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Archive: Electronics
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February 15, 2008
Faux-leather USB charger
Here's another item for the "enclosure ideas" area -
This portable USB charger was built using a Li-ion battery pack from a surplus Qualcomm phone and a pricey-but-efficient voltage step-down circuit. What seems most unusual is the enclosure chosen -
Now we've got a working product, but it's still bare electronics. They'd never let me board a plane with it looking all suspicious and improvised like that. It's got to look good, or at the very least innocuous. Enter this faux-leather material that I bought at a local fabric store. It's expensive per yard but fortunately I didn't need much of it!Interesting choice, would probably look fairly "at home" on a key chain. Not sure the TSA would gloss over it so easily though, what with the unbound stitching and visible LED. -Link
In the Maker Store:
Minty Boost battery powered USB charger -Link
Posted by Collin Cunningham |
Feb 15, 2008 02:20 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (1)
HOW TO - Make a physical email notifier
A glowing plastic cube that lights up when you have mail in your Gmail inbox, via a Boarduino MCU:
The following guide is deliberately fairly high-level, because the exact details will vary depending on your operating system and particular hardware setup. I did this with my Mac, but hopefully there'll be enough information here for you make it work on your system, perhaps with a little Googling.If you don't happen to have a glowing cube lying around, you can modify this to work with almost any output device you could think of, from a simple LED, or a buzzer, to something far more clever like moving a servo (Gmail Notifier Robot, anyone?)
How to make a Physical Gmail Notifier - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Feb 15, 2008 11:00 AM
Arduino, DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (5)
How to: SMT Desoldering Station
SMT desoldering stations can be very expensive. So what are you suppose to do? Make your own, and that is exactly what Alfredo did with surprisingly good results. For those of you that are wondering, YES, that is a soda bottle in there! Now that's recycling!
Working with SMTs (surface mount technology components) is quite difficult without an smt hot air pencil. The prices of smt stations are too high, so I decided to build it by my own. The result is very impressive. Anyone with basics electronics can try to build it, it's made with common materials.
Make your own desoldering station - Link
Posted by Marc de Vinck |
Feb 15, 2008 02:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (2)
February 14, 2008
LED mates
Here's my eleventh hour Valentine's Day find: These LED people blink in each other's arms. Project schematic included - Link.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Feb 14, 2008 09:30 PM
Electronics, Holiday projects |
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| Comments (1)
Oscilloscope Tetris
C'mon, you knew it was only a matter of time...
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Feb 14, 2008 05:00 PM
Electronics, Gaming, Toys and Games |
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| Comments (10)
HOW TO - Build a flashing heart
Latest Gadget Freak from Design News, a special Vday one! -
Looking for cool way of wowing that special someone on Valentines Day/birthday/whatever? Build her a flashing heart made from LEDs driven by a programmable microcontroller. Les' gadget is simple to build and made from easily-obtainable parts. The unique thing about this design is the LEDs are in an X-Y matrix so each LED is addressable. This allows an unlimited combination of displayed patterns for the heart — not like some other designs out there! Source code and schematics are all available here and if you're not into hand wiring, even the PCB can be had for a small fee. Diamonds may be a girl's best friend but gadgets are forever.HOW TO - Build a flashing heart - Link & how-to.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Feb 14, 2008 01:35 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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Making electromagnetic fields visible
Hot on the heels of Sinister7, the "aether detector," comes this other piece of spooky-tech, an electronic "scrying" device for detecting and giving form to the invisible world of electromagnetic fields. The explanation on the site is slightly torturous artspeak, but the concept is kind of interesting.
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Feb 14, 2008 11:00 AM
Arts, Electronics |
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Lamp facelift
Rob sent in the latest gadget freak, he writes -
Seeing great potential in a normal, off-the-shelf product, Pete Griffiths designed a circuit he popped into the lamp to give it a new lease of life. His design combines a PIC and three constant current buck converters to create the RGB LED controller. This controller drives the high power 350mA LEDs using PWM to control the LED brightness. By driving the red, green and blue LEDs with varying pulse widths the controller can generate up to 16 million colours using fades, strobe and static effects. Who says you can't give the humble lamp a nip and tuck?Lamp facelift - Link & RGB LED PWM driver.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Feb 14, 2008 09:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Gadgets |
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DIY TO-92 heatsink
All out of TO-220's? Thinking maybe you can eke enough performance out of a smaller transistor?
