I've been fiddling with arduino on and of f for a couple of years now. I read stuff online, watch videos of projects, and even sometimes try to build something. But I always give up mid-way and also it seems like everything that can be done with it has been done already, although it's not true.
I really want to make something cool/useful with it but probably surprisingly, I have never ever built any complete projects even after something like 4-5 years of being introduced to it.
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To answer your titled question, i get my motivation two ways, neither from trying to improve upon something. I am a fabricator (welder by trade) and incredibly mechanically minded. And I love personal projects.
One motivating factor for me is just to solve problems. I have a problem, and need a solution. Is it better than what’s out there? Maybe, maybe not. Was it fun to build it? Most certainly!
The other factor is that this is my hobby and i just enjoy tinkering with it.
One day i would like to make a full on automated system for one of my chop saws. An automated vice that can move the material the appropriate length, and an automated cut, and of course a counter so it know when to stop cutting parts.
There is really no end to problems i would like to solve.
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Being mechanically minded is a requirement for building many things that actually gets overlooked often.
For example I myself know nothing about mechanical stuff, can't even fit a wheel on an axism and I find this getting in my way most of the time, not letting me to think of any projects with mechanical parts.
It also doesn't help that, contrary to electronics and arduino, mechanical things don't have a popular platforms for hobbyists, except maybe 3d printers, which have their own problems like being slow, being able to produce only plastic-like things, and also they're kinda expensive.
Would you mind sharing some of the things you've built out of need, because I really can't think of anything like that for myself.
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Nothing destroys motivation like trying to do too much or not have a firm grasp of the basics.
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Start with simple things first.
Succeeding at a project gives the impious to continue with the next project. -
Always strive for a neat final project that includes full documentation.
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I will attach a schematic circuit you can easily construct for a logic probe with HIGH/LOW switch.
It is a useful test tool especially for new users.
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Thank you these are really useful advise, specially striving for a final project with full documentation sounds exciting, something to be able to share and get feedback on too.
Also a logic probe sounds exciting, I appreciate it.
I myself used to know nothing of electronical stuff. And I still no very little, compared to the people on this forum who make a living in the electronics industry. But as I became more and more interested, I studied electronics more and more. No formal study, just hours and hours of online research and online videos. Mostly specifically related to the project at hand. Which leads me to
Not every project is mechanically heavy. Consider home automation. Or a simple digital counter/timer. Start with the small stuff, and let your mechanical ability grow with the projects. Maybe you can find an erector set or legos and learn to automate a project with that. Start small. Then as the projects become more advanced, so can your research and knowledge on mechanical principles.
As far as my projects, I built a sweet digital measuring wheel that measures inches, feet, and miles (just because) and records these measurements into EEPROM. The coding took some help from the forum members. @LarryD helped a TON with the coding on it. I did not need to build one, I could have bought another one. But the store bought ones don’t seem to last, so I thought “why not?”
I have also done quite a few motorized projects, mostly salvaging old gate operators. I am in the access control industry (I stick with gates) and come across old controllers and operators that are no longer functioning. I can use Arduino to refurbish them and get them running again. I can not sell them to customers due to UL restrictions, but I place them around on gates on my farm and my uncle’s farm, or sometimes I might just give one away to someone who really needs it.
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- It is best to use LEDs that work at low current levels, typically 5 mA.
- Maybe peruse this very long thread for some ideas.
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Didn't someone say that "necessity is the mother of invention" and for me its usually a need or a problem that needs to be solved that becomes the motivating force or driver for a project. So for example I wrote a PC program to remote control a communications receiver and because I didn't have one, built the PC-to-radio interface using a micro-controller that was required to make it work. I have also built a couple of Raspberry Pi projects to solve particular problems at home.
Sometimes it is for a bit of fun because I as a retired IT engineer and electronics hobbyist and still enjoy learning new stuff and will sometimes work on a project just to prove to myself that I am still capable of learning and adapting to new technology and accomplishing something. It keeps the little grey cells active!
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Hallowe'en. Lasers help, too. But Hallowe'en is a great opportunity to work towards something cool, something your intended audience has probably never seen before and even if they have, it's still really cool from their perspective.
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For me, it’s always to solve a perceived problem or to make something more efficient.
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I scan the project hub looking for projects that:
- Look interesting.
- I have at least most of the components.
- Don’t require expensive exotic parts.
- Trigger ideas of expanding their scope.
Currently rattling around my head is taking a mecanum wheeled buggy and adding distance measuring modules (Ultrasonic, time of flight, ?) to get it to find its way through random mazes.
