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Archive: Electronics
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January 8, 2008
FrostBot - a CNC robot for frosting cookies
Brain made a computer controlled cookie frosting robot, he writes -
The Frost Bot robot consists of a small table-top CNC router kit made by www.fireballcnc.com, augmented with a forth axis stepper motor driving a frosting extrusion device. The four stepper motors of the system are driven by a single board called a Quad EasyDriver, which is based upon putting for Easy Driver boards together and sending them data using two shift registers. (Like a one-directional SPI bus.) This board is driven by a UBW controller board (from SparkFun) using a custom firmware and powered with a standard computer (AT) power supply at 12V. The UBW firmware takes motor move commands over the USB connection from a computer. The computer runs a Liberty Basic application that loads HPGL based vector graphics files, and sends them to the UBW. It also handles homing, jogging, zeroing, offsets, etc. The HPGL input files to the Frost Bot software are generated from Post Script files using GhostScript, and those .ps files are generated from SVG files made in InkScape. Although it all sounds really complicated, it is actually straightforward if you think about each chunk.FrostBot - a CNC robot for frosting cookies - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 8, 2008 11:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Holiday projects |
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Surface mount soldering guide
Here's an outstanding surface mount soldering guide from curious inventor -
Surface Mount components, as the name suggests, attach to the surface of boards, not through holes like older components. SMDs ("Surface Mount Devices") are lighter, cheaper, smaller and can be placed closer together. These factors, among others, mean that the days are numbered for through-hole components with widely spaced leads.Surface mount soldering guide - Link.This set of guides will demonstrate (relatively) inexpensive tools and methods for soldering and desoldering SMDs. The first page, Surface Mount Soldering 101, contains a 9 min. video overview. The pages that follow contain more pictures and go into more detail. They also cover some topics not in the video, like hand soldering a QFN chip and using solder paste with a toaster oven.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 8, 2008 07:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (1)
January 7, 2008
Bunnie inside the XO
Hacker hacking wunderkind Bunnie Huang deconstructs an XO laptop and details his findings:
Thanks in part to the low power of the Geode CPU, the design mounts the motherboard against the LCD, unlike most laptops where the motherboard is under the keyboard. This configuration has some simplicity advantages, especially considering the flexibility required by the display unit that can be flipped 180 degrees in either direction. The heatsink for the CPU consists simply of a thin metal heat spreader, which is in close proximity to the plastic casing: no cooling holes, fins, or fans to collect dust and break (notice how the Intel Classmate PC features prominent cooling holes for its under-keyboard CPU module). It also doesn't burn your lap up while you are using it (although the display still does get quite warm when you use it-I tucked it into my jacket once to keep me warm while running around outside in the cold).
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Jan 7, 2008 12:00 PM
Computers, Electronics |
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Make your own vacuum tubes?
Check out this absolutely mesmerizing (17 minute!) video of a French amateur radio operator who rolls his own vacuum tube triodes! I love the ease with which he performs these rather high-end skills (like glass forming), the gestural flourishes (like it's hand magic), and the Zelig-esque soundtrack.
Les lampes radio - [Thanks, Bruce!] Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Jan 7, 2008 11:00 AM
Electronics, Retro |
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HOW TO - Power a Chumby with a battery pack
Here a bit about powering a Chumby from an external battery pack, Bunnie writes -
Recently, someone on the chumby forum noted that the Energizer ER-PHOTO battery pack works with the chumby. The ER-PHOTO is a handy little device that essentially emulates a 12V DC wallwart with a pass-through mode, so you can continue to use whatever is plugged into the battery pack while it charges. There’s a lot of devices out there that run off of 12V and use that classic 5.5mm DC barrel jack, so they are certainly handy to have around. As you can see in the photo below, the pack consists of 3x 1800mAh Li-Ion cells, which gives a nominal capacity of 20 Wh; of course, the step-up regulator is probably only 90% efficient or so, and the circuitry in the pack is fairly simple, so maybe it lacks the electronics to safely milk the last drop out of the batteries, resulting in a reduced delivered capacity.HOW TO - Power a Chumby with a battery pack - Link.Scott Janousek has a nice little writeup about how you can install the battery pack inside a chumby, although I’d be more than a little bit wary about doing what he’s written up–he’s taken the raw Lithium Ion cells out of their protective plastic housing. The electrical tape wrapping won’t provide adequate protection against puncture or impact (which is possible if you’re carrying around a chumby and you drop it). This can lead to cells catching fire in a way that can’t be put out easily (only class D fire extinguishers work on these fires, and many homes and small offices have only type ABC extinguishers).
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 7, 2008 10:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Open source hardware |
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| Comments (1)
Test chamber from a re-wired toaster
Here's how to make a test chamber from a re-wired toaster -
Mark Thoren and Jim Williams needed to test the temperature compensation scheme of a circuit they were designing. The lab had several temperature chambers, but they were always in use. In frustration, Jim grabbed a brand new toaster and plopped it down on Mark's desk, saying, "This will do." Not quite. The hysteresis of the oven's thermostat was 10C — too crude to measure the circuit. Mark and Jim scrounged about and found an auto-tuning temperature controller, some solid-state relays and a shiny platinum RTD probe. After some minor rewiring they had a test chamber, more than adequate and better than most of the "real" chambers that were never available when needed.Test chamber from a re-wired toaster - Link.
