Erict let us know about the Mini Maker Faire taking place in Portland, Oregon on the 15th, and 16th of September. The venue will take place in the north parking lot of OMSI. Portland Oregon is going to have it’s first Mini Maker Faire on Sept. 15-16, 2012. It’s going to be held in the […]
Author Archives: DP
Workshop Update for September 10th, 2012
Relocated the workshop studio for more space and storage. Picture of the mess that accumulated in the old workshop above. Paid Q3 federal (September 15th) and Iowa state (September 30th) taxes. Remember federal taxes a few days early so you can use the free EFTPS system instead of a commercial payment service. For more on […]
Open 7400 prize: MegaMini and Amani64 from JK Devices
JK Devices is a sponsor of this year’s Open 7400 Competition. They’ve kicked in 4 MegaMinis and 2 Amani64s with programer. Get your entry in and this cool hardware can be yours. MegaMini is an Arduino compatible Atmega2560 development board. It is specifically designed to be extremely small while providing all the same features of […]
Part tester and Superprobe rolled into one
Dolabra is designing Donatello, a Part Ninja and Superprobe combo. Instead of having a display on the board, like the Superprobe and Part Ninja, he delegated the display to a host computer over USB. My intention is to make a combination part ninja and super probe. The idea is a USB device and a couple […]
FRAM MCUs for Dummies book giveaway at Mouser
Mouser is giving away the Texas Instruments FRAM MCUs for Dummies book. Hand over your personal details to Mouser if you’re willing, and they’ll send you the book. Could be fun. Via the forum. Thanks Chuckt!
Popular Science likes the Bus Pirate
The Bus Pirate gets a mention as one of Popular Science’s favorite advanced development tools! This tool greatly simplifies prototyping. It can speak most common bus protocols, which allows me to play with new chips from a serial console or in software before building hardware around them The Bus Pirate was in a great crowd. […]
Guest Review: Chipquik smd291nl no-clean tack flux
Sheldon has been using the Chipquik SMD291NL no clean tack flux, here is his review of it: Very tacky, can hold qfn and dfn by itself, once heated it becomes very sticky and is hard to clean even with 91% ipa. It works great though, have not had any problems with it not wicking solder […]
App note: SEPIC-Ćuk Converter gives split rails from a single supply
Analog Devices describes the SEPIC-Ćuk Converter. This type of DC/DC converter is used to create two outputs with the same voltage, but different polarities. This is particularly useful for powering the two rails of op-amp based circuits. A better solution is a SEPIC-Ćuk converter. This topology consists of an unregulated Ćuk converter tied to the […]
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: Tiny synchronous step-up converter design guide
Here is a design guide from Linear Technology describing how to design boost power supplies that can work from as little as 0.7 volts. These constant voltage power supplies that can run off until nearly every last drop of power is consumed.
App note: Reducing acoustic noise in PWM controlled fans
Microchip describes techniques to reduce acoustic noise in pulse width modulator controlled fans. One solution is to use an RC filter to decrease the slew-rate of the PWM pulses. Fan speed control extends fan service life and decreases airflow noise and average fan current. The most efficient way to implement fan speed control is to […]
App note: Comparing serial data protocols
This serial digital data network table compares 8 of the most popular serial communication protocols – 1-Wire, I2C, SMBus, SPI, MicroWire, M-Bus, CAN, and LIN.
Workshop Update for September 7th, 2012
Today we soldered up Nixie tube thing blocks. We wrote a small sketch for the Arduino to turn on/off each filament on the Nixie board in a loop. It works great. We also played around with a VFD tube (pictured above), trying to get it to light up. We wrote and scheduled the app note […]
Open 7400 prize: XESS Corp
XESS has sponsored the Open 7400 Logic Competition, here is a list of what is being added to the prize pool: XuLA2 FPGA board StickIt! Motherboard StickIt! LED module StickIt! Button module StickIt! VGA module StickIt! PS/2 module A huge thanks to XESS Corp for sponsoring the 2012 Open 7400 Logic Competition!
ATX Breakout board free PCB build
Dolabra built an ATX Breakout board free PCB. The ATX breakout board routes the -12, 3.3, 5 and 12 volt ATX outputs to screw terminals, each protected by a 1.25 amp resettable polyfuse. It wouldn’t be a free build if something wasn’t bodged together. In my case it was the ATX connector. I got all […]
Raspberry Pi used as a PIC Programmer
Giorgio designed a PIC programmer using a Raspberry Pie and a few external components. Always great to see a new way to program chips. Will the R-Pi become a universal programmer? Via Hack a Day.
#FreePCB via Twitter to 2 random RTs
Every Tuesday we give away two coupons for the free PCB drawer via Twitter. This post was announced on Twitter, and in 24 hours we’ll send coupon codes to two random retweeters. Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times a every week: Hate Twitter and Facebook? Free PCB Sunday is the classic PCB giveaway. Catch […]
Week in (p)review September 07, 2012
Here’s a summary of major developments over the last week. Free PCB Friday is coming up soon. NEW PROTOTYPE: 1.8″ TFT display with USB interface WORKSHOP VIDEO #38: TFT display with USB control in Sjaak’s workshop Nixies power supply up and running Two tubes of K155N Russian Nixie tube drivers arrive ATX breakout board case […]
Another DIY GLCD clock built
Scorpia built Ezflyr’s GLCD clock project we blogged about here. After some debugging, and help from Ezflyr, he was able to get it up and running. The project is based around the 75×52.7mm 128×64 Graphic LCD. The time keeping is delegated to a battery-backed Dallas DS-3231 RTC. A PIC 16F876A is used to tie it all together. […]
Workshop Update for September 6th, 2012
We received a box of goodies and shared them on the blog. We also got our order from Mouser, and got to test fit the ATX Breakout Board Sick of Beige case pre-production version. Video editing ate up a huge chunk of our time, but we did get to test out the power supply for […]