After a 6 year layoff from I’m having trouble getting started.
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It reminds me of the Micromouse video by the youtuber Veritasium. Maybe you can look up the term and find some useful methods or other things.
May I ask, out of curiosity, how are you planning to get it to find its way using only distance measuring modules?
With any type of sensors, I think the challenge would be mostly the actual maze solving part, and it would be heavy code-wise. I guess you can look up maze solving solutions in the programming field first, probably python code that solves mazes on the screen.
Thank you! ALthough I have so many questions.
How does this work?
I think when none of the push buttons are connected, assuming the probe is not connected to anything either, current divides after R1, so... is there enough current on the leds' path to turn them on?
If both push buttons are pushed down, because both paths right after VCC have the same resistance, current divides right after VCC, equally? I mean the resistance is the same but there is voltage drop on the leds side, does that count?
What about other conditions?
Where does the probe get connected to? What is this device for and what does it do?
Sorry at first I thought you're talking about a logic analyzer.
Very interesting projects! Honestly it's my first time hearing about measuring. I just looked them up and figured what they are though. But still it's amazing to build things from scratch like that.
Inspiration? Mostly, seeing what others have done, and wanting to do it differently, or sometimes better. I'm a model railroader, I've had the bug nearly 60 years, ever since my first plastic push-around-the-track train before I started grade school. There are many examples of neat electronics gizmos for model trains, starting with the mundane like crossing flashers and blinking radio tower lights, all the way to full-fledged control systems with hundreds of sensors, actuators, buttons, and LEDs, plus more. Along the way, there's also the opportunity to do unique stuff, like modeling and animating a sawmill(small) or a steel mill(huge!), making a windmill turn, spinning a helicopter's blades(!) as if it were actually flying, or animating the lights on a scale church Christmas scene, to name a few.
That's the thing - this hobby has so many, many niches to dig into, from mechanical, electrical, electronic, photography, scenery, carpentry, model building and painting, you name it. Some even model a railway...
You didn't tell us where you are. If you're in Europe or North America(I can't speak about elsewhere), if there's a model railway club in your city/town, I'd encourage you to go find them; most clubs have open house days during the year, where you can drop in and see the railway in operation, talk to the members, and see what interests/excites you.
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At this early stage I was thinking of using the basic maze solving idea of:
distance measuring device scans from 90 degrees left to 90 degrees right
go forward 1 length - can I go left? if yes then go left one length, else can I go forward? if yes go one length forward else can I go right? else go backwards.
repeat till end.
If my thinking is right that should work, if it doesn’t I’ll try to find something else. My main struggle is control without bluetooth, I still remember the days when criminals would follow people around shopping centres searching for phones with open bluetooth they could use to hack bank accounts. I still turn off bluetooth as soon as I get a new phone.
Much respect for the model railroaders. The OGs of the adult toy collectors (I dig GI Joe myself, admittedly not even the same sport as model RRing) and to this day, nobody does it better than the model railroaders, not even the 1/24 scale military modelers (IMO) or the Warhammer 40K bros.
What's your scale?
HO.
Yeah, I was a mil modeler for 2 or 3 years, but I went back to the RR. Once you've built a diorama, what use is it? Sits on a shelf, collecting dust. Same with building static equipment. How many M1A1 tanks or what have you can you build to put on the shelf in the display cabinet, before your eyes cross and you give up and go watch football, or something even worse, like golf? At least with the model railroad, the railroad can be run, whether it just turns in circles on a 4x8, or spans the continent/fills the basement. One day, you can work on wiring, the next day carpentry, and paint some cars the day after that.
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This simple circuit has two functions.
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The two LEDs indicate if there is a HIGH or LOW level on the probe tip.
The green LED says HIGH, red LED says LOW.
When the probe tip is open circuited or connected to a floating wire, both LEDs are OFF.
When debugging our Arduino circuits, we can use these LEDs to show us the condition of an input pin. -
Two switches are connected to the same probe tip.
Pushing S1 places a HIGH (5v) on the probe, pushing S2 places a LOW (0v) on the probe.
Pushing both switches places 2.5v on the probe; this would be seen as a raw count of 512 on an analog input.
When debugging Arduino circuits, we can use these switches to take the place of simple sensors such as a switch. -
There is limitations of this circuit but for most debugging it will do the job just fine.
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For me it “need” I’ll want some function or information and if an Arduino is needed or useful there I go.
And (at least for me) the building and housing part of the project often takes more time than the circuit / software.
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