Category: DIY

A remote control can make life easier. Especially if you work alone and without any assistance. In the hobby workshop, this may be the case more often. A vehicle lift is usually operated by a control on the lifting columns – it is not possible to operate the buttons and control the alignment on the vehicle at the same time, for example, when installing or removing the engine. In the following, a conventional vehicle lift was retrofitted with a radio remote control based on Arduino. The material costs amount to approx. $30, the installation is reliable and suitable for everyday use.

PCR devices are expensive. Even the simplest models start from $600. Since the reaction is very easy to control via temperature control and the components are cheap to obtain, this project will build an attractive, functional and inexpensive PCR thermal cycler. Wirewound resistors are used as heating elements. The housing is 3D printed from ABS plastic and the aluminium heating block is made in several parts on a 3-axis CNC milling machine. A Nextion touch display is used to simplify user interaction. The material costs remain consistently below $100.

In this project, the idea of the adaptive brake light was reinterpreted using an Arduino Nano (ATMEGA328P) microcontroller. With a transistor as switching unit and an acceleration or GPS sensor, the components are connected in between the braking signal – only one additional power cable needs to be pulled. Any vehicle type can be easily retrofitted in this way without complicated wiring or the need to detect pedal force. The code was programmed using existing Arduino libraries, the cases were 3D printed and the finished modules were tested in practice. The total price of required components does not exceed $15.

In this project, an ordinary video projector was controlled using serial commands (RS232) via an Arduino Mega. Operation through an external custom-made 3D printed multimedia panel fitting into a 50 mm cable channel eliminates the need for the proprietary infrared remote control. The cost of the equipment was reduced by 80% compared to a commercial solution and is highly customizable. The secondary objective of the installation was to provide the user with a simple, unambiguous control panel that is completely reliable. The project presented covers the entire work-through process from analysis and planning to installation and the finished result.