no time for facts

Time flies like an arrow... Fruit flies like a banana

2010-09-15T20:38:00.007+01:00

Been about a month since I posted my working on the desk. Unfortuantely that month has not seen a mountain of production, but my room as a whole is slowly coming together, and work has continued.

First and foremost I added the first of some necessary shelving options. This one is the most important as it holds all my electronic testing equipment. What engineer is complete without test equipment??

I have a very nice analogue oscilloscope, rescued from ruin last year. I also recieved a 2Mhz function generator and old school psu before they were binned. I do hate that teaching establishments tend to trash working equipment, but love it when I get to save it :) Need to find a way to organise all the cool stuff they dump being given to me automatically.

The desk has also had a makeover. Unfortunately, the fablon I purchased was matt white, and being a note of more than just the colour, it was useless as a dry-wipe surface. However, the next best thing is that the desk has been painted with an eggshell wood paint, providing a cleanable, worktop surface. This will then be carefully covered with clear fablon, which thankfully does have the necessary markerphilic properties.

In other news, I recieved my order from Tee publishing (.co.uk). Took a few days and they dont send a sent notification, so was wondering when it would get here. The book I recieved is regarded as something akin to a holy text among a special group of mad folk (hackers/tinkerers/makers).

Written by a prophet known as David J. Gingery, The Charcoal Foundry is the first of 7 books in the series Build Your Own Metal Working Shop From Scrap. In the 1st book, your are guided step-by-step in the theory and construction of a charcoal furnace to melt scrap metal, and the art of sandcasting your own metal parts.

The following in the series are:
The Metal Lathe
The Metal Shaper
The Milling Machine
The Drill Press
The Dividing Head & Delux Accessories
Designing & Building The Sheet Metal Brake

Followed in this order, the reader is taught how to use the creation from the previous book(s) in order to create the next part. So, in theory once I have a charcoal furnace, I use it to cast parts to build my lathe. Then I cast and Turn Parts for a Metal Shaper...etc, etc

You can kinda see why this is such an amazing series, and why there are a subsect of makers who feel that May 3rd, the date of his passing, should be a recognised holiday.

If you're interested (Jamie) then the books can be found from teepublishing.co.uk, but as the delivery price compounds with each book, you might be better buying the whole series straight from the original american publisher, Lyndsay.

http://www.lindsaybks.com/dgjp/index.html

Thats all my tired brain will allow at the moment, and not much more has really happened anyway. So, until next time.

Zai Jian

Marc

"Rule 1 - Cardio..."

I am the Desk King!

2010-08-13T23:55:00.005+01:00

Today, several awesome things happened. First, my first week ended with my boss seeming happy about my work so far, and next week looking interesting, if hard.

Secondly, when I got home there were 3 surprises waiting for me. First, I recieved my first ever package addressed to the tinker shed:

Which contained my very own Bus Pirate:

This is a device designed by Ian Lesnet (hero!), and is an interfacing tool used to connect via a serial terminal, allowing designers to prototype new chips and devices without the need to write reams of code, and suffer several inches of hair recession in the process. The device is maintained at dangerous prototypes and can be purchased at seeed studio.

If that wasn't enough, when I entered my room, my desktop had been cut for me following my plans, leading to my finished worktop and bringing it ever closer to completion :)

So, I'm gonna go play with my bus pirate, and research how the hell an MSP430 works...

Tot ziens

M64

I'm sleepy

2010-08-13T09:17:00.003+01:00

Morning always seems to swing by far, far too fast... I'm sleepy, but unlike my cohort, not hungover.

which is new :p

Anyway, continued work on the desk last night, which has brought me to the stage of near-completion. All that is left now is the final 2 worktops and a bookcase, but that bit isn't so important. I'm going to finish the worktops in either Melamine backing board (white...desk? Ftw) or with sticky-backed Fablon, a plastic sheeting which will be tested to guage it's dry marker conditions.

For now, I should get back to work, but if you're interested, here's the next batch of foties, enjoy.

Something old, Something new, Something Borrowed.... and a Tardis!

2010-08-11T22:39:00.011+01:00

It's been almost a year to the day since I posted on this site (368 days if we're being pedantic) as I purchased a new site... which I haven't posted on in almost as long... But no more!

It's much easier to post blogs on these sorta sites, so wether I'll continue to post here, or start a dedicated tinkershed blog I don't yet know. However, for the time being, blogs here, and any full projects will be written up on the site, should any happen.

