Posted December 31, 2012 by Chris

Happy New Year 2013!

Posted December 17, 2012 by Chris

“In this article, we will show you the process we took for building the LED Christmas tree. The LED control will be done entirely in digital logic and hardware, no software! There will be multiple display modes you can set, as well as a bit of ‘speed’ control, giving you full control over how you spread your Holiday cheer.”

Posted November 23, 2012 by Chris

“The LED panel is composed of 8 individual panels of 4×4 LEDs. Each group of 4 such panels will be controlled by a MAX7219. Here are the schematics and board layouts of the 4×4 LED board and LED driver.”

Posted November 7, 2012 by Chris

“Some time ago I was working on my cnc lathe and got tired of my options to cut stock, so I decided I needed a mini table saw before continuing. Proxxon micro table saw seemed to be exactly what I needed, but I chose to make my own instead!”

Posted October 1, 2012 by Chris

“Pure awesome! I have the best of friends who made this for me. 30 bright BLUE LEDS hot glued into straws, wired up to a driver circuit, then manually poked through the bottom of the cake! Man, it must’ve taken some planning and time to make this! The whole thing was powered by six 9-Volt batteries! All lead-free solder a plus.”

Posted September 8, 2012 by Chris

“I’ve recently had success in making a conductive ink using a fine copper powder suspended in an acrylic airbrush medium. This paper on conductive epoxies was really the key to getting this ink working….There is still quite a bit of experimentation to be done, but this is a very encouraging result!”

Posted August 26, 2012 by Chris

“The problem: Grass dies without strong sunlight. The solution: Construct a grow light that doesn’t consume a lot of power, doesn’t block the natural sunlight, and produces natural-looking colors.”

Posted August 5, 2012 by Chris

“First thing to do is make a schematic in EAGLE Layout Editor. Once you have done this you can then design the layout using Eagle too. Making schematic first helps because Eagle will show you clearly if you make any mistakes with the PCB.”

Posted August 4, 2012 by Chris

“Convert a standard wax candle into a realistic flickering LED candle. Candles are great for enhancing the ambiance of a room but they deteriorate when used and having a naked flame in your house can be dangerous. My goal was to preserve the look and smell of a traditional wax candle while overcoming their disadvantages.”

Posted July 29, 2012 by Chris

“I’ve been trying to use the parts I already own to free up a little space and build some entertaining and possibly useful gadgetry. I previously built a bench power supply out of an old ATX PSU however that was a while back and could really use an upgrade. After watching this excellent youtube tutorial by JumperOneTV, I was inspired to build a version 2 based on his design and this is the result.”