Author Archives: Jim

2nd Embroidery project – done!

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Jim

Our second project was basically successful – and it’s done!  That’s it on the right. Close friend and nutcase enthusiastic grandmother Nancy had a great sweatshirt with several variants of “grandmother” embroidered on it – but it didn’t include her … Continue reading →

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Added handle for big pusher shovel

Posted on January 24, 2011 by Jim

I’ve got this great (Garant APP36KU) 36″ pusher snow shovel that lets me clear 3″ or less of snow on our 5′ wide sidewalks in two passes.  I love it. But in certain cases, I need to bear down to … Continue reading →

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Improved battery discharger current accuracy

Posted on January 16, 2011 by Jim

I swapped in a 0.9Ω resistor for the old 0.1Ω current sense resistor, giving 9X better current accuracy without reducing the 2A design max discharge current.  The original was just a poor choice. Since that resistor will dissipate 9X more … Continue reading →

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W88 sign is done!

Posted on January 11, 2011 by Jim

It’s done!  I’m delighted and relieved to have the sign installed and operational.  Here are some final notes about the construction techniques and challenges.  (I promise not to whine any more about design decisions.) The test scrap I dragged my … Continue reading →

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Update to battery discharger Arduino code

Posted on January 7, 2011 by Jim

Added test for per-cell voltage < 0.95V (not configurable).  Aborts loop thru cells when one cell is done.  Prints message with capacity, guilty cell (though it’s obvious from the aborted line.)  I left the old overall battery voltage check in … Continue reading →

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Phone backup battery DONE!

Posted on January 7, 2011 by Jim

I cut an oddly shaped piece of the ubiquitous clear plastic that lots of things come packaged in these days, folded it, and have a nice little cover to insulate the ends of the battery pack (as well as letting … Continue reading →

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W88 sign dilemma

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Jim

I’m stuck trying to decide how best to mount the sign and how to protect it.  I’ve gone back and forth a bunch of times.  Ugh. The critical (and interrelated) issues: How to protect the “paper” panels to keep the … Continue reading →

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Phone backup battery is made!

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Jim

Now that the tab welder is working, I was able to make up the little battery pack for power backup of my cordless phone.  After a little thinking about which ones should go up and which down to make the … Continue reading →

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The welder welds!

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Jim

I’ve connected/assembled enough stuff to actually test the first version of the battery tab welder.  And it works!  It’s certainly not in final form, but it very clearly functions as intended, and the welds test good! There’s really nothing to … Continue reading →

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Progress on the sign

Posted on January 5, 2011 by Jim

I printed the front and back sheets/panels.  Fronts were laser printed on the HP paper, and backs inkjet on the National Geographic paper.  I trimmed all the panels.  After some experiments with the glues, I decided to use the 3M … Continue reading →

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