It's an analog X-Y plotter, modified into a little PlotBot with the help of an AVR microcontroller.

Read more about this project here.

Close-up of the Arduino Duemilanove and the radio-control servo.

Another New Tool Test :-)

SOOC with some minor adjustments.

JCNC - CNC G-Code Viewer and GRBL PC Terminal Software www.jtronics.de/software/jcnc-cnc-steuerung.html

My first look at the circuitry of the YN-460 flash.

This is the microcontroller board and keypad.

the main chip is a Silicon Laboratories C8051F310 uProccessor

www.silabs.com/Support%20Documents/TechnicalDocs/C8051F31...

seems very overpowered for use in a flash but that means it has potential for hacking (anyone fancy adding iTTL?)

Unfortunatly it's not one of the micro's i'm familiar with programming, why couldn't they have used an AVR :-(

BTW thanks TC. for being the first to risk it!

PS see this discussion for more info

www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/discuss/72157622386306104/

These are the Images of My GSM based robotic project that I created in Dec. 2013.

All finished! Hook the servo up to your microcontroller and give it a test.

When told to go to position 0 (1500µs), it should stop. Less than 1500µs, it should move backwards, and more than 1500µs will move it forwards.

If you find your potentiometer has slipped, test different centre positions until it's completely stopped - you should find it will be stopped at three different microsecond times. Use the central one. Then, the servo will generally go full backwards at centre-200 and full forwards at centre+200.

Attach wheels and have fun!

3 drops into cold water. Colours are from blue ink in the water bowl and red in the drop reservoir.

Settings:

Exposure - 1/200sec

F-stop - f/18

ISO speed - 100

Speedlite - 1/64

--------------------------------------

H-21, M-Bulb, D1-60, P1-70, D2-80, FL-306

Photographing rainbow colours needs a small aperture, at the cost of resolution

Power MOSFETs

by Gerard Fonte

Part 1 will cover the theory behind these useful devices that have a lot of overlooked features. Page 50

A Touch of Spice Part 2

by Peter Stonard

This month, make discoveries about IC circuits that are well-known and learn more about the concepts of sub-circuits and macromodels. Page 54

How To: Surface Mount Soldering

by Robert Doerr

Get over your fear of working with these tiny components. Page 60

Projects

Instrumentation for Model Rocketry

Microcontroller/PIC

by Mike Bessant

Incorporate additional instrumentation to a flight recorder to measure a rocket's rate of roll, relative altitude, and booster-stage separation detection. Page 34

16x16 Tri-Colored LED Matrix - Real Time Clock for the Parallax SX52

Electronic Gadgets

by Timothy Gilmore

This project allows the user to create thier own scrolling display to show the time (or other messages) in multiple colors. Page 40

The Proto Buddy

Circuits

by Jim Stewart

Take proto circuit building to the next level with this device that allows you to expand your existing board so you can create all kinds of circuits. Page 44

Columns

Techknowledgey

by Jeff Eckert

TechKnowledgey 2009

Reconnecting Brain Cells, Another Leap Toward The Sun?, New Unified Storage Appliance, Rugged Military Computer Introduced, and more. Page 12

Robotics Resources

by Vern Graner

Robo Resolution 2009

My New Year's resolution is 1650x1280. Page 15

Stamp Applications

by Jon Williams

Control from the Couch - Redux

With the SX and SX/B I think it's time to revisit SIRCs decoding and even couple it with serial I/O so that we can enable dual-mode control (IR plus serial) or have the ability to use our project as an IR-to-serial translator. Page 18

Q&A

by Russell Kincaid

Questions & Answers

High impedance preamp, audio to LED display driver, FM shutdown problem, and more. Page 26

Getting Started With PICS

by Chuck Hellebuyck

I2C Communication

It's a new year and, unfortunately, economic times are looking quite dismal. Page 68

The Design Cycle

by Fred Eady

Chatting Up A Thumbdrive

Using the CDIP2 API coupled with the VDIP2 hardware interface we've designed and built, you should have no problems including USB Flash drives in your Design Cycle. Page 72

Smiley’s Workshop

by Joe Pardue

Smileys Workshop: An AVR C Programming Series (Part 6)

In this month's workshop, after learning more about c syntax for decision making, we are going to write a menu navigation system similar in concept to the one on your cell phone, but for the Butterfly using its LCD and joystick. Page 80

Departments

Developing Perspectives

by Bryan Bergeron

Please visit our Developing Perspectives blog to read the full article and comment. Page 8

New Products

in New Products

The Desktop Companion II Page 31

For more details have a look at the project Website.

alan-parekh.com/projects/gear-clock/

Intel 8039 compatible

Microchip's new PIC24FJ128GC010 family of microcontrollers. This family is an analog system on a chip that integrates a full analog signal chain, including Microchip’s first ever on-chip precision 16-bit ADC and 10 Msps 12-bit ADC, plus a DAC and dual operational amplifiers (op amps), along with eXtreme Low Power (XLP) technology for extended battery life in portable medical and industrial applications. For more info, visit: www.microchip.com/get/6T4J

