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Category Archives: Projects
Playing with PICs
A while back Big Clive published a video about controlling a string of LEDs with a PIC 8 pin microcontroller. I lost track of the video but I remembered the concept and thought I’d give it a try. It’s based on the fact the LEDs are diodes that conduct in one direction only, and that […]
Posted in Projects
Tagged as: Electronics, PIC, programming
Grizzy’s Den
Now that we have a new utility vehicle it doesn’t quite fit in the garage the way the old one did. So we need a new home for Grizzly II. A shed from Old Hickory Buildings is just the ticket. Watching it come up the 700 foot driveway was quite a treat. Now we just […]
Grizzly Gets Music
So, we take our sewer pipe elbow and cut ourselves a couple of rings. Face them off in the lathe, drill mounting holes, paint, done. On to installation and electronics. And a bit more machine work to make a volume knob (very important) All done. I like the eleven dollar “12V/5V LED Car Bluetooth MP3 […]
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Tagged as: Audio, Electronics, Grizzly 2
Grizzly 2
We have a new toy. Grizzly, our original “snow plow” ORV that came with the house was nine years old, had no provenance, and was a Chinese brand no longer sold in the US. His latest problem was completely refusing to start. Provably repairable – that’s another story – but just the tip of the […]
Lathe Control
The control for the VFD (Variable Frequency Drive) on my lathe was pretty shoddy, so I decided to build a new one. I got a 3 X 6 inch piece of 1/8 thick aluminum sheet from Hobby Metal Kits, and drilled and bored the holes for the switches and the potentiometer. The really cool part […]
Lathe DRO Redux – Part 2
It’s finished! I’ve completed the software, built the circuitry on protoboard, packaged it up and installed it. The software – since the Z axis used an iGaging scale and the X axis used a Harbor Freight caliper, I had to mash up two different Arudino sketches to deal with two different protocols, making sure […]
Posted in Projects
Tagged as: DRO, Electronics, lathe
Lathe DRO Redux – Part 1
You will recall that I built an X-axis (cross-slide) DRO for my Atlas-Craftsman Lathe using an Harbor Freight caliper. X Axis DRO I also had an iGaging setup for the Z (carriage) axis, pretty much out of the box. So it turns out that several folks, most prominently Yuri has done a lot of work […]
Posted in Projects
Tagged as: DRO, Electronics
Trebuchet
A project with the kiddos. We have been working on this through the winter, but I decided it was time to finish up in time for spring testing. Of course the first rule in the shop is safety glasses and shoes for everyone! We found that the weight of the projectile is critical; a 23 […]
Posted in Projects
Tagged as: kids, trebuchet, woodworking
Photo Switch for Deck Lights
The power supply/photo switch for the deck “foot lights” failed so I built a new photo switch that will initially run from an LED power supply until I wire it for the solar plant. I don’t particularly like this circuit as it sinks more current when it is off than when it is on. It’s […]
Posted in Projects
Indicator Holder
Completed a couple of tool holders and an indicator holder. The pic also shows the caliper used for the X-axis DRO setup.
Posted in Projects