I am currently working (again) for the Lews Castle College, researching learning materials for secondary (high school) students, the design of a permanent interactive display for Renewable Energy Sources and the installation of an embedded web server to allow remote dataloggers to transmit their results to be published in a single place.

In my own time, I am currently designing and constructing an epic workbench, which I shall now christen:

First I measured most of my room (as this is now the space dedicated to the desk, who really needs a bed anyway? Then I did more planning and preparation than I've ever done for one of my hair-brained schemes...

Then, I calculated all my wood requirements, utilising the awesome power of 2x1" and 2x2" pine timber and 8x4' MDF, so as to achieve my desky awesomeness.

The desk will occupy the left hand side of my room, reaching 3 walls and using 1 and 3/4 sheets of mdf for its working area. On Monday, the room was stripped on that side, and the first of the legs were put in place.

Today, the first piece of mdf worktop was cut and fitted, and it is that surface from which I am currently posting. I'm very excited about this desk, as I have been meaning to find a project that would help me try and learn my fathers diy skills for some time now. Over the next few days, the 2 remaining worktops will be fitted, and an mdf bookcase added.

I'm currently deciding on what to use to cover the top of my workspace, and am leaning towards Melamine backing board, as used in shower enclosures, due to it's whiteboard-emulating properties. What better way to work through design ideas than a whiteboard desktop?

Anyway, I'm tired and off to bed soon. Hope this wasn't tooo boring a read for you, and I'll try to spice things up in the future. Maybe with erotic stories or something, who knows.

Tìoraidh

Marc

"Break out the L-word" "Lesbian?" "No, the other L-word" ".....Lesbians?"

FREEscale!

2009-08-09T16:27:00.007+01:00

I'm trying to avoid studying so I thought I'd mention the Freescale chips that arrived a few days ago. Thanks to the generous nature of freescale when it comes to samples (Atmel, it has to be said, have still not contacted me about my chip request...) I have received 10 free chips with which to test and play. I think this is a great thing for hobbyists and inventors, as it allows people to order interesting chips, and actually play about with them, without the fear of breakage. This means that more people can experiment without worry of destroying the chip, or melting it in attempts to surface mount solder it. (especially as some chips can only be bought in rolls of 1000 from their site...)

The 1st chip I ordered was the MC9S08JM60CLH, a SMD chip of the same family as one I have used in my Uni courses. I ordered this because of the Defcon 16 badge Joe Grand created for the Defcon convention, as it really interested me with regards to what it can do.

The 2nd is the MC56F8006VLF, which is designed for use within power systems. I was drawn by this for possible application in my final year project.

The one on the left is the MC56F8006VLF, with the MC9S08JM60CLH on the right. For size I have used a GB 10 pence piece, which for international standard is almost exactly the size of an American quarter... as I don't know where I put mine...

Yes, they are actually minuscule. The MC56F8006VLF is daunting when you think of the task of soldering, but that's where half the fun is...

Oh, and for clarity, if by some chance an American Engineer does stumble across this page, it is pronounced soLdering. There is an L for a reason, if it was spelt soDDering, I'd understand, but please can you start a movement to change this trend of pronunciation, especially as I have now let the spelling of Analog go...

It's Analogue btw..

Salam

M64

"Welcome to the Hotel New Hampshire..."

Faildays and pictures...

2009-08-07T09:16:00.011+01:00

Today's update is very picture oriented. If you don't like this, I am sorry, and if you send me a complaint, along with £10 processing fee, I will be sure to sort out this matter in future.

To begin with,

Needless to say, the coil casting failed miserably... I didn't use enough hardner, causing parts of the cast to remain gooey and gel-like even after 2 days of drying. Also, due to the horrific look of the resin mixed with talc, the colour was horrible, even before it mixed with the wax. Basically, it all went wrong, and I lost all my coils in the process. Fortunately, we learn from our mistakes.

Problem is, I'm reluctant to put this new knowledge into practice, so I am consentrating on:

ELECTRONICS!!!

Sorry. I love building stuff, and much prefer it to fabrication...
This is the in-progress work of my Arduino-based Datalogger. When finished, it will read (in real time) the voltage and current created by the bike, and display this, along with the calculated power, onto the LCD screen. It will also use a light sensor rx/tx pair to record the rpm of the wheel, and calculate this into m/s. All this data will also be recorded on the SD card to allow graphing and long-term storage of the resultant data for the turbine.

As a special treat:

This is a photo of the Helium weather baloon used by the other research group for their investigation into harnessing more powerful wind currents at greater height. The reason we went out to watch was purely to see the balloon either crash or escape. Unfortunately neither happened. Least we can watch tv though, right?

