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These are here for my convienience, but feel free to use them.
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Display size vs. viewing distance
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The Hackers Bench Blog
April 4, 2008
UberGeek $9 CNC Keyboard
I've been working on converting my old mill to CNC control and built up a dedicated PC to run things. I needed a
new keyboard and mouse for the thing so I looked up my favorite place for cheap PC stuff,
Geeks.com
 . Now, honestly, a keyboard for a CNC system
doesn't have to be anything special, but man, a keyboard in CATTERPILLAR TRACTOR YELLOW ??? Just gotta have it!
What's more, the $9.00 USD pricetag is pretty attractive. (Click the pic to see it)
I received it today and it works great.
There's not a whole lot to say about keyboards, for me they either work or they don't. This one works. And besides, DAMN, what a color!
If someone saw it in your kids room they call it cute, but out in the shop, inbetween the mill and the lathe, this thing looks like I
had to special order it from an industrial supplier.
Goofy? Probably. Important? Probably not. Cool? I sure think so! 8-)
August 15, 2007
LCD MODULE GIVEAWAY
So, quite some time ago I won a box of LCD displays on an ebay auction. Turns out there were more than a hundred
of them, they we're brand new, and in the manufacturers original packaging. Cool! If I can get them work at all it'll be the
deal of the century, and if not, I'm not out all that much. I started searching for data and after burning up
MANY hours on the web, pretty much came up blank. I've decided that probably someone out there has the info I
need, and maybe this little contest will motivate them to share the info with me.
Here's what I DID manage to discover:
- Plenty of folks sell this display on eBay, but I can't find a single project using them.
- The display is a 128X128, 65,536 color, TFT display with a white LED backlight.
- It was used on the Nokia 6230 cell phone but NOT the 6230i.
- The Nokia part number is 4850339
- The display was manufactured by Sharp Electronics, and their part number is LS015B8UA02C
- The display connector has 24 pins and from the Nokia 6230 service manual they are:
- 8 data lines
- 1 data clock
- 1 ready
- 1 write
- 1 reset
- 1 TearingEffect (whateverthehell that is)
- 2 LED lines
- and 9 various power and ground lines.
Given the data bus and read/write interface it is a safe bet there is some sort of controller in there, but I don't have a clue
what it might be, and to be frank, I'm just fed up with trying to find the data. So, here's what I'm going to do:
The first person to email me the controller and interface specs will get 6 of these displays TOTALLY FREE.
and
The first person that emails me a retail source for small quantities of the tiny 24-pin socket that mates with these
displays will get 3 of these displays TOTALLY FREE.
and
If the same person send me both, I'll send them 10 displays.
Now, there have to be a few rules:
1) To win the controller half of this deal, the documentation that you send MUST include all of the internal registers, initialization
and set-up commands, timing, and voltage levels. You're no dummy, it has to include everything I need to know to make one of these
things work.
2) The controller half will be considered 'won' after I successfully get a display to work using your information. That should
only take a couple of days.
3) To win the connector half, the seller must be in North America (The USA or Canada), have a low or no minimum order, and be
willing to sell the connectors 5 or 6 at a time.
4) The winners will be determined by the time/date received as indicated by my email software.
5) If the winners are in the U.S. or Canada, I'll pay the postage. Otherwise, you'll have to cover the shipping charges.
That's it. maybe you have the info, or maybe you're just a much better web-searcher than I am. I don't really care. I just
want the data!!!
Send what you find to: 6230LCD (at) hackersbench.com
(this address will be routed to the trash after both lots have been won.)
I'll post the winners, along with whatever data I receive, here on my site.
July 18, 2007
TTL Parts Tools
On the recommendation of a friend, I've made my TTL Parts database and tools public.
July 12, 2007
Cheap LCD Video Monitors (3-5")
Where I find dirt cheap ($2 - $15) LCD video monitors that take A/V (NTSC) inputs.
July 11, 2007
The $3.00 Sprinkler Timer
There's no such thing as a one-zone sprinkler timer on the market ... so I built one ... and it only cost a few bucks!
June 25, 2007
New Giant Clock
Added the fairly cool water-jet clock at the Kanazawa eki train station to the Giant Clocks page. There's even a YouTube video.
June 20, 2007
MAKE Searches
This MAKEzine conversation led me to create this search for solenoids.
This MAKEzine conversation led me to create this search for neodymium magnets.
This MAKEzine conversation led me to create this search for barbed hose fittings.
June 16, 2007
"Man, he's got balls ... "
File this under 'wierd stuff I buy'. I was in a thrift store looking for brass rod and came across this odd little thing.
It's a tradeshow give-a-way gone wrong. I say gone wrong because there wasn't one of these in the thrift store, there were two cases of them.
