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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/ten_commandments_of_soldering.html
We tweeted a link to these on our Make_Tips channel, but I thought they were worth reposting here. Strung here are most of the pearls of wisdom needed to be successful in ye ol' art of soldering:
I. Thou shall not remove tip from soldering iron when power is "On." Causes heating element to rise in temperature to approximately 1300 F resulting in thermal shock and reduced heater life.
II. Thou shall maintain a damp (NOT drenched) iron sponge (preferably with de-ionized water). A drenched sponge will bring the temperature of the tip down too drastically, causing thermal shock and reduced tip life.
III. Thou shall not disconnect soldering iron from base unit when power is turned "On." Disconnecting or reconnecting the soldering tool from the base unit with power applied may cause a short between non-compatible pins resulting in damage to the base unit or pencil.
IV. Thou shall maintain a coating of solder on working area of soldering iron tip. Protects the tip from oxidation.
V. Thou shall never drop soldering iron while heated. Dropping the soldering tool while heated may cause thermal/mechanical shock to the heater, sensor, or tip (fractured plating).
Ten Commandments of soldering
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All of our soldering coverage on MAKE
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Digg this!August 30 2010, 7:30pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/how_to_take_great_photos_of_your_pr.html
There are a lot of photography tutorials, but not a many that specifically talk about taking photos for electronics projects - here's one of hopefully many!
This tutorial by John De Cristofaro (Johngineer) aims to teach you how to take photos of your hacks and projects for sharing on the web, and perhaps even in print. It focuses on smaller items, less than 6"x6"x6" in size. Bigger projects present their own unique problems that are beyond the scope of this article. However, you can always "scale up" the methods presented here to take pictures of larger subjects, at least to a point.
I've divided it into two parts: The first part details how to build a small, inexpensive cyclorama (shooting platform) and the second covers setting up the lights and taking the photos. It assumes you are starting with little more than a camera and a subject to take pictures of. I've tried to address a number of questions I've received from folks regarding things that are unique to photographing electronics. These include how to photograph lit LEDs and how to make the stamped text on IC packages appear clearly in photos without being washed out.
I'm going to introduce two lighting setups. The first one uses two light sources, and the second one uses one light source and reflectors. The two-light setup is simple, and is good for things like documenting your project as you build it, time-lapse assembly stuff, and general documentation. The one-light setup is more complicated, but also more creative, and is useful for taking final project photos. It also cures baldness, makes you more attractive, and builds self-esteem. Awesome!
I will not be discussing shooting tents in this article. These are already well-documented and ubiquitous all over the web, and in my opinion they don't teach you a great deal about creative lighting. That isn't to say they aren't useful, or produce bad results. They have their place, and for many things they do work amazingly well. That said, the main goal of this article to provide the reader with a basic photo skillset, and I think a shooting tent just hands you the solution instead of teaching you how to solve the problem.
Ok, now that that we've gotten the philosophical stuff out of the way, let's get to work!
Read more...
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Digg this!August 25 2010, 8:14am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/circuit_skills_surface_mount_device.html
I've tried my hand at quite a few different methods for circuit building —
breadboard, perfboard, custom etching, even some boardless freeform wiring, but somehow, I never got around to using surface-mount parts (until now, that is). Understandably, many balk at the idea of soldering the infamously tiny SMD packages, but once equipped with the right tools, and a bit of patience, you too can solder your own teeny-tiny circuitry.
Subscribe to the MAKE Podcast in iTunes, download the m4v video directly, or watch it on YouTube and Vimeo.
As my first build in the format, I decided to go with a simple and familiar schematic — the light-sensitive oscillator (aka "phototheremin") as originally described in Forrest Mims' book Timer, Op Amp and Optoelectronic Circuits & Projects. Once I got the hang of securing each part in place for soldering, the rest of the process was more or less straightforward, and the circuit worked the first time I tested it.
Though I didn't run into any major snags, I'll likely do at least a couple things differently next time. Firstly, I used .032" diameter solder for the build, but .015" would have deposited an appropriately smaller amount of molten solder on each pad. Also, I would like to try using some sticky solder flux instead of adhesive gum, to keep the parts in place.
Happily, the SO-8 pattern protoboard I used was a perfect fit for this little test-build. A few of these boards, plus a variety of SMD parts and related tools, can be picked up as a bundle from Jameco. If you decide to have a go at building your own electronic tinyness, we'd love to check out the results!
