Planet Arduino

This plug-and-play rig will make it easy to control high-voltage outputs from a low-voltage Arduino.

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The post Use an Arduino and Relays to Control AC Lights and Appliances appeared first on Make: DIY Projects, How-Tos, Electronics, Crafts and Ideas for Makers.

  TEMPO, TEMPO! is a piece of kinetic art in the form of a metronome with an audible spark. Or, according to creator Sanela Jahić, it’s “a kinetic object which form a narrative about accelerating the production process and enhancing work performance in order to increase competitiveness and improve profits.” […]

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Kevin Rye writes:

I’m in the very early stages of prototyping a nixie clock. I picked up some MJE340 power transistors to switch on some IN-3s. I can then use a digital pin on my Arduino to turn on the IN-3s through the transistor. I’ll then have myself a blinking colon for my nixie tube clock.

[via]

Flashing a Nixie with an Arduino - [Link]

by avdweb.nl:

A fine-spot welder is one of the few equipment where building yourself is cheaper than buying. There are already published a lot of DIY spot welders, this one has some unique features:
It can be used in 2 welding applications: opposed and series configuration.
The construction is kept very simple.
Accurate electrode force adjustment.
It has a solid electrode holder, made of a radiator earthing clamp.
An Arduino microcontroller is used to set the weld time accurately.
Creates a double pulse which improves clamping.
The current can be reduced for welding sensitive parts.

DIY battery tab resistance fine-spot welder - [Link]

 

[Jean-Noel] is fixing a broken Lurem woodworking machine. This machine uses a three-phase Dahlander motor, which has three operation modes: stop, half speed, and full speed. The motor uses a special mechanical switch to select the operating mode. Unfortunately, the mechanical bits inside the switch were broken, and the motor couldn’t be turned on.

To solve the problem without sourcing a new switch, [Jean-Noel] built his own Arduino based Dahlander switch. This consists of three relays that select the wiring configuration for each speed mode. There’s also a button to toggle settings, and two lamps to show what mode the motor is currently in.

The Arduino runs a finite-state machine (FSM), ensuring that the device transitions through the modes in the correct order. This is quite important, since the motor could be damaged if certain restrictions aren’t followed. The state machine graph was generated using Fizzim, a free tool that generates not only FSM graphs, but also Verilog and VHDL code for the machines.

The final product is housed in a DIN rail case, which allows it to be securely mounted along with the rest of the wiring. The detailed write-up on this project explains all the details of the motor, and the challenges of building this replacement switch.

Filed under: Arduino Hacks, tool hacks