In this article, we show how an arduino microprocessor is complex enough to exercise variable control, not just the expected computer approach which is that something is working, or it is not. Digital devices have only two states: on or off. An analogue device on the other hand can have a near infinite range of states.
So far we have begun to get acquainted with the Arduino and IDE, the “sketches” or programs that make it work, and we have got it working blinking an LED on and off. In this article we will delve a little deeper preparatory to diving right in with a fully edged project with some real- world applications in the next issue.
Enter The Shed’s build a useless machine competition and win prizes galore. Its easy.
This is the first in a series of articles to introduce the versatile and extraordinary Arduino system to people with no prior knowledge of programming or electronics. We will take you step-by-step through how to set up, program and use the Arduino and provide a series of projects that will help you gain the knowledge you need to free your imagination and work with this revolutionary device.
The Shed on its travels came across this wonderful old generator on Great Barrier Island over the summer. It’s a lighting plant generator called a “Lister Start-O-Matic”.
Hydroponics is all about growing without soil. In many ways this simplifies the lot of the gardener, but it gives them added responsibility for providing plants with the right level of nutrients. As water with nutrients tastes, feels and looks much the same as plain water, a testing instrument called an “EC meter” or “CF meter” is used.
When a friend at Metpresco Engineering offered Jason Clarke an old, universal tool and cutter grinder for his garage workshop, Jason had to think about how he could power it.
Don’t try this at home. In the town of Niagara Falls, you are heading along a street. You suddenly overfly a car, then a bicycle travelling along a path near the water. In an instant you are over the lip of Niagara Falls. In a scary moment you find yourself looming over the precipice and then zooming away across the face of the thundering water.
When I left school I took on an apprenticeship at William Cable in Wellington. Unknown to me at the time, this opportunity would lead to a life-long interest in model engineering. My apprenticeship gave me a wonderful grounding in all aspects of engineering.
When Karl Bishop had finished fixing and painting the fence on his newly acquired house he knew he needed to finish it with a gate. A gate would allow the dog to roam safely and it would add an element of security.
STEPPER MOTORS are to conventional DC motors as computers are to calculators – in other words, much moresophisticated. The ability of stepper motors to specify rotation precisely both by velocity and angle opens new doors for movement control. The downside is that to get the most out of these little beauties, you need ancillary digital-pulse control circuits, a fact which may deter some sheddies from exploiting their numerous advantages.
The Shed magazine is eclectic, informed, and always fascinating. Aimed at those with a few tools and perhaps a few clues: this is the magazine for real sheddies.
Packed with ideas, projects, advice, and peeks into other people’s sheds providing inspiration, ideas, and techniques, or just for the sheer enjoyment of the sheddie’s endless inventiveness, The Shed is the project enthusiast’s bible.
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