Heathkit is Hosting an AMA on Reddit

Heathkit, the former legendary electronics kit company, is holding a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) on Saturday, December 21st.

Later this week there will be a special "Ask Me Anything" event on Reddit.com where a member of Heathkit's Board of Directors will be available for an hour to chat live and answer questions about our progress and plans.

On Friday 20-Dec-2013 at 8pm EST / 5pm PST (which is Saturday 21-Dec 0100 UTC), please join us at http://www.reddit.com/user/HeathCompany/submitted

When the event starts, a link to it will appear at the top of that page.

There was a survey earlier this year that hinted at a re-birth of the kit company. It will be interesting to see what the new owners of the brand have to say.

Ktuluino - How to Build Your Own Arduino Clone

Arduino clones are ubiquitous. A quick web search or a look at any electronics hobbyist website will turn up some kind of Arduino-like microcontroller board. Studies have shown that the absolute last thing the world needs is another Arduino clone that adds nothing or very little to existing designs. One might surmise that these are the exact reasons why someone should never design another Arduino clone, yet here is Ktuluino.

How to Repair a Broken Raspberry Pi SD Card Slot

The SD card slot on the Raspberry Pi is easy to break. A four foot drop, SD card first, on a hardwood floor turned my brand new Raspberry Pi into a doorstop. I had ideas of duct tape, hot glue, and bubble gum before deciding that replacing the SD card slot shouldn't be too hard if I could find the part.

USB Breakout Board

A few months ago I anticipated the need to measure current and voltage on a few different USB chargers. I was going to cut up a USB cable, but I decided this might be a good opportunity to design a printed circuit board. Having never designed a PCB before, a simple USB breakout would be a good way to dip my toes into the PCB design waters. For some reason it's taken me months to get around to posting about it. Go figure.

Velleman MK121NTSC TV Tennis Game Kit [Review]

Video games enjoy a unique status. Few things are so beloved at one point in time and so ridiculously out of date within a few short years. Atari’s home version of Pong came out in 1975. Just 10 years later the Nintendo Entertainment System made it look like a joke. Comparing Pong to today’s video games like Call of Duty, Madden, or Skyrim would be a waste of time, but there is hope. Today you can build your own table tennis game in less than an hour with the Velleman TV Tennis Game Kit. Good luck trying to build your own Xbox.

Tempduino - Arduino Based Temp and Humidity Display

The temperature in my office at work varies quite a bit depending on the time of day, season, and the whims of the other people I share the floor with. When I’m sitting at my desk shaking uncontrollably or sweating profusely it would be nice to know if it’s due to the temperature or just work related stress. A simple $5.00 thermometer would suffice, but where’s the fun in that? Making my own thermometer might cost ten times as much, but I might learn something in the process and it would be way cooler than any cheap store bought thing? I’d rather make something myself even if I have to pay a “maker’s premium.”

Arduino Clone Kit Shootout

The Arduino is arguably one of the most copied bits of open source hardware ever. Some of those copies are straight rip offs, but there are plenty of clones out there that take the design and improve or change it in some way. I've rounded up six, open source and commercially available, Arduino compatible devices to find out how they stack up to each other and the Arduino Uno.

The Digispark is Here [Review]

After what seemed like a long wait, the Digispark has finally arrived… at least mine have. As a backer of the Digispark Kickstarter, my three little Arduino compatible development boards arrived a few weeks ago. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with these things yet, but let’s take a look and see what they’re all about.

The OSH Park Experience [Review]

In early December I designed my first circuit board, a simple USB breakout, and submitted it to OSH Park for fabrication. While this is my first board and I don’t have any other experience, I have a feeling it's going to be tough to beat the OSH Park experience.

Adafruit Standalone AVR ISP Programmer Shield Kit [Review]

I've become somewhat of an Arduino guy. The popularity of the Arduino platform over the last few years makes me think that I might not be only one that’s been taken with these little development boards. Somewhere along the way I decided that making my own Arduinos is not only a decent learning experience, but it’s cost effective and allows me to integrate Arduinos directly into my projects.

One of the things that makes an Arduino an Arduino is that it interfaces with the Arduino integrated development environment (IDE). This is accomplished by a small program loaded on the Arduino’s microcontroller called a bootloader. The microcontroller that the Arduino Uno uses, the Atmel ATMega328, is readily available through a number of electronics retailers, but they don’t come preloaded with the Arduino bootloader. Some retailers sell chips with bootloaders on them, but if you’re building your Arduinos with blank chips, you’ll need something like the Adafruit Standalone AVR ISP Programmer Shield to put the bootloader on the chip.

DIY Fume Extractor

I've spent too much time breathing the stuff that emanates from the tips of soldering irons. After checking out the available fume extractors, I thought I could do better putting something together myself. If it didn't turn out that way, at least it would be my loud, expensive, and low air flow fume extractor. Maker's remorse is always better than buyer’s remorse.

Dangerous Prototypes ATX Breakout Board [Review]

The day after I posted my review of Sparkfun’s Benchtop Power Board Kit, Dangerous Prototypes posted their latest project, the ATX Breakout Board. Curiosity got the better of me and I ordered one. After waiting for the shipment for the Orient and a few days of playing tag with my postal carrier, he finally got a signature for the international parcel and I got the Dangerous Prototypes ATX Breakout Board in my hands. Add a month or so of moving it around and doing other stuff, and voila a post. Let’s check it out.

Adafruit Adjustable Breadboard Power Supply Kit [Review]

When prototyping circuits on a breadboard it is nice to be able to keep things as modular as possible. Breadboarding a new power supply every time you put together a circuit can take up valuable time. Adafruit’s Adjustable Breadboard Power Supply Kit promises a high quality power supply to help make your circuit prototyping a little more efficient. Let’s check it out.