Hard Drive Teardown

June 7, 2011 by Nick Schulze 6 Comments

Do you know how a modern hard drive works? If you don’t you should have a pretty good idea after watching this video. In only five minutes [Bill Hammack] manages to describe a hard drive in awesome detail without using any unnecessary scientific jargon.

The video teardown explains how the flying head “flies” how voice coil motors work and provides a basic introduction to how the binary data is stored and processed in the disk. The way the flying head maintains the miniscule distance from the plate is particularly clever. You may remember the LCD monitor teardown by the Engineer Guy, equally as detailed and interesting. The video after the break is definitely worth a watch.

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DIY Bolt Together CNC Router

June 7, 2011 by Nick Schulze 12 Comments

Before I decided to build my own CNC machine I had seen a few bolt together machines on the internet, usually constructed using 80/20 aluminum extrusion. My write up describes my attempt at a completely DIY bolt together machine made from 25mm aluminum SHS, 50mm shelving brackets and lots and lots of gutter bolts.

Building the machine involved drilling and tapping about 400 holes (if I can still count) and assembling the machine over a 3 month period. I designed it mostly on the fly which lead to a few headaches, but in the end a machine that works quite well (if slowly and noisily). I go through each major component of the machine and describe how and why I would have changed it if I had followed the normal plan-design-build methodology.

I have tried two versions of stepper motor drivers and you can find the schematics for the DIY version on my site. The entire thing runs from a Linux PC running EMC2, check out a video after the break to see it in action and here are some photos of a few of my machined items.

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The Complete AVR Programmer That Fits In Your Pocket

June 6, 2011 by Nick Schulze 13 Comments

We have seen a few very nice and polished AVR based projects from [Manekinen] over the last few years. Now he has just finished his latest project, the µProg, a super tiny complete AVR programmer with a bunch of features. The µProg completely eliminates the need for a computer to program your embedded AVR chips.

The programmer fits entirely behind an LPH7779 graphics display, and accepts any FAT16/32 formatted microSD cards. Some features include, reading, writing or verifying flash, eeprom, fusebits and lockbits, it also shows amusing animations after every operation. The device is controlled with the use of 4 tactile buttons and operates on a couple of CR2032 batteries.

For an amazingly detailed write up including pictures, eagle files and firmware check out his website. The video embedded after the break has a nice demonstration of the µProg in action, showing off a few of the features and animations. You should also check out his PSU monitor and a spectrum analyser

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A Big Transformer, Because It’s Cool!

June 5, 2011 by Nick Schulze 29 Comments

[Grenadier] Had some spare wire, electrical tape, and a giant ferrite core laying about and decided to create a massive and pretty snappy looking disk shaped flyback transformer. Dubbed the Fryback, he claims that it will “revitalise your health and bring wondrous wealth and prosperity to your family”.

He chose a disk shaped transformer because they look cooler, fair enough.. (oh and they reduced inter-winding capacitance and the voltage difference between layers). The construction is fairly simple, but time consuming. Grenadier goes through the important steps on his website, but be prepared for 25 hours of winding wire if you decide to make your own.

Running at 48V the Fryback can output 8kV at a very high current, producing some nice thick 30cm long sparks. Check out the video after the break to see the Fryback in action.

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EDWARD The Vehicle Of The Future

June 2, 2011 by Nick Schulze 57 Comments

If there was a competition for coolest transportation device for the future, the diwheel would be at the top of the list with hover cars and teleportation. Over the past 3 years students at Adelaide University have been working on an Electric Diwheel With Active Rotation Damping or EDWARD.

EDWARD is an entirely electric diwheel, the operator is strapped into the bucket seat between the two large wheels with a 5 point harness and can control the machine with a gaming joystick. Full dynamic stability and slosh control allow the operator to maneuver the vehicle at up to 40km/hr, inversion control even allows you to drive upside down (if you are that way inclined). The next question is just where can we get one? Check out the video after the break for a demonstration of EDWARD in action.

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Minimalistic 555 Adding Machine

May 27, 2011 by Nick Schulze 6 Comments

How many 555 timers does it take to add up two 10 digit numbers? [Alan’s] 555 Adding Machine does it with 102 of them, he designed the machine as an extreme entry to the 555 contest and the original plan was to make it even more complicated. This machine uses the 555’s to implement a nine decade accumulator and multiplexer, all inputs are managed by an old school dial from a rotary phone which apparently provide nicely timed outputs. Addition and subtraction are achieved using 9s compliment arithmetic which he discusses in the video after the break, for anyone who wants to brush up on 9s compliment or 555 theory.

Alan’s website has some nice pictures (We’re particularly impressed by all that minimalistic soldering) including schematics, and a very nice 33 minute video in which he discusses in detail how the machine works and even offers some history on the Pascaline, which is mechanical calculator that works on similar principles.

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