From the comments on our earlier HP 5350B OCXO repair post, a temperature controlled OCXO xtal oven: This is a very simple and easy to make temperature controller and heater to be attached to a xtal (crystal). The xtal is normally used to clock a microcontroller (PIC or ATMEL etc). Normally xtals provide an accurate clock to […]
Author Archives: DP
RFID reader for BuildBrighton door pt II
Chris Holden has written an article on their new door entry system at BuildBrighton: The basic idea is this: A keyfob is presented to the reader and the serial number read from it. The keyfob number is displayed on the character LCD. This is sent (via the ethernet module) to a URL to validate the serial number […]
XMega series: Clock system
Shawon Shahryiar’s second post of the XMega series is about the clock system, he writes: There are several clock sources that XMega micros can use as clock. These are both internal and external clock sources. As stated earlier, clocks are not set by fuse settings unlike traditional Mega AVRs, they are controlled by software and the […]
HP 5350B OCXO repair
Kerry Wong fixed his HP 5350B OCXO. He documented the whole process on his blog: Last time, I did a teardown of an HP 5350B microwave counter. And as I mentioned in my teardown, the oven-controlled crystal oscillator (OCXO) did not appear to be working as the OVEN indicator would not go off even after hours […]
DIY solder paste dispenser
Geir Andersen over at LetsMakeRobots has designed and built this cool solder paste dispenser: As I’m doing SMD prototypes I wanted to do reflow soldering instead of hand soldering and needed a solder paste dispenser. The professional ones are not that expensive but you need an air compressor and I was trying to avoid that extra […]
A cheap and simple Laser Power Meter LPM for small power source
Here’s a cheap and simple Laser Power Meter LPM for small power source, based on “MarioMaster LPM meter” by Davide Gironi: This type of meter uses a ThermoElectric Cooling module (TEC) to measure the power of a laser. The TEC will absorb the laser light, and transform the heat generated by the laser beam to an […]
DIY Wacom Cintiq project using the LCD panel
Chocochan is working on a DIY Wacom Cintiq project using the LCD panel that is used in the Microsoft Surface Pro tablet: I wanted something small and portable that wouldn’t take up much space and be light to hold. I don’t have a large desk and I don’t traditionally draw on much that is bigger than […]
DIY cardboard laser piano
Here’s a cool DIY cardboard laser piano by ElecFreaks: Hi Guys, today, ElecFreaks will show you a guide how to make a cardboard laser piano by yourself. By this way, I think you do not only could make piano , you can transform a table , a window or a wall to be a Laser Piano or a […]
Hakko T12 soldering controller
Diogoc shared his Hakko T12 soldering controller in the project log forum: I finally finished my Hakko T12 soldering controller. Thanks to sparkybg and arhi for all help and sugestions. Some features of the controller: – 3310 graphic display – rotary encoder for easy and fast temperature selection – sleep mode when the iron is in the […]
Cutting Mylar solder stencils from ExpressPCB and EagleCAD files
Juan Chong has posted a detailed tutorial on how to cut out solder stencils for both ExpressPCB and EagleCAD designs on a laser cutter: In this post I’ll be going over how to cut out solder stencils for both ExpressPCB and EagleCAD designs on a laser cutter. I recently had a need to create some stencils […]
ATTiny85 breakout board
Shady994 shared his first PCB an ATTiny85 breakout board in the project log forum: I (badly!) soldered up my first PCB, an ATTiny85 programming/breakout board. It also has a header so I can connect it to my Bus Pirate, which I’ve been using as a programmer.
High Altitude Glider
Check out this cool High Altitude Glider project that House4Hack and HABEX made: On 14 June 2014, team HAG from House4Hack teamed up with HABEX. We released our High Altitude Glider on weather balloons into the atmosphere. After our glider reached the CAA approved height, kilometres up in the atmosphere, we released the glider from […]
Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB
We go through a lot of prototype PCBs, and end up with lots of extras that we’ll never use. Every Sunday we give away a few PCBs from one of our past or future projects, or a related prototype. Our PCBs are made through Seeed Studio’s Fusion board service. This week two random commenters will […]
App note: Switching power supply design with the PIC16F785
An SMPS application using PIC16F785 from Microchip, app note here (PDF). In this application note, we will examine a typical buck topology intelligent SMPS design using the PIC16F785. The design presented here shows an alternative single-chip approach to adding intelligence to SMPS designs. The basic design is really unchanged. There are current and voltage feedback […]
App note: Gas and water metering with the PIC16F91X family
Good app note from Microchip on using PIC micro for metering application. Electronic utility meters are an important step towards automating the utility metering process. Automated utility meters allow many new features that help reduce the cost of utilities to customers and reduce the cost of delivering utilities to the utility provider.
App note: Using the Microchip motor model library for Simulink
Using the Microchip motor model library for Simulink, app note here (PDF!): Microchip’s Motor Model Library is a set of components (“blocks”) that can be used with the Simulink® simula- tion tool from MathWorks®. These blocks are intended to allow engineers to model a system with Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors (PMSMs) under closed- loop control of an […]
Wireless controlled robotic hand
Gabry295 wrote this Instructable detailing the build of his wireless controlled robotic hand: It consists in an artificial hand controlled by a glove with flex sensors. The artificial hand reproduces the movements of the hand with the control glove. The hand and the glove works both with Arduino. Check out the video after the break.
Help your robot do its Math homework
Ladvien over at LetsMakeRobots writes, “Excellent article on clock-cycle costs of math functions for uCs and processors–as they relate to programming robots.” This first point is the single most important one to remember. Integer math is almost always faster than floating point, even on processors that have floating point math units. A whole lot faster […]
Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters
Every Friday we giveaway some extra PCBs via Facebook. This post was announced on Facebook, and on Monday we’ll send coupon codes to two random commenters. More PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday and the blog every Sunday. Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every week: Free PCB Sunday. The classic. Every week, get free […]
Bus Pirate v3.8 free PCB build
twinpeaks built a free Bus Pirate v3.8 PCB. The Bus Pirate is an open source hacker multi-tool that talks to electronic stuff. If you build a free PCB we’ll send you another one! Blog about it, post a picture on Flicker, whatever – we’ll send you a coupon code for the free PCB drawer. Get your own […]