the sound of this song: https://soundcloud.com/demiansims/sa...mford-and-sons
                                      Things I've fixed: anything from semis to crappy Chinese $2 radios, and now an IoT Dildo....

                                      "Dude, this is Wyoming, i hopped on and sent 'er. No fucking around." -- Me

                                      Excuse me while i do something dangerous


                                      You must have a sad, sad boring life if you hate on people harmlessly enjoying life with an animal costume.

                                      Sometimes you need to break shit to fix it.... Thats why my lawnmower doesn't have a deadman switch or engine brake anymore

                                      Follow the white rabbit.

                                      Comment


                                        Re: The ghetto mod thread

                                        The name Mumford is a part of my family tree...LOL for real.
                                        "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so."
                                        Mark Twain

                                        "I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way."
                                        John Paul Jones

                                        There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.
                                        Rod Serling

                                        Comment


                                          Re: The ghetto mod thread

                                          Originally posted by Junk Parts View Post
                                          The name Mumford is a part of my family tree...LOL for real.
                                          Cool! Booth is part of my family tree. (Yes, JWB)
                                          Things I've fixed: anything from semis to crappy Chinese $2 radios, and now an IoT Dildo....

                                          "Dude, this is Wyoming, i hopped on and sent 'er. No fucking around." -- Me

                                          Excuse me while i do something dangerous


                                          You must have a sad, sad boring life if you hate on people harmlessly enjoying life with an animal costume.

                                          Sometimes you need to break shit to fix it.... Thats why my lawnmower doesn't have a deadman switch or engine brake anymore

                                          Follow the white rabbit.

                                          Comment

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