The ThingamaKIT is an anthropomorphic analog synthesizer kit from Bleep Labs. Using "LEDacles", photoresistors, knobs, and switches, it generates interesting high pitched vocalizations. Bleep Labs sent us a review unit and this article shares our experiences building and using the kit. We've also included a tutorial on making some hacks, modifications, and circuit bends to it. Skip to the end to see a video of our hacked kit in action.

A good soldering station and fume extractor is a must for anyone interested in hacking and modding, but not everyone can afford the expensive professional models on the market. This How-To and the tips within it will guide you through the process of building an inexpensive homebrew fume hood complete with built-in time and temperature controlled soldering station and all the soldering tools you need.

Making a PCB is very simple; it does not consume a lot of time and the results look professional. After reading this How-To and watching the step by step video, you will be able to make your own PCB in your workshop using just a few inexpensive materials.

Many people use protoboard and point-to-point wire everything, but needing multiple copies of the same circuit is the reason that forces many away from using protoboard. After making your first circuit board, you might not point-to-point wire anything again!

In part 1 we showed you how to build your own prototype RGB keypad. Today we'll show off some new ideas we worked on to create the project and turn it from prototype to fully functional battle station er door lock.

Part 2 can be found here

Putting a custom designed electronic lock on your space seems like a geek right of passage. For our latest workspace, we decided to skip the boring numbered keypad and build a custom RGB backlit keypad powered by an Arduino. Instead of typing in numbers, your password is a unique set of colors. In today's How-To, we'll show you how to build your own and give you the code to make it all work.

Solarbotics recently released its own version of the Arduino microcontroller development board. They based their board on the Freeduino design. We thought this would be a good opportunity to review the new board as well as present a How-To about building a simple binary clock. Along the way we'll cover some basics on attaching LEDs and switches to a microcontroller.

This hack shows how to make a dumb terminal out of a keyboard, LCD screen, and an 8-bit microcontroller. From time to time, a portable dumb terminal can be handy for when you have to rescue a headless server that's acting up or if you are building a minicomputer out of a WRT, or if you just want to learn how to run a keyboard and LCD screen with a microcontroller. This super simple serial terminal will use RS-232 to control a headless linux system. Additionally, you might want to check into some of the command line interface programs that allow web browsing, AIM and IRC chatting and more directly from the terminal, but nothing beats being able to track your pizzas with this device.

The Linux system in question here will be Linux Mint. It's a young distro based on Ubuntu that's gaining a lot of attention lately, though the principles can be used for other Linux distros.

As anyone who has lusted over the technical specifications for Canon's new Digital Rebel XSi knows, the capabilities of the average point and shoot camera are severely limited. Using the CHDK firmware hack, the features of Canon point and shoot cameras can be significantly expanded, allowing for ultra-high speed photography, very long exposures, time lapse photography, and RAW capture. This How-To provides a guide to our experiences using the CHDK firmware, and shows just how easy it is to get more out of a point and shoot than ever thought possible.

We covered many of [Jason Rollette]'s personal projects in the past and are happy to welcome him as our newest Hack-A-Day contributor.

The electronics industry has shifted to lead free compliance, but most hobbyists haven't even considered the personal impact of using lead. Today's How-To will cover what it takes to switch from tin/lead solder to completely lead free. Our previous posts Introduction to soldering and the follow-up still apply to lead free. You may have never considered switching to lead free before, but we hope to help you make an informed decision.

Chris Kiick posted about swarm robotics earlier in the week and today publishes his first Hack-A-Day How-To.

Old computer mice are being abandoned in droves. They're tossed out because of dirt, obsolescence, or for being entirely too beige. Anyone who has a computer usually has more than one mouse and you can get them for pennies, if not free just for asking. Fortunately for the discriminating (read: cheap) hacker, these little widgets are chock-full of project parts. Today's How-To will dissect a computer mouse, extract the useful parts, and give some ideas about how to use them.

This week's How-To comes from our newest contributor: Logan Williams.

This simple guide will show you how to build a digital synthesizer that generates and manipulates square waves. Your synthesizer will have one oscillator, which produces a variable pitch controlled by a potentiometer, as well as an LFO which modulates that pitch at a variable frequency. The part count for this project is quite low, and it can be built for under $20.

I linked the Wiimote horse controller in yesterdays extra, but today [Mark] sent us a short and sweet How-to. Essentially, he's using the Wiimote taped to the horse as a joystick to play Need for Speed on the laptop connected to his big screen. Hit the read link for his write up.

Hunting down the right parts usually takes more time than soldering everything together. I can't count the number of projects that I tried to build and couldn't find some key component that's no longer made. You can help put together a list of suppliers at the end, but the idea is to have a quick reference to get your projects rolling (saving your money for important things, like espresso). Even if you're familiar with the usual electronics parts shops, chime in to help me create a list of the best suppliers to fuel those hardware hacking projects.

At some point, just about everyone manages to mess up their precious electronics. In this case, someone (not me) somehow managed to totally demolish the mini USB port in their new Motorola cell phone. Surface mount repairs can be challenging without some serious tools, but it's possible to replace parts without a re-work station. (Guess what I'm getting for Christmas this year.) Today I'll show you that's it's possible to repair a surface mount part with some fairly inexpensive tools.

The response to the soldering How-To was fantastic. You guys seem to want more and we're looking forward to bringing you more How-Tos in the near future. If there's a specific topic you'd like to see, let us know and I'll see what we can do.

[justin] suggests picking up a flux pen with your next electronics order. I'll probably take him up on that idea. [xrazorwirex] suggests using a pure form of alcohol like everclear for cleaning boards. I keep a few bottles of tape head cleaning solution - it won't leave residue like rubbing alcohol and you don't have to be 21 to buy it. [MattS] suggests cutting your leads and then soldering to prevent corrosion later on. This usually isn't a problem for small projects, but it's a good idea for anything that'll see a less than ideal environment later on. [Josh Malone] is fond of his Hakko 936 soldering iron. I have to agree with everyone that a temperature controlled iron is the way to go. I was very happy with my Tenma which lasted well over 10 years. [David Moisan] suggests buying purpose made soldering sponges from MCM to preserve the plating on your soldering tip. Considering the varied contents of kitchen sponges, this is definitely a good idea. [Forrest M. Mims III] freaked me out a bit when he commented on the post - he notes that he taught his son to solder when he was 4 years old! I'm a bit more conservative, but lets be honest - I learned how to solder from his books when I was a kid.