Openblackboard_stuff

Vacuum Fluorescent Display project

Openblackboard_stuff — Fri, 27 Dec 2019 00:18:46 GMT

I removed this vacuum fluorescent display from a 1987 microwave and am powering it with the transformer it came with, plus controlling it with an Adafruit Metro Mini and 2 Darlington arrays.

Amplified Photocell

Openblackboard_stuff — Sun, 03 Nov 2019 02:22:37 GMT

Trying out different signal inputs to a 386 amplifier circuit. Neopixels are crazy!
The 386 circuit I followed is here: http://www.fluxmonkey.com/electronoize/386amplifier.htm

Motor Supercut

Openblackboard_stuff — Tue, 24 Sep 2019 02:05:01 GMT

A collection of AC motors. Unless otherwise noted, run at 120V. Those at 27V are too terrifying to run at full power. The blender motors wouldn't run at lower power due to control circuitry.
In order of appearance:
Mighty Mite vacuum-27V
Dryer
Weed whacker-27V
Humidifier
Dishwasher water jets
Dishwasher heater fan
Electric fireplace heater fan
Microwave fan
Blender
Blender
Antique sewing machine
Dirt Devil vacuum-27V

Dimmer lamp circuit done with enclosure

Openblackboard_stuff — Sun, 08 Sep 2019 13:32:25 GMT

Yay our DIY dimmer circuit is enclosed in a simple wood box, with 3D printed knob and cover for the slide pot. Shout out to https://www.bigreuse.org/ for being a great source of interesting light bulbs.

TRIAC/DIAC lamp dimmer soldered

Openblackboard_stuff — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 02:51:16 GMT

This project is coming along (from this https://diode.zone/videos/watch/de558a02-dbfa-41e7-9b53-26d4adfe6890), now soldered to a perf board. I added a fuse and we're using a light socket we found at a construction reseller, where we also found some incandescent lights with interesting filaments. We're cutting wood to house it in a box next.

TRIAC/DIAC lamp dimmer

Openblackboard_stuff — Sat, 31 Aug 2019 14:49:17 GMT

My son has a project idea, to make a night light with an incandescent bulb with an interesting filament, and that he can adjust the brightness with a slide potentiometer. We found a clear example of a TRIAC/DIAC circuit to do that, https://youtu.be/0e67XC9oIVw. I wish I had a good enough oscope to see the signal.

Mallet timelapse

Openblackboard_stuff — Thu, 29 Aug 2019 00:53:07 GMT

This was a test for an overhead timelapse camera I made with a Raspberry Pi. I'm making a mallet here, probably my 14th or so of the summer. I'll be using it to capture projects my students do not in any kind of serious documentation way but just to see things from a different perspective and timeframe. Here's the Raspberry Pi timelapse project https://metatek.blogspot.com/2019/08/raspberry-pi-classroom-table-timelapse.html

555 turn signal slow and fast

Openblackboard_stuff — Thu, 29 Aug 2019 00:22:50 GMT

My son wanted to make a buzzer with a piezo that he de-soldered from something, I forget what. So we made a 555 circuit and discovered at a slow speed it sounded like a turn signal. Circuit reference here https://www.instructables.com/id/555-alarm-circuit/