Monthly Archives: August 2015

Breakout board for the ESP8622

Posted on August 7, 2015 by robertwilkie

I like this build if you are testing and playing with a bunch of ESP8622 RF boards.  Makes it easier than wiring up a breadboard over and over again. http://www.instructables.com/id/Simple-5V-breakout-board-for-ESP-01-ESP8622/

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Jellyfish Skirt

Posted on August 7, 2015 by robertwilkie

Nice build.  Not so sure I would go with the “poofy” look for a skirt, but I like the build itself.  Could be adapted for other projects. http://www.instructables.com/id/Jellyfish-Skirt/

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Mini CNC with a bunch of CDROM drives

Posted on August 7, 2015 by robertwilkie

I like this build, mostly cause the frame is completely from CDROM frames.  Well OK there is some wood on the bottom.Only issue I see is the clearance on the y axis is pretty low. http://www.instructables.com/id/Compact-CNC3D-Printer/

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Alarmclock + car horn = ONE loud car alarm

Posted on August 7, 2015 by robertwilkie

School is going to be starting soon.  And that means getting the kids to wake up in a timely fashion.  Here is a nice build where the author uses a car horn to the alarm clock.  Wow its loud. http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-The-Worlds-Loudest-Alarmclock/

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Good guide on power supplies for arduinos

Posted on August 6, 2015 by robertwilkie

Before you go thru your junk draw and recycle some of the wall warts for an arduino, you may want to read up on this article first. http://www.open-electronics.org/the-power-of-arduino-this-unknown/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenElectronics+%28Open+Electronics%29

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Review on DirtyPCBs.com

Posted on August 6, 2015 by robertwilkie

Nice write-up on DirtyPCBs.com, a site that will turn out 2 layer PCB boards pretty cheaply.  The review is rather positive too. http://rabid-inventor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/dirty-circuits-done-dirt-cheap.html

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Build a Drawbot with 2 old CDROM drives, and RPi, and a Servo

Posted on August 6, 2015 by robertwilkie

Oh and 2 stepper motor drivers too.  Nice build for a simple drawing robot.  Would be a good kid project too.  Heck you could step this up a bit and have the whole interface run on the RPi http://makezine.com/2015/07/20/build-drawbot-two-cd-drives-raspberry-pi/ detailed … Continue reading →

Posted in Cheap, CNC/3D-printing, RaspberryPi, Teaching and Learning | Comments Off on Build a Drawbot with 2 old CDROM drives, and RPi, and a Servo

AWS now has a way to testy your Android apps

Posted on August 6, 2015 by robertwilkie

I have a tough time keeping up with all the changes with the cloud.  This one caught my eye thought, Its Amazon’s AWS Device Farm, that will allow you to test your app on 200 unique devices.  You get the … Continue reading →

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Make sure you check your privacy settings when installing Windows 10

Posted on August 6, 2015 by robertwilkie

I haven’t done the update myself yet, but from what I hear the defaults for privacy are pretty low on the bar, so you may want to change that. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/03/windows_10_privacy_defaults/

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Now Windows drivers for something, use a Linux VM

Posted on August 6, 2015 by robertwilkie

I got such a kick out of this (and this could be a good way to re-use old hardware with propietary drivers).  The author couldn’t get a system running of USB/serial in windows.  So he created a tiny linux VM, … Continue reading →

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