Stuff Andy Makes - DIY, make, tinker, play

Charlieplexing LEDs with an AVR ATmega328

Andy — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:19:12 +0000

This is the first in a two-part series. This first article made me realize there’s a lot of ground to cover and we’re already in the tl;dr territory. How many times has this happened to you? You have a little LED project with an AVR ATmega328 microcontroller (or Arduino) at its core and you need [...]

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Standing Desk Improvisation Inspiration with Little Perspiration

Andy — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 18:46:58 +0000

Today at the office, I walked by a coworker’s desk and something was different: She’d put an Ikea table and shelf together and set them on top of her desk. Nutty, at first glance. Purposeful, after 0.25 seconds of thought. Here’s what I saw: Kristian came across this article from Colin Nederkoorn’s Blog with instructions [...]

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meltmedia meltHack-A-Palooza V: The Lost Pushbutton

Andy — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 20:07:18 +0000

Every few months I organize a hack day at the office, usually on a Saturday. This past Saturday we had our 5th installment of hack/make/tinker day at meltmedia and the turnout was great! Attendance was 8, up from 3 the last time around. YESSS! Nick put together a little video of the goings on: Or [...]

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Electronics Workbench LED Upgrade

Andy — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 21:45:48 +0000

I guess I forgot to post an update to the update of my workbench. Not only did I clean up the gigantic mess that had accumulated on it, I improved the lighting and workspace availability: Prior to this upgrade, I had fluorescent lighting under the blue cabinets over the bench. They extended down about 3 to 4 inches [...]

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iPhone Lens Adapters from Photojojo

Andy — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 20:10:27 +0000

I’ve seen a few different add-on lenses for iPhones out there and decided to nab a set for myself to make my detail photos and product shots a little more neato. I went with the Photojojo three-lens kit for $49 US. These lenses are just little guys. They come with front covers and magnetic back [...]

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Home-Aged Bourbon YUM!

Andy — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 07:39:04 +0000

While wandering around at the 2012 Kentucky Bourbon Festival, I stumbled upon the Bluegrass Barrels tent. The guys there showed me how easily white dog (moonshine, or corn whiskey before it goes into the barrel to eventually become bourbon) can be aged at home in your own little charred oak barrel. Is that awesome or [...]

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Lipstick Camera Turned Video Microscope

Andy — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 00:58:27 +0000

Backstory: In a previous life, I was a freefall photographer. I took photos and shot video while skydiving. Before GoPro and others started popping up on the scene, I had devised a little rig for shooting freefall video without the need for the bulky miniDV camera on my helmet. The setup used a “bullet” or [...]

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2012 Kentucky Bourbon Festival

Andy — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 08:35:56 +0000

2012 was the second year I visited Kentucky for the Bourbon Festival. Just like 2011, it was a hoot. This time around (see my previous post) I was able to hit the entire Kentucky Bourbon Trail in one trip. The combination of the two made it that much more enjoyable. Because I was sloppy about [...]

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2012 Kentucky Bourbon Trail

Andy — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 07:31:59 +0000

I now make the yearly pilgrimage to the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. I start out by flying into Nashville, Tennessee to make the road trip with my best friend, Dan. I’ve known him for 30 years (insert old jokes here). He works at Country Music Television (insert country music jokes here). I can’t stand country music (insert… [...]

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Making Mad Props for meltmedia’s Interactive Superhero Marketing Launch: The Rest of the Props

Andy — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 08:37:21 +0000

This is the 3rd in a series of articles about the props I built for my company’s internal marketing launch, which was themed around superheroes. I had to wait to write these three articles because we hadn’t launched yet when I had finished the props. This article focusses on the last partner prop and the [...]

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Making Mad Props for meltmedia’s Interactive Superhero Marketing Launch: The HAT

Andy — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 07:24:57 +0000

This is the second in a series of three posts that talk about the props I built for my company’s internal marketing plan launch for the employees (see previous post for back story). This particular post is about the HAT (Helmet for Accentuating Telepathy) and is our managing partner Justin’s Interactive Superhero tool of choice. [...]

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Making Mad Props for meltmedia’s Interactive Superhero Marketing Launch: Techno HAMMER

Andy — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 06:51:28 +0000

I believe I’ve mentioned it before: I work at an amazing web and software development shop called, “meltmedia.” We have a gaggle of highly talented software engineers, web developers and designers. Sometime back in 2011, meltmedia was in search of a new tag line to kick off a for-real live marketing campaign. Marketing was something [...]

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Save Buckyballs Rare Earth Magnet Desk Toys!

Andy — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 06:16:07 +0000

Consumer Safety Protection Commission FAIL! This blog is all about making things, tinkering, DIY, etc. It’s not a political site. However, when I heard that the Consumer Safety Protection Commission was filing a lawsuit against Buckyballs, I had to join the fight to keep the Nanny State out and help push personal responsibility. Please join [...]

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PC Power Supply Repurposed for Bench/Breadboard/Tinker Use

Andy — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 02:18:58 +0000

A friend and coworker of mine sent me a text today asking if I had instructions on how I built my benchtop power supply from a computer power supply. I realized that I had not written about that on this blog. That was dumb. Simple oversight. Anyone coulda done it. I’ve been using that silly [...]

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meltmedia Hack Day July 2012!

Andy — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 05:04:09 +0000

I work for an amazing company that has an equally amazing culture: meltmedia, in Tempe, Airzona. Those without a sense of humor need not apply. We do things like company outings in the middle of the business day to the movie theater to watch a cool movie opening, drive-by Nerf® dartings, and amazing company holiday [...]

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Disney “Glow With The Show” Ears Teardown

Andy — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 06:47:58 +0000

How do those super-cool Disney "Glow with the Show" colorful glowing mouse ear hats work? I try to figger it out by tearing one apart. I can tell you it ain't WiFi.

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Backyard Propane Fire Pit, Pavers and Outhouse Project

Andy — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 05:48:24 +0000

We HAD three citrus trees in our backyard. They were lined up at the west end of our pool (top right of the photo below). The middle tree was called, “Frankencitrus.” It had lemon-esque fruit on it, but the fruit had absolutely ZERO flavor. Ick. A tree nursery person told us that citrus trees are [...]

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Electronics and Hack Workbench

Andy — Wed, 02 May 2012 04:57:32 +0000

I’ve had a number of requests from readers to see my workbench in its entirety, as most photos of it are just backgrounds to projects. So, I thought I’d post some photos and explanations in an article. Maybe someone will get some helpful hints or perhaps someone will lend me some helpful advice. First off, [...]

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Focus, Dammit! Or, How I’ve Learned to Control A.D.D.

Andy — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 22:45:02 +0000

My favorite shirt reads, “They say I have A.D.D., but they just don’t understand. Oh, look! A chicken!” My sister holds a Master’s degree in child counseling and she is absolutely certain that I would have been diagnosed with A.D.D. when I was a child. Maybe one reason I was not diagnosed can be summed [...]

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AC Current Detection with Allegro AC756 Linear Current Sensors

Andy — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 01:07:30 +0000

I received an Allegro AC756KCA-050B from my friends over at Element14 (Newark.com) and I wanted to see if this little gadget would make it easy to sense when the doorbell was ringing. As it turns out, it’s completely overkill for the task, so I won’t use it for my remote brass marine bell door chime [...]

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