Above, you can see the vice stand. I haven’t done much documentation of the process, so you get the finished product, and thats it unfortunatly. The black blob on one leg is a bunch of electrical tape, which i have used to take out the wobble from the stand, as the feet aren’t perfectly even.

This one came about from various projects where I needed to work outside, but needed something to hold and support my work, as well as having a couple of new tools to try out, including an auto tinting welding helmet, and an angle grinder cutoff stand near identical to the one pictured below:

In the end, the stand was a bit higher then i had planed. The stand was supposed to be about 90cm high,  but somewhere along the line, I made it 100cm

construction was pretty basic, with the feet in 3 pieces – one full length of about 50cm, the other two are half that and are joind to the large one in the center, a couple of bits of strap welded ontop of the crossed feet to give me somewhere to weld the main pipe, and then there was the main pipe itself wich was welded ontop of the cross. The end plate the vice bolts to was acually already on the pipe I used, so that made my life a little easier.

My welds were far from awesome, but they are holding for the time being. if they break, i can always re-weld the stand, and depending on how things go, I may end up cutting it off and making it shorter, and hopefully improving on my welds. My new welding helmet helped me aim my welds better, and made it much easier to weld. I’m very impressed.

Thats it for another one of my projects. so until next time, have fun, stay safe.
Matt

This is my latest project. It is a converter box that converts the 3.5mm stereo microphone input on my camcorder, into some common interfaces, Such as XLR, RCA, and dual 3.5 mono plugs.

Specifically, the driving idea was driven by the XLR inputs, and I was contemplating making a simple cable with 2 XLRs, but I decided to go with the jiffy box and extra inputs for flexiblilty

As you can see in the above diagram, Pins 1 and 3 of the XLR connectors are actually bridged, which makes the input an unbalanced signal, but should allow me to use the mic such as a sm58 for interviews etc… at least.

A future revision of this project will probably include a pad switch, to allow line level inputs into the camcorder, and version 2 if it ever happens would include a proper active XLR converter, maybe some kind of mixer, level monitor, and possibly if I wanted to go crazy, phantom power, and a headphone amplifier.

Another thing I’ve heard of in the other boxes is a feature that sends a high frequency audio signal thru to the camera to trick on-camera auto gain control into staying at a fixed volume.

Anyway, there wasn’t much in the way of progress shots, but below is a selection of photos of the finished project:

I will likely tidy up the box, maybe making my own custom labels & what not.

So, I’ve recieved the  tgimboeja little while ago, and I’ve been slowly getting around to going thru it properly, and documenting everything, and adding my bits and pieces.

OK to start off with, here is the box as it came, just opened up:

and then removing some of the bubble wrap to take a peak:

Here we see a selection of components from the box.

More bits and pieces, a floppy drive out of a laptop, some potentiometers, power supply wall wart, a power conditioner, some valve holders, and a mechanical counter

Next we have a container, largely full of valves of different types, with a few different things on top. For a more detailed documentation of the valves, I recomend you go to the original site of 440hertz. There you will find the valves all labeled up

These are the items in the top of the valve container.
we have some LEDs, a camera flash, some voltage regulators, a Light Dependant Resistor, a radio IC, and a couple of guitar effects (the details of those are on the above website also)

A couple of Phones, and a PSone controller. the nokia looks like it would be technically servicable, but the Dopod looks well and truly dead.

Playstation Two DVD remote (the IR reciever is in the box too). I almost kept this, as I do have a PS two, but I don’t really use it for DVDs, so didn’t see the point

A big old multimeter. Auto ranging. Looks pretty heavy duty

Things I’ve taken from the box

There are a few things in here I haven’t pictured above, but were in the box.

First up, we have a small selection of bits and pieces.  a few potentiometers, some RCA connectors,  a small relay, a speaker and a vibrator from a mobile phone, some infra red interuptor beams, a 556 chip (can we say Atari Punk. oh yea!), and an OPA3134 opamp

A couple of old phones. The Dopod looks well beyond saving, but I’m looking forward to cracking them open and salvaging some fun bits and pieces, like the microphones, speakers and the vibrating motor

While I do have a PSone, this controller is more likely to end up being re-wired. I am thinking of using this to control some future robotics projects. a picaxe or similar, and an IR LED will turn this bad boy wireless. like most things here, stay tuned to see what happens to it

This auto ranging multimeter looked pretty impressive. Once I replace the batterys (which i flattened by leaving it turned on when I first pulled it out) I think it can live on my workbench

And now we have the last of the bits i’ve taken from the box – some heatsinks, which i’ll likely use on some voltage regulators I’ve been playing with. Microswitches have always been a favorite of mine, as are toggle switches. The knob will likely find its way onto a potentiometer in some future project

Additions  to the box

First up, we have a 2 way power split for 2 floppy drives, a set of bright green molex connectors for someone looking to jazz up the inside of their computer case, and an old 4 battery battery charger, which still works as best as I know.

