News

In case you hadn't noticed from our well-stocked LED range and coverage of previous projects, we're fans of the light-emitting diode here at oomlout. One of our favourite examples of novel LED packages is the 8x8 matrix, but even we're impressed by how far maker Rajendra Bhatt has taken the technology in the creation of the Easy Matrix module. Fully open hardware, the Easy Matrix - available from independent store-front Tindie - combines a single-colour 8x8 LED matrix with a MAX7219 controller. The result: the ability to not only drive the matrix from just three Arduino IO pins, but to...

Here at oomlout we're firm believers in the power of the Arduino: it's permissively licensed, lends itself well to customisation and is easily accessible even for electronics and programming novices. These facts, coupled with its low cost, lead some to assume that it's little more than a toy - but that couldn't be further from the truth. Photographer Xavier Gonzalo demonstrates that perfectly in a blog post for DIY Photography in which he talks about a family of custom-built gigapixel panorama robots he created using an Arduino Uno, owing to off-the-shelf alternatives failing to offer detailed control or support the...

California-based open-source electronics company IORodeo has embarked on a project we're going to be following with great interest: the building of a small-industrial-scale 80W laser cutter. Having grown their business to the point where they're in danger of monopolising the laser cutter at their current cooperative manufacturing space, the team plans to build a 900mm-square laser cutter from kit parts. IORodeo's Jo Long estimates the build will cost around $4,500, or just shy of £2,800 at current exchange rates - significantly less than an off-the-shelf equivalent. The project is in its infancy, but is already extremely well documented with full...

One of the key concepts we like to get across at oomlout is 'making things to make things,' building tools that either fill a need ill-served by off-the-shelf hardware or solve a problem hitherto not considered. If said things to make things can themselves be made by things we already have around the workshop, all the better - which is why we're highlighting Matt Hutchinson's excellent dowel notching jig project. Using a laser cutter to engrave accurate markings into a block of MDF, and a drill press, table saw and mitre gauge, Matt has created an extremely cheap tool for...

At oomlout we firmly believe electronics can be beautiful, inside and out. We've previously highlighted some historical images showing what's hidden inside integrated circuits, and watch with awe the work of Russian research and development outfit ZeptoBars which, in the company's own words, spends the weekends "having fun dissolving microchips in boiling acid" and taking pictures of the result. Most recently, ZeptoBars published an image that caught our attention: a shot of what's inside the ON Semiconductor P2N2222A transistor we sell as a bundle and include in our Arduino ARDX Starter Kit. Used for switching higher-current loads than an Arduino...