element14 presents Forum - Recent Threads

DIY Electronic Controlled Motorized Wheelchair - Question

Kingbob01 — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 16:48:05 GMT

Hi,

I recently stumbled upon the DIY wheelchair gam3t3ch created ( DIY Electronic Controlled Motorized Wheelchair -- Episode 550 ), I loved the idea and wanted to create something similar. I am hoping to make the wheelchair a bit faster/stronger. I was wondering if you know of any motors and motor drivers that can help me out. I am looking for a little more torque and speed within $100. I am using an Arduino for this. Please let me know if you know any!

Thanks!

DIY Discrete Logic LED Countdown Timer

evo — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 09:41:11 GMT

Hey everyone, I'm trying to create a countdown system, but I'm having trouble understanding how everything works together. I'm not really sure how to chain the parts properly. Could someone please show me a clear schematic or example of how to connect everything step by step?

Custom Soldering Station

milosrasic98 — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 19:12:01 GMT

Hi everyone!

This year, I will be finally moving all of my tools and stuff from the bedroom into a dedicated shop area, which means it's time to make some new custom workshop benches and stuff like that. Since I don't want to have everything built to be fixed to the walls but rather be able to move stuff around, I want to make custom, modular, moveable stations, and the first station I want to work on is the soldering station. To describe the idea closer, here is a list of requirements I would like to fulfill with this build:

Fume extraction hood - This is a must. My idea is to have it enclosed on 3 sides and have some kind of a bigger fan that would get all of the fumes out and, using something like a kitchen hood hose, get that out of the workshop. This is something I really want to do good since I've had health issues from this kind of thing before. Since I won't have any industrial style filters, of course, the main goal is to get the air out of the shop.
Digital microscope - While I've worked with both analog and digital microscopes, and an analog microscopes is superior in many things, for my setup, I still prefer using a digital one since it's smaller and I can pop it up on a monitor. I already have a small digital microscope, which has worked okay, but I also got a microscope lens for a Raspberry Pi HQ camera, so I am going to give that a shot! If that works nicely, my idea would be to attach two monitors to something like a Raspberry Pi 4/5, so I can use one of them for the scope view and the other one for schematics, datasheets, etc.
Tools & Tool Storage - I want to have everything I usually use for soldering right on hand, from power tools such as the soldering iron (currently using the Pinecil V1, love it), hot air gun, and hot plate, to everything else such as tweezers, solder wick, solder, etc. I want everything to have its own dedicated space and also everything to be within arm's reach.
General storage - Have something like an IKEA Alex drawer for common components, etc.
Power management - Since I want this to be a unit on wheels that I can just move around the shop or to a different space, I don't want to have to tackle 10 cables every time, I want a single power cable for the whole unit with a master switch for it in the front.
If a Raspberry is integrated, maybe some smart features like remote power control, smoke sensors?

The main reason I am writing this is because I would love to hear everyone's ideas on what I should integrate and what they would like to see for such a soldering station. I will be covering this build either through blogs or through a video here, so everyone will see how it turns out in the upcoming months!

Let me know your ideas and what are some things that are a must-have on your desk when it comes to soldering and working on PCBs. After this, I will be doing some 3D printer stations also!

Kind regards,

Milos

Episode 607 Reboot request

Mikeatencio — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 16:28:40 GMT

/challenges-projects/element14-presents/project-videos/w/documents/28198/from-strava-to-motion-creating-an-arduino-powered-arcade-game-with-running-data----episode-607

I included the episode for context. Can someone please recreate this project for horse racing like the carnival arcades instead of the STAVA Lorraine created? I would truly enjoy making this now that I am retired. Thanks

Mike

What would you like to see more of with element14 presents?

cstanton — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 16:37:06 GMT

Time for a wee poll

[Please visit the site to access the poll]

What is ACTUALLY meant by op amp frequency range?

tmdoom — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 22:46:04 GMT

Love all the videos... I have one nagging question that I can't seem to fully understand. When we speak of am op amps bandwidth, what area we actually talking about? I understand "frequency range" but are we saying this is the value of the input signal frequency? Isn't the input signal usually a fixed voltage - say in an inverting op amp circuit? What is actually changing at the frequency? If I'm using an op amp to design a synthesizer vco, does this mean my frequency range is the audible range? Why do I need to be concerned about frequency range and roll-off if I'm just applying a voltage to one is the op amp inputs? Please explain - thank you!