Then we have, a pedometer, a 12v charger for a 2way radio, a keyring torch, and an old ps2 mouse which is lacking its mouseball unfortunately. Hopefully someone can use it for parts, the rotary encoders and button switches would be handy for someone playing with robotics.

Here is an old CPU fan & heatsink, a little speaker from a box of nutrigrain, and a 10 cell AA holder

And here is a few press button switches. some have been soldered to, some haven’t. none of them have really been used.

Here we have a few screw down wire joiners

Hopefully someone will find theses remotes useful. at the very least, they have an infrared LED that could be useful

And finally, we have the box, packed up and ready to seal and send on its way.

As of yesterday, the box has been posted onto its next destination, and soon we should see the next stop off on its trip. I hope you all have found this interesting, and if you want to participate, I recomend putting your name down on the list at http://tgimboej.org/

So thats all for now, Until next time, have fun making things,

Matt

Todays blog is about something I’ve been looking at for a while. It is EvilMadScientist’s “The Great Internet Migratory Box of Electronics Junk” or TGIMBOEJ for short.

Actually, it is not one box, but many boxes, circulating thru the postal system, full of electronic -treasure. If you want to get a good idea of what you can find in a box, I’ve included a link to the Flickr group right here

Reciently, I finally put my name down on the list as a potential recipient. Hopefully I will be contacted soon, as I look forward to receiving one

I was thinking of making another box myself, however, there is not a huge list of Australian participants, so I wonder if its worth it, or if the few people will just get overloaded with the same few boxes, so for now, I’m going to wait for a box to come my way, and find a good collection of bits and pieces to put back in it (which shouldn’t be a huge problem, I have lots of junk….)

Well, until next time, when hopefully I have some of my own work to post, Have fun making stuff.
Matt out.

So, I Haven’t really done anything worth posting reciently, however, I do have a few things on the brew, and I thought I would make a post hinting at what they might be

Synths

First off, I’ve been surfing around the Music from Outer Space website, and I’m feeling like tackling an ambtious project, that has lots of knobs, and shiny things.

To be a little more specific, I’m planning on starting with the Mini-Synth, So I can get a feel for things. I like things that make sound, and music, however, I lack the training and talent to make proper music myself, but I don’t let that stop me drooling over gear
To make this uber ambitious, I’m even going to attempt to create my own PCB, using the laser printer toner transfer method, which will be interesting, as it will be one of my first attempts at etching a PCB. I will probably attempt some smaller boards before I try the big one.

Mixers

I’ve noticed one of my more popular blog posts is my 2 channel mixer. I have since outgrown it, and now I’m back to using my behringer mixer to mix everything together. In order to free up the mixer again, and to give myself another project to play with, I plan on attempting to make myself an active multi channel stereo mixer – probably about 4 stereo channels in size. Stay tuned for that one.

I may also attempt to make an uber small pocket mixer for mixing various sound sources together, on the run

Pongsats

I am fairly interested in the pongsats of JP aerospace. For a while, I wondered if they still did runs with pongsats attached, as their blog and homepage doesn’t seem to be too up to date, however, I did find a few references to recient launches from my shuffling round the website.

I’m getting excited about making my own attempt at a “smart” pongsat. Similar in concept to the picaxe based one here. However, I’m not going to copy their design at all, I plan on using my own ideas, and hopefully, jamming as much as possible into the small space and weight constraints present. This means Surface mount components, and custom PCBs. both which will be learning experiences for myself.

Parts

For all these projects, I’m going to need parts that I don’t have. Originally, I figured I could pick most of it up from Jaycar, which is possible, and fine in most parts, however, at their prices, the little projects, like the audio mixer soon delve into the range it would cost to buy a cheap, professionally designed solution.

This is where places such as Futurlec come in handy, with prices for most components coming in at a dramatically cheaper price.

and just out of interest, for those australians out there, interested in Picaxe Microcontrollers. The place with the best range I have seen locally is MicroZed. they seem to be the main distributor of picaxe related gear in the country

So Stay tuned for more info on these, and other projects, along with Photos, step by step descriptions, Video, and anything else I can manage to include.
I hope you’re exited.

Matt Out.

So, this is a picture of my current work in progress. It doesn’t look like much , but it should be a cool little tool when done.

This post is mostly a test of the ability to post to wordpress from Flickr.
I’m hoping its useful, maybe making it easier to manage blogs with photos, but we’ll find out i guess

Anyway, thats all for now, I’ll keep everyone updated. Cheeers

So, This post won’t house any of my work, I’ve been a bit slack of late, so I thought I would add an interesting website I like to visit.

The website is Instructables

It is a website dedicated to making how-to’s on just about any topic you can imagine

Below I have linked to a few Instructables I have found recently on the topic of electronics

Homemade breadboard
Sure you can buy breadboards cheaply, but sometimes you want something of a certain size (eg. smaller then what you can buy) or maybe you just want to use what you have to make your own

Pocket Sized Soldering kit
I’m a bit of a fan of pocket sized things, and I Kinda liked this idea, and I’m already thinking of making my own, similar kit, hopefully with a few improvements. I haven’t seen the Altoids tins around here though. I’ll have  a bit of a harder look next time I’m at the shops for one, or  a similar tin, and then I’ll get to work

Maker tin
This one is less electronics, and more making things in general, Again, it is on the idea of keeping inside an Altoids tin. Its interesting, but I’d probably make in a little different

Audio Mixer
After looking thru this audio mixer, It got me inspired to have a go at making a mixer a bit more complicated then the 2ch mixer I made, stay tuned

Steampunk Pen Knife

This one is probably the one instructable i’ve been most interested lately. It is basically about making your own swiss army knife. I don’t know why its steam punk, seemingly if it has copper and wood in it, its steam punk. None the less, its still a cool one to look at.

Well, thats a few instructables I found interesting. This post was more to let people know about the Instructables site if they haven’t heard of it yet. If you like making things, I recommend going and having a look

After creating my multitool review, I thought it might be nice to make a short list of the multitools I don’t own, but hope to get my hands on eventually

Spyderco / Byrd Byrdwrench

Technically, its a Byrd Byrdwrench. Originally, Spyderco made the SpyderWrench in the USA, but due to expense of manufacture, couldn’t keep making it, so it got discontinued.

It was popular enough however, that after not too long, they decided to start making it again, but this time thru Byrd, their Chinese budget operation.

and thus the Byrd Wrench

Multitool.org has a good review of the tools. Actually, multitool.org has a lot of interesting reviews. I recently found it, and now it makes my multitool wish list even longer

The Byrdwrench is unique in looks, and in function. unlike most multitools, the wrench can separate into 2 pieces. That is the main reason I find it so interesting, its uniqueness.

SOG Paratool

the Paratool is again unique, this time in the way it folds up. where most multitools work on the flip the handles all the way over principal, the Paratool’s plier jaws come out from the side of the handle. It appears to make a compact multitool

Leatherman Crunch

There just had to be at least one Leatherman in the list, and the Crunch is where it’s at

The basis of the Crunch is a pair of locking pliers, or “vice grips”. This is a worthwhile feature for many uses.

As with most multitools, the jaws still fold up into the handles

Kershaw locking pliers

Pictured here with the Leatherman Crunch is Kershaw’s equivelant. the Kershaw may actually be older then then Leatherman, but i’m not sure.

As you can see, it is along the same lines as the Letherman Crunch, but the jaws don’t fold up. The one advantage the kershaw has over the leatherman is the outside opening blade. For me, this is the biggest win on any tool. Back in the day, the knife was my most used part of a multitool, and having to open the whole thing up every time would be a pain.

SOG Powerlock

Here is the second one on the list from SOG.

The powerlock looks like a big mean machine. It has SOG’s lovely power assisted jaws, which actually gear up the pressure you can apply to whatever you are grabbing onto. This can be handy if the nut – or whatever – is being stubborn.

Conclusion:

So, these are the main tools on my Multitool wishlist, they, Its not a final list, as its always changing – expanding mostly. I’m a huge fan of doing things a little different to the mainstream. The regular folding pliers has been done a million times. From an ease of use point of view, I believe the best tools are the ones that have the knife accessible in the folded up position (which few seem to actually do), but that’s not a criteria I’ve used here, generally, these come more under coolness than usefulness.

I hope you liked my review.
Cheers

I have collected several different Multi-tools over the years. I thought i would do a bit of a review / rundown of how they go, as there are a lot of different ones out there, and it can be hard to know what you want, and if the extra cost of a quality tool is actually worth it.

Leatherman Wave – Old Wave

Leatherman Wave

This was the first “proper” multi-tool I owned. From memory, I bought it with the first pay check from my first full time job, as an Audio Visual Technician, and for me, is the yard stick to measure all other multi-tools. This is one of the original style Waves. The outside tools, the blades, Saw, and File, all lock into place with a liner lock style system. None of the inner tools, the screwdrivers and other bits lock into place, but I don’t generally find that a problem.

Leatherman Wave

For the wave, I also have the matching Bit driver, that clips onto the Leatherman and takes standard hex bits. Not used so much these days, but back in the day, it was a valuable addition to my belt

Leatherman Skeletool

The Skeletool

The Skeletool was a bit of an impulse Ebay buy. I actually bought 3 of the things on the US ebay, for about what it would cost for one of them locally. I sold the other two on the Australian eBay, hoping to get at least my money back. I ended up not making it all back, but that was OK, as I was keeping one, it cost me a whole lot less then going down to King of Knives and buying one would.

