Nuts and Volts - August 2015

Nuts & Volts (ISSN 1528-9885/CDN Pub Agree #40702530) is published monthly for $26.95 per year by T & L Publications, Inc., 430 Princeland Court, Corona, CA 92879. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT CORONA, CA AND AT ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICES. POSTMAS TER: Send address changes to Nuts & Volts, P.O. Box 15277, North Hollywood, CA 91615 or Station A, P.O.

Box 54, Windsor ON N9A 6J5; cpcreturns@nutsvolts.com.

4 August 2015

08 TechKnowledgey 2014

Events, Advances, and News

Read about a method for cancelling shockwaves, giving your device the finger, 3D printed cars, and more.

12 Q&A

Reader Questions Answered Here

Answers to questions about furnace data acquisition and electronics around vehicle fuel tanks.

15 The Spin Zone

Adventures in Propeller Programming

Fun with Charlieplexing.

Learn about this method of LED control that takes advantage of a processor’s ability to manipulate the pin state.

60 The Design Cycle

Advanced Techniques for Design Engineers

Giving Our “Board” Wings to Fly Over LANs or the Internet.

The A- 10 Thunderbolt II (also known as the Warthog)

is built around its 30 mm cannon. This month’s offering is built around its own 10 MB Ethernet port.

I’ve got the itch, so let’s scratch-build the “board” which is based on the Microchip PIC32MX795F512L.

70 Near Space

Approaching the Final Frontier

CubeSats — Part 5: Designing a Model CubeSat for School Use.

As CubeSats continue to play a pivotal role in space exploration, it’s important to introduce more schools to this technology. Here’s a kit that can do just that.

76 Practical 3D Printing

Real World Uses for the Electronics Experimenter

Pegboard Solder Holder.

Never lose your roll of solder again with this handy bench organizational tool.

22 Motion Triggered Plane Aisle Night Lighting

Build this nightlight on steroids to keep twilight walkers safe and your electric bill down.

■ By Geoff Clark

25 Build a 50 MHz Dipole Out of Crutches

Here’s a fun way to “break” into ham radio!

Use this unique antenna design to find signals — weak or strong.

■ By Bob Fischer

28 Microprocessors and Model Trains Meet Head On!

Let your Arduino ride the rails to make realistic crossing flashers for your model train setup.

■ By Bob Fink

34 The Garage Sentinel

Yep. We’ve got yet another parking assistant project that will save you from the ’ol hanging tennis ball.

■ By Larry Coyle

40 A Web Controlled Music and Internet Radio Player

Never be at a lack for music with this incredibly flexible system that features the Pi MusicBox software.

■ By Craig A. Lindley

48 How to Craft a PIC Barometer

Of all the ingredients that make up a weather forecast, knowing what the current atmospheric pressure is doing is the most important.

■ By Thomas Henry

53 A DIY Indoor Air Quality Monitoring System

The air that we breathe indoors — whether at home or at work — can put us at risk for health problems if there are common pollutants in it. Be sure of what you’re breathing with this prototype system that features many types of sensors.