Microchip today announced a new series of its low-cost, high pin count 32-bit PIC32 microcontrollers (MCUs). By blending the key features of Microchip’s existing PICM32MX1/2 and PIC32MX5 MCU families, this latest PIC32MX1/2/5 MCU series delivers designers the benefits of a rich peripheral set for a wide range of cost-sensitive applications that require complex code and higher feature integration at a lower cost. With up to 83 DMIPS performance and large, scalable memory options from 512/64 KB Flash/RAM to 64/8 KB Flash/RAM, these new PIC32MX1/2/5 MCUs are ideal for executing the Bluetooth® audio software required for low-cost Bluetooth audio applications, such as speakers, consumer music-player docks, noise-cancelling headsets and clock radios. Flexible, easy-to-use CAN2.0B controllers are also integrated into these MCUs, with DeviceNet™ addressing support and programmable bit rates up to 1 Mbps, along with system RAM for storing up to 1024 messages in 32 buffers. This feature allows designers to easily employ CAN communication schemes for industrial and automotive applications. For more info, visit www.microchip.com/PIC32MX-Page-110314a

Closeup shot of the reflow oven controller.

This year I gave my sweetheart a LED valentines day card. The LEDs were animated with a pulse harmonic tuned to my own heartbeat. (sappy, yeah I know, but she makes me feel sappy)

Bill of materials:

1 AVR ATTiny45 microcontroller

2 STP08DP05TTR 8-bit contsant current shift registers

16 red LED's (0805 package)

Pyralux flexible circuit board material

http://www.synopticlabs.com/blog/?p=31

On May 16, 2013, Microchip announced the shipment of its 12 billionth PIC® microcontroller (MCU) to the Nidec Corporation—a preeminent global supplier of precision motors, based in Japan. Microchip delivered this 12 billionth MCU approximately 10 months after delivering its 11 billionth. In this photo, Mr. Hitoshi Tatsuno, Vice President of Operation Management Dept. & Purchasing Dept., Nidec Corporation, receives the 12 billionth PIC Microcontroller trophy from Joe Krawczyk, Vice President, Sales, Asia Pacific, Microchip Technology Inc. For more info, visit www.microchip.com/PIC.

8-Bit microcontroller with EEPROM

sigrok.org/wiki/Microchip_PICkit2

JCNC - CNC G-Code Viewer and GRBL PC Terminal Software www.jtronics.de/software/jcnc-cnc-steuerung.html

Arduino Nano based with Adafruit RTC, MicroSD Datalogger and BMP085 Temperature & Pressure Sensor. Plus LED beacon and optional Camera Interval Timer Shutter Trigger.

Complete with all header pins, external 3V power supply, and PC serial interface

JCNC - CNC G-Code Viewer and GRBL PC Terminal Software www.jtronics.de/software/jcnc-cnc-steuerung.html

Some sockets that we might put microcontrollers in for programming.

Photo taken to accompany short article on working with AVR microcontrollers, and making minimalist target boards for programming them.

8-Bit microcontroller with EEPROM

G Code Viewer - JViewer more Information & Download under: www.jtronics.de/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=281

With a modern microcontroller-style clock crystal at upper left.

sigrok.org/wiki/Microchip_PICkit2

I'm getting a Lily Pad wearable open source arduino microcontroller in the mail soon and i can't wait to get going with it!

For more details have a look at the project Website.

alan-parekh.com/projects/gear-clock/

For more details have a look at the project Website.

alan-parekh.com/projects/gear-clock/

For more details have a look at the project Website.

alan-parekh.com/projects/gear-clock/

For more details have a look at the project Website.

alan-parekh.com/projects/gear-clock/

Photos from our craft room. This is a dump of photos from my phone. Many may be duplicates or similar angles.

sigrok.org/wiki/Microchip_PICkit2

Parts are put together.

PIC18F2320 based clock controller with RTC DS1307and LCD.

My first look at the circuitry of the YN-460 flash.

This is the inverter board that drives the flash tube.

BTW thanks TC. for being the first to risk it!

PS see this discussion for more info

www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/discuss/72157622386306104/

Detail of a single chip calculator IC from 1971, arguably one of the first microprocessors or microcontrollers having a RISC instruction set in ROM and with RAM. This complex IC was drawn by hand on Mylar film and photo-reduced 400X. Calculators became the largest market for ICs by the mid 1970s.

This is an laser cut enclosure for mobile arduino prototyping. I will start selling this soon. A bit more testing is needed.

Check:

www.synthetos.com/webstore

Physical loopback: USB to serial. On the left of the screen is the USB port, where I'm catting a big file into /dev/ttyUSB0; on the right side of the screen is picocom, receiving the file off /dev/ttyS0. To the left of the computer you can see the silver USB cord, going to a bog-standard FTDI232 translator board, then through a Dallas DS275 ttl-to-RS232 voltage converter, and then through the rainbow-colored cabling to the serial port. This is a proof-of-concept version of the front end of an Arduino, allowing me to do tiny embedded Arduino boards consisting of just the processor and clock circuitry, while still using the Arduino software interface framework.