Category Archives: Electronics

Air Quality Sensor

Posted on July 18, 2019 by

An air quality sensor (dust sensor) has been on my todo list for a while. There are a number of sensor modules on the market for the DIYer but all that I had seen seemed to not be suited for … Continue reading →

Posted in Amateur Science, citizen science, Electronics, environmental monotoring, Imbedded Software, Nature, Software | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Soil Temperature Probe

Posted on April 13, 2019 by

A soil temperature probe has been on my todo list for a while. So I decided to build one now along with a number of other improvements, and repairs to my weather station. The soil temperature at four inch depth … Continue reading →

Posted in Electronics, environmental monotoring, Imbedded Software, Software | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Rain Sensor

Posted on January 1, 2019 by

I thought it would be interesting to add a rain sensor to my tipping bucket rain gauge. Because it take time for the bucket to fill and does not always tip right when it stops raining a sensor that detects … Continue reading →

Posted in Amateur Science, Astronomy, DIY, Electronics, environmental monotoring, Imbedded Software, Nature, Software | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Barn Door Star Tracker

Posted on October 21, 2018 by

I wanted to take some star pictures with my DSLR and decided a barn door style star tracker would be a fun project to build. Early versions were nothing more than two boards connected by a hinge with a screw … Continue reading →

Posted in Amateur Science, Astronomy, DIY, Electronics, Imbedded Software, Photography, Software | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

UVA UVB Sensor

Posted on March 1, 2018 by

I have a commercial UV Index sensor running but I found an IC sensor chip that would measure UVA and UVB separately and thought it would be interesting to see how the two UV bands varied with respect to each … Continue reading →

Posted in Amateur Science, DIY, Electronics, environmental monotoring, Imbedded Software, Nature | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

IoT Rain Gauge

Posted on February 2, 2018 by

On thing that is missing from my weather station is automatic reporting of rain fall. I have a manually read CoCoRaHS rain gauge which is more accurate than say a tipping bucket gauge but I thought it would be nice … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternate Energy, Amateur Science, Electronics, environmental monotoring, Nature, Software | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

CNC Laser Cutter / Engraver Build

Posted on January 10, 2017 by

I see a number of articles on the WEB about using a blue laser around 2 watts for cutting and engraving. A lot of times the laser is attached to a 3D printer. Now I have a 3D printer but … Continue reading →

Posted in 3D printing, CAD, CNC, Crafts, DIY, Electronics, Machine Shop, Software | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

3D Printer

Posted on January 2, 2016 by

Like all of my blog posts this article is not intended to be a how to tutorial but rather just my experience and observations in building a 3D printer. A few months ago I decided that I wanted to have … Continue reading →

Posted in Crafts, DIY, Electronics, Machine Shop, Metal Working | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

PC Problems

Posted on December 9, 2014 by

A while back the computer that runs my instrument platform died. I don’t know what happened but I ended up replacing the internal power supply, motherboard and memory stick to get it working again. The front panel USB board was … Continue reading →

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CNC lathe

Posted on December 4, 2014 by

I have a Craftsman Atlas 6″ lathe that has been a workhorse for years. Recently I have a couple of lathe projects that are difficult or impossible with a manually operated lathe. So I have been modifying the lathe to … Continue reading →

Posted in DIY, Electronics, Machine Shop, Metal Working | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments