Navajo Engineering

A joule thief is essentially a way to "squeeze" as much power out of a "dead" battery. Meaning that batteries that were outputting low voltages could be used in light load applications. In theory, the system is a oscillating voltage booster. Using the transistor to switch the LED on and off at a high frequency, that the human eye cannot detect the on and off switching. In this project, I was in a electronics class learning about components on a circuit board, transformers, toroids, and at the time transistors. I had found an old circuit board laying around the lab from an older computer.  Parts I started desoldering some of the components that were familiar: a toroid, a 2N3904 transistor, resistors, and an LED.  I also found strips of solid wire at 2 foot lengths.  Soldering material was available at our lab. A power supply was also available. Planning Although I had this mapped out in my mind, I made a diagram of the circuit to make sure that if I had any other dis...

 This project was a good refresher in electrical component design. I remember that this was a mechanical bull that was donated to the University Rodeo Club without a controller. It was pointed out that this was not a hydraulic driven practice device but driven by motors. Upon further investigation of the bull, I found that the motors were DC motors.  Now, my background in the electrical field had taught me a lot of things. But I had not come across too many DC motors, this was also before Tesla became popular. I knew that DC motors had almost instant torque and the voltage could be inverted quickly to reverse rotation, which was desirable in this application. Testing Before I could even think about ordering parts for a complete controller, I needed to test the equipment. So I ordered the reverse speed drive. I set up a test bench for the drive, then hooked up 240V to the unit and tested each of the motors. Videos of the test are below.     The Bucking motion of the b...

 This is a short summary of the research and design aspect of prototyping apps for possible use in military programs. Although the following was a culmination of weeks of research on my own time, the applications of AR are still countless. The Project Many projects start with the, "Why", and "How". So the reason I wanted to build this project was for my own gratification, to understand some of the concepts of AR development and to use Unity 3D. I would have liked to see our soldiers or maybe even regular people, to check on situations in their surroundings by interpreting data and stimuli into a very condensed but readable display. I know that I am not the only one to think of "Iron Man" when it comes to situational awareness displays. But what if we were wearing VR googles with cameras? Could we use those cameras to take in information that we were otherwise blind to? The ability to use a VR headset and pay attention to the world would be pretty awesome. ...

     At the beginning of this mystery project that I worked on, during my first semester at Navajo Technical University (NTU), I was asked to complete this project with another student if I needed an extra set of hands. I also worked with another student that was proficient with AutoCAD who was asked to create whatever I needed to complete this project. The last instruction given: complete this project in three weeks .                               Above: The completed laser scanner ready for the maker faire The following is the process of how we were able to create a 3D printed, 3D laser scanner.  Although this project was created from designs from this Instructables project, we did not had access to some of the hardware indicated in that project. Software: The software for this project was created beforehand. Without any type of user manual, or written ins...