In this episode, Hackaday Editors Elliot Williams and Tom Nardi start things off by discussing the latest reason that cheap PCB fabrication isn’t quite as cheap as it once was. The conversation will then move on to hacking electronic shelf labels, stylish e-ink status displays, cutting metal at home with high current and a bit of water, a solarpunk message board hiding in a IKEA-style lantern, and pushing NFC out of its comfort zone. From there you’ll hear about a matching transistors, taking pictures of the International Space Station, and Linux on the PS5. They’ll wrap up this week’s episode by going over the surprisingly simple concept behind flow batteries, and learn who’s still using leaded gasoline and why.

Check out the links if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

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Episode 369 Show Notes:

News:

• You’ve Seen The Chip Shortage And The Memory Shortage, Now Prepare For The PCB Shortage
• The Zen Of Mechanical Keyboard Wiring
• Hackaday Europe: Last Round Of Speakers, Workshops

What’s that Sound?

• Think you know that sound? Fill out the form for a chance to win!

Interesting Hacks of the Week:

• TagTinker Lets You Hack Electronic Shelf Labels
  
  • Game Boy Vs. Electronic Shelf Labels

  
  

• E-paper Dashboard Reimagines Smart Home’s Connection With Technology
• Three-Axis Camera Slider From 3D Printer Parts
  
  • Camera Slider: Build Instead Of Buy Goes Awry
  • FluidNC Wiki Home Page

  
  

• Cutting Steel Gears With Homemade EDM
  
  • Powercore Aims To Bring The Power Of EDM To Any 3D Printer

  
  

• ESP32 Hosts SolarPunk Message Board
• Using NFC To Power Devices Instead Of Qi
  
  • ATtiny Chip Abused In RFID Application

  
  

Quick Hacks:

• Elliot’s Picks:
  
  • Matching Transistors
  • A Tool For Testing CANopen Networks
  • A Digital Audio Recorder For TOSLink

  
  

• Tom’s Picks:
  
  • Running Linux On The PS5 With A Hypervisor Exploit
  • A Shortwave Sensor To Monitor The Ionosphere
  • Photographing The ISS With A Thrift Store Lens Is Challenging

  
  

Can’t-Miss Articles:

• How Giant Tanks Of Fluid Could Help Support The Power Grid
  
  • A Vanadium Redox Flow Battery You Can Build
  • An Open Source Flow Battery
  • This Flow Battery Operates With No Pump Required

  
  

• Why Leaded Fuel Is Still A Thing

hackaday.com/2026/05/08/hackad…