Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks

3

Introduction

Wire. I keep several spools of wire (30-gauge stranded,

24-gauge stranded, solid-core 20-gauge stranded,

16-gauge stranded, and multi-conductor ribbon

cable) on hand. It will make your work go faster if

you have these readily available.

Hot-melt glue gun. Hot-melt glue is amazing stuff—it’s

nearly flawless at causing any two solid items to stick

together. It is as useful as duct tape and used almost

as often by electronics hackers. I have an inexpensive

“no-name” brand gun; any brand will do the trick.

These are the basic tools you will want to have on hand

for most of the simpler hacks I cover in this book. Part

II, Advanced Hacks, Tools, and Techniques will cover

the kinds of skills you’ll need to tackle the more compli-

cated hacks. Each hack in this book requires only a small

subset of the tools described here, but if you’re going to

call yourself a tinkerer and invent your own hacks, you’ll

want to be acquainted with all the tools in this toolbox.

The Basics

Hacking hardware usually involves several basic activi-

ties: reading schematic drawings that describe circuits, connecting elec-

tronic components using solder, and measuring signals in electronic cir-

cuits using a multi-meter. Before you jump into the first few projects in this

book, you need to know how to perform these activities.

How to read a schematic diagram

The ...