Here’s how to modify a servo for continuous rotation. There are many ways to do this, in this brief video I’m explaining how to do it in a way that is:
1) reversible,
2) doable by people who don’t want to mess with a soldering iron.
This is very handy if you live somewhere servos aren’t easy to come by, so you have to make do with a few which means you’ll probably go back and forth; I’m also showing you how to undo the changes and get your servo back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caKvJL72BTs Part 1 (How to do)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWs5CB4cLkI Part 2 (How to undo)
Following on the “small hacks that require a very steady hand” theme, today I’ve modified my Nokia 6300i phone to be charged from the USB data cable (so that you only need 1 cable for everything, not 2). This allows me to find phone power with much greater ease as usbmini cables are easy to come by. I’d put up an instructable for this as well but — well — my camera IS my phone and I can’t have it take picture of itself when it’s taken apart, obviously!
A comment led me to thinking. On one hand, I have arguably increased the value of both my phone and computer, practically because they have extra feature and economically because they are now unique (and therefore very scarce) items. However, I’ve been berated and in one occasion mocked for decreasing their resale value. Why is this? Because I’ve voided the warranty? But I never use warranties; if something breaks I’ll fix it myself. And if anybody buys either of these items from me, I will gladly put my honor as a technician that the parts I added or modified will not be the first or even second to break.
If anybody other than this guy has an explanation, please, please share it.
I’m not talking about that two-finger-and-click thing that modern Macbooks have. I’m actually talking about how to wire a right mouse button in! This requires very few parts, does not make you disassemble a mouse, doesn’t tie up a USB port and on the Macbook Pro you can even do it without taking the computer apart! (In my explanation I do anyway to show how to do it on other macbooks, and because I had to clean up one of the fans anyway). The same method can be used to add a third mouse button using the same procedure, which should make Linux users happy; I’m also showing how to do it with almost no parts — if I was in the US I’d have adapted a microswitch, but can’t get any over here. I will redo this with a nice microswitch as soon as I can buy one.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Adding_a_right_mouse_button_to_a_Macbook/ Here’s the instructable! Be sure to read all the notes in the pictures.