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August 24 2010, 8:00am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/open_source_breathalyzer_theres_a_s.html
Hive 13 member Craig Smith found a way to combine two hobbies with his Drinkshield, which contains both an alcohol sensor and a bunch of LEDs. Could be great for that upcoming party!
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Digg this!August 21 2010, 1:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/ecosmart_led_light_teardown.html
Home Depot is now selling a $20 EcoSmart LED bulb — it's dimmable, even! Margery Conner, of Electronics Design News, got one and went medieval on it to figure out what makes it tick — or in this case, glow.
I love this process of deconstructing a piece of hardware, looking up the datasheets for the components, figuring out the strengths and weaknesses of the design, etc. Here's a bit of what she learned:
Not the usual intense light sources we've seen in other LED lights: These are large surface-area LEDs that make for a very pleasant diffuse light source. And the light only requires two of them to put out 429 lumens at 8.6W.
Well, I couldn't find a manufacturer's label, but there is an apparent part number; AM6L1, and the part looks like an LED array, meaning that, rather than a single emitter, the LED packages up several tiny LED chips in one package and covers them with a single phosphor. It's a good choice to use such a diffused light source - no pixilation.
The e-cap (just partially visible to the right) is potential weak link and this design uses a good-quality part. Compared to other LED lights, this one has relatively little hand-soldering. As we know from Geoff Potter's research, solder joints are the Achilles' heel of LED lighting reliability. Going with a highly-integrated LED driver part like the LM3445 in itself gets rid of a lot of solder joints.
If you enjoy these sorts of teardown investigations, stay tuned.... We have a contest coming up to challenge you to peer under the hood of some of your gadgets and tell us what you discover. [Thanks, Tim Slagle!]
Home Depot's $20 EcoSmart LED light: What's inside?
More:
HOW TO - Make your own LED bulbs
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August 18 2010, 6:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/single-handed_game_controller_mod.html
Playing a game on the Wii with one hand is a major selling point of the system. However, what if you don't have a Wii or would like to play some of your older games? Dutch hardware hacker Hasse's brother can only use one hand, so Hasse decided to remedy the situation by successfully modding a standard two-fisted controller with an accelerometer. [via LifeHacker]
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August 16 2010, 7:00am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/how-to_make_your_own_el_wire.html
The ever-industrious Jeri Ellsworth shows you how she made her own electroluminescent (EL) wire using enameled magnet wire, bare copper wire, and EL phosphors. And don't forget the rubber cement coating when you're done so that you don't shock the Dickens out of you.
EL Wire Made at Home - The Currency of Burning Man
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August 15 2010, 12:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/making_a_soft-circuit_input_device.html
Want to create a custom input device for your computer, that you can use to control an existing program? Then you might want to check out the Teensy, which is a USB development board that can emulate a human input device (HID) such as a mouse or keyboard. The folks over at How To Get What You Want took things a step further, and created a Sewable Fabric Breakout to make it easy to connect the Teensy up to a soft circuit creation. Instructions and a template are available at their site.
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Digg this!August 13 2010, 4:15pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/how-to_mod_the_monotron.html
2CV from Din Sync demonstrates some of the sweet analog sounds which can be produced with a few simple mods made to a Korg Monotron. For those unfamiliar, the Monotron, is a pocket-sized analog synth well suited for hacking/modding.
This little ribbon-controlled unit seems more than a little bit inspired by Gakken's popular SX-150 analog stylus synth, but unlike the SX, the Monotron comes fully assembled and is much more compact. Overall a very cool design, but really the best feature is revealed once you open up this things enclosure - the PCB's most hackable points are all clearly labelled:
Here's hoping this sparks a trend and more manufacturers realize how many of their customers have soldering irons (and want to use them!)
Check out 2CV's write-up and simple schematic for Monotron CV inputs over at DinSync.info
In the Maker Shed:
SX-150 Analog Synthesizer Kit
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August 11 2010, 8:00am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/portable_solar_charging_tracker.html
Ladyada writes -
This is actually not any sort of product or public project (!) – its something we designed to help me evaluate solar panels and how they act when charging batteries. Normally this requires a lot of multimeters and its a bit of a pain to do if you have to constantly change out panels. So we decided we would build a specialized tool that would assist us. Here is what we wanted!
