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Paper Robot
I actually found a tidbit of useful information in PopSci from November. They had a link to a paper robot. While the instructions and materials provided in PopSci were probably OK for manual use, my wife got a CriCut last year, and this seemed a perfect place to try it. After playing around with the PopSci information for a while, I emailed them ( Read more... ) -
Exercize
So, one of our family Christmas presents this year was a Wii, along with the Wii Fit, which Karen and I had tried out at her parents house a month or two ago, when I set it up for them. I set it up on the TV in the basement, in the room that I just re-finished. Turns out this isn't exactly ideal, since the ceilings are less than 7 feet down there ( Read more... ) -
Escort Service?
So, driving to work this morning, I was passed by a truck with a sign painted on the side. The sign read "Truck Escort Service", which just begs for further comments. The best we could think up this morning was "They must really move fast," and "They go the extra mile." There must be more, though.... -
Laminate Flooring
So, I installed my first laminate floor a couple of weekends ago. In case it's unclear, these are the composite materials that look like hard wood flooring, but just have a veneer and a protective coating on the top. The flooring is an Amber Oak, which we picked up from Sams Club. The floor looks quite nice, and has a pretty authentic look. It ( Read more... ) -
Pondering Motor Vehicle Engines
So, being an engineer, with some mechanical aptitude (not necessarily as in a car mechanic, just for building things) I have been tinkering with the motor vehicles that are available to me lately ( Read more... ) -
Drill Battery Rebuild, part 2
I managed to solder up the first battery pack about a week and a half ago. Even with the solder tabs it was quite annoying. It might have been a bit better if I'd had a good iron, but a 25W, non temperature controlled thing wasn't the right tool for the job. However, I did get it all put back together, and got it to fit inside the case. I ( Read more... ) -
Drill Battery Replacement
Several days ago, both of the batteries for my "13.2V" craftsman cordless driver/drill went out on me, literally simultaneously. I suspect this is as a result of the hard work I had just put them through. So, I had to finish that job using a corded black and decker we have. It's got plenty of torgue, but is much too fast for driving, and has no ( Read more... ) -
Monitors
At the moment, I'm looking at buying a desktop system. It's relatively easy for me to compare PCs, but much harder for me to compare LCD monitors ( Read more... ) -
Senior Project
I spent most of the day working on my senior project. Mostly I worked in OrCAD, putting together the parts for my project, then creating a 4-page schematic that is everything that will be on the board. That was quite an ordeal, but it's done now. I also downloaded and installed a trial version of PADS, from mentor graphics. I don't have any ( Read more... ) -
Senior Project Status
This week we have a status report due, along with our test plan. I just completed my status report, so here's a summary.
The latest block diagram is at http://www.flickr.com/photos/33604751@N00/501433865/It's got just a few additions. Most importantly are the buffers between my 10.245MHz oscillator and the two mixers. I used two separate buffers ( Read more... )