Making an arduino board holder from ply & wood
Making a nice case for an Arduino board can range from the simplest possible case, a piece of plywood the right size, with a few holes to mount the board, right through to an intricate box with closing lid etc. This one probably falls in the middle somewhere. Why another Arduino board holder you ask? Now that my son has taken up the same hobby as me, having started with scratch and a bit of python, he fancies his hand at Arduino.
Belt clamps - what a find!
While looking through the ScrewFix (UK) website recently, I found this little gem of a tool that I’ve purchased and used a couple of times now (see photo - left). They refer to it as a “belt clamp” so should be easy to track down should you want one too. This is an amazing little device for its cost and I cannot speak highly enough of it. I get no payback for listing this, I just think that for cabinet construction this tool is absolutely great.
Hand-built router table for the workshop
Over the years, I’ve done my fair share of wood and metal work, including quite a lot of router work. For some tasks, I think a good router table is really needed, so I’ve took a bit of time out from my other projects to build a good router table. After much looking around, I came up with a hybrid, based partly on this multipurpose table in a youtube video and party on a book I’ve been reading on kindle Complete Guide to Routers by Lonnie Bird.
Building a pair of Troels Gravesen"s Jensen ER speakers
Source site fully documenting the build: http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/Jenzen-SEAS-ER.htm A couple of months ago I built a pair of Jensen ER speakers from Troels Gravesen's website linked above. Given my room size I went for the slightly smaller ported design that is 360mm deep. Now both they and I have had chance to break in I'll write a little about them. In my case usage is about 50-50 audio and AV, and IMHO these speakers are equally at home with both Home Cinema and Music duties.
Polyurethane wood glue for audio equipment.
<img class=" titleimg" alt="pu glue oozing" src="/images/audio/oddsAndEnds/glue-pu-oozing.jpg"/> Over the past year or so I've pretty much switched from PVA to Polyurethane glue for most tasks. I've discussed this glue with other wood workers and in my favourite hardwood store SL Hardwoods of Croydon and all seem to agree it is a strong glue. To me it has one very large advantage for audio equipment over PVA; which is that it expands to fill any gaps.
Building a pair of Seas Mimir design speakers.
For some time now, I've been running a pair of high quality bookshelf speakers based on the Seas Mimir design. Apparently, they are named after the Nordic god of Wisdom and Knowledge, I cannot disagree and with each listening I like them more and more. I've run them off both Roksan and Arcam amplification and I've really liked the sound from each. Many people think that when building speakers, the most important thing is the drive unit, but there are many concerns: the quality of the crossovers, the cabinet construction and the stuffing used.
Orbit, a high performance DIY turntable.
Orbit is a high performance DIY turntable based on Rega 24V decks. It's very easy to make using a moderately well stocked home workshop. In my opinion it competes well with decks costing a lot more than its sum of parts. It uses a fairly conventional design so that it is easy to fit the original Rega lid back onto it, this is important as a lid protects the fragile stylus when not in use and prevents dust reaching the deck.
Turntable building - the history
<img class=" titleimg" alt="original TT" src="/images/audio/turntable/tt-complete1.jpg"/> Before my most recent turntable build, I had tried a couple of earlier designs. The first of which was a Rega deck with a couple of IsoKinetik modifications. I've gone a long long way since this, but I keep it here for historic purposes. Starting out with a P3-24 deck. My deck started life as a refurbished P3-24 unit, with no mods made to it.
Building a holder for my Arduino board
<img class=" titleimg" alt="complete arduino holder" src="/images/electronics/arduino/holder/board-assembled.jpg"/> After almost shorting out my Arduino with a piece of wire that was left under the circuit board, I decided it was time to mount it onto a proper support board along with the breadboard I often use with it. Okay I could go out and buy one, but I had a nice piece of high grade birch plywood in the garage (left over from building a pair of speakers).