tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52660900529416805192024-03-13T20:22:53.106-07:00Slaves to Aramokthousandparadoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13209448551509574233noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5266090052941680519.post-35715855354728877422015-08-13T01:08:00.001-07:002015-08-20T14:54:23.303-07:00Sun Computer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i_SZ3ieDxpA/VdZLsJW5vgI/AAAAAAAABmg/Xo_7vG2vf4w/s1600/20150814_194348.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i_SZ3ieDxpA/VdZLsJW5vgI/AAAAAAAABmg/Xo_7vG2vf4w/s1600/20150814_194348.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i_SZ3ieDxpA/VdZLsJW5vgI/AAAAAAAABmg/Xo_7vG2vf4w/s640/20150814_194348.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Click <a href="https://goo.gl/photos/Uodb8jPTPN2BzGV59"><span style="color: #674ea7;">HERE</span></a> for pics</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Components:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>1. Teensy 3.1</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>2. Solar Sensing device, SolarMEMS,
ISSD60</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>3. GPS, Adafruit Ultimate GPS
Breakout, MTK333</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>4. LCD, 20x4</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>5. SD Card</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b style="background-color: white;">6. Potentiometer</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #cc0000;">1. </span></b> Teensys are great. They don’t
have the USB data pins “broken out” so i had to make a little
extension out of the main port so i could have a durable USB-B port
on the outside of the box.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>2.</b></span> The Solar Sensor itself was
trouble. It says it uses the Modbus standard. NOPE. First the
differential A and B lines were swapped AND labeled + and -. The
sensor data registers began at 1 instead of 40001 (at least i got an
error response). The first bits of the response were always
corrupted, but I knew is was static data about the model number so i
modified the modbus arduino library to return the correct bytes.
phew!</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>3.</b></span> I used the TinyGPS library for
easily decoding NEMA messages.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><b>ARDUINO GPS WARING.</b> </span>NEMA messages are
often more than 64 characters long. Most Arduinos and in my case,
Teensys, have a Serial buffer only 64 chars long and need to be
configured to be longer. On a Teensy, the Serial core files need to
be modified.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Originally the box Is supposed to
mounted on the hood of a car, possibly with a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Double-Suction-Puller-Glass-Repair/dp/B002AQFTUS">suction cup</a>. The box is
water resistant in case it rains.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Originally The box was to have internet
connectivity and serve its data to a MySQL server. I worked with both
WIFI and Ethernet modules but ran into issues with both.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I tried to use a stock ESP8266. After a
week of work, I determined the AT commands were too buggy to be
reliable. For example doing a AT? type read would change some
seemingly unrelated setting. Other people confirmed to have these
types of problems, good for a quick project but the ESP8266 needs
better firmware, updates may be out by now and more custom firmware
exist everyday.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I tried to use my Ethernet and had
luck! it was reliable to any type of data stream interruption.
however my particular Arduino Ethernet shield knockoff must of had
its reset pin zapped! because neither high or low pulses reset the
device, only touching the reset pin with my finger made it reset. :)</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The protocol called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telnet">Telnet </a>is the standard for shuttling
ascii over internet, since 1973.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The box is powered externally through
the USB port. I find this is the most compatible method for any
situation. A wall charger, PC USB port, Car charger or USB backup
battery can all be used to power the device.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is a TERRIBLE bug i cannot track
down, it only happens when other people are looking at it! The LCD
will become completely corrupted. it seems to happen more often in a
car where there is a lot of vibration. The only way to fix it is to
reset the box. In professional product design for anything that will
be in a vibration environment, vibration tests are done using a
machine like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdhlZynG7yY">this</a>.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #6aa84f;">4.</span></b> <span style="color: #38761d;"><b>The Fact about LCDs: </b></span>When displaying
things on standard character LCD, the screen needs to be cleared
between every update to erase extra chars if a displayed number
shrinks in number of chars. However clearing and redrawing a 20x4
screen can take long enough that it flashes annoyingly. The easiest
remedy is to increase the data rate. A direct hook up instead of a
I2C backpack can increase transfer rate and reduce the flicker.
Somebody needs to write a library to manage the screen to avoid
having to clear and redraw the whole thing, I can't be bothered to do
so though, i'll just will use an OLED screen next time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">5. </span></b>For a microSD adapter slot, you can
solder directly to a generic microSD->SD adapter.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><b>ARDUINO SD LIBRARY WARNING</b></span>. A
frustrating “bug” i ran into with the default Arduino library is
that it only accepts TEN character filenames. An example is
“data.txt” which is 8 characters! I recommend using a different
library. I don’t think you need a file name extension as long as
you open it with a text editor, example “datasheet” will make a
file with no extension which is ok.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"><b>6.</b></span> The Potentiometer changes screens.
The code includes historesis to prevent jittering between screens.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This device has proven useful in
getting quick measurements of The Phenoix's performance before we
began tearing it down and refurbishing it. Most prominently doing
coast-down tests with the GPS and testing the Array output power.