- Portable! Its hard to test solar panels inside
- Ability to log to an SD card for long-term data analysis (to be added later)
- Keep track of the solar panel voltage
- Keep track of the battery voltage
- Keep track of how much current is going thru the panel to the charger
- We figured if we had to build this, someone might find my notes useful.
This design is intended for ~6V panels, single Lithium Polymer cells and chargers. It can very easily be adapted to any kind of panel and charger, you’ll just need to adjust the resistor dividers and such!
Read about the tester here.
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August 6 2010, 11:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/how-to_glowing_balloons_change_colo.html
Honestly, they had me at "glowing balloons." I've got a box on a shelf in my closet that houses my past, failed, experiments to make floating, glowing party balloons. The group at Carnegie Mellon that produced this Instructable makes it work by using weather balloons which are bigger and can provide more buoyancy. That the LEDs they use are tri-color versions that change to reflect the ambient air quality is just icing on the cake. [via Boing Boing]
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Digg this!August 6 2010, 5:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/audio_and_guitar_effects_on_maple.html
Okie from LeafLabs got down with some experimental signal processing using Leaf's speedy Maple board and a custom shield -
Real-time audio processing is an example of an application where Maple really shines in comparison to Arduino. Maple has 12-bit ADCs with sample rates up to 1MSPS and PWM fast enough to clear ~11.8 bits of resolution (log2(72MHz/20kHz)=11.8) at a frequency twice the Nyquist frequency of the upper end of the bandwidth of the human ear (20kHz). And there’s a lot of clock cycles to do all kinds of really awesome stuff to the signal (e.g. echo, distortion, octave, harmony, equalization, flange, phaser, fuzz, ring modulation, and complete new imagined effects)!
The EAGLE schematic/PCB files, code, audio samples, and further explanation can be harvested over on the
LeafLabs blog.
The Maple's STM32 chip seems to be begging for more audio exploration like this. I imagine a basic music synth would be relatively easy to implement in comparison to effects processing.
Hmmm … must find more time for hacking.
More:
Arduino vs. Maple
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Digg this!August 6 2010, 8:00am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/new_electronics_podcast_the_dave_jo.html
Our pal Dave Jones of the EEvblog has teamed up with Chris Gammell to do a yet-unnamed electronics podcast. Their first two productions, Episode 1 and Episode 2, are finished and available for download. Dave's really entertaining to watch on video, and if the topics they cover in their second are any indication, it should be a great show:
- MAKE magazine's review of Maker Faire Detroit (learning to solder)
- NYT article about mineral deposits in Afghanistan
- Antipasto Hardware Blog -- Graphing Calculator on the Beagle Touch
- Anduino Wiki Page
- Maker Faire NYC Tickets
[via hacked gadgets]
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Digg this!August 5 2010, 10:30pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/circuit_simulator_for_ios.html
iCircuit recently appeared on Apple's App Store, offering a basic schematic editor, plus circuit simulator with multimeter, and oscilloscope views. Per the app's description -
There are over 30 elements you can use to build your circuits. The app has everything from simple resistors, to switches, to MOSFETS, to digital gates.
The app features a multimeter that you use to probe around the circuit to instantly read voltages and currents. If you want to see how a value changes over time, then you can add values to the built-in oscilloscope. The scope can simultaneously track many signals over time and features a touch interface to control the total time displayed and stacked and unstacked modes to easily compare signals.
Supported elements include:
- Signal generators, Voltage sources, and Current sources
- Resistors, Capacitors, and inductors
- Manual SPST/SPDT Switches, and SPST/SPDT relays
- Diodes, BJ Transistors, and MOSFETs
- Speakers, Buzzers, and LEDs
- ADCs, and DACs
- Logic gates: AND, OR, NAND, NOR, XOR
- JK and D Flip-flops
I gave the app a quick spin on the iPad, and it definitely shows a lot of potential. The simulator had a tendency to lag a bit behind my realtime changes to the schematic, and the UI took some getting used to, but for $10 it sure beats the mobile simulator competition (which is pretty much nonexistent, to my knowledge).
In any case - a handy tool to have around when away from the lab. As the developer notes, the software is rather CPU-intensive so newer devices are recommended (iPhone 3GS or later). iCircuit on iTunes
For a very similar Java applet, check out Paul Falstad's Circuit Simulator Applet.
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Digg this!August 5 2010, 1:30pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/lolos_alarm_clock_watches_you_sleep.html
Loic Royer wrote in to share his omniscient alarm clock project, Lolo's Alarm Clock. Based around an Arduino, the clock attempts to wake you up at the best possible time based on your sleep patterns. To use it, you set a range of time that you would like to wake during, and it uses an accelerometer to measure your movements and wake you up at the most appropriate time. If that wasn't enough, the clock also has a plethora of environmental sensors that can be logged to a base station.
We've seen clocks that can do this before (and there are also commercial versions), however it's nice to see a version using relatively simple materials to do the same job. Full source code is available, however the author hasn't gotten around to putting up schematics yet.
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August 5 2010, 1:15pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/draw_on_leds_using_lasers.html
Here's a cool project by Junichi Akita: it's a modular LED display that you can draw on using a laser, then clear by tilting sideways. Unfortunately, the only documentation appears to be the paper, which is behind a paywall. Anyone up for a remake?
[via core77]
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August 4 2010, 8:15pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/hack_your_way_through_pcb_antenna_d.html
Enjoy adding wireless to your projects, but too intimidated to try designing your own antennas? Looked at the wrong way, wireless stuff can be scary, but if you follow Colin Karpfinger's Dropout's Guide to PCB Trace Antenna Design, you should be well along the way to having a functional project in no time. It might not be worth your time for the occasional prototype (modules such as the xBee are $20 and just work), however if you plan to make many copies of your circuit, or just want to learn more about RF design, this could be a fun project.
His directions remind me of a fond memory from my undergraduate electrical engineering education, where we had to make a wireless project. Some of my fellow students spent days optimizing an antenna design for their design, where as I just slept in and then took a longish piece of wire and cut it down until it worked. Wait, maybe that wasn't that great of lesson... [via hacked gadgets]
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Digg this!August 4 2010, 6:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/code_entry_to_your_garage_using_a_d.html
Code entry to your garage using a doorbell and an attiny13 via HaD. Mike writes -
I wanted to use an ATtiny13 microcontroller because I had ordered a half dozen a few years ago and still had most of them sitting around. This meant I would need to fit the code into less than 1024 bytes of programming space. I downloaded Alan’s code thinking it might be in C but it turned out to be BASIC so I decided to write my own from the ground up. I did start with my favorite Danni Debounce code (written by Peter Dannegger) to handle the button presses and coded a prototype using an ATmega168. Here’s how it works...
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Digg this!August 3 2010, 11:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/need_extra_space_on_your_arduino_tr.html
Spotted in the MAKE Forums:
If you've been needing some extra space for your microcontroller program, then you might want to take a look at Wayne Holders' latest project, Magnetic Core Memory for Arduino. All you need are some H-Bridge drivers, a separate power supply, and a piece of hard ferrite, and you'll be well on your way to adding an extra bit of storage!
OK, core memory might have gone obsolete a long while ago, so if you really need the space I suggest using some external i2c EEPROM chips. However, if you are interested in learning about how magnetic memory works, then I definitely recommend checking out his project. Bonus points to anyone who figures out how to patch avr-ld to make use of the extra space!
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Digg this!August 3 2010, 9:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/funky_remote_control_repair_leads_t.html
In response to our "Make and Mend" theme, reader Jason, aka Funky Space Cowboy, posted this story about fixing his TV remote control in the theme announcement comments. This is exactly the sort of content we're hoping for. Thanks, Jason! If you have a repair/maintenance story, please share it in the comments below or email me.
A few years ago, the remote control for my stereo receiver started acting wonky, needing frequent technical taps to motivate it back into usefulness, even with new batteries. Eventually, it stopped working altogether. Taking a closer look at it with the batteries out, I quickly realized that the battery holder had just come loose from some other part inside the case and probably wasn't making electrical contact anymore. Something like that should be an easy fix, even for someone that didn't really have any experience with small electronics.
Unfortunately, the people who designed and manufactured the remote put it in a snap-together plastic case, with no screws or tabs on the outside to make it possible to open it for repair. I resorted to prying the case open with a flat head screwdriver, and in the process, brained a transistor. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth and cursing, I calmed down and decided to repair the battery holder anyway. I broke out my mostly unused soldering iron and started melting solder all over the place and eventually got it to go where I wanted it to go.
