We have movement
May 4, 2009
I didn’t want it to come to this! After many attempts to get the printer to go forward on its own accord (many resulting in ruining the control board and having to buy a new printer) i have brought out the secret weapon – ARDUINO. I also bought a heavily geared down DC motor from Tamiya. These factors combined result in some serious direct to everything progress!
The video shows the printer stepping forwards at a pace set by the Resistance registered by a potentiometer. Later on the potentiometer will be very important in tweaking the printer so it outputs correctly. The DC motor has more than enough power to move the printer.
Circuit:
The black and red wires go directly to the dc motor. The power is switched using a simple transistor.
Technology that answers back
February 27, 2009
cleverbot is a product of jabberwacky.com. Jaberwacky lets you create a robot and then teach it to chat about what ever you would like it to chat about. The idea is that insurance companies and other commercial sites could teach the robot about what they do and then the robot could be placed on their website to help customers with questions and advice. That’s the practical side of it but for me i just enjoyed chatting absolute nonsense to it and reading its random responses. At one point it asked me if i tasted of cheese and it also told me the the giant pyramid with the eye is watching me. Perfectly normal conversations! The idea behind the site is pretty amazing! It would be good if they published an API for the service so that people could link Arduino and other hardware to the site and have actual AI talking projects.
BeatBearing Tangible Rhythm Sequencer by Peter Bennet
February 27, 2009
There are three main reasons why i love this project. Firstly the switches are ingenious. They look to be made out of washers cut in half and separated then as the ball bearing is placed down it connects the two half’s and joins the circuit together. Its so simple that is brilliant.
The second reason i like this project so much is that it uses the old CRT type screen. If you ever go to a dump you will see plenty of these thrown to waste replaced by the more convenient TFT monitor. Its nice to see the old monitors being put to use, i have always thought that the CRT screen would make an awesome base to a coffee table (project coming soon).
I also love that the interface is placed directly above the screen making it possible for the interface to react and change colour throughout the experience. I found this project on the MAKE magazine blog. The Make blog has more information on the build and techniques used for communicating with the computer so if this interests you take a look there as well.
Links:
So thats what i have been hacking apart
November 5, 2008
Being quite new to hacking components i am completely curious about how the small things work. I have been on the hunt for a servo stepper motor for a while now just to experiment with and control using the Arduino. I was told that printers quite often have stepper motors in them so i blagged a printer and started yanking it apart in a rather brutal fashion. With components and plastic discarded everywhere i recoiled in disappointment. After reducing the poor defenseless printer into smithereens all i had to show for it was dc motors 
How then did the printer control the movement of the laser-jet so accurately?
Make magazine came to the rescue as always. Recently on there blog they posted a link to this blog :
A BIG MAGNET PICTURES FROM AN ACCUMULATOR.
A big magnet has a post explaining “Using a DC motor as a servo with PID control” which is what i have encountered when hacking my printer. This technology is not just in printers its everywhere. Its in your printer, Computer mouse, scanners and so much more. A DC motors and an optical encoder are used to replace expensive stepper motors. PID stands for proportional–integral–derivative.
PID is is a generic control loop feedback mechanism (controller) widely used in industrial control systems. A PID controller attempts to correct the error between a measured process variable and a desired setpoint by calculating and then outputting a corrective action that can adjust the process accordingly.
If you are wanting to control movement from a motor and don’t want to spend on expensive stepper motors you should really consider reading this blog.
thank you Big magnet
thank you Make magazine
Drawdio
October 9, 2008
Making sound using the graphite from a pencil to continue the flow of electricity. The video is all a bit cheesy but the idea is very cool. There is a nice bit where the current flows between two people each holding a drawdio. The Drawdio is based on a 555timer though by the name i thought it was another arduino project ( read the comments ) 
check out how to make the Drawdio and where to buy the kits HERE