Measuring 964 W/m^2 one day gives us 760 W from the array, we can
extrapolate the max output power if the day was 1050 W/m^2, 828W
max from the array</span>thousandparadoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13209448551509574233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5266090052941680519.post-44295112619683772622015-08-10T16:42:00.001-07:002015-08-18T21:14:14.995-07:00Phoenix Solar Racing<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></h3>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666669845581px; line-height: 20.2399997711182px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.phoenixsolarracing.org/">Phoenix Solar Racing Website</a> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px; line-height: 20.2399997711182px; white-space: pre-wrap;">- Note: I may or may-not endorse anything our site says :)</span></span></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcYbgjaBMFSK9OHtmuHoGU3556-YYqx7HXaRY2LF2gmgBhNxsm2go2ERHKUTjldcv_W7ZtuYmQ_cFaHuGZjTr7nIWHZPw7sZ-UbJkTZI7ANmiT4xCy4W1mIifp6f-3B8BCGoUwBvw0B0o/s1600/Untitled-2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="387" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcYbgjaBMFSK9OHtmuHoGU3556-YYqx7HXaRY2LF2gmgBhNxsm2go2ERHKUTjldcv_W7ZtuYmQ_cFaHuGZjTr7nIWHZPw7sZ-UbJkTZI7ANmiT4xCy4W1mIifp6f-3B8BCGoUwBvw0B0o/s640/Untitled-2.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h2>
<span style="font-size: small;">---->>> <a href="https://goo.gl/photos/6CcvbNQnZSMkXAFk6">CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES</a> <<<----</span></h2>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This post is just a few words about my current job and life. Without this post, the future projects I post won’t make much sense. :) My first semester At Oregon State University, I joined to the OSU Solar Vehicle Team. The team's solar car was “out of town” at the <a href="http://www.adsolarchallenge.org/">Abu Dhabi Solar Challenge</a> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The next semester I tried to become more involved. When the car returned, I came to realize what a monumentally challenging and exciting team project solar car racing was! I took on any responsibility they would give me and began learning everything I could about solar racing. </span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-1c013a34-16e3-d1c4-b8c5-2bfcdd011d97" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I built a little <a href="http://slavestoaramok.blogspot.com/2015/08/sun-computer.html">Solar Sensor</a> for the team. It was for detecting solar power(W/m^2) and XY sun angle, ahead of the solar car while it was on the road. The box had an GPS to couple the solar measurements with position data. The <a href="http://www.solar-mems.com/smt_pdf/ISSDX_Technical_Specifications.pdf">solar sensor module</a> itself was donated to the team as apart of <a href="http://www.solar-mems.com/en/inicio">Solar Mems</a> sponsorship of the team. It was a huge pain to get working as it used RS-485, and did not follow the RS-485 standards very well. I really don’t recommend it unless you get it for free like we did. :(</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Midway through the project, the Electrical Lead I was making it for stepped down. I offered to lead the electrical team and I was elected!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the time, the returning car, “The Phoenix” was going to be put on a shelf, and an all new Vehicle built. Designs were for the body were finished and tested but ultimately the ending school year and lack of engineers on the team led the New Vehicle project to fall too far behind schedule.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our deadline is the <a href="http://americansolarchallenge.org/">American Solar Challenge</a> 2016 in July of that year and instead we decided to refurbish the ageing “Phoenix” vehicle. I am designing an all new electrical system for this Phoenix 2.0. It is my hope that this electrical system will also be used in any future vehicle the team makes. I am making sure there is plenty of documentation, flexibility and foresight to do so.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some things Solar Racing dwells in:</span></div>
<ol style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">High Power Density Batteries</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Super High efficiency motors and controllers</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">High efficiency Solar Cells and Maximum power point trackers</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sensors for energy statistics and Computer number crunching</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lightweight designs with carbon fiber, Aluminium and Titanium.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aerodynamics</span></div>
</li>
</ol>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ll make a post about our Phoenix 2.0 “Spec Sheet”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some other things that have happened:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Oregon State University Solar Vehicle Team was mysteriously let go by the Oregon State University: College Of Engineering. Our team is now called “Phoenix Solar Racing”. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">We lost our workshop space, ~10 grand annual sponsorship, legal support, Insurance support, and the nonprofit status that allows sponsors of our team to receive Tax Deductibility on their donations.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">The new workshop is now the two car garage at the house I am living at. :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Mechanical Lead of our team dragged his feet for months and nobody objected when i took over as Mechanical lead. Now I share Mechanical Lead responsibilities with another teammate. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That'</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">s my full time Job, I get payed in the chance to do crazy mad hax with a team of crazy mad people! </span></div>
thousandparadoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13209448551509574233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5266090052941680519.post-69961986437554811072015-03-15T13:05:00.004-07:002015-03-15T13:05:51.152-07:00Yusynth VCO - The Companion Text<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-KVrmYwWrgpOVQzX2J3RVNDcTA/view?usp=sharing"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4WVuVnq4qgHAZoF5gHaC8dT51MX4ewQ8rO7hk-aIHYY5MDSuqR90FISe4aVDWkviqxQUKQkVdG3CsZjAzq-Ikz41lMnB-pRgMdyWpTuhjYEwyCQIgv77QcQKKASZqkDoixn13aBswajs/s1600/annotated.png" height="457" width="800" /></a></div>
<br />
I made a guide of important tips to accompany The <a href="http://www.yusynth.net/Modular/EN/VCO/index.html">Yusnth VCO guide</a>. If you are building this analog synthesizer module, and need help trouble shooting or just want to know more... <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-KVrmYwWrgpOVQzX2J3RVNDcTA/view?usp=sharing"><span style="text-align: center;">Y</span>ou can download the PDF from Google drive.</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Good Luck!<br />
<ol><ol>
</ol>
</ol>
<ol></ol>
thousandparadoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13209448551509574233noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5266090052941680519.post-47869471255808425672015-03-02T00:20:00.001-08:002015-03-15T19:28:25.223-07:00Yusynth VCO<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Click image for more photos <b><a href="http://www.yusynth.net/Modular/EN/VCO/index.html">Yusynth.net</a></b></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://plus.google.com/photos/101425767694746849316/albums/6121529717253699921" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLP8qa8eWzsNmjdP4T-hWQvwZsIzhO52GPlwom_Ulp49w7W4z3AAGvponxPNI55htW1_4eyDh928oi-um-vaJFLufixzKEFhRN8OgeZhX_mxWynaKtLIB4RzD1Y4AD4QqQl0tQ7iUH_yk/s1600/banner.png" height="328" width="640" /></a>The most important modules in an Analog Modular Synthesizer are its oscillators. Without an oscillator, there would be no sound to transform and subtract from, (hence <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtractive_synthesis">subtractive synthesis</a>). Of coarse you could use another source of sound like a guitar or music or a human voice, but these sources have the disadvantage of not being able to be precisely controlled into constant tones and notes.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Naturally an oscillator is the first module you would want to build. Many DIYAMS websites offer their versions of a VCO. Vee-cee-oh stands for Voltage Controlled Oscillator, meaning the pitch and other functions of the oscillator can be controlled by a changing voltage from an external source. <a href="http://www.cgs.synth.net/">CGS synth</a>, <a href="http://www.musicfromouterspace.com/">Music From Outer Space</a>, <a href="http://www.birthofasynth.com/Thomas_Henry/TH_main.html">Thomas Henry - Birth of a synth</a>, and <a href="http://www.yusynth.net/Modular/modular.html">Yusynth</a> are the best producers of DIYMAS instructions and all offer one or more VCO. I have chosen Yusynths VCO for many reasons, but it might not be the one for you. The Yusynth VCO has many features, an all Op-amp construction, a single sided PCB layout, and Mr Yusynth has a disposition to monetary gain.</div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDs0MpvtuZwS0TfIbI4tQDOUMAQ99WugRf0WPO6OBbFEIwPFKBEuGzka98dO9xOoRMQ_VJiVfCR3OMW66yb6Tp6B640iqJrOmN5qMR0LUIoMNYQMfCXaBiHkA6hNRpMdF8AVchvHUJiQk/s1600/panel.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDs0MpvtuZwS0TfIbI4tQDOUMAQ99WugRf0WPO6OBbFEIwPFKBEuGzka98dO9xOoRMQ_VJiVfCR3OMW66yb6Tp6B640iqJrOmN5qMR0LUIoMNYQMfCXaBiHkA6hNRpMdF8AVchvHUJiQk/s1600/panel.png" height="320" width="252" /></a><br />
<b>Panel Design:</b><br />
<b> <i>Jacks:</i></b><br />
Originally I bough a pack of 40 mono input jacks and plugs for the front panels before I remembered a better option. The <a href="http://www.anyware-instruments.de/analog_modular_synthesizer_tinysizer.html">Tinsizer</a>, in the interest of compactness, uses 0.1 inch, double row headers in concert with solid core wires to provide patching. This is the plugging type I chose for my synth but I incorporated ground connections and shielded cables. The bottom row of the double row header are all grounds and the cables are two pronged, but for shorter patches I can just use bits of wire. I put a lot of thought into how these jacks function because of course it has to be the same on all the modules.<br />
<br />
<b> <i>Attenuators:</i></b><br />
The three lowest knobs are attenuators which turn down the volume of incoming signals and only do anything if an input signal is fed through them, otherwise they sit dormant. I only have attenuators on my VCO's because the were the first modules I built. All subsequent models will have direct inputs, and attenuation will be patched in using external attenuators.<br />
<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Personal electronic Mods:</b><br />
<b> <i>LFO mod:</i></b><br />
One of the reasons I chose this VCO was based on my theory that it would be able to achieve very low frequency's without much modification. I was able in the end to implement a switch that changed the VCO from a 4Hz - 12.6kHz audio range to a 0.047Hz(21s) - 13.3Hz LFO range (with external voltage input). These ranges are close to what I want and sound grate, it takes a lot of fiddling around with component values. I will go into copious detail in my next post about the circuit.<br />
<b></b><br />
<b></b><b> <i>Possible future mods:</i></b><br />
