Categories
Archives
- January 2021 (5)
- November 2020 (6)
- August 2020 (2)
- June 2020 (9)
- May 2020 (4)
- April 2020 (7)
- March 2020 (4)
- January 2020 (6)
- October 2019 (4)
- August 2019 (3)
- July 2019 (2)
- June 2019 (4)
- May 2019 (3)
- April 2019 (15)
- February 2019 (1)
- January 2019 (5)
- November 2018 (8)
- August 2018 (10)
- July 2018 (4)
- May 2018 (23)
- April 2018 (4)
- March 2018 (4)
- February 2018 (1)
- January 2018 (5)
- October 2017 (1)
- September 2017 (6)
- July 2017 (8)
- May 2017 (11)
- February 2017 (1)
- January 2017 (6)
- November 2016 (5)
- August 2016 (8)
- June 2016 (9)
- May 2016 (9)
- March 2016 (2)
- December 2015 (7)
- November 2015 (1)
- October 2015 (5)
- August 2015 (8)
- July 2015 (3)
- June 2015 (2)
- May 2015 (14)
- April 2015 (5)
- March 2015 (13)
- February 2015 (5)
- January 2015 (14)
- December 2014 (1)
- November 2014 (9)
- October 2014 (4)
- September 2014 (12)
- August 2014 (13)
- July 2014 (10)
- June 2014 (4)
- May 2014 (9)
- April 2014 (3)
- March 2014 (3)
- February 2014 (7)
- January 2014 (2)
- December 2013 (2)
- November 2013 (4)
- October 2013 (12)
- September 2013 (14)
- August 2013 (10)
- July 2013 (6)
- June 2013 (11)
- May 2013 (12)
- April 2013 (1)
- March 2013 (6)
- February 2013 (7)
- January 2013 (4)
- December 2012 (6)
- November 2012 (4)
- October 2012 (2)
- September 2012 (5)
- July 2012 (8)
- June 2012 (3)
- May 2012 (12)
- April 2012 (4)
- March 2012 (7)
- February 2012 (4)
- January 2012 (1)
- December 2011 (9)
- November 2011 (10)
- October 2011 (10)
- September 2011 (4)
- August 2011 (8)
- July 2011 (28)
- June 2011 (5)
- May 2011 (7)
- April 2011 (3)
- March 2011 (6)
- February 2011 (10)
- January 2011 (7)
- December 2010 (13)
- November 2010 (10)
- October 2010 (10)
- September 2010 (12)
- August 2010 (4)
- July 2010 (16)
- June 2010 (3)
- May 2010 (7)
- April 2010 (3)
- March 2010 (3)
- February 2010 (12)
- January 2010 (5)
- December 2009 (11)
- November 2009 (14)
- October 2009 (19)
- September 2009 (8)
- August 2009 (15)
- July 2009 (14)
- June 2009 (8)
- May 2009 (6)
- April 2009 (8)
- March 2009 (8)
- February 2009 (11)
- January 2009 (12)
- December 2008 (13)
- November 2008 (23)
- October 2008 (10)
- September 2008 (11)
- August 2008 (13)
- July 2008 (10)
- June 2008 (9)
- May 2008 (6)
- April 2008 (4)
- March 2008 (2)
- January 2008 (3)
- December 2007 (9)
- November 2007 (3)
- October 2007 (3)
- September 2007 (1)
- July 2007 (8)
- June 2007 (11)
- May 2007 (13)
- April 2007 (10)
- March 2007 (15)
- February 2007 (1)
- January 2007 (15)
- December 2006 (8)
- November 2006 (9)
- October 2006 (24)
- September 2006 (4)
- August 2006 (6)
- July 2006 (6)
- June 2006 (8)
- May 2006 (18)
- April 2006 (9)
- March 2006 (8)
- February 2006 (10)
- January 2006 (8)
- December 2005 (8)
- November 2005 (12)
- October 2005 (19)
- September 2005 (13)
- August 2005 (15)
Category Archives: Electronics
Arduino Metronome

I've got the idea to make an Arduino-based metronome while I was between other projects. It's got a Neopixel ring for flashing the beat (plus a piezo buzzer) and displaying the current BPM, plus a pair of buttons for increasing/decreasing the rate. So, pretty simple - but kind of cool. I still need to figure out an enclosure for it - I'll post another pic once it's done.
Posted in Electronics
Comments Off on Arduino Metronome
KSP Control Panel – Part 2
I've done some more work on the KSP control panel - I've connected up all of the button and switches on the first two panels, and have them talking to an Arduino Leonardo. The bottom pic shows the first custom PCB I've ever designed and had made. It's basically some shift registers and pull-downs to support 16 buttons/switches per PCB, will connections to allow chaining multiple copies together. It was a cool and pretty inexpensive experience - I think I might try to make more custom boards in the future. For example, a lot of my neopixel-based clock ideas are essentially the same circuit every time. I might try to design an Arduino Shield with that circuit on it, to make my designs cleaner and faster to build.


