DAY 1

I have to replace my 16 year old Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.2L V8 engine. In the past I normally pull my motors, tear them down and just replace and rebuild as needed. But that takes a ton of time so for my Jeep I decided to order a fully remanufactured long block from Engine House in Phoenix, AZ. They have a great rating with the BBB and everyone I asked recommended them.

Being this engine swap-out project will take several days I’m going to do this posting a bit different than my older postings. I’m going to just add photos and some progress details to this posting each evening or whenever I get time. You can follow along as I go or just wait until I change the first line from “Job in Progress” to “Job Complete”

Unfortunately this will not be a tutorial on how to order a remanufactured motor and replacing it. That would be a great posting but I’m not up to all the documentation work plus there are plenty of books on that subject already. This posting will be just simple eye-candy and progress blurbs for those interested in what is generally involved in replacing a motor. It’s not that hard and, who knows, you may realize it’s something you could do too someday.

First step is making sure you have the tools to do the job as well as a clean and well lit workshop. I have the tools and a clean shop but poor lighting as you can see in this photo with just the standard garage incandescent light bulbs turned on.

In the below photo you can see just how much of a different twelve T8 32watt fluorescent tubes make in my garage. My neighbor gave me the fluorescent light fixtures and I wanted them installed before I started my engine swap.

Getting power and running conduit for the new lights was a snap being I had installed a 20amp breaker and wiring to my compressor a few years back. I simply changed the single outlet box with a gang box putting the new light switch on the right and the original outlet on the left. The switch was salvage from changing out some switches in my house a few years ago and the wire was leftover from the same job so adding these great lights cost my just a few bucks for the conduit.

Now it’s time to get onto replacing that motor. Here is a quick photo of the motor compartment before starting. Actually I took a dozen photos from all angles as well as close-ups of the wiring and hoses. I will be labeling everything as I disassemble but having photos could come in very handy later when trying to remember the routing of everything.
 

Here the hood is off as well as the radiator overflow reservoir, battery, battery tray, air intake and air filter box.

My nephew, Andrew, is helping when he can which is a great opportunity for him to learn how to replace a motor.  Not too many young people get to learn about engines anymore, which I find strange being we can’t do anything in our lives without them.

The front plastic grill cover is off as well as the top radiator retention bracket and fan cowling.

Gone is the fan belt, fan clutch, fan, alternator, radiator and some linkage to the throttle body.

If you look close at the below side photo you will see 4, maybe more, yellow tie-on labels on some cables and other parts.  These are great labels when you’re taking so much off at once.  You can tie them to wires, hoses, parts and even poke the string through the side of a Ziploc bag and tie the bag to the part with nuts and bolts in the bag. 

This not only keeps everything together but I number each label sequentially and even add some quick notes to the label that maybe important for reassembly like; which length bolts go in which holes, torque values or just a page number in the service manual showing the torque and torque sequence. 

I also keep a notebook on the side with each number I use, what the part was and any special details not added to the label like wire routing or a file name of a special photo showing complicated routing or installation sequence details.

This labeling schema gives you a 100% accurate roadmap for your reassembly later, even if days or weeks pass and the parts get shoved all about in your garage.

Now the shop crane is assembled.  I used it to get the remanufactured motor out of my truck and onto a “roll-about” engine dolly. I have had this crane for over 10 years but you can buy one at Harbor Freight for under $200, which is less than what I paid 10 years ago .  I store my crane in the back of a shed all disassembled into bits that hang on the back wall on some pegs.  Storing a shop crane like this takes up no space at all and it’s ready for work in mere moments.

You can also see parts of my engine stand on the garage floor.  I will not need the engine stand until I pull the old motor with the crane at which time I will transfer the motor from the crane directly to the engine stand for further disassembly.

This is the remanufactured 5.2L V8 motor I’m going to be putting in shortly.

DAY 2:

I had to finish building a computer for my sister today so I only had time for 3 hours tonight but here is the progress.  The AC is off to one side, no need to open the AC system to pull the motor.

The power steering pump is off to the other side, no need to disconnect or drain this either. Sweet

My nephew is removing the lower radiator hose but you can also see that the following have been removed: upper radiator hose, AC and alternator bracket, exhaust heat shields and some wiring which has been labeled.

Below is the final photo for the night.  The idler tension pulley and bracket have been removed along with the main electrical harness assembly.  The throttle body has been removed and it’s wires and hoses labeled.

Tomorrow should be a more productive day.  I will try to post another update tomorrow evening. 

DAY 3:

Once again I spent most of my day doing something other than working on my Jeep.  It was my last day of vacation so I spent it playing video games with my 6yr old son. My nephew did come over after his shift at the movie theater around 7pm.  We worked on the Jeep from 8pm to about 11pm.

As you can see in the below photo the top of the engine is ready for pulling.  The electrical harnesses are removed and labeled, all vacuum lines and hoses have been removed, and the fuel lines are disconnected as well as the fuel rails and fuel injectors.

We still have some work under the Jeep before the engine is fully ready to be lifted out such as removing the starter, flywheel shield, flywheel to torque convert bolts, exhaust pipes and transmission cooling brackets.  I will add a C-clamp to prevent the torque convert from coming out of the transmission.

We can then remove the front engine mounts, slightly lower the engine with the shop crane, support the transmission with a transmission jack and unbolt the transmission from the engine.  At this point the engine should slide forward and come up and over the side of the Jeep.

My nephew and I were debating on how best to connect the shop crane to the engine.  We didn’t get any help from the Haynes service manual and I also have the official Chrysler Service manual for this 1994 Jeep, which is like 6 inches thick.  Neither covers any details on actually pulling the motor with a shop crane.  They both say to do it but not how to prep and connect. 

Normally this isn’t a big deal. Once you get all the major wiring out of the way you just connect a chain to the back and front of the engine and then connect the shop crane to the chain and pull. The problem with this approach for this vehicle is that the back of the engine is 8 inches back and under the top of the engine compartment, kind of like one sees with a van engine but only 8 inches instead of 30+ inches.  These 8 inches are a big deal because if we connect a chain to the back of the motor the angle the chain must take to get to the hook on the shop crane and to clear the fuel system would require it to go through the upper back frame of the engine compartment.

We hence took more stuff off than we would have liked such as the fuel rails and injectors which does give us access to put on a very short chain which should just clear the frame now.

But for fun we are also exploring pulling the engine from the intake manifold using the 4 throttle body bolts.  We took a 1/4 inch circular steal plate and punched 4 holes in it using the plasma cutting torch and the old throttle body gasket as a template.  In the below photo you can see it looks great.  

Tomorrow we can weld a bracket to the top of the circular plate and blow a hole in it for the shop crane hook. Then I have to get some new shorter high strength bolts to bolt this plate to the top of the intake manifold. 

I’m not sold on lifting the engine from the intake manifold just yet so if I can get the short chain on from the front to the back of the engine block I will do that instead. Either way the plate will still be quite nice to keep junk from dropping into the intake port.

DAY 4:

A week has passed since I last worked on my Jeep. I was just too busy at work and with other activities like; piano, taekwondo classes and general playing around with my kids.

The next phase of this job requires we raise the vehicle so we can drop the exhaust pipes and remove other components from underneath. Normally one can just disconnect the exhaust pipes at the headers but I knew I had to also replace the catalytic converter (CAT).  So in this photo you see I have the back passenger side of the Jeep raised up for access to the exhaust pipes and CAT.

The CAT was quite a bear to get out.  After removing the U-clamps on either side of the CAT and some tail pipe hangers it wouldn’t come apart.  That was kind of expected so I followed the traditional approach. I fired up my welding torch and heated the junctions cherry red one at a time then pulled my heart out.  This didn’t work for me because the joints cooled by the time I could turn off the torch and get into a safe place to pull.  It was time for some team work.  I got my 18yr old daughter, Veronica, to pull while I heated the joints and it all came apart with easy.