Then, I inspected the damaged transistor (didn't know what it was at the time). It was beyond repair from its fight with the screwdriver, but the part # was still intact, so I hopefully plugged it into google, and as luck would have it, the first entry was to the product description page on Mouser.com. The replacement parts were very cheap so I order a five-pack for like a dollar. When they arrived, I carefully diagrammed how the dead one had been installed and removed it from the board and tried to solder one of the replacements in. Long story short, I killed four of the five I had ordered with excessive heat, thanks to my ham fisted soldering technique, but I managed to get the fifth one placed safely -- and the remote worked! That was eight years ago and that repair is still going strong, I'm happy to report.
On the one hand, I curse the manufacturer for building the remote in such a way that I broke it worse, trying to open it for a simple fix. On the other hand, fixing the more complex problem I caused in the process sorta planted the kernel that soldering and electronics weren't a dark art and beyond me. Even though I didn't do much with that kernel in the intervening years, I still credit that one repair with giving me the idea and the interest in small electronics that I finally started developing recently with the help of the Make: Electronics book.
More:
Make and Mend month
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August 3 2010, 8:20pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/07/voronoi_mapped_pcbs_using_visolate.html
[The image above is the same board produced using Visolate, regular routing, and PCB etching]
Here's a neat PCB routing tool, called Visolate, that uses Voronoi diagrams to minimize the number of tool cuts that are needed to cut out a circuit board. As long as you aren't depending on specific trace dimensions to make your circuit work, it looks like it makes really pretty boards! [via metalab]
Cutting the Voronoi boundaries has both advantages and disadvantages. Compared with boundary tracing, the Voronoi method produces only one cut instead of two to separate traces. This can produce cleaner and more consistent results for closely spaced traces. While there is no guarantee that the overall length of the Voronoi toolpath will be shorter than boundary tracing, in practice on real board designs we found that the Voronoi toolpath was on average nearly 40% shorter (see paper below). The Voronoi method usually produces "fat" traces, thus maximizing current carrying capacity, though in its basic form there is no way to specify particular traces that should be fattened more than others. On the downside, the Voronoi traces will have different second-order properties, such as parasitic capacitance, than the originally designed traces.
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Digg this!July 26 2010, 9:15pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/07/diy_clock_in_a_can.html
I'm liking the aesthetic of this m8 clock by Lets Make Robots user digi01. There doesn't seem to be much information about it available, however a quick search brings up a potential design.
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Digg this!July 20 2010, 9:30pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/07/from_pcb_design_to_reality.html
From the MAKE Flickr pool
Flickr member Laen superimposed his PCB design over a pic of the finished product and well, it just looks darn cool.
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Digg this!July 19 2010, 8:00am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/07/absurdly_overpowered_capacitor_bank.html
My new capacitor bank is finished! This bank holds 38x 4700uF and 2x 3300uF capacitors of 350V in parallel (total 0,1852 Farad). It can hold a maximum energy of about 11344 Joule.
This bank is suitable for various electrical weapons and test setups, which include: rail gun, coil gun and ETC gun. The design is as compact as possible, so that it eventually can be made portable.
Specifications:
Capacitance: 185200uF
Voltage: 350V
Energy: 11343,5 Joules
Conductors: 4mm aluminum sheets
Weight: 44,1 kg
Dimensions: 385 x 613 x 182mm
Costs: €208,52
I especially like his lasercut conductor plate made of aluminum and PCB board. [Via Hacked Gadgets]
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July 18 2010, 2:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/07/arduino-controlled_el_wire_coat.html
Hacker "RenderMan" was sporting this Arduino-controlled EL wire coat at HOPE. Tres Tron!
RenderLabs (his site, no docs on the coat)
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July 17 2010, 8:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/07/not_fooling_around_led_flashlight_r.html
Another great entry in our Gadget Freak Design Contest! Stephen Melvin of Sure Electronics retrofit his DeWalt DC527 area work light with two high-brightness 10W LEDs instead of the 13W CFL it is designed to use. Guesstimating from the photos I'd say he's getting about 100W worth of light, by incandescent standards, out of the mod.
The contest is heating up, but there's still room for competition! But the deadline's coming up fast this Tuesday, July 13, so get cracking!
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Digg this!July 11 2010, 10:19pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/07/adding_custom_graphics_to_eagle_pcb.html
Hans Scharler created this Instructable to guides you through the process of adding custom graphics to an EAGLE PCB layout. This could certainly come in handy if you want to have a board manufactured with a personal logo on it; for boards that I manufacture at home, I usually just open the board picture in a photo editor and add it by hand.
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Digg this!July 10 2010, 4:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/07/led_firefly_jar.html
Superfro of the Harford Hackerspace was looking for a fun project to make for his infant son, and decided to make some LED Fireflies in a Jar (v1.0). It's certainly not the first LED jar project we've seen, however I like the minimalist dead-bug style wiring and clean design. Source code and schematic are available on their wiki.
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Digg this!July 10 2010, 10:00am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/07/more_fun_with_plasma_speakers.html
We've covered plasma speakers before, and these vids don't really add much in the way of additional info, they're just different variations on the theme -- a theme I find endlessly fascinating. The top vid is by way of TechEBlog, the second is from John Warren (via Adafuit). Check out his blog post below for more details on his set-up.
Update: Here's the Instructable for the first speaker rig shown above. Thanks to reader David S for pointing us towards this.
The Plasma Speaker Saga pt.III
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July 9 2010, 6:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/07/parts_radio_perfect_for_apocalypse.html
Radar hacker and radio restorer extraordinaire Greg Charvat made this Portable Amateur Radio Two-way Station (PARTS), fitting an entire HF radio setup into a vintage WW2 foot locker. The setup consists of an Icom IC-725 HF transciever, antenna tuner, custom power monitor, and battery, and can be run from wall power if available. Just the thing to complete that undead preparedness kit...
The second photo is of Greg operating the station during this year's ARRL Field Day.
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Digg this!July 6 2010, 9:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/07/live_video_chat_tonight_about_batte.html
Tonight, Saturday 10pm EDT I'm helping Ladyada with her weekly "Ask an engineer" live video chat, it's going to be a great show - all about batteries, solar, power & more. If you have questions about her article in MAKE (On Batteries, How to decide which batteries will run your project best. - From the column DIY: Workshop. MAKE 11 page 151.) or questions about the online version stop in and ask! Details here.
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Digg this!July 3 2010, 6:15am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/07/physical_tone_matrix.html
Inspired by the popular flash-based ToneMatrix melody-sequencer, Andrew decided he wanted a tangible 16x16 LED matrix instrument. Sure, there are premade options but none quite fit the bill -
the Bliptronic 5000 just doesn't have enough lights. All the existing 16×16 equivalents were more money than I wanted to pay: A Tenori-on costs something like $1000. Four Bliptronic 5000s cost $200. A monome two fifty six costs $1400. I was thinking more along the lines of $50. Besides which, I thought to myself, it would be fun to make it myself.
I had trouble thinking of a way to set up 256 switches over the LEDs without obscuring them or spending too much, until I remembered an effect I had noticed messing about with transistors years ago - you can make a touch switch out of a couple of transistors arranged in a Darlington configuration. I could arrange them in a matrix like the LEDs so that the only per-switch cost was a couple of small sections of wire. This could be threaded through an acrylic sheet which would serve a dual purpose - to diffuse the LEDs and to hold the switch wires. I originally thought I would have 4 solder connections to the PCB per switch, but then I realized that that would be too difficult to solder and that it would be better to just connect my switch matrix at the edges.
His firmware (running on an ATmega328) sports a hefty feature list with random, game of life, & microtonal modes - plus multiple waveforms, a tuning editor, preset saves and more. The finished product is pretty dang impressive - and definitely unique compared to other musical grids out there. I'm especially digging that loose aesthetic resulting from the diffusion panel/touch switch bezel - nice design!
Continue reading the build story on Reenigne blog. [via Hack a Day]
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July 1 2010, 4:30pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/06/control_ac_devices_from_your_comput.html
Instructables user indestructable created this guide on connecting AC fixtures (light bulbs, in this example) to your computer using a USBmicro U451.
If you have ever wanted to control electronic devices from your computer to control or regulate your environment, this instructable will guide you. In this example of computer control, a USB relay device will control two 60 watt light bulbs from a PC program.
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Digg this!June 19 2010, 2:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/06/peggy_2_clock_concept_contest_from.html
Evil Mad Science Laboratories is having a clock contest! Windell writes:
There are probably thousands of cool ways to build clocks based around an LED matrix, and we've seen some neat analog and digital clocks based on our Peggy 2 kit. But we've also come up with a few dozen other cool ways to show the time, and realized that we've only scratched the surface.
So today, we're announcing a Clock Concept Contest: Show us your coolest idea about how to build a Peggy clock, and you could win one!
