Electrical Engineering V2 - Developers

Testing if I can do cheap-ass black silkscreens with my laser printer, with just regular paper and nail polish remover that has acetate in it. Going to take a while to dry so I can see the results, it smells pretty bad, had to open the window. If it works though, aww yeah.

[QUOTE=gamerpaddy;46375789]look for used nema17 stepper motors on ebay, same quality, but way cheaper. the price for the arduino, ramps and A4988 is pretty cheap, im suprised. i think im going to buy it too At the end, the most expensive part will be the frame, linear rails, acme thread spindle & nut and bearings (not the linear bearings). It must be rigid enough for engraving & milling. Wood or 30x30 Aluminum system profiles wouldnt do the job, i think. prebuilt aluminum frames (that are rigid enough to engrave hardwood) with A4 size will be sold for ~400$ and more on ebay.[/QUOTE] What would I use the bearings for ? I just imagined 4 linear bearings per axis (2 rods per axis and 2 linear bearings per rod). Also 10.99 dollar for a new nema 17 stepper motor isn't that expensive right ? I looked on ebay and aliexpres and they all end up for arround 10-15 euro's a piece. Also I am going to leave out the acme thread spindle for now, I want to get a basic setup done with just a simple threaded rod and nut and build from there.

[media]HTTP://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m6ZcVQ8CMU[/media] I finally finished the tipping tophat. I wish I hadn't left so much till the last few days because there's some rough edges that would have been nice to sort out but I'm quite happy with the result. Full writeup here: [url]http://www.element14.com/community/groups/wearable-technology/blog/2014/10/31/tipping-tophat-totally-tips-final-submission[/url]

[QUOTE=HiddenMyst;46376907][media]HTTP://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m6ZcVQ8CMU[/media] I finally finished the tipping tophat. I wish I hadn't left so much till the last few days because there's some rough edges that would have been nice to sort out but I'm quite happy with the result. Full writeup here: [url]http://www.element14.com/community/groups/wearable-technology/blog/2014/10/31/tipping-tophat-totally-tips-final-submission[/url][/QUOTE] Hahahaha what the fuck I laughed so hard :D [editline]31st October 2014[/editline] It is awesome.

So now that I can send/receive thanks to the now corrected pin assignments, its time to focus on "low power". Annoyingly the dht22 can't run off two AA batteries so I'm wondering if a [URL=https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10967]3.3V Step Up[/URL] or adding another AA/LiPo battery would be a better idea. And looking through the data sheets, I need about 15mA total to run both the sensor and the transceiver.

My friend up in scotland sent me some more stuff! :O [URL=http://imgur.com/b4eKHWL.jpg][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/b4eKHWLl.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://imgur.com/oaK6oaq.jpg][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/oaK6oaql.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://imgur.com/1thLbkY.jpg][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/1thLbkYl.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://imgur.com/6FBzsW9.jpg][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/6FBzsW9l.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://imgur.com/x5P2TB4.jpg][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/x5P2TB4l.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://imgur.com/OzKNQWv.jpg][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/OzKNQWvl.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://imgur.com/lPxl8tu.jpg][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/lPxl8tul.jpg[/IMG][/URL] No real clue what to do with them, but those diodes look shelf-worthy! :)

I made a small little voice recorder/codec circuit to go with my [URL="http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1428946&p=46383302&viewfull=1#post46383302"]MGS Solid Snake costume[/URL]. Not much, but it keeps my sanity in check with all the labs I've had this week :v: [video=youtube;C-fHvScZNfI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-fHvScZNfI[/video]

Grabbed an old 60mm Delta fan from my big ol' pile of old electronics, and a 12V DC wall power supply. Added in some heat-shrink tubing and now I have a small desk fan. Should be enough for minor fume extraction when soldering, right? As long as it's close enough.

[QUOTE=nikomo;46385947]Grabbed an old 60mm Delta fan from my big ol' pile of old electronics, and a 12V DC wall power supply. Added in some heat-shrink tubing and now I have a small desk fan. Should be enough for minor fume extraction when soldering, right? As long as it's close enough.[/QUOTE] Try buying one of the server fans from ebay, they usually only go for a few pounds and will do the job perfectly, i've had one blow itself off my desk before. they are quite powerful.

with the late FTDI bollocks, how would one go about uploading programs to fake arduino's like[URL="http://www.dx.com/p/arduino-nano-v3-0-81877#.VFVbePmG808"] this one [/URL]while using a windows computer? In the case that there's no way around, I got a tiny laptop running linux. I'll just use that instead because it doesn't have the detection stuff on it (right?)

Linux drivers don't try to detect fake chips, and never will.

Didn't Windows rollback the drivers? I swear there's been a few workarounds lately to ensure compatibility.

Yup, Microsoft rolled back the drivers. Not sure how that works though.

Is there a specific model or brand of multimeter I should look at getting? I'm in an introductory EE class that wants me to incorporate some electrical components into a Rube Goldberg machine as a class project, and since I'm gonna need one anyway later on, I'd like to find a decent multimeter that isn't super inaccurate and won't crap out on me in 6 months. I could go to my local Radio Shack and get one of their branded meters, since they (surprisingly) still stock hobbyist electrical gear and whatnot, but I also don't know if it would be built very well.

