Who's doing what

What are you guys working on? Doesn't neccesarily have to be electronics ;).
So for me:
I have an experimental aircraft that I'm learning to fly. Eventually I'll have some arduino powered project in it. Maybe gps on an LCD or segment displaying ground speed... I might interface with an automotive fuel gauge (think I talked about before).
Then my clock project with non difused LEDs ;).
Next would be to steal or borrow the solar powered electric fence panel to run the arduino and a valve to turn on the water for my garden at certain times...

Working on (rather, waiting for parts to arrive for) an 8*16 RG led matrix that will be a 16 step chiptune-esque sequencer.

Meanwhile I ordered 8 micro servos to make a small robotic arm, just because I thought it would be cool and each motor cost only $3.50. I have it all built, I just need to work on a power supply (I already have 2000mA 12v adapter, I just need to make a voltage regulator.) Hopefully later this week I'll have something posted in exhibition, at least a pic of it in neutral position, all servos at 90 degrees.

armada of doom :wink:

My clone army to take over the world.

But seriously, though, not anything. I'm currently waiting for my Sure Electronics matrices and MSP430 LaunchPad to arrive :P.

I want the pad too :slight_smile:

I do too, site was still borked last i checked, but its back ordered like a zillion now

bad news no launch pad for me today, good news is there is going to be a decent amount of knowledge by the time I get around to it, I do have a grey outlined application for it, but a bunch on avr / arduino applications in my book (as I start to mix the two a little, testing the deeper waters)

especially thanks to people putting a lot of effort into the attiny 84 chip, while not perfect, its a 3$ 1 off chip with 2k storage, 512 bytes ram, 14 pin dip, and works pretty darn well with code made with arduino commands /ide if your willing to fiddle a bit

I picked up some photo frames last night which are just the right size for an 8x32 sure electroncis matrix, so I put one in a frame.
I've got an RTC and temp probe hooked up to the same arduino as the display, so it's a clock that tell the day, date and temp every now and again.
I made a little board for the clock, a relay (for a click sound) and the temp probe connection the other day, and I have three more matrix displays on order, and three more frames so they'll all go onto one project.

Also on order are 100 RGB LEDs and a motor driver.
The LEDs will be put next to my physical web counter and will be interactive - visitors to my site will be able to specify colour and it'll show on the LEDs.
The motor driver is to run a small stepper motor, which will be used to show how many visitors are currently on my website.

Taking in all I can. But that will never stop.

Last weekend I got a transistor working to light up a LED when I touched two wires. Then I hooked up a motor running off a 9V battery. Next... I think I need to pick up some more parts to play with.

Trying to get the parts to make a sun tracker idea I've doodled onto a scrap of paper - too lazy to go to radioshack tho.

Also, trying to design a tiny uav helicopter

Workin' and livin'; livin' and workin'!

When I get home from work, lately I haven't wanted to think about or do anything much electronics or computer related; I still do, but I am not enjoying it much. It may just be the heat.

When I go into my shop, what I've been doing lately is "organizing" parts for my bench. Things like resistors, transistors, diodes, etc. BTW, anybody have good ideas on how to sort resistor values into multi-drawers so that they are fairly easy to access when you need them, but you don't end up with a single drawer of a single value with a single "1W 1M" resistor in it? I've been trying to come up with a system, but I seem to be wasting label tape more than anything. It may be that I just need a "catchall" drawer.

I've got a ton of multi-drawer cabinets, and I am trying to come up with a good system where I can have all my parts available and accessible, but have frequently used/needed parts quick-at-hand. These would likely be (mainly) ATMegas, certain types of resistors, certain transistors, diodes, caps, etc. Then in other cabinets have parts that are used, but not as often, organized by type. I might end up with a cabinet or two of ICs vs a cabinet or two of passives...

And I need a good LCR meter badly (I bought a small multimeter that does capacitance, but it won't read below a certain range in nF - and I want to make sure some 22 pF caps I have purchased are in-range for some 16 MHz crystals I have - all of these parts were bought surplus, and should be good, but I want to test a batch to make sure).

Beyond that, I am trying to set things up to get an Arduino or some kind of "hacker space" meeting going on my side of the valley (theres a nice one that occurs on the east side, that is waaay too far away to get there when they have their meetings); then there's the robot project if I can ever get back to it (I also have a huge mini-scooter dual-motor transaxle I need to test).

Ugh.

:slight_smile:

I've been pondering resistor organisation, largely because it takes bloody ages to find one I want.

I think a ring binder (you know, for putting paper in) with polypocket inserts (two bits of plastic, sealed on three sides with holes so it can be put in a ring binder). You could probably use a soldering iron to melt lines into the polypocket, forming smaller pockets then cut slits in one side.
You'd probably need to glue that to some card, or it'd flop over in the binder.

