An update on Pete’s (N6QW) LDMOS amplifier project we covered previously: The real value of the breadboard test system is that it enables you to find/discover things that were not so obvious. Currently I have the Start & Stop buttons wired to the Arduino. I also have all six of the Low Pass Filter relays […]
Category Archives: DIY
Opto-isolated laser controller build
Scott Harden built his own opto-isolated laser controller and wrote a post on his blog detailing its assembly: My goal was to utilize a free hardware output line to signal to a device that I build to modulate the laser in a special way. This way there would be no modification to any existing equipment, […]
Homebrew Raspberry pi shutdown button
Facelesstech made his own Raspberry pi shutdown button and wrote a post on his blog detailing its assembly: One thing I learn from my last shut down button was that the raspberry pi has internal pull up resistors so I didn’t need a 10k and a 1k pull up resistor on this design. This would save me a […]
Homebrew Multimode Digital Voice Modem (MMDVM) adapter
Florian Wolters made his own version of MMDVM adapter: During experiments with digital voice mode in hamradio I discovered a nice project describing an adapter for D-Star, DMR and other digital modes based on an Arduino Due and a little PCB to be put on top. This unit is called the Multimode Digital Voice Modem […]
VXO – based PLL frequency synthesizer for 7 MHz
Vasily Ivanenko made a VXO-based synthesizer: To make a VXO to mix with a ~7 MHz VCO, you’ll need a crystal that is higher in frequency than the highest frequency you want to synthesize. Some rummaging revealed a bag of 21.4773 MHz crystals that I could divide by 3 to garner 7.159 MHz. To afford a […]
Factory programming ESP8266 gadgets
Johan Kanflo’s Esprog pogo pin connector: The FTDI connector can be found on just about any ESP8266 design. If you are building a gadget to be deployed somewhere and not a full blown development board, the FTDI connector is somewhat overkill. And it is quite large. A few pins could be shaved off but we still […]
DIY self sustaining solar powered backyard hydroponic garden
Dan Beaven has been working on his DIY backyard solar powered hydroponic garden. More details at Dan Beaven’s blog. Via the contact form.
Georges F6DFZ’s very stylish homebrew version of the Scout Regen receiver
Dave Richards AA7EE has published an article about Georges F6DFZ’s homebrew regen receiver: Several months ago, Georges F6DFZ sent me pictures of a Manhattan project he had just completed, using Rex’s MeSQUARES, and I have waited far too long to share it with you. It began life as a copy of the Ten Tec 1253 regen, but […]
HydroBot
Matthew Reed writes: HydroBot is a modular control system for automating hydroponic gardens. This system is designed with three objectives in mind. First, it will facilitate optimal growing techniques by using scheduling and feedback control loops to maintain state and adapt to changing conditions. Second, it will simplify controls interfaces, making setup and use easier […]
Reaction tester
Reaction tester project from Vagrearg: The single gate-type NAND version was put onto a PCB and tested. It works like a charm. There were only 74AC00 chips available at the time, but they are just about the same as HC chips. You can get the design files, which are made with KiCad. The layout is […]
DIY smart glasses
Harris has been working on his DIY smart glasses: The glasses themselves are based around an STM32F051K8 microcontroller (LQFP32 for easy soldering!). All the firmware is custom written though I got the LCD driver initialization codes from the BuyDisplay examples. The firmware is written using a somewhat “co-operative scheduling” with interrupts methodology and for most […]
SNAFU box
A SNAFU box project by Bertho of Vagrearg: SNAFU Box consists of 24 LED strips (12V passive type) of varying size, which are controlled by a set of 74HC595 shift-registers and a transistor driver for each strip and RGB channel. The LED strips are used to backlight the lettering of the box. An additional three 74HC595 […]
More Delta printer upgrades: WiFi and silence!
David Crocker has been working on his Delta 3D printer project: After performing this upgrade, the printer is much quieter than before. This is because of the change from x16 microstepping on the Duet with A4982 drivers, to interpolated x256 microstepping on the Duet WiFi with TMC2660 drivers. The noisiest component is now the 40mm electronics […]
Make the world’s cheapest MIDI tester
Jesse from Bent-Tronics has posted a tutorial on how to make a DIY MIDI tester: A quick and dirty (and cheap) MIDI tester. Sometimes you just need to know if a MIDI controller is outputting anything. Even many high-end MIDI modules/boxes will have a “MIDI Activity” light, just to let you know something is being transmitted/received. That’s […]
WA2EBY IRF510 amplifier
Flathagen has published a new build: The WA2EBY amplifier is a famous linear amplifier project published in QST in March and April 1999 by Mike Kossor WA2EBY. As this amplifier can give up to 50W out with 1W drive, it is a perfect pair for my Softrock RXTX amplifier. The articles can be found on […]
DIY Powerpole voltage and current meters
Sverre Holm made his own powerpole voltage and current meters: Powerpole voltage and current monitoring is quite nice to have. One can buy commercial meters, but due to the availability of nice and cheap modules, it is very easy to make them oneself. To the right you’ll see my combined voltage and current meter as well as […]
Homemade EDM (electric discharge machining) machine
In this video Scorchworks demonstrates his DIY EDM (electric discharge machining) machine : My homemade plunge EDM (electric discharge machining) machine built based on the book “Build an EDM” by Robert Langolois. The book consists of a series of articles that originally appeared in The Home Shop Machinist. I deviated from the book in a couple […]
Remote controlled beer crate
Niklas Roy blogged about his DIY remote controlled beer crate: The “remote controlled beer crate” is actually just a flat plywood platform on which standard sized beer crates can be placed. It is driven and steered by two windscreen wiper motors with direct attached casters. Two swivel casters in front stabilize the construction. On its back, […]
A CNC pickup winding machine built on an ATmega8
Davide Gironi blogged about his DIY ATmega based CNC pickup winding machine: A pickup winding machine it is used to wind a guitar pickup. You can find my previous ATmega manual pickup winding machine here This project is a manual / CNC pickup winding machine, built on top of an ATmega8 microcontroller. More details at Davide Gironi’s blog. […]
MIDI controller – Tannin 2
Shantea has a nice build log about the DIY MIDI controller he built: For second revision of Tannin controller, I decided to use PCBs crafted specifically for Tannin 2, instead of using OpenDeck reference board. This proved to be a very challenging task, as I literally had to do everything from scratch. The main premise […]