Three Dee Printing

Posted on September 24, 2018 by ProjectVIR

I’ve been concentrating on getting the 3D Printer I was gifted, all built up and working. It’s taken a while but I’m getting reasonable prints now. I hadn’t realised until quite recently that the fan on the front of the extruder wan’t working. This meant material extruded wasn’t cooled and often caused deformations in the print. The fan sometimes requires a flick of a finger to get going but the main problem was the add-on duct supplied with the printer itself. I found that the part used to secure the duct into the fan was slightly too long, causing the fan to stall and overheat. When it did run, it made an awful whine.

I initially thought the fan was faulty but after trying it with the duct removed, this was proved not to be the case (although it’s a bit sluggish to get going). I filed down the duct connector whch partially solved the issue but then, I discovered a circular one on Thingiverse and printed that.

It was on my to-upgrade list but the machine pre-empted me a little. The printer now seems to print in good quality most of the time.

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Octo-nope

Posted on September 12, 2018 by ProjectVIR

In the last post, I wrote that the Octopus Component Tracer boards had arrived. I have since built one up and tried it out with my Rigol 1054Z (Hacked).

Octopus Component Tracer v1.00

Octopus Component Tracer v1.00

Here shown with a small capacitor under test. This is supposed to produce an elliptical test pattern. I got rather different results, and after a lot of mucking around with settings.

Octopus Capacitor Trace

Octopus Capacitor Trace

As you can see, one of the waveforms is distorted. I think this is why the lissajous figure is not very regular. I took an old 6V AC to DC wallwart and modified it for AC output. Obviously, not the nicest of outputs. I retried with my signal generator producing a 5V Peak to Peak Sine wave but got pretty much the same results.

I suspect that the components on the Octopus aren’t quite optimal. I will do some more research and see if I can get better traces. I have also decided that if I update the board, I will space the BNC connectors the same distance apart as my oscilloscope, meaning I can use barrel connectors to mount the board, rather than use lossy cables. Stay tuned for updates.

I completed the Anet A8 3D Printer build shortly before the Octopus and it all seems to fire up and work correctly. I have filament and painters tape on order, so I will have to wait to do my first ever 3D Print. Although the printer comes with several example files to print, I have already designed a Headphone Hanger Clip with an old version of Solidworks.

Headphone Clip v1.02

Headphone Clip v1.02

The right hand side of the device clips on to a shelf I have over my workbench. The headphones should fit nicely on the upper hook and the cable can be coiled and hung undeneath on the smaller hook. I’m looking forward to seeing how it prints.

 

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Check yer Fuses ‘ere!

Posted on September 10, 2018 by ProjectVIR

The second iteration of the Active Fuse Tester arrived and works as expected. Unlike the earlier version, the battery sits on the rear with an SMD holder. This meant I could make the board smaller. I also laid it out in a more logical way with the LED options all ranged at the top edge of the board.

Active Fuse Tester v1.02 JLCPCB Preview

Active Fuse Tester v1.02 JLCPCB Preview

I have left the options for three different sizes of fuses for convenience. I used a 2N3906 transistor on the board but other PNP transistors will work, just as long as they follow the pin configuration printed on the board.

Having now built and tested the new version, I’m prepared to publish the design files. You will be able to find them in the Educational section.

In other news, the 3D Printer (Anet A8) is almost complete. I need to finish the cable management and connect all the parts to the control board to round it off. I have some filament on order so I hope to be printing soon.

3D Printer Almost Finished

3D Printer Almost Finished

It is only when you start thinking of objects you could potentially print that you realise how useful a 3D Printer could be. I have thought of many things that would be useful. I really want to start by printing cases for the projects within these pages but you could go on to do figures to paint, useful hooks and brackets to use around the house and decorative pieces to brighten up dull areas.