As you can see in the below photo there is nothing in my CAT.  That’s not good, you shouldn’t be able to see clean through a CAT.  I always passed emission testing but only by a hair so a new CAT will help out come next emission testing cycle.

My 19yr old nephew, Andrew (a.k.a AJ), came over in the afternoon and was able to help for the remainder of the day.  It sure is super handy having extra help.  My voice is gone today, however, because I spent many hours explaining what all the car parts we took off do and what and why I was going everything.

In this photo you can see the exhaust pipes have been dropped away from the engine and in the background you can see a bit of my transmission jack stand (red & black with the chain) which will be used to support the weight of the transmission once it’s unbolted from the engine.

I get a bit safety crazy sometimes as you can see by the 5 jack stands and transmission jack under the vehicle.  I don’t like being under a vehicle unless I know I’m super safe.

Transmission jacks are very handy for such work but one could just carefully support the transmission with blocks or simple jack stands.  I really don’t recommend that being these transmission jacks are much safer and they are not expensive. I got this one at Harbor Freight for ~$89 on sale about 4 years ago.

My transmission jack has controller gears built into the head of the unit which you use to adjust the level and angle of the transmission.  These controls make easy work when it comes time to realign the transmission with the engine during reassembly.

I didn’t pull the motor by the intake manifold as you can see in the below photos.  My Uncle recommended against it and it just didn’t seem like a good idea.  I wanted to fabricate a custom bracket out of 1/2 inch thick bar that could be bolted to the back of the block and would be bent up and out toward the front clearing the framing.  That didn’t workout because once I got the bar bracket in place I couldn’t get a wrench behind it to install the bolt. 

My nephew, Andrew, championed the more traditional idea of just lashing a chain overtop of the intake manifold from the front to the back of the block. Turns out his straight forward idea solved all our problems quite elegantly. My Uncle also recommend just using a chain but I didn’t think there would be enough clearance for the chain unless I removed the intake manifold and valve covers.  Turns out I was just wrong. 

I don’t pull motors very often and normally prefer to use an engine balancer with my shop crane which was not going to work without my custom bracket approach.  If I could have made the bracket idea work I would have been able to pull the motor with the fuel rails and injectors in place. It was a bit more work getting the fuel components off the intake manifold but that’s ok being the simple chain idea made for easy pickings anyway.

The motor is OUT and resting a bit of it’s weight on some jack stands and blocks of wood for the night.  I have to get some new longer high straight bolts before I can mount the engine to my engine stand.

Some diagnostics show where my annoying little engine oil leak was coming from all these years.  Oil was spewing out of the electrical connector of the oil pressure sending unit.  Go figure that, I guess I have to order another part.   

And my endless coolant leak was coming from this rusted out coolant plug on the back of the motor between the block and the flywheel.

The next day I work on this project I will be tearing down the engine and starting the reassembly of all the bits onto the new long block.

DAY 5:

Today I got started taking the old engine apart.  I didn’t really start until around 7 pm and only worked until 10pm so not too much progress this evening. 

I got my new grade 8 bolts with the right length and threads to mount my engine to the engine stand.  I figured I could do this myself before my nephew arrived.  I was wrong in two ways. One: It takes two people when the engine is hanging sideways on the crane.  One person has to hold the engine at an angle where the stand can align with the back of the block.  Two: My 1000lb engine stand just couldn’t bear the load. 

This 5.2L magnum V8 fully assembled is just too much. It was clearly going to buckle under the weight so we left the crane chained up to take half the load for now. 

(Turn your head and cough! Sorry for that but with a photo like this somebody had to say something)

I do like to use these nitrile gloves because they are resistant to oil, fuel and other chemicals. You can’t really tell you’re wearing them and it makes for super fast cleanup when you’re done for the day. Their cheap too; ~$6 for a box of 100.

I’m either going to weld up some kind of cradle support or buy a new 2000lb engine stand. I like the later solution being I got my Harbor Freight flier today with the 2000lb stand on sale for $99 plus the flier came with a 20% discount for one item.  I know Harbor Freight stuff can be junk but if you use their stuff only infrequently and with care you can get along fine.  In a way their stuff pays for itself if you can do just one job.  If you get two or three jobs it’s like printing money compared to the thousands of dollars you can spend on good tools.  There are some tools I will not buy at Harbor Freight but those are normally tools I need to work every time and for years and years.

On to other problems, there are alwasy other problems.    I had one bolt on my exhaust manifold that wouldn’t budge even after soaking overnight with penetrating oil. I rounded the head of the bolt off trying to get it out. 

What was my solution?  MIG weld a big fat 3/4 nut onto the rounded off bolt.  AJ started this job by grinded a clean surface on the head.

Then he test fits the 3/4 inch nut.

I manned the MIG welder. If anybody is going to crack my exhaust manifold it might as well be the guy who would have to replace it.

Here is a short video of the welding job.

Job well done! AJ gets the stubborn bolt off with ease.

Alex shows everyone that the exhaust shield is now off.  I guess I have to go shopping for a new exhaust manifold bolt.  How can anybody do this for a living, I’m always out shopping for parts.

WOW! We finally got some work done.  In the below photo you might notice, behind the intake manifold, AJ has removed the sparkplug wires, distributor cap, rotor cap, distributor pickup coil, oil pressure sending unit, EGR valve and the pipe routed from the exhaust manifold to the EGR valve.  Here he is removing the exhaust manifolds after a good soaking in penetrating oil.

To my surprise there were no exhaust manifold gaskets.  I don’t get this because both my service manuals state you have to use gaskets, but there were none to be found on this engine. I kind of thought this block was 100% factory original being I bought this Jeep like 9 years ago when it had fewer than 70k miles and from the original owner.  It shouldn’t have had any major  engine work where the exhaust headers would have had to come off.  I will have to make some phone calls to Chrysler later to see if this was optional or something.

The engine is starting to trim-out so it won’t be long now.

Well that’s it for tonight. I might not be getting back to this project until next weekend but if you’re following this live you might check in around mid week.

DAY 6:

I have almost nothing for today. It’s Friday and after work I took a nap and then watched a movie.  It wasn’t a total waste of a day. My wife put together my new 1 ton engine stand while I was at work (see below). She can cook, clean and assemble an engine stand, sweet! Of course she does have a PhD so she does a lot more than just cook and clean. In fact she will be back teaching this fall, like in one week, so I have to finish the Jeep or I’m going to be taking the bus to work

Best thing about this new stand is it cost me almost nothing.  This 1 ton stand was on sell for $99 at Harbor Freight, I had a coupon for another 20% off one item and they also gave me back 100% on my old 1/2 ton stand, which I had for over 10 years, being it was not meeting its 1000lb rating. I swear, people complain about Harbor Freight’s crap and a lot of it is crap but I wouldn’t be able to afford to do half the stuff I do if it weren’t for their cheap tools.

Around 10pm I thought I best mount the engine to the new stand but once again I have to get some new longer high straight bolts.  The face plate and standoffs add another inch so my bolts are too short.

Other than that the only update would be that I called Chrysler and they confirmed that the exhaust manifold gaskets are optional on this vehicle and should only be used if there is warping. Wow, I never heard of that before.

DAY 7:

Wow! What a waste of a day. Well that is not entirely true, but still.  Alex and I had Taekwondo class in the morning after which we all went out for lunch.  That wasn’t bad but then I started my hunt for longer bolts to mount the engine to my new stand.  Turns out the auto parts stores I normally buy large grade 8 bolts don’t sell anything larger than 4 inches and I needed 4.5 inches.  I drove place to place for about 2 hours before finally trying the True Value hardware store. True Value has just about any size bolt and nut you could want. I don’t know why I always forget about simple hardware stores.  I guess I’m so acclimated to the large home improvement department stores I forget that the little Mom & Pop hardware stores still carry all the hard to find stuff.