Suggestion box

dougw — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 15:15:44 GMT

There seems to be a element14 Presents suggestion box here:

/challenges-projects/element14-presents/suggestionbox/#pifragment-1249=4

But I don't see any way to make a suggestion.....😏

Countdown timer Episode 509

codar — Mon, 08 Jul 2024 10:10:36 GMT

Re-: D.I.Y LED Timer Episode 509

Do you have either a kit or the circuit diagram for this episode? This is for use as a timer for a uV lightbox?

A maximum of ten minutes timing would be suitably fine or indeed any other design be it PIC chip etc

Thanks Dave

How to participate in element14 presents?

meera_hussien — Tue, 07 May 2024 09:38:28 GMT

esp32 C3 with mpu6050

alen10 — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 09:36:18 GMT

Hi , i saw this video : www.youtube.com/watch . I want to know if i could use esp32 c3 instead of what you are using in the video . In this case , can you specify the pin diagram in order to connect to mpu6050 ?.

Below is the image of my connection (esp32 C3) with MPU6050

Code is :

#include <MPU6050_light.h>
MPU6050 mpu(Wire);
unsigned long timer = 0;
#include <BleMouse.h>

BleMouse bleMouse;

#define btnL 2
#define btnR 1
#define btnM 3

#include <Wire.h>
#define SDA 9
#define SCL 10

#define AD0 11
#define INT 12
void setup() {

pinMode(btnR,INPUT);
pinMode(btnL,INPUT);
pinMode(btnM,INPUT);

pinMode(INT, INPUT); //int goes high when activity is detected(wakeup?)
pinMode(AD0, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(AD0, LOW);//sets I2C adress
delay(50);
Serial.begin(115200);
Wire.begin(SDA,SCL);

Serial.println("Starting BLE work!");
bleMouse.begin();
byte status = mpu.begin();
Serial.print(F("MPU6050 status: "));
Serial.println(status);
while(status!=0){ } // stop everything if could not connect to MPU6050

Serial.println(F("Calculating offsets, do not move MPU6050"));
delay(2000);
// mpu.upsideDownMounting = true; // uncomment this line if the MPU6050 is mounted upside-down
mpu.calcOffsets(); // gyro and accelero
Serial.println("Done!\n");
}

void loop() {
if(bleMouse.isConnected()) {
clicking();
mpu.update();
int x = map(mpu.getAngleX(),-90,90,10,-10);
int y = map(mpu.getAngleY(),-90,90,-10,10);
int z = map(mpu.getAngleZ(),-90,90,-10,10);

bleMouse.move(x,y);

if((millis()-timer)>10){ // print data every 10ms
Serial.print("X : ");
Serial.print(mpu.getAngleX());
Serial.print(x);
Serial.print("\tY : ");
Serial.print(mpu.getAngleY());
Serial.print(y);
Serial.print("\tZ : ");
Serial.println(mpu.getAngleZ());
Serial.print(z);

timer = millis();
}
}

}
void clicking(){

bool Lclick = digitalRead(btnL);
bool Mclick = digitalRead(btnM);
bool Rclick = digitalRead(btnR);
if (Lclick == 0){
bleMouse.click(MOUSE_LEFT);
}

if (Rclick == 0){
bleMouse.click(MOUSE_RIGHT);
}

if (Mclick == 0){
bleMouse.click(MOUSE_MIDDLE);
}

}

Making a Soundboard with a Raspberry Pi

raf1983 — Mon, 01 Jan 2024 22:17:57 GMT

Hi All,

Im new to programing and to python (so please excuse and mistakes).

So im trying to make a soundboard for an old Raspberry to play Train staion sounds for my nephew.

This is the list of equiptment im using.
Ras Pi 2 B+
16GB sd card
USB NumberPad (Logik NO:LKBNP10)

I was hoping to use the onboard headphone jack but i have a UBS sound card if i need.

Have install (i think) all the softwear i need as i can play sound with ether “cvlc” or a sound test python script.

i have used “ChatGPT” to make a script but nomatter what i try i cant get the sctript for the sound board to work.

So this is what i want to do as a compleat project.
1: I would like the pi to play a sound once the pi is booted and the script is ready to use.
2: the script to run once the pi is booted.
3: A SoundBoard script
4: Use the keypad numbers 0-9 to play diffrent mp3 files (i have made 10 files to use)
5: As there are 18 buttons on the keypad (not including the NUM LOCK key) i would like to use the + and - to controle volume and the * key to shutdown the pi.

Hopfully these are possible.

