It's coming up on two years since I bought my kids their 17" HP Omen gaming laptops. They've been rocking these things pretty hardcore with the games and the fan on one of them is paying the price. It sounds horrible and is definitely on the way out. Read More...

I've had my Drobo since February 2011. It's been almost 7 years. Yesterday I got home and went into the computer room and heard a horrible noise coming from the Drobo. It sounded like the fan was on the way out. It made a horrible rattling sound. The bearings were definitly shot. Time for a fan upgrade! Read More...

When starting a print on my ROBO3D R1 3D printer, I periodically get an error message that pops up just after the bed has leveled. The error message pops up and the printer just stops. I have to power cycle the printer, restart MatterControl, and enter M999 into the console. I posted an entry on the ROBO3D forums asking for help. The consensus was that the extruder thermistor was bad and needed to be replaced. However, I ended up frying my board during the repair and needed to replace the Arduino MEGA inside. Read More...

It seems like it was only a year or two ago that I got my APC 1500 UPS battery backup. Wait, it was just the other year! Christmas of 2012 to be exact. It's only been 2 years and 3 months and already this battery is as dead as a doornail. I looked up the lifespan of the battery and it was supposed to be good for 3 to 5 years. So I feel like I got a little short-changed. Not only did I receive a timely response from APC tech support, but they said my unit is still under warranty. Within 48 hours, I had a brand new unit! Read More...

I did it! I finally finished upgrading the clock internals and the enclosure. I think it came out amazing. I just can’t believe after all these years that this clock finally looks like something I can be proud to display. I’m really happy with the results. Read More...

The last prototype Arduino board I made for the 7490 clock rework didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped. The board did what it was supposed to do, but the implementation wasn’t that great. The more I thought about it, the more it became clear that the Bare Bones Arduino boards I designed months ago were the perfect solution. After all, it’s projects like these that inspired me to create the Barebones Arduino in the first place. Read More...

Since I wasn’t happy with the engraving on the first spin, as well as totally forgetting to make a cut out for the display, I revised my SVG file and resubmitted it to Ponoko. As far as the color, I think it’s going to look pretty good. I might lower the value of the resistors in order to brighten up the digits. I’ll have to see what it looks like when it’s all put together. Read More...

While the PCBs for the new daughterboard were being fabbed, I took the time to design a new laser-cut acrylic enclosure. It needs a few tweaks, but overall it came out awesome... and the PCB fits like a glove! Read More...

Despite looking like a prototype, as well as a total piece of junk, I’m still very proud of the first clock I built in 2001. The 7490 clock was the first “big thing” that I ever designed and made from scratch. It’s a shame to leave it just sitting in the closet. After 13 years, I think it’s time to finally get it up and running the way it should, give it some upgrades, and a new enclosure.
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This 7490 clock has been a thorn in my side for a little over 5 years. It's never run right. It looks great, but it runs fast. Is it time for yet another rebuild, or can I just fix it with a cap or something? Read More...

My Dad, forever bestowing upon me vintage goodies of days gone by, happened across a small stash of vintage calculators he’d been holding on to for a good 40 years. Read More...

I made a really nice looking clock back in 2008 using nothing by 7490 TTL Decade Counters. Despite the fact that it came out really nice, it never really worked right. Read More...

My 6 year old has a penguin that lights up and projects stars on his ceiling when he goes to bed. He stepped on it and broke the button. He asked me, “Dad, can you fix my penguin?” Read More...

A few weeks ago, my son cracked the top display on his DSi. I ordered a new display from eBay for $12 bucks. I figured it was an easy install. Much to my surprise, replacing the top LCD involved a 100% disassembly of the entire DSi. It also involved unsoldering the speaker, mic, and camera subassemblies from the top LCD.

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