Then things got worse. Turns out my new engine stand has front legs that splay out and so do the legs on my shop crane.  This means my engine stand can’t get close enough to my shop crane in order to mount the engine.  The damn legs between the two block each other. I thought I could use my two floor jacks to just jack up the front legs of the shop crane but then the jacks are in the way.  Andrew and I then tried to block-up the front legs so we could move the jacks away but as you can see in the below photo there was still noway the legs of the engine stand could squeeze by the blocks. 

In these photos it looks like You might be able to move the bricks out to the edges of the shop crane legs and squeak by, but when we tried that the legs were too unstable and would have slid off the bricks when mounting the engine.

Then I remembered I had saved some homemade adjustable welding cart legs I made for an old cart I don’t have anymore.  I found the adjustable legs and sure enough they fit the bill.  Andrew chopped off about 15 inches from two old leg brackets and we then drilled and bolted the adjustable legs to the shop crane legs.  Being these adjustable legs fit on the outside of the shot crane legs they allowed the engine stand legs to squeak by with an inch to spare when raised up.

The adjustable legs could have been a couple of inches longer in height but nothing some bricks on the outer edge couldn’t fix.

Now everything fits!

Once the engine and engine stand was pulled away from the shop crane I just used my air wrench to lower the adjustable legs and move the crane out of the way.  These adjustable legs will have to come off right before we put the engine back in the Jeep because these legs will get in the way when we slide the shop crane legs under the Jeep.

There, the engine is ready to be disassembled and this new 1 ton engine stand is having no problems holding this engine.

The only other thing I got done today was cleaning parts in my parts washer. Not really anything to take photos of but you get the idea, all the parts have to be cleaned. When Andrew comes over tomorrow morning we will start breaking down the old motor, cleaning the oil pan, valve covers and intake.  Then start on the reassembly with the new long block.

DAY 8:

I’m late posting day 8. Day 8 was actual last Sunday and it’s now Saturday so very late would be a better statement.  We did get a lot done.  In the below photos you can see we have removed (water pump, thermostat, thermostat housing, main pulley, harmonic balancer and the valve covers).

Now the air intake manifold is off.

The engine rolls over nicely with the engine stand to give easy access to the bottom. Time to remove the oil pan.

The oil pan is now off and here I’m using a seal puller to remove the front crank shaft oil seal from the timing cover.

And the seal is out.

The pipe sticking up in the back is the siphon pipe for the oil pump.

This pipe and screen sit down in the bottom of the oil pan so the pump can suck up oil and push it throughout the engine at about 40~80psi.

When you rebuild or replace a motor you should always put in a new oil pump.  They don’t cost much and you don’t want to take everything apart again just to replace an old oil pump.

The oil pump is off.

The motor is right site up again and I have taken off the timing cover.  With the timing cover off you can see the timing chain and timing sprockets. The large sprocket is connected to the cam shaft and the small lower sprocket is connected to the main crank shaft.

This is a back view of the motor on the engine stand.  It is now all stripped down to a “long block”.  This is all the further you need to go in the disassembly because we are swapping this old “long block” with a new remanufactured “long block”.

This is the pile of parts which are all bagged and tagged.  I have to spend a day or so cleaning most of these parts before I can start the reassembly.

I have my 20gal parts cleaner running and I have started cleaning the oil pan.  All the gaskets on all the parts must get cleaned off and all the bolts and nuts need to be cleaned and brushed. Everything needs a good degreasing.

Here are some tips for parts cleaning. 

I use some strong detergent parts cleaner which you can get at an auto parts store.  I don’t dilute the detergent but I do soak the detergent jugs in a sink of super hot water for 30 minutes before pouring it into my parts washer.  The hot detergent cleans and degreases the parts much better than room temp detergent. 

Also, as you see in the below photo, I have added some used anti freeze jugs filled with hot water to help raise the level of the detergent in my parts washer without diluting the detergent’s concentration.  This saves money on detergent and the hot water in the jugs helps keep the detergent warm longer.

For super dirty parts like throttle bodies and crusty bolts I soak them overnight in a big can of carburetor cleaner.  Carburetor cleaner is very expensive and you have to wear very thick gloves when using it but it can clean parts like nothing else, if you let it soak overnight.

DAY 9:

Another late post, these photos are from last Monday and today is already Saturday. We really didn’t do anything productive on day 9 because all we did was further teardown the motor.  Like I said in day 8 we could stop the teardown at the “long block” but Andrew wanted to see the inside, I wanted to see if I could identify why I was burning oil so bad and the engine refurbishing house said they would appreciate it if we completely tore down the block as long as we labeled all the parts with the location they came from.

The first to come off was the heads.

Some carbon and burnt oil deposits on the passenger side pistons.

But on the drivers side piston 7 was a dirty oily mess! Yuck.  It looked like the head gasket was blown at the top allowing piston 7 to pressurize the crankcase as well as suck oil from under the intake manifold where the cam and pushrods are located. I’m not an expert at this but I’m thinking this was my oil problem.

Photo of Andrew holding the last piston to come out.  Actually we took the pistons out when the bock was upside down so this is more of a photo-op for the scrapbook.

Here AJ shows how easy it is to just pickup a v8 block once is striped down.  It isn’t hard to move around at all and that’s a good thing being we have to move this aside and make room for the new “long block”.

The new “long block” comes with fully assembled heads but just for the learning and investigation Andrew takes all the valve and valve springs out of the old heads.  We put the valves, springs and retainer clips in separate labeled Ziploc bags. These heads where overdue for service so it’s a good thing they’re being replaced.

Onto the NEW!  Andrew and I chained up the new “long block” to the engine balancer which is hooked to the shop crane. I’m steadying the engine and engine balancer with my hand as AJ pumps up the shop crane.

The balancer will make it much easier to align the block with the engine stand.

That’s it for day 9.  The new “long block” is on the engine stand and ready for all the old bits to be attached.  I still have a lot of parts to clean and I will clean all my tools before starting the assembly.  You don’t want to get dirt in a new motor so you MUST clean all your tools and workspace before starting the assembly.

Today is Saturday and Alex and I have Taekwondo testing for our brown belts.  Once the testing is over, around 1pm, I will get back to this project and I hope to post day 10 later tonight. 

More to come later…

Final cart modifications: Large plate steel top for MIG welding, bricks for oxygen-acetylene welding and firebox for plasma cutting.

Converted to oxygen-acetylene welding and plasma cutting:

Converted to MIG welding:

Links to some build materials:
  Large cart converted to welding cart.
  Small cart used for firebox.
  Heavy duty swivel locking wheels.

Steel sources:
I get new and scrap metal from American Metals Co. in Mesa, AZ and Industrial Metals Supply Co. in Phoenix, AZ. But if you need a small amount of material for a project you can get what you need at just about any home improvement center like Home Depot, Lowes or Ace Hardware but be prepared to pay a lot more at such stores.

Welding tools and supplies:
  Harbor Freight Tools
  Phoenix Welding Supply
  Welding Depot
  CyberWeld
  Welding Supply

Construction details:
The first modification is to the wheels. You want your cart to move in any direction without having to be a 3-point turn master. Change out the wheels with these 8” x 2” swivel casters with brakes. Yes, you want them to all have brakes because you don’t want to be hunting for a brake when a 100+ lb cart starts moving around. Also, if you have to start pounding on something you really want the cart to be solid.

Now you may have wheels that support the load but the thin sheet metal the bottom cart tray is made from will not!  Two 24″ x 7″ x 1/8 inch steeel plate will stiffen up the bottom of the cart. You could weld these casters to the plate but being you have to bolt the plate to the cart it’s best to drill and bolt everything together at once.

Here I’m pointing at the original wheel bolt holes so as you can see you will need to drill new holes for the larger wheels.

