Photo by Adafruit (c) BY-NC-SA

The Ice Tube clock is definitely an interesting kit, made so by the use of the blue-glowing high voltage vacuum florescent display (VFD) tube.

The clock consists of an ATmega168 which runs a counter accurate to ~+/- 1 second per 24 hours. The circuit contains an input from a wallwart type power supply but also includes a back-up battery.  The display is only lit when plugged in but the battery provides enough power to keep time for months.  In order to operate the VFD tube a much higher voltage is needed.  To generate the higher voltage a boost converter is constructed with one of the outputs of the ATmega, an inductor and a few capacitors.  The pin from the ATmega controls the duty cycle of the converter, which is used to control the overall brightness of the display.

The actual control of what the pins on the display are doing is left to the MAX6921 VFD driver chip. The ATmega sends the data over SPI to the MAX which coordinates the high voltage pins of the tube to generate the clock display.  While constructing and testing the circuit it’s important to remember that the part of the circuit nearest the drive chip operates at a high voltage and that it can take minutes for the capacitor to dissipate. Just be mindful of it while testing things before you put the case on.

The instructions available on Ladyada.net are pretty straightforward.  The kit comes with sockets for both the Atmega and the VFD driver chip.  They don’t increase the profile any more than the other through-hole components.  Being able to solder in a socket removes having to worry about burning out a chips pin by soldering too long.  The most tricky part is making sure the tube is aligned and getting all of the leads started.  After that it just takes some patience to wiggle the board down evenly.

The clear acrylic case, designed by Amanda Wozniak is a perfect fit for the style of the rest of the clock.  The clever way that the bolts and nuts are used to make the joints is really interesting. I look like it could almost slip right into pieces but each bolt puts just enough tension on the rest that it stays snugly in place.

I would recommend this kit to anyone fond of clocks or unconventional electronics bits. Just follow the instructions and the high voltage isn’t anything to be worried about.

This post belongs to a category of posts about different projects that i’m building.  Some projects are things that i’m creating and some are kits designed by other folks that I’ve purchased and put together.  For other project posts see the projects category.

Share/Save

The kit consists mainly of three different PCBs that hold each of the different colored LEDs at different heights away from the back clock face. This creates shadow casts of differing lengths, giving the hands of the clock.  While constructing the kit it is very important that you get the LEDs consistently aligned on each board. Instead of asking you to insert, align, hold in place and solder all 72 of them individually, they used the PCBs themselves to make a handy jig.

As shown above you insert all of the LEDs for the ring and then sandwich them in place with another ring. Once you check over that they’re aligned you go around and solder one leg of each LED.  Check once more that they all seem to be pointing to center and then solder the remaining leg of the LED.  Remove the screws and board holding them down and you’ve got an entire ring of well aligned LEDS without having to worry about taping anything down or something slipping while you’re holding the solder and iron.  This detail, and the included jig for bending the LED leads to 90 degrees make this kit something that anyone with a little proficiency with an iron can accomplish.

The only part of the build that seemed a  little iffy was bending all of the LEDS so that they pointed down at the center spike. When you solder the LEDs in you’re already making sure that they are pointed to the center of the circle. After you get the board in place and wired up you need to make sure they’re pointing down, outside the plane of the board, and straight at the spike on the clock face.  It takes a little getting used to but they really do bend just fine.  Just mark sure you’re making good solder joints when you put them in.

After you get all the LEDs straightened out it’s time to put it into it’s case and voila! An awesome timepiece that you can show off to your friends.  I would definitely recommend this kit to anyone who likes clocks and is looking for a good intermediate kit build.  It’s very easy to follow the instructions and get it put together right.

This post belongs to a category of posts about different projects that i’m building.  Some projects are things that i’m creating and some are kits designed by other folks that I’ve purchased and put together.  For other project posts see the projects category.

Share/Save

The Meggy Jr. is a handheld, LED pixel-based game development kit made by Evil Mad Science.

After finding out about the Meggy Jr. from a member of my hackerspace, TC Maker, I purchased one as soon as I got home.  The 8×8 LED matrix just seemed so old school and amazing that I  had to have one to play with.  I finally received it and then it sat, on my bookshelf, for over a year.

Even after having built a workbench in my living room for soldering projects, the Meggy languished under a pile of electronics parts.  Finally, after moving back to Minneapolis, MN and re-joining up with TC Maker I finally got to putting my Meggy together.  Hacker mojo is something that requires some diligence to maintain; if you don’t use it you lose it.  Recently, Paul Sobczak and I started an Electronics Hacking Night (eHack Night) at TC Maker.  It’s been a great motivator and platform for getting back into electronics hacking.  Kits like the Meggy Jr. are perfect for sharpening up soldering skills and getting the creative juices flowing again.

Building the Meggy was a fun experience which I managed to complete in one evening.  Evil Mad Science puts a lot of thought into the end result of their kits as well as the build experience.  I wasn’t planning on this post when building so I’m lacking some build photos.

The Meggy comes with a game pre-flashed on the Atmega 328, “Attack of the Cherry Tomatoes”. This makes it fun to play straight out of the box build process.  I’ve also uploaded a  game of snake to my Meggy which can be found on the Evil Mad Science website.

