Well, vanity mostly. Just look at the humongous logo at the top. But beyond the vanity I like to share some of my projects with the rest of the world. They may be of use to inspire some people, like I am inspired by a lot of others.
The resent years I am mostly conducting ICT projects, which can be a fairly esoteric job. After sunset I like to indulge myself in very concrete electronics and coding.
Enjoy and take what you think suits you.
This installation was built by my dad and myself to contribute to the education of the students of the The Hague University Of Applied Sciences. I was taking there a bachelor of ICT, and during one of the semesters the group should work at programming the PLC's who were driving a model paint factory. The factory was actually more a set of transport devices where plastic cups where filled from a container containing colored water.
This is where dad and I came in. We got the order to construct the hearth of the factory where a batch of 'true' paint can be mixed from 3 pigments. The batch should be pumped off to one of the four auxiliary stations where the filling of cups take place. The model should be student proof, not to easy to drive with a PLC and equipped with manual overrides for all the pumps and valves. We also wrote a 'service manual' so the students could figure out the workings, without taking the machine apart.
The service manual and demonstration movie are in Dutch though. Three Atmel micro controllers are used in this project. They are described in the service manual, but if you like to see the AVR Studio project files, you can find them here.
I've used this board a lot for experimentation. It was also one of my first steps in using the Eagle CAD PCB software. There is nothing much special actually, but the fact that the MEGA162 contains two independent USARTS. One of them is equipped with a MAX232. Furthermore the board is completely through hole. At the time this board was constructed I didn't fancy SMD that much. A drawback is that AVR Studio does not support the software simulator for the MEGA162 any more.
Nowadays I am the happy owner of a professional microscope. As electronic parts get smaller, my eyes grow older!
Use the board at your convenience.
After my finishing my bachelor project I had some spare LOCOSYS LS20031 GPS modules bought at Sparkfun. The modules proofed to perform poorly at positioning, for my application, but they do provide a good time base.
I reckoned, would I be awed by my peers when I would build a clock showing the time received by a GPS receiver?
Because I made elaborate notes, this project deserves an own page.
This project was quite a family collaboration. Some years ago my dad gave me an ancient PCB with ten CD82 nixie tubes, about 40 to 60 years old. I've decided, with the help of my dear aunt Ruud to build him a clock as a birthday present. The clock was realized and looked splendid but performed poorly.
I've used an ATMega8 as a controller and time base. The clock went stray for several minutes a day. Also the 180V DC power wasn't operating satisfactory. (actualy, it blew up several times)
Quiting is always an option to consider. We choose otherwise.
So much to document and so little time... I'll keep you posted. Mail me if you want, and happy tinkering.