Aavajo

M64

"I'm sorry Shaun..." "What?!?" "No, I'm sorry, Shaun..." "OH GOD!"

We want FREEEDOOOMMM!!!... No? fine, gimmie a fiver then...

2009-08-04T20:44:00.003+01:00

Today was busy. Spurred by the hope that I could get a picture of a member of the Scottish cabinet riding my tur-bike I worked hard to try and finish it. This meant casting the coils in plastic resin, which didn't go to plan.

Firstly, if you are ever encasing in plastic something you hope to display, check that the resin you use does not look like a tin of runny sick. 2nd, be prepared for how utterly god-awful a tin of runny sick looks when mixed with un-sieved talcum powder. 3rd, always check how much accelerant your specific resin requires, or you could be waiting a long time for a train that only comes when you open the foul-smelling (and looking) part-gelatinous, part-solid swill that resides inside your beautiful mould and threatens to hold your time shite spent coils trapped in it's useless tendrils.

In case you hadn't noticed, it didn't all go to plan. Basically the main problem was I underestimated how much hardner was required by the resin, prompting an unbelievably slow curing process, that was only confirmed to have started when we opened up the mould and peered into the murky, gel-rubber depths. Fingers crossed it will work...

If by luck it has worked, the next step will be the electronics. As each coil has been extended to the outside of the stator by both its beginning and end, I can make nearly any configuration of coils I want. First order of business will be to wire them up all in parallel, for maximum current, and all series, for maximum voltage. Going from there I will look at how to get the most usable configuration, and connect that to external loads.

So far these look to be resistive loads, light bulbs and a simple electrolyser.

Fun stuff :)

Shalom

M64

"It's a kind of magic..."

I can't compete with Alex's title...

2009-07-31T20:44:00.004+01:00

I also love free stuff. Unfortunately, I can't think up a title as well as Him, so I'll stick with the one I've got.

Yes, to business... This week was pretty good haul-wise. Not only did I get a free CRT monitor (for my wee bro, as I am already sporting a gorgeous 19" LG LCD) I got myself (what seems to be) a fine dell computer. This is nice for several reasons, no. 1 being IT WAS FREE!!!!!

Ahem... Also, it means that I don't have to live in fear of my wee laptop giving up the ghost as, as long as it makes it past my resits, I will be able to back up all my files onto it's drive using Semantic(?), which is a networking program that allows your computers to communicate. It will also allow me to start looking at CAD tools, as it has a decent processor, a little ram (more RAM to follow...) and a good graphics card (with DVI-out). As well as a long sought-after parallel output for microcontroller bootloading and eventual 3D printer communications.

In addition, I also received an email from Freescale, informing me that the chip samples I ordered have been dispatched. Wait, sorry, FREE chip samples...
I saw the idea on an instructible, and decided it couldn't hurt, so ordered interesting chips from both Freescale and Atmel. Haven't heard anything from Atmel, but 10 chips (5x MC56F8006VLF and 5x MC9S08JM60CLH) are currently winging their way from Freescale free of charge.

I didn't *just* do this for the free chips. As I have been getting exited about the Arduino, I have been thinking about programming other chips in the native C language, as well as the basic-C the Arduino uses. One of the chips I ordered due to an awesome article on last years Defcon Badge, and the second was due to its *many* I/O pins... nearly 100 I think. Also, it is tailor made for use in power systems, and is possibly perfect for my 4th year project...

Anyway /Spiel

À bientôt

M64

"Why'd you tell people I'm 30???" "Because you get better presents...."

DANGER! This room is perfectly safe...

2009-07-31T01:03:00.004+01:00

Been rushing all day to try and get these fabricated before the Scottish Cabinet turns up on Tuesday. Unfortunately (can't believe I actually feel this way) we have a 4 day weekend now, meaning Tuesday morning will be a rush to try and cast my coils in the resin... I really want it doing something so the renewable secretary can ride it... This is my goal right now!

In the pictures you can see 12 magnets glued (yes, holding) onto a 2mm steel plate. This was a job and a bloody half by the way. Using a wooden jig, the magnets were slotted into their spaces, with OPPOSING polarities, so the top face is attracted to it's neighbour, while the bottom (the bit you're trying to force into the slot) is doing its best to fly away.

FYI, these are all extremely strong Neodymium magnets, so forcing them into place, and gluing them was no mean feat.

