Ancient FM magazines

Preamble

A good friend and colleague of mine, Harv, recently got hold of a copy of FM Radio Electronics from June 1944, that had a bizarre advert inside…

Arduino Nano based ATtiny fuse reset board

Preamble

I first saw this video for an ATtiny fuse reset board that is based around an Arduino Nano, attiny fuse reset, and chased down the schematic and PCB layout and converted (the PCB at least) to KiCAD.

Note that the PCB uses SMD components.

Making a Gerber from a PDF

Preamble

You have a PDF? You want a Gerber instead?

Or to put it in a more sensible way, let’s say you have a PDF of a PCB mask and need a Gerber file of that PCB mask. How can you convert it? Indeed, is it even possible to convert it?

Adding a new component to DIY Layout Creator

Preamble

An investigation into creating new components for DIY LC. I personally need a ZIF socket, but maybe before that just a simple IC socket. Or a buzzer. See issues:

• Component request: ZIF socket #779
• Component request: Buzzer symbol #780

Note: An experimental and exploratory work-in-progress

DIYLC could really do with a YouTube video showing how to knock up a simple component, or a component editing facility (separate application, plugin, or menu item). See issue Creating components – walkthrough or video #783

Creating PCB masks as PDFs from Gerber files on OS X

Preamble

I had a set of Gerber files (one for each layer) for the PCB layout of piport, from Create_2_Serial_to_33V_Logic.pdf (see Serial comms for Roombas and routers), but my PCB manufacturer doesn’t know how to use Gerber files (he’s a bit slow) and will only accept PDFs.

Toy cheetah

Preamble

A terribly badly made toy cheetah with LED eyes, and two motors to make the cheetah bound.

The main repair issue is that some wires were broken and it is not clear where they should go:

• Motor #2 “positive” lead (one lead appears to go to +6V supply)
• Positive supply
• Possibly the ground

NLS MS-15

Preamble

Fantasy Island 1977 S02E10, a Non Linear Systems (NLS) Miniscope MS-15

Cloned SNES cartridges

Preamble

I bought some dodgy ropey cartridges in Talat Din Daeng for 10 baht each…

All four modules:

MA-149 – Automotive DMM

Preamble

A friend was given one. The screen was shot, but repaired using the old silver foil technique. However, the meter refused to give any readings.

It is difficult to find the User guide (in English). It seems to be a Spanish device… even though it is made in China.

Charge car battery using laptop charger

Preamble

Well, not quite. However, by building a little black box you can use a 12 V mains adapter to charge a car battery