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HAB a Care

Posted on September 3, 2018 by ProjectVIR

A lot of blood, sweat and tears has gone into building and making work, the two HAB (High Altitude Balloon) Trackers for St. Richards Catholic College. They will be launched in October. Having not done any serious HAB work for a while (Last launch was this time last year) I had forgotten what a pain they are to build and program. However, I now have a procedure to program them which isn’t too difficult. The issues start when you try and use the latest version of the Arduino IDE to upload the firmware. Firmware written a few versions ago does not compile. Luckily, I still have the older version installed on the main PC so I can compile the binary and upload that directly.

In other goings on, I’ve been gifted a Anet A8 3D Printer. I can now start to build it up. It will mean finding space in my limited ‘workshop’ but I’m eager to design cases for my projects and print them myself. I have been watching many 3D Design tutorials and have yet to decide on a software package to use.

Meanwhile, the second iteration of the Active Fuse Tester is being fabricated, along with another small project, the Octopus Component tester.

Fuse Tester and Octopus Component Tester

Fuse Tester and Octopus Component Tester

The Octopus Component Tester is a device that you connect to an oscilloscope in X-Y mode to show the state of components. Depending on the curve you get on screen, you can evaluate if the component is open or closed circuit and whether it is operational.

Octopus Component Tester Traces

Octopus Component Tester Traces

These devices have been around for many years, way back in to the time of valves! I have wanted to have one on the bench for a while and it will add to my arsenal of test equipment as well as being an easy project to build for others. As always, details will be published as soon as the boards are proved to work.

 

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Oscillating Nicely

Posted on August 30, 2018 by ProjectVIR

After a few iterations, pains and modifications, I’ve finalised the StAR Edition of the Morse Code Oscillator. Details can be found on the Radio Projects page. I was asked to develop my original design to include a few things useful for students at St. Richards Catholic College, where I assist my good friend Phil G3MGQ teach radio. Phil asked me to make the project useable without a case, add a micro switch for use as a basic Morse Key, add an LED for silent communication across classrooms and to have sockets for speaker/earphones and key on board. A few versions of the board later, and a good think on how the project would be used and the StAR Edition is born!

Morse Code Practice Oscillator v2.05 StAR Ed.

Morse Code Practice Oscillator v2.05 StAR Ed.

I have Mike Maynard K4ICY (k4icy.com) to thank for the original Twin ‘T’ part of the design which I built upon. As with all the files on this site, anyone is free to use the gerbers to get their own boards made and to build the project.

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Fuse at large

Posted on August 21, 2018 by ProjectVIR

The two missing components for the Active Fuse Tester arrived today. This allowed me to create KiCad symbols and footprints by direct measurement. I had searched for the datasheets, but came up with no matches. I even asked the eBay seller, but they stated that they were ‘only retailers’ and the ‘even our supplier doesn’t have any datasheets’.

No matter. It’s not that difficult to create symbols and footprints. There are plenty of tutorials online, particurly on YouTube. I recommend the Getting To Blinky 4.0 set of tutorials by Chris Gammell of Contextual Electronics. It gave me a very good foundation when I started using KiCad.

The Active Fuse tester is one of my educational circuits for the after-school club I will be involved in come the September term. The idea is that the circuit will demonstrate how Transistors can be used as switches and the project will be a useful thing to have on a workshop/lab bench.

Active Fuse Tester v1.01

Active Fuse Tester v1.01

The small PCB holds a 3V CR2032 type battery and a few other components, as well as fuse clips in three different sizes. I wanted the board to be as useful as possible so it can test 31mm, 25mm (House Fuses) and the small 20mm types.

I included the option of using either two LEDs, one Red one Green or a single BiColour LED to indicate the state of the fuse under test. A single 2N3906 PNP transistor is either switched on or off when the test switch is pressed leading the appropriate LED to light. The one-piece fuse holders and the extra connections have been removed so the circuit looks slightly different now.

Active Fuse Tester v1.01 Schematic

Active Fuse Tester v1.01 Schematic

I also had to add the link for GND to GNDPWR which I think is just a KiCad curiousity. Otherwise, the GND copper pour doesn’t work correctly. I’m sure there is another way to prevent the need for this but it only takes a rew moments to draw.