When you drill your new holes make sure you’re close enough to the edges so you can access the brake lever.

I wanted bricks laid out in the top tray for oxygen-acetylene welding but when I tried standard bricks they were too short to be level with the top and they also deformed the tin tray making a concave layer of bricks.  I needed to construct a stiff bed for the bricks so they would lay level.  As luck would have, it turns out 1/2″ x 1” tubing stacked crossway raises the brick to exactly level with the top rim of the cart.  I cut one set of 6 tubes 33” long and another set of 12 tubes 23” long then cross welded them into a grid. A Harbor Freight handheld band saw and a bench vice makes short work of the cuts.

The recycled chimney brick lay in 4 by 6 if you want to fill the whole bed. I know these are not firebrick but they work for now and I will replace them with firebrick someday, if I ever find a cheap source.

The cart is now ready for oxygen-acetylen welding.

I want this cart to double as my MIG welding cart too, so below you see a large 1/4″ thick 31″ x 33″ steel plate top which hangs from one side of the cart on some makeshift hinges. I got the large plate steel top as scrap from American Metals for $32.00 which is quite cheap.  If you call around to metal supply shops asking for scrap to use for a welding bench top you may also get lucky.

The hinge is constructed of some stacked tubing welded to the underside of the steel plate and a steel electrical conduit pipe bolted to the side of the cart with conduit clamps.

Make sure the stacked tubing is about 1/2” wider than the cart’s top tray and DO NOT weld the tubing to the steel plate in a continuous bead or the plate will warp!  Make short tack welds and let it cool frequently.  I did it wrong and warped my plate a bit.

With the hinges it’s easy to lift and lower the 80+ lb steel plate top.

Now the cart is able to be used for both oxygen-acetylene and MIG welding, but I need to make one more modification so I can safely cut with my plasma torch in my garage without the worry of stray sparks staring a fire.

I had this old utility cart that I didn’t like so I chopped it up and reassembled it to construct a firebox trap.  I don’t recommend using this small cart to make a firebox but it had a handle, was metal and I had the time and tools to do the modifications.

First thing was cut the cart in half just under the middle tray.

The cart was too long so I chopped it in half so the two ends could slid together to make a shorter box 23″ long.

Before they will slide together I cut off about half of both trays’ rolled edging on one side.

It was a tight squeeze so I used my air-nibbler to cut a relief slice down the middle of both trays on one side.

Then I used short self taping metal screws and a screw gun to zip both halves together.

No need to put any screws in the middle being that will be getting cut out later.

The firebox needs to hang from the bottom of the top cart tray so I welded up a rectangle of angle iron and bolted it to the top of the firebox.  I also used my grinder to thin up the top edge of the angle iron so it will slide smoothly in some homemade brackets.

The under side of the top cart tray needs a matching rectangle hanger so the firebox can glide in and out to be emptied or to retrieve any items dropped in the firebox by accident. I constructed this hanger out of a sandwich of angle iron and strap steel.

This is upside-down but shows the final sandwich of angle iron and strap steel.  The gap is where the angle iron bolted to the top of the firebox will slide.

Once again this is upside-down but shows the final hanger.

This is just a photo of the hanger bolted to the underside of the top cart tray.  Notice I rounded all the inside edges before I welded the parts so it would be easy to align and insert the firebox.

Now I have the makings for a firebox / drawer.

Time to use the air-nibbler again to cut out the bottom of the cart tray.

View from the bottom showing the hanger and new hole.

The firebox needs to be fully contained. I cut some tin and used more metal screws to zip on some sides.  The tin goes on the inside of the low tray and on the outside of the upper tray. You have to cut the tin just right so that all edges overlap leaving no holes or gaps where sparks could escape.

Finally just cut the bottom of the upper tray so all the slag and sparks can fall to the bottom of the firebox.  You can see I have already been making good use of my firebox (fire trap).

Some photos of the firebox hanging in place.

Of course to cut metal you need a level surface made from some sacrificial material.  I constructed a 16” x 16” grate from 1/8” thick by 2.5” wide strap steel lightly tacked at the edges.

You could make this grate the full length of the cart but I chose to only use one corner removing only 8 bricks.

Here is a view from the bottom showing how the tubing and grate spans across the opening to the firebox.

One last tip: the cart handle comes in very handy for hanging all your clamps and there is a small 2 inch gap between the brick and the tray edge on this end for storing your metal brushes, markers and other such small welding supplies.

You can buy these SpokePOV boards at Adafruit.com and get more details on how to build and use your SpokPOV boards at their sister site ladyada.net

This is the second SpokePOV testing rig I’ve built so this one is being donated(*) to HeatSync Labs for testing, learning, hacking and maybe even as a part-time window display.
(*) Not the SpokePOV boards, just the testing rig and old bicycle wheel. 

I’m not going to give construction details because it requires a welder, chop saw and plasma torch which most hobbies don’t own.  But if you do then you will most likely gleam enough from the photos.  In general the lower tube frame is 22 x 13 inches. All the metal is from leftover scraps from older projects so it’s kind of a patchwork quilt design.

The ceiling fan’s center motor hub, black part, was not large enough to spin the tire fast enough to produce a persistence of vision image in the spokes.  So I had to bolt one-half of the fan’s white cowling enclosure to the motor hub which effectively increased the diameter of the motor and greatly increased the rotation speed of the tire.

Unfortunately this cowling acted like a speaker amplifying the road noise of the tread on tin. To reduce this I used a cut-off wheel to grind off some of the cowling as you can see in the below photo.

This helped but to further reduce the noise I cutout a circle of high density foam and bolted it inside the cowling.  This worked great reducing the road noise to just a low hum. If one were to use this for a display device I would use a tire with little or no tread and it should then be whisper quiet.

If used as a display device the motor would get a bit hot so I reengineered the vent holes in the cowling by bending them out and backwards by ~35 degrees.  This effectively created fan blades and drives air over the motor keeping it cool for continues use.

Below is the mounting bracket for the fan motor using most of the original hardware. The cord is from a discarded floor lamp.

Here are a couple of photos from the left and right ends.

Here you can see I torched out slide notches so the motor mounting can be adjusted forward, backward and a little left and right for different size tires.

The SpokePOV boards trigger their timing from a Hall Effect sensor on one of the three boards.  As this sensor passes under a magnet it sends a signal to all three SpokePOV boards at once so they can calculate the correct LED flash timing based on the tires rotational speed and can then draw a clear persistence of vision image in the spokes.

Here is a photo of a magnet epoxy to the head of a bolt that is run through the bicycle’s upper front fork.  In my testing rig the junked-out front bicycle fork is mounted upside-down so the SpokePOV image will be upside-down when viewed but the image will be right-side-up when the tire is on my bicycle.

• Replacing my 16 year old Jeep engine
• Multifunctional DIY welding cart
• SpokePOV test rig made from old ceiling fan motor
• Trampoline Soaker
• ANSR Balloon launch 55
• Vacuum chamber testing of near space radio and GPS tacking electronics
• Car starter “jumper box” mod
• Links for Beginners in Electronics
• Wii Wand of Power
• Holiday Sun Jar
• Great link to a tutorial video on decibel units (dB’s)
• Silly String Shooting Halloween Spider
• SpokePOV kit (Part 1 of 7)
• Atmel STK600 AVR & AVR32 dev board
• Super scary honking pumpkin
• Schimmel SP189 Konzert Diamond Edition 6′3″
• Tool to help teachers draw rule lines
• Cheap and easy $2 camera zoom
• Sanguino Microcontroller Board Kit
• A better mouse trap
• Financial advice for free
• Jeep CJ7 2 barrel carburetor rebuild
• AHAB payload search in Washington state
• Cooler Master Mod
• Redneck Pool Heater

How to build a “Trampoline Soaker” for only $26.68

What is a trampoline soaker you ask? Well it’s a name to describe any contraption that sprays water over a trampoline. It’s great fun for the kids on days when it would otherwise be way too hot to play on a trampoline.

I’ve seen this done before in many simple ways but found all examples quite difficult to put up on the trampoline, take down, control direction and change the type of spray. My first few builds were failures in all the above noted difficulties. I needed something much simpler, more functional and still flexible enough so my wife could take it down to spray her plants along the side of the house and then hang it back up on the trampoline.

My solution solved all the difficulties, and best of all, the kids can set the spray angle and the spray pattern too: (Soaker, Mist, Flat, Angle, Fan, Jet, Cone and Shower). Here is what I came up with and it works GREAT, as you can see in this photo it is very easy to hang up on the bars that hold up the net.

It sprays nicely across the whole trampoline and has an off switch on the wand.

And the wife can still water her plants with ease.

What follow are some photos and a quick run down of the exact parts so anybody can build their own DIY Tamp Soaker.

I’m going to start with a short “summary shopping list” followed by a more detailed shopping list with photos of each item. The hardest and most time consuming part of this build was finding just the right items and contriving the assembly so that everything fit. The hard part is now done for you so all you have to do is buy these exact items and do some simple assembly.

“Summary Shopping List”: All prices in USD from Home Depot:
   1 Sprayer wand $17.88
   2 Pipe grounding clamps $1.46ea
   2 Threaded rods (1/4” – 20 x 2’) $1.47ea
   2 Nuts & 2 Bolts – for mounting ground clamps (#10 – 24 x 1/2″) $0.98bag
   4 Washers – for mounting ground clamps (#10) $0.98bag
   4 Nuts – for mounting threaded rod (1/4” x 20) $0.98bag
Shopping Total: $26.68

Once you put this all together the connection to the neck on the wand will look like this:

“Detailed Shopping list”: All prices in USD from Home Depot:

To tell the truth I had everything in my junk pile except the sprayer wand, but for this documentation and pricing I took photos of all new stuff. (Never throw out anything, well not if you think you could ever use it that is.)

Sprayer (1): doesn’t come with the custom hooks of course
  Make: Garden Blooms – wc92007
  Model: Multi Pattern Telescoping Wand with 180 deg. head adjustment
  Spray patterns: Soaker, Mist, Flat, Angle, Fan, Jet, Cone, Shower
  Manufactured by: Melnor Inc. Winchester, VA
  Purchased at: Home Depot
   Sku: 716-270
   Bar: 42206-92007
   Cost: $17.88

Pipe grounding clamps (2):NO! There is no electricity to this. I’m just using one piece from each bag to make a simple pipe clamp.
   Zinc bare wire 1/2″ to 1” pipe grounding clamp
   Manufactured by: Halex Company
   Sku: 621-708
   Bar: 51411-16010
   Cost: $1.46ea

Note: I recommend the zinc clamps for this projects because the bronze ones are very expensive. I used the bronze only because I had them in my junk box. If you really want the bronze here are the details:
   Bronze bare wire 1/2″ to 1” pipe grounding clamp
   Manufactured by: Halex Company
   Sku: 404-627
   Bar: 51411-36019
   Cost: $4.39ea

Threaded rod (2):
You will need 2 threaded rods each 2 feet long. One for each hook but you will be cutting about 8 inches off each with a hacksaw when you are done with the bends. These rods bend real easy without heating but you should wear gloves and use a vise if you have one. I got lucky and found a 3 foot 1/4 inch rod that was threaded about 1 inch on each end, so I was able to just cut my rod in half to make my two hooks. Once again I had this in my junk pile but these threaded rods will work just the same.
   Threaded rods (1/4” – 20 x 2’)
   Manufactured by: Grown Bolt
   Sku: 671-088
   Bar: 30699-17160
   Cost: $1.47ea

Here is my best attempt at drafting out the bends.

Nuts & Bolts – for mounting ground clamps (2 of each)
This is a bag of 8 nuts and 8 bolts. You only need 2 each but the whole bag is under a dollar so why not get extras. The grounding clamps come with bolts but they are too long and it’s just easier to get the right size for this project than to cut bolts.
  (#10 – 24 x 1/2″)
  Manufactured by: Grown Bolt
  Sku: n/a
  Bar: 30699-27721
  Cost: $0.98bag

Washers – for mounting ground clamps (4)
  (#10)
  Manufactured by: Grown Bolt
  Sku: n/a
  Bar: 30699-32481
  Cost: $0.98bag

Nuts – for mounting threaded rod (4)
  (1/4” x 20)
  Manufactured by: Grown Bolt
  Sku: n/a
  Bar: 30699-19471
  Cost: $0.98bag

Your final connections using the bent rod, nuts, bolts and washers can be seen in this photo. I did grind the clamps just a bit where the nuts pinch the rod in place so that the nuts would fit flush against the clamp collar.

We have used our Trampoline Soaker for over a year now with no problems at all! I hope you build your own Trampoline Soaker and don’t forget to drop a comment sometime to let me know how it worked or how to make it even better.

Rich Osgood from Heatsynclabs.org and I were invited observers. Our objective was to help track the balloon and locate the landing zone while testing our own radio balloon tracking equipment.  I’m working with Heatsynclabs.org in planning a near space balloon flight later this summer and this was great exposure with a group that has now launched 55 near space balloons.  We learned tons about filling the balloon, rigging, radio transmitting, tracking and recovery. Below is some of those details and if you’re interested I pasted the radio details at the very end.

Their flight reached ~92,000 feet before the balloon popped and the payloads parachuted back to Earth. Many schools in the area participated in the launch with a small payload box of their own containing automated cameras and digital data recorders.

Click {more} to see all the photos and radio details.

Here is the original flight *prediction* plot: This is just a predication of the flight done a day earlier using all available weather and payload data and some advanced prediction software written just for ballooning.  The color of the plot line indicates the predicted altitude. The red marker on I-8 is the launch site, the red marker on the blue part of the flight line indicates the max altitude where the balloon will pop because of  the lack of atmospheric pressure. The final red marker near Hwy-60 is the software predicted landing zone in the desert.

This is the actual flight: The balloon transmitted APRS tracking data which is picked up and repeated eventual reaching the internet where it is plotted in almost real-time at http://aprs.fi  (Here is a link to this flight’s APRS data plots on callsign KA7NSR-11)

Zoom in on launch plots:

Final flight details and a zoom in on landing zone plots:

ANSR-55 Flight Date: 10 April 2010
Launch: 15:10:02, 1798 feet, 32 deg 50.72 min N, 112 19.07 min W
Landing 16:52:28, 1703 feet, 33 deg 11.96 min N, 111 32.78 min W
Maximum Altitude: 92,935 feet, 33 deg 4.97 min N, 111 deg 46.84 min W
Flight Duration: 102 min 26 sec
Distance Flown: 51.01 miles, bearing 61 deg vs Pre-flight
Prediction of 58.4 miles, 64.3 deg
Average Ascent Rate: 1291 ft/min
Descent Rate at Landing: 1380 ft/min, 15.7 MPH

This is the parachute that hangs between the balloon and the payload boxes during flight.

This hoop helps guarantee the parachute lines don’t get tangled during the flight and will open when the balloon pops.

This is the top of the parachute showing how the straps are rigged to the line going to the balloon.  The line going to the balloon is made longer than the parachute and parachute lines going to the first payload box.  This helps insure that the shredded balloon and fill nozzle don’t interfere with the parachute during descent.  Also the top of the parachute has a calculated hole to allow for some air to escape up through the parachute letting the parachute descend straight without tipping side to side to dump air.

This is the first payload box which holds the primary tracking transmitter.  The little puppet is some kind of good luck astronaut I’m guessing.

Here they have clipped on the transmitter antenna which hangs below the primary transmitter box.

Close up of this antenna.

Some kind of extra helix antenna protrudes from under the radial antenna hub.

