Electronics
Following on from Mini Computers my AliExpress parts arrived and I’ve spent some time assembling the shutter tester in How to build a simple Arduino shutter tester.
The actual assembly went well, and I got it working easily enough. The tricky part was lining the laser and sensor up to measure the shutter speeds. I think I need a better way to do this than taping one to a monitor and one to a wall. I did however managed to record speeds for one large format lens (on the Mercury). But I’ll need to rig something up better before doing more.
This has led me to think about other projects in the small electronics vein. There’s quite a lot around now, especially educational packs. While aimed at kids, they do at least have some fun looking projects in them. There’s quite a few options in controller and what to do. From general kits, to robots. I’ll be digging around and seeing hat seems like a good starting eco-system, and then seeing about ordering some things in that.
I’ve also been looking at soldering, not something I’ve done much of. I think a soldering kit and some testing/learning sets might be a worthwhile investment.
The soldering is partly because I’m tempted by a mechanical keyboard build, most of which need soldering. Firstly as an electronics projects and secondarily as a way to try a small form keyboard (I’d be thinking a 40%, or even a 30% keyboard). Possibly this could be ortholinear, or even a split keyboard. I’ll not aim for all these in the first instance, but something in a simpler vein.
I think the initial plan for this is a soldering iron and associated bits and a small kit or two to have a go on. Once I think I can manage a keyboard I can think about ordering one. It also gives time for stock to come in (most places are low at the moment) and research into different options, probably some more to come on that.