/diy/ - Do It Yourself

Currently under development or planned for near term:
Electronic ignition controller and stepper motor driven analog tachometer for old motorcycles.
TIG welder pulser

Somewhat related but I would be using an msp430 instead of an arduino.
I'm planning to build me one of these:
http://vimeo.com/3101098
Except have it run on a single 2x4 so the track can be bent or cut easily.

PIC programmer. I made a boost converter with feedback for this but I think I will have a PIC10 drive that...maybe.

more?

I am currently designing and prototyping a power meter through android, which sends current usage through the ethernet shield to a website, where you can view and analyze past data.

I'm trying to make an LED blink. Shit's hard

Made the device depicted on this site: http://code.google.com/p/arduinoboy/

>>66327
you best be trollin. there's an app for that in the standard libraries.

just hanging around with my lcd
(made a clock with custom numbers like that)

-playing with ultrasound
-chiptunes in the making

jerking around in general

trying to use it for PID control. want it to control the heating element on wrapped around a glass air pathway and have it adjust for different volumentric flow rates. Yes I'm building an essential oils vaporizer.
Stumbling block for me right now is going from the controller transfer function to programming the sucker :(

Can someone explain the purpose of a MAX232 chip? Reduce the logic voltage or the parallel port to 5V logic?

Can any of these be used to make some sort of weak video game console with a color LCD?

Are the arduino boards powerful enough for something like that?

Question for those with Ardunio experience:

A friend of mine is thinking about using one of those to control a semi-autonomous flying robot (aka helicopter that comes back when the conection is broken)

He wants that thing to communicate over WiFi and use 2 rotating radar modules or lasers to measure the distance to the ground and roof (if present) and to the walls left and right (if present).

Im no expert in that subject, however I heard that those Ardunios are rather limited in computing power.

How realistically is his project in your oppinion?

>>66785
It's to interface between rs-232 and ttl. RS-232 being the statndard PC serial ports use and it's +12v and -12v.

I don`t really like the arduino, although I have never used it. Maybe is the idea that the board is not that cheap for a default board, making me think if a maple or a stm32 discovery board isn`t more efficient.

Whatever, not trying to start a discussion on that. Currently I`m trying to interface a stm32f with a FPGA to make a dynamically reconfigurable system. This idea looks great for parallel processing. Just waiting the FPGA that I ordered to arrive (:

Also, playing with nixie tubes and vfd

>>66790
Probably. There are some videos on yt of people making some NES clones on some atmega.
As I said, I don't have experience with the arduino board, so I can't confirm 100%

I think a mbed, maple and beagleboard are easier to make a console prototype (especially the beagleboard)

>>66790
>>66830

what you're looking for is the uzebox

>>67173
exactly that
wow, last time I saw, it was far less developed, they were still testing the video output

There is one console made with the Parallax Propeller. This uC seems pretty good for graphics (considering that it was made by one guy with few support)

Anyone as pic tu share?

Anyone have picture?

>>67256
The propeller has some inbuilt hardware for video, but it has a weird architecture.

Pardon my ignorance, but what's so special about Arduino? It's just a dev board for an Atmel processor, but there are already 3rd party Atmel-based dev boards, like the Teensy - http://www.pjrc.com/ - that are cheaper and more powerful!

>>67661
It comes with some fancy compiler software and in multiple layouts. But mostly just freefags gonna freefag I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sInYASNM_r8

been thinking about getting one or my 16 yr old brother for x-mas, he was into legos, and has built his own model airplane, it's pretty big. thinking it might be a push in the right direction. just not sure which supplier to buy from, and what else I should give him to start off with.

Free Teensy..... discolored usb, PJRC sent them out to hack spaces.

I make my own freedunio's

Im trying to make a midi controled synthesizer using the sound chip out of a Sega genesis.

http://www.youtube.com/user/memphisartguy?feature=watch#p/u/9/031SNYY2VbU

TV out, very simple to make, a resistor, rca cable, and a video player (ie TV)

here's one showing that you can put to resistors on two pins a light both up.

there's the code

/*
Modified Blink
Turns on one of two LED on for random time, then off for and lighting the
other LED, repeatedly.

This sketch shows that two leds can be controlled by two pins by switching
the HIGH and LOW.