Rigging between transmitter box and other payloads.

They used these metal quick release connectors to chain the 12 payloads together on the ground.  I guess they are light and fast to connect and disconnect.

The balloon’s neck is slid over a custom milled section of PVC pipe that has a threaded fill hole and payload strings.

The balloon’s neck is then secured to the PVC using hose clamps.  There is an extra deep groove milled into the PVC for the first hose clamp to tighten down into near the fill nozzle. All of this is then wrapped with gorilla duct tape for added strength and to covers the hose clamps.

This is a tarp the balloon is unfolded on to protect the delicate latex.  In the center is a clever anchor weight with a carabiner clip. 

The weights can be adjusted to match the payload weight plus a bit more.  The bit more is calculated so the balloon can lift the payload at a predetermined climb rate.  The climb rate is important for many reasons one being how high the balloon can reach carrying it’s payload and how quickly it reaches that height.  These determine how far you will have to chase the balloon.  I have read that this counter weight should be about 1 pound more than your payload for a ~1000ft per minute climb rate but that wasn’t a scientific source by any means. 

When the balloon is being filled it is connected to this weight using this carabiner clip.  This helps keep the balloon down and in one place for the duration of the fill process and doubles as your fill indicator.  When the balloon is full enough, it lifts the calculated weight off the ground. 

This weight is of course disconnected from the balloon just before launch.

During filling the small threaded PVC plug is removed and a standard air line coupler is threaded into the larger section of PVC pipe clamped to the balloon’s neck.

The helium tanks are then connected to the balloon using standard quick disconnects and air hose. When the balloon is full this quick disconnect coupler is unscrewed and replaced with a thread PVC plug.  Unlike a party balloon the helium does not come out when you switch the coupler with the plug because this large balloon is not providing much contraction pressure.

They are using the largest latex weather balloon you can get. The balloon can lift 35lbs+ and took three 219cf tanks of helium to fill. To save time and minimize the time the balloon is on the ground they filled the balloon using two tanks at once.

This the the crossover tubing so they could fill using two tanks at a time.

One member of ANSR holds the balloon’s neck and connects the air line while another mans the tanks and controls flow at the regulators and valves.

Some students are given special gloves and use their hands to guarantee the balloon doesn’t blow over and hit the ground and pop during filling.  The gloves protect the delicate latex from skin oils which could cause the balloon to pop early at a lower altitude.

Other students stand near their payload boxes ready to lift them up in a nice straight line so the balloon doesn’t drag any payloads during liftoff. 

Small yellow party balloons (in their hands near back of truck) were released to test the winds so the 12 payloads could be strung out in a down wind line.

Seconds after launch you can see the 12 payload boxes under the balloon (white beads).  You can see the orange parachute and it’s deploy ring between the balloon and the payloads. We tracked the balloon via radio back toward Phoenix but when the data was indicating it was at burst altitude we pulled over to watch.  You would not have noticed it unless you had the radio data telling you exactly where to look in the sky. It was a very clear day and we could easily see the balloon at 90,000+ feet being it had expanded to something like 50 feet across at that altitude. And we actually watched it burst which was so cool because it just disappeared in an instant.  The parachute is way too small to see at that altitude. We jumped back in the Jeep and were able to continue tracking the payload as the transmitter continued sending GPS data until it landed.

Landing zone.

Bits of shredded balloon, parachute and payload boxes strung across the dirt area.

Parachute

Parachute

Bits of balloon and the parachute ring.

Primary transmitter box.

Student box with camera. The student is testing the camera.

Same student box with camera.

This yellow box is the backup APRS data beacon with callsign N7ERU-12.  It belongs to the ERU group (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University). Here is a link to its backup APRS data plots on callsign N7ERU-12

Another student box with camera.

Another student box with camera.

Another student box with camera.

Looking at rigger and ties between payloads.

In this photo you can kind of see a hollow threaded rod that goes through the payload box from top to bottom.  Each payload had this design so they would have a hard link between each payload box.  There is also an added safety cord between the top and bottom of each payload. These two tricks are done so that if a students box fails and comes apart, the remaining payloads are not lost.

This is a secondary transmitter that was being tested. This one failed about 20 minutes into the flight but then started working again after the balloon popped. You can see the tracking data at <link>. This was designed by Mike Gray who was unfortunately killed by a drunk driver a little over a year ago.

The antenna broke off on landing.  Easy fix.

Students getting the photo cards and data loggers out of their boxes to hand over to the group organizers.  If they post any of these photos I will update the top of this blog posting.

Cleanup the landing zone. Look at all those cars that were in the chase caravan!

Look in the background! See how close our landing zone was from those power lines! Those lines power some large circular irrigation sprayers.  If our 200 feet of line got tangled in those power lines our landing zone would have been easier to find.  Just follow the fire trucks and SRP repair trucks. Ha.  I think I would have skipped the landing party if that had happened. I sure hope our balloon doesn’t meet such a demise.

<<Below is just extra radio tracking details and techniques for the record>>

———————————————————————————————–

The prediction as of 4/9/2010 was plotted on GPSVisualizer.com:
The ANSR prediction plot using GPSVisualizer.com is available here for a few days only:
http://straighthome.hopto.org/ansr55-040910.html

General Communications Plan that ANSR follows:
The ANSR flights don’t broadcast on APRS 144.390 MHz, they
actually use a UHF freq which is on the their website at ANSR.org.
Then a chase unit digi-beats the APRS data
directly from the balloon onto APRS 144.390 MHz.

This is done for a couple of reasons,
1) Once the balloon gets up to altitude
it has the ability to hit literally
hundreds of digi-peaters and this causes some packet collisions.
2) Once the balloon is on the ground, it’s far easier to try
and DF (directional find) the single signal on the UHF freq, than trying to pick it out
from the 100′s of other signals on 144.390 MHz.

A mobile cross band digi-peater in a chase vehicle will repeat the 445.950 MHz APRS data to the 144.390 MHz national standard APRS frequency and subsequently it gets I-Gated to the Internet for out-of-area trackers.

Payload frequency plan:
Cross Band NB-FM Voice Repeater
Input: 145.560 MHz/162.2 Hz CTCSS tone
Output: 445.525 MHz Linked to IRLP Node 9255

Cross Band NB-FM Voice Repeater:
Details: http://www.ansr.org/kd7lmo/www.kd7lmo.net/pc.html
Input: 145.560 MHz/162.2 Hz CTCSS tone
Output: 445.525 MHz Linked to IRLP Node 9255
APRS when repeater not in use on 445.950 MHz at 10, 20, 40, and 50 seconds UTC time via KA7NSR-11
Landing prediction after burst at 15 and 45 seconds UTC time via KA7NSR (no -SSID) on APRS
Internet tracking via I-Gate
For general use: Track KA7NSR-11 on aprs.fi
More compact; For older browsers and mobile users: Track KA7NSR-11 on aprs.fi
Another general use tracking site: Track KA7NSR-11 on findu.com

APRS Beacon (KA7NSR-11):
445.950 MHz packet at 5, 25, 35, 55 seconds UTC time via KA7NSR-11
Internet tracking via I-Gate
For general use: Track KA7NSR-11 on aprs.fi
More compact; For older browsers and mobile users: Track KA7NSR-11 on aprs.fi
Another general use tracking site: Track KA7NSR-11 on findu.com

HF-Beacon:
Details including message format: http://www.ansr.org/kd7lmo/www.kd7lmo.net/hf-aprs.html
PSK-31 on 14070.450 KHz(20m) at 0, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48,54 MINUTES and 00 seconds UTC time
No 80m PSK-31
APRS on 144.340MHz every minute at 54, 56, and 58 seconds UTC time via KA7NSR-11
APRS on 144.390MHz once a minute at 52 seconds UTC time via KA7NSR-11
Internet tracking via I-Gate
For general use: Track KA7NSR-11 on aprs.fi
More compact; For older browsers and mobile users: Track KA7NSR-11 on aprs.fi
Another general use tracking site: Track KA7NSR-11 on findu.com

Talk-in frequency used prior to launch and tracking team coordination
during flight (when the ANSR cross-band repeater is not available) is
the Sacaton Peak repeater, 447.725/442.725 MHz 100.0 Hz CTCSS tone.

