Posts
Fishbone tangles on a rotary hook Pfaff sewing machine
When what looks like a thread tension problem is really something else.
HowTo: Solder by hand - Flux and lead-free solder
When supposedly simple tasks turn complicated.
Duplicating the pocket eyeglass clip
How many tools does it take?
A horizontal thread holder for a vintage sewing machine
Making things most folks would just buy.
A case for a Fairphone 3 - Prototype
Reconciling plans and reality.
Reassembling the upper thread tensioner on a Pfaff 297 sewing machine.
Surprise: It’s broken!
A case for a Fairphone 3 - Plan
Making measurements and drawing plans.
A case for a Fairphone 3 - Concept
Begin at the beginning.
A case for a Fairphone 3 - Table of Contents
A DIY leather sewing project from start to finish.
A holder for some more sharpening stones
Showing how I did something the second time around.
A handle for a tea strainer
Cleaning a teapot the long way around.
Sharpening stones for the repair cafe
Donating more than just time to a worthy cause.
A sewing machine motor speed control - The sound of a functional snubber
The answer to a non-Zen non-koan.
A vintage tripod to make pictures of my vintage sewing machines
Two from one instead of two for one.
A sewing machine motor speed control - A snubber for Bigfoot
Protecting the flyback diode that protects the MOSFET.
A sewing machine motor speed control - When you really need an engineer's help.
Kerplunk. Kablooey.
HowTo: Solder by hand - A better solder sucker
A modern replacement for the old fashioned solder sucker ball.
A sewing machine motor speed control - A look at the insides of the finished control
A lurid crawl through Bigfoot’s entrails.
A sewing machine motor speed control - Functional
A look at a functional DIY sewing machine motor speed control.
Replacing the broken controller on a Pfaff 801 Hobbymatic sewing machine
Old isn’t always better, especially when it comes to electronics.
A sewing machine motor speed control - Nearly there
Got the hardware. Where’s the software?
The Pfaff 30-31 sewing machine - Reassembly
Putting back all the things I took off.
Sewing machines of the Black Forest
What can you discover from a quick look?
The Pfaff 30-31 sewing machine - Repainting and applying decals
Looking good.
The Pfaff 30-31 sewing machine - Stripping the paint - carefully
Mind the lead.
Privileg 1510 sewing machine - A favor for a friend
The book is right, even when it is wrong.
The Pfaff 30-31 sewing machine - Disassembling the machine
Removing all the bits and pieces before stripping the paint.
The Pfaff 30-31 sewing machine - Refinishing the cabinet
Unlocking the beauty in an old oak veneer sewing cabinet.
The Pfaff 30-31 sewing machine - Fixing a small problem
Jams are for music and toast, not sewing machines.
The Pfaff 30-31 sewing machine - Table of Contents
Returning a favor.
The Pfaff 30-31 sewing machine - What have we here?
Well darn it! (Not.)
A sewing machine motor speed control - Mounting brackets
Sawing, drilling, sanding and tapping.
A sewing machine motor speed control - Making the box
Drilling, sawing, and filing.
Photographing the invisible - adding a photo scanner to the GUI
Progress and a mystery.
A sewing machine motor speed control - Putting things together
No smoke, but not quite done.
Headset earpads - don't fear the imperfection.
If you don’t try, you’ll never get better.
A sewing machine motor speed control - A long over due update
Collecting parts and drawing schematics.
The Pfaff model K sewing machine - Secrets of the vibrating shuttle
The first rule of the vibrating shuttle oiler is that you don’t talk about the vibrating shuttle oiler.
The Pfaff model K sewing machine - Beech wood, shellac, and brass
A quick look at a couple of weeks of hobby time.
The Pfaff model K sewing machine - Threading the machine
A heckuvalotta photos.
The Pfaff model K sewing machine - Installing the motor
Anachronism time.
The Pfaff model K sewing machine - Reassembly
Back together again - clean and smooth running.
The Pfaff model K sewing machine - Disassembly and cleanup
Removing the ick and doing things I’d rather not.
Pfaff 262 sewing machine - Unhacking a hack
When new old stuff reminds you of old old stuff.