Using 3.2v LEDs I placed a 100ohm resistor in pin 12, then one LED is +13
and R1, and the other
+R1 and -13.

This example code is in the public domain.
*/
int randNumber = 0; //initialize a variable

void setup() { // start of setup

// initialize the digital pin as an output.
pinMode(13, OUTPUT); // Pin 13 has an LED connected on most Arduino
boards:
pinMode(12, OUTPUT); // Pin 12 is used to light an alternative LED

} //end of setup

void loop() { // start of loop

digitalWrite(13, HIGH); // sets +v on pin 13
digitalWrite(12, LOW); // sets grd on pin 12

randNumber = random(100); // Random Time that the first led will be lit.
delay(randNumber); // wait for a random time

digitalWrite(13, LOW); // sets grd on pin 13
digitalWrite(12, HIGH); // sets +v on pin 12

randNumber = random(100); // Random Time that the second led will be lit.
delay(randNumber); // wait for a random time

I want to put a sensor onto a rotating platter that will measure the speed and direction it is turning.

Will I need an accelerometer, a gyroscope, or both?

>>66793
I'm working on a quadrotor, which I would recommend over a helicopter, since it's much simpler to design.

>WiFi
WiFi is generally for when you want very high-speed communication, and gets interference pretty easily.

>2 rotating radar modules or lasers
I've been considering building laser scanners for mine by combining a cheap CMOS camera with a laser. Ultrasonic is probably better, even if it's less accurate with a bit less range. If he wants it to return back to him, I'd imagine he'd want a GPS on the thing.

My quadrotor design uses the XMEGA, which has a clockspeed 2x faster than that of the Arduino's ATMega. I wouldn't guarantee anything, but if he does his research and puts enough effort in, I don't see why not.

>>67910
You generally want both, if you want accurate readings. Look into kalman filtering (or complementary filters, if the former scares you).

>>67913 and >>67914 here. Sorry for posting so much.
I'm working on a quadrotor that uses the XMEGA. which is somewhat related. I have an Arduino Uno that I play around with from time to time, but I usually end up designing a board for my projects.

At the moment, chassis is complete, while I'm still checking over my schematic.

>>67914

I ask because I don't need to know the actual position of the platter in reference to anything else, I just need raw speed and direction.

I could use the centrifugal force to measure the speed, but I also need to incorporate the direction it is rotating.

Something that datasheets for gyroscopes never seem to tell is if the analog value at rest (i.e. for the yaw axis) is a median value, or if it is at zero.

I know that this is the case for accelerometers, which can measure negative g's as well as positive one's along the same axis.

>>67932
Integrating once for rotational velocity seems plausible. Are you sure you can't hook up an encoder to whatever the platter is pivoting on instead?

>>67932
What is it for?

I had similar project and we used one of those little optical wheels like on mouse wheels or a hall sensor for higher rpm. Much more accurate and easier to code if you're doing relatively high speeds.

>>67940

I can't, the whole system (sensor, mcu, wifi transmitter and battery) needs to be housed on the platter itself so that it can be used without modifying other equipment.

An encoder or hall effect sensor/magnet combination could work, but I'm looking for high bandwidth and sensitivity.

>>67948
I would recommend getting a gyro/accel combination and integrating them together with a kalman filter.

>>67951

I definitely think that would work, but I'm trying to keep costs down for my first prototype.

If the gyroscope, such as (http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10100)) can give me directional data (whether or not its spinng clockwise or counter-clockwise), as well as rotational speed, I shouldn't need an accelerometer at all.

>>67954
>Sparkfun
>Trying to keep costs down

Order samples of an accelerometer and gyro IC's on sparkfun, and then buy a generic breakout board or design your own and solder it on yourself.

>>67966
Derp, sorry, not Sparkfun. Order samples from STMicroelectronics.

>>67954
You'll want both if you want it to me reasonable accurate. There are some decent option out there that give you a 2 channel gyro and a 3 channel accelerometer on the same breakout board for relatively cheap. Some also contain 3.3V regulators so if you MCU runs at 5V you don't have to worry about additional circuitry. Depending on your set up one with onboard 3.3 would probably be better for reducing noise as well through a cleaner voltage regulation.

A basic Kalman filter isn't too hard to code. There are a number of different forms for it but you'd just want to start with a linear Kalman Filter first. In terms of models to base it on; you can start very simple and get good results. A white process noise model for constant acceleration should give acceptable results.

(Bachelor of Engineering (Mechatronics) Honours First Class - Final Thesis the design and development of a Rig for Kalman Filter Calibration for Inverted Pendulum Robots)

>>68075

Now it would be a good time to tell us what your "reasonably accurate" and "acceptable" actually means.

>>68056
Dat Nagato Yuki

>Where can i has one?

>>68202
Find an image on the internet, preferably in one color, like its shown there. You can also draw it up yourself. Take it to a print shop. Ask them to print out a sticker. Make sure you tell them what size you want it in.

What are good project for beginners?

I'm still waiting for my arduino to come in the mail.

but one project i want to do is have a sensor that turns a tap on when my cat goes near it.

i got my thermometer/fan controller working today, although i haven't hooked up the fans yet.
however, if the temperature in the case is about room temperature, the case fans will basically be still, and from there increasing speed with temperature. temperature sensor is a LM335Z with calibration pot. all this hooked up to my arduino uno.
would have taken i pic but i'm in bed now, some other time.

>>69576
also, i have a 16x2 lcd display showing current temperature and fan speed.

>>66006
Light thingy with multi-function knob dealies and mode control button.

62% complete.

>>69576

sweet. the hard part with fans on an arduino is reading the tach while running on pwm, since the tach signal only works when the fan is getting constant dc power. so you have to switch from an analogWrite value to digitalWrite, attach interrupts to find+compare 3 or 4 good pulse widths, then switch back to analogWrite before the fan spins up too much cause an annoying ramp up/down sound. its surprisingly hard at low rpms

>>69721
>the tach signal only works when the fan is getting constant dc power
What? Why? I thought the tach signal was from a hall effect sensor on the fan and would trigger whenever the fan spins past. I could see it missing at very low speeds, but you should be able to read it whenever the fan is turning.

>>69822

the tach wire of a standard 3-wire fan is an open collector. you have to pull it up with a resistor, and then it pulls the line low in a square wave at two times the frequency of the fans rotation. since it is an open collector it only works (ie pulls the line low) when there is a base current available ie when the fan is powered.

thats why they started doing 4-wire fans, with the power, pwm, and tach all separate so that it is very simple to pwm while still reliably determining rpm at the same time

>>69576

im back with pic. fan still not hooked up, but the software part is all working now.

>>66018
this motherfucker is long gone, but if you're not:
Do you camp out directly beside your setups while they're collecting time lapses for days? otherwise, that's some expensive shit to leave in the middle of the desert

>>70147
Well they're usually only a few hours, and ten minutes is enough for some nice cloud movement. But yes I would imagine you'd stay with your equipment.

I made a parking sensor that sits in the garage and lights up green/yellow/red/red-flashing-buzzer-buzzing as my wife approaches so she stops A) coming waaaaay to close to my bike and/or B) destroying the garbage can.

>>70133

Cool

noticed they had MakerShed kits at my local radio shack so I picked an arduino kit last week.

I bought that Tamiya kit last year, put it together with my sons. - google "remote control robot construction set"

plan to work with my sons to do:
scrap all the bullshit on top of the tamiya base
mount arduino
hook up Li battery pack
hook up PS2 game pad to manually drive it.

hope to:
xbee & another arduino to do true wireless
mount webcam/etc
mount ultrasonic sensor to do autonomous maping/pathfinding

Want to see more project!

Here is a pic of my old binary clock I did.
The display is charlieplexed, and the case is made out of Legos.
As it didn't have any additional clock chips, it was really inaccurate at keeping time, the best I got was 'only' ~4seconds drift / day.

Anone made a arduino base geiger counter?

>>66006

I'd really like to emulate something like a ReDrum drum machine, either stand-alone (with included sound synth) or as a Midi controller.

Basically, I would need a bunch (24) push buttons, about the same number of potentiometers and leds linked up to an Arduino. Unfortunately, I can't see any easy way to do this now. I could link that many buttons with something like a scanning system, I guess. It would be nice for some of the buttons to be lighted on activation.

So I have two problems:
1. how to link a bunch of controls and some display stuff, way more than the Arduino has IO pins.
2. how to synthetize multi-channel (8 chan) or play multi-channel samples. Or just act as a Midi-controller

The nice part is once you figure this out, you can build clones of a lot of cool music gear for cheap. Maybe even build kits or go mass-production! You could clone drum machines, sequencers, effect boxes.