Traffic on the cross-band input can inhibit the beacon activity from
the payload computer, therefore it is recommended an alternate simplex
frequency be used in the critical minutes during payload landing and recovery.

In order to decode the UHF data stream from the radio and get it to come up
on your computer, you are going to need a TNC.

A TNC is basically like a modem between a radio and the computer.
It talks to a serial port (DB-9), so you’ll
either need an older computer, or a USB-Serial Adaptor.

There is also a way to do this without a TNC
using the microphone jack on the computer.
For this option You’ll need a line-level to mic-level audio converter in line,
along with a 1:1 audio isolation transformer (about $3 at RadShack)
and then some drivers.

Then comes software, you’ll need
mapping and driver programs like UI-view, UI-point or
APRS point.

if you’ve got a mobile internet connection
and being the chase vehicle is repeating the data stream
over to 144.390 MHz you could of course always
track it on http://APRS.fi Using callsign KA7NSR-11.

Live APRS tracking relay webstie:
Callsign used on the balloon’s was KA7NSR-11

http://aprs.fi/
http://aprs.fi/?call=KA7NSR-11&mt=m&z=11&timerange=3600
http://aprs.fi/?call=KA7NSR-11&mt=m&z=11&timerange=43200

A team at Heatsyn Labs is building a near space high altitude balloon payload to take photos and to enter a national contest. I’m not on the team but I was helping test their tracking electronics with my home built vacuum chamber. We used the chamber to test the radio and GPS equipment in near space conditions. Next meeting we will add dry-ice around the chamber to simulate the -70F temps at 100,000 feet. If there is any issues its best if it shows up on the ground and not at 18 miles up.

Heatsync Labs Homepage
Heatsync Labs Nearspace Balloon Project
Flickr photos by John Kit at Heatsyn Labs

I will post update with photos and links after the first test flight.

After thinking about it for a month or so I thought maybe I could modify it to hold a larger 12v lawn mower battery.  I knew it would work just fine if I could find a battery that fit.  I took it apart again to take some internal measurements then headed for Wal-Mart.  Sure enough I found a nice riding lawn mower battery that would fit if I cut out the front-side of the jumper box housing.  The battery even had nice through-hole terminal connectors for bolting on the cables.   This mod ran about $35 for the replacement battery and a 2 foot threaded rod with some lock nuts to hold the battery in the unit.

What follows are some bad (sorry) videos of the modification and some photos.  Its possible any dead jumper box could be brought back to life this way because I would think most take the same size internal 12v sealed lead acid battery and its not a lot of work.

This is a photo of the original 12v sealed lead acid battery still in the unit.  Tip: (photos are much faster than writing down wiring diagrams before disassembling).

I left it charging for 2 days on a 2amp 12v car charger and this is all the voltage I could get on the unit (1.93v).

This is a photo of the replacement EverStart lawn mower battery I got at Wal-Mart. Its just the right width but it’s to large front to back to fit in the jumper box housing.  If  you try this mod make sure the + and – are on the correct side because this battery comes both ways.

I drilled a hole in each corner of the front-side lower panel.

Say hello to my little friend “Air Saw”  }:-)

This opening is just big enough for the EverStart battery to slide into place.

Perfect fit!. As you will see in the final video I added a bent over threaded rod run through the sides to hold the battery from tipping out or jostling about.

Video of the final product.

<<Videos, blogs, books and more for beginners in electronics>>   

Websites that will help you learn just about everything in electronics for FREE: 

1. http://electronics.wisc-online.com   (super great! site)
2. Nice launch site with clear categories back to wisc-online.com
3. http://www.allaboutcircuits.com   (has good points and bad but I like it)

Start your EE Lab!     

1. Starter kit-Basic: Jameco.com Electronics Toolkit ~$99  (jameco.com)
2. Starter kit-Better: Ladyada’s Electronics Toolkit ~$100  (adafruit.com)
3. Starter kit-Best: Very nice for the money ~$220  (CuriousInventor.com)  
4. Power Supply-Basic : 2 Amp Multi Fixed Outputs ~$20 (circuitspecialists.com) 
5. Power Supply-Better: 0-2A; 0-18VDC ~$58 (circuitspecialists.com)
6. Power Supply-Best: 0-3A; 0-30V  Large LCD ~$198 (circuitspecialists.com)
7. Multimeter-Basic: Extech EX330 $54  (jameco.com)
8. Multimeter-Better: Fluke 17B $89 out of China and not a true RMS meter. (dealextreme.com)
9. Multimeter-Best: Fluke 87-V  $380 (jameco.com) but (I got mine on eBay ~$190 new)
10. Logic analyzer-Basic: USB type – Open Logic Sniffer $45 (dangerousprototypes.com)
11. Logic analyzer-Better: USB type – TOL-08938 $150 (sparkfun.com)
12. Logic analyzer-Best: USB type – Janatek ANNIE $299 (tequipment.net)
13. Function Generator: Instek SFG-1003 DDS 3MHz $153 (tequipment.net)
14. Oscilloscope : Rigol DS1052E 50MHz which can be hacked to 100Mhz: ~$399 (tequipment.net)

 

You can get the Rigol DS1052E 50MHz from USA distributer with free shipping, no tax for $369. 
 You need to request for a reduced quote from “LIVE HELP” on the tequipment.net page.
 Tell them you could order it cheaper out of China for $379 with free shipping, no tax.
 You have to refer to this cheaper Dealextreme.com link which is shipped out of China.
 They should email you a quote number for a price match at $369. They did for me!

 

1. How to equip your lab yourself   (Ladyada.net)
2. Build your own starter kit (Basic, Better, Best)   (Ladyada.net)

 Books you should get ASAP:    

1. Getting Started in Electronics   by Forrest M. Mims III
2. Timer, Op Amp, and Optoelectronic Circuits & Projects Vol. I   by Forrest M. Mims III
3. Science and Communication Circuits & Projects Vol. II   by Forrest M. Mims III
4. Electronic Sensor Circuits & Projects Vol. III   by Forrest M. Mims III
5. Electronic Formulas, Symbols & Circuits Vol. IV   by Forrest M. Mims III
6. The Art of Electronics 2nd edition   by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill

 General knowledge when getting started:      

1. Learn about Multimeters   (Ladyada.net)
2. Multimeter reviews under $55 and PDF chart (EEVBlog.com)
3. Multimeter Counts, Accuracy, Resolution & Calibration   (EEVBlog.com)
4. Pick the right Multimeter for you. (EEVBlog.com)
5. Learn to Solder better   (Ladyada.net)
6. Unregulated Power Supply Tutorial   (Sparkfun.com)
7.  All about batteries   (Ladyada.net) 

Working with micro-controllers:    

1. Dave’s opinion on Arduino plus he compares it to PICAXE   (EEVBlog.com)
2. Arduino vs. Basic Stamp    (TodBot.com)
3. AVR vs. PIC   (Ladyada.net)
4. Arduino Official Home Page   (arduino.cc)
5. Arduino Tutorial    (Ladyada.net)
6. Arduino Tutorial   (Sparkfun.com)
7. Using Sensors with Arduino   (Ladyada.net)
8. Interfacing 3.3V sensor to a 5V micro   (Sparkfun.com)
9. Arduino Hacks Tips, tricks, techniques   (Ladyada.net)
10. Step by step Getting Started with AVRs   (Ladyada.net)
11. Beginning Embedded Electronics   (Sparkfun.com)
12. Micro Annoyances   (Ladyada.net)
13. Breadboard your own Arduino using Atmega8: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3   (Protostack.com)
14. Breadboard Standalone Arduino ATMega328   (instructables.com)
15. Using Character LCDs with Arduino (Ladyada.net)

