Useful power supply

The man (Geoff Graham) who designed the Maximite PIC based computer project featured recently in Silicon Chip has a web site where he describes some of his other projects. One is a very simple but useful Utility Power Supply.

My only concern is that there is no current limiting, which is vital to avoid damage due to shorts or wrong connections to your protoboard etc.  Implementing this may be worth looking at, without making a neat project too complex.  I have a couple of Arlec transformers that may be suitable if I can live with lower total current.

Repairing and restoring old electronic stuff – Pt 2

On further investigation, the main AC line wiring is not really safe enough for 230 Vac, so I will fit a 2pole switch (C & K 7201) which will fit the space and keep the same external look of the front panel. The Neon power indicator will need rewiring ro the rear of the unit. Maybe a red led in the neon bezel would be better.

Repairing and restoring old electronic stuff

Have recently acquired an elderly Systron-Donner 100A pilse generator. It appears to be in fair condition but needs setting up for 230 Vac and electrolytic cap. replacement. more soon..

Things to put stuff into…

I have been accumulating a lot of gear and bits since “retiring” and of course there is only a finite amount of space to put it all in.  So,  I have found that a good place to find transparent stackable containers is the Reject Shop . (no doubt other $2 shops will have this sort of thing)

You can get shoebox sized containers with lids for $4 ea and half that size for $2.50, also some nice small screwtop food containers (ideal for screws from disassembling stuff) for $1.25.  Bunnings also have a range of cheap clear plastic boxes with adjustable dividers.

For many years, I saved tofu containers and yoghurt tubs for parts etc, but they did not have lids and eventually cracked/broke. Containers with lids are the way for space-constrained workshops!

The Arduclock is now the GerbClock..

The protoboard is finished – with sockets for the wiring to the LCD panel. The project is now the GerbClock – all I need is a case to put it into!

almost ready to go - much neater...

An Update on the Arduclock

The Arduclock proceeds very slowly – the extra bits  have moved to a Freetronics protoshield– just need to tidy up the connection to the LCD and put it in a box..

It still has messy wiring!

Here is a closeup of the protoshield..

a closeup view

Power could be a 9V ‘wall wart’ plugpack or 9V worth of NiMH cells in a carrier…

a nice looking case is next…

Arduino Cheat Sheet

I have used the Cheat sheet and find it very handy, but the print for the code is both proportional and small which for us older folk makes it hard to read – I have modded it to a larger monospaced font and put the pictures (bigger) on a second page with the libraries, leaving space to add some more library info later. You can get my version as a .vsd file or a pdf from http://gerbilator.org/arduino. Please note that this server is on a slow connection to the Internet, so be patient.

More power to the Mechatronics Guy for coming up with this very useful idea initially.

The Gerbot, FriendlyArm and cleaning up..

The Cybot has been relegated to a box for the time being. The Gerbot (pictures to come) and its little friend are Arduino-based, using Freetronics’ protoboards and a TwentyTen MCU card. They are waiting on space being made to actually work on them! (Coding of course can happen anywhere with a Laptop).

Recently, I acquired on eBay a FriendlyARM mini2440 system – it works out of the box but in Chinese! – a little work to load an English language image and it goes..admittedly its a small display with lower resolution than a modern cellphone but a lot of computing power if directed to robots – a future project.

The cleaning up is a slow process, stuff goes on eBay from time to time, but I really don’t like throwing things away – you never know when they will be handy.

Anyway, Happy Australia Day for tomorrow!!!

another year gone!

Well, it’s almost Xmas time again! Not much has happened on the GerbClock or Gerbot recently. Gerbot pix soon. Arduino has gone from strength to strength spawning any number of clones, work-alikes and enhancements. Even Microsoft are getting in there with their Netduino! I bought 3 very nice smallish Stepper motors on eBay recently – a 3axis mill or 3D printer…haven’t decided yet.

eBay and other things…

The ArduClock has been sidelined of late – I hope to have the code and diagrams posted by the end of April. Putting assorted chips up on eBay to free up space round here takes up a lot of time as well as the new semester has begun. Everything seems to take longer as you get older…