CHOOSING AN OSCILLOSCOPE
Sixteen tips that can make selecting the appropriate oscilloscope for your task at hand a lot easier.

All sorts of questions arise when choosing a new digital oscilloscope (DSO) — it can be somewhat daunting!

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BUILD AN INSTANT HEART PULSE SENSOR

Make your own version of a Fitbit of sorts for monitoring blood flow.

In about 10 minutes and for about $6, you can display the blood flow through your finger. From this measurement, you can extract your heart rate, check for arrhythmia, and even modulate a red light to pulsate with your heart rate. Here’s how.

These new kits are great for soldering practice!

SOME SIMPLE TRANSISTOR AND IC CIRCUITS
Two Nuts & Volts questions motivated me to relearn about bipolar transistors.

This article started as an attempt to answer two questions posed in the Tech Forum here in Nuts & Volts: one for an LED fader and a second one on how to determine which type of transistor to use in a given circuit. Turns out both questions use a transistor. Here’s what I came up with.

A SHOT IN THE ARM FOR ONLINE VR AND AR
With the current viral scare, shopping from home makes more sense.

The world’s focus on fomites — germs on surfaces — is a shot in the arm for online virtual reality and augmented reality applications ranging from online courseware, task trainers, and sales of apparel and accessories, to fresh fruit, vegetables, and meats. I’m sure that — more than ever before — I’m not alone in my willingness to try any reasonable VR or AR solution to grocery shopping.

HOW TO SUCCEED AT CIRCUIT DESIGN BY LEARNING FROM THESE MISTAKES
Getting better at a craft often requires you to learn from your mistakes.

Follow along with this circuit design to see where the problems and pitfalls occurred, so that you can accelerate your learning from someone else’s errors.

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BREAKING THE ARDUINO SPEED LIMIT

Admit it, we all like to do it — break the speed limit. Usually, it’s just a little bit.

Just how fast can you push the Arduino platform before it releases that magic smoke? Very fast, actually.

These new kits are great for soldering practice!

A FULL MOTION HOME SIMULATOR
Go “virtually” anywhere with your own homebrew flight simulator.

Building a full motion simulator will require some mechanical work, electronic work, and even a little programming, but surprisingly, it’s not a great deal more difficult than many other Nut & Volts projects. I’m confident that the first time you step into your flying machine and leave reality for cyberspace, you’ll agree it is worth the effort!

THE REMARKABLE CSS555
The CSS555 is a micropower programmable version of the 555 family of timer ICs.

It operates at a current under 5 µA and a supply voltage from 5.5V down to 1.2V. These qualities make it particularly well-suited for long lasting battery and small solar powered projects.

BUILD THE FLIPVOX LASER THEREMIN
Here’s an analog style laser Theremin with its own built-in synthesizer.

In my previous Theremin article, I described the first of my laser Theremin projects: the LASERVox. This is a simple-to-construct Theremin-like device that acts as a MIDI controller for a synthesizer. In that article, I discussed the possibility of a more analog style laser Theremin that has its own built-in synthesizer or pitch generator. That’s the topic of this article! We’ll build the FLiPVox: a continuous pitch laser Theremin with its own mini synthesizer.

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BUILD A CIRCUIT BOARD ASSEMBLY JIG

Gain a third hand when assembling PCBs.

If you spend a considerable amount of time assembling and soldering PCBs, then you’re gonna love this "third hand." Even without all the bells and whistles, having a proper PCB assembly jig goes a long way toward making electronics a more enjoyable hobby.

KEEPING THOSE COMPONENTS COOL
This basic circuit allows you to control the speed of a fan to suit your noise tolerance.

Not long ago, I put together a project, housed in a plastic box, which contained a component that could get hot enough to self-destruct in a closed box. I added a small cooling fan to the box, but the noise was excessive …

THE CAPACITANCE CONNECTION
Use a multimeter to insure you have enough wire before an installation.

After installing some low voltage yard lights, I applied power and one of the strings did not work. I went through the normal troubleshooting of measuring the voltages and resistance. It became quite easy to tell that I had an open somewhere between the transformer and the first light in the string, but where?

THE ELECTRIC BRAINS OF YESTERYEAR
Get Geniacs and Brainiacs from decades ago working again.

In the 1950s and ‘60s, Popular Electronics and other magazines carried ads for strange looking machines called Geniacs and Brainiacs. The ads claimed they were “electric brains” that could play Tic-Tac-Toe and NIM. A while ago, I bought several sets on eBay and I would like to share my experiences of learning about them and my sometimes frustrating — but successful — efforts to get them to work.

BUILD YOUR OWN PIC TRAINER FROM SURPLUS

Assemble a versatile and high quality PIC trainer from stuff in your junkbox that will make going from concept to working project a breeze.

Belying its humble origin, this really is an open-ended and high quality learning tool. Thanks to the breadboard-like nature of the trainer, it’s a snap to go from a theoretical concept to a working project in a matter of minutes.

THE CIRCUIT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

There’s a deep sense of satisfaction that results from developing, building, testing, and ultimately using a circuit of your own design.

It’s the creative process, after all, that attracts most electronics enthusiasts.

THE GARAGE SENTINEL
Here’s a parking assistant project that will save you from the ’ol hanging tennis ball.

A tennis ball suspended from the ceiling at just the right spot is the classic solution, but with more than one person using the garage — possibly driving different cars or just backing in — that just wouldn’t cut it. Here’s a high tech solution for the high tech hobbyist.

Super Awesome Cube Kit

Need soldering experience? This is the kit for you!

Soldering skills are required by industry manufacturing electronic products as well as electronics enthusiasts developing new prototypes. What distinguishes the skilled solderer is the ability to perform work at a level that insures reliability. Here’s a kit that even though it’s electronically simple, it provides the builder with an array of soldering challenges and hours of soldering experience.

AN ALTAIR CLONE: THEN AND NOW
The resources available today compared to what was available in 1977 make all the difference in projects.

When I read the article “Build a Pocket-Sized Altair Computer” by David Hunter on building an Altair clone, I was reminded that I too had designed an Altair clone, but I built mine in 1977. Mine required seven boards in a 19” rack. This article details the resources I had then in a comparison of what resources are available today. I’ll also describe how I designed and built my clone.

1 GHz PC-Based, Real-Time MSO

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OSCILLOSCOPE PROBES AND PROBING

Do you get erratic results with your oscilloscope?

As you start probing higher and higher frequencies, do the results get increasingly odder? Let’s address the reasons for that strange behavior and construct an Active Probe for about $25.

NEWTON’S APPLE

A fun spin on the classic falling body experiment to measure the acceleration of gravity.

When I was in junior college, I did an experiment in a physics class that I have never forgotten. It was the classic falling body experiment to measure the acceleration of gravity; 9.81 meters/sec2. I loved carefully adjusting the apparatus and meticulously taking the data, trying to get a result that was as close as possible to the established value. Frankly, I don’t recall how close I got but it was the thrill of scientific inquiry that grabbed me. Now, in this age of computer technology, I thought it might be challenging and fun to see how good I could do in my garage with a fairly simple DIY apparatus.

BUILD THE LASERVOX MIDI LASER THEREMIN
Make music by waving your hands at one of the most expressive musical instruments ever built.

If you want an instrument with violin levels of sensitivity, then a regular Theremin is for you. If you want an instrument that’s easier to play and that can control your MIDI synthesizer, then that is precisely what the LASERVox offers. The LASERVox is a perfect project for the novice because it’s a real instrument that can be built very easily with just a handful of components.

Super Awesome Cube Kit

Need soldering experience? This is the kit for you!

Soldering skills are required by industry manufacturing electronic products as well as electronics enthusiasts developing new prototypes. What distinguishes the skilled solderer is the ability to perform work at a level that insures reliability. Here’s a kit that even though it’s electronically simple, it provides the builder with an array of soldering challenges and hours of soldering experience.

TAKE THE Z80 CHALLENGE
Build something that’s both classic and modern at the same time.

This project started out as a challenge to myself: Could I cram a full-featured Z80 microcomputer using DIP packages onto an ExpressPCB MiniBoard (3.8” by 2.5”)? Here’s what happened.

PSYCHEDELIA II

Watch lights flashing to your favorite music.

This color organ has both hardware and software (firmware) components. What’s different about this design is that all of the frequency selectivity is provided by digital filters in the digital domain and the output devices are now low voltage super bright LEDs instead of incandescent bulbs. In addition, a digital automatic gain control (or AGC) was included to allow the color organ to adjust itself to varying musical material.

BUILD A $6 DESK MIC

Turn a cheap LED lamp into a usable microphone.

I certainly didn’t need another desk mic, but the prospect of building one from a $1 LED lamp and a spare mic cartridge was a project I could not pass up.

BUILD THE NIXIESTAR CLOCK
Construct this elegant and intricate timepiece.

The NixieStar clock is the second timepiece kit I’ve developed. My aim was to have a kit that’s reasonably easy to build with intermediate soldering skills (i.e., minimal SMD components). I also wanted a clock kit that once it was built, any spouse (including my wife!) would accept it on their wall — even with a power cord hanging from it.

Super Awesome Cube Kit

Need soldering experience? This is the kit for you!

Soldering skills are required by industry manufacturing electronic products as well as electronics enthusiasts developing new prototypes. What distinguishes the skilled solderer is the ability to perform work at a level that insures reliability. Here’s a kit that even though it’s electronically simple, it provides the builder with an array of soldering challenges and hours of soldering experience.

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