Pfaff 262 sewing machine - Maintenance stories
Adventures with a Pfaff 262 sewing machine.
Latched but not locked
A couple of brass thingamabobs for the thingamajigs on an old wicker basket.
A favor for my father-in-law
Tools find tasks.
The Pfaff model K sewing machine
Taking a Pfaff model K from sad to glad.
The Pfaff model K sewing machine - Tryout
Stiff but functional.
A parking cradle for vintage sewing machines
Keeping the oil off the workbench and the grit out of the machines.
Trying out a commercial electronic motor speed control for vintage sewing machines
Cheaper than DIY, and nearly as good.
Root beer roadtrip
A survey of root beer brands from Missouri to Georgia.
The Pfaff model K sewing machine - A blast from the past
Coincidences are strange things.
The Adler class 8 sewing machine - Alternative bobbins for Wheeler and Wilson 9 type sewing machines
Mmmmmm. Bagels.
The Adler class 8 sewing machine - Putting the Adler to good use
When your pockets are too deep.
Soil moisture monitoring in a flower garden - Catastrophe - or not
When planning pays off.
The Adler class 8 sewing machine - A look at an original Adler sewing machine table
Resisting temptation.
Fixing up a Dual HS135 - Repair
Curing a known disease and a little bit more.
Fixing up a Dual HS135
Retro adventures with a Dual HS135.
Fixing up a Dual HS135 - First sniff
What’s that smell?
Soil moisture monitoring in a flower garden - An update after a very long pause
Mysteriouser and mysteriouser.
The Pfaff 30 sewing machine - Threading the Pfaff 30
Another change in plans.
The Pfaff 30 sewing machine - Taking it for a spin
Doing things people say you can’t do.
The Pfaff 30 sewing machine - Clean up
Sometimes you have to look twice to see how beautiful something is.
The Pfaff 30 sewing machine - Table of Contents
Just passing through.
The Pfaff 30 sewing machine - A first look
A special machine that’s a product of its times.
The Adler class 8 sewing machine - Modern consumables for a hundred year old sewing machine
Just screwing around a bit.
Voltage multipliers - Part 9 Failure modes
Virtually releasing the magic smoke.
A sewing machine motor speed control - Using a photointerrupter for speed control feedback
Works about as well as could be hoped for.
Counting RPM with a photointerrupter
When things don’t work like they ought to.
The Adler class 8 sewing machine - Threading the machine
Almost - but not quite - entirely like threading other machines.
A sewing machine motor speed control - PWM + PID + current measured BEMF = Fail
A failure and a new plan.
A sewing machine motor speed control - A pulse width modulation driver with PID as a motor speed control
Getting closer.
A sewing machine motor speed control - A pulse width modulation driver with feedback as a motor speed control
Moving forwards again.
A sewing machine motor speed control - A simple pulse width modulation driver as a motor speed control
One step forward and one step back.
A sewing machine motor speed control - A MOSFET source follower as a motor speed control
Better, but far from good.
A sewing machine motor speed control - Basic ideas on how not to make a motor speed control
Simple but not really useful.
A sewing machine motor speed control - Table of Contents
Replacing simple mechanics with electricity and electronics.
A sewing machine motor speed control - Musings on motor speed control for universal motors
Ideas for taming my Adler.
The Adler class 8 sewing machine - Adjusting the thread tension
Thread tension from scratch.
The Adler class 8 sewing machine - The thread tensioning mechanisms
A lot simpler than it looks - but still complicated enough.
The Adler class 8 sewing machine - A problem with the thread tension
It’s the little things that make life difficult.
Thread tension adjustment in vintage (and not so vintage) sewing machines
Get it right the first time.
The Pfaff model 31 sewing machine - Refinishing the cabinet
Really glad I did something I wasn’t planning to do.
The Pfaff model 31 sewing machine - Table of Contents
Reassembling a family heirloom.
The Pfaff model 31 sewing machine - Initial state
A first look at the Pfaff 31 and its cabinet.
Black, gold, and blue
A leather phone holster for my Motorola G8 Android smartphone.
