Engineer In Wonderland

Having spent a few days (now weeks) with DesignSpark Mechanical 6, mostly I can say that is it as good as version 5, and there are some enhancements that I still don’t understand – new lines are sometimes blue – must get to the bottom of that. Update 07sep23: Having spoken to some friendly folk as RS: Several of the ...

The Single Pair Ethernet Partner Network has put out an excellent backgrounder on its ‘M12 Hybrid System’, which is a ‘beyond-power-over-Ethernet idea that puts two, three or four power conductors alongside a single pair for Ethernet to transmit up to 9kW as well as data inside one cable with standardised connectors – compared to a few tens of Watts with ...

I had smart meters installed – for two reasons: to automate meter reading, and to get more accurate in-house power readings than the clip-on ‘Owl’ system already installed. Annoyance one, was that I would have been fined £30 if I had not been in when the installer arrived (24 hours notice is required to cancel, so you get fined, for ...

Gloriously, ADI has a section in its LTspice help pages called ‘Undocumented shortcuts‘. But surely… As it happens, there are some good ones there, so take a look if you are an LTspice user. Hats of to whoever had the sense of humour. That reminded me of Innominate Tarn on Haystacks in the English Lake District – named the tarn-with-no-name. ...

I have been a long-term user of DesignSpark Mechanical from RS (a re-badged and simplified version of SpaceClaim). In January, RS re-jigged its DesignSpark offerings, and now anything before DSM version 6 will not work – but you do not get a message why. Later: some annoying issues with DSM6 have appeared You did indeed get a ‘May 31 2023 ...

Paused for the summer is the CNC milling machine project, but an eye is being kept on suitable electronics. My set-up has external stepper motor driver boxes, and so on-board drivers are superfluous. I already have this excellent 8bit Arduino-esk board from Cronos, which has plenty of electrical opto-isolation to protect it and its host from spikes and interference – ...

I was unwittingly amazed yesterday when I came across a video about how Clupet piston rings are made (and learned the word ‘Clupet’ at the same time). Unlike a car piston ring which is a single ring with a small gap, a Clupet ring has two turns (see photo from the Peter’s Railway YouTube video, linked below) with no gap ...

As soon as it was announced, I was dying to see what type of display Apple has used in the Vision Pro augmented reality headset. And its website says: a pair of micro-oled displays, with resolution above 4K I was hoping for a micro-led display – ie, inorganic semiconductor – as this is a very interesting technology. Maybe this tells ...

A while ago I bought an expensive Dyson cordless vacuum cleaner – model SV12. And it is good, except that the filter in the back of it is forever clogging (reduced flow is detected by the unit) and the maintenance procedure requires that the filter is washed under the tap (quick) and then dried in a certain way (about a ...

Because of the continuous conduction at the input and output, I can’t seem to leave Cuk converters alone. The simulated circuit (scroll down to see just the Cuk part) And a mini-obsession over the last few years has been trying to find ways of driving a synchronous output rectifier mosfet in a Cuk converter – a challenge because the output ...