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DIY Warriors Saluted And Sought
WaveDave writes "I have found some really inspiring pages out there by folks who are hacking together amazingly cool low-cost hardware/software/etc projects (reminiscent of the old homebrew computer club days). With the cost of IC's, sensors, microcontrollers, and PC's falling through the floor, we've entered a time where the barriers to entry on hacking neat projects are lower than they've ever been. There are a lot of indicators of the excitement in these projects, including the recent announcement of the upcoming Make Magazine from O'Reilly. Initially blown away by Matthias Wandel's projects, I've begun to put together a small collection of links to other creative DIY-ers out there, as well as resources for finding parts, getting stuff made (like PCB's and machined stuff). My current list is here - what are some of your favorite creatives and resources?"
In terms of DIY, not many people can beat that guy
you can add to your page include:
Creative people and projects:
- http://www.diyaudio.com/ (DIY audio equipment forum)
- http://sound.westhost.com/projects.htm (audio stuff schematics)
- http://headwize.com/projects/index.htm (DIY headphone stuff)
- http://www.hauptwerk.co.uk/pedalboard.html (DIY MIDI pedalboards, just add keyboards and software and you have a MIDI organ)
- http://www.diysubwoofers.org/ (what it says)
- http://www.plasmatweeter.de/eng_plasma.htm (DIY ionic tweeter)
Places to buy stuff:
- http://www.newark.com/ (major electronics retailer)
- http://www.mouser.com/ (major electronics retailer)
- http://www.tubesandmore.com/ (components for vintage electronics)
Getting stuff made:
- http://www.olimex.com/ (cheap PCBs)
"Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason."
mini-itx.com - many of the projects on there are very inventive...
For electronic parts, you just can't possibly leave out the Electronic Goldmine. They've been around a long time, and in my experience offer the best surplus stuff you can find while charging the least they can get away with. Their bagged assortments are good, and their Electronic Surprise box is actually a good deal if you don't mind sorting through a box of jumbled parts. They also carry many standard components to round out whatever project you're doing.
If you ever want to build a CNC machine, check out TurboCNC. It's "shareware" in the sense that you are free to download and use the fully-functional, nagless program...and what a program it is. TurboCNC 3 has been used by thousands of hobby CNC'ers, and just recently TurboCNC 4 was released with lots of rewritten code, vastly improved user interface, and better stepping rates. This program will pulse stepper motors up to 30KHz on a junker 486 computer with parallel port, depending on the timer hardware. Version 4 adds Pentium timer support, resulting in pulse rates beyond 100,000Hz. The price rose from $20 to $60 with the release of the new version, but that price is if you feel like supporting Dave and his team, and will get you the full sourcecode to the program.
For cheap PCBs: nobody can beat Olimex. Yeah, they're based out of Bulgaria, and the first setup of payment can be a little tricky. But you'll get a double-sided board with plated holes, solder mask, and silkscreen...about $25 for 6" x 4" board. What's even better is that you can send them a number of files, then give them a sketch of how you want the boards arranged and repeated in the 6"x4" area...and they will panelize and cut them out for you, free. That's impressive if you've ever checked out the costs of doing something similar with other PCB houses. Many of them give the impression that it's like cheating to try to get more than one board out of the standard board size, even if your design only requires a few square inches. With Olimex I've gotten up to ten boards for that cheap price. It kind of makes you wonder what other ways you can use outsourcing, instead of whining about it and trying to make the government give your old job back.
By the way, this list has a long way to go before it's the most exhaustive I've seen. For the ultimate in DIY electronics articles and links, try ePanorama, it's been around a long time.
http://www.robotroom.com/
Robot info, projects, and stuff.
He writes books also, scroll down a bit for the free content.
Stop the world; I need to get off.
Alltronics deals in surplus and salvaged components of all shapes and sizes. There was a US$15 minimum order when last I dealed with them.
I had some issues ordering stuff, though... after waiting a week and nothing arrived, I e-mailed them about it and said one of the items wasn't in stock and they were waiting for it. Would be nice if they told me that ahead of time... but other than that I have no complaints. (Got my stuff about 5 days later)
=Smidge=
Double Donkey Kong: http://www.mikesarcade.com/cgi-bin/store.pl?action =link&sku=DDKUP
. htm
Galaxian Multigame: http://www.btinternet.com/~mike.coates/multigame3
Atari Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back Multigame
Tempest/Vortex/Aliens Multigame
Sega Vector Multigame (Star Trek, Space Fury, Tac/Scan, Eliminator, Zektor)
Williams Multigame (Robotron, Defender, Joust, Stargate, Splat!, Bubbles)
Q*Bert Multigame (Q*Bert, FHMC Q*Bert, Q*Bert's Qubes): http://www.multigame.com/KITS.HTM
There's a multi-Pacman PCB out there somewhere, but I'm not sure who makes them anymore. I know twobits.com used to sell one, as did multigame.com. But there was some legal problems with Namco that led to them disappearing.
"You're getting brutal, Sark. Brutal and needlessly sadistic."
"Thank you, Master Control"
-Sark and the MCP
Don Lancaster has an awsome site at The Guru's Lair
He wrote the 555 and ttl cookbook, used to have a Computer Shopper column on writing raw postcript, and has thousands of links and articals on DIY.
