How to get good alignment results when etching two sided boards at home. This method uses marks placed outside of the PCB design to help with aliment. Via Gadget Factory.
Category Archives: tutorials
Designing multilayer PCBs in Cadsoft Eagle
Rik shows how to design PCBs with more than two layers in Cadsoft Eagle. The tutorial covers the basics, as well as some advanced subjects like BGA escape routing. Keep in mind you’ll need a standard or pro version of Eagle, as the free version doesn’t support designs with more then 2 layers. Via the […]
MegunoLink tools talk to serial port devices
MegunoLink is a utility to create a communication link between PCs and serial port devices such as the Arduino. … useful tools that interact with an Arduino-style board (or other MCU with serial data). The software is called MegunoLink, from BlueLeafSoftware in New Zealand. Megunolink has many useful features, and we’ll run through them briefly […]
HOW-TO: Crude ways of making plated slots in Eagle
As far as we know Eagle doesn’t offer an option for making plated slots. Here are two hacks we found on the subject. Check out our previous tutorial on building footprints in Eagle. You can also skim through our Cadsoft_Eagle other tutorials on the wiki.
ChipKIT Uno32 review and lots of tutorials
Raj made a in-depth tutorial series on the chipKIT Uno32, PIC32 based Arduino compatible boards. I have started this new tutorial series on chipKIT, and I believe they will be helpful for beginners to start using this platform for their own embedded projects and designs. Because I am also new to the Arduino and chipKIT […]
Tutorial: Accurate Arduino ADC readings
The Hardware Hacking guys have posted this brief tutorial with tips on improving the accuracy of ADC reading with the Arduino. They endeavor to do this by measuring the internal 1.1V reference voltage (it is available for ATMega 168 and ATMega 328 only) and, then, by normalizing the ADC. Via the Arduino Blog.
Learn.parallax.com
Parallax has launched a learning resources site for hobbyists and students. Known as learn.parallax.com, it’s the online home for materials relating to the Parallax Board of Education microcontroller development systems and robotics kits for BASIC Stamp, Propeller, and Arduino. The site is in the development stage, and is being populated with links to tutorials for […]
Copy parts between libraries in Eagle
A short but helpful tutorial on how to copy parts between libraries in Cadsoft Eagle. You can also check out some of our Eagle tutorials.
HOW-TO: Create Eagle parts with pins that have the same name
Most chips have multiple power pins that need to be connected to the same power supply, but Eagle doesn’t allow you to give 2 different pins the same name. This short tutorial shows how to get around this and name multiple part pins the same thing. Keep reading below, see our other Eagle tutorials here.
P-FET Reverse voltage polarity protection tutorial
Rectifier circuit with very low voltage drop featuring a P-channel MOSFET : Different ways you can protect your circuit from backwards power connections. Diodes, schottky diodes and P channel MOSFETs. Thanks MickM! Via the forum.
Panelizing multiple PCB on a single cheap PCB service
Schazamp made an instructable on how to get multiple PCB onto a single cheap PCB service, like Seeed’s Fusion, or ITead’s Open PCB. The process involves merging the gerber files with GerbMerge. just wrote up an instructable about how you can easily panelize PCBs for SeeedStudio’s Fusion PCB service. I thought it might be of […]
Robotic motor control tutorial
Chris from PyroElectro has written a multi-part tutorial on building motor control firmware for a microcontroller, a PIC 18F252. This tutorial is based on his earlier robot chassis, but the principles relating to the use of a motor controller IC (SN754410) to move the motors at specific speeds and directions are of general application. If […]
Automatically generate Eagle footprints for Microchip parts
Macdweller wrote a step by step tutorial on making Cadsoft Eagle footprints for any Microchip device, like PIC microcontrollers, using the Ultra Librarian app to generate footprints automatically. Via the forum.
HOW-TO: Learn PIC serial UART with your Bus Pirate
The Bus Pirate is a handy debugging tool, but it’s also a 16 bit PIC 24FJ64GA002 development board. You don’t need a programmer to play, just upload the firmware over USB using the Bus Pirate’s nearly-impossible-to-brick bootloader. It’s easy to go back to the original Bus Pirate firmware at any time. This demo is step […]
Using servos with PIC16F microcontrollers
Raj wrote a tutorial on how-to implement servo control on PIC16F microcontrollers. The article starts off with some servo theory, and is followed with an open source practical example. A servo motor is a special geared DC motor equipped with an electronic circuit for controlling the direction of rotation, as well as the position, of […]
HOW-TO: Use the Bus Pirate v3 as a PIC development board
The Bus Pirate is a handy debugging tool, but it’s also a 16 bit PIC 24FJ64GA002 development board. You don’t need a programmer to play, just upload the firmware over USB using the Bus Pirate’s nearly-impossible-to-brick bootloader. It’s easy to go back to the original Bus Pirate firmware at any time. This demo is step […]
HOW-TO: Build 3D models from Eagle files
Overview Over the last few weeks we’ve been building 3D models of our projects in Google SketchUp using the EagleUp script. This script makes a 3D model of the board from Cadsoft Eagle board (.brd) files, and populates it with pre-existing models of components. Once you have a 3D model in SketchUp you are free […]
HOW-TO: Make parts in Cadsoft Eagle
Eagle’s popularity is partly due to the sheer number of parts and footprint libraries available for it. Sometimes you can’t find the part you need in an existing library though, and it’s time to make your own. Making a new part in Cadsoft Eagle can be intimidating for new users, but the guide below shows […]
Basics of liquid lenses video
Learn about the basics of liquid lenses in this video. Ben explains how you can use a high-voltage power supply and some Teflon tape to alter the focal point of a liquid lens. Liquid lenses are basically a drop of water whose shape can be altered through the use of a strong electrical field. A […]
Phase Lock Loops 101 with Bil Herd
Robert let us know about another video tutorial on Phase Lock Loops in the comments of our previous post. PLLs generate an output signal that is phase-synchronized to an input signal. They are widely used in telecommunication, radio, and computer systems. One place we commonly find PLLs is the frequency multiplier circuit inside microcontrollers. The […]