Other toaster (and toast) projects:
Lab-on-a-Chip with Shrinky Dink and toaster oven - Link.
Toaster as Presser - Link.
Toaster lets you write on your breakfast - Link.
Toaster burns images - Link.
Advances in toaster music technology - Link.
Solder surface mount parts with a toaster oven... - Link.
Play with your food: Rework your toast - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 7, 2008 07:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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RepRap PWM Driver v1.1 / DC motor driver v1.1 released
Good news for RepRap makers, Zach writes -
I've finished two new versions of the boards for the Arduino electronics. These are incremental improvements that offer cool stuff like more blinky LEDs, minor fixes, and such. Full build pix, tester code, and everything you need to know to get started with these boards.RepRap PWM Driver v1.1 / DC motor driver v1.1 released - Link.The DC Motor Driver board will control 2 small DC motors (or you could drive a small stepper if you wanted).
The PWM Driver board will control 3 channels of PWM at up to 5A each (theoretically) This is used for things like fans, heaters, etc that just need to be turned on/off.
The files are released on SourceForge, the boards are for sale in the RRRF store, and everything should be fully documented.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 7, 2008 06:00 AM
Arduino, Electronics, Kits, Open source hardware |
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| Comments (2)
Business card phones home
Tomward made these great business cards that can dial you! he writes -
I bet nobody has given you a business card before that actually dials you up by itself! Read on to find out how I did it ....Extreme Business Cards - Instructables - Link.Do you like making things? Do you do it for money, or would like to? If so, you need a business card. These can be your best advertising, but we all know business cards are boring and get thrown away. I have toyed with plastic or etched stainless cards before - these are really cool, but cost a lot, and are not really distinctively "you".
Do you make goods out of leather? Then make a leather business card. Do you make handmade greeting cards? Then make your business card look like one of these! Even better, make one that is actually useful for whoever you're giving it to, so it CAN'T be thrown away. I'm into making electronics, so what better way to advertise my skills than an electronic business card. Here are two experimental "extreme" business cards that are almost impossible for someone to throw away - one in the form of a key ring torch and one card that actually dials me up by itself! This one has a computer inside with more processing power than took the first astronauts to the moon (No, I'm not kidding!), yet the main part costs less than 50 cents. I'm also working on one that plugs into a USB port on a computer so that people can email me directly from a link, or look at a portfolio of my work.
Even if these ideas don't grab you, maybe they'll fire your imagination to think how you could make a truly unique card that uses your skills and tells people how creative you are.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 7, 2008 01:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (4)
January 6, 2008
Pleo "brain surgery" (video)
Creepy cool video of a Pleo's "brain surgery" from Pleo Dreams.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 6, 2008 02:00 AM
Electronics, Robotics |
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| Comments (3)
January 4, 2008
HOWTO run Arduino on the XO laptop
Brian writes...
The XO Laptop comes with the drivers you need to talk to an Arduino board, but you need to do a few things before you can run the Arduino environment. Once you get it running, though, it works just fine. The first step is to install Java. To install Java on the XO Laptop, check out these instructions (the version of Java that you download will be different from what's listed on that page, so you'll need to modify the commands slightly to take that into account).
Once you've got Java up and running, you need to install the GNU C and C++ compilers as well as the LIBC for the AVR chip that the Arduino uses. To do this, open up the Terminal activity, su to root, and install avr-gcc, avr-libc, and avr-gcc-c++ using yum:
$ su
# yum install avr-gcc avr-libc avr-gcc-c++
While you're root, you may as well make one of the changes you need to make; add the olpc user to the lock and uucp groups. To do this, edit the /etc/group file with the /usr/sbin/vigr command and add the olpc user to the end of the lock group:
lock::54:olpc
and to the end of the uucp group:
uucp::14:uucp,olpc
After you exit vigr (which is just a script that starts vi to safely edit the group file), decline its offer to edit the gshadow file, and type exit to get back to a normal (non-root) shell):
# /usr/sbin/vigr
You are using shadow groups on this system.
Would you like to edit /etc/gshadow now [y/n]? n
# exit
exit
$
Next, make sure you're in your home directory, download Arduino (there may be a more recent version of it, so check the Arduino page to be sure. Extract Arduino in your home directory (you'll be running it out of your home directory as well):
$ cd
$ wget http://www.arduino.cc/files/arduino-0010-linux.tgz
$ tar xvfz arduino-0010-linux.tgz
Now, you're all Arduino-fied. To run it, cd to the arduino-0010 and run the arduino script:
$ cd ~/arduino-0010
$ ./arduino
There is one last trick: you'll likely find that the Arduino user interface misbehaves quite a bit. To get it to work right, press the screen rotate button four times to get a nice 360 degree rotation. Arduino will redraw and start behaving itself as shown in the screenshot.
