Reading ambient temp is useful in electronics, and reading it from your handy multimeter is even better. Raj added a thermometer feature to his DMM, by hard-wiring it into the case. He used an LM35 analog temperature sensor and a slide switch connected to the multimeter inputs. You just flip the knob to the 200mV […]
Tag Archives: DIY
DIY IR Toy and CPLD breakout boards
DIY etched boards are the quickest way to get a project up and running. This is just what Noy did with his IR Toy, and CPLD breakout boards. He modified our projects to a single layer design. Used the toner-transfer method to copy the traces, and etched the boards with a mix of hydrochloride acid […]
Waking up is easy with automated breakfast and curtains
Not a morning person? Try this automated dorm room. Curtains open, eggs boil, and bread is toasted, all automatically. The motor mounts and gearing for the curtains are machined and laser cut. So here was my approach; Use a motor to pull the curtains and use a remote set to control the kettle and oven. […]
DIY soldering station for mains-powered soldering irons
Pantelis designed and built a DIY soldering station for mains powered soldering irons. He added a thermocouple temperature sensor to the heater, and controls the power to it via a microcontroller. The whole project is documented in pictures. Via PCB heaven.
App note: Op-amp based DIY linear voltage regulators
This is not really an app note, but more of a tutorial on DIY op-amp based linear regulators. The article describes the basics of op-amp regulator, and includes schematics and in-depth explanations of how the various circuits work. This article follows the history of a popular series of DIY linear regulators. Starting from initial concepts […]
Cool DIY acrylic cast case
Robert designed this awesome looking headphone amplifier. The circuit is assembled without a PCB, and done very ascetically. It looks so good without a case, that it would have been a shame to stick in a plastic box. So he pored some clear acrylic into a mold, and made this cool looking case. Via PCB […]
Another PIC18F2550 USB development board
Palma made a USB development board for the PIC18F2550. These chips are really popular, and there is a bunch of projects floating around the internet with them, even our own USB IR Toy, and USB LCD Backpack use them. This board is basically a breakout board, with decoupling capacitors, and a USB jack. We like […]
DIY Bus Pirate case
Stan Hall informs us of a Bus Pirate case he made at the OHM Space Corporation, an Oklahoma City hackerspace. Stan created the case using the hackerspace’s member-built CNC router. Case materials include plywood, acrylic and rubber bands. Here’s the link to his writeup. Get your own Bus Pirate for less than $40. Via the […]
Programing your DIY Bus Pirate v3.5-SOIC build with the MSP430
Hardwhack bought 2 DIY Bus Pirate v3.5-SOIC PCBs and programmed them using the MSP430 microcontroller. Since he didn’t have any PIC programmers around, he decided to port the AVR Bus Pirate programmer code to a MSP430 MCU. The custom firmware he coded is open source, and available on his site. I built two DIY Bus […]
Interfacing CMOS cameras to 8bit microcontrollers.
Here is an article from IKALOGIC describing how to implement CMOS cameras as sensors in 8bit microcontrollers. Processing color video in real time requires powerful DSPs or MCUs, but by downgrading the image to gray-scale, and using a lower resolution, processing becomes much easier to handle, so even small 8bit MCUs can handle it Many […]
Followup: Driving multiple character LCD with only a few extra wires
Dccharacter responded to yesterday’s post about driving two character LCDs in parallel: Guys tested better idea on roboforum.ru: if you put all the lines but ENABLE in parallel, you can drive as many LCDs as you want by 10+N MCU pins (where N is number of displays, or 6+N – depending on mode 8 bits […]
DIY high precision clock synchronized with an atomic clock
Here is a DIY high precision clock that is synced to the DCF77 atomic clock long wave radio signal. The radio signal is broadcast form Frankfurt at 77.5 KHz and has a reach of about 2000 Km. DCF77 is the name of a german radio station on 77.5 KHz, which gives official time and date from […]
Digitaly enhanced vintage music box
A digitally-enhanced vintage music box: “Digital Enhancement” is an interactive sound installation consisting of an electrified Symphonion Brevet No. 28, a synthesizer, an amplifier and four headphones. The Symphonion musical box dates back to the beginning of the last century and its mechanical workings are combined with digital technology to convert it into a MIDI […]
Make a supercapacitor with a DVD writer
Professor Kaner from UCLA demonstrates how to build a high-performance graphene-based supercapacitor with a DVD writer [PDF!]. The process uses a DVD writer to burn a pattern onto a plastic film coated with graphene. The resulting supercapacitor is flexible, and capable of storing enough energy to drive an LED for a few minutes. There has been […]
PCB ecthing at home using photo transfer method
Blondihacks wrote an in-depth tutorial on how to make PCBs made at home using pre-sensatived photo-PCBs. We especially liked the board design optimization for home etching tips. Wide traces, big vias, and using a ground plane are all strategies we use to get good DIY photo-transfer PCBs too. DIY etching is the fastest way to […]
3D printed wire stripper with a wire contact indicator
Bjbsquared designed a wire stripper tool with a LED indicator that flashes when contact with the wires is made. To built it you’ll need to get the model laser cut from acrylic or 3D printed. This is one of the best wire strippers I have ever used. If setup correctly, it can be very precise […]
DIY Magnetic rotary encoder with AS5043
Sebastian would like to build a high-res 3D printer, and to this end he needs a precise way to ascertain the exact positions of various moving parts. Instead of buying an expensive stepper motors he decided to build a magnetic rotary sensor with which he could calculate the distance traveled. By placing a neodymium magnet […]
Testing the photovoltaic effect with a transistor
When you expose the silicon die of a transistor to a light source a charge is produced. CircuitsDIY opened up a 2n3055 transistor and did some experimenting. With the help of a magnifying glass he was able to built up a charge of 0.65V and produce 42.2mA of current. Most photovoltaic cells are made of […]
Built your own helping hand
Victor made a DIY helping hand from some Multi Direction Plastic pipe. All you need is the before-mentioned pipes, a piece of wood, and alligator clips. “A good technician has 3 hands – it is the fourth one that’s missing sometimes.” I think the famous proverb sums it up: Many times there are many, […]
DIY Chronodot, homemade RTC with a battery backup
Valentin built a DIY version of the Chronodot real-time clock with battery backup. He used some disc shaped perfboard to assemble all the components. There is an optional component that you can add – a real time clock (RTC) with battery back up. It is called Chronodot RTC. All it does is ensure that clock […]