The boards have been ordered and design files will be available in the educational section once proved to be correctly working.

[UPDATE: 30th August 2018]

Having built a couple of the boards, I discovered that I had got the fuse clip distances wrong and the transistor marked on the PCB and Schematic is incorrect. It requires a 2N3906 PNP (Not a 2N3904 as marked). I have corrected the text above to reflect this.

Active Fuse Tester v1.01

Active Fuse Tester v1.01

The circuit works fine with both the single BiColour LED or two single LEDs. I have also tried a BC547 and that seems OK too, provided you fit it backwards to the silk screen marking.

Active Fuse Tester v1.01 Versions

Active Fuse Tester v1.01 Versions

Upon building the second board, I left out half of the fuse clips since it is easy to press the fuse under test on to the bare connections. The next itteration of the board will include a full set of correctly spaced clips.

Active Fuse Tester v1.02

Active Fuse Tester v1.02

I have moved the battery onto the rear to give the board a smaller footprint using an SMD clip type. I also moved the BiColour LED to the top edge of the board between the two singles.

Now having correctly spaced the fuse clip footprints, the new board is good to go. They have now been ordered and are in production.

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A Testing Time

Posted on August 19, 2018 by ProjectVIR

Whilst I wait for yet another batch of Morse Practice Oscillator boards to be fabricated and shipped, I’ve been working on a really simple fuse tester. Rather than have the usual continuity circuit, I want this to be a little different and be educational.

I decided to include LEDs to indicate either a good or bad fuse. Green for good, red for bad. The circuit is quite simple. It is triggered by a tact type switch on the board where a transistor either switches on or not depending on the validity of the device under test.

Simple Fuse Tester Schematic

Simple Fuse Tester Schematic

I have included two fuse holders for the two main sizes of fuse and the option to use either two single LEDs or a BiColour LED. I am hoping to have the CR2031 3V battery on the rear of the board to save some space.

The fuse holder pins and the battery holder components are en route at the moment. When they arrive, I will measure them up and create custom symbols/footprints if I can’t find them in the current KiCad libraries.

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A Real Groaner

Posted on August 18, 2018 by ProjectVIR

Today, I got a chance to build up the latest version of the Morse Code Practice Oscillator, version 2.04. I had hoped that this would be the final one and I could publish all the files associated with it. But no, a mistake was made. To be honest, it was a really easy one to miss but none the less, it is there.

Micro Switch Not Connected

Micro Switch Not Connected

I had thought that I’d managed to get everything connected, and indeed, KiCad reported that there were no other connections to make. Unfortunately, I’d missed an error on importing the ratsnest that showed that a connection on the micro switch wasn’t named correctly. The DRC missed this completely, why would it spot it at all?

I will re-label the component footprint, but not until I have created a custom symbol with the usual micro switch labels, C, NO and NC for Common, Normally Open and Normally Closed. It turns out that the center pin isn’t the common connection either. The common is the contact nearest the hinge of the device. This wouldn’t have been a problem had the connections been made. However, in the interests of accuracy, I will resolve this.

Lesson learned yet again, checking things over is never a waste of time! This small mishap does allow me to prepare new silkscreen logos for this site though, which I haven’t done as yet. It will then be the first project posted here. Stay tuned!

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Another Fine Site I’ve Gotten Myself Into

Posted on August 17, 2018 by ProjectVIR

This website is born of several others. For quite a long time, I’ve sporadically posted on ProjectHAB.co.uk, ProjectAVR.com and ProjectSPECCY.com The trouble is that, there is a load of non-AVR related information and projects on ProjectAVR. I wanted to better organise the material. ProjectVIR is an attempt to do that.

Named after Ohms law, V=IxR, I thought it appropriate to use as a name for a general electronics based website.

ProjectVIR-Logo-1_RGB_400px

This site will hold posts and projects in the general electronics field. Things that wouldn’t necessarily fit on the other sites. Although I may cross post so that there is a good variety of content.

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