Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks

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Part II: Advanced Hacks, Tools, and Techniques

Hardware Assembly Instructions

In the following instructions, you will first carefully take apart the toaster.

You will choose the desired toasting area as well as the toasting pattern.

You’ll construct a pattern mask using copper wire and secure it inside

the toasting area. You’ll cut and rewire the nichrome toasting wires and

install a relay to switch between the two areas. Finally, you’ll add a micro-

processor to control the relay, a small LCD (liquid crystal display), and an

optional interface to a PC.

1. Disassemble the toaster

You begin to hack the toaster by taking it apart very carefully. If you don’t

have an extra working one lying around, you can buy one for $20 to $30.

Remove the outer plastic (or metal) covers

The outer plastic covers on most toasters are held in place with a few

screws. Carefully remove them and put them aside. Figure 10-4 shows the

sides and bottom of my toaster.

Reveal the side toasting elements

After the side panels are removed, you should be able to see one of the mica

sheets with nichrome wire around it. You can see a toaster without its sides

in Figure 10-5. The mica sheet is held in place by a metal frame. The top

piece of this metal frame should be removed. The mica and nichrome wire

sheet should now be loose and movable, but will still be held together by

several