I might try this. I'll see if I can "borrow" some polypockets from work.

@cr0sh I put my small parts in some plastic bins. It's a little organizer I got from Wally world.

@cr0sh I put my small parts in some plastic bins. It's a little organizer I got from Wally world.

What I have are several Stack-On multi-drawer parts bins (and drawer separators); I have around 240 small drawers spread over 6 bins (two 60 drawer bins, and 4 30 drawer bins). I also have a label maker.

My issue isn't lack of space (well, not yet - hopefully), but rather a good system for the parts. I figure that I will have a few drawers dedicated in one of the bins for certain resistors; say 220 or 330 ohm, 1K, and 10K, a drawer for some general purpose rectifiers (1n4004), a few drawers for general transistors (2n2222 and its complement 2n3097, IIRC - and maybe another for some darlingtons I have), plus some drawers for various other ICs and such I have (like ULN2003 and L298), plus LEDs and such.

But the other drawers - where I have to put the remaining components - I am struggling to come up with a workable system for the vast number of different size resistors I have. Then the question is should I separate wattage sizes. I also have some oddball size resistors (a large 1W, a couple of sand power resistors, and one or two high wattage resistors in a heatsink) - which leads me to think those need to go in their own "special" bin for now, since I don't have many of a single value.

Then of course, some resistors I have are still on "tape" and I have like 200 pieces of those in a bundle, all the same value...

I hate sorting these parts, but its got to be done!

:stuck_out_tongue:

Heh you should run an outlet or even wholesale store :stuck_out_tongue:

Heh you should run an outlet or even wholesale store

Well - I do have an idea for something in the future (not Arduino related)...

:wink:

BTW, anybody have good ideas on how to sort resistor values into multi-drawers so that they are fairly easy to access when you need them, but you don't end up with a single drawer of a single value with a single "1W 1M" resistor in it?

Well I probably don't have as much electronics stuff as I gather you got :stuck_out_tongue: But I have a system of sorts on my 35-drawer cabinet. I got mostly 1/4 watts 5% resistors, so as they say; "your mileage might vary".

The cabinet has 4 drawers in the width by 9 rows. So I have organized it as 2 rows for one decade in the E24 series, and cram three values into one drawer. Thus having 4 decades, from 100 ohms to 1 M ohm. The last row is for, well, all other sizes :slight_smile: One for <100 ohms, 1/4 watts, one for <100 ohms and >1/4 watts (those that fits anyway), one is for the > 1 M ohm sizes, and the last one got nothing to do with resistors. For now.

All drawers are not used equally much though..

I just thought of one thing; I should turn the system upside-down, that is, having the lowest values at the bottom (Seems logical too), so I won't have to get up for the top drawers with all the so-far more commonly used 100 - 10k values. Why didn't I think of that before? :stuck_out_tongue:

Trying to get the parts to make a sun tracker idea I've doodled onto a scrap of paper - too lazy to go to radioshack tho.

Hey me too :slight_smile: I have already got it all planned out but I doubt I am actually going to do it.

I like planning projects and filing them as a maybe I will do this.
I think I might stick them all up on my site so people can use all the materials I have gathered and research/planning I have done.

I've got a ton of multi-drawer cabinets, and I am trying to come up with a good system where I can have all my parts available and accessible, but have frequently used/needed parts quick-at-hand. These would likely be (mainly) ATMegas, certain types of resistors, certain transistors, diodes, caps, etc. Then in other cabinets have parts that are used, but not as often, organized by type. I might end up with a cabinet or two of ICs vs a cabinet or two of passives...

I need to sort out some better organisation of my stuff too >:( Constant project.

I have recently being working on code for my maxbotix ultrasonic range sensor. Removing outliers, averaging, creating graphs and maps etc.

Mowcius

A sun tracker in north yorkshire, mowcius? I'm not surprised you haven't bothered :wink:

A sun tracker in north yorkshire, mowcius? I'm not surprised you haven't bothered

Haha. It's sunny here a lot actually :stuck_out_tongue:

More about monitoring the sun's brightness than using it for a solar panel setup :smiley:

Mowcius

I'm making a new project called "How Fast Can You See?". The name pretty much says it all... There are alot of blinking lights, and you say what ones you can see blinking. I have to get a bunch of ULN2803A chips and a bunch of leds. I also need to get an Arduino Mega.

My other project is a servo project where you turn a pot to spin a servo. The degrees of that servo are displayed on an led bar graph... Again, I need leds, tranisitr dips, and the Mega.

Last is my birthday in two days, and the party tomorrow. That ought to be fun... :frowning: :cry: