In article ,
Don Pearce wrote:
I'm holding my hand up. I learned Solidworks, and got a laser cutter
and 3D printer. And I have access any time I want to a CNC mill and a
lathe. So yes, plenty of things - mostly controlled using an Arduino
micro. Most of the electronics is for interfaces, but two months ago I
built a mic preamp specially for a high impedance mic I have.
Commercial pre-amps are all aimed at low impedance mics, and totally
unsuited to this one. Not in a tobacco tin - much better, an Altoids
tin.

Just waiting for some PCBs for some of the electronics on the old car to
arrive. I made a prototype to improve on the '70s Lucas design, and
several have expressed interest, so I'd had a batch made for the first
time. Previously, I've made my own from scratch.
Only need 20 for the initial run, but even for that modest quantity, it's
cheaper to have them made than DIY.

--
*Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Thu, 23 Feb 2017 01:08:51 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Don Pearce wrote:
I'm holding my hand up. I learned Solidworks, and got a laser cutter
and 3D printer. And I have access any time I want to a CNC mill and a
lathe. So yes, plenty of things - mostly controlled using an Arduino
micro. Most of the electronics is for interfaces, but two months ago I
built a mic preamp specially for a high impedance mic I have.
Commercial pre-amps are all aimed at low impedance mics, and totally
unsuited to this one. Not in a tobacco tin - much better, an Altoids
tin.

Just waiting for some PCBs for some of the electronics on the old car to
arrive. I made a prototype to improve on the '70s Lucas design, and
several have expressed interest, so I'd had a batch made for the first
time. Previously, I've made my own from scratch.
Only need 20 for the initial run, but even for that modest quantity, it's
cheaper to have them made than DIY.

Who do you use? My favourites are these people

http://dirtypcbs.com/store/pcbs

Really quick and cheap service as long as you follow the rules.

d

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Don Pearce wrote:
I'm holding my hand up. I learned Solidworks, and got a laser cutter
and 3D printer. And I have access any time I want to a CNC mill and a
lathe. So yes, plenty of things - mostly controlled using an Arduino
micro. Most of the electronics is for interfaces, but two months ago I
built a mic preamp specially for a high impedance mic I have.
Commercial pre-amps are all aimed at low impedance mics, and totally
unsuited to this one. Not in a tobacco tin - much better, an Altoids
tin.

Just waiting for some PCBs for some of the electronics on the old car to
arrive.

Motoring, like hi-fi used to be very much a hands-on affair.
Not much to be done these days. Modern cars have most
of the engine enclosed, and a large D connector socket:-)

When I was a nipper, my brother had an MGA.
On Sunday morning, he and Dad used to "balance the carbs"
with a pair of rubber tubes, one in each ear. Then a spot
of oil in each dashpot, and off they went.

Iain

On 23/02/2017 08:55, Iain Churches wrote:

Motoring, like hi-fi used to be very much a hands-on affair.
Not much to be done these days. Modern cars have most
of the engine enclosed, and a large D connector socket:-)

When I was a nipper, my brother had an MGA.
On Sunday morning, he and Dad used to "balance the carbs"
with a pair of rubber tubes, one in each ear. Then a spot
of oil in each dashpot, and off they went.

How fortunate he didn't have an XKE, as then he would have had to buy
the correct tool for the job.

Eiron.

"Eiron" wrote in message
...
On 23/02/2017 08:55, Iain Churches wrote:

Motoring, like hi-fi used to be very much a hands-on affair.
Not much to be done these days. Modern cars have most
of the engine enclosed, and a large D connector socket:-)

When I was a nipper, my brother had an MGA.
On Sunday morning, he and Dad used to "balance the carbs"
with a pair of rubber tubes, one in each ear. Then a spot
of oil in each dashpot, and off they went.

How fortunate he didn't have an XKE, as then he would have had to buy the
correct tool for the job.

For MGs at least, rubber tubing was the common if not
correct tool:-)

Dad was a great MG enthusiast. He had owned a TC and TF
before the slighlty more sedate Magnette and so the MGA
seemed an appropriate choice for my brother.

I guess balancing the carbs puts the thread "Noise Shaping"
back on track :-)

Iain

In article ,
Eiron wrote:
When I was a nipper, my brother had an MGA.
On Sunday morning, he and Dad used to "balance the carbs"
with a pair of rubber tubes, one in each ear. Then a spot
of oil in each dashpot, and off they went.

