The Start of rArm 3.0!

After a few days of work I've finally got the actual arm almost complete. Its still missing some bolts and what not but its close. The new robotic arm is about 45% larger then rArm 2.0. Next will probably be the base, which will have to be larger then the previous due to the major size increase. Once I'm certain about the math I will post the specifications of how much this baby can lift. And I will release the CAD files as well, the new ones are easier to read and use.

New Servos!

Order 4 new servos for rArm. This be the start of the newly design rArm3.0. No rArm2.0 was never completely finished nor was it meant to be. 3.0 however will probably be the complete build and probably last build. But anyway back to the new servos. These are Power HD 1501MG Metal Gear Servo. The cool thing about these is the torque; 17.0kg/cm! That is about 55% more torque compared to the old servos. But this will be necessary because of the size increase on the new arm. A small review may be on its way once I receive and put the servos to use.

Link the servo:

http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1057/specs

CIS 100, you have failed me!

Seriously? After taking a practice quiz for my CIS 100 class, I seen that I had one wrong. Wonder what I messed?

Windows 8 on Dell XT2!

Well I installed the Windows 8 Developer Preview on my Dell XT2. First off, let me just say its a whole new experience using the touch screen. I absolutely love it already. I only have the 32-bit installed right now but I'm going to install the 64-bit when I get more time. I have 5GB of ram but since its 32-bit it only has about 3.5GB usable. Even with that however it runs like a beast. It boots up in probably 5-6 second flat. It's the real deal lets just say that. I did however have two problems. First is the touch screen worked fine but only with the pen. I could only swipe around with my finger but I could not single click anything. It took me a few days but then I found a solution that worked like a charm (link below). After I got that problem fixed it almost seems perfect. Except for the second problem which is that it seems like it wont shut down sometimes. Appears to be a program preventing it but I have found out what yet. Obviously you have a few bugs and what not but that is expect. As far as I'm concern though, I'm in love.

Windows 8 and multitouch on Dell XT2:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsdeveloperpreviewgeneral/thread/6bda216d-5b33-4867-89b5-efb7ef3d2978

Windows 8 Testing!

Well I downloaded the Developer Preview of Windows 8. I have mixed thoughts about it so far. I'm personally not a fan of the new interface although it has a windows 7 interface as well so ill let that one slide by. I do on the other hand like my news feeds and email being right there, so I'm kinda contradicting myself about not liking it. Another plus is the fact that I went and downloaded Chrome and installed with zero problems. I also installed ImgBurn and Eagle Cad. Both installed without any problems and ran great.

So in my opinion Windows 8 has great potential. It's a tablet owners dream. As for the Desktop user I'm just not sure how it'll all work out. Would I upgrade to it? Yes, I would for the simple fact I know it will succeed.

Edit: I will probably be doing a lot more testing soon. I have installed it on my Dell XT2 and will try to give a little review on that in sort time. Will also hopefully be testing the Acer Iconia W500. And lastly I want to test it on my desktop which is a triple monitor setup.

New Battery Charger!

Got my new all in one Battery charger/dis-charger/balancer. Looks like its really good quality and only spent 30 dollars on it. I'm going to be using it to charge the NiMH battery pack I'm building for my robotic arm.

Here is the link to the charger:
http://www.dinodirect.com/MYSTERY-B6-LCD-Battery-Balance-Charger-with-fan.html?ddse=mystery%20b6%20lcd&utm_source=mystery%20b6%20lcd

1-Bit Adder!

So here is my first attempt at some logic gates. This is just a simple 1-bit adder. It doesn't look very simple because I used a circuit that contained only NAND logic gates to build the adder. My goal is to build a 4-bit adder. After that I want to start building a full ALU (Algorithmic Logic Unit), and then try to build a full 4-bit processor.

I was going to make my first attempt to be a 4-bit adder.  It takes 2 quadruple NAND logic gate for every bit  so that means I would need to have 8 quadruple NAND logic just for the 4-bit adder.  But still would be cool right?

Well yes it would have been cool. But then I started to wire the 5v supply and the Ground. Well that ended up taking almost half of the wire I had. So I ended up with only the resources to build a 1-bit. I might actually have enough to build a 2-bit adder so that may come later. However I'll probably just try to use a computer simulator to build one. Then once I try to start building the whole processor then I will probably be able to add the rest.

Sound Reactive LED's Using TIP3055 Transistor

Simple sound reactive LED's using a TIP3055 Transistor. It has a 12v power source powering 4 green LED's. The module is only connected to the bass.

I want to eventually make a small frosted box and put this into it.

Links to the build:
http://www.danielandrade.net/2005/12/06/howto-blinking-leds/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Music-LED-Light-Box/

Small LM350 Adjustable Power Supply!

This is my first attempt on using the LM350 adjustable voltage regulator. I love it. It's a very simple circuit with only 2 filter capacitors, a 10k variable resistor, and a 510 ohms resistor. I can use a 12v supply and regulate it from a steady 1.2V to about 11.2V.

I got the circuit and everything from this site: http://diyaudioprojects.com/Technical/Voltage-Regulator/ 

Edit: I wanted to say that I wanted to add protection diodes but I realized I forgot them after it was built and didn't feel like adding them. This is only for testing anyway so no big deal.

New Gripper Design!

This is the new gripper design I've been working on. There really isn't much change to anything except the gripper arms. They have been redesigned so that I wont have to use a lock washer(which doesn't do good on Lexan anyway), instead I added more screw holes. 

I will put the CAD file for download on the bottom. This is a very light design that I'm trying to make all plastic and Lexan parts. Right now it's about 65% plastic. Within the next week or so I plan to make it 100% plastic and super light weight. Also to note that this is design for two standard 9g servos. This is much better compared to my 41g servo design in the beginning.

Edit: The CAD file should be up soon. I've been modifying it with nice standard measurements.

rArm's Battery!

I believe I have decided on rArm's battery. This isn't set in stone yet but I think I'm going to use six 1.2v 2200 mAH NiMH rechargeable batteries. This will give me 6 * 1.2v  = 7.2v at 2200 mAH. I think this will be a big enough battery but I'm not 100% sure yet. I'm still looking for better solutions. 

My Graduation Cap!

This is a few months old but better late then never. This is my Graduation Cap when I graduated high school. Just the number "11" in LED's on a very large PCB board. It still works but I took out the battery pack and don't fell like soldering another one on. 

WRT54G and Camera Power Supply!

This is the DC-DC Step-UP module that I want to use to power the router and the camera. I really wanted to make my own but these are only about 6 bucks a pop so I figure this would be a much cheaper route. Seeing as my battery back is going to be around 8.4v I'm going to need 2 of these, one for router and one for camera. I would like to just buy one, but it can only produce about 700mA and the router takes at least 500mA by itself. 

Gripper Power Supply!

This is rArm first design for the gripper's power supply. The gripper servos have a lower operating voltage then the rest of the robotic arm so it has to have a regulator on each servo. This is a stand-alone version of the PSU but it will actually probably be integrated with the main control board. 

Playing With Eagle!

Playing around with Eagle and POV-Ray rendering software. Just trying to get used to eagle again so I can start working on the power supply board for my robotic arm. This isn't a tested circuit, it doesn't even have filtering capacitors.