Here’s a how-to on making a DIY Arduino Bluetooth programming shield by Joshua Newell: If you’ve ever wished you could program your Arduino without lugging a USB cable around, wanted to put an Arduino project somewhere out-of-reach but still be able to easily upload changes to it, thought about building a project that interfaces with an […]
Tag Archives: how-to
HP LaserJet 4000 front panel with Bus Pirate
kbiva has posted a detailed tutorial on how to connect and control HP LaserJet 4000 front panel with Bus Pirate v3.6: Connected 7 lines from printer front panel to corresponding Bus Pirate pins. SPI parameters set in Bus Pirate: -SPI speed is 1Mhz -Clock polarity: Idle low -Output clock edge: Active to idle -Input sample […]
Bypass capacitor tutorial
Electro Labs has posted a detailed tutorial on why and how to use bypass capacitors: You may have heard about the phenomenon of bypassing in circuits, however, we may not have sufficient knowledge of how to apply this technique in real circuits. In this tutorial, we will discuss about the bypass capacitors, why we need to use […]
Use an LED as a sensor
Michael Beyhs shows us how to use an LED as a sensor: How the code works: Configure all analog inputs to outputs and pull low to turn on all red LEDs. Turn one analog input pin into an actual Input and read the amount of light that is reflected into it. Turn that input back into […]
CNC Machine built using floppy drives
Richard Harris has produced a series of video tutorials on how to build a low cost micro CNC machine that uses old floppy drives for the movement. The video above is 10 in the series, if you would like to build you own you will need to start from video 1 which is here. It won’t do […]
Ultra Librarian and Eagle tutorial
Luca Dentella writes: Ultra Librarian is a tool by Accelerated Designs to manage libraries of eletronic components (CAD design, simulation, 3d-modelling…). Many IC manufacturers provide Ultra Librarian files (.bxl) for their products: this tutorial will show how to use those files in Eagle… Via the contact form.
Mediacenter with Raspberry Pi
Luca wrote a short tutorial on how to install and use Raspbmc. ‘Raspbmc is a Linux distribution for the Raspberry Pi; it already includes the fantastic XBMC media player’: The Raspberry Pi, thanks to the Videocore 4 GPU integrated in the Broadcom BCM2835 chip, is perfect for a home mediacenter; the GPU is indeed capable […]
ENC28J60 and Arduino
Luca wrote a short tutorial on how to develop a small website that gets data from Arduino: In this tutorial, I’m going to show how to develop a small website that gets data from Arduino (using your ethernet shield), stores it and displays it on a chart.
Eagle Tip: Gateswap and Pinswap tool
We route all our PCBs manually instead of using an autorouter. This can be a tedious job sometimes, but we think it gives the best results. Sometimes we’re just about to finish a PCB, when we notice a MUCH better way to route it if only a few connections could be changed. The Gateswap and […]
Another DIY Solder Paste Stencil – Etched soda can
A few days ago we posted about using soda pop cans as a DIY solder paste stencil. Alistair made a similar stencil about a year ago. He documented the process on his blog, so check it out if you want to try soda pop solder paste stencils yourself. I described a similar method to this on […]
£1 Lithium Ion battery charger
Here’s another custom Li Ion battery charger and holder. Yesterday we ran a post involving a custom battery holder for cell phone batteries, today it’s a holder for a more conventional 18650 type Li Ion batteries. To make a battery charger, just solder the red and black leads to the BATT+/- terminals on the charger […]
Jeremy Blum’s CadSoft Eagle video tutorials
OpenEnergyMonitor tweeted: Get started with Eagle CAD PCB design with Jeremy Blum’s video tutorials on @element14 site www.jeremyblum.com Via Twitter.
ESR meter rebuilt
MickM shares how he rebuilt his ESR meter: I just rebuilt my ESR meter. I found the schematic on the web, see ORIGINAL-schematic.png for author. This works well and is easy and almost free to build. It is analog (which I prefer), and uses a 50uA meter. Via the forum.
How LEDs are made
Ever wondered what goes into the process of making LED goodness? Here’s a how-to video from OSRAM on the basics of LED manufacturing. Via Adafruit.
INTRO GUIDE: Basic light emitting diodes (LED)
Image by kaktuslampan: CC BY-SA Probably the most used device in out projects is the humble LED. They’re in almost every piece of equipment around us. While LEDs are simple to use, we get a surprising number of requests for a LED tutorial. This guide is an introduction to LEDs. Not just how to light […]
Bus Pirate RFM12B radio data module demo
Hacromatic posted a tutorial on interfacing RFM12B radio data modules with the Bus Pirate: We’re working with some RFM12B RF modules, and needed to verify that they were working properly, so we used a Bus Pirate. We thought it’d make a nice intro to SPI on the BP so we wrote it up. Via the […]
Via options: Tenting, capping, plugging, or filling
From comments on our earlier Poision via effect in manufacturing post, Bearmos shared an article about via options in PCB manfacturing: On the PCB side of things, here’s an article from a PCB fab that goes over a couple of the via options: via tenting, caps, and plugs (PDF!). This just landed in my inbox […]
Gaining experience with schematic and PCB work
Wardy gives some advice on how to improve your schematic and PCB design skills. His advice is to clone consumer products with available schematics. He provides links to a few examples to get you started. Using a realistic design will confront you with the kind of obstacles that present themselves to the original designers themselves […]
Perfectly spaced circular layout in Eagle
Mats shared his method of aligning, and positioning all the LEDs on his clock in a perfect circle. He wrote an online PHP script that outputs Eagle commands that position, and rotate the LEDs depending on the parameters you enter into it. I have written a php script that generates a bunch of moves and […]
HOW-TO: Eagle Keepout and Restrict layers
Keepout, and restrict polygons are powerful tools at your disposal as a PCB designer. Keepout is used when you don’t want components placed within an area, like edges of a board, or where your heatsink will be placed. Restrict polygons make sure the specific copper layer cant be placed within the polygon. We use them […]