Magic Smoke

Welder Rehab & Foot Switch

2013-05-21T07:40:00.001-04:00

In which I buy an old school welder off the friendly neighbourhood chopper fanatic, fix it up, make an illuminated foot switch for it (which works although I have no idea how), and start gluing things together with hot metal. Like warty Oscar here.

EMT Chicken Tractor

2013-05-08T19:11:00.000-04:00

To shelter my chickens I needed a cage that was easy to build, light enough to be moved around the lawn, and that provided a sheltered roost and nest box. After a brief survey of possible designs I settled on a 4' x 4' x 10' frame of ½" EMT secured by elbows and bolted corner braces. I used copious black zip ties to attach panels of 2" x 4" weldmesh fencing. The roost consisted of a length of 2" x 3" sheltered inside a recycled plastic barrel. The ladder to the roost proved unnecessary. A tarpaulin completed the defences against the elements and provided a measure of camouflage.

April Swag Bags

2013-04-16T03:35:00.000-04:00

Thanks to TE Connectivity for their promotion via the Digikey twitter feed. My laptop fits in the backpack perfectly - just right for cycling. I was doubly surprised when Digikey sent me another the next day. But then, I like coordinated luggage. The third one is in the mail, right? ;-)

@YT2095 Magic Mouth v1.0 Build

2013-02-23T10:48:00.000-05:00

Yours Truly (@YT2095) is putting together a Magic Mouth v1.0 speech synthesis shield for his Saturday morning project! Just for fun, I sent him one the PCBs I had got back from Seeedstudio's FusionPCB service. He's substituted a potentiometer for the thumbwheel trimmer, and it looks like one last header and the jack socket still need to make it onto the board. It's looking good, John. :)

Cool and Curly Counterflow Chiller

2013-02-09T00:18:00.000-05:00

The Magic Smoke Brewhouse is a fine place to chill. Especially since we put together this heat exchange coil for cooling wort.

February Swag Bag: ITead Studio Xmas gift

2013-02-08T16:00:00.000-05:00

ITead studio sent Christmas gifts to followers of its Twitter feed. I was thrilled to receive a blue 20x4 LCD display and PCB test card. Thanks guys — and Happy New Year!

Converted Cooler Mash Lauter Tun

2013-02-03T12:09:00.004-05:00

It's long past time to start making beer again at the Magic Smoke Brewhouse and Grill. The best place to start is at the heart of the brewery: the mash lauter tun, or MLT.

January Swag Bag: DE0-Nano

2013-01-08T18:28:00.005-05:00

I was a lucky entrant in Digiwish 2012, winning a DE0-Nano FPGA development board. Thanks Digikey for making my Christmas wish come true!

£1 Lithium Ion Battery Charger

2013-01-06T20:16:00.004-05:00

One cheap PCB from an auction site. 1 scrap bit of copper pipe. 2 bronze pennies. Put them together and charge up a 18650 Li ion cell.

3x Battery Teardown

2013-01-01T16:49:00.001-05:00

So if you open up a 9 V battery, you find 6 thin 1.5 V cells inside. But what was inside that lantern battery, the rechargeable PP3, or the funny shaped lump on the back of my laptop? Confronted with dead metal in the recycling drawer, I tried to find uses for the contents.

GerberMerger PCB Panelizing Program

2012-12-23T22:07:00.002-05:00

Gerbers are text files that contain the information needed to create a PCB. I knocked up a rough and ready script to merge Gerber files to help panelize my layouts before sending them off to FusionPCB.

Magic Mouth v0.1

2012-12-23T09:55:00.000-05:00

Build a Magic Mouth shield from scratch using the materials in the Github repository. Hear it in action speaking in response to commands typed into the Arduino serial monitor.

Home Made Arduinos

2012-12-11T13:59:00.000-05:00

Making Arduinos was pretty laborious. The toner transfer went well, but drilling was a dental experience.

DIY PCBs By Stovetop Toner Transfer

2012-12-07T22:17:00.005-05:00

If the clothes iron method fails for you, try this new twist on the toner transfer process. Put a heavy hotplate on the stove and dial in a temperature of 175 °C using a thermocouple. Bond the toner image to the copper clad board by placing them print side down onto the hotplate between two sheets of paper and applying pressure with a rolling pin for 2-5 minutes. For double sided boards, flip every 30 seconds or so.

December Swag Bag: FEZmini

2012-12-01T21:27:00.003-05:00

The FEZ mini runs .NET, can act as a USB host with minimal adaptation, and balances on the end of a finger. Tip of the small, brimless hat to Seeed Studio.

Magic Mouth: Arduino Speech Shield

2012-11-28T16:11:00.002-05:00

Ready to talk the talk? Give your Arduino the power of speech. This easy-to-build circuit includes a voice synthesizer and amplifier.

Bike Basket Hack

2012-11-17T06:37:00.002-05:00

The affordable panier, seen wherever there are students in Philadelphia.

Old MacDonald Hacked A Farm

2012-11-03T22:39:00.000-04:00

My kids have a plastic farm toy. It neighs, it baas, and frankly, it grates. But since I tricked it out with a microcontroller brain, at least it can play Simon.

October Swag Bag: Web Platform

2012-10-30T19:56:00.001-04:00

Dangerous Prototypes sent me a web server from their "Scratch and Dent" drawer. The circuit board was small enough to fit in the palm of my hand — but just how dinged was it, and could I get it working?

Bug Shaped Solar Robot

2012-10-28T21:23:00.000-04:00

Animated LCD Name Tag

2012-10-25T23:19:00.000-04:00

While we are on the subject of calculators, this one has been ever so slightly -- what is the word? -- doctored for use as an animated name plate. The perfect desk toy for a nutty scientist.

Chip Off The Old Block

2012-10-24T07:58:00.000-04:00

Digikey have frequent competitions and giveaways advertised on their twitter feed, and this week I was a lucky winner. So what happens when you give your kid a Cui Inc. branded pen and some Digikey post-its to play with? She draws a calculator. :-)

Flickery LED Bar Candle

2012-10-18T02:20:00.003-04:00

Perhaps the world has no need for another blinky LED candle effect. But with Halloween coming up, I was still in the mood for repurposing logic chips.

Hacky Random Number Generator / Cat Toy

2012-10-14T23:02:00.000-04:00

For my entry to the Dangerous Prototypes 7400 Contest, I decided to make a true random number generator. In particular, I wanted a latching RNG — not merely a continuous stream of numbers, but a continuous stream which I could sample at intervals. The circuit would be made up of a minimal number of digital logic parts. And deliberately inducing noise into the digital circuit would involve breaking all the usual design rules, which is fun.

Twirly Webcam

2012-10-02T01:55:00.000-04:00

Reaching forward to adjust the webcam got old. Technology came to the rescue in the form of a webcam that pans around the room under the control of a paddle or foot pedal.