How to enter
First, come up with a cool idea.
Is it analog? Is it digital? Just abstract blinkenlights? Is is receiving a live video feed from the internet? Is it a word clock? A game clock? A binary clock? Or hexidecimal? Is it a world map with LEDs wired up from a Peggy board that tells the time by latitude and longitude illuminated? Or something far more outlandish and never heard of?
The deadline is June 22, and prizes include a Peggy Awesomeness Bundle and EMSL gear. Get all the details at their site!
In the Maker Shed:
Peggy 2 Kit
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Digg this!June 18 2010, 11:17am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/06/repairing_switches.html
Repair broken tracks with wire and solder.
On Upcraft.it, MAKE pal Andrew Lewis shares some tips and tricks for repairing switches.
With this switch, I was able to reposition the broken corner of the board and glue it back into place with epoxy. A close examination of the copper tracks on the circuit board showed that one or two breaks had occurred as a result of the cracked PCB. I repaired the cracks by removing varnish with a fiberglass pencil and soldering a piece of wire across the broken section of track.
Workshop: Repairing Switches
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June 16 2010, 6:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/06/linkm_for_programming_blinkm.html
LinkM without enclosure
The clever folks at ThingM have a new open-source device on the way for programming BlinkM LEDs without an Arduino. It's called the LinkM, a driverless USB adapter for OSX, Windows, and Linux that you plug a BlinkM (or MaxM or MinM) into. This seems like an excellent solution for artists, tinkerers, and students who are new to electronics but want to get some standalone RGB LEDs programmed and deployed.
LinkM is a USB adapter that addresses two of the most frequently-requested BlinkM features:
- It enables you to program BlinkMs without setting up a separate I/O board, such as an Arduino.
- It lets you program or control multiple BlinkMs simultaneously.
Plug it in, plug in a BlinkM, fire up the BlinkM Multitrack Sequencer, and start programming BlinkMs. It requires no drivers (when used with most operating systems), additional software or hardware.
They aren't quite yet available for sale (should be shortly), but I was lucky enough to get my hands on one at Maker Faire and will post my experiences with it once I put it through its paces.
In the Maker Shed:
BlinkM - Smart LED
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Digg this!June 15 2010, 6:30pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/06/in_the_maker_shed_ex-150_electronic.html
Great for learning electronics and circuit design! The Gakken EX System is a series of educational electronics kits produced in the late 1970s. The kits use "denshi blocks" (also known as electronic blocks) to allow electronics experiments to be performed easily and safely. More than 25 years after its original release, one of the main kits from the series was reissued in Japan in 2002 and now you can get it here!
Features
- Lets you complete 150 fun and interesting experiments using the provided blocks and parts
- English PDF instructions available under the How-To tab, above
- Kids can explore and learn as they build their own projects
- Sturdy project board has built-in handle for easy carry
- Assemble each experiment separately by rearranging "plug-in" components
- Fun, intelligent, with no wiring and no soldering
- Powered by 4 AA batteries (not included)
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June 12 2010, 6:30pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/06/control_an_arduino_project_using_an.html
Benjamin Eckel from Gumbolabs wanted to be able to decode the signals from his universal remote, so he hooked an infrared receiver up to his Arduino and created this Radioshack infrared receiver. Could be just the thing for creating that remote-controlled robot!
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Digg this!June 11 2010, 4:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/06/gigapan_of_make_electronics_compone.html
Ever wish you could take a really close look at the contents of the Make: Electronics Components Pack 2? Now you can! This Gigapan image viewer makes it a snap to navigate through a huge image. Use "+" and "-" keys on your keyboard to zoom, or check out the handy navigation controls.
Make: Electronics Components Pack 2 in the Maker Shed
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June 10 2010, 6:30pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/06/how_to_-_make_a_pogo_pin_testing_ji.html
HOW TO - Make a pogo pin testing jig, Ladyada writes -
If you end up buying a pick and place to assemble PCBs (or even if you're doing it by hand) you'll need to test out your boards! If you have an assembler do it for you, its still probably a good idea to have a jig you can give them. A good jig will tell you whats going right and whats going wrong. In this tutorial I will show how I designed a very basic jig with a "tested good" audible indicator. The board its testing is very simple but the basic premise can be expanded to large projects with ease
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Digg this!June 9 2010, 11:00pm | More »