Here is the script i have so far,

import pygame
import os
from evdev import InputDevice, ecodes

def play_sound(sound_path):
pygame.mixer.init()
sound = pygame.mixer.Sound(sound_path)
sound.play()
pygame.time.delay(int(sound.get_length() * 1000)) # Wait for sound to finish

def find_number_pad():
devices = [fn for fn in os.listdir(‘/dev/input/’) if fn.startswith(‘event’)]
for device_fn in devices:
device_path = f’/dev/input/{device_fn}’
try:
device = InputDevice(device_path)
print(f"Detected device: {device.name}")
if “0410:0001” in device.name:
return device
except FileNotFoundError:
pass
return None

def main():
sound_folder = “/home/rich/sounds” # Replace with the actual path to your so>

key_to_sound = {
    ecodes.KEY_1: "11.mp3",
    ecodes.KEY_2: "12.mp3",
    ecodes.KEY_3: "13.mp3",
    ecodes.KEY_4: "14.mp3",
    ecodes.KEY_5: "15.mp3",
    ecodes.KEY_6: "16.mp3",
    ecodes.KEY_7: "17.mp3",
    ecodes.KEY_8: "18.mp3",
    ecodes.KEY_9: "19.mp3",
    ecodes.KEY_0: "20.mp3"
}

number_pad = find_number_pad()
if not number_pad:
print(“USB number pad not found. Exiting.”)
return

pygame.init()

try:
    while True:
        for event in number_pad.read_loop():
            print(f"Event: {event}")
            if event.type == ecodes.EV_KEY and event.value == 1:
                key = event.code
                if key in key_to_sound:
                    sound_path = os.path.join(sound_folder, key_to_sound[key])
                    print(f"Playing sound: {sound_path}")
                    play_sound(sound_path)

except KeyboardInterrupt:
    pygame.quit()

if name == “main”:
main()

when i run the script and press a number on the key pad this is what i get

pygame 2.5.2 (SDL 2.0.14, Python 3.9.2)
Hello from the pygame community. Contribute - pygame wiki
Detected device: vc4-hdmi
Detected device: HID 0410:0001

and the script just hangs.

0410:0001 is the device name of the keypad and i have set the headphone jack as the default in raspi config.

If anyone could help it would make my nephew so happy as this is a supprise for him.

Im more them happy to do a clean install of raspian lite if this will help.

Thanks in advance

RESET! for the Apple ][. (pronounced "reset dammit")

barryhills — Sat, 25 Nov 2023 19:48:35 GMT

James/All

I was blown away by the mega ][ project but more importantly of the brilliance on display navigating both Apple ][ HW & SW. Permit me to pick your brain. My Apple ][ lab boasts 5 fully functional Apple ][ machines. Something I have always wanted on the Apple ][ is an ABSOLUTE reset button .... not a 2 or 3 finger keyboard salute that works most of the time .... a physical button that when pressed is as effective as powering up the machine after being off for a month. It was probably the "Wildcard ][" that first got me thinking about it ... it occupied a slot and had a button on a dangling wire ... when you pushed the button it would take over the 6502 and present a menu. One of the menu items was "clear memory and boot". This method of rebooting turns out to be very useful for the Apple ][ who's boot process includes checking memory for remnants of I forget what to determine if its doing its hard or soft boot. I have never been impressed, never found it helpful, and always found it to be a pain in the ass. So why don't I just power cycle the machine? The switcher in the Apple ][ is fairly marginal & fragile in my experience. I reboot my machines a lot in the work I do and the last thing I want to do is put more strain on the power supply by frequent power cycles ... the squeal of the power supply ramping up and down is concerning. Sorry for the long intro. What I want is a RESET! that will ALWAYS reset the Apple ][ ("reset dammit" ... I loath the inaccurate distinction of Hard vs Soft reset in the case of the Apple ][). The feature probably requires a slot to have access to memory and be home for some TTL drivers etc. Such an approach might also use a micro like esp32 or arduino to fiddle with memory ..... but putting a memory chip on a small mezzanine card to access the bus is not beneath me if its reliable. No menus are needed, no UI, just a single button that "no kidding" boots the machine every time ("dammit"). Am I nuts? Am I missing something more obvious (other than my OCD regarding frequent power cycling of the PS)? Does it sound interesting to anyone else?

Linux on ESp32S3 is now a thing!

mayermakes — Sun, 03 Sep 2023 22:26:14 GMT

the big news this week. there is now #Linux on #ESP32s3
and I already got in on the fun and made a Board called SUDOSOM-S3 in the style of a Raspberry Pi CM4. I did a live demo on Makercast (starting @ 3:50min), showing it boot, usage downloading files and we even did rm -rf / and wrecked it just to be revived with SUDOFLASH my tool to make flashing the hardware much easier. https://github.com/mayermakes/Sudoflash
the board will be in BETA soon and I'm hoping for people to hop on board!
it is all open source of course.

www.youtube.com/watch

of course a dedicate Element14 presents video is in the works with hopefully a SUDOSOM BETA board already showable.

