The ATXSwitch (August 25, 2008)
The ATXSwitch makes it easy to add an additional ATX power supply to virtually any PC. When your primary power supply is turned on, the ATXSwtich automagically enables a secondary supply.
At only 10 parts and a PCB, it's super easy to assemble with the full-colour photo-based directions.
Head over to it's instructions or buy one below.
| Full Kit | Board Only |
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atx
kit
simple kit
store
Posted by spiffed at 2:12 PM
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Introducing the DuinoStamp (June 26, 2008)
After working in collaboration with Justin Wyatt on his idea for a stamp-sized Freeduino, I'm pleased to introduce the DuinoStamp. It's a convenient breakout board allowing you to easily embed an Arduino compatible environment into your project. The same size as a 34-pin 0.600" DIP, it's easy to incorporate into bread-boards, perf-board, or PCBs. It contains all the components and connections you need, without including costly and large extras.
Head over to it's instructions or buy one below.
| Full Kit | Board Only |
|---|---|
arduino
Atmel
freeduino
kit
store
Posted by spiffed at 3:40 PM
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New PCBs and Yellow Soldermask (May 22, 2008)
A panel with 5 fresh new products just arrived from Gold Phoenix.
Firstly a comment on the yellow solder mask: Black, Blue, and Green are my staple solder mask colours, but it's nice to branch out sometimes and I went with a yellow mask for this order. My initial impression is that it looks OK on the copper portions of the board, but the masked bare laminate is unimpressive. While it adds variety to the lineup, it definitely looks cheap compared to even the green mask (which is cheaper) and very cheap compared to a blue or black mask. I'm left with a single-sided paper-laminate feeling.
The new projects are, clockwise from the top left:
- A thermistor based high/low temperate tracker for the -5°c to 30°c range.
- A 555 based high-voltage (48V to 250V) switch-mode boost supply.
- An NCP1400 based 5V step-up controller. I'm not sure if I'll push this design for kitting.
- The 3.3V version of the popular FT232 USB to TTL converter.
- A constant current controller. When hooked between a load and ground, this allows you to set a particular maximum current level regardless of supply voltage or load variances. This is ideal for loading SMPS, LEDs, Laser diodes, etc.
Gold Phoenix
kit
PCB
SolderMask
Posted by spiffed at 12:58 PM
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Introducing the USB7 (March 28, 2008)
I'd like to introduce you to my latest idea, the USB7. 6 digits of 7 segment awesomeness all controllable from a USB virtual com port (via AVR-CDC). You send it numbers, it displays them, what could be easier?
The protocol is very simple; the device accepts a string of numbers, '+', '-', '.', space, and upper/lower hex digits (A-E). The device will buffer up to 6 characters to display. When you send a newline or carriage return (0x0A or 0x0D) the display will update with the buffered data. Any other character is thrown away. It is important to remember that decimals take up no character space because they share a digit with the previous number. This means you can't start a string with a '.', you must first send a character (even space) then the '.'.
After the jump I'll set it up to show my download speed using LCD Smartie.
Continue reading "Introducing the USB7"
Atmel
Kit
LED
Serial
USB
Posted by spiffed at 9:47 AM
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Reflowing without Solder Paste (March 18, 2008)
I've discovered a neat trick! Using (at least one manufacturer's) Lead-Free PCB finish, it's possible to reflow solder without the solder paste!
Continue reading "Reflowing without Solder Paste"
Reflow
Solder
Posted by spiffed at 12:18 AM
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555 based SMPS (February 22, 2008)
One of my tasks involved a 105V supply voltage, and therefore a 105V power supply. This simple 555 based switch mode power supply performs nicely around 100 to 300 volts (depending on load) from a 9 to 12 volt supply.
Continue reading "555 based SMPS"
555
HV
Kit
OnPaper
SingleSided
SMPS
Posted by spiffed at 4:08 PM
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Single Sided FT232RL USB-Serial Converter (January 25, 2008)
Unsatisfied with everything else, I present the simple, single-sided, breadboardable, FT232RL based USB to TTL Serial converter.
I know you're thinking "But everyone under the sun makes an FT232 kit!", and you're right. But they all suffer from a selection of problems:
- Double sided boards with tiny vias. Not only are these a pain to solder by hand, they also require perfect precision to etch and drill at home.
- 7 million parts butted as close to each other as the pick-and-place can tolerate. I can't assemble these with tweezers.
- Signals and power brought out to a DIL style header. There's simply no effective way to plug a DIL header into a breadboard. It's a functional system for wirewrap, perfboards, and stripboards but so is a DIP style connection. It's not very helpful for custom PCBs either, since I might as well integrate the whole circuit into the board.
- You get the idea.
The answer of course is to design a simple, roomy, single sided board, with a DIP like fit.
Continue reading "Single Sided FT232RL USB-Serial Converter"
Eagle3D
FT232
Kit
PCB
Serial
SingleSided
SMD
USB
Posted by spiffed at 12:27 PM
On Paper (December 7, 2007)
Somehow I don't think this is what people meant by 'Does it make sense on paper'.
OnPaper
PCB
Posted by spiffed at 3:04 AM
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A bigger basic H-bridge (April 12, 2005)
We just don't do small. So when it came to choosing stepper motors, I picked nice beefy 2lb bipolar beasts. Driving these has, however, turned into a bit of a problem.
Continue reading "A bigger basic H-bridge"
FET
H-Bridge
Kit
Optoisolator
PCB
PIC
Transistors
Posted by spiffed at 8:20 PM