HOW-TO: Visit Bay Area Maker Faire
We are off to the Bay Area Maker Faire, and we’d like to share some of the tips we picked up on our previous visit there. Below are our tips for both visitors, and participants. If you are in the … Read more
Category Archives: how-to
MMA7455L soldering explained
In our previous Workshop Video we mentioned we asked Pietja to solder up those pesky MMA7455L accelerometers. Here is how he got around to doing it. Check out the pics and his instructions below. Ian asked me to solder some … Read more
Simple optical theremin
Here’s a simple theremin-like device designed by Sacred and presented by Jameco. Unlike other theremins which vary the sound based on the user’s proximity to stationary antennae, this project uses two phototransistors and a 555 timer. The theory of operation … Read more
HOW-TO: Advanced circuit board rendering with SketchUp and Kerkythea
See the latest version of this tutorial on the wiki. Overview Kerkythea is an open source rendering application that makes life-like images. A community developed plugin can import Google SketchUp 3D models into Kerkythea, so we can use it … Read more
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 … Read more
PCB macro photography without a macro lens
Torwag started a thread in the forum with lots of interesting tips for taking macro pictures of PCBs without buying an expensive macro lens: Many here know how difficult it could be to do good detailed images of your project. … Read more
Arduino lie detector
William Finucane of revoltlab posted this easy lie detector project on the Mad Science website. The hardware consists of nothing more than an Arduino, a 10K resistor, wire and some tin foil. (You didn’t use ALL your foil for your … Read more
Global Geek Shenzhen: How not to get lost in the candy store
The SEG Market in Shenzhen, and the other markets too, are a maze packed with lots of small shops and goodies. It’s hard to find that shop with a special bargain again after you wander away. Below the fold are … Read more
CAN-BUS based OBD reader
Debraj has been developing a project to read the OBD information through CAN bus. His design is based on the dsPIC33FJ128MC802 (3.3V) and MCP2551. He is using a factory stock OBD cable and feeding the data into a jack on … Read more
HOW-TO: Single member LLC/Sole proprietor taxes
Here’s a dirty subject many new kit makers don’t think about until the last minute: paying taxes. If you’ve sold your first kits or hardware you’ve got a lot of record keeping and paperwork to do. Here’s a rundown of … Read more
Graphing TI ez430 Chronos watch data in Processing
Chemicaloliver has written a short post describing how to graph ez430 Chronos watch data in Processing. His post includes links to the source code, which is an extension of the earlier Processing code by Sean Brewer. Originally written in 2010, … Read more
RTL-SDR APCO Project 25 (P25) receiver
Balint Seeber has done it again! In this video he shows how to take the RTL-SDR dongle and use it in conjunction with the open source OP25 project to successfully demodulate APCO Project 25 (P25) digital radio voice communications. P25 … Read more
Programing CoolRunner II CPLDs from Windows 7
Kiran wrote a short tutorial on how to program the Xilinx CoolRunner II CPLD development board with a computer running Windows 7. The board features an onboard USB programmer but the drivers for it are not supported by Windows 7. … Read more
14 ways to contribute to open source
If you’re not a world class coder, can you still make a meaningful contribution to the open source community? Andy Lester of Software Quality Connection has written an article outlining 14 Ways to Contribute to Open Source without Being a … Read more
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 … Read more
MSP430: using ACLK and the 32kHz crystal
NJC was designing a home automation system, to control lights at preset intervals. He wanted to use the MSP430 Launchpad but found the high frequency clock source of the valueline MCU to be insufficiently accurate. He wrote this post on … Read more
MAKE How-To: Get Started with the BeagleBone
Matt Richardson from MAKE provides this introduction to the BeagleBone dev board. BeagleBone is an TI AM3358 ARM Cortex-A8-based microprocessor board that ships with a 2GB microSD card with the Angstrom Linux Distribution with node.js and Cloud9 IDE. It retails … Read more
HOW-TO: Make realistic 3D renderings of PCB designs
3D models in Google SketchUp look great, but with a few extra plugins the results can look photo-realistic. In this tutorial we’ll cover our experience with the Maxwell for Google Sketchup rendering plugin. The Maxwell Fire engine is easy to … Read more
Manually V-score PCBs to break apart multiple designs
Ever use the extra area of a PCB to squeeze in multiple copies of a board? We do, but it’s always a pain to separate them. Doug shows how to how to cut apart multiple PCBs using a utility knife. … Read more
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 … Read more
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