>>74291
>1. how to link a bunch of controls and some display stuff, way more than the Arduino has IO pins.
Multiplexing or offload.

If you need more analog inputs than the arduino has, get an external adc, something like the TLC2543.

2. Multiplexing or offload.

>>74382
Charlieplexing is superior to multiplexing.

I would really like to get back into the computer nerd circuit (haha!), but I haven't even messed with a circuit board or anything requiring acute technological knowledge in some years. Who can tell me where I should start? I'm looking to start working with computers and the like from scratch.

Hexapod drivven by a mega and communication by serial over 433 mhz

>>67789
How did you make this? Is it a chooped-something-else?

Building a AA NiMH USB battery charger (also standalone), fan controller for computer power supply+other fans, and automatic plant waterer for carnivorous plants that need water every day. Anyone interested in codeveloping one of these?

Is there a list of recommended components if you want to get started with arduino?

>>75153

I guess some leds and resistors. Maybe some switches, too.

>>75153

we'll, you'll need a good pair of scissors for cutting wires, a nice big spool of speaker wire, and a car battery for running your projects

Here we go most of my home made shields and controllers. #1 is a PIR activated wireless door bell. I use #1 as a look out when I do my dumpster diving.

#5 is pretty much a freeduino has the 5v regulator on it.

#3 is a bares-bone + reset button and led.

Shields are usb power, TVout, two switches, pager motor, serial, photo resistor #2, photo resistor #1, button, and serial port.

How hard is it to get a serial "Discussion" going between an arduino and a GPS module or 2 arduinos?

Anything interesting I should get reading on Serial com?

>>70133
NIce R3 bro.

>>77524

there a library that allows two arduinios to talk with out using the serials but serial to serial is pretty easy.

It use to be you have to have a Mega, (think it has 4 serials) to cluster but not any more.

making a music player that reads off of an sd card and spits it out to a self built amplifier. Using an 8051

Ok so this isn't really to do with arduino but electronics. I want a circuit that alternately flashes 2 LEDs. I wanted it cheap and in few components, so preferably not using a uC. I was thinking a capacitor and a relay, like how an indicator works, then a transistor to power the alternate LED. Any idea if this would work?

>>78591

Google astable multivibrator. It's just 2 transistors, 2 capacitors and 4 resistors. You could do it with a 555 too, but multivibrator is easier to understand.

>>78598
Thanks bro, exactly what I was looking for

>>78598
Also more fun to think about.

>>78598
is there any reason this wouldn't work though? would it just blink at >9000 hz or find equilibrium somewhere?

>>79419

Why would that capacitor charge to 3V, if supply is just 1.5V? Also,

> equilibrium

I made a few programs for the Gameduino. Only 1 was an actual game, the rest were ideas that I had and used the Gameduino board for graphics.

Also, I made an alarm system that monitors my house and tweets its status.

>>79421
>Why would that capacitor charge to 3V, if supply is just 1.5V?
isn't that what capacitors do? or does that only work when you switch them in series?

>>79427

It's impossible to tell if you're joking/trolling or serious.

No, the capacitor is going to charge to 1.5V and that's it. On the other hand, an (ideal) inductor would charge to infinite energy in that same circuit. Not that it helps you to make an oscillator.

Anything interesting I should get reading on Serial com?

How to understand serial data?

>>79906

http://www.asciitable.com/

A full automated wood gasifier, so all I have to do is occasionally go by and add more wood to the automated feeding hopper.

So I would need:
Temperature monitoring and control
Automated startup
Air-fuel monitoring and control (simple needle valve for air)
A high temperature sensor to monitor the amount of wood in the barrel, and a hopper to add more wood as needed.

My DIY GPS, i wrote all the code.

