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[Reply #15 on:]

They have lower pricesfor smaller boards too.

$9.90 plus shipping (~$5) for ten 50mm x 50mm boards.
I am not even going to try homemade boards at that price!
http://iteadstudio.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=173

Look at the size of these displays - I hefted the box and thought "Did I screw up the order? 8 parts can't weigh that much", they are monsters!
Dug out some ULN2803s, gonna see if I can fire one up during halftime.

[Reply #16 on:]

Good deal on the boards, heck even if you only needed four or five at that price.

Wow, impressive display! Where do such monsters come from?

[Reply #17 on:]

And in action!
http://www.crossroadsfencing.com/MVI_1995.AVI

Its a Kingbright SA23-12SRWA,
Red, common anode. 2.3" tall, 4 LED chips per segment.
Newark carries them

[Reply #18 on:]

Sweet! I've been looking for a larger (not that large, maybe 0.6" tall digits or so) display for a digital clock, preferably six digits with colons in the appropriate positions. Thinking I may have to roll my own out of single- or double-digit units. Haven't checked Newark though, will head over there. Interesting combination of hobbies, electronics and fencing?

[Reply #19 on:]

Flying too, tho haven't been up since I started fencing a lot - gas prices doubling didn't help.

I designed/built my own electric fencing machines, and now my own PCB ATmega1284 based Arduino derivative with integrated features of a couple of shields as well.

earlier version & its remote, before all features were added

I have several smaller versions as well; lights & sound without the Time & Score digits; and just the score lights.
And now my card.

www.crossroadsfencing.com/BobuinoRev17  for the features summary

[Reply #20 on:]

Large project, in more ways than one, very nice! For some reason when I first read "electric fencing", cattle came to mind, lolz 

[Reply #21 on:]

Thanks, was several months in the making. Started as just a promini receiving 5 bytes at 4800 from another box and showing the lights.
Then added display of the time and score (the picture with the remote).  Then added most of the functionality of the other box so I didn't need 2 remotes, that's when a 2nd promini got added, to detect the fencers scoring a touch. First promini was out of IO.  (That would have been a good time to switch to the larger 644/1284 type chip. And since its all wirewrap, I may do that at some point, and as a PCB too.)
After that, it was pretty straight forward to back out to the smaller box that does touches & lights, but not score & time.

We do get calls to install fencing from time to time.

[Reply #22 on:]

Yeah...board houses are the way to go....the boards i make are single sided, and used for simple stuff...like led arrays,motor drivers,power supplys,RTC and temp chips...i already have a 100 free sheets of PNP Blue iron on and gallons of ferric choride...get copper boards cheap...so its good for me...i use use eagle too for board layout and silk screens.

[Reply #23 on:]

I live in Illinois and the electronics/DIY movement is about zero. Im a "hard core" maker at 19. I started in electronic circuits at 6, destroying lots of toys and making the parents very unhappy. Im in college for electronic engineering and the hardest thing were going to do is program a basic stamp... Boring! BUt in short I agree with oldPMGguy. I hope the "nerds" like us (and the local parts suppliers) dont die off. I would be lost with out the local radio shack, Since all the other little tech stores died off or moved to china...

[Reply #24 on:]

I would be lost with out the local radio shack, Since all the other little tech stores died off or moved to china...

Dude, there is this new thing called the internet, lets you buy geek stuff from all over the world, cheap. E-bay lets you buy used stuff if it's too costly new. Radio Shack just doesn't cut it anymore, too expensive, too limited in parts inventory. I suspect there is more DIY electronics going on right now worldwide then in any other time in history and it should only increase.

Lefty

[Reply #25 on:]

destroying lots of toys and making the parents very unhappy.

An uncle of mine, engineer, gave me a hand driven sowing-machine at my 4th birthday, apparently I've tinkered with it for ages (can't remember...). Every year I still get the stories how fast the other presents were destroyed with it though.

I agree with Lefty, without the internet I probably wouldn't have picked up "old hobby" electronics again.
Components take more time to arrive, but "the electronics store" seems a zillion times bigger and 5-20 times cheaper.
When I think of it, the internet taught me how to airbrush a lot better, it taught me how to build my own drums,  I'm busy with CNC because of it, electronics, as boomerang-fanatic it learned me a lot about aerodynamics and it taught me how to cook a lot better
 

[Reply #26 on:]

You guys is makin' me nostalgic...

1950: Vesey Street, New York City  - "Radio Row"  100 little hole-in-the-wall shops selling radio parts, WWII surplus.
2010: Futian, Shenzhen, China  - "IC Row" SEG Market - 900 Shops selling every imagineable IC and part.

I am SO fortunate to have walked in both of these times and places, and bought stuff and made things with it.


Radio Row - First went there with my Father in 1950. He is 99 and can only hear a few audio frequencies. So I send him CW on the phone, and he talks back.

 

SEG Electronics Market 2010 - Went there with my friend Jun Peng.  Now Peng and I sell parts from there on Yourduino.com   
See http://www.segbuy.com/  (Use google translate)... 

So. I have a Real Good Excuse for my parts-scrounging addiction.  The only thing better is when I get to give stuff away to young people in places like Cambodia and New England.

[Reply #27 on:]

"900 Shops selling every imagineable IC and part"
Counterfeit awareness and traceability back to OEM is very hot topic in industry now ...

[Reply #28 on:]

Many/most of these shops can show traceability. I understand the biggest stock of most major IC manufacturers is physically in Shenzhen where they get put into IPhones etc etc.  The big manufacturers know all this.

That said, there are choices of many very popular chips, from US manufacturer or 'domestic' manufacturer, different price by 40% or so.

The amazing shops are those with many thousands of SMT parts reels, each with thousands of chips.. 

When you buy a cellphone, for some models they ask you upfront, "You want the original or the fake? Your choice".  I bought a real Nokia N78, but the 'fake' was cool, and had dual SIM cards and better camera! 

What a Trip...