In this post, I’ll show you the induction heater I made. I bought the board and coil as it’s easier and quicker than making them on your own. It’s rated for 2000W but the maximum power I can get out of it is 1200W because that’s as much as the power supply I’m using can supply.
In this post, I’ll show you how to make a signal generator and oscilloscope from a PC soundcard. I used a cheap USB soundcard so in case the input voltage gets too high, I don’t damage my PC. This signal generator and oscilloscope obviously don’t have the best specs and are very limited. They can produce/measure a very narrow range of voltages and frequencies(0-20KHz).
Recently I decided to clean up my project backlog by either finishing or scraping the projects. A lot of times when I start something it eventually ends up being sidelined for months(or even years) for a multitude of reasons (being busy with other stuff, waiting for parts, forgetting about them, not feeling like it). In this post, I will document some of the ones that I decided to cancel/scrap, how far along I got and the reason I started the project in the first place and why scrapped it.
In this post, I’ll show my DIY SMD vacuum pickup tool. I bought this vacuum pump SMD pickup but it had no way to be turned on/off. There is only a hole on the vacuum “pen” that you can cover with your finger to make or release the vacuum. I decided I would mod it and make it operable with a footswitch. When pressed the vacuum pump is turned on and when you let go the vacuum pump is turned off while the valve is opened at the same time to release the vacuum and instantly drop the SMD part from the nozzle.
In this post, I’ll show my DIY solder paste dispenser. It’s powered by a 12V adapter and can be operated by a footswitch(connected via banana connectors). It uses a small membrane air pump/compressor to dispense the solder paste/flux. Additionally, there is a solenoid air valve connected to the airline so the pressure can be released after you let go of the footswitch which prevents the solder paste or flux from oozing out. The pump and valve timing is controlled through a relay module by an attiny45 microcontroller.
In this post, I’ll show a DIY power supply I made from an old computer PSU. This is a great way to get a fairly powerful lab power supply with a range of different voltages for cheap. I used a breakout board I bought online as it’s much quicker and simpler than drilling holes for all the connectors into the case and then soldering all the wires.
In this post, I will show my DIY quiet air compressor. I took the compressor from an old fridge and used an old whipped cream dispenser as an air tank. The compressor is very quiet and can thus be kept indoors(under my table in fact). The air capacity isn’t the greatest but it’s good enough for my needs(doing some pneumatics experiments, solder dispenser, …). The air pressure, however, can easily get up to 8 bar(around 120 psi). In addition to compressed air, you also get a vacuum line. You could, for example, use that for making a vacuum chamber or a vacuum pick up tool.
