Let me first say sorry for not posting in a while. Ive been sick a bit lately plus working a new job and I have a 1yr old now.. so not much time for these things.Anyhow here is a preview of what I’ve been working on lately. I’ll see if I can post today some details later on.
Laser cut keys holder
Made this the other day. Simple and useful.
AtomMSSP
Coming soon..
What is it?
AtomMSSP is a I2C & SPI development tool. It’s basic use is to test I2C and SPI devices. Use it to dump eeproms, control shift registers and more. I’m developing a windows application but will post little manual on how to create ur own application or automate communication.
It’s basically a USB to UART to I2C/SPI & GPIO.I created a nice packet system for it and it’s pretty simple to use. You get some GPIOs to use and control of powering the external chip via the program. You can turn off or on the device basically. Also AtomMSSP has a 5V tollerant I2C port.Also has a built in I2C scanner function. What’s even better is it will lookup the devices in a json file I will include and give you more info in a automatically generated HTML file.
Might include 5v tolerant gpio and SPI.. just lots of work.Been working on this a couple weeks. It’s fun. Even working on a enclosure. Windows application designed in C#. All firmware is written in XC8. (Microchip) uses a PIC18F27J53 mcu with 12mhz clock + PLL to 48MHz.That’s all for now but expect an update in maybe a week. This will be for sale in the coming months on my Tindie store. I’ll be sure to post a link.Update: 6-29-19 7:28pmChanged from json to text file. This will allow any user to add devices with a simple text editor.
Converted the entire json I had to txt.
Update: changed the layout and flow a bit. Simpler to send full commands.
Laser fun
Just made a couple stamps from 2 different materials. Linoleum and some Clear plastic stuff. I’ll get the name soon…I need to cut a little deeper but good results.
Here are the results:
K40 Laser
Just got a new K40 Laser. Yes one of those Chinese lasers but I love it. Been wanting one for years and years.
So far it works beautifully. Got the bucket with water and fan on. No setup issues at all.
My only concern is the fan doesn’t sit perfectly .. like there is a 1/4 in gap on top. I might just seal that with a foam gasket or rubber. Not sure yet.
I might upgrade the fan and water pump also. Just for safety
Below are test shot video and a sample of what I made so far.
I plan to use this for a side business and to make customized enclosures for my PCB’s.
Magic
In an inventing mood.. got an idea but will take about a week or so to make.. dont even want to say what it is but expect something cool soon. Hint is in the title lol
Update 6-12-2019: I haven’t had time to play but this is still on my mind
Getting Settled
Hey guys, while ive been living here in my new place for a couple months now ive barely had time to even set up a decent work area. By the time i get home im too tired to do anything but i finally got around to fixing up a room for me to play in. While its not 100% complete, its usable.
As you can see i have lots to play with. This is about 75% to 80% of my tools. Whats missing are tools i use for work like my 20v Makita drills and griders. My sawzall and other hand tools. Since i use them for heavy work stuff i dont put them on the wall.
The good news is im almost done and juse got my ESP32 board to play with.
I hope i get time soon to tinker and build things. I want to hopefully create a small network for home automation. Yes i know its been done and it may not seem like a big deal but if i can make a cheap alternative to these high priced devices ill be happy.
I hope i get more opportunities to write here and hope you guys visit often. Thanks!
Back to it!
Ok ill be trying my best to blog more often of my adventures in the world of electronics. Ive recently ugraded my cnc to be a laser cutter/engraver with a new 500 x 1000mm rail. Using a 500mW laser right now but have a nice 10W laser in the mail.
Ive also designed all new electronics for it. New arduino, new grbl 0.9 & 1.1 compatible pcb and new limits and motor/laser control pcb.
This is going to be my focus for the coming months but ill be sure to include any and all details i can.
Pix-Watch – Teensy 3.2 based smartwatch
https://hackaday.io/project/8441-pix-watch-teensy-32-based-smartwatch
I have been recently asked to join the group creating a awesome smartwatch. Ill be designing the PCB and Schematic. Im currently at the parts creation portion and will be designing the schematic any day now.
Go take a look at the hackaday link above and share your thoughts 🙂
Weather Base
I have decided to work on a small or i should say basic weather display for in my home. It will use a Arduino Zero Clone (AtomZero), 7in LCD, MicroSD for images, Wifi using the ESP8266, some internal temp sensor and probably a 12v adapter to supply 3.3v @ 3A or something.
Now this might not seem basic but i will try my best to make code available and understandable. I usually dont comment anything but ill try to this time.
The ESP8266 will be using NodeMCU to help take the load off the AtomZero. NodeMCU is new and a mystery to me so i will be studying this:Â https://github.com/nfriedly/nodemcu-weather-station
He seems to have a weather station done completely on the ESP8266 which is quite cool. But the LCD i want to use requires SPI (MOSI, MISO, CS, SCK, INT, SCL, SDA, CS2(SD)) Thats 8 IO already, not even sure if i missed any 🙂
The LCD is a 7 inch capacitive touch (5 finger max) and will have a simple GUI to set things like Wifi user/pass, Location , update info etc… When on it will take about 800mA to 1.2A which is the main reason i dont plan on using batteries, even though i will have the screen timeout i still would like to not have to worry about batteries. I might make it have a small 800mAH battery just to be able to move round the house without having it turn off.
Jan 20, 2016: will be paying what ever code i have done so far today or tomorrow.