Update: As Seth points out in the comments, the Update.1 build that is coming out this month will do away with the su command, so you should use
sudo -sinstead ofsu(or simply prefix each superuser command withsudo).
Update 2: If you use JRE 5 from the Java technology archive instead of JRE 6, you won't need to use the screen rotation trick.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 4, 2008 06:00 AM
Arduino, DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (2)
Hand-powered POV
Dimmie writes -
This week I’ve been working on a POV. It’s my first microcontroller project ever and it has been very interesting. The microcontroller I used is an Atmel ATMEGA16 programmed with an Atmel AVR Dragon. The next step is to make it turn arround on a motor and calibrate itself automaticly with help from a base-placed IR-diod. I have even talked with a local company that will hopefully provide me with a bluetooth module to make posible dynamic text change from mobile phone or any other bluetooth device.Hand-powered POV - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 4, 2008 12:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (3)
January 2, 2008
Joule Thief flashlight
Maker Jimmie Rodgers posted this flashlight variation of the Joule Thief to the MAKE Flickr pool.
Joule Thief - Link
Related:
- Make a Joule Thief - Weekend Projects Video Podcast - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Jan 2, 2008 02:00 PM
Electronics, MAKE Podcast, Weekend Projects |
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| Comments (6)
December 30, 2007
Hacked Bop-it tambourine
Some classmates (Byron Lahey and Ryan Brotman) and I just finished up a project where we used wireless handheld electronic devices to control Max/MSP instruments. It's called sGloTaT (sensor Glow-object Trumpet and Tambourine):
The sGloTaT sonic environment allows participants to originate sound by moving physical objects. It encourages novice users to play by naturally gesturing with two tangible user interface objects emulating a trumpet and tambourine. In this sound space, movements by the users generate visual feedback projected on the floor in the form of a three-dimensional rendering of a cone.Byron built one of the objects from polycarbonate tubing, and I hacked a Bop-it toy for the other controller. Both contain an Arduino mini, BlueSmiRF, and a two-axis accelerometer. The glowing and IR-reflective tape helps the objects be sensed by our motion tracking infrastructure in the SMALLab environment at Arizona State University. You can watch the overview video, download our paper, and look at photos of the objects in progress - Link.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Dec 30, 2007 09:00 AM
Electronics |
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Phone line controller
Trax writes -
It might be "yet another" «device» controller that operates over phone-line, but this one works for sure :) The task was to build a device that connects to the phone line and has a relay as an output switch. It should also sense if the connected «consumer» is turned-on or off and report to the administrator at the other end of the phone line. The administrator would then call-in the device, log in with the password, and check the state of «consumer», turn it on or off, change password or some other settings. Current version has only one relay.Phone line controller - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Dec 30, 2007 12:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (2)
December 29, 2007
MCU for desktop plasma globe
A German hacker dusts off his plasma globe from the '80s and hooks it up to an ATMega8 MCU and serial PC interface so that he can tune it.
Large plasma Globe Tuning - [via] Link
Build site (in German) - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Dec 29, 2007 02:00 PM
Computers, Electronics |
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| Comments (2)
DIY Picaxe toothbrush timer
Chipwich writes -
We built a beeping flashing toothbrush timer like the one on the Philips SoniCare toothbrush for just a few dollars and plenty of experience and fun.DIY Picaxe toothbrush timer - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Dec 29, 2007 03:00 AM
Altoids and tin cases, DIY Projects, Electronics |
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December 28, 2007
Portable laser image projector
This is basic instructions on how to build a portable image projector that uses a green laser instead of normal light. The laser permits images to be cast great distances, and doesn't require focusing - it's always in focus.
Laser Image Projector - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Dec 28, 2007 02:00 PM
Electronics, Imaging, Instructables |
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| Comments (2)
December 27, 2007
Velleman K8055 USB board and Matlab interface
Tutorial & files for interfacing with a Velleman K8055 USB board and Matlab - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Dec 27, 2007 03:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (1)
USB gloves heat your hands while typing, make you nervous
If you find yourself in an unheated cabin in the woods this winter or your house has really bad central heating, it might be time to slap on these "USB Heating Gloves". In 5 minutes your hands will heat up to 52 degrees Celsius (125 Fahrenheit), which is probably too hot unless you don't mind cooking an egg on your wrist. We just wonder how easy it would be to hack these and use them as a lie detector device that analyzes the content of incoming and outgoing emails and IMs.
USB Heating Gloves - Link, Check out the Lady version
Posted by Jonah Brucker-Cohen |
Dec 27, 2007 12:34 AM
Electronics |
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| Comments (5)
Chaos theory schematic
Ian writes -
In making an electronic circuit exhibiting chaos, one is essentially making an analog computer for the differential equations describing the system. This means that circuits that can differentiate a voltage are needed. In practice, it is convenient to actually do this with electronic integrators, the idea being that the input of an integrator is the derivative of its output. In addition, a nonlinear circuit element must be incorporated, as linear systems cannot be chaotic.Chaos theory schematic - [via] Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Dec 27, 2007 12:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (11)
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