Say a techie hobby - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2024, 04:17:25 pm
content: Apart from electronics, what other science or tech hobbies would be fun to do at home?

author: JPortici
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2024, 04:29:16 pm
content: woodworking, mechanics are the two i like (but practice way too little)

author: Kim Christensen
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2024, 04:30:34 pm
content: Well, there's the whole RC world... (Remote controlled models)Some people like 3D printing their own CAD models/things.You can make all kind of gadgets out of metal or wood the traditional way.Depends on how much room you have to work with.

author: thephil
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2024, 04:37:40 pm
content: Computer programmingData analysisWoodworkingWeldingSmartassingAnd blogging about all of the above.

author: magic
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2024, 04:42:59 pm
content: Computers here, as above, though that's just more electronicsServicing 20th century technology like bicycles or microscopes can be interesting, and it's definitely not electronics, for once. Or DIY optics.

author: Miti
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2024, 04:49:10 pm
content: I’ve tried:ElectronicsRCWoodworkingWatch repair3D printing, mostly fiddling with the printers than printingThey all gave me great satisfaction for awhile and then got bored. I give everything up for awhile and then recycle.

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2024, 05:02:32 pm
content: Quote from: Kim Christensen on September 06, 2024, 04:30:34 pmAbout one room of the apartment for the hobbies only. Though, that's in a city, and with neighbors in the same building. So no heavy machinery, no high noise, no fume-hoods, etc.

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2024, 05:17:14 pm
content: chemistry and microbiology,although some call it home brewing

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2024, 05:17:30 pm
content: Quote from: Kim Christensen on September 06, 2024, 04:30:34 pmSmall crawlers are fun.

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2024, 05:19:06 pm
content: Photography: either film-based or digital.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2024, 05:20:36 pm
content: Quote from: RoGeorge on September 06, 2024, 04:17:25 pmAre you driven my more crafty things, or more intellectually things?

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2024, 08:14:12 pm
content: As long as it's interesting or rewarding, anything goes.My preference would be for something that can be experimented with, or applied in practice to solve a problem. For example, won't mind struggling with some abstract math as long as that will help with implementing some cool DSP effects. OTOH, studying chess, or string theory, or collecting coins won't be my kind of fun.Not interested in blogging, or in showing what I'm working, either.Whenever I do that, it usually takes longer than the activity itself.I guess what I'm seeking the most is the beginner's hype of discovering something new.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2024, 10:08:41 pm
content: Model trains. You can pick up an old set for next to nothing to refurbish it, spend a lot of time on the electrification of everything, or buy the new shiny trains that have bells and whistles (literally).

author: Andy Chee
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2024, 11:11:52 pm
content: Interested in creating music?Forget the classical instruments. I'm thinking of loopers and trackers.

author: Postal2
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2024, 11:42:20 pm
content: Quote from: Andy Chee on September 06, 2024, 11:11:52 pmMy project made 25 years ago on FastTracker 2.The archive contains an XM file. You can quickly play it without visual effects using this thing:https://www.berotracker.de/downloads/BeRoTinyPlayer/BeRoTinyPlayer.exe

author: brucehoult
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2024, 01:59:13 am
content: Quote from: RoGeorge on September 06, 2024, 04:17:25 pmMake content for OF. Very technical. Cameras, editing, lighting....No, I won't subscribe.

author: Kim Christensen
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2024, 02:29:48 am
content: One thing had fun doing was learning how to make a very simple game in Unity (2D/3D game engine). I basically followed some YouTube tutorials about Unity and then some others about programming in C#. Kept me occupied during the pandemic, but I never took it that far.

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2024, 05:32:33 am
content: Quote from: Andy Chee on September 06, 2024, 11:11:52 pmNice!My making music skills are, well..., not particularly high:That video was made during my very first steps into the FPGA world. The panel with that numerical pad is from an office printer, which I've reversed engineer to hijack its FPGA (a Xilinx Spartan 2E with 50k gates). Wanted to learn FPGA and didn't have any devboard (they were expensive). That was a very fun project. Posted at the time about it on a Romanian forum.Later, Hackaday found out and linked to that Ro thread on their bloghttps://hackaday.com/2017/02/27/printer-scrap-becomes-fpga-devboard/. Made a promise to translate that Romanian thread one day, but never did it so far. Meanwhile, the pics hosting website went belly up, the Ro forum changed into something else, and eventually it all became yet another broken link.Last week stumbled on some pics from a 2012 backup, including those with the FPGA board, and started to post a Google translated version here, on EEVblog. So here's a shameless plug of that, because "musical instrument":https://www.eevblog.com/forum/fpga/the-blair-witch-story-of-my-first-fpga-devboard-made-from-a-printer-front-panel/(work in progress, a few more translated posts to come)

author: Picuino
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2024, 09:06:27 am
content: Web page design.

author: hans
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2024, 01:23:30 pm
content: Build your own Airbus/Boeing cockpit replica and self-teach to fly on VATSIM in a A320 or 737.

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 08, 2024, 06:26:30 pm
content: Anybody into making small robots?

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 08, 2024, 09:53:03 pm
content: Quote from: hans on September 07, 2024, 01:23:30 pmOr build your own model replica of the 737 MAX with a similar MCAS.

author: Infraviolet
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 08, 2024, 10:58:51 pm
content: "Anybody into making small robots?"Yes, but in practice i spend my time designing susbsystems for small robots, without ever quite coming up with enough of an idea for a specific task for a specific robot to do, to ever design a fully assembled system. I did build complete small robots back when I took my PhD though.

author: DavidAlfa
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 08, 2024, 11:14:30 pm
content: Mechanics too. Recently fitted a big turbo to my italian 5-cylinder JTDm engine, aiming for 280-300hp and 550-600Nm.Boosting to 2.2bar, but definitely needs a bigger intercooler!

author: Postal2
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2024, 12:07:06 am
content: Quote from: RoGeorge on September 08, 2024, 06:26:30 pmI have one like this.https://hobbyking.com/en_us/mini-biped-interactive-robot-kit.html

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2024, 06:02:20 am
content: Quote from: Postal2 on September 09, 2024, 12:07:06 amWow.I was asking about making robots after finding a bag with SG90 9g servo motors just like yours. Mine look very fragile, all plastic, including the gears. Not very precise either, the gearbox has a lot of backlash. Even if I disregard the backlash, they still have bad repeatability. For the same control signal, when going back and forth, the resting angle is almost never the same.At least they were cheap, $1.1/pcs from Aliexpress.Does your motors have enough force to lift the robot legs, or is it walking by dragging the legs?

author: Postal2
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2024, 01:50:05 pm
content: Quote from: RoGeorge on September 09, 2024, 06:02:20 amYes, I broke one servo by applying force. But there is no backlash, everything works precisely.There is a video on YouTube of how it works.https://www.youtube.com/shorts/y_zMGTXJ1ccI have this kit:

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2024, 04:05:21 pm
content: Home improvement, usually consists of me buying yet more power tools for one off jobs...I'm also quite into 3D printing.