Skeletool with its blade out

Anyway, onto the knife itself. I took it to work, as that is my main use/excuse for owning multi-tools. The carabiner was very handy in that it can clip onto my keys, and is compact enough to fit in my pocket with the keys. The downside was, which i have noticed on a lot of tools, is the needle nose tip is a lot less pointy then i would like. for a lot of uses, this doesn’t matter so much, but some jobs, such as straightening bent pins in VGA cables, need a fairly small needle nose to do.

One thinng to note about the skeletool, is the lack of aditional tools. It has a knife, pliers, and 2 leatherman interchangable bits, and thats it. you can buy additional bits from leatherman, but thats an additional cost. This is ok, the Skeletoool is designed to be minimalistic and compact, not massive and feature packed

Gerber Shortcut

Gerber Shortcut

The Shortcut is identical to the Gerber Clutch, except there is a pair of scissors instead of a pair of pliers. This was an accidental eBay purchase. I was supposed to be buying a Gerber Clutch, but bid & bought the wrong item. That’s OK though, after kicking around the office, i came to the conclusion it wasn’t much use there, so it has been relocated to the mini first aid kit i carry in my backpack. I figure the scissors make it more useful there then anywhere else.

Gerber Clutch

Gerber Clutch

Gerber clutch beside the shortcut. They are identical, other then the pliers / scissors jaws

The newest addition to my family of tools, The clutch resides on my work keys. Much smaller then the Leatherman Skeletool, it takes even less space in my pocket. The Clutch is still in the testing phase, I think it will be around for a while, as it fills a nice niche.

The build quality of th Shortcut and the Clutch are what you would expect from a name brand tool. I’m more then happy with them

As you can see from the photo, there is a small keyring clip thing on the tool. I added this myself, cutting the clip off a un-used lanyard i had kicking around the house

CRKT Guppie

CRKT Guppie, showing the detachable hex tools and LED torch

This one is the only one that doesn’t have a pair of pliers on it. Instead, it it made up of a carabiner, and a shifting spanner. I had less of a use in mind when i bought this one, It was more an impulse buy to expand my collection of multitools. Its an interesting concept, Shifting spanner one end, a carabiner, and a hex bit scredriver on the other end. Integrated into the magnetically clipped on bit holder is a little LED torch. This little fish certainly packs a few features, but I tend to miss the pliers too much, so this will likely never be more then a piece in my collection

No-name tools

The two cheap multitools. there is even a quality difference between these two.

I also have several no-name tools, of varying quality, most pre-date my Leatherman Wave. However, there is one that i bought recently, while in search for a tool that fits on my keys, but doesn’t take up space.

Super Cheap Auto branded multitool. Resonably good build quality for an $8 tool

Many of the no-name tools are of pretty poor build quality, and most likely pretty poor material quality. The best quality one was probably the small tool I bought at Supercheap Auto recently. As mentioned before, I was searching for a small tool to add to my keys

Close up of the SCA tool. you can see the modification I have made to the jaws to make them thinner

this is by far the worst quality tool in my collection. poor fitting, and i'm pretty sure the blade and fold out tools are actally crome plated, instead of staneless steel. THATS how bad it is

The cheap tools have seen virtually no use over the years I’ve had them. I’ll usually go for my leatherman Wave first, as Its usually nearest, apart from the gerber clutch, which is on my work keys.

Conclusion

So, now you have seen most of my multitools. I have some good quality ones, some poor quality ones, and some inbetween. In a recomendation to someone looking at buying a multitool, I’ll almost always recommend a good quality name brand, be it Leatherman, or others such as SOG, Gerber, CRKT, spyderco etc… If you go to the cheap end, you’ll get a tool, but the quality won’t be there. Having said that, it appears that some cheap tools are getting better. the Supercheap Auto tool was exceptional for a cost of less then $10

There are some odd ball tools out there, like the CRKT Guppie seen here. They may do the job you’re after, you’ll have to make that call. as mentioned before, the guppie was more a gimick, one for the collection, as opposed to a tool that gets everyday use

have I found my perfect tool? well, the Wave is probably as good as any, Its my favorite, and I don’t know if I could ever bring myself to replace it. Having said that, i won’t stop expanding my collection. There are a few tools on my wish list, but that is a post for another day.

Here is an interesting series, that I believe if you are interested in Electronics, you might find interesting. I’ve added the latest episode at time of writing this blog on this page. If you find it interesting, I recommend going to check it out at the homepage here

David L. Jones is obviously a very experienced engineer, and I’m pretty impressed. The blog, being about electronics engineering, is going to go into things beyond the hobbyist such as myself sometime, but its a learning experience.

Hopefully he keeps up putting up episodes.

Part One:

Part Two: