Happy 4th of July from HacknMod! Here’s a quick, simple project for your 4th of July celebration: a computer playing the anthem along with a flying American flag illuminated and powered via USB. The setup is simple and easy to put together. The project put together by Evan Roth’s project is definately salute worthy.

The USB LED lamp and the USB fan are paired together. The lamp and fan arms are supported by a straightened wire coat hanger. The wire coat hanger also serves as the mast. The entire gadget is bound with duct tape and heat shrink wrap, twisted into shape and plugged into the USB ports of a computer. Quick list of materials:

• USB Fan
• USB LED lamp
• 12″ of heat shrink wrap
• Flag (country of choice), roughly 9″ x 6″
• Roll of electrical tape
• An unlimited supply of patriotism.

The final effect is supplied by the PC (call it the ‘patriotic computer’). Change the boot-up music to your national anthem and the desktop wallpaper to a patriotic image. When the computer boots up, the USB fan wafts the flag, the USB LED lamp lights it up and as a backdrop you have the anthem with patriotic imagery thrown in.

USB has its uses like the how to on a cheap USB powered fan we had covered earlier. That’s one from our entire section on USB project hacks.

Computer’s cooled with mineral oil have been around for years. While there are plenty of advantages such as quietness and cooling…the stuff is just plain messy and rather expensive.  But, nonetheless it’s a pretty neat concept and you can check out the video above for a walkthrough tutorial on how to build your own.   For further case modding fun, check out all of our tutorials including:

• Stunning PC Mod Combines Function with Looks

• Create your own Wall Mounted Laptop

The 4th of July is just a few days away and we’ve got 10 great DIY projects to spice up your evening. You can actually make your own fireworks then create a custom wireless detonation panel to blast them off!

1. How to Make a Fireworks Detonation Panel

2. Fireworks Triggered by Cell Phone

   

3. Make a Pyro Firing System

   

4. Pyro Fireworks Detonator (Type 2)

5. Microcontroller based fireworks launcher

   

6. DIY wireless firework control

   

7. Make your own fireworks

   - Super dangerous but super fun

You’ll also enjoy:

• 10 Minute PyroManic Rube Goldberg Machine

Little is known about this fantastic project, but the video really speaks for itself.  Obviously it’s not as smooth as the movie, it’s still an impressive engineering build.  It uses a bunch of servo motors to accomplish the complex transformations.  We covered an incredible robot battle at the link below:

See all of our robotics hacks, especially Incredible Robot Battle Video

A few MIT students build this motorized shopping cart out of parts from an old go-cart.  While some students spend college parting, these cool kids used their time to build this babe-magnet of a ride.  You can check out the video demo above and check out the build blog for even more info.

More of our Car and Transportation projects:

• Fantastic Motorized Shoes: The iShoe
• Remote Surveillance Spy Vehicle/Office Unit
• The Enicycle: A Self Balancing Electric UniCycle

The “Edelweiss PC” is a stunning computer case mod in white complimented by the gorgeous glow of orange LEDs.  It’s an exceptional build by Pius Giger and it looks more like a design concept than a case.  See more details and pics of the Edelweiss computer Mod.

Looking at this design, you cannot but marvel at the extreme detailing. It appears to be water cooled and the tubes are tightly integrated into the body. The main board cables are also seamlessly hidden in the main design. The whole effect is neat when you see that the hardware is open to view. For me, what completes the effect is the fantastic lighting.

Did you catch your jaw before it hit the floor? Catch some of our other outstanding case mods too.

• Incredible, Sleek Blue LED Case Mod
• Xbox 360 Hellboy Case Mod
• Perhaps The Best Wall-E Case Mod Yet

And if you looking for a good place to start, then check out our Ultimate Case Modding Tutorial.

While iPhone’s have just about any feature you could possibly want, they may not always produce crisp photos.  By using a few parts from an old Nikon camera mount, this modder created their own tripod for their iPhone 3GS.  Full build details are available for you to follow and we have plenty of other camera and photography projects for you to enjoy:

• Incredible LED and Laser Photography
• DIY Heltmet Cam Inside Ski Goggles
• EyeBorg: False Eye Camera Implant

Although you have to laugh at the absurd demo vid above, you still have to admire the great engineering work. The pneumatic bed shaking alarm clock is for the deepest sleepers you know. The contraption works by an air fed valve from two compressors which jolt the bed and your bones in that order.

The video shows a pneumatic valve attached to the bed. The valve is like a pneumatic lift which lifts the bed with intake of air. The valve is fed air from two sources – a large liquid cooled air compressor under the basement stairs and a secondary source of pressurized air (at 150psi) from the car compressor. A computer controls the valve and triggers the bed bouncing action dot on the programmed time. The pneumatic force can be turned on and switched off with a keystroke.

Catch three more of our pneumatic hacks below:

• DIY Spy Gadgets: Build a Net Launching Gun
• Pirate Cannon - Pneumatic Style
• DIY Pneumatic Guns

via HG

This is a fantastic, unique project which uses RFID tagged pictures to select and play album. The system utilizes the easy to use arduino microcontroller platform along with an RFID reader and is also ethernet enabled. See more pics and details:

When a tag (album picture) is placed over the tag, a signal is processed by the arduino and sent over ethernet to a database. This database then looks up the tag and matches it with the corresponding album and begins to play the selected music.

The author has posted a nice write up for the Arduino mp3 build on his site where he goes into further detail about the project specs. Check out our entire database of audio and arduino projects for your next build and project inspiration.

Comic books and movies are the inspirations for case mods this year. If it was the Wall-E case mod or the Star Wars Nintendo Wii Case Mod then, it’s a Hellboy inspired case mod for the Xbox 360.

One look at the entirely red Xbox 360 Hellboy Case Mod and you know the creator, Frank Gonzales, has stacked up a lot on Hellboy comics. The case mod matches the dark mood of the horror-hero. Unlike others, this case mod is about texture and art and less about hardcore cutting and grafting. Frank Gonzales, a graphic artist, has sauced up an Xbox 360 with a crusty surface, red paint job and the Hellboy logo in the center. The end effect looks like one of those collectors’ editions that comic book fans line up for.

Take a 360 degree perspective in the pictures below:

If you are wowed by case mods like these and trying to make your first cut then read our Ultimate Case Modding Tutorial.

Don’t forget to browse through our entire section of case mod hacks on HacknMod.