Want to squeeze a bit more current through those inexpensive TO-92 package transistors? Then add a small metal heatsink. I made this for a PWM DC motor driver, as some 2N2222 bi-polar transistors were handy.Of course, we should only operate components within their factory spec, but it's good to know this type of desperation has been previously explored - just in case. -Link
Related:
The Heatsink from hell -Link
Posted by Collin Cunningham |
Feb 14, 2008 04:10 AM
Electronics, Instructables |
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| Comments (0)
2-channel RF Transmitter
Here is how to make a 2-channel RF transmitter and receiver that works on the 418 MHz frequency. Unlike IR remotes, this one can work through walls and at a greater distance too. It's perfect for closing the garage door or anything else that you are too lazy to get up and do. - Link
Posted by Marc de Vinck |
Feb 14, 2008 02:30 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (4)
YALBlinkie - (Yet Another LED Blinkie project)
Daqq writes -
I wanted to play with a simple RGB LED, to see how colors would mix, change and stuff. So I build my own LED and "controller". It fades in and out a set of 9 LEDs (3 RGB LEDs) into random values.Yet Another LED Blinkie project - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Feb 14, 2008 12:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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February 13, 2008
Build the handheld "8038 Audio Generator"
The Thomas Henry 8038 Audio Generator device -
The audio generator operates in the the range of exactly 20 Hz to 20 kHz. It features sine, triangle and square wave outputs. The frequency control set consists of a coarse and fine tune arrangement - the coarse control obviously will move the frequency in greater increments, and the fine control allows one to set the frequency exactly at the desired point.Altogether it's a very cool device and handy tool for audio/music use. Check Scott Stites' site for schematic, parts list, and PCB image.
In addition to the front panel frequency controls, the audio generator also accepts an external control voltage in the range of 0 to +12V. An input attenuator is provided to scale this voltage to the desired range of control.
Finally, the schematics include a +/-12V power supply to power the audio generator, so that the audio generator can operate as a completely stand-alone unit.
The designer, Thomas Henry, has written a number of books on the subject of electronic sound synthesis. He has become well known for his ability to push an IC's ability beyond the manufacturer's specifications. When it seems a chip is unable to fully perform a desired function, he begins to experiment - as with the ICL8038 in the Audio Generator:
As it turns out, what the 8038 needed was a good change of diet. Instead of junking out on positive voltage rails, Thomas fed it a steady diet of good old fashioned negative rail. For +V Thomas gave it a nice vitamin enriched ground potential, and for the pin formerly known as ground, a nice fibery -12V. That alone catapaulted the 8038 from mediocrity to true A Number One function generator-hood.He's used similar techniques with the 566 function generator chip, for more info see his book "Making Music with the 566".
Audio Generator build guide -Link
Thomas Henry books on Lulu.net -Link
Posted by Collin Cunningham |
Feb 13, 2008 08:00 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Music |
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DIY Valentine's day projects
We've rounded up some great techy and DIY projects you can make for Valentine's day - My favorite food one is the bleeding heart cupcake... Don't forget you can give MAKE and/or CRAFT and print out the card we included if you're looking to do something last minute - More after the jump!
"Peggy" A light emitting pegboard kit - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Feb 13, 2008 01:30 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Holiday projects |
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| Comments (6)
Doll house controller
Mark writes -
Presented is a control system for a doll house based on a PIC16F876 microcontroller. The elevator is driven by a DC motor and position is sensed by both a limit switch and optical encoder. The controller also handles control of lights for the dollhouse allowing toggle on/off functions for each pushbutton. Foyer lights are automatically lit when the elevator arrives at a chosen floor and all lights are on an auto shut-off timer which conserves power and lamp life when left unattended.Doll house controller - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Feb 13, 2008 09:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (0)
Home automation with the Basic Stamp
Here is how to program a Basic Stamp for use in your home automation projects.
In this article we are programming the basic stamp to trigger a remote switch for your home lights or any other power switching device, like a garage door, fireplace and so on. We are controlling it through the web or the ipod (the ipod also has a web browser)
Home automation with the Basic Stamp - Link
Related:
HOW TO - Build a multimedia home control center - Link
Posted by Marc de Vinck |
Feb 13, 2008 03:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (1)
Stereo PWM Audio
Dane has another interesting project that asks the question "Can PWM from a simple micro-controller duplicate complex sounds?" The answer is yes, with surprising results.
