Hackaday Podcast Episode 327: A Ploopy Knob, Rube-Goldberg Book Scanner, Hard Drives and Power Grids Oscillating Out of Control

It’s Independence Day here in the USA, but if you’re not a fan of fireworks and hot dogs, Elliot and Dan’s rundown of the best hacks of the week is certainly something to celebrate. Rest easy, because nothing exploded, not even the pneumatic standing desk that [Matthias] tore into, nor the electroplated 3D prints that [H3NDRIK] took a blowtorch to. We both really loved the Ploopiest knob you’ve ever seen, which would be even Ploopier in anodized aluminum, as well as an automatic book scanner that takes its job very seriously. We looked into the mysteries of the Smith chart, another couple of fantastic student projects out of Cornell, the pros and cons of service loops, and what happened when the lights went out in Spain last Spring. And what does Janet Jackson have against laptops anyway?

 

Episode 327 Show Notes:

News:

• Supercon CFP Extended
• Announcing The 2025 Hackaday One Hertz Challenge

What’s that Sound?

• Fill out this form for your chance to win!

Interesting Hacks of the Week:

• Open-Source Knob Packed With Precision
  • Ploopy Open Source Trackball Keeps Rolling Along
  • A Ploopy Pick and Place
• Standing Desk Uses Pneumatics To Do The Job
• Data Visualization And Aggregation: Time Series Databases, Grafana And More
  • Howto: Docker, Databases, And Dashboards To Deal With Your Data
  • VictoriaMetrics: Simple & Reliable Monitoring for Everyone
• A Scanner For Arduino-Powered Book Archiving
  • Page-turning Book Scanner Roundup
  • Automatic Book Scanner To Bring Knowledge To Ethiopian Students
• Audio Localization Gear Built On The Cheap
• Meet Cucumber, The Robot Dog
• Blowtorching Electroplated 3D Prints For Good Reason

Quick Hacks:

• Elliot’s Picks
  • Turbine Blower 3D Prints Every Part, Including Triple Planetary Gears
  • Windows 95 On PlayStation 2 Works As Well As You Expected
  • Phone Keyboard Reverse Engineered
• Dan’s Picks:
  • Pi Networks The Smith Chart Way
  • Are Service Loops A Good Idea?
  • Move Over, Cybertruck: Series Hybrids From Edison Are On The Way
    • Edison Blue Hex Code

Can’t-Miss Articles:

• One Laptop Manufacturer Had To Stop Janet Jackson Crashing Laptops
  • Shouting in the Datacenter – YouTube
• The 2025 Iberian Peninsula Blackout: From Solar Wobbles To Cascade Failures
  • The 2003 Northeast Blackout And The Harsh Lessons Of Grid Failures