KIWIX

Acoat — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 04:40:17 GMT

I recently watched a youtube video that has lead me here and down the rabbit hole lol. The video i watched was "Build An Off Grid Wikipedia With Rasperry Pi", I'm fairly new to all this so there is a bit of a learning curve but I'm trying to do this myself and I was wondering when you are downloading the KIWIX program onto the raspberry pi is KIWIX its own operating system or an application that you can load on the raspberry pi OS. any help would be welcomed

Repsberry pi Music Jukebox with coin selector

RaphaelCC — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 20:59:34 GMT

With little to no education in electronic or IT, you can only imagine the struggle in finding information or a platform from which to launch an ideas, so for months now I have been going to and fro around the internet looking for how I can build such a Jukebox.

I stumbled onto your YouTube channel, the video about a repsberry music play with buttons.

So I let me ask for help with my idea

Basically a music Jukebox, using repsberry pi, a screen and coin selector.

Thank you in advance.

How should my runners run??

lorrainbow — Sun, 07 May 2023 17:34:23 GMT

My next element14 presents video uses an arduino to move runners along a track, according to their strava data. The first runner to reach 100km wins!

There's a short video on my twitter:

And runner 1 takes it!!
This project uses an @arduino WiFi to download @Strava data from 4 friends. It moves them along a track depending on how far they've run. I need to seal the box and decorate the track before it's ready for @E14Community #element14presents pic.twitter.com/koLAfJV7eM
— Lorraine Underwood (@LMcUnderwood) May 6, 2023

The questions I have for my lovely element14 community is how should I move the runners?

At the moment they're running all of their kilometres at once, one at a time. e.g. runner1 runs their total 50km, runner2 runs their total 75km, etc.

We could make them all run at once.

We could make them run each run at a time, e.g. runner1 runs their first run 5km, runner2 runs their first run 10km and so on and then loop back to runner1 and their 2nd run. OR finally all runners run run1, then all runners run run2, etc.

EDIT: To clarify, it's not a live track. There's a button and when it's pressed all the runners reverse to the start line then start running. Otherwise I'd miss my runner moving!

[Please visit the site to access the poll]

How should my runners run??

lorrainbow — Sun, 07 May 2023 17:34:23 GMT

My next element14 presents video uses an arduino to move runners along a track, according to their strava data. The first runner to reach 100km wins!

There's a short video on my twitter:

And runner 1 takes it!!
This project uses an @arduino WiFi to download @Strava data from 4 friends. It moves them along a track depending on how far they've run. I need to seal the box and decorate the track before it's ready for @E14Community #element14presents pic.twitter.com/koLAfJV7eM
— Lorraine Underwood (@LMcUnderwood) May 6, 2023

The questions I have for my lovely element14 community is how should I move the runners?

At the moment they're running all of their kilometres at once, one at a time. e.g. runner1 runs their total 50km, runner2 runs their total 75km, etc.

We could make them all run at once.

EDIT: To clarify, it's not a live track. There's a button and when it's pressed all the runners reverse to the start line then start running. Otherwise I'd miss my runner moving!

[Please visit the site to access the poll]

element14 Presents presenters

dougw — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 19:51:52 GMT

Shouldn't all these "element14 Presents" vlogs indicate who the presenter is - on the vlog page - at least their element14 name?

How are members supposed to reference them in a comment? Even their bios don't usually indicate their element14 name.

Matt Eargle airbornesurfer

Clemens Mayer mayermakes

Andy West andywest

James (Bald Engineer) baldengineer

DJ Harrigan mrvolt

Dave Edwards a531016

Karen Corbeill makerkaren

davedarko davedarko

Derek Brodeur Derek (DCtoDaylight)

Kaleb Clark KalebTheMaker

Adam Soileau adamsoileau1

Andy (Workshopshed) Workshopshed

Lorraine Underwood lorrainbow

Katie Dumont hifromkatie

Wesley Gardner gam3t3ch

Surbhika Rastogi surbhika

Whitney Knitter knitronics

Mark Donners donnersm

Natasha Dzurny TechnoChic

Mat Zolnierczyk notenoughtech

/challenges-projects/element14-presents/vcp-program/#pifragment-4799=3

555 Astable LED circuit

thefaceofboe51 — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 06:21:53 GMT

I am building an astable 555 circuit that has a 9v power supply and 2 parallel LEDs. The issue that I’m running into is I need the LED lights to be off longer than they are on. My goal is to have them on for about 5-10 seconds and be off for about a minute. Is there any way to do that with this circuit or do I need to look elsewhere other than a 555?