There are a number of small problems that I may make a fuss about in the future. frequency ranges, waveform purity ect, I have a compulsion to make things perfect but that is becoming less important and rewarding then building new moduals. However would like to implement some new wave form outputs. first would be a Ramp wave, the inverse of the saw-tooth wave would just take one opamp to make and would be very useful in LFO mode.<br />
<br />
A serious mod I want to make is a Triangle/Saw Skew output and control. One of the wave forms of the Minimoog is a combination of its triangle and saw and helps to give its signature sound. I may also attempt to make the mix between saw and triangle, voltage controlled, a unique feature I have not seen exactly on other VCO's out there.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn4_N-oN4ufRP3jWehvmOwfTm_k5RhgdSEch8ImD2EeiOTqJ-ONN0s5R71ssb4YhmQ7lud_cUGK4sc_8r3UAGnPpmGiDfU3Huitm-XsgTbatvgFndO5pq2UQYHWM9Yz2kndhZbX-DFl_Y/s1600/minimoogtrisaw.png" height="265" width="320" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Minimoog Tri/Saw, the missing waveform from my VCO</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoXsxJNl4J42hhgiBGDNa-pkCXc5kSE7wirbMLJmoEkhv69CPlxrkrxTtn3z-TJiUvm2e_Y3AXAAzGzPF90bWBCAlOkfTBZ5XWxKoAbEFQ5AxbrnGmpfJIRx2sNcaY7nPrYMaLWSRkguE/s1600/scope+images.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoXsxJNl4J42hhgiBGDNa-pkCXc5kSE7wirbMLJmoEkhv69CPlxrkrxTtn3z-TJiUvm2e_Y3AXAAzGzPF90bWBCAlOkfTBZ5XWxKoAbEFQ5AxbrnGmpfJIRx2sNcaY7nPrYMaLWSRkguE/s1600/scope+images.png" height="243" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waveform info graphic of the Yusynth VCO</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
Next time I will go into detail about building, troubleshooting and moding this module as sort of a companion text to the main instructions. see ya!<br />
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
thousandparadoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13209448551509574233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5266090052941680519.post-60590718273384491772015-02-10T19:36:00.003-08:002015-03-01T17:14:48.223-08:00Mini Synth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWnQk_75wW5qsA7pBjExv_n02l1RC4rI0CXxS6y35rT2MW7bdPkfJ_Xm4PNn7zixbV1roJYgmD1zyLEaLB2JHXOhjz3-j9jrnzULoI-ZRRAIRev9u1-kGJtbIjwMhlHzbb2ULWBwl_MUw/s1600/$T2eC16F,!)QE9s3HCkEDBRbP!J)sWg~~60_57-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTujW9wL8PrXfdrbAt_d-E8nQik30JQMpQJKc9Vrn2MmdbjCKvOuzr1TpnGyMckxJnPZ6X3sezAMOdmCaVurgsgLXEpCDfd4SbWWcBQyrZH-VLL33bbpX_uOv-fY4TwWnmyfD0ubZc6As/s1600/modules.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="clear: left; color: #444444; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTujW9wL8PrXfdrbAt_d-E8nQik30JQMpQJKc9Vrn2MmdbjCKvOuzr1TpnGyMckxJnPZ6X3sezAMOdmCaVurgsgLXEpCDfd4SbWWcBQyrZH-VLL33bbpX_uOv-fY4TwWnmyfD0ubZc6As/s1600/modules.png" height="418" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="color: #444444;">I have begun my most ambitions project yet, to build a Modular Analog Synthesizer, It has been a dream of mine to build, design and own a Analog synthesizer ever since I watched a group of Youtubes from a user I unfortunately cannot remember the name of. He began his videos by walking down the stairs into his basement saying "Hello boys and girls!" with a cigar between his lips. It was sometime in 2009 when I watched these videos and I think his username had "dolphin" in it. Dang I have searched high and low.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444;">Anyway the time has come in my life to begin building this fantastically complex electronic machine. I began back in October 2014 and will be playing a lot of catch up with these posts and videos. It is at a time when my knowledge is at an sufficient level to actually be able and build it, while also learning a whole lot while doing so.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444;">The Synth DIY community is small but totally hardcore. A french scientist username:YuSynth has an extensive library of do it yourself instructions for all the basic electronic synthesizer modules. Each module page has schematics, single-side PCB images, tuning notes, wiring guides, panel graphics, almost everything you need to build your own modules. However, having lots of electronics trouble shooting experience is actually very necessary due to the complexity of these analog modules.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444;">Although Yusynth has designed the modules, but its up to the DIYer to choose the modules they build, it makes a big difference in how the overall synth operates and sounds. The physical designs of the control surfaces I design myself, along with any circuit mods.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh96DmSFcEhu7hUckKTxyomg56TnK1ZHa9cYRWLjGVaLH2fhE7tH8UJ4SzQdls5wtAwTzuzBvbGcyM_uOxM4Rx75ggeIsnAfNFAhmhwjQQ0Gu3Op3rIFyokUEL2s9SiQOh-8VC8hGgi_Wo/s1600/minimoog1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh96DmSFcEhu7hUckKTxyomg56TnK1ZHa9cYRWLjGVaLH2fhE7tH8UJ4SzQdls5wtAwTzuzBvbGcyM_uOxM4Rx75ggeIsnAfNFAhmhwjQQ0Gu3Op3rIFyokUEL2s9SiQOh-8VC8hGgi_Wo/s1600/minimoog1.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #444444;">The inspiration for my synth.</span></div>
<ol>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">Minimoog</span></li>
<ol>
<li><span style="color: #444444;"> first modules will be built will mimic the futures of the Minimoog model D, a famous Moog synthesizer. The features Minimoog are:</span></li>
<ol>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">3 VCO's with Tri,Tr-Saw,Saw,Ramp,and Pulse, can be tuned to a very low pitch</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">A Noise Generator with Pink and White noise</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">A Mixer</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">A Minimoog Filter (The soul of a Minimoog)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">2 ADSR's, one for the Filter and another for the VCA</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">A VCA</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">Glide</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">Another feature similar to the Minimoog will be the sloped control surface, which is very natural to operate.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">Wood</span></li>