Coworkers, family and friends have all been wowed with the Meggy.  After I tell them that I built it they get even more curious, even those that know I like to tinker with and build things.  I look forward to trying out some other games people have already made and trying something new myself.

Share/Save

Update [12/16] - So I feel like I’m shooting myself in the foot here, but there will be no release at the moment.  It turns out i’m becoming notoriously bad at estimating time needed for projects, especially where padding for unforeseen events comes into play.  After making my post last week I had some personal issues come up that have been taking up a significant amount of time.  It also seems I have undertaken a few too many homemade Christmas presents this year, and with THAT’s a deadline I can’t miss.

That being said, progress is being made.  Two-way communication between Foobar and Snarl is coming along nicely.  There will soon be configurable actions when left (or right) clicking the snarl notifications.  It’s the handling of the configuration that’s been slowing me up.  As far as deadlines, lets say I’m confident FooSnarl will hit 1.0 no later than Foobar2k releases a stable 1.0.

For more day-to-day, short form updates on FooSnarl progress, follow my new twitter account @FooSnarl

For heckling about the delay, use the comments below or tweet me @pyrodogg

Share/Save

A few days ago I came across a bench designed by Bre Pettis for the Make: Weekend Projects program back in 2006.  It’s a nice simple design consisting of plywood, 2x4s, and wood screws, something I can accomplish in a day.  The design calls for making it 8′ long but I think that’ll be a bit big for my needs so I’m going to cut it in half to 4′.  The new workspace will be good because  I anticipate working on a few projects concurrently.

The Build

On Saturday I went across town to the local Menards to pick up my supplies.  It was nice to find a 4′ x 4′ piece of plywood for the top instead of getting a 4×8 piece and only using half.  I got a handsaw to do all the cutting and a $30 cordless drill for fastening things together (you could use a hammer if you’re so inclined).

I got all of the 2×4′s cut down in no time, using towel covered table benches as my saw horses.  One benefit of making decisions ahead of time  is that I was able to eliminate an entire 2×4 from the design, saving me time and money.

I got a little help holding down the plywood and got the table top, shelf and back brace cut next.

Screwing things went together went pretty well too.  It turns out that cheap and small power tools don’t have much power.  I had to turn my drill up to it’s maximum torque setting just to drive 2 1/2″ screws through 2x4s.  I guess I could have drilled pilot holes.  Or I could have just bought a hammer and some nails.

The Results

For the first (if simple) woods project I’ve tackled in a while I managed to get everything put together fairly square.  The table is even near dead on level!

More photos on flickr

Go ahead and make your own! Let me know how it goes.

More info on workbench design

Make Podcast: Weekend Projects – Make a Workbench

Share/Save

Dorm room automation kit.  There are many ways you could add automation to your house, many including hard wiring things in to the building to make them hidden.  In a dorm room that isn’t an option, everything must be left as it was found.  I want to make some sort of system to control lights and other small appliances that leaves no permanent marks, but is also fairly compact and not just a bunch of cables running all over the floor.

4/30

Building a system to monitor an NTPA pulling truck engine.  I want to make some small system to record things like the header temperature, and some other variables.  It must also survive the physical rigors of barreling down the track (no moving parts).  A simple microcontroller (arduino?), some sensors and an SD card might work.

5/30

A random flavor button for the pop machine in the IEEE room.  Everyone is always wondering loudly which pop they should get.  I have an urge to hack the machine and add led lights to the buttons.  If you press the random button, they light up and pulse in sequence until the light stops on a random one.

6/30

A scale, which I can calibrate to the weight of a book, the Wizards First Rule for instance.  A timer can be set and the book removed.  If the book is removed without setting the timer, or the timer expires an alarm goes off.  NO snooze option.  The book must be replaced for a certain amount of time before the timer can be set again.  This would keep me from reading 800 pages in one weekend again, very bad.

Share/Save

I will be posting my current and potential projects here.

Day 1

I want to make a book out of my photos from my spring break vacation to national parks out west.  I have so far processed a few of them, but there are many more yet to be worked on.  When I’m completed I hope to make my first book using the blurb.com bookmaking service.  Some of the photos can already be found on my flickr photostream

Share/Save

I’ll be going back tomorrow to solder together the Danger Shield I also purchased recently.  Man, I almost forgot how easy it is to solder things together when you have nice equipment.  It’s great that the IEEE group has a nice lab bench because I’m unfortunately unable to afford to put together a decent one of my own right now.  That tends to hinder a number of my hardware oriented ideas.

I also went out today to take some nice fall photos along the river, but as soon as I got down there the weather decided to not play as nicely as i’d hoped.  I had to hide from the rain for a little while, and then It was cloudy so I missed the nice vibrant shots I had set out for.  I still made the best of it and I should have those done and up on Flickr by the end of the weekend.

Share/Save

http://sourceforge.net/projects/foosnarl/

Share/Save

I’ve been borrowing heavily from the one component tutorial and alot of digging in the SDK.  Other than that I’ve had little source code to go off of.  And I haven’t even been able to get on the developement forum on Hydrogen audio (still one day left of their 5 day “you can’t do anything” registration scheme).  I now think I can essentially  finish what I initially planned, but may end up seeking furthur advice when it gets too GUI intensive.

Share/Save