The Sunchronizer Keeps Your Solar Panel Aligned

In the past few years, the price-per-watt for solar panels has dropped dramatically. This has led to a number of downstream effects beyond simple cost savings. For example, many commercial solar fa…

Möbius Tank’s Twisty Treads Became Bendy

[James Bruton]’s unusual Möbius Tank has gotten a little more unusual with the ability to bend itself, which allows it to perform turns even though it is a single-track vehicle. The Möbius Ta…

Homebrew Linear Actuators Improved

[Harrison Low] published some 3D-printed linear actuators, which generated a lot of interest. He got a lot of advice from people on the Internet, and he took it to heart. The result: an improved ve…

Carbon Fiber And Kevlar Make This Linear Actuator Fast And Strong

When it comes to the “build versus buy” question, “buy” almost always wins. The amount of time you have to put into building something is rarely justified, especially with a…

A Fast Linear Actuator Entirely In One PCB

There are many ways to make a linear actuator, a device for moving something is a straight line. Most of the easier to make ones use a conventional motor and a mechanical linkage such as a rack and…

Domino Row Goes With The Flow

Around here, we’re always excited about a new actuator design. Linear actuators are particularly hard to make cheap, fast, and good, so it’s even better when something new that we can b…

Sisyphean Ball Race Robot Toils Gracefully, Magnetically

Aren’t ball races and marble runs fun? Wouldn’t they be so much more enjoyable if you didn’t have to climb back up the ladder each time, as it were, and reset the thing? [Johannes…

3D Printed Linear Actuator Is Cheap And Strong

Motors are all well and good for moving things, but they’re all about the round-and-round. Sometimes, you need to move something back and forth, and for that a linear actuator will do the tri…

Swing Gate Motors Come To Help For Opening A Giant Servery Window

[Martin Roberts] wrote to us, telling us about a build that his company, [Ocean View Workshop], was tasked with. Creating a four meter wide window able to open vertically is no small feat, and it h…

Building A High-Capacity Linear Servo Actuator

Linear actuators are useful things, moving things in straight lines rather than annoying circles like so many motors. [Retsetman] recently built a linear servo actuator of his own design with accur…

1960s Stereo Console Gets An Upgrade

Faced with an old console stereo from the 1960s that was barely functional, [Sherman Banks] aka W4ATL decided to upgrade its guts while keeping its appearance as close to the original as possible. …

Mini Linear Actuators From DVD Drive Parts

For many years now a source for some of the smallest and cheapest home made CNC mechanisms has been the seemingly never-ending supply of surplus CD and DVD-ROM drives. The linear actuator that move…

Riding Mower Repair Uncovers Miniature Culprit

Most people would be pretty upset it the lawn mower they spent $4,000 USD on had a major failure within the first year of owning it. But for [xxbiohazrdxx], it was an excuse to take a peek under th…