Just to clarify, as I have not yet mentioned;

My project is the fabrication (from stratch) of an electricity generator, modelled after hand-made wind turbines, which is to be mounted onto an exercise bike. It's main function is to allow students to interact with electricity generation, rather than just watch. It was designed so that students could be taught about the hydrolosis of water to generate Hydrogen. The standard experiment for this is to attach a solar panel to an electrolyser, and let students see the bubbles of hydrogen form. Using the bike, they can interact with the experiment (making it a lot less boring) while also gaining understanding of the idea of loads on power generation methods, as the larger the load on the end, the larger the resistance in the coils will be, making it much more difficult to pedal.

There, I think that kind of paragraph will be enough for the cabinet...

Auf Wiedersehen

M64

"I'll take the job, 'till I die, or you find someone better"

Bosses are coming... Look Busy

2009-07-29T16:42:00.006+01:00

Looking busy while not is a talent of mine. Don't get me wrong, I do work hard when I need to, and I procrastinate on things that are kind of relevant to my job... or that I make relevant. But, since we may be getting a visit from the Scottish Cabinet while they are on their visit to our wee Isle for a meeting, our boss told us not to tidy up too much, instead, make it look like we're really busy.

As you can tell from the picture above, all it really takes is a few big electronics instruments on your desk to pull off a pretty good bluff of extreme work. On the plus side, they are also all instruments I will be using in the coming weeks.

I'm currently rushing to get some kind of output from my turbike before Tuesday as, if I can, and we do get a visit, I think a picture of the Renewables Secretary (or, if I'm very lucky, the First Minister) sitting on a power-generating bike of my design nd construction could be a keeper...

Adios,

M64

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

Definitivamente

2009-07-27T23:45:00.005+01:00

There you go, finally, in all it's subtle awesomeness in my very own Arduino Duemilanove. I know it doesn't look like much, but it's kind of like getting your first car, or games console... This guy understands...

Anyway, the reason I'm excited about this is the possibility of projects that can be done from it. From making your piezoelectric buzzer sing twinkle twinkle little star for the first time, to embedding it in an unmanned UAV, it's powers seem limited only by your imagination, and the number of I/O pins you have...

I hope this little guy will be the first step towards my becoming a semi-successful Analogue/Digital engineer, with the ability to jump between several families (and companies) of chips developing later on. I love designing projects in my head, and until now that's where they tended to stay. Hopefully soon, they will start to appear in corporeal form... Oh the possibilities are astounding :)

But for now, the learning stage must be entered into. This entails a digital multimeter with LCD display and SD storage. See, even though it's work, it sounds interesting.

Ciao,

M64

"I cried like a child at the end of terminator 2"

Bad Blutooth...

2009-07-27T20:20:00.004+01:00

Finally bought a bluetooth module today, seeing as my slowly-dying motherboard decided that my internal card reader was too much of a luxury. Used it at work (after getting the admin it to authorise it) and really liked it. It's a Nexxus blue micro pro usb dongle - only sticks out 7mm from the usb slot, so it's designed to be left in. It amazes me what electronics you can cram into tiny packages these days.

Problem only started when I got home. Before my motherboard complained that the occasionally used sd card reader was too much for it, it decided I could easily live without a cd drive. While this hasn't been too much of an inconvenience (I mean, it has been, but it was manageable) it does mean I have to download drivers for new peripherals. You may think, "Well, that's not too bad, we do live in a very internet-orientated world, can't be that hard" and to a degree, you'd be right. It is easy to find drivers for well known brands, but it turns out, this module is not by a well known brand. So, I am stuck with a module that, like most of my computer, doesn't work properly.

So, after an hour of searching, I finally gave in and sent them an email, one which I'm sure will quote that, as it is a Toshiba licensed software package, they will be unable to send me a .exe file I could use, lest I post it on teh evil interwebs!

It's not a massive deal I suppose, I can always try and borrow an external cd drive from someone, it's just that I wanted to post my sexy Arduino on my page, and as I left the Nokia's cable at home, I am unable to do so... :(

On the bright side, I can try and do it from my work computer tomorrow, so all shiny!

So, until next time, play safe, party hard and always nab free computer tech when IT guys are having a clearout...

M64

"You ain't seen bad boys 2!?"

Open-Source Revolution

2009-07-27T10:39:00.005+01:00

I love open-source technology. I feel it is amazing that some companies are willing to share their ingenuity to the masses. Yes, it means they might lose income as people choose to fabricate their own boards or buy clones, but it also means that they benefit from the ingenuity of the communities that huddle around the fire, stoking the projects with new and interesting ideas.

