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Make Your Own Stereo Microscope – On the Cheap!

By Scott Daniels | Published: May 14, 2012

Do you have an old telephoto lens lying around that you can’t use anymore? If you add an inexpensive pair of binoculars and a couple of prisms, you can make your own zoomable stereo microscope. This article tells how – http://www.funsci.com/fun3_en/uzoom/uzoom.htm… Read the rest

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Make Your Own PCB
  1. Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - An Overview, part 2 (coming soon)
  2. Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board - An Overview, part 1

Making Your Own Printed Circuit Board – An Overview, part 1

By Scott Daniels | Published: April 30, 2012
PCB Image Transfer

If you start tinkering with electronics, eventually you will want to make your own printed circuit board, or PCB as it is generally called. In the olden days, this subject was pretty straightforward. You went down to your local RadioShack, and bought an etching kit. You drew your single sided design using a marking pen and some supplied stickers. The board was fairly big, and it had only a few simple through-hole components.

Those days are now pretty much gone. Now most electronic projects are much more complex, the boards are much smaller, and you need to deal with 2 layers, surface mount components and vias. In this overview, I will tackle the different problems you may encounter and the methods available. I won’t cover PCB layout software or commercially made boards. I’ll deal with those topics in separate articles.

Basic Steps

Making a PCB involves several steps. Today’s PCBs require a lot more steps than they used to, but for your own use, these later amenities can be omitted. The steps involved are:

  1. Imaging your design onto a blank PCB
  2. Etching
  3. Drilling
  4. Amenities – solder mask, silk screen, tin plating
  5. Vias
Each of the steps can be fairly involved and each … Read the rest
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Medical Studies – Fail!

By Scott Daniels | Published: March 28, 2012

Almost daily we read of some new medical study which declares a certain food or substance to be beneficial to our health, and then several months later we read another report that claims the same substance is not beneficial or even harmful. These all too common events beg the the following questions:

  • How can supposedly scientific studies contradict each other?
  • Are scientific studies reliable?
  • How can we determine the truth?

Modern double-blind studies are the gold standard of medical science today. As a result most Americans place unqualified faith in them, including medical professionals, government and court officials, and the members of the press. Is this faith well founded? Are double-blind studies truly reliable? This article will answer those questions and more – you will learn for yourself how to determine what is best for your own health.

Living organisms are exceedingly complex. As a result, it is difficult to devise a study to reliably show the health or harm of any given substance. It is even more difficult to remove human bias from the interpretation of the study. The fact that unqualified trust has been placed in modern double-blind medical studies has resulted in the suppression of many natural … Read the rest

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The Safety of Microwave Cooking – Revisited

By Scott Daniels | Published: February 20, 2012
Microwave Oven

In response to my article regarding the safety of microwave cooking, I recently had reader submit the following request:

Thanks for your comments that it is safe but I am not sure I am convinced. The preponderance of articles I read comment on how unsafe microwave cooking is. There is even an article stating that a women died from a blood transfusion where the blood was thawed in a microwave. More evidence supporting your thesis would be appreciated.

Here is my response:

1) I agree that there is a large body of articles against microwave cooking. It does not mean that they are correct. People are often afraid of things they don’t understand, and since microwave cooking certainly ranks with some of life’s mysteries, people’s fears are understandable.

I have examined quite a few of these articles. They all say the same thing, quote each other, and never offer anything that can be substantiated. Until I am shown something that provides some sound basis, I believe it is a safe form of cooking.

2) The case regarding the women dying is very instructive. I looked it up, and found an interesting discussion here. I also looked at the court brief cited in that discussion. … Read the rest

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The Ultimate Makers Guide to Android Apps – Buy $1000 of equipment for $30

By Scott Daniels | Published: February 15, 2012
Samsung Acclaim

How would you like to buy dozens of gadgets and other useful equipment totaling over $1,000 for only $30?What’s the catch? There is no catch. It is simply the tremendous inherent value in today’s smart phones. Because of their built-in sensors, clever developers have created a large collection of apps, that replace a whole slew of equipment. Best of all, the controls and displays of all this equipment is far superior, often includes data logging and is completely self-contained in a small gadget that fits into your pocket.

My Story

I have wanted a tablet computer for over twenty years. Now that they have finally arrived I have been viewing them with a keen interest, but high-end tablets are too expensive for me. The looked really attractive, but I recently discovered an app that I couldn’t live without that requires bluetooth (more on this app later), which the Kindle Fire lacks. Mulling it over, I had an idea – what if I put the tablet on hold for a while, and instead see if I could buy a cheap, used Android phone.

I have heard about all the amazing things people could do with iPhones and Android phones, but … Read the rest

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Getting Started in 3D Printing the Easy Way

By Scott Daniels | Published: February 8, 2012

3D printing is all the rage in the Maker community these days. I am itching myself to own both a desktop CNC and 3D printer, but haven’t found the time yet.