Robots and motor controls:    

1. Roomba dissection video and using its H-bridge motor control circuit.
2. DC Motor Control Using an H-Bridg (itp.nyu.edu) and (letsmakerobots.com)
3. H-Bridges: Theory and Practice

Make your own PCB – Printed Circuit Boards:      

1. Video on using Photo Resist Pre-Sensitized PCBs (Makezine.com)
2. Photo-etching PCB using ink-jet printer. (YouTube.com)
3. Printed Circuit Board links including DIY and order-out   (Ladyada.net)
4. Make your own PCB – Printed Circuit Boards (Getlofi.com)
5. Order supplies to DIY PCBs (CircuitSpecialists.com) 

 

When you get farther down the road in electronics:       

1. How to get free samples from Manufacturers   (Ladyada.net)
2. When looking for parts you can search all vendors at once at   (FindChips.com)
3. Find any datasheet for your parts at   (AllDatasheet.com)

Great Electronics Parts, Kits and hardware Suppliers:  (* = I have used)      

1. Sparkfun.com   (Just about everything, best shopping site!) *
2. Adafruit.com   (Nice kits & instructions) *
3. CuriousInventor.com   (Great kits, tools and parts)
4. ModernDevice.com
5. ArduinoFun.com
6. StMicroelectronics.com   (free sample order page) *
7. Jameco.com
8. DigiKey.com *
9. Mouser.com *
10. Arrow.com *
11. RadioShack.com   (Get the above books here too) *
12. CircuitSpecialists.com   (I use this supplier a lot) *
13. Electronix Express   (Ugly site but better prices sometimes)
14. FunGizmos.com *
15. HobbyPartz.com *
16. A list of the large electronics distributors   (Ladyada.net)
17. Purchase chips direct, avoiding the middle-man distributor   (Ladyada.net)

Useful software downloads:      

1. This is a nice logic circuit simulator and is good for learning and prototyping virtually. Watch the flash tutorial when you get time and download the free version to play with.

Nice circuit examples and other tutorial videos:    

1. NerdKits.com makes some very good tutorials.
2. Driving a 7 segment display with a 4511 BCD to 7 Segment Driver
3. 74HC595 shift register – Controlling 16 LEDs

  <<EEVBlog: Videos by David L. Jones>>     

Link to the EEVblog

First off I’m going to link to the main EEV Blog page because all videos by David Jones are great, but some videos are NOT for beginners so be warned.  Here are a few that are nice for beginners:      

General knowledge:      

1. Oscilloscope: Bench based Digital Storage Oscilloscope Tutorial
2. Oscilloscope: PC based Digital Storage Oscilloscope Comparison
3. Capacitor Tutorial part 1 (Electrolytic, Tantalum, and Plastic Film)
4. Capacitor Tutorial part 2 (Ceramics and impedance)
5. Capacitor Tutorial part 3 (Exploding Capacitors)
6. Logic Analyzer Tutorial part 1
7. Logic Analyzer Tutorial part 2
8. Decibels (dB’s) for Engineers – A Tutorial
9. Linear and Switch Mode Power Supplies - A Tutorial

Product reviews (good to watch if you’re looking to buy some equipment):    

1. Oscilloscope: Rigol DS1052E   <$500 US
2. Function Generator: Instek 3mhz GFG-8219A    ~$300 US (starts at 2:45 minutes)
3. Power Supply: Jaycar powertech mp3086   ~$150 US
4. Power Supply: BK Precision 1697   (Programmable) ~$350
5. MCU programmer: Microchip PICkit2   (starts at 6:50 minutes)
6. MCU programmer: Microchip PICkit3
7. Multimeter: Pocket variety   ~$30 US (starts at 7:20 minutes)
8. Multimeter: Reviews under $55 and PDF chart
9. Multimeter: Cheap Chinese multimeters and why they suck   ~$20 to ~$90 US
10. Multimeter: Meterman 37XR   ~$140 US
11. Multimeter: Fluke 117   ~$170 US
12. Multimeter: Fluke 233   ~$300 US
13. Multimeter: Fluke 87-V part 1   ~$380 US (starts at 7:50 minutes)
14. Multimeter: Fluke 87-V part 2
15. Multimeter: Fluke 28 Series II part 1   ~$430 US
16. Multimeter: Fluke 28 Series II part 2 
17. Multimeter: Fluke 189/289 part 1   ~$450 US
18. Multimeter: Fluke 189/289 part 2
19. Multimeter: Agilent U1253A OLED   ~450 US
20. Multimeter: Gossen Metrawatt Xtra   ~$500 US  You can buy the Metrawatt Xtra in the USA {here}.

  <<Fast Forward, Acme School and Half Handy >>    

Here are some great old school Canadian TV videos hosted by David Stringer:      

Electronics and electricity topics:    

1. Electricity and how to create and use it (very good)
2. What is a watt and how to calculate electrical usage and costs (Watts = volts * amps)
3. Alternating current and how and why its used in your home
4. Magnetism and its use and durability for recorded media.
5. All about Batteries (fuzzy, hard to watch, but very good information)
6. Binary counting in digital electronics
7. Vacuum tubes to transistors to micro processors
8. Older video on vacuum tubes to transistors. 

Miscellaneous topics:      

1. Explain house wires (ground, black and white)
2. Canada power company load balancing and delivery

It’s just a simple timing circuit made of discreet elements that engages a reed relay ever 25 sec.  This relay in turn closes a circuit in my keyboard for the left arrow key.  Being this external circuit is self powered I can simply turn it on when I want a game or application to think I’m at my computer when I’m not. I know there are software hacks that can do this and I did try a lot of them but this particular on line game I play had a way to block such software hacks.  I had to go old school, which is not hard for an old guy, and do it with hardware.

The trick is getting a connection to a key in your keyboard and using a plug of some kind that can be removed so you don’t always have extra wires hanging out of you keyboard.  I used an old mono audio jack for my connection to the keyboard.

Most everything in this build is made from salvaged parts. My son’s candy tin, an old discarded mono audio jack plug and receptacle, the switch from a broken digital thermostat control and even the perf-board was cut from the corner of an older project. You get the picture, don’t throw out old electronics because they have the best reusable parts!  And hot glue! That stuff is so damn handy.

I have used this timing circuit may times over the past 20 years.  It’s cheep, stable, configerable, isolated from the circuit you’re controlling and can run for months on a couple of AA batteries.  The circuit is based off an original published in Forrest M. Mims III notebooks. Not a bad little circuit for a few cents when there is no need for microcontroller over kill

You have to open your keyboard and follow the traces for a button of your choice.

The flex keyboard button traces will all converge back at a small PCB and you should be able to see where the traces you were tracking pickup on the PCB.  Verify that you found a working trace using your multi-meter set to continuity checking. In my case when the left arrow key was pressed I would get a short between these two traces on the PCB and the meter would buzz.

I scraped off the green trace insulator over the two traces I found for my left arrow key and soldered two short wire wrap leads to the exposed traces.

This wire wrap goes back to a mono audio jack plug I drilled into the back of my keyboard where there was some free space.

Leave just a little extra wire wrap so you can open and close your keyboard without pulling the wires off the traces.

Put the keyboard back together and you’re ready to jack in your Wii Wand of Power.

When you turn it on your game character will rotate to the left every 25 seconds when you’re getting a sandwich or picking the kids up at the bus stop.

This is the circuit.  You can play with the cap and resistors for a faster or slower delay.  Just about any PNP and NPN transistor will work in the two positions and I used a Radio Shack SPST Reed Relay rated at 3-5V at 20mA and 240 ohms.