element14 Presents

Do you own a Raspberry Pi? Ever wanted to host your own Radio Station? Did you know that you can make an FM Radio transmitter with a Raspberry Pi? That's right, to transmit audio over the radio waves all you need is the right programming code, the appropriate wiring and away you go! Have you tried this yourself? What other uses can you think of for transmitting radio like this? Let the team know on the element14 Community!

When 3D Printing and Lasers don't cut it - how about vacuum forming? Vacuum forming is still a valid technique for creating well fitted enclosures, cases or to duplicate items where fine detail may not be required. So join Clem as he creates his own rig with a heat gun and vacuum cleaner - extending its functionality with an Arduino based microcontroller all controlled with C++ programming and remote power socket control. Do you use vacuum forming? What would you do differently about this build? Let the team know on the element14 Community.

It all started with Pong, gaming that is. A digital version of tennis created and presented in an arcade machine, likely made for a pub. So what better way to start with programming on a custom microcontroller than with your own game of Pong using a NES controller? In this episode, find out how to use an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) such as Altera's DE0-Nano to make your own Pong game and output it to a monitor. Do you have experience with FPGAs? Or do you code your own games? Let the team know on the element14 Community

There is radiation literally everywhere, from the sun to sources you wouldn't even think of like bananas and brazil nuts! You can't avoid it, but we can detect it! Join Matt as he 3D Prints and puts together a geiger counter to detect the radiation around you using old soviet geiger tubes based on the cdv-700. What have you detected around you? Would you write the Arduino code differently? Let the team know on the element14 Community!

Will Pie Face be defeated at last? Does the Atari 800 portable work? Do we get to see more soldering? Find out in this episode of The Ben Heck Show where Felix and Ben put the finishing touches to the custom printed circuit board and design a laser cut and 3D printed case with the help of Autodesk Eagle and Adobe Illustrator. Let the team know what you think on the element14 Community.

What're your favourite 8 bit computers from the 1980s? Ben Heck's is the Atari 800, and what better to do as a final project than making it portable? Time to tear it down! After pulling the Atari apart to reverse engineer it, it's time to design using Autodesk Eagle to create a printed circuit board. Though that's not all in this episode, we get to see the final return of, Pie Face! Join the element14 Community to share your builds, find help and engage with the team.

Many people want to go into space, to explore new frontiers. Clem however, wants to take photo's of himself using a rocket powered Raspberry Pi. Join Clem as he 3D prints a propelled rocket, including parachute, and teaches you how to reach for the stars with electronics and computer aided design. Have you designed something similar? How high have you sent your Raspberry Pi? Let us know on the element14 Community

Sean and Connor Miller join Ben to build a clock crane. It’s a crane sitting on top of a staircase, disguised as a clock, and takes things from the first floor to the second. Back in 2006, Connor’s Mom was diagnosed with MS so she has a lot of trouble carrying two-handed objects up a staircase. This accessibility device will use the matrix creator to enable voice-activated, hands-free carrying of objects such as laundry baskets.

Almost every electronics project on the show involves soldering in some way, and today's rare retro console is no different. Ben's been tasked to fix a Vectrex which sports an old style cathode ray tube display! Taking every effort to be safe, Ben replaces some of the electronics components inside before getting to work on the rare part, the 3D display headset! Watch how Ben and the team repair this rare retro' component! What retro hardware have you repaired or would like to be tore down? Let the team know on the element14 Community!

It's time for hacking in Ben and Felix's Great Clock-Off! How can we keep track of the time without using a personal computer or mobile phone? Well, Ben utilises discrete electronics and encoders with an LED matrix to keep stock of the time, where as Felix puts together a microcontroller with an LCD display and Real-Time Clock crystal as an alternative and more high tech' option - have you made a clock from scratch? What would you do differently? Let the team know on the element14 Community.

With the stress of modern living, it's time to be more zen! Matthew Eargle joins Ben on the show to create a robot that can reproduce and rake your very own, chilled out, zen garden. Ben's getting his head down with the 3D Printing design using Autodesk Fusion 360, while Felix and Matt talk stepper motor control with Arduino code. What would you have done differently? How do you relax? Let the team know on the element14 Community

The Raspberry Pi No HDMI project went over really well. It could be the basis for a great kit except for the fact that it required a lot of wiring and soldering. Now, Ben and Felix are going to take a look at what it would take to make their work the basis for an all-in-one PCB. It could live as a kickstarter kit where people simply buy the board, attach a screen, a Raspberry Pi A+, and a battery so they can then own their own Raspberry Pi No HDMI.

Tragedy has befallen Ben Heck, once upon a time he created some awesome levels for Doom and now he wants to revisit them, but he cannot! They reside on an ancient and old media type called 'zip disks', zip drives were made by iomega and came in various sizes from 100mByte up to 1gByte. So to reverse engineer it Ben and Felix are going to find an old computer, an oscilloscope and a parallel port connected zip drive to find out how it talks to one another and make it do their bidding! What old hardware have you tried to make work? Or reverse engineered? Let the team know on the element14 Community!

Can you hit it? sudo Sergeant Felix can! Taking his hand to the soldering iron and shift registering into gear with Beagleboard.org's Pocket Beagle, Felix is putting together a Drum Sequencer with the help of the Bela Mini audio cape! With a laser engraved case, hands-on help with S. Astrid Bin and a custom designed input-output matrix for driving the LEDs watch now to find out how Felix puts it all together with C++! Have you made an electronics audio device? Or a project with the Pocket Beagle? Let the team know on the element14 Community!

Seeing as everyone loves to a bit of intricate soldering, it's time for one last super solder episode! Ben is feeling nostalgic looking at his collection of CPUs so decides to use the z80 to create a basic Microsoft computer...giving him the perfect excuse to do lots of lovely soldering!