In case you missed it: Vote for your favourite element14 presents episode!

cstanton — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 23:52:41 GMT

Vote for your Favorite element14 presents episode from 2022

And heck, if you think another one that isn't in the list is the best, let us know that too!

What to do with 60+ glass bricks?!

lorrainbow — Fri, 25 Nov 2022 16:36:41 GMT

Hey folks,

I saw these glass bricks on Facebook marketplace and just had to have them!

It turned out the person selling them is a friend whose website I updated lately so she was happy to give them to me for free! There's about 68 of them. They're covered in expanding foam and paint. I've started to clean them up using a scraper and some nail polish remover for the tough bits.

But the question is - what to do with them!?! They're 19*19*8cm. They're hollow in the middle so not too heavy.

I'm going to get 9 cleaned up and stack them in a grid and light up the centre one from different angles. I want to see what's the best way to light them up. And then.... ??

A giant wall for Tetris?
An igloo? (Thanks for the idea mayermakes !)

Also, how do I stack them? And where! I don't want them to fall on anyone but I also don't want to permanently stick them together. So a frame of sorts? It feels like an outdoor display to me.. so how do I waterproof the electronics?

Any ideas are welcome!

Universal LANC controller for DSLR cameras

Akkapama — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 13:39:46 GMT

Hi,

So, I was watching one of Element14's videos from 2020, about a remote zoom controller for a DSLR lens.

Although this is already quite cool, I would like to see something that goes a few steps further: A LANC controller which you can use on any DSLR lens.

The picture above shows what a LANC adapter usually looks like. It's a small remote unit which has a special thumb stick, which you can rotate to zoom in and out on professional camcorders and production cameras. It is often used in broadcasting environments.

The further you rotate the thumbstick, the faster your zoom moves. That is the idea. And it should be smooth and damped. So no zoom stuttering or jumping, but gradual smooth zoom.

Then the controller is mounted on a Tripod or trolly arm, so you can simultaniously operate the movement of the camera, as well as the zoom with just one hand.

So, to summarize:

Controller needs to be mounted on a tripod arm
The thumbstick should provide gradual speeds based on amount of input
The zoom should be smooth
Since this is meant for video, the zoom should be quiet
The mechanism should work with any rotate-zoom lens out there
The above also means that the controls should be invertable, as some lenses zoom clockwise and others zoom counter-clockwise
Some bigger lenses require more force to rotate the zoom ring. So the "engine" should be relatively powerful.

Can you guys design something like this and make a video of it? I've been wanting a device like that for aaages since I use my mirrorless full frame camera for video (Superior quality over any pro level camcorder). But I can't find anything like this to buy on the internet.

DIY 2 Channel PC SPI PCIe card

d.a.m.o.n. — Wed, 29 Jun 2022 19:08:46 GMT

Hi Loves, could yall please make a YouTube video about creating a PCIe card for the PC? In the video id like to see measuring the pins for seating the card, possible light weight locking ethernet connectors, and accessing the PC's PCIe memory addresses via C code. Turbo C++ or DJGPP/Watcom would be perfect. Im looking to create a double channel SPI card for OLED VR. thanks!

In another video, id also like to see reading from an older CCD sensor, what kind of hardware and software would be required?

Love the content,

Damon

I am #3dprinting Nails!!

mayermakes — Wed, 04 May 2022 16:14:42 GMT

Hi Id'like to show you the state of Resin 3D printing in 2022.

Brittle Prints are pretty much a thing of the past if you use the right materials.
here is aDemo of me hammering a 3 dprinted nail into a piece of fir.

www.youtube.com/watch

this is the Resin used: https://mayermakes.at/engineering-resin/
it is the Result of some cooperation and necessity for a previous element14presents project:
/challenges-projects/element14-presents/project-videos/w/documents/5374/episode-505-super-8-camera-digitizer

Vending machine tutorial idea.

RedNapalm — Sat, 22 Jan 2022 14:54:19 GMT

Generally would like a build video on vending machines for both your own custom machine or as a automatic e-commerce order fufilment dispenser for small buisnesses.

This could probably just cover one item dispenser for the tutorial but have the feature to then be able to scale it up as much as needed. A full tutorial would obviously be way too long and complex so just the easy bits to cover the dispensing process, scaling for more items, inventory count tracking and covering for any issues would do.

Generally would need to consider:

Setting the item space with the details around the item such as: ID, time stored, which item space also has the same item.
Sensing how many items have been placed in item space.
Check if item has been dispensed or is stuck

Thanks!