element14 Presents

Humans by nature can be more than a little bit wasteful, thanks to the introduction of recycling we can minimize this a little, but some things are too good to throw away! Now a new trend is beginning: Upcycling! Karen has the idea to repurpose laptop screens to create a Legend of Zelda inspired lamp, however not just any laptop screen will do. As the team rip apart old hardware they soon discover the different types of screens which have been used in old personal computer laptops and Apple MacBooks over the years. With the correct screens identified, Karen gets down to business with Adobe Illustrator and designs suitable laser cut frames, watch the episode to find out the little tips and tricks to make the perfect design! Have you upcycled any old hardware? Think you could enter your project into a design competition? Find out more on the element14 Community!

When Ben began with the Nintendo 64 build, we knew it wasn't going to be easy! In this episode, Ben shrinks down the size of the controller, embeds the RAM expansion, and begins to design the case with design inspiration taken from the Nintendo Switch. To embed the controller we have to get creative with the notorious analogue stick. It needs to be re-worked, and thanks to an Arduino Pro Micro it can be replaced with a joystick from Sony's Playstation Vita. Further hackery comes in the form of a custom made printed circuit board to house the controller chip, as the one from the original joypad is far too big. Unfortunately, there's one final problem to overcome, you'll have to watch the episode to find out what it is! Do you have any ideas on how this portable could be made differently? Or have you made your own? Let us know on the element14 Community!

Of all the build requests the team receive on the element14 Community, there has been one that has repeatedly came up: Build a Nintendo 64 portable! The Ben Heck Show team has finally decided to give it a go, starting with the Nintendo 64 that was torn down in the Console Wars episode. As unforgiving as the N64 hardware is, Ben is going to manipulate the components to make the portable fully featured, while Felix gets the battery management up and running. What other consoles would you like to be made into a portable version? Let us know on the element14 Community.

It is time to learn the Essentials with Karen and Ben this week, Karen has a project that requires a bit of intelligence and discrete electronics can provide just that. To make the laser cut Star Wars BB8 art light reactive, Ben helps to explain and design a circuit using active and passive components, from resistors, capacitors and inductors to diodes and transistors. These components make the basis of smart electronics we experience today, from video cameras to smart phones. Watch now to find out how you can make your project light reactive with a photoresistor and discrete logic! Let us know what art work you have been creating, or how you would want add that bit more control on the element14 Community.

In the 1980s and 1990s, ‘Boomboxes’ were very popular. The sight of a person carrying a huge music player on their shoulder was iconic, until the Walkman came along. The team decided it's time for a retro-fit, using the intel Edison, with thanks to its Arduino compatible breakout board, and a USB soundcard it's time to make the Boombox smarter while keeping with its original parts. After all, the more parts that's kept, the easier it is to modify! Find out how Ben and the team powered the intel Edison using standard batteries and kept the good times rolling, what tech' would you retrofit with modern hardware? Let us know on the element14 Community.

The Ben Heck Show team have been approached to repair and enhance a vintage Japanese arcade Pachinko machine! Pachinko machines are common gambling games which are played in Japan, and are still in use today! Most of the modern games have hidden features, hints and instant win mechanisms, so it makes sense that the team use their 3D Printing and microcontroller knowledge to bring this mechanical wood, plastic and metal version up to electronic standards for gaming fun. What's an arcade machine without sound and blinking lights anyway? This project becomes a great opportunity to look at logic states and how those can trigger events! Even if they make, strange and unusual noises... Have you built or repaired an arcade machine? Or what arcade machine would you want to make ? Let the team know on the element14 Community.

Technology should be accessible to everyone, especially gaming. That's why one of the popular requests received by the Ben Heck Show Team is to create custom controllers that are accessible to everyone. The current generation of games consoles have made this difficult, especially with the Playstation 4, and it wasn't until a recent third party controller came to market that Ben and Felix found an easy way to hack in custom parts! Watch in this episode as Felix tears down the controller and guides us through how they manufacture replacement trigger buttons and directional pad controls, while Ben shows us how to measure and model the controller as a design guide to create 3D printed or laser cut pieces. Then it's up to Ben and Karen to put the controller through its paces, what other controllers do you think the team should create? Or we should modify for accessibility? Let the team know on the element14 Community!

It's time to appraise Sony's design decisions that have gone into this new iteration of the popular Playstation console! Ben compares the PS4 Pro to the XBox One, and the Playstation 4 Slim, and then answers the ultimate question on everyone's mind: "Why can't the Playstation 4 Pro do 4k blu-ray ?" While taking apart the console, Ben also comes across some curious similarities to the XBox One, making us wonder: did Sony rip off some designs, or is it only coincidental? Also, why do so many versions of the Playstation 4 exist? You’ll have to watch the episode to find out the answers to these questions! What other console or even device hardware teardowns you would like to see? Perhaps networking hardware or other games consoles? Let the Ben Heck Show team know on the element14 Community!

You may not have wondered what Felix was like as a baby, but you're about to find out. Ben hacks apart a VTech baby monitor so that it's possible to listen to your favourite music with headphones, and be interrupted by what's important in your life, your little child. After breaking open the baby monitor, Ben finds suitable test pads on the PCB to find the perfect place for the digital logic level control and 555 timers to latch onto the audio signal and switch over from music, to wailing baby and back again. What devices do you need to make your life easier or more comfortable as a parent? Let the Ben Heck Show team know on the element14 community!