Posted in Electronics
Comments Off on KSP Control Panel – Part 2
KSP Control Panel – Part 1
Sean and I play a video game called Kerbal Space Program, where you build things and send them to space - everything from simple orbiters, to space stations, to landers and rovers to other planets. What's cool about it is how it tries to keep things pretty realistic - you have to learn a bit about orbital mechanics in order to be successful, for example. One thing we noticed online is that some people build these elaborate control panels and connect them to their PC to play the game - lots of switches, LEDs, etc. - just like a real control panel. That sort of project is right up my alley! Sean and I have started working on one. We're still in the early stages, but I'll try to share some photos as we go.

Posted in Electronics
Comments Off on KSP Control Panel – Part 1
Word Clock
Yup - another clock. :P This one reports the time in five minute increments, but uses words - as in, "it's half past three o'clock". It's not as blindingly-bright in person - my camera makes it look a lot brighter than it really is. For the case I used some awesome tiger maple that I've been hanging onto for a while. It doesn't come across in that dark photo, but in person it looks awesome!

Posted in Electronics
Comments Off on Word Clock
Neopixel Bubble Clock
Anybody who knows me and my hobbies knows I love to make interesting clocks - I feel like they are the perfect canvas to try out new things and get creative, as everyone fundamentally understands what a clock is supposed to do. Because the basic idea is constrained, it lets me be creative with the implementation without having to also explain what the thing actually *does*. So here's a new clock I built - it's Neopixel-based and run off of an Arduino. The outer ring is hours, and the inner ring is minutes (in 10 minute intervals). The center pixel is an AM/PM indicator. I used ping-ping balls for the diffusers - it turns out that they work great for Neopixels! They remind me of bubbles, which is why I call this my "bubble clock". The colors are really washed out in this photo, but I think that's just because the Neopixels are so bright. In person it is very vibrant and colorful.


Posted in Electronics
Comments Off on Neopixel Bubble Clock
Bluetooth Tiki Mask

When he was a kid, somebody brought Sean this toy Tiki mask back from a vacation. It's been kicking around our house for years now. I finally figured out something to do with it. I stick some Neopixels in ping-pon balls behind the eyes, and the color can be controlled (over Bluetooth) from an app on my phone. I'd been looking for an excuse to play around with a Bluetooth receiver connected to an Arduino, and this turned out to be just the thing.
Posted in Electronics
Comments Off on Bluetooth Tiki Mask
Lixie Clock
A friend showed me a project online where somebody made an edge-lit acrylic clock inspired by Nixie tubes. Once I saw it, the seed was essentially embedded in my skull and I knew I was going to have to make one of my own. The acrylic panels were cut on my home-built CNC machine, the LEDs are neopixels driven by an Adafruit Trinket, and the case is walnut.
Posted in Electronics
Comments Off on Lixie Clock
Nixie Tube Clock
I've been wanting to build a Nixie tube clock for many years now, but the high voltage required always scared me off. Recently I was looking online for a step-up power supply to try to finally build it, and found a site that sold a pre-built Nixie clock board for less than the parts would have cost me. So I ordered one, and built an enclosure for it. The outer enclosure is painted pine, and the 'face' is bubinga that I CNC cut around the Nixie tubes.


Posted in Electronics
Comments Off on Nixie Tube Clock
Bartop Arcade

I'm convinced that I've posted about this project before, but I can't seem to find it on the blog no matter how I search. Back when I made it, it was sort of a rush job to finish it before a party - so I guess I must have forgotten to post it. Anyway, here is a bartop Raspberry Pi arcade machine I built a year or so ago. The best part? It's got a pair of USB jacks on the front that can be used to plug in some USB SNES controller I've got, or you can also insert a memory stick to install new games to the system.
Posted in Electronics
Comments Off on Bartop Arcade