</ol>
</ol>
<li><span style="color: #444444;"> non-Minimoog</span></li>
<ol>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">This is no faithful recreation of a Minimoog, but rather my synth just is coppying its tonal concept. There are many types of synthesizers, from 555 timers to software synths, but the Minimoog concept stands on its own. That being said there are additional things I would like:</span></li>
<ol>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">PATCHability, The Minimoog has an almost all built in, switch based patching and is very limited. This makes patching as easy as a flick of a switch which is great when your jamming out. However I would rather have an endless possibility of stupid noises.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">NO KEYBOARD. no pitch bend and and mod wheel. I might build a Jammer Keyboard but the jurys still out on how notes will be played.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">NO LIGHTS, no screens, the only indications are the positions of knobs and switches. it helps bring the daemons out.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">And finally BE AS ANALOG AS IS REASONABLY POSSIBLE. Analog lets stranger things happen. A digital synth can make the same wave forms of an analog synth but is immune to the sea of imperfections. It is also my desire to learn analog electronics and I can't do that if there isn't any. The module I am designing is very digital but only because it is much more practical to be and I'm working hard to make it sound as analog as possible.</span></li>
</ol>
</ol>
</ol>
<ol><ol><ol>
</ol>
</ol>
</ol>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #444444; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKWFQQtklCeN-7t0tHP1LGtvjJwWVT3ZAmIi7w9IxkJsvDXbmq3GODbVbAXDnIZZyl_ovdosu8gSuzkK7MFgDydIckLOs5UhwCZUiNHu1KP8FktPRjd_u6uPKo2abJumhgbwlFUbxM5Jc/s1600/Sketchup+(3).png" height="370" width="640" /></span></div>
</div>
<span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #444444;">An artiststic rendition of my future synth in Google Sketchup</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #444444;">This is the final drawing of my synth in Sketchup, Without all the wizbangs of course, I will talk about it more when the time comes. Next Episode is on my first DIY Yusynth Analog Modular Synthasizer Modual... see ya</span></div>
thousandparadoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13209448551509574233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5266090052941680519.post-13154659692136452372014-09-27T19:49:00.000-07:002014-10-03T22:19:17.271-07:00CLACK - COMPLETE<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://plus.google.com/photos/101425767694746849316/albums/6063926866267257521?authkey=CLa84_mB7P2yywE" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="https://plus.google.com/photos/101425767694746849316/albums/6063926866267257521?authkey=CLa84_mB7P2yywE" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g0Pyq8yPbA4/VCdm4uuuFVI/AAAAAAAAAZc/7nBXvXvLfl8/s1600/DSC01087.JPG" height="343" width="540" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444;">Click image or more image^</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;">Code <a href="http://pastebin.com/B2R6CMvH">HERE</a></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;">User Manual <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/14bDvo1i_SK4u0rJ7nIPp9yLSNnMaXpx44cxn1yoMgAU/edit?usp=sharing">HERE</a> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444;">I have just moved to my into my new garage home here in Corvallis, Oregon, where I plan to attend Oregon State University for the next few years as an electrical engineering student. Before I left California, I spent two months of my summer hard at work on three projects. Two of them turned out wonderfully, another did not, however this is one that did.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444;">After much deliberation, I have finished my clock. It has taken about 6 months, of what ever free-time of my free-time I have had, to design and build the CLACK into a permanent and complete version. The final features are as follows. Year to Centisecond time displayed on Sixteen, 1970's led numeric indicators, copper and wood case, four alarms, time settable, Real Time Clock with <b>±</b>4ppm accuracy, and an alarm speaker that also makes a faint ticking noise every second.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444;">I built this clock very much from scratch. Somethings I admit could and should have been done better if I had acquired the proper tools. Its two circuit boards were made using strip board, solder jumpers and tiny wires. Only a few weeks after I began building the clock on strip board did I figure out how to cut out PCB's on my CNC machine at work. Using strip board for something this small and space sensitive was ultimately not the way to go but at the time it was the only way I had. I have had probably twenty different shorts, incorrect wiring and complete section do-overs to make things fit.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444;">The "Operating System" as I came to call it, the program that the clock was loaded with, ended up being about 500 lines long, and the most obese program I have ever written. Not many library's could be used to save time. The program is fairly well commented (from my perspective, probably not so much a first time reader) and could be helpful to you in many areas of Arduino clock programming. Firstly, how to control and poll the Real Time Clock, DS3231, using a <a href="https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/td_libs_DS1307RTC.html">DS1307RTC library</a>. Using this DS1307 libary for the DS3231 has no compatability issues and is my favorite libary out of the three I found. I like its method of storing time in its own updated "public" variables like "tm.year" every second so that I can retrieve it with my code simply by saying myYear = tm.year. Also my button reading approach is a helpful trick. My Shift Registrar display usage, specifically how to use two in series. Try to ignore the "modes" and "cursor place" programming implementations, they are convoluted and not worth wrapping your head around, but they work for this application.