Pfaff 262 sewing machine - Sunday afternoon emergency
When the zig-zag only zags.
The Adler class 8 sewing machine - Refurbishing some unobtainium
Not like new, but at least functional.
An Android phone patch adapter
Connecting two Android phones for fun and profit.
The Adler class 8 sewing machine - Sorting a box of unobtainium
An embarrassment of riches.
Reversing a universal motor
Easier than you might think.
The Adler class 8 sewing machine - Building the base for the Adler
Lots of woodworking.
The Adler class 8 sewing machine - A new base for the Adler
Looking good.
Cleaning up a brass oil can
Cooler than its modern counterpart - and more practical.
The Adler class 8 sewing machine - Not doing what I had planned
Red crayons for better legibility.
Fixing a floor lamp
Swiss cheese - or a block of hole-y steel.
A hat full of electrometers - Finished
A bunch of electrometers on the wrong hat.
D43 oscilloscope software - Oneshot capture and the D43 time base
I feel the need — the need for speed!
A hat full of electrometers - Mass production
A bunch of electrometers in need of a hat.
Building an IV plotter from an Arduino Nano - Oops
Correcting a mistake - an update for Rodriguez.
The Adler class 8 sewing machine - Planning the base
Simple is where it’s at.
TEAC MP390 battery replacement
A quick fix.
The Adler class 8 sewing machine - Clean up
Shiny and black is hard to photograph.
The Adler class 8 sewing machine - Initial state
In a word - filthy.
The Adler class 8 sewing machine - Table of Contents
The eagle has landed.
Rejuvenating a Blaupunkt Granada Radio - Bluetooth for the blue dot
Bringing the Granada into the twenty first century.
Building an IV plotter from an Arduino Nano - How do you use this thing, anyway?
Some instructions and wiring diagrams to make things easier.
D43 oscilloscope software - Pre-compiled binaries for easy use
GitHub to the rescue.
Building a firewood rack
Under-engineered and over-built - but the price is right.
Transcribing phone calls with Google Live Transcribe - A properly functioning loop-back adapter
A CTIA four pole plug and a few spare parts.
HowTo: Solder by hand - Repair an Android headset
Everything it takes to replace a broken Android headset plug (4 pole CTIA.)
Transcribing phone calls with Google Live Transcribe - An adapter made from common parts
Not the cheapest way but certainly a reproducible way.
Transcribing phone calls with Google Live Transcribe - Measurements and optimization
Making sure that Live Transcribe can hear properly.
Transcribing phone calls with Google Live Transcribe - A prototype and a test
Electrically functional, but not quite ready for prime time.
Transcribing phone calls with Google Live Transcribe - A first look
It ain’t rocket science, but it ain’t trivial, either.
Transcribing phone calls with Google Live Transcribe - Table of Contents
An aid for the hard of hearing.
A rabbit for the rabbit (ein Hase für den Hase)
Getting a grip on a wood burning stove.
Soil moisture monitoring in a flower garden - The Mud-Py monitoring software
Django + MQTT = Easy.
The Simpson 467 - my new old multimeter
I’ve got this thing about old equipment.
Soil moisture monitoring in a flower garden - Solar power for the monitoring system
Assembling a few modules.
Building an IV plotter from an Arduino Nano - Taking a look at a tunnel diode
Surprise time.
Building an IV plotter from an Arduino Nano - Designing a common emitter amplifier with Rodriguez - part 4
Three time’s a charm.
Building an IV plotter from an Arduino Nano - Designing a common emitter amplifier with Rodriguez - part 3
Revising Rodriguez’s base current measurements.
Building an IV plotter from an Arduino Nano - Designing a common emitter amplifier with Rodriguez - part 2
Lets take a “do over” on that biasing.
Building an IV plotter from an Arduino Nano - Now that I've got it, how do I use it?
Designing a common emitter amplifier with Rodriguez.
Learning about GNU Radio - Sources of error in the impedance tester
That’s got the inductors covered, but what about the capacitors?
Building an IV plotter from an Arduino Nano - Fixing some bugs and changing names
Oversampling by any other name is just as slow.
