Electronics-Lab.com Blog

pyroelectro.com writes:

For an electronics hobbyist, knowing how to do PCB design is a must. Building prototypes on breadboards or with wire-wrap just doesn’t cut it, once you reach a certain point. Then, a PCB board needs to be made specifically for your project. The previous tutorial Homemade PCB (Etching) showed you a quick, simple, dirty and easy way to make your own PCB. This tutorial will expand further and show you how to make a 2 layer (top and bottom) pcb.

PCB Design: DIY 2 Layer Boards – [Link]

Another great arduino project builds an electric Ethch a Sketch. The mechanics are drop dead simple along with the electronics so this is a great project for anyone just starting with the arduino. The project write-up has all the details you’d need to build your own, schematics and software included. [via]

Arduino Etch-a-Sketch – [Link]

The Mini AV Test Box is a self countained VGA/3.5mm Audio output device for testing to see if speakers or monitors are working in a quick and easy way. The VGA signal output is simply 3 blocks of Red, Green and Blue. The audio output is a single tone that can be changed with a trimpot/knob.

Mini AV Test Box – [Link]

BadWolf writes:

The Bacon Beacon or BB is meant to be life saving device. When powered up by it’s 9V battery it emits a S.O.S. in morse code over the AM and (oddly enough) on the FM band. Since the range is to be kept short (1 mile) a search and rescue team could locate it using a simple radio and a directional antenna.

Emergency S.O.S. Beacon – [Link]

marksdata.com writes:

My goal in writing this is to document the modification of the Epson R260 type printer (R260, R265, R270, R360, R380, R390) for use in directly printing resist on copper clad boards to make printed circuit boards. This “hack” has been done many times by numerous others over the last few years, but there does not seem to be a detailed “How To” that includes pictures and descriptions, starting with the intact machine and ending with the finished pcb printer.

Direct to PCB etch resist printing – [Link]

txoof writes:

The Kindle 3 uses a screen technology that looks almost like glossy magazine print. What makes it remarkable and so easy to read is that it uses ambient light to illuminate the screen rather than a back light. The quality of the image is fantastic in normal reading conditions, but gets difficult to read in low light situations.

Kindle 3 DIY Light – [Link]

Andrey Mikhalchuk writes:

Which remote is better — this universal remote or this iPhone? Of course iPhone is better!! It is naturally the best remote you can imagine. It is connected to the internet, so you can check the TV program. It has huge high-resolution touchscreen. And it is always with you. One problem with it: it’s not a remote at all. So let’s turn your smartphone into a remote.

Turn your iPhone into a Universal Remote – [Link]

hackhut.com writes:

Le Dominoux are “LED dominoes”, a blinking LED that propagates from device to device. Each Dominoux comprises a coin cell-powered 555 timer circuit configured as a one-shot, triggered either by a photo transistor or CdS photocell. Using a bunch of Dominoux enables creating various lighting patterns, trains, and continuous loops. Other Dominoux variants are the basic blinky for generating light pulses, and a tone generator for making annoying beeps.

Endless fun with LED dominoes – [Link]

This is an old school circuit – I made it (with the help of a friend) in 1987, when I first started out in digital electronics. At the time there were no PCs – or at least not for the average person in Hungary. So all the planning was done in paper.

Programmable LED Lightshow from the 80s – [Link]

[Roteno's] submission for the 555 timer design contest is an Internet connected earthquake alert system. It monitors the USGS website for earthquake data and plays a tune when an earthquake occurs. [via]

Earthquake alert system – [Link]