It is only recently that I disovered the Arduino. For anyone who is unfamiliar, the Arduino is an open-source microcontroller programming board with it's own, simplified development environment. It is aimed primaraly at beginners and hobbyists, as it's simplified C-based language and development suite is easier to use than say, a Freescale MC9S08QG8 with GNU Codewarrior. Not that I'm knocking this controller or suite, I've used them both in my University course, it's just that the Arduino is designed to be easier to use, and has entire pages dedicated to supported projects.

The great thing about this board being open-source is that you could build one yourself, or buy a cheaper or more-optomised clone. A great example of this is the Sanguino board, an Arduino clone that utilises a larger chip to drive projects that need more memory or I/O pins. It also means other people are constantly pusing the boundaries of what it can do. I recieved my own Arduino Duemilanove last week, and am looking forward to playing with it to see what I can do with it, with the aim of integration into my final-year project when it starts.

Also, if you are interested in open-source and haven't yet descovered it, check out reprap.org, the homepage for the very interesting RepRap (Repricable Rapid-Prototyping machine) 3D printer, and any other link in my frequenting list on the main page. I have many ideas for this machine when I can get round to building one...

The final thing I have been looking at over the past week, is the Hack A Day bus pirate. I'm not sure about this one, but I feel it could be useful to chip-testing in my project, as I feel there may be more than one microcontroller making the rounds inside it... I just hope Atmel and freescale aren't so bad rivals that their chips won't talk....

M64

"Shiny, let's be bad guys"

Rebirth

2009-07-26T19:49:00.002+01:00

Good Morning, Afternoon, Evening, Night, Day, Cycle or Age whoever you are.

Welcome to No Time For Facts, the web-blog for my projects, ideas, thoughts and rambling.

My name is Marc and I am a BEng Electronics and Electrical Engineering student, based in the UK.

I am very passionate about the practical aspects of my course and chosen field, and decided that it is in this direction i wanted to take my blog. You may wonder why the two previous blog-posts are so random, with no introductory posts or previous welcomes.

Truth is, the blog was originally made as a way for me to rant about things that annoyed me, and rave about things I liked. I wanted to change the direction in a much more positive way because I wanted to use the space to document my upcoming projects (that hopefully come to fruition) and create a space in which to grow my ideas online.

So welcome to the new and improved No Time For facts. Put your feet up, grab a glass of your favourite drink that makes you blind and hopefully enjoy what you find in the times to come. Unfortunately, time is pressing on me right now with other commitments so I am unable to attempt any projects right now, but shall still hopefully post every once in a while until I do.

This space is also where I want to document my final-year project. It is a project I have been looking forward to for several months now, and cannot wait until it starts, but for now you'll have to wait before I reveal it.

I hope you find something interesting here as the site develops, and please leave feedback when it does.

Peace

M64

Star wars Day

2009-05-04T17:48:00.003+01:00

Man, I am a blatant picture stealer. I can't help it, my drawing skills are worse than a cats... However I do try to embed the images using their original positions and will remove any at the request of the creator... Not like anyone else is actually gonna see it here anyway.

Aaaaanyway...

Happy Star Wars Day, the day where you can emulate the fine fellow depicted above and pretend you're in Star Wars. Open automatic doors with the wave of a hand, talk in broken speech like Yoda, pretend your dressing gown is really a cloak and wear a Lightsaber without being looked at oddly. Fuck it, wear one EVERY day from this day forward, and just use it to smack anyone who looks at you oddly. Though, if you do do this it should be red, you evil Sith Lord you.

So, hope you have a great day and "May the Fourth" be with you :P

Velociraptor Awareness day...

2009-04-18T13:23:00.003+01:00

(xkcd.com)

Happy Velociraptor Awareness Day....

I hope you were previously aware of this day, brought to our attention by the modern-day prophet Randall Munroe from xkcd. Please use this day to check your home, and the homes of any dear friends/family, for it's security against Velociraptor attack. As highlighted in the above diagram, windows and thin/unlocked doors are examples of possible entry points. For more information, please refer to xkcd, searching for velociraptor-related comics, and watch the documentary Jurassic Park for advice on how to deal with attacks. This is not something that can be taken lightly. The danger from Velociraptors is as important now as zombie attacks and nuclear hollocausts. If you love your family, don't put their lives in danger. Devise your attack plans, for all situations.

This is a bloglic service announcement brought to you by M64

Good luck and Mal Reynolds speed...