Building an IV plotter from an Arduino Nano - Back on track and making progress
A functional tracer with revised hardware and software.
A hat full of electrometers - Testing the first electrometer
A miniature, gold plated electrometer.
A hat full of electrometers - Table of Contents
A special request.
Building an IV plotter from an Arduino Nano - Refocusing on the task
Forget the ‘gators, I was supposed to be doing something else.
Building an IV plotter from an Arduino Nano - A simple Python program to get started
Just doing some math and writing a bunch of numbers to a file.
Building an IV plotter from an Arduino Nano - Adding it all up
Just do the easy stuff in the Arduino.
A rustical picture frame
“And Now for Something Completely Different” - Monty Python’s Flying Circus
Revisiting the D43 one-shot capture function
The Electrical Engineering StackExchange strikes again.
Rejuvenating a Blaupunkt Granada Radio - Renovating the power supply
I’m not much on the smell of rotten eggs.
Building an IV plotter from an Arduino Nano - Measuring current with an Arduino
Ohm’s law doesn’t require a current shunt.
Building an IV plotter from an Arduino Nano - Generating the bias voltage with stone knives and bearskins
Use what you’ve got.
Building an IV plotter from an Arduino Nano - Why am I doing this?
When I’m right, I’m right.
Building an IV plotter from an Arduino Nano - Table of Contents
Making a point the hard way.
What's wrong with this piece of cheap junk?
Flashing lights are for the disco, not the dining room.
Fixing what isn't broke
At least, the manufacturer wouldn’t see it that way.
Rejuvenating a Blaupunkt Granada Radio - Clean up and assessment
Clean is good, but it doesn’t do much for bad capacitors.
Rejuvenating a Blaupunkt Granada Radio - First look
What’s wrong, and how hard is this going to be?
Rejuvenating a Blaupunkt Granada Radio - Table of Contents
Refreshing my wife’s childhood memories.
Learning about GNU Radio - More functions for the impedance tester
More math and a little more software.
Learning about GNU Radio - Hooking up the impedance tester
Pretending I don’t have a room full of tools and equipment.
Nostalgic interlude - Remembering a project from long ago
Undoing things that were never meant to come undone.
Learning about GNU Radio - How the impedance tester works
A program doing mostly what computers do best - math.
Learning about GNU Radio - A GNU Radio Companion flowgraph to measure impedance
A first (successful) experiment with GNU-Radio.
Learning about GNU Radio - Table of Contents
All about my experiments with GNU Radio.
Soil moisture monitoring in a flower garden - A little bit of planning
What am I doing here, anyhow?
Soil moisture monitoring in a flower garden - An infrastucture for testing my ideas
A garden from the inside out - first the servers, then the yard work.
All about my experiments in soil moisture monitoring
A list of all my posts on monitoring soil moisture in a flower garden.
Soil moisture monitoring in a flower garden - A first look
How much is enough, and how do you know?
Generating extreme low frequency signals with a PC and an audio amplifier
I don’t need this, but I did it anyway.
A persistence control for the D43 oscilloscope camera software
Making use of long sweep times.
A voltage multiplier and a crazy idea
Re-modulating the subflexive fasarta.
Making the base for the salt block lamp
A crooked base for a crooked salt block.
Improving the blog
Making my posts more visible on search.
Dual traces and the Telequipment D43 oscilloscope
That ain’t fair, there’s twos of you there.
HowTo: Solder by hand - Regular or unleaded
What kind of solder is best?
HowTo: Solder by hand - Meet my new soldering iron
The hardware store cheapy left me hanging.
My Telequipment D43 projects - Table of Contents
All my posts about my Telequipment D43 analog oscilloscope in one spot.
The Telequipment D43 high voltage replacement board
What to do when your D43 explodes.
The simple voltage booster - Table of Contents
All about the “Art Attack” LED voltage booster project.
Returning to the salt block lamp
Preparing the salt block for mounting and lighting.
The salt block lamp - Table of Contents
All my posts on the salt block lamp.
Fixing a K-type thermocouple
When cheap crap breaks and ordering a replacement will take too long.
