A nerdy request

[bulb66]

Hi everyone,

First of all sorry, this is another vote for me thread (because we love them so much)

OK as per the sticky

"Vote for me" threads

These will only be allowed if the following criteria are met:

You link to the entire competition

Here's it is Instructables LED contest

You do not give a referral URL

OK

You accept that people will vote for whomever they feel is more deserving

Please vote for who you think should win

You can advise of who your entry is but not link exclusively to it

My entry is the "Arduino UV LED PCB Exposure Box" by Bulb66 It's my first Instructable and i put a lot of work into the actually project so would love to win something for it. (you can sort by photo entries to find mine quicker)

I think you might have to sign up to Instructables to vote so if that's not for you, thanks for looking anyway. If you do sign up thanks for taking the time to do so and i hope you vote for me

Any questions about my entry please feel free to ask.

Thanks again

James

 

[bulb66]

i think it's used to make custom circuit boards.

That's correct, lol

It uses UV LED's to expose photoresist PCB's, you make a mask using OHP paper by printing your PCB design on it and then lay this over the photoresist board, then place it in the exposure box.

I guess i should add that to the Instructable

 

[bulb66]

Thanks Tefal

I've done a quick update to the Instructable, to explain how to use it, lol

 

[bulb66]

If anyone's interested this is what i made the project for (although i'm sure i will use for other things soon)

Word-Clock

The Arduino UV LED PCB Exposure Box was used to make the control board for the word clock.

Thank you if you have taken the time to vote i think voting last for 4 days so feel free to pass the details on

James

 

[bulb66]

why on earth didnt you enter that into the comp it's much better

LOL The reason i didn't enter that was because i made it from an already published Instructable and i'm not 100 happy with mine, there also the fact i don't fully understand the code behind it, lol.

+ There aren't any Arduino controlled UV boxes on Instructables

 

[bulb66]

This! Though I guess the idea may have to be original.

Good to see another Arduino geek I've used it in my undergrad dissertation project and am using it again as part of my MSc, love it.

Thanks, i haven't had a chance to play with my Arduino for a while now but it's great.

Good luck with it.

Thanks

 

[bulb66]

Hi everyone,

Well there's only a few hours left to vote now (I thought you had a few days but looks like its a 24hr thing) thank you to those who have voted already and thank you to anyone who decided to vote before the end.

Will keep you informed of the result.

James

 

[bulb66]

Voted

Thanks (if you voted for me, lol)

How about a short vid on my entry in action?

Can anyone tell me where the "donE" reference comes from?

OH and voting ends midnight PDT (So what 7am our time?)

J

 

[bulb66]

Ok last request for votes before the voting ends and to say thank you again for those who have voted or just taken a look at my entry.

Thanks.

 

[bulb66]

Hi Tefal,

I did see it thanks

Firstly an update on the contest, i didn't even make it to the finals, lol. And i dont think the the ones that did should have, i mean one of them is just pictures of a pre-made LED board being made!!!! and another is component man with an LED head which needs a separate power source!!!!, but anyway.

OK as for cost well, i already had a few of the expensive parts like the flight case for example they are £30 from a diy shop but i didn't pay that when i bought them years ago.

I've broken it down to show what it cost;

LED's UV x100 = £11.50
Arduino parts = £9.36
LCD = £5.39
MOSFET / Switches / Buzzer = £4.10
PSU x2 = £13.40
Stripboard / Copper board = £2.75
Flight case = £29.98

Total = £78.48 (That's includes the P&P from all the suppliers)

But as i said i had some parts already and of course you would need to be able to program the Arduino clone (I have an Arduino to do this)

But even after that still cheaper than a pre-made UV box

 

[bulb66]

Sorry buddy, I tried!

LOL thanks for trying

Here's the Finalists

 

[bulb66]

How long have you been using arduino? I am considering to get involved with it as my nerd senses are tingling at what could be done with one of these.
I do have a bit of electronics knowledge and some programming knowledge but I am not sure where to get started.

Hi,

sorry i missed your question.

To be honest i haven't been using it for very long at all, (well i've had one for a while and messed around but never built anything until this and my word clock.)

This is the Arduino part on Instructables and has some cool project.

Here

And this is the Robot part

Here

Where you will find projects like this Arduino-Robot

Hope that helps

J

 

[bulb66]

cool, You got any good link to how you use it/ any thing on uv etching?


I'm hoping to get into this a lot more now, and i'm thinking of either making one of these or doing the hcl +peroxide route for reusable etching fluid and making a heated bubble tank

Hi Tefal,

This is the first part of 3 video's on Youtube i watched and decided to make the UV box so this should be good for you, I should say that this is only the first step in making a PCB you still need to etch it so and the heated bubble tank is something you can make to go alone side this. + I just buy normal etch fluid and reuse mine anyway.

As i say i'm a hobby Adruino/PCB user so don't have all the answer's but i'll help if i can.

J