Wouldn't it be sweet if you could have your micro play back complex things, over audio for an extremely low cost? Imagine replacing that one i/o line that used to drive an led, be able to reproduce the human voice and exclaim "Hello world",
PWM with an AVR - Link
Posted by Marc de Vinck |
Feb 13, 2008 01:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Music |
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| Comments (3)
February 12, 2008
Next Dorbot DC (Tuesday, Feb 26, 2008)
Next Meeting:
Tuesday 26 February 2008
7 PM - 9 PM (ET)
ALWAYS FREE!
Location:
Smith Hall of Art, Room 114
George Washington University
801 22nd St NW
Washington, DC 20037
Katie Bechtold : The MESSENGER Project
Katie, a spacecraft flight software developer and controller, will discuss MESSENGER, the first mission to visit Mercury in over 30 years. Now on its way to orbit Mercury starting in 2011, it flew close by the planet last month, offering some tantalizing images. Along with the scientific goals of the mission and an overview of the probe's onboard sensors, Katie will present a few of the engineering challenges in exploring the innermost planet of our solar system.
Justin Sabe : MIDI Control -- How to make expressive digital instruments
Justin broke all his toys as a kid and has spent the rest of his life putting them back together in new and interesting ways. He has toured playing keytar with the goth industrial rock band Ego Likeness taking him around the United States, Germany and to Shiney Z's, the finest fetish club in Luxembourg. He also plays accordion and has performed at the Kennedy Center in an all tuba christmas concert. Last year he got a Technician class amateur radio license but has yet to key up because he can just call his ham friends on a cell phone any time he wants. He produces a podcast of cats purring.
Justin uses low-cost components to create fun MIDI controllers. He'll have a show and tell and expand a bit about how to use MIDI for control and how to make expressive digital instruments.
Alberto Gaitán : Remembrancer -- (Part 2 of 2: The Software)
Alberto is a composer/programmer/artist who creates a wide range of new media work. His net-aware piece, Remembrancer, deals with transformation, memory, and the spacial, temporal and cultural resonance of events through automated robotic painters responding in real-time to RSS data flowing in over the Internet.
Alberto will be talking a bit about the applications he integrated to create Remembrancer including Max/MSP, Yahoo! Pipes, and RS485 commands.
Welcome to Dorkbot DC! - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Feb 12, 2008 08:00 PM
Announcements, Arts, Computers, Electronics, Science |
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| Comments (2)
Physical drum loop
I had doubts that Matt Mets could pull off an awesome hardware project every day for Thing-a-Day, but he's doing a pretty stellar job so far; keep it up! He made this drum loop recorder that records physical inputs and plays them back in a loop using an Arduino Barebones board. Source code and schematic included - Link.
Related:
Solenoid concert - Link.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Feb 12, 2008 07:00 PM
Arduino, DIY Projects, Electronics, Music |
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| Comments (0)
AVR Sound Effects Processor
Searching through the forums @ AVRFreaks turned up this project devised by two Cornell students back in 2003 -
For this endeavour, we first built an input stage that will amplify the input signal, as well as bias it to 2.5V (since the ADC can only sample positive signals). The ADC (MAX1111) is controlled by the microprocessor (Mega 32) using the SPI interface which was much easier than manually configuring a port to interface with the ADC(believe me, we tried that). We set the Mega 32 to sample the input at about 12 KHz which is fast enough to meet the Nyquist requirement for analog to digital sampling. The digital effects were done using by manipulating the input (which will be discussed in the Design page) and the output is passed to a R-2R DAC to a output amplifier stage and finally, to the speaker.Could be a lot of fun, if one was able to avoid some of the obstacles this team encountered. -Link
Posted by Collin Cunningham |
Feb 12, 2008 04:39 PM
Electronics |
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| Comments (0)
The tiniest deadbug proto
From the MAKE Flickr pool
Member Macetech took on the challenge of soldering this teeny-tiny 3mm QFN-16 SMD chip. Those are 30AWG wires in the pic and the chip is an Allegro A6281 3-LED PWM driver.
Macetech does mention, "Note: this prototyping method is really not recommended for anyone with common sense." Agreed! -Link
Related:
Surface mounting with hand-soldering tools - Link.
Posted by Collin Cunningham |
Feb 12, 2008 03:30 PM
Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (6)
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