Review of NeoDen 4 Pick and Place Machine with Vision System

From rayshobby.net 7 years ago in Stores

A few years ago I purchased a NeoDen TM-240A desktop pick and place machine, and wrote two blog posts about it. It was one of the most popular desktop pick and place machines on the market back then, and has served me well for the past three years. It does...

Articles from Ray’s Hobby Shop

Fun with ChatGPT

From rayshobby.net 5 months ago in Stores

Unless if you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard of ChatGPT by now, if you haven’t given it a try yet. Over this past weekend, I’ve had some fun with it. Not only it’s amazingly good at writing...

Announcing OpenSprinkler Firmware 2.2.0(1)

From rayshobby.net 5 months ago in Stores

Today we’ve officially released OpenSprinkler firmware 2.2.0(1). As you may have noticed on this forum post, this firmware is a major revision from the previous firmware 2.1.9. Most of the new features are thanks to Valeriy Soltan’s excellent work almost...

Announcing OpenGarage Firmware 1.2.0

From rayshobby.net 8 months ago in Stores

We are happy to announce that OpenGarage firmware 1.2.0 is now officially available. The main change of this firmware is on cloud connection options for remote access: it now supports both Blynk and OpenThings Cloud (OTC) connections. Previous firmwares have...

Learning Electronics: Tips and Tricks for using ESP8266 in my circuit designs

From rayshobby.net 2 years ago in Stores

This post documents some of the tips and tricks I learned while integrating ESP8266 into my own circuit designs. Some of them help reduce the components needed thus minimizing the cost, while others have to do with selecting and using...

Learning Electronics — I/O expander options

From rayshobby.net 2 years ago in Stores

It’s hard to believe that two years have gone by since my last post. Lots of things happened during these two years: on the good side, we have our first baby born during a year of pandemic, and he is...

Off-the-shelf WiFi Weather Station has an ESP8266 at its Core

From rayshobby.net 4 years ago in Stores

Recently I was involved in a project that requires reading data from a personal weather station (PWS) installed at a friend’s backyard. If you search for “personal weather station” you will find plenty of off-the-shelf products manufactured by various companies....

Final Projects from the ‘Make’ Class (290M) Spring 2018 Offering

From rayshobby.net 4 years ago in Stores

Can’t believe I have been silent on this blog for more than a year now. I would really like to get back to blogging more regularly, and hopefully this post serves as a good starting point. As the first order...

An EagleCAD Script for Creating Laser-Cut Project Enclosures

From rayshobby.net 6 years ago in Stores

When designing electronic circuits, often it’s necessary to have a proper enclosure for the project, to protect the circuit board and components, and for aesthetic reasons. There are several options to choose from. For example, if this is a one-off...

How to Switch Gardena 1251 Latching Valve using OpenSprinkler Bee (OSBee)

From rayshobby.net 6 years ago in Stores

Recently when helping a customer, I came across an interesting case of how to control Gardena 1251 latching solenoid valve using OpenSprinkler Bee. This valve is mostly sold in the European market and isn’t very popular in the US market....

Introducing OpenSprinkler Bee 2.0 — a WiFi-enabled Universal Sprinkler Controller

From rayshobby.net 6 years ago in Stores

Today I am very excited to introduce OpenSprinkler Bee (OSBee) 2.0: it’s an open-source, WiFi-enabled, universal sprinkler controller. It is suitable for garden and lawn watering, plant and flower irrigation, hydroponics, and other types of watering project. This is the...