freeform

Freeform Arduino Bliss

Freeform Arduino Bliss

Designer Kimio Kosaka soldered together an entire Arduino using the difficult freeform method.

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Beautiful Freeform Headphone Amp

Beautiful Freeform Headphone Amp

I wrote just last week about British electronics hobbyist Rupert Hirst’s method and homemade tools for bending his own aluminum project enclosures. This artfully-soldered PCB-free headphone jack amplifier is his latest project, and it only serves to reaffirm my impression of Rupert as a man with a refined sense of the aesthetics of DIY electronics. To top it off, he knows how to take a photo, too. The copper wire was harvested from cable intended for home wiring. Looks like Rupert intends to cast the whole thing in clear resin as a finishing touch.

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Freeform LED Ceiling Lights

Freeform LED Ceiling Lights

While there are LED alternatives on the market for MR16 bulbs, the technology is still prohibitively expensive. I pulled one of the halogens and found the socket was simply two pieces of 19 gauge wire. I decided to free-form some circuits made of different colored LEDs around the thicker terminals.

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Arduino Skeleton – Look Mom, no PCB!

Arduino Skeleton – Look Mom, no PCB!

MAKE subscriber Kakehi spotted this unusual Arduino incarnation at a recent Make: Tokyo meeting – Kimio Kosaka’s Arduino skeleton, made from nothing but components, steel wire, solder, and loving care. The board design is based off of the Metaboard Arduino-(mostly)compatible, which implements USB compatibility in the chip’s firmware. Hmmm … insulated standoffs anyone? Maybe a […]

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Freeform LED nightlight

Freeform LED nightlight

Mr. Tom created this freeform nightlight using the dark-detector circuit from EMS Labs. Simple LED Nightlight

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Ultra-tight freeform circuitry

Ultra-tight freeform circuitry

Freeforming a circuit that’s this highly populated gives me hives (and tests my patience), but if you have a good magnifying light, a steady hand, and take your time, you can work a lot of discrete components into a very small space. Just don’t expect to do much troubleshooting/changing when you’re done. Fitting a circuit […]

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