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444;">I came up with (probably rediscovered) a nifty way to "Debounce" the input buttons on the back by implementing a timer to check how long a button was held down. Piggybacking off the centisecond timer that is already running, each button was checked for a depressed state one hundred times a second . If after 5 centiseconds the input has not gone LOW even once, the buttons action would be triggered. If the button dose go LOW in that time, the buttons personal counter will be reset to zero. This feature can be piggybacked as well because it not only can be used for debounce but also as a detector for if the button is being held. For example the enter button needs to be head for 500 centiseconds to go into TimeSet mode.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444;">The physical design of the clock is a copper layer cake wrapped in an icing of wood. The layers from front to back are as fallows. First a shinny a copper plate with windows cut out helps define the separation of the groups of numeric indicators. Then the numeric indicators sit on-top another copper plate with two slots for the pins to feed through. Then, first single sided strip-board PCB. That PCB plugs into another PCB with 16 connections for "indicator select", 5 connections for the {1,2,4,8,DP} and 2 connections for display power supply. After which there is a plastic insulator for the second PCB so that it dose not short on the copper back plate that has five square holes for the buttons to poke out. All of these layers are head together with four bolts (not pictured) and alot of thin nuts to space everything out to a total witch of 0.7 inches.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444;">I was going to just leave the clock like that, but considering all the finicky wires that could pop off from flexing or something, I had to cover the sides. I planed to give this clock to my father as a going away present, so it had to be somewhat durable, I wouldn't be able to fix a solder joint from five hundred miles away so it had to be robust enough NOT to be garenteed to break, like most of my DIY projects. So I relentlessly built a wooden case for it. I made a slotted sleve it slid into with a cap on the end with a hidden bolt. I don't have the tools for tiny wood workmanship, but I made do with my CNC used like a milling machine and a file.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444;">Well that's that, as always I hope something from this project will be of some use to you. Tune in next week for an artical about my experience with some reeeal electronics. ;)</span><br />
<br />thousandparadoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13209448551509574233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5266090052941680519.post-23406924795916837732014-05-21T08:00:00.000-07:002014-10-15T00:33:47.697-07:00Desktop CNC<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='547' height='340' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/6FClS6ijTXk?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<span style="color: #444444;">I currently work at a place called <a href="http://www.arrgh.com/">Arrgh!!</a> manufacturing. A local electronics shop that makes specialty devices for businesses, mostly a hydrogen gas detector and a few devices for maintaining lead acid battery's. These days, I help with the engineering side of things, making and fixing machines to facilitate the mass production of the products we sell.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444;">My recent task has been the setup and operate a desktop CNC machine for making small quantity's of prototype parts. These small CNCs have become quite popular with the DIYers. They are very high precision and have a small but very effective bed size. They go for about 600 bucks, but they are not plug and play, easy to use machines. The CNC came into the shop, a ragtag lot of components, each part made by a different no-name Chinese company with only a photo copy of a picture describing what plugged into what.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444;">The package came with:</span><br />
<ol>
<li><span style="color: #444444;"> A 3 axis machine with drill motor attached </span></li>
<ol>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">Drill Motor, 800W, 400Hz/12000RPM </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">A few engraving bits, end-mill, tools</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">clamps (extremely under-engineered)</span></li>
</ol>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">Stepper motor controller.</span></li>
<ol>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">The PC parallel port communicates direction/step to the controller which then powers the stepper motors</span></li>
</ol>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">3 phase motor driver. 400Hz. manually controlled. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">Pump & tubes, NO radiator</span></li>
<ol>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">The motor is designed to be water cooled, but it is necessary</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">My manager wanted me to build a water cooling system from a PC cooler before turning it on to test how hot it got under load. As it turns out, the water cooling is not needed, The large aluminum clamps holding the motor to the large aluminum CNC table seams to be sufficient to cool the motor, even under a heavy work load.</span></li>