HowTo: Solder by hand - Remove SMD ICs
They ain’t pokemons - you can’t get ‘em all.
RF camera and radio telescope - Table of Contents
All about my experiments in photographing the invisible.
Voltage multiplier experiments - Table of Contents
All my voltage multiplier experiments listed in one place.
HowTo: Solder by hand - Solder SMD ICs
Any SMD IC that has pins or pads that you can see, you can solder.
HowTo: Solder by hand - Removing simple SMD parts
Anything you can see, you can remove.
HowTo: Solder by hand - Soldering simple SMD parts
Anything you can see, you can solder.
HowTo: Solder by hand - Using a solder sucker
Making good use of a cheap tool.
HowTo: Solder by hand - Remove through hole parts
Not the way most folks expect.
HowTo: Solder by hand - Solder through hole parts
Some of the most common things you’ll solder.
HowTo: Solder by hand - Solder wires together
Finally getting somewhere.
HowTo: Solder by hand - First steps
Things are finally heating up.
HowTo: Solder by hand - Before you get started
Make a habit of it.
HowTo: Solder by hand - Materials
Just a few things you’ll use up.
HowTo: Solder by hand - Your tools
It really doesn’t take that much.
HowTo: Solder by hand - Your work place
You’ve got to get close to your work.
HowTo: Solder by hand - Vision check
You can’t solder what you can’t see.
HowTo: Solder by hand - Table of Contents
All the steps it takes to master your soldering iron.
HowTo: Solder by hand - An introduction
Learn a basic skill for your electronics hobby.
EyeGore - The mad scientist's helper
When you absolutely positively have to convince your wife that you’ve lost your marbles.
The box o' buttons
Ten, because two is a stupid number.
Upgrading the workbench
Making better use of the D43 software.
Portable peace of mind
A backstop for partiers.
The cellphone detecting hat band concho
Photographing the invisible - software to display what the hardware saw
A work in progress.
Photographing the invisible - software to drive the hardware
An Arduino program as firmware.
Photographing the invisible - the interesting hardware
Not the hardware store stuff, but the electronics.
Photographing the invisible - building the hardware
Hardware store stuff - not the electronics.
Photographing the invisible - the very first steps
Is this even worth trying?
Implementing a one-shot capture function for the D43
A slight change in plans.
Photographing the invisible - a camera for microwaves
Inspired to follow a childhood dream.
The Sunday afternoon junkbox LED driver
Whiling away a rainy Sunday afternoon with a block of salt and an LED.
A new camera for the D43
That was easier than expected.
Electrical energy: volts, amperes, watts, joules - and play-doh
Visualizing the invisible with a child’s toy.
One last word about the simple voltage booster
Ulterior motives revealed.
Revisiting the inductor for the simple voltage booster
“Missed it by that much.” - Maxwell Smart
How the simple voltage booster works
Time to get abstract.
Fun time - A voltage booster so simple a child can build it
Electronics - “Art Attack” style.
Voltage multipliers - Part 8 Wrap up
Enough’s enough.
Voltage multipliers - Part 7 Impedance of the Cockcroft-Walton voltage multiplier
That got complicated real quick.
Voltage multipliers - Part 6 Impedance and current in voltage multipliers
Where did my voltage go?
Voltage multipliers - Part 5 Tying it all together
Haven’t we met before?
Voltage multipliers - Part 4 More on the Cockcroft-Walton voltage multiplier
Why do something that looks like a problem?
Voltage multipliers - Part 3 The Cockcroft-Walton voltage multiplier
The big league.
Voltage multipliers - Part 2 The Greinacher voltage doubler
Getting better.
Voltage multipliers - Part 1 The Villard voltage doubler
Start with the simple things.
Diodes and capacitors and volts - Oh, my!
Let’s talk about voltage multipliers.
A simple signal generator
Making your own tools.
Oscilloscope camera adapter design considerations
Hardware for the software.
A digital camera for analog oscilloscopes
New tricks for old dogs.
Github pages setup
The trials and tribulations of carrying out a “trivial” task.
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