Playing with one briefly I figured out that it was a spinning top. You would spin it with the balls up, and after a time it would flip over
to the balls-down position, making the logo on the top visible. No grand science at play here. I also discovered that the three little plastic legs
easily pulled out, and the three balls were easily popped out of the legs.
So, cool. three 1/2" chromed steel ball bearings. If the toys were priced at 10 or 20 cents each it would be a decent deal. I looked around for the
price and found I was WAY off ... They were $2.00 ... PER CASE!!
As you can imagine I happily handed over four dollar bills for the two cases (which, by the way, weighed 30 pounds each!).
It took me (with the help of daughter Sarah) about 2 hours to open all of the little boxes, yank off the ball bearings, and divide the trash
into the recycle and garbage bins. The final tally?
 
1,325 1/2" Chromed Steel ball bearings for $4.00 ... An art project waiting to happen.
You can call me strange, you can call me nuts, but ya' can't say I don't have balls.
June 16, 2007
Yahoo Group Created
Want to ask a question? Call me a dimwit? Find out where to get an odd this or that? Join my new Yahoo group!
Click to join hackersbench
May 20, 2007
SMOKIN' DEAL
I've been looking for a small LCD video screen to install in the wall of my laundry room (It's a long story,
and you'll be seeing it later). Today I stumbled across this from the guys at Geeks.com:
5.4" LCD Color Game Screen w/Xbox Mount
It's a 5.4-inch Color TFT, accepts both composite and S-video, comes with the AC power adapter, and it's only 40 bucks! Gutted from it's
plastic (totally nuking the warranty) it should work perfectly! I ordered two. Now to find a touch-screen panel that
will fit over it ....
May 17, 2007
PROSPECTING FOR PARTS
I've just added a new column to the site: Prospecting for Parts. (see left)
On all of the message boards that I read a recurring question is "Where can a get a (insert odd and
hard to find part here)". I figured that I'd share where I find a great many of the parts that I use in
my projects. While I certainly could afford to go buy or order new stuff, my scavenging has several benefits.
First and most obviously, I save a TON of money. In the first installment, 'Grace under Pressure', I manage
to pick up a compressor, a timer, a small gear motor, a bunch of brass fittings, an air pressure gage, and
more for less than five bucks.
Second, it is the "green" thing to do. If I hadn't bought the device mentioned above, its 15-pounds
and roughly 1 cubic foot would have landed in the landfill. But since it when through the Hacker's Bench
shop, all of its parts have been harvested for reuse, its aluminum and copper are off to be recycled, and
what finally did go to the landfill was about 3 ounces of wire insulation and plastic that would barely
fill a Dixie cup. Think of every old, obsolete, or discarded machine as an organ doner.
Third, scavenging can be educational in a couple of ways. The most obvious is that you see and learn how
the machine you're scrapping works. For example, the device in the first article has a compressor, a pressure
regulator, and an air output. Simple enough you'd think at first glance, but while studying the machine I
noticed that the compressor was feeding the air output and the regulator INPUT in parallel! I had to think about
it for a while, but it finally came to me that the small regulator would not allow enough air flow to the
output. Configured as it was, the regulator was actually bleeding off excess pressure, allowing full air
flow at the appropriate pressure to the output. I'd never seen a regulator used that way, and now that I
have I might actually need that technique for some project in the future.
The other educational opportunity arises when you come across parts and have no idea what they are or what
they do. Searching the web for data sheets and catalogs has introduced me to dozens of new parts and devices
that I otherwise might never have seen or known about.
And finally, scavenging can help charities. In this case, my five bucks went to the Goodwill organization. At times
it's the Salvation Army, or St. Vincent de Paul, or some family yard sale.
In short, Prospecting for Parts can be a win-win-win-win activity.
April 02, 2007
GIANT CLOCKS
Just added two new clocks to the Giant Clocks registry. (Click link to the left).
October 05, 2006
Odds'n'Ends
Okay, just did a major overhaul to this site to make things run a little smoother, and
hopefully make it a little easier for me to maintain. What's more, I'm about to post on
the Make Forums
that I've posted the "Ding-Dong" information here. Given my experience posting there before, my little
webpage here is about to get hammered.
The Ding-Dong project actually started back in June. A guy from the MAKE group asked about how to convert
a wireless doorbell into a remote control relay. It sounded cool, and I happened to need just such a
gadget, so I tackled it. I got most of it done but then life stepped in and the project went to
the back burner.
An email the other day from Brett, the guy who originally asked the
question,
brought it back to the forefront.
I still have a couple of things to do, but it is essentially complete. You can read the whole thing
here or click the button to the left.
Check back now and then. I still have to do the antenna part of the project.
I also moved the whole Heatsink from Hell entry to the
Blog Archive . Yup, I still have the heatsink, and I still do not have a use for it.
The Anemometer project? ... eventually.
John
hbws(at)hackersbench(dot)com
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