</ol>
</ol>
<span style="color: #444444;">A lot of software is needed to operate the CNC. Cad software, Gcode generation software and then Gcode executing software. Gcode is the world standard CNC script. It contains a list of simple instructions in text format and can contain thousands of lines. I use <a href="http://www.vectric.com/products/aspire.html">Aspire</a> to generate my Gcode, and I also use it to draw 2D vectors. Real CAD software would be required for any precision 3D work. The CNC itself is controlled by a PC program called <a href="http://www.machsupport.com/">MACH3</a>. mach3 interprets Gcode instructions in real time and pulses out direction/step signals through the parallel port. It is up to the settings in MACH3 to apply the amount of stepper motor steps per inch. Without further adieu, here's my list of my biggest headaches, in order of occurrence:</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span>
<br />
<ol>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">The Parallel port must be in a certain mode to work. In the BIOS, the parallel port must be ECP or EEP depending on your controller. proper addresses must be set in MACH3 too.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">Although the "manual" had the correct parallel port addresses in the screenshots, all the other information was incorrect. Most notably the Steps Per Inch numbers were way off. In order for mach3 to move the CNC to the correct location (say 6 inches), it must be configured to know that say, 4184 steps is equal to one inch. Even though most CNCs use 1.8 degree per step steppers, the design of the worm gear will determine the distance per revolution. On top of the all the reverse engineering involved to get the thing running right, I needed to set up the machine for inches, instead of millimeters.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">MACH 3 also has configurable speed and acceleration curves. The CNC can jam for no particular reason if the speed and acceleration are in correct amounts for what I call a "jamming resonation". Jamming </span><span style="color: #444444;">resonation </span><span style="color: #444444;">can occur when the stepper motor stepping happens at a frequency that the whole machine resonates to. The vibrating machine has the effect of kicking the stepper motor back wards enough that on the next step, the motor turns backwards, then forward again on the next step, back and forth and back and forth. The machine usually oscillates like this for 20 steps until it breaks out of its loop and continues on its way. Of course the problem is Mach3 thinks nothing has happened and the CNC loses track of its true position.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444;">For cutting metal like aluminum and copper, the rate in which you design your Gcode to "plunge" and "feed" greatly effects cutting performance. It usually has to be done off the cuff and it takes many attempts to achieve a good quality cut. Too fast and the cutting motor will screech to a halt while the CNC continues ramming into the piece. To slow and... well you get bored waiting. The speeds in between will give you different amounts of unwanted burrs left over that have to be cut off, ground off, and sanded off. There are standards for choosing feed rates based upon number of "flutes" (cutting edges per rev) on a bit and what type of metal is being cut. However the motor on this CNC can not provide enough power to cut at normal speeds and needs to go much slower then the recommended feed rate.</span></li>
</ol>
<span style="color: #444444;">While the Desktop CNC does "SEE EN SEE", getting good results takes a lot of practice. I can say it takes less skill then it would to operate a milling machine by hand. I can't recommend this CNC package unless you are willing to make IT your project rather than use it FOR your project. The next post about the CNC machine will surely be adventures into engraving copper clad PCB boards for prototype circuit boards. I have heard it's finicky business, but I hope it will prove invaluable to my work and my own projects. If you have any questions about this CNC, I am eager to answer them. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;">Wuba-luba-dub-dub and a good day to you!</span><br />
<br />
<ol>
</ol>
<ol><ol>
</ol>
</ol>
thousandparadoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13209448551509574233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5266090052941680519.post-79806158413540963252014-05-14T08:00:00.000-07:002014-09-27T16:05:57.801-07:00CLACK<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="goog_58186397"></span><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='547' height='340' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Hqo95GLou2E?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<span id="goog_58186398"></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Code <a href="http://pastebin.com/VaDmFsKH">HERE</a></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">I have wanted to build a clock from scratch for some time now. Building a digital clock is not terribly original even if it has original features, but as an Electrical Engineering student I felt the challenge would flex muscles in areas of display control, multiplexing, product design and programming. There are all kinds on silly, nutty, or future rich clocks made by makers all around the world, I see at least one new time keeping device on the web each day. This is my approach. Its flagship feature is an ancient LED display, made up of sixteen Hewlett Packard "Numeric Indicators" (1990-0330, similar to the 5082-7300 in this <a href="http://pdf1.