This project involves building a simple desk clock with NeoPixel rings and a WeMos (ESP8266) processor, which is also a beautiful piece of art. Previously, I wrote about the LEDs and Buttons Arduino shield which was my first complex PCB Board. Before, the limitations of complicated wiring and my own
A detailed description of how I created a PCB - and the lessons learned. LEDs and Buttons and shift registers, oh my! I have been having loads of fun designing boards and having these boards fabricated for next to nothing. Let me explain how. In a previous blog post --
3d printer
A couple of days ago I posted a blog that described how I designed and constructed an Hourglass Inverter. I used Tinkercad to design the parts. Quite a number of people commented, so I thought I'd share another small project I completed. I've talked often about
Arduino
For nearly 10 years I've had a large hourglass sitting on my desk. It has fine sand that takes exactly 30 minutes to drop through from one end to the other. It looks something like this. I bought it long before I became involved in the Maker World
raspberry pi
One of the best RasPi security cam packages is MotioneyeOS from Calin Crisan. I've written about it in a previous post. There's a great wiki for it here. This week I needed to set it up again for a new RasPi Zero W. I noticed that
ESP8266
Regular readers of this blog know we're enthusiastic users of the ESP8266. I've personally shown how to control a camera pan and tilt mechanism, make a temperature data-logger that logs straight to a Google Sheet, and even how to create a mailbox notifier that sends an
Our latest toy is an MP Select Mini 3D printer. I purchased this with fellow Maker and whatimade.today associate Michael Diamond. We selected this entry level printer that came preassembled, easy to operate and inexpensive. The Amazon.com price for an MP Select Mini 3D Printer was just too
raspberry pi
I'm assuming most readers of this blog already know what a Magic Mirror is. There are any number of tutorials on the web explaining how to make them. Look here or here for tons of examples and instructions. I'd like to concentrate on a single aspect;
IOT
As hobbyists, we are often faced with the decision of COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) vs. CUSTOM, or sometimes known as the Buy vs Build dilemma. But let me back up, and explain the requirements for temperature, humidity, water, and movement sensors. I own a vacation house near Lake Tahoe
ESP8266
In recent months I’ve been using Cayenne for many of my IoT projects, allowing me to view sensors and controllers remotely. It’s a great platform, and very easy for the user with limited programming skills. Among many other things, Cayenne allows you to view logged data over time,
Raspberry-pi
What to do with a spare RasPi? This is the third project in the "Great Projects for a Spare Raspberry Pi" series. The first project, Flightradar24, a live worldwide flight tracker can be viewed here. The second project, "Searching for Aliens" is here. In these posts
Raspberry-pi
About to embark on a trek in South-East Asia, I really didn't want to take a laptop or tablet. The first is too heavy for the type of traveling I'd be doing. The second doesn't give me the USB connections I need. Added to