The evolution of the Tin Man:Credits: Line drawing on left from the original novel by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow Center photograph of the Tin Man ...
The Tin Man is now mechanically and electrically complete. Printed Parts I didn't take any photographs during assembly but it was straightforward. The front and sectional view from the back below shows the parts minus the electron...
Time for more silliness with the Tin Man. I have been thinking about what kind of voice he should have and spotted the Velleman Voice Changer Kit for $11. I know it says Whadda on the box but inside the PCB and the instruction sheet says V...
Jameco has these National Semiconductor NSA1166 7-segment 6-digit bubble displays and I bought a couple to distract me from what I should be doing. They are very simple to drive as each segment has its own pin that is driven high and each digit ...
Last week I started a series of blogs on making the Tin Man from the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz. The progress towards completion has been leisurely but this week's update features the first 3D print and code to add speech and smoothed move...
I've decided to make an animatronic Tin Man loosely based on the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz for no other reason than I've wanted to for some time. It seems like it would make a good design exercise. It would also be someone that ...
In a recent element14 Essentials on Static Control, shabaz said this: "A 2N3819 + meter or LED makes a nice simple charge detector too : )" So, I thought I would try it. I don't have a 2N3819 but I do have a J112 N-channel JFET. ...
This is the 5th year I have held Robot Summer Camp for my grandchildren and there were 2 full-time campers and 1 part-time. They don't really camp, but one has to sleep on the couch :-). The purpose of Robot Summer Camp is to have s...
EDIT 2 Feb 2021: Added explanation for poor matching of motors I have an ongoing project to develop a robot which will use a Raspberry Pi for the main brain and I2C communication with a microcontroller for real time activities such a...
I have what seems to be a continuously ongoing project to measure low resistances with milliohm precision. The latest version had an inexpensive voltmeter that used the Microchip MCP3421MCP3421 in the display. The chip costs $2.39 in smal...
Recently W2AEW, one of my favorite YouTube bloggers, made a video on the Wilson Current Mirror and the Early Effect in Bipolar Transistors. He explains things clearly without any fluff so go check it out. I always understand and remember ...
I am posting my initial impressions of the Multicomp Pro Handheld LCR MeterMulticomp Pro Handheld LCR Meter. My objectives are to get familiar with the capabilities and use of the meter, do some comparisons to other instruments in my possession...
This is a quick overview and initial impressions of the Tenma 72-9380A72-9380A multimeter. A comparison is made to other multimeters I currently own and use.Background I currently own 4 multimeters that I frequently use, one of which has b...
The milliohm meter has been one of the most popular projects I've posted on element14 judged by views, comments, and stated interest. Thanks to a modification by shabaz (documented way down in the comments here) and much help over time it appea...
Every summer I do a "camp" with my grandchildren where the theme is electronics and robots. This year was a bit more complicated due to the pandemic with me moving in the middle of it and not having my electronics lab for several mont...
Background A few weeks ago I came across a series of YouTube videos by the IMSAI Guy on an op-amp made from discrete components. Over a series of posts he describes the circuits that make up a basic op-amp and demonstrates them on a bread ...
Learning to solder with this kit is a fun way to obtain a new skill and a great introduction to electronics. The art in this project is based on the logo used in the current Element14 Women Makers and Engineers Contest. The Printed Circui...
Instead of doing what I should be doing I have been thinking about what kind of art works best for PCBs. The PCB has a limited number of colors that can be used and also limited resolution. This leads me to think that wood blocks, posters...
10 Feb 2020 Update: Schematic and Bill of Materials updated In a previous post a method for transferring art work to PCBs was described. I've been holding off sending it in until a circuit could be designed to go on the board. ...
I decided to give PCB art a try and will be basing my attempt on methods described by Andrew Sowa. Andrew uses Adobe Illustrator for the art work and KiCad for the PCB design. I will also use KiCad but will use my trusty pre-subscription ...
This has been a busy few weeks but tariq.ahmad has requested we publish something for Makevember so I thought I would oblige :-). I am working on an animatronics project and while I haven't quite made the progress desired still hope to finish b...
This is the 7th post of a series exploring TensorFlow. The primary source of material used is the Udacity course "Intro to TensorFlow for Deep Learning" by TensorFlow. My objective is to document some of the things I learn along the way a...
This is the 6th post of a series exploring TensorFlow. The primary source of material used is the Udacity course "Intro to TensorFlow for Deep Learning" by TensorFlow. My objective is to document some of the things I learn along the way a...
