After selling out of both of the Multi-LED Joule Thief and the Joule Thief Candle on Tindie it became necessary to not only make more but to update both models. Before updating I wanted to make a few measurements of the circuit to better understand how I could increase its performance by changing the resistance of R1 connected to the base of the NPN transistor.
Read More Joule Thief Measurements: Base ResistorThe Problem During short instances of nice weather in upstate New York I enjoy going for a bicycle ride on the local multi use trails. I have to pass pedestrians or slower bicycle traffic and find it to sometimes be a hassle to get their attention. During one of my rides I got to thinking […]
Read More Bicycle AnnouncerI designed a printable enclosure for my DPS5015 power supply. The case is a tight fit but results in a nice compact unit with minimal footprint. An external DC power supply is needed, I plan to use my large Sorensen 150V linear power supply for this. As with most of my designs the first iteration […]
Read More DPS5015 Power Supply EnclosureA recent dumpster dive netted me a Vision Engineering Mantis Microscope. The Mantis will be extremely useful for soldering SMD parts and general PCB assembly and repair. I was lucky that the objectives had been thrown out with the unit, a 4X and 8X objective. I am unable to find the model number of this Mantis but it is not a new microscope. The Mantis had not aged well, small cracks are appearing in the plastic housing and the mounting bracket is broken into unusable plastic scrap.
Read More Mantis Microscope RepairIn an attempt to improve the stiffness of the Tronxy P802M 3D printer along the x axis I printed a pair of corner supports I found on Thingiverse. As I half expected this did not increase the frame stiffness so I decided to take more aggressive measures. I found a section of 3/4″ aluminum U channel […]
Read More Tronxy P802MA – Rigidity ModificationsWith my DaVinci 1.0 3D printer proving to be useless as a printer I was looking for a way to repurpose the machine. After creating a few electronics enclosures I needed a way to label the terminal connections and that got me thinking about converting the old printer to a laser engraver. A quick google […]
Read More DaVinci 1.0 – Conversion To Laser EtcherFor Easter 2017 I designed and printed half a dozen Easter Eggs. These eggs were designed to be printed on my new 3D printer with a single extruder. I printed one full egg in six different color and then swapped the layers to create the multi colored eggs. The eggs were then glued together after final assembly using superglue and scrap lengths of filament.
Read More 3D Printed Easter Egg 2017