How fortunate he didn't have an XKE, as then he would have had to buy
the correct tool for the job.

If you've got a decent ear, you can balance carbs like that just as
accurately as by using a flow meter. But using one tube to one ear, and
moving it carb to carb.

However, SU carbs don't need tweaking every Sunday. If they do, they are
faulty.

--
*'Progress' and 'Change' are not synonyms.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Don Pearce wrote:
Just waiting for some PCBs for some of the electronics on the old car to
arrive. I made a prototype to improve on the '70s Lucas design, and
several have expressed interest, so I'd had a batch made for the first
time. Previously, I've made my own from scratch.
Only need 20 for the initial run, but even for that modest quantity, it's
cheaper to have them made than DIY.

Who do you use? My favourites are these people

http://dirtypcbs.com/store/pcbs

Really quick and cheap service as long as you follow the rules.

I went for PCB Train (Newbury Electronics) on a recommendation after being
told they were very helpful to a newbie. And so they were. I'm not using a
pukka PCB prog to produce the gerber files, so needed a little guidance.
Now I've got just what those are a bit clearer in my mind, I could
probably use a cheaper alternative. I went for the cheaper 4 week
turnround as there's no rush for them. So they should arrive next week.

--
*Why were the Indians here first? They had reservations.*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Eiron wrote:
When I was a nipper, my brother had an MGA.
On Sunday morning, he and Dad used to "balance the carbs"
with a pair of rubber tubes, one in each ear. Then a spot
of oil in each dashpot, and off they went.

How fortunate he didn't have an XKE, as then he would have had to buy
the correct tool for the job.

If you've got a decent ear, you can balance carbs like that just as
accurately as by using a flow meter. But using one tube to one ear, and
moving it carb to carb.

However, SU carbs don't need tweaking every Sunday. If they do, they are
faulty.

Necessary or not, that was their routine,
before they went out together on a Sunday morning.

Iain

On Thu, 23 Feb 2017 11:20:13 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Don Pearce wrote:
Just waiting for some PCBs for some of the electronics on the old car to
arrive. I made a prototype to improve on the '70s Lucas design, and
several have expressed interest, so I'd had a batch made for the first
time. Previously, I've made my own from scratch.
Only need 20 for the initial run, but even for that modest quantity, it's
cheaper to have them made than DIY.

Who do you use? My favourites are these people

http://dirtypcbs.com/store/pcbs

Really quick and cheap service as long as you follow the rules.

I went for PCB Train (Newbury Electronics) on a recommendation after being
told they were very helpful to a newbie. And so they were. I'm not using a
pukka PCB prog to produce the gerber files, so needed a little guidance.
Now I've got just what those are a bit clearer in my mind, I could
probably use a cheaper alternative. I went for the cheaper 4 week
turnround as there's no rush for them. So they should arrive next week.

I use all free software for this. LTSpice creates the schematic and
simulates it, and it creates a netlist. Then Freepcb reads the netlist
and lets you create the artwork really easily. It generates the
Gerbers in exactly the format that dirtypcbs want. But you are
probably right to use PCBtrain - dirtypcb offer no help.

d

---
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In article ,
Don Pearce wrote:
I went for PCB Train (Newbury Electronics) on a recommendation after being
told they were very helpful to a newbie. And so they were. I'm not using a
pukka PCB prog to produce the gerber files, so needed a little guidance.
Now I've got just what those are a bit clearer in my mind, I could
probably use a cheaper alternative. I went for the cheaper 4 week
turnround as there's no rush for them. So they should arrive next week.

I use all free software for this. LTSpice creates the schematic and
simulates it, and it creates a netlist. Then Freepcb reads the netlist
and lets you create the artwork really easily. It generates the
Gerbers in exactly the format that dirtypcbs want. But you are
probably right to use PCBtrain - dirtypcb offer no help.

Basically I've got lots and lots of drawings of PCBs on file. All done for
the standard photo process you can use at home. Not involved multi-layer
surface mount stuff. So needed to know what was required for gerber, so I
could convert them. (My CAD prog will load them, and produce gerber from
them. But you do need to make sure things in the original files translate
OK, and modify if needed) It's been quite fun learning.

It's only a hobby, and I enjoy doing (fairly simple) layouts etc by hand.
Obviously if doing the sort of things you do, I'd have to learn up the
standard software for that.

--
*A journey of a thousand sites begins with a single click *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.