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/view/226555/HP/5082-7300.html">datasheet</a>). Each has 8 pins; Vcc, GND, Enable, 1, 2, 4, 8, and Decimal Point. They have built in decoders, so the number you want to display can be selected by setting the parallel binary input pins HIGH or LOW, and toggling the "enable" pin LOW to except input, and setting it HIGH again to hold the number.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">These little guys get HOT, almost too hot to hold your finger to. LED's? Hot? After some digging around I found an <a href="http://www.hpl.hp.com/hpjournal/pdfs/IssuePDFs/1969-02.pdf">HP Journal</a> from 1969 Describing these "Numeric Indicators" in detail. The LED as we know it was only invented 7 years prior. They are not the efficient LED's of today, 16 indicators consume 1125mA@4.7V (The thing loads down the 5v rail on my computers PSU). Turns out they go for about 15$ a piece but I acquired them from e-waste along with a load of 74 series logic chips. Somebody many years ago was planning on building a calculator I think.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">To select which indicator to enable to except input, I use two <a href="http://arduino.cc/en/tutorial/ShiftOut">shift registers</a>. Shift Registers are a very useful IC in EE's arsenal for controlling many things (arrays of LED's, buttons, and other ins and outs) with only a few pins from a micro-controller. I can serially output a number like 1111,1111,1011,1111 (65471) into the two registers (which act like one 16bit register once two are connected in series) in order to select the 10th indicator. Then I can display my number, say 5, by applying [1,0,1,0] to the pins [1,2,4,8] of all 16 indicators, knowing only the 10th will change.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">The format of the time display is, YYYY MM DD HH mm SS.ss (60.00 seconds has Deci' and Centi' seconds). The time keeping is done by a Real Time Clock board based on the <a href="http://datasheets.maximintegrated.com/en/ds/DS3231.pdf">DS3231</a> by Maxim, it has a high precision crystal with temperature compensation, a backup battery, and registers that can be polled by an <a href="http://www.arduino.cc/en/Reference/Wire">I2C</a> connection. The registers have all the year, month, ect., stored as their normal values and are compensated for leap year, and so forth, which makes programing a cinch. Time formatting can be a programers nightmare if done from scratch.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">The RTC module dose not, however, report any unit of time smaller than a second. I needed to create a centisecond timer that would run between each second. [[go to paragraph 7 to skip problematic efforts]] Originally I wrote the Arduino's main loop so that the RTC was repeatedly polled as quickly as the Arduino could, and when the seconds place changed, the Arduino would start a timer from 00 - 99 to display centiseconds. The timer was based on an <a href="http://arduino.cc/en/Reference/Interrupts">interrupt</a> where every 100th of a second (based off the Arduino's crystal) the interrupt would interrupt the main loop and display the next 100th of a second. This would cause the main display to flicker annoyingly as the display update would be interrupted 100 times a second.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">In an attempt to remedy this, I flipped it round. I had the interrupt fire once every second, poll the RTC and start the centisecond counter. However the Arduino's definition of a second differs from the RTC's second, so every so often the seconds place would skip. Sometimes the arduino would poll the RTC right at the beginning of the RTC's second, and then again at the end of the RTCs second, because the Arduino's second as to fast. The seconds place would appear to show a second for two seconds and then skip a second ahead, about once a minute.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">Thank you! The RTC module has a square wave output pin than can be configured to be many different frequency's. I wanted to use a 1Hz wave to tell the Arduino that a new time is ready to be read from the RTC. A certain register inside the RTC has to be written LOW to enable this 1Hz output. In my Arduino's loop, I set a check to see if the square wave has gone high every 100th of a second while the centisecond loops. The end result is a very smooth clock display. It bugs the hell out of me when software clocks don't update the seconds place EXACTLY on the second.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;">To finalize the design, the clock will be split into a two layer board were only the display will sit in front with all the components sandwiched behind it. A few buttons in the ol' "4 arrow keys an select" configuration will sit in back. They will be used to set time, alarms and a death clock. I hope you learned something about something from this project that will be of use to you!</span></span>thousandparadoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13209448551509574233noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5266090052941680519.post-42725960250360523572014-05-12T19:24:00.003-07:002014-05-12T19:24:36.429-07:00Slaves to Aramok: God of Grape JuiceWelcome to my new blog, Slaves to Aramok. Before we get started, It is important I make the distinction that this blog is NOT for; Slaves to Armok: God of Blood. This blog is for Slaves to Aramok: God of Grape Juice. To reiterate,<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
This blog is for,</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: purple;">SLAVES TO ARAMOK: GOD OF GRAPE JUICE</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
not,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #990000;">SLAVES TO ARMOK: GOD OF BLOOD</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #990000;">If you are a Slave to Armok, or would like to become one, click <a href="http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/">here</a>.</span></div>
thousandparadoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13209448551509574233noreply@blogger.com0