>>66006
well it's not much and was noisy as fuck

its basically a simple frequency generator using PWM. the 4 push buttons increment and decrement the frequency by 1 or 10. when you hit 99 on the SSD the SSD goes to 01 and the LED array indicating the multiplier is incremented. as in freq*10^0, freq*10^1 ... etc
if the frequency is decremented below 01 the SSD goes to 99 and the LED array decrements.

i was meant to use a pezo speaker but in my confusion ended up using a buzzer which didn't sound right.

made a mute button and a pot to increase and decrease volume which didn't work as intended as it ended distorting the frequency slightly.

the 4 switches provide a combination of 15 preprogrammed tunes which sounded horrible and earwrecking. all switches set to off state will turn the rig back to its original state as a frequency generator.

i did a horrible job but hell im proud of it, that project taught me how to program an aurduino uno through an ISP using avrstudio 4.

i learnt how to use interrupts and PWM, but it didn't really teach me much as far as electronics went.

gonna try etching my own pcbs with a cheapo lazer printer that i just bought. and i need to refine my soldering skills.

i fiddled around with an lcd screen and got it working but simply ran out of pins i can use for the project. i wanted to do alot more but time ran out and it was back to uni for me before i knew it.

as for the time being i had malfunct ps2 multitap, so i salvaged it for parts and got the female header for the controller.

i have a few ps1 and ps2 controllers lying around so i decided id try to interface with controller using the aurduino uno, that project is still in progress

>>67791
how far did you get?

>>80710
>>81409

Cool!

Most fun i've had in a while

BlinkM controller for cove lighting hopefully
I want to make high power LED blinkMs using 3 W RGB LEDs but high power LEDs are still WAY too expensive in bulk. My 15 LED string would cost $375 just for the LEDs ($75 if I just did RGB). I want to modify CYZ_RGB to run a serial out to a TLC5940 on grayscale mode instead of PWM, and add UV and soft white LEDs as well.

>>82125
anymore pictures?

Anyone upgrading for R3?

>>82125
man im trying to biuld a cnc like that, but larger using aluminium and MDF.

are your linear guides DIY? if so tell me your secrets. im puzzled as to how i am supposed to make a decent linear guide. im opting for the dodgy diy method of using skate board bearings on an aluminium L bracket running on either an identical L bracket or acircular steel bar.

but how on earth can i make a neat a compact linear guide with a compact housing that surrounds the circlar metal bar?

im not using an aurduino though, i thought of doing so but after some thorough research i cheated and bought a cheap 3 axis stepper driver from ebay with nema 23 steppers.

>>82125
is that.... Styrofoam you are using there to secure all those joints ?

what are you using this cnc for? pcb milling?
and what end effector did you add a drill bit or a lazer cutter? i can't see the tool you are using.

>>84092
> im puzzled as to how i am supposed to make a decent linear guide
> i cheated and bought a cheap 3 axis stepper driver from ebay

Are you me?

Enlighten Us please

>>84094

It's not a CNC machine, it's a 3D printer.

Probs one of these: http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page

>>84151

mill*

badump

>>84151
thank you anon i wish i knew about this earlier!

it would be awsome to have a cnc mill and a 3d printer. quite alot of freedom in developing custom components the possibilities are endless!

>>84125
whelp these are the steppers i bought and bearings and the LPT adapter since my pc is fairly new

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/TB6560-3-Axis-Driver-and-Nema-23-Stepper-Motor-CNC-kit-/290566031868?
pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43a715c9fc#ht_3466wt_1163

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Deep-16mm-Diameter-Groove-Skate-Wheel-Bearings-625ZZ-/290639044243?pt=LH_
DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43ab6fde93#ht_1514wt_1396

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-USB-DB25-Female-Port-Print-Converter-Cable-LPT-/280680921831?
pt=AU_Computers_Printer_Accessories&hash=item4159e2fae7#ht_1326wt_1163

then im hoping to make a gantry cnc similar to this style but i want the gantry to be alot more lightweight.

http://buildyourcnc.com/default.aspx

if i get this babey all done and dusted i will then add to it some hall effect sensors and program it so that ET can phone home and return to his origin.

then i might add a video camera if it's not overly autistic which can come in handy.

after that i want to make a 3D printer like the one posted here

>>82125

after which i want to make a small 6 axis pick and place robot arm that can move parts between the cnc mill and 3D printer THAT WOULD BE FUCKING AWSOME. but i'll be lucky enough if i can get the cnc done.

Here is my Tracktor DJ controller

building a robot, just moves around and shit now

>>84538
is there a tutorial for anything like this somewhere?

>>84125
http://www.buildyouridea.com/cnc/hblb/phase7/phase7.html

that should solve the issue with the linear guide, if only i can make that out of wood.

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