After making the Standalone Voltage Regulator I decided to see what else could be made on one of the single IC boards from RadioShack. About a year ago I built a mini-guitar amp using an LM386 audio amplifier and a small 8 ohm speaker from an old computer, you can see the post on geeksinside.com. Since the LM386 only needs a few capacitors and a resistor I wanted to see if it can be crammed on to one of the boards. After a bit of study the answer is yes! This week I soldered the unit together and mounted it an acrylic box you can find at craft stores. I plan on doing a write up like the regulator, with part numbers and part layout, however for now I have a gallery up showing the finished product.
Here is a short list of the parts I used, for the ambitious:
- RadioShack single IC PCB
- 100 uF electrolytic capacitor
- 0.1 ceramic capacitor
- 4.7 uF capacitor
- 10 uF capacitor
- 10 ohm resistor
- 8 ohm speaker
- 25 ohm potentiometer
- 9v battery and snap
- 1/4″ mono phono jack
- LED
Here are a few links to simple amps using the LM386. LittleGem Amp CigarBox Amp
This week I dug through my electronics box and realized one of those Dual General-Purpose IC PC Boards from RadioShack would hold a LM7805 and requisite Caps. and LED very nicely. After a bit of soldering I had a working unit. Rather than just keep my new unit to myself I did a detailed write-up on how you can make this standalone regulator using parts from RadioShack!
I am also excited to announce that I have partnered with C Code Systems to provide component kits for these boards! While you can go to the store and get all the parts (any good hackers should already have most of them) C Code Systems has put together kits that include all the parts required for the project. I think this would be great for an introductory soldering or electronics course! Visit the C Code Systems Product Page
So I guess the Esquire E-Ink issues came out a little earlier than I thought! blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/09/esquire_eink_cover_hackin.html. Who knew the October issue would be release like September 8th!
I’ve been waiting for these issues since they were announced a few months ago. For those who don’t know Esquire magazine has put an E-Ink section in the cover of their October magazine, some people have already opend the cover and went over the guts. Looks like the whole thing is run using a PIC16F629! I am going to go pick one (or two) up and see what I can do with it!
Today I added myGallery to the files section of the site. This version will run from any directoy on a webserver, just upload JPGs and run convert.run. Here is the link: http://mybitbox.com/files/s1axter/mygallery.tgz; it is TARed and GZIPed.
Cool Stuff, Project | s1axter | 
February 10, 2009 9:50 pm | 
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