Open Source Hardware, Makers and STEM tutorials

LM35: complete information about this temperature sensor

lm35

Sensors are devices widely used in a multitude of circuits. There are temperature, humidity, smoke, light, and a long etc. They are elements that allow to measure some magnitude and to transform it into a voltage response. The analogical output signal can be easily transformed to digital, so that this type of sensor can be used with digital circuits, LCD screens, an Arduino board, etc.

LM35 is one of the most popular and used sensors of all, as it is a temperature sensor. It comes packaged in a similar package to the transistors we discuss in this blog, such as the 2N2222 and BC547. What it does is measure the ambient temperature and depending on whether it is higher or lower, it will have one or another voltage at its output.

LM317: all about the adjustable linear voltage regulator

LM317

A voltage regulator or voltage regulator is a small electronic device to make the voltage constant in a circuit. It is often seen on components such as power supplies and power adapters. In this case, the LM317 is a small adjustable linear voltage regulator encapsulated in a shield similar to the one we saw in the case of transistors.

Many electronics or makers often use the LM317 for some projects where you need to work with a stable voltage or href=”https://www.oshardware.net/arduino-modulo-rele/”> where it transforms from one type of voltage to another, etc. In these cases, the destabilized voltage signal or the effects on the signal when switching from alternating to direct current is not suitable for feeding into direct current circuits if it is not previously treated with this type of device.

ESP8266: the WIFI module for Arduino

ESP8266

Arduino IDE and with a lot of possibilities. Little by little it was evolving, emerging new versions and editions of the board, as well as kits and complements like the famous shields and modules that extended the basic functionalities of these boards.

One of the complements that made a big step forward in the capabilities was the WiFi module, like the ESP8266, since it allowed the projects that were isolated until now to be connected to a network and thus be able to monitor or manage the project from the Internet anywhere in the planet. That’s why we are going to dedicate this guide to ESP8266, so you can know everything you really need…

Transistor 2N2222: all you need to know

transistor 2n2222

The transistor 2N2222 or PN2222 is another of the most used transistors together with BC548. So, if you like DIY and you are a maker, surely at some point you have needed one of these devices. In this case, the PN2222 is a low power silicon transistor and designed for linear amplification and switching applications.

The reason it is so in demand is that it is good at amplifying small currents and small to medium voltages, as well as being able to work at medium high frequencies. That means that it has a general use and is quite popular among radio amateurs. Those who are will know that it is one of the transistors used for the construction of the BITX transceiver, or that it allowed the Norcal Amateur Radio Club to launch in 1999 a challenge to build a radio transceiver with only 22 such transistors without any additional ICs.

Transistor BC547: all you need to know

Transistor BC547

If you are a maker, you like DIY and electronics, you have probably ever needed to use a BC547 transistor. This is a bipolar junction transistor that was originally developed by Philips and Mullard between 1963 and 1966. Initially it was named BC108 and had a metal housing type TO-18 (Transistor Outline package – case style 18). This package was much more expensive than the plastic equivalent TO-92, but the heat dissipation was better in the first package.

Later it would have a new plastic package and renamed with the code BC148. And it was evolving from BC108, BC238, to what we know today as BC548 with a cheaper TO-92, package and from here the variants like BC547 emerged. The differences between the series were basically the packages, being equal inside them. Furthermore, by its acronym BC it shows that it is a Common Base topology, achieving a high voltage gain in its output without inverting the output signal. Unlike EC (Common Transmitter), which is the only one to achieve both voltage and current gains, and CC (Common Collector) very useful to adapt stages with very different impedances respectively.

Make your own racing drone

DRone de carreras

The drone races are becoming more and more popular, in fact, there are more and more official competitions of this type of apparatus. This has encouraged amateur racers to grow in numbers. However, getting a good racing drone could be expensive if you want a Pro, but with the DIY, you can build yourself a racing drone at a fairly affordable price.

For this there are many possibilities already on the net, some tutorials that teach us how to mount our own drone, others that show us comparisons of the best racing drones, etc. The truth is that the possibilities are quite wide, you could even buy a good drone and prepare it yourself for the competition, which is where we will focus on this article to make it a little more genuine.

Homemade Theremin: how to assemble this peculiar instrument

Sheldon Cooper playing Theremin

Now that the famous and successful series The Big Bang Theory is over, if you’re a fan of it you’ve surely seen the episode where Sheldon Cooper plays one of these strange musical instruments with his hands. A strange instrument that emits a rather peculiar sound just by moving our hands over it. Well, if it caught your eye, in this guide we will teach you how to build your own homemade Theremin and show you how it works.

First we will see what a Theremin is and what principles this strange musical instrument is based on. And after that, we will detail the steps to build a simple Theremin and another one a little more complex, depending on your needs, as it may be simple curiosity and the simplest tutorial is enough or maybe you want to do a more pro one and you want to spend a few hours practicing with these strange tunes.

How to make a home laser cutter

laser cutting machine in action

We all know the possibilities of a laser cutter, and even more so when we like DIY. These types of laser cutters are quite expensive and sometimes only a professional can afford them and they will pay for themselves. However, there are ways to create your own laser cutter and this is what we are going to cover in this new guide. With it we can assemble our own and save a few euros, besides having fun and gain the satisfaction of having created ourselves.

The laser cutter can cut or carve marks on certain surfaces, which is quite practical for some projects. However, it is a machine that must be handled with care due to its dangerousness, so we must take the appropriate precautions to handle it, since we are using a tool that can generate problems if we do not respect the safety measures.

Arduino + relay module and rock & roll: mixing AC/DC

Logos AC/DC and Arduino

After our programming tutorial and first steps in Arduino, this time we bring you a practical guide to work with Arduino and a relay module, that is, to be able to control, through Arduino’s low voltage DC circuitry, a higher voltage AC system. That is, what seemed impossible with a simple Arduino board, such as controlling 220v loads, is now made possible with the relay module.

This will allow you to control devices connected to the power grid. And in order not to be too restrictive in terms of practices, I will try to explain it in a way that can be applied to any kind of project you can think of or modified in an easy way to do what you really want, since there are many very specific projects on the Internet that use an Arduino board and a relay module .

Arduino programming tutorial

Logo de Arduino

Arduino is probably one of the most successful free software and hardware projects or platforms that have had the greatest impact on the DIY world. The community has created both open source software for the programming of the microcontroller boards, and different hardware boards also free to work with. Everything is licensed under the GNU GPL license so you can also create many add-ons and derivatives of them.

In fact, they have awakened an entire electronics industry with a multitude of add-ons, hats or shields with which you can extend the capabilities of your Arduino board beyond its basic functionalities that it implements as standard. Many kits have also been launched to start or carry out very specific projects, such as kits for robotics, kits for solar energy projects, starter kits, etc.