Author: gary

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Hard Disk Fun

hard disk speedHaving some fun with old hard disks…. by taking them apart of course 🙂 Pics here.

There’s some interesting parts inside. Some fantastically strong magnets and an air core coil are used to position the heads. Stepper motors are long gone from hard drives! Might try some wireless charging experiments with the coil.

The platters themselves are spun by a type of 3 phase motor. Connected this up to a spare speed controller (ESC) from a model aircraft. Was able to spin it right up to 15,000 rpm using the aircraft remote control. Checked the speed with the trusty laser tachometer. That’s 250 revs per second, or 1 rev every 4 milliseconds. Makes a great sound at full speed.

Now to figure out some use for such a tiny high speed motor. Gyroscopic effects are very evident at such high speeds too. Maybe make some self balancing widget!

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August Open Social

streamersIt’s Open Social time again…. this coming Saturday 15th Aug. At the last Open Social in July, we were just a week away from Dublin Maker. The place was hectic with activity. This Open Social will see Toggers much more relaxed. Drop in and hang out for the evening. If you’ve never been to the social, or even TOG itself, you’ll find it a great alternative Saturday evening in town. Look around….talk to members and visitors about projects or things you’d like to do.

 

Talk about beer brewing to some of our brewer members or about locks to our lock pickers. Ask about joining as a full member.We’ve cleaned out the pizza oven and its ready to go. The space stays open until the last member is left……usually the small hours of Sunday morning. The open social is free to attend for members and visitors alike. Our doors will be open from 7pm.

 

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Playing with the IMAX charger

chargerGot an IMAX B6 mini charger to play with. Pics here. This charger will charge and discharge lots of different battery chemistries. We recently acquired some 6-volt lead acid sealed lead acid batteries….believed to be from a UPS.

Two of them powered our buzzer game during the recent Dublin Maker. We’re using the discharge function to test their capacity. It will be interesting to see what capacity they have left.

Drop in if you’d like to try the charger or some other electronics.

 

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Vintage Electronics 2

bikeFollowing the build of our 1978 Metal Detector, next up in our Vintage Electronics series will be a Digital Bicycle Speedometer.  In the March 1977 issue of Popular Electronics, they published an article for a digital speedometer complete with red LED displays. This will be a build from the original magazine which we have in TOG.

 
You can get an LCD digital bike speedometer nowadays for as little as 5 euro. These multi function devices can do much more than speed. Back in 1977 however, this thing must have been space age…..  red LED displays and all!

We think it will look suitably retro on a modern carbon fibre road bike 🙂 We will be building the speedometer over the next few weeks. Come in and join in the build, or keep in touch with the build online.

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July Open Social

party2It’s the middle of the month, it’s Saturday and its 7PM. That can only mean one thing. It’s TOG Open Social again. This Open Social will see us just one week away from Dublin Maker. You’ll get to see a sneak preview of some of the things that we’ll be bringing to our stand.

Apart from that, it will be the usual relaxed hang out. It’s a great way to see the space and to meet other members & visitors. If you’ve never been to the social, you’ll find it a great alternative Saturday evening in town.

 

Hopefully there’ll be pizza, music and much more. The space stays open until the last member is left……usually the small hours of Sunday morning. The open social is free to attend for members and visitors alike. Our doors will be open from 7pm.

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It’s Alive!

scopeMore progress with our vintage metal detector today. Fired up the oscillator section of the PCB and its working away at 126kHz…. very close to design frequency.

 

We’re going to continue to work on it, with the intention of having it ready for Dublin Maker in less than 2 weeks time. Pics of the ongoing build here.