The RS meters are okay-ish, but definitely not something I'd lean on in the long term. Fluke would definitely be the top-tier meters if you're really serious and would like a career/life-time meter. You can pick them up just about anywhere, for about any age, for about any price range of ~$80 to several hundred dollars. I've had good results with Extech meters; they're more decently priced career meters ($40 - ~$150) General rule of thumb is any quality meter is going to cost atleast $30.

I was playing around with my clock code some more and decided to test how fast it would run to see if I have enough headroom to add some additional animation on top of what I've already got. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY3aRIeAaiwp[/media]

I want to buy a flexible strip (1m of 60) of those for behind my computer, but they aren't sold anywhere I know over here :(

Ebay? I recently bought a 2 meter strip with red green and blue LEDs for around $15. [editline]2nd November 2014[/editline] It's "waterproof" too.

[QUOTE=Gulen;46391595]Ebay? I recently bought a 2 meter strip with red green and blue LEDs for around $15. [editline]2nd November 2014[/editline] It's "waterproof" too.[/QUOTE] $15 for 2 meters sounds like a ripoff.

5 Meters, my bad. [editline]2nd November 2014[/editline] 5 Meters of waterproof strip from a Norwegian shop costs $75, without a controller.

I was about to buy an RGB LED strip at the local store today, but I want the LED's to be induvidually controllable, which they in almost all cases aren't it seems.

Took me about 2 minutes to find one: [URL="http://www.ebay.com/itm/1M-60LED-WS2812-WS2811-Built-in-RGB-Individual-Addressable-LED-Strip-Light-5V-/151459620028?pt=US_String_Lights_Fairy_Lights&hash=item2343b264bc"]1M 60LED WS2812 WS2811 Built-in RGB Individual Addressable LED Strip Light 5V[/URL] Just search for "Addressable LED strip" or "individual LED strip"

I'm thinking about grabbing cheap-ass volt- and amp-meters from eBay, and sticking them together with an LM2596, and some then some premade 15-25V DC wall power supply thing. Should be a fairly cheap bench power supply, where I don't have to worry about working with mains. I have a feeling it might end up costing only a bit less than a cheap premade bench power supply, but I've never had to deal with actually properly getting power into a project, it's always been thought of ahead of time for me, so the experience would be good. Anyone predict any major pitfalls in the idea?

[QUOTE=nikomo;46393439]I'm thinking about grabbing cheap-ass volt- and amp-meters from eBay, and sticking them together with an LM2596, and some then some premade 15-25V DC wall power supply thing. Should be a fairly cheap bench power supply, where I don't have to worry about working with mains. I have a feeling it might end up costing only a bit less than a cheap premade bench power supply, but I've never had to deal with actually properly getting power into a project, it's always been thought of ahead of time for me, so the experience would be good. Anyone predict any major pitfalls in the idea?[/QUOTE] I would just save up and get one of these instead: [url]http://cpc.farnell.com/tenma/72-10495/power-supply-2ch-30v-5a-adjustable/dp/IN06823?in_merch=Featured%20Products[/url]

I'll add everything to my to-do list, if I actually get to the point where I've got a proper schematic drawn, I can start drawing some educated opinions regarding everything. I really don't need a massive honking heavy-duty bench supply at home though. I have so much crap I need to do though.

[QUOTE=Gulen;46392118]Took me about 2 minutes to find one: [URL="http://www.ebay.com/itm/1M-60LED-WS2812-WS2811-Built-in-RGB-Individual-Addressable-LED-Strip-Light-5V-/151459620028?pt=US_String_Lights_Fairy_Lights&hash=item2343b264bc"]1M 60LED WS2812 WS2811 Built-in RGB Individual Addressable LED Strip Light 5V[/URL] Just search for "Addressable LED strip" or "individual LED strip"[/QUOTE] Thank you. I did a quick check and adafruit uses the exact same LED's it seems, but they're of course way cheaper when bought from them.

[QUOTE=nikomo;46393610]I'll add everything to my to-do list, if I actually get to the point where I've got a proper schematic drawn, I can start drawing some educated opinions regarding everything. I really don't need a massive honking heavy-duty bench supply at home though. I have so much crap I need to do though.[/QUOTE] Making a power supply is a great learning experience, but if you do not have the time - buy one. I would advise against buying a new one (especially from Farnell, as tools/instruments they sell usually are expensive as fuck) and just get a second hand one on ebay. I, myself, got a linear one for 25 euros. Sure, its basic, but there's nothing I can't do with it.

[QUOTE=scratch (nl);46394150]Thank you. I did a quick check and adafruit uses the exact same LED's it seems, but they're of course way cheaper when bought from them.[/QUOTE] Yeah, they can be had for less on Ebay too, I just picked one at random.

ebay is the king of cheap power supplies, just take it apart first to make sure it doesn't explode. Damnit Gulen!

Could anyone help me out with this question? I really dont know how to approach it. [b]A basic d’Arsonval meter has sensitivity of 50kohms/V and an internal resistance of 1.5kohms. Design a voltmeter out of this meter for a range of 10V[/b]