tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8654801164990125772024-03-06T08:04:41.934+00:00The Fragmentation ParadoxJoão Duartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01073720197994043880noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-865480116499012577.post-74071751758127473722019-12-01T13:23:00.001+00:002021-04-12T13:55:19.703+01:00Graphical Component Tester
I've got this amazing tool for a while, I never really talked about it, so I think it's time. It's a component tester, relatively cheap, but quite surprising in terms of capabilities. It works on transistors, LEDs, inductors, capacitors, resistors, diodes, among a few others. It can detect the component and present it in a graphical way, providing its basic properties. For instance, it can give João Duartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01073720197994043880noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-865480116499012577.post-81540801228355357482019-08-15T15:00:00.003+01:002021-08-25T22:12:15.893+01:00eLab Hackerspace PCB Rulers
Having a PCB ruler in the hackerspace has always been an interest at our
hackerspace, but we never actuallly designed one, until now. PCBWay has
kindly offered to make some of our PCB rulers. There are quite a lot of
PCB rulers out there, but I always thought they could look better, so I
designed my own, and thus something that is both useful but equally
beautiful. And since eLab João Duartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01073720197994043880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-865480116499012577.post-78265817985289196572016-12-13T20:15:00.002+00:002019-04-17T12:03:03.681+01:00GearBest Decaker Micro Laser Engraver Review
A few months ago I was given this DECAKER Micro Laser Engraver by GearBest to make a review and I have finally had some time to do it, so here it is. Starting with a few basic information, this engraver has a 1W laser head and the engraving area it's only about 38x38 mm, but enough for a laser engraving amateur like me, at least for now.
That said, it won't work on metal, ceramics, João Duartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01073720197994043880noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-865480116499012577.post-24550752624147760862016-03-05T21:41:00.000+00:002016-03-19T02:53:23.858+00:00Lisbon Maker Faire 2015
Now this post is long overdue! And, since this year's Maker Faire will be in June, I think it's time to revisit last year's event. It took place on the 18th, 19th and 20th of September and it surpassed all expectations, welcoming over 14000 visitors!
This was the second edition of the event and many things were improved since the first one, most noticeably the dropping of the "Mini" adjectiveJoão Duartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01073720197994043880noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-865480116499012577.post-11073655717184458662015-11-29T23:12:00.000+00:002015-12-12T23:50:11.855+00:00Ion ThrusterOne of the cool projects I've worked on this summer was this Ionic Thruster. After seeing the original idea on Make Magazine by Alexander Reifsnyder, I was amazed to see it work so I decided to build my own version!
To make use of the tools I had available I decided to build the entire structure using 3D printing. This way not only would be a more simple build but it would also be easily João Duartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01073720197994043880noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-865480116499012577.post-74483775727371256602015-10-24T22:10:00.000+01:002016-02-23T01:21:14.967+00:00Restoring the Full Capacity of an SD CardDuring my projects with single board computers with embedded Linux like the Raspberry Pi, the Beaglebone Black, pcDuino or the Cubieboard, often happens when I need to use and reuse SD cards to install Operating Systems into the boards. However, if later you want to use that same card as a normal storage unit, you might be surprised when you find out that a few MB or even GB are missing and worstJoão Duartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01073720197994043880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-865480116499012577.post-84047351328932277892015-08-15T00:23:00.000+01:002019-07-03T22:06:38.703+01:003D Printed DNA LampA few months ago I was browsing online through some 3D models for 3D printing and I noticed there was some DNA strands that caught my attention. They looked nice, however they were not really ready for 3D printing, at least for most printers. Still, I was moving them around on the browser and I realized they created an amazing upwards and downwards effect when rotating them. I thought, if it João Duartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01073720197994043880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-865480116499012577.post-17413982115087324182015-04-24T00:39:00.000+01:002019-10-29T16:57:11.847+00:00MSP430 BSL Rocket EMF DetectorA few months ago I received the MSP430-BSL Rocket from Texas Instruments Europe, as a prize for a Facebook contest. The Rocket is a low-cost programmer for MSP430 devices but since it has its own microcontroller, I thought it would be fun to use it for another application: an EMF detector! By the way if you need a TI launchpad, I'm selling a few of mine on Tindie.
Since it has a rocket shape, IJoão Duartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01073720197994043880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-865480116499012577.post-27890657922301641502015-02-21T23:33:00.000+00:002015-12-11T23:36:28.566+00:00Power over Ethernet AdapterThis was probably the simplest and yet one of the most successful projects I ever made. A Power over Ethernet or PoE Adapter, which allows the usage of Ethernet cable to transmit not only data but power as well for the network equipments.
There are 2 pairs of wires that are not used on UTP cables for communication on 10/100Mbps networks. So these adapters will allow you to use those wires for João Duartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01073720197994043880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-865480116499012577.post-54366111040412378162014-12-17T00:17:00.000+00:002014-12-17T00:25:53.714+00:00SRAM MemoriesA Static Random Access Memory, best known as SRAM, is a type of memory that keeps the data stored as long as it's powered, therefore considered a volatile memory. Unlike the DRAM memories, the SRAM doesn't need to be periodically refreshed, which allows for higher access speeds, however they're usually more expensive, consume more power, take up more space and heat more than the DRAM alternative.João Duartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01073720197994043880noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-865480116499012577.post-11808225576607391272014-11-07T01:17:00.000+00:002014-11-08T16:40:34.332+00:00NST Spark Gap Tesla CoilI remember being attracted by lightning ever since I was a little kid. It always fascinated me staring through a dark and rainy window, during a thunderstorm, watching lightning strike down, lighting up the entire sky while listening to the deafening and imposing sound of thunder. It was quite a show directly from nature, but for me it was more than entertainment, it brought along questions withJoão Duartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01073720197994043880noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-865480116499012577.post-52757470533166733702014-09-23T20:24:00.000+01:002015-03-09T02:20:47.184+00:00Lisbon Mini Maker FaireLast weekend, on the 19th 20th and 21st of September, I had the amazing opportunity to be part of the first Portuguese Maker Faire. It took place in "Pavilhão do Conhecimento" or in english, the Pavilion of Knowledge, in Lisbon and it was visited by over 9000 people, making it mini only in name.