This site was mentioned here a few months back. Basically a stripped down games console, which you can buy/build and then write games/whatever to run on the hardware. The software to program the thing is included. Programming it (using assembler) is very similar to coding for the old VCS console. Since there's no video RAM (unless you choose to add it to the hardware), your code directly controls the output as the raster scans across the screen - meaning you have to actually count the clock cycles in your code to ensure you don't end up with electric soup! I think it also has sound hardware, and there's nothing stopping you adding any other mods.
;-)
There are some demos available for download on the site, with full source etc. I don't work for them or anything, but I'm seriously thinking of buying one so I can dive into some retro-coding
Code, Hardware, stuff like that.
I'm partial to ExpressPCB (www.expresspcb.com) for quick-turn cheap 2-sided PCBs. They provide a rudimentary design tool for free (only works with them, though) and you can lay out a PCB one day and have 3 copies in your hands two days later for around $100.
I really enjoy both of these, some good inspiration (and a lot of perspiration), both are heavy into DIY.....
You got to see some of the home made inventions, just too cool. You can see what having an itch to scratch, a pile of junk and a welder will bring you. A lot of it results in some practical applications, some decent inventions have been showcased. I get the dead trees version, every page I am going NEAT! I want one! etc...
Farmshow magazine
This one is for alternative power, a very good site, Home Power magazine, chock fulla alternative energy products, examples, troubleshooting, resources, etc.
Nice links. And here's some karma whoring (not that me needs it).
Creative people and projects:
- http://www.diyaudio.com/ (DIY audio equipment forum)
- http://sound.westhost.com/projects.htm (audio stuff schematics)
- http://headwize.com/projects/index.htm (DIY headphone stuff)
- http://www.hauptwerk.co.uk/pedalboard.html (DIY MIDI pedalboards, just add keyboards and software and you have a MIDI organ)
- http://www.diysubwoofers.org/ (what it says)
- http://www.plasmatweeter.de/eng_plasma.htm (DIY ionic tweeter)
Places to buy stuff:
- http://www.newark.com/ (major electronics retailer)
- http://www.mouser.com/ (major electronics retailer)
- http://www.tubesandmore.com/ (components for vintage electronics)
Getting stuff made:
- http://www.olimex.com/ (cheap PCBs)
I'm sorry if I haven't offended anyone
place to get cases and stuff made:
http://www.emachineshop.com
All you gotta do is send them a CAD drawing and the material you'd like it made of.
That's a pretty basic electronics project. We did that before GCSE in CDT at my school. As the soil dries out, its resistance increases. Above a certain resistance, the beeper/light/whatever comes on.
This looks like a fairly exhaustive recipewww.ucapps.de / www.midibox.org DIY Midi hardware with GPL'ed firmware... Amazing stuff!
For the inevitable Slashdotting, the links are mirrored here: MirrorDot.
Its rather amusing to think about it. In the past when alot of people where poorer and the quality of life was lower we would DIY everything from our house to our garden, car and bicycle. Now we are lazy we sit in side and DIY only our computers in some cases.
Speak for yourself. I'm in the middle of installing electrical wiring in the ~1000 ft^2 of my second story.
If you want to know why we don't all "homebrew" everything, it's because for some things, they cost less to have someone else do them than the time and aggravation it would take us. (That's why, the plumbing, HVAC, and especially the drywall on my house are getting contracted out.)
Things to do today: See list of things to do yesterday
And an excellent use of new tech to further DIY old tech (with innovation, even!) is the AX84 tube amp guitar project. There are projects of all sizes, an excellent discussion board, and links to lots of goodies. http://www.ax84.com/ Everything from raw schematics to kits.
These books are always useful:
Everybody accepts credit cards now. There's no problem ordering from real suppliers.
DIY grappling dummy (Plus lot's of other homebrew equipment).
What's really cool these days is the amount of free software available for DIY electronics. I'm not talking about free as in GNU, but free as in beer. Want to design your own digital chips? Get your free WebPack FPGA design software. Want to do your own circuit boards? Get your free CAD software... Want to program your embedded product? Most chip companies have free development tools.
One of the coolest DIY projects around is the MegaSquirt DIY EFI kit. Designed by Bruce Bowling and Al Grippo and supported by enthusiasts world-wide, they have created a cheap and highly effective fuel injection computer that you can easily assemble with a soddering iron and a little time.
Check the MegaSquirt project out on the web at http://www.msefi.com/ or check out the software at http://megasquirt.sourceforge.net/ (disclaimer: I am one of the Project Admins). A good resource for those interested in MegaSquirt is at http://www.not2fast.com/ (which has a number of other interesting technical articles and programs), which I host through my site, wryday.com!
I built my Squirt without too much trouble, and I am no electronics whiz. It's a great experience, building your own computer, soldering transistors, resistors, capacitors and chips, and producing something quite useful. I have yet to install my MS into my project rally car (an 86 VW GTI), but you can bet she'll be flying when I dial in the fuel maps!
Bowling and Grippo have also developed other kits for related applications, such as ignition and spark controllers. Check out the http://msefi.com/ site for more info.
Cheers,
-Joe
Fire in the sky