One of the biggest hurdles is actually not in the hardware, but at the software end. There are lots of hurdles at the hardware end, but without the ability to create and export designs, those issues are moot.

There is a new option available to solve the software problem. It is called TinkerCad. You don’t have to install any software either. Just go to their website and start designing. They even have a video showing how easy it is. It really is that easy. It is kind of like playing with toy blocks, except they are resizeable.

Once you have a finished design, you can then export it directly to 3D print vendors such as Ponoko. They are even running a contest for those using TinkerCad.

Why wait any longer. Give it a try and get started printing today. I am.

UPDATE: I cannot get this HTML5 application to work on either Linux Ubuntu computers, nor older Windows XP machines. If you have any experience with TinkerCAD, … Read the rest

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Solar Insolation – Understanding & Measuring

By Scott Daniels | Published: February 6, 2012
Solar Insolation Map of the US

If you do anything at all with solar energy, you keep running across this term solar insolation. Note the spelling “insolation”, and not “insulation”, which is the stuff you put into walls to keep your house warmer. So what is solar insolation, how is it measured, how can I find out the solar insolation for my location, and how can I used this information in my solar application?

What is Solar Insolation?

If ever there was a confusing term, this one is it. Of course you can always consult the invariably comprehensive Wikipedia, but you may end up even more confused. According to this site, the strange term comes from the phrase: “INcidnet SOLar radiATION“. It is the amount of energy from the sun over a given time period. In contrast, solar radiance is the instantaneous power coming from the sun. While both are typically measured in kW/m2 , radiance is an instantaneous measure, while insolation is a measurement over time. Therefore, it is only correct to state insolation as kW-hrs/m2 .in order to show the cumulative time measurement.

There is another complication – … Read the rest

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Electric Flight – Its Coming

By Scott Daniels | Published: January 27, 2012
e-volo_IMGP2420

As we all know, electric cars are all the rage. What about electric flight? Is it even possible?

Electric Planes

It is not only possible, but electric airplanes are here already, albeit with some obstacles remaining. The main obstacle is the FAA. For some strange reason, they think that electric motors aren’t as reliable as infernal combustion engines. Other less backward nations are charging ahead (excuse the pun). Check out this article describing some electric aircraft ready for production.

Electric Multi-copters

You may already be familiar with an amazing type of hobby R/C aircraft resembling a helicopter, but instead of one central drive shaft, they employ 4, 6, or even 8 or more, separated by spokes. The go by various names such as quadri-copter and octo-copter. They are small, electric-powered, and can do amazing things like carry full size digital cameras and still climb straight out of sight in mere seconds. Their stability is 100% due to built-in accelerometers. They can even fly themselves with on-board GPS.

The question begs to be asked – is it possible to scale these things up for human flight? Ponder no more – it can and has been done. This 16-copter aircraft has … Read the rest

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Using Alternative Fuels

By Scott Daniels | Published: January 25, 2012
Canstove

One of man’s most fundamental needs is for fire – for both cooking and heat. With modern furnaces and electric cook-stoves, we no longer appreciate how important these things are – until we are without. In the true ProvideYourOwn spirit, I am always looking at how to use things at hand to meet these needs.

In that vein, I have been curious how various fuels compare regarding volatility and ignition points.  It is a useful thing to know if you want to understand, or possibly discover, new ways of making cooking or heating stoves or starting fires. We can expand our thinking by asking some of the following questions:

  • What kinds of fuel can I use for a camping/backpacking stove?
  • If I have to cook my food in a pinch, what sort of materials are available?
  • How can I make my own waste motor oil burning stove?
  • How can I use alternative fuels for my needs?
  • What can I use for fire starting besides newspaper?

and make better use of the materials we have on hand, design new types of cooking and heating stoves that better suit our needs, and make better fire-starters.

Temperature Points

To do any of these … Read the rest

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The Hybrid Approach – A Little is Better Than Nothing

By Scott Daniels | Published: January 18, 2012
Wind Turbines

Whenever we set ourselves a goal to “go off grid”, whether the grid means electricity, water, food, or something else, we face a task that is in all probability high unlikely to be accomplished, and maybe impossible, at least at in the short-term. When we finally face that reality we usually become discouraged and just give up or file it along with our other pipe dreams. I have been there. I have also been learning an important principle – a little is better than nothing.

We must stop thinking in terms of “getting off the grid” and more in terms of gaining some measure of independence, no matter how small and then go from there. At first glance, this idea seems ludicrous. After all, if we are still attached and dependent on an electric grid, food supply grid, etc., we are still dependent on them. That is true, however, we must consider the level of dependence as well. When we account for that factor, we begin to see that any measure of independence, no matter how small, will not only lead to greater independence in the future (progress toward our goal), but also vastly increases our security by decreasing our … Read the rest

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