Maker Faire is the greatest show and tell in the world! Originally created by Make magazine, is an João Duartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01073720197994043880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-865480116499012577.post-29681099309259256482014-09-14T12:42:00.001+01:002015-04-01T00:52:50.107+01:00Node School Event
Recently I was convinced by a friend of mine to go to a Node School Event that he was helping organize. I was always curious about node.js and I've seen pretty interesting applications developed in this platform (and in fairly small amounts of time) so I decided to give it a try.
The event took place on August the 2nd in Faro, Portugal, and it was organized by a local community group João Duartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01073720197994043880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-865480116499012577.post-37114180339695395472014-07-05T22:53:00.000+01:002015-04-18T22:43:10.710+01:00New HardwareI usually don't participate in random internet contests, we all now how annoying they might be and you're lucky if you don't get yourself a new subscription to spam. However I recently tried my luck at a Facebook contest from Texas Instruments Europe, it seemed simple enough and since it's from TI, I knew I could trust it. So imagine my surprise when I found out that I was actually one of the João Duartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01073720197994043880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-865480116499012577.post-6103648027559424352014-06-23T02:11:00.001+01:002014-06-28T23:55:31.093+01:00XBee Regulated Adapter Board
Some time ago I came across a project during my Master's Degree that required the use of XBee modules. They are basically 2.4GHz radio modules that make use of the standard IEEE 802.15.4, they are useful for creating low power wireless networks, however their transmission rate is a bit limited.
The thing is that they are quite easy to use and configure but from a prototyping point of view,João Duartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01073720197994043880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-865480116499012577.post-17285544368272701072014-06-15T17:42:00.000+01:002019-07-08T12:00:32.691+01:00TDS210 Oscilloscope on LabVIEW over GPIB (IEEE-488)During my studies, I've done a lot of interesting works, like the calculations for electromagnetic fields on my last post for example, and this is another one. For my Industrial Instrumentation class, I came across this work that had to be done using LabVIEW. The goal was to build a virtual interface for a real instrument that would communicate over GPIB interface (IEEE-488) and that could be João Duartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01073720197994043880noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-865480116499012577.post-59696213405075953592014-03-16T23:04:00.000+00:002018-05-29T11:57:28.672+01:00Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) in High Voltage Power LinesHave you ever wondered about the electromagnetic field around a high voltage power line? Well I have, quite often actually, but I never really found much information about it, at least online. Fortunately, I had to do a work about it, during my academic studies in 2012, it just asked for the EMF values for a constant height but I thought I should make it more interesting by varying the height andJoão Duartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01073720197994043880noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-865480116499012577.post-29084183968673863592014-03-12T20:10:00.000+00:002014-05-16T09:42:51.956+01:00Lamp Starter Blinking LightsThis is probably the most simple "project" I've ever tried, it's actually more like a small experiment than a project itself. I wanted an easy way to make light bulbs blink but I didn't want to waste a lot of time making a circuit and I wanted to use whatever I had laying around. So I decided to try a little trick:
I had plenty of fluorescent lamp starters and I thought, if this is a João Duartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01073720197994043880noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-865480116499012577.post-86009464405360642232014-03-09T18:20:00.000+00:002014-05-16T09:41:55.223+01:00Laboratory ATX Power Supply UnitNow this is a more recent project that I did back in 2012. As I started getting to work on electronics along came the need to have a decent power supply for my experiences, instead of always using different, cheap and weak power adapters. Since I had a few power supply units from old computers laying around, I thought I should modify one to fit my needs. They have a few different voltages João Duartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01073720197994043880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-865480116499012577.post-18266062718096186312014-03-05T00:01:00.000+00:002014-05-16T09:41:24.875+01:00Light Switch ON/OFF LED IndicatorWhen I was first learning electronics I was faced with a little problem. I wanted to have some kind of indicator to tell me if a certain light on a remote location would be ON or OFF. Sure, there are light switches with LED or neon indicators but none of them actually had one for the ON position and another for the OFF position.
I didn't know much yet so I went to talk with a teacher about itJoão Duartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01073720197994043880noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-865480116499012577.post-63189963894230853152014-03-03T00:40:00.000+00:002014-05-16T09:40:49.581+01:00KITT Voice Box Circuit
So, let me start from the beginning. This, was one of the very first circuits I ever made, back in 2006. As a properly 90's kid, I grew up with some really nice TV influences like MacGyver and Knight Rider, therefore, one of the first things I wanted to do when I started learning about electronics was the KITT voice box.
By this time, I didn't know much yet, I must mention that I João Duartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01073720197994043880noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-865480116499012577.post-10291564100198208912014-02-27T21:40:00.004+00:002014-03-02T17:32:35.401+00:00So this is how it starts..
Hello world!
As a maker, a hobbyist and an electrical engineer I end up doing a lot of projects. Some are interesting, others not so much, but they all help me learn a few things. But, as these things usually go, often are the times when I'm barely finishing a project and already with my mind on another one, running with excitement over this and that, which is good, but also a bit João Duartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01073720197994043880noreply@blogger.com0