Introduction to Chainmail

For centuries chainmail protected soldiers on the battlefield from stabbing and slashing injuries. The basic design is so effective that it is still used today by some butchers, wood carvers and shark divers.

But chainmail can do more than just protect you from sharp objects. It can also protect you from high voltage electricity. Many people who work with Tesla coils use chainmail as a kind of wearable faraday cage. A great example of this is the band ArcAttack. They use solid state Tesla coils to play music. The performers on stage are able to safely get struck by lightning from the Tesla coils because the metal suits redirect the electricity around their bodies (But don’t try that at home!).

Chainmail is also commonly used as a decorative element. The simple elegance of interwoven rings makes it ideal for jewelry making.

In this project, I give you a basic introduction to the art of making chainmail.

For detailed instructions check out the Instructable: http://www.instructables.com/id/Chainmail-1/

Articulated Camera Stand

A tripod is the most common way to stabilize a camera. But there are a few situations where a regular tripod is very impractical. Most cameras can’t get very close to the surface that they stand on. It is also difficult to get pictures straight down without getting the tripod’s legs in the shot. There are also a lot of areas where you just can’t set up a regular tripod such as under the hood of a car. So to solve these problems, you can use an articulated camera stand.

In this project, I show you how to make a small table top articulated camera stand from a desk lamp and a few piece of scrap wood. This lets you get pictures from any height and just about any angle. Its a great tool for documenting your DIY projects.

Instructions for this project can be found at: http://www.instructables.com/id/Articulated-Camera-Stand/

Laser Tripwire Alarm

No security system is complete without lasers. We have all seen movies where the main character has to get past a high tech security system and there is always a room full of lasers somewhere.

So in this project, I show you how to build a laser tripwire alarm.  All you need is a cheap laser point, a couple of mirrors, and a few dollars of electrical parts. With this you can cover an entire house with an array of light beams. If any one of them is crossed it sets off your alarm. And unlike in the movies, these lasers are practically invisible.

This system is fast and easy to set up and it is battery powered. So you can set it up anywhere. You can make this a standalone alarm or it can be integrated into a larger DIY security system.

Instructions at: http://www.instructables.com/id/Laser-Tripwire-Alarm/

Magnetic Tool Hanger

In most workshops space is limited. So you need to find a way to utilize every bit of space that you can. One area that is often overlooked is the space underneath shelves and cabinets. But this can actually be a great place to store small tools. All you need is a few magnets and some sheet metal.

In this project, I show you how to make simple magnetic mounting brackets that you can use to hang small metal hand tools such as screw drivers and pliers. You can small brackets with a single magnet or you can make long mounting strips with multiple magnets. Hanging your tool keeps them easily accessible and frees up some of your valuable horizontal space

Automatic Camera Shutter Switch

There are a lot of times when you want to photograph something but you can’t be there with the camera. If you want to take aerial photographs with a pole or a kite, you need a way to control the camera without being up in the air yourself. In this project I demonstrate a variety of ways that you can remotely or automatically control a camera.

If your camera has a shutter switch terminal, then you can directly control the focus and shutter with an external circuit such as a microcontroller. If your camera doesn’t have a shutter switch terminal, then you can either add connections to the shutter button or you can use a servo to press the button for you.

There are a lot of possible applications for an automatically controlled camera. You can make time lapse videos. You can set it up as part of a security system. You can set it up in a haunted house to get pictures of people getting scared by your automated special effects. Use your imagination.

Instructable: http://www.instructables.com/id/Automatic-Camera-Shutter-Switch/

How to Automate a Haunted House with a Motion Sensor

When working with special effects, the most important part is timing. So for this Halloween, I am doing a series of projects that use simple DIY sensors to help you automate your Halloween setup. So far we have covered pressure plates and proximity sensors. This week, I am going to show you how to use motion sensors to activate your special effects.

There are a lot of small motion sensor modules that will connect directly to your microcontroller. These output a HIGH signal whenever they detect motion. You can read this with a digitalRead function and then have your microcontroller activate any number of special effects. You can either use a commercial shield or make your own.

If you want to activate AC devices you can also modify a motion sensor that is already designed to work with AC. In this project, I took motion-activated security light and I turned it into a motion-activated AC outlet.

There are a lot of ways that you can use a motion sensor to help you automate your Halloween setup. Then after Halloween, you can use it to automate your house.

How to Automate a Haunted House with a DIY Proximity Sensor

When working with automated special effects, the most important part is making sure that they are well timed. For live events such as a haunted house, the best way to get the timing right is to use sensors to detect where your guests are and when they reach various locations. So for this Halloween, I am doing a series of projects that demonstrate different sensors that can be used to automate a haunted house.

Last week I showed how to use a pressure plate switch to activate special effects. This week, I am going to show you how to make a simple proximity sensor. This is basically just an infrared LED and a phototransistor. When a person stands near the sensor, some of the light from the LED is reflected back to the detector. The output signal of the detector can be monitored by an Arduino and used to activate special effects when the person is close enough.

Instructable: http://www.instructables.com/id/Use-a-DIY-Proximity-Sensor-to-Automate-Your-Haunte/