First introduced in 1979 by Signetics, the NE5532 was a pretty spiffy dual op-amp for the time with low noise and low distortion. Over the years it has become a …read more

What’s one to do with some nice little relays of questionable pinout, and prototyping board? How about a quietly clicky 4-bit counter using relay logic with tons of buttons? [Agatha …read more

A potentiometer is a simple electrical device that allows resistance to be varied at will. Most everyone in the electronics field is intimately familiar with how they work on a …read more

These days wireless microcontrollers featuring built-in WiFi and Bluetooth are all the rage, with Espressif’s range of ESP32 MCUs being the default option for commercial and hobbyist projects alike. This …read more

Along with Velcro, zippers have become an integral part of every day life, being a quick and easy way to usually temporarily join fabric together. Which isn’t to say that …read more

The quest for true randomness has roots in cryptography and is a rabbit hole that gets surprisingly deep with alarmingly rapidity. Still, the generation of random-enough numbers is a popular …read more

Peristaltic pumps are a very simple and effect device for transferring fluids without said fluid ever coming into contact with any part of the pump mechanism. At their core they …read more

An often overlooked section in the datasheets for popular humidity sensors like the BME280 and DHT22 is the ‘non-condensing humidity’ bit, which puts an important constraint on which environments you …read more

Noctua wants to make life easier for fans of its…fans. To that end, the company has released a bevy of 3D models across its various product lines, all available to …read more

Sometimes, as hackers and makers, we can end up with messy lashed-together gear that is neither reliable nor tidy. Rackmounting your stuff can be a great way to improve the …read more

Capacitive displacement sensors span a wide range of resolution, from the touchscreen sensors which can only detect displacement as a binary state, all the way to the sensors in semiconductor …read more

Machine screws aren’t made for wood or sheet metal, they make specific screws for those applications. You probably also know there are special screws for plastic. But did you know …read more

It is a running gag around here that whenever a project posts, someone will inevitably point out that it could have been done with a 555 timer IC. [Stephen Woodward] …read more

Electro-permanent magnets (EPMs) are pretty nifty concepts, and if you aren’t familiar with them, they are permanent magnets with the ability to be electrically switched on or off. Unlike an …read more

Although not really a cost-effective or a required skill unless you have some very specific needs not met by off-the-shelf power resistor options, making your own own wirewound power resistor …read more

We’re used to electronic parts of the same type staying predictably the same, sometimes over many years. An early Z80 from the mid 1970s can be exchanged with one from …read more

The physicist William Shockley is perhaps today best known for three things: his role in the invention of the transistor, his calamitous management of Shockley Semiconductor which led to a …read more

Sodium Chloride has a melting point of 801 C (1,474 F), putting it comfortably between commonly-cast materials like aluminum and bronze. Which led to Robinson Foundry] asking the question: can […read more

The USB-C port has become a defacto connectivity standard for modern devices, largely supplanting the ugly mess of barrel jacks and micro USB connectors that once cursed us. While their …read more

If you know about Peltier modules, a solid-state fridge seems like an easy project. Pump 12V into the module, include a heat sink and a fan. Then you are done, …read more

Although off-the-shelf breadboards are plentiful and cheap, they almost always seem to use the same basic design. Although you can clumsily reassemble most of them by removing the voltage rail …read more

ST’s VL53L5CX is a very small 8×8 grid ranging sensor that can perform distance measurements at a distance of up to 4 meters. In a recent video,Henrique Ferrolho] demonstrated that […read more

Although Jamie’s Brick Jams] has made many far more complicated motor design in the past, it’s nice to go back to the basics and make a motor that uses as […read more

Due to historical engineering decisions made many decades ago, a great many irrigation systems rely on solenoid valves that operate on 24 volts AC. This can be inconvenient if you’re …read more