Crazy Arduino Automations Blog - All Comments

RE: Building a DIY CNC Foam Cutting Machine: An Affordable Laser Cutter Alternative

Noah_Kiggen — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 06:50:48 GMT

Hey, we are building a cnc foam cutting machine for a school project. We have a broken arduino at the moment and we are wondering what it is for. Is it posible to have a a foam cutting machine without the arduino?

RE: Raising the Bridge...Post Project Review

robogary — Sat, 03 Jun 2023 01:28:50 GMT

Model railroad animations like this are really awesome. Using multiple controllers is often a blessing, often avoiding timing issues and making coding and troubleshooting easier.

RE: Raising the Bridge...Post Project Review

dougw — Tue, 30 May 2023 15:28:28 GMT

Looking good..

RE: Raising the Bridge...Post Project Review

beacon_dave — Mon, 29 May 2023 20:54:39 GMT

Nice to finally see it working.

The siren appears to shut off slightly early before the ramp is fully lowered.

RE: Shoe shiner

javagoza — Fri, 26 May 2023 08:04:27 GMT

Clever and fun. Well done!

RE: Machine Vision Deep Learning Automation on Arduino Portenta or MKR 1010

robogary — Thu, 25 May 2023 23:10:19 GMT

Thanks for posting all the good info, especially I didn't know the motor shield could be updated.

RE: Shoe shiner

robogary — Thu, 25 May 2023 18:31:01 GMT

Nice arduino project. I laughed during the video, because with my luck a bird or dog would poop on the steps and I'd track a mess in the house with my socks. :-)

RE: Shoe shiner

Jan Cumps — Thu, 25 May 2023 17:21:11 GMT

I didn't manage to upload the video on the element14's site, so I have to share a Youtube link... sorry about that

Once it's on youtube, you can share it via the Insert Image / Video / File menu. Paste the Youtube public link in the File /URL field. It 'll work.

RE: Raising the Bridge...Automation with Arduino: Failure reconciliation

robogary — Thu, 25 May 2023 13:55:00 GMT

The photo is really helpful. The stalled motor current is likely more current than the h bridge can handle long term. If the pwm output motor rms voltage is lower , the rms stall current is lower. You can get an idea of the motor resistance by checking the dc motor leads with an ohmmeter. Stall current is the max volts applied to the motor, divided by that resistance. You could try resistors in series with the motor to limit stall current to 2 amps or less. The motors will automatically slow down as load increases, giving them a speed droop feature

RE: Raising the Bridge...Automation with Arduino: Failure reconciliation

colporteur — Thu, 25 May 2023 00:28:33 GMT

I had put further troubleshooting of the issue with the L293D until I had some spares. I received L293D driver chips this week. My thought was to replace the chip in the problem modules to determine if it was the cause of the failure. Then I would repeat some tests to see what lets the smoke out of the chip.

Changing the integrated circuit

DIDN'T RESOLVE THE ISSUE!

Crap! What did I overlook in my testing? Back to the meter. I struggled with the specification sheet. Something wasn't right.

I confess I am not the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to electronic gardening. My electronics career forked into System Administration in 1996 so some of the stuff in memory is rusty. I had used the L293D modules in two other projects with success. The failure this time came as a surprise. I take it as a failure on my part when I let the smoke out of components when I am building something, So I work real hard to keep the smoke in.

My problem with the driver chip was the two supplies VCC1 & VCC2. I hate the VCC references in the spec sheet. One supply powers the chip and the other is used by the chip to power the load. On the module PCB there are inputs, VCC is 5V for the chip and Vin is the motor supply. You can see this on the module image on the left.

A meter reading of the modules Pin 16 VCC1 is 12V. Meter meting of Pin 8 VCC2 is 5V. Wait a minute the values are reversed. After much consternation and nashing of teeth I discovered I must have put the chip in backwards???

The screen shot on the left is the orientation of the L293D chip from a picture on the website and the two modules on the right are what is installed. Note the position of the red circles that show the chip orientation key.

Putting the chip in backwards is something that can happen but here is the kicker, I never removed the chips. They were installed backwards when I received the modules.. The two modules on the right image are installed and working. The three L293D modules I thought I had damaged had the L293D chip installed backwards also. That is five modules delivered from the supplier with the chip installed backwards.

With the chip in the correct orientation the voltages at the power pin begin to make sense %v is where you would expect it. With the chip in the correct orientation the modules work. No parts replacement required.

I did discover measuring the voltages at the motor points with no load appears to work but slightly lower. With a motor load attached the voltage sinks. I can only speculate the two modules that are working is because the load is not that great.

My actions didn't cause the failures. I now have five L293D spare integrated circuits.

RE: The WRONGCO Hamper Helper – blog 6 (final) – It is ARDUINO ALIVE ! Watch it work….Design details included

kmikemoo — Mon, 22 May 2023 15:50:44 GMT

I watched the video. You certainly can't ignore that "Time To Do Laundry" alarm. [emoticon:752f32bcc91d4a448db162742a877a4a][emoticon:752f32bcc91d4a448db162742a877a4a]

RE: The WRONGCO Hamper Helper – blog 6 (final) – It is ARDUINO ALIVE ! Watch it work….Design details included

robogary — Sun, 21 May 2023 18:50:06 GMT

So sweet to get rid of stink

RE: Raising the Bridge...Automation with Arduino: Design Update

Jan Cumps — Sat, 20 May 2023 10:12:35 GMT

I think that your real savior will be the drivers with protection. Sensors will deal with some of the mishaps and abuse, but to avoid damage you also need a sturdy circuit.

I followed the previous posts and saw that you moved to drivers that have the protection on-board. You won't regret that change.

RE: The WRONGCO Hamper Helper – blog 5 – get a spritz of the aromatic Atomizer, hack a bit, build a bit, and test

robogary — Fri, 19 May 2023 18:03:22 GMT

There are just so many opportunities to do wrong things with this spritzer ...................some come to mind - sprtiz some really foul smelling aromas on motion detect, or mist up some catnip when the kitties are trying to sleep

RE: Building a DIY CNC Foam Cutting Machine: An Affordable Laser Cutter Alternative

Ganesh6253627 — Fri, 19 May 2023 04:25:14 GMT

Good job