Announcement: I will be hosting an introductory LaTeX workshop at the University of Oklahoma Bizzell Library on September 27th at 2PM central. This is the second workshop I have put on based on my off-broadway version of Software Carpentry for LaTeX. What We Cover Based on the popularity of the Software Carpentry program to introduce …
I just found that some of my consulting work for Xplosafe has been featured in The Oklahoman! As you may have noticed, I have been so busy with real life, that I have been neglecting my website. Yet I am still among the living, and this article is proof of that. One of the things …
LunAero This week, the University of Oklahoma Aeroecology Biologging group started a crowdfunding campaign for LunAero: an automated lunar bird tracking device. Since this is one of the projects I’m spearheading as part of my postdoctoral position in the lab of Dr. Eli Bridge, I’d like to walk through the current design here. Take a …
As part of my ongoing development of the TB6612FNG motor control board, I have created a laser cut Kapton soldermask stencil. In this post, I will first discuss the method of producing a stencil vector drawing from KiCAD. Next, I will discuss the issues that come up with improper settings when cutting Kapton. Finally, I …
I was recently inspired to design a 3D printed SMD strip dispenser for small rolls. I designed the part to be compatible with a little roll I found on Thingiverse and fell in love with. The little roll is called the Mx SMD Component Strip Holder. I decided the cute little Mx needed a better …
It’s a snow day here, and I’ve been busy on a project. So this week is a quick, simple post about sugar and metal. If you ever study metal contents in sugary solutions (in this case, a juice mimic), you should not evaporate your contents. In our lab, we never processed our waste. However, we …
A few weeks ago, I posted about a circuit board I designed to use the TB6612FNG motor controller, seen here, and went through the steps of producing the board for prototyping in subsequent posts. Now that I have had enough time to work with the prototype board, I have made some changes to the design …
Lately, I’ve been editing papers with comments from people who only use Adobe on their Windows or Mac. But for us nerds who use Linux, PDF annotations become an annoyance. Sure, we could download the closed-source poorly implemented security nightmare that is Adobe Reader for Linux, but there has to be a better way. While …
In last week’s post, I discussed a method for DIY PCB etching. This week, I will be continuing in that manner by showing you the final preparation steps I used to get this board ready for soldering including cutting, drilling holes, and protecting the copper with liquid tin. Cutting and Drilling Once the boards were …
Reasoning Today, I will be showing you the DIY PCB etching workflow used in the lab where I am working. In the post last week, I discussed the design considerations for a TB6621FNG motor control board. This post will document how the physical PCB was created. Previously, when I have wanted to produce a PCB, …