Well, we have had a rocky start in our first year of Old Green Machines. Luckily I'm an old teacher that has seen crappy little projects reach their fruition in the past, so I know this club will be great....in time.
My students worked their butts off cleaning up the wood shop. Then, just as we started to really get into the groove, our 15 million dollar school remodelling project invaded our project space. Soon there were walls coming down, concrete dust everywhere, and a bunch of students feeling defeated, but not willing to give in.
We have had to leave the wood shop for a while until that portion of our school is more sedate. Instead, Jeff (electronics genius and all-around great guy) has been introducing us to the wonderful world of the Arduino. We'll just have to focus on building circuits for a while, and let the wood shop settle down and wait for our return. Breadboards, anyone? :-)
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Friday, December 18, 2009
We'll be back in the Spring!
Just a quick explanation/update:
The Old Green Machines project is very much alive and well and busy. While we have not been blogging much, we have been very, very busy.
We had a minor setback recently when the wood shop had to be closed during the Skyline remodeling that is going on. We came back to find everything pretty much like we left it, except it was now covered in a half inch of drywall dust.... :-(
Students are playing many roles, including being students. Final exams just finished and we are on Winter Break!
The club will continue to take donations and work throughout the Spring. We will be building logic circuits and learning all sorts of things.
The Old Green Machines project is very much alive and well and busy. While we have not been blogging much, we have been very, very busy.
We had a minor setback recently when the wood shop had to be closed during the Skyline remodeling that is going on. We came back to find everything pretty much like we left it, except it was now covered in a half inch of drywall dust.... :-(
Students are playing many roles, including being students. Final exams just finished and we are on Winter Break!
The club will continue to take donations and work throughout the Spring. We will be building logic circuits and learning all sorts of things.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
De-Soldering
We finally have a working camera, I have an account to blog here with, and we have some
pictures of the de-soldering we've been doing for the past 2 weeks. So here we go...
Using a glorified hair drier (a "heat gun"), we can now melt the solder right off the backs of the circuit boards that we remove from VCRs, clocks, or other gadgets. So this means that we will eventually be able to use these parts (capacitors, 7-segment displays, switches, etc...) to perhaps create our own stuff.
When you put the heat gun up to the circuit board the "sharp points" of the solder starts to melt a little bit. You pull and wiggle the component on the other side of the board. When it loosens up enough on the component that you are trying to remove, it will come right off the board. In the end it's actually kinda fun.
Other than that, we have been going as we have before. Taking stuff apart, organizing the new room, and trying to learn a bit more about what makes all this stuff do what it does.
~Byron
pictures of the de-soldering we've been doing for the past 2 weeks. So here we go...Using a glorified hair drier (a "heat gun"), we can now melt the solder right off the backs of the circuit boards that we remove from VCRs, clocks, or other gadgets. So this means that we will eventually be able to use these parts (capacitors, 7-segment displays, switches, etc...) to perhaps create our own stuff.
When you put the heat gun up to the circuit board the "sharp points" of the solder starts to melt a little bit. You pull and wiggle the component on the other side of the board. When it loosens up enough on the component that you are trying to remove, it will come right off the board. In the end it's actually kinda fun.
Other than that, we have been going as we have before. Taking stuff apart, organizing the new room, and trying to learn a bit more about what makes all this stuff do what it does.
~Byron
Monday, October 12, 2009
We made it into the paper today!
Today was the first time that Old Green Machines appeared in a newpaper. You can see the OGM part near the end of this page:
Johnny St. Vrain Oct 12, 2009 in the Longmont Times Call.
Too bad they did not include a link to our blog or website, as the first several calls and emails we got were from people wanting to give us broken monitors.....
One person, though, has a TV that might be perfect for something purchased this last weekend for a mere ten bucks: a Timex Sinclair 1000 computer (including an expansion that takes the memory from 2K to 16K! This old computer will look awesome on a vintage TV. Look for a report to follow when we actually start programming it.
Johnny St. Vrain Oct 12, 2009 in the Longmont Times Call.
Too bad they did not include a link to our blog or website, as the first several calls and emails we got were from people wanting to give us broken monitors.....
One person, though, has a TV that might be perfect for something purchased this last weekend for a mere ten bucks: a Timex Sinclair 1000 computer (including an expansion that takes the memory from 2K to 16K! This old computer will look awesome on a vintage TV. Look for a report to follow when we actually start programming it.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Agenda for Oct 6th
Besides having pizza this week (finally), we have a lot of stuff to do. Until we get these things done, other tasks will have to be put on hold:
1. Get our bins set for delivery this weekend. We need to decide what to write on them and how to write it (spraypaint, permanent markers, etc). Basically we need a logo on these and some contact information. If we get these done, we will have a constant visual reminder at the thrift stores that we are looking for old electronics. They'll be more likely to give stuff to us than throw it away if we have these bins reminding them about what we want to get.
2. MESA forms need to be filled out and returned by next weeks club meeting.
3. We need to take photographs for a MESA article. Our temporary photographer took only a handful of pictures. If someone is willing to be our photographer and is not afraid to take a lot of pictures, please volunteer for this and I will get you a camera to check out for the semester. If you want a short lesson in taking pix, let me know.
4. We have small bins now for all the larger components we will be saving. If you are considering being a dis-assembler, it is important that you familiarize yourself with all of these categories, so that you don't throw anything useful away.
5. We have three toolboxes now and need to organize our tools in them. Our tool room needs to be cleaned up before we use the tools themselves.
6. Those not volunteering and working on any of 1-5 get sink duty, as half our little gray hanging bins have yet to be cleaned up.
1. Get our bins set for delivery this weekend. We need to decide what to write on them and how to write it (spraypaint, permanent markers, etc). Basically we need a logo on these and some contact information. If we get these done, we will have a constant visual reminder at the thrift stores that we are looking for old electronics. They'll be more likely to give stuff to us than throw it away if we have these bins reminding them about what we want to get.
2. MESA forms need to be filled out and returned by next weeks club meeting.
3. We need to take photographs for a MESA article. Our temporary photographer took only a handful of pictures. If someone is willing to be our photographer and is not afraid to take a lot of pictures, please volunteer for this and I will get you a camera to check out for the semester. If you want a short lesson in taking pix, let me know.
4. We have small bins now for all the larger components we will be saving. If you are considering being a dis-assembler, it is important that you familiarize yourself with all of these categories, so that you don't throw anything useful away.
5. We have three toolboxes now and need to organize our tools in them. Our tool room needs to be cleaned up before we use the tools themselves.
6. Those not volunteering and working on any of 1-5 get sink duty, as half our little gray hanging bins have yet to be cleaned up.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Beginning Circuits at the OGM
This week we finally got to do some dis-assembly of donated devices. Students were testing various VCRs and stereo components, and others were starting to learn basic electronic circuit construction. There's something very cool about making a little LED light up:
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Website development: a case study
A few days ago I registered the domain "oldgreenmachines.org" so that we could use it for this project. Shortly after I gave ftp rights over to fonrus, one of my programming students who is particularly good at web design.
You can see the site here, and watch it as it develops. Right now there is no content, but we have a nice little scrolling feature that gives thanks to our partners/sponsors.
I'm always impressed by how much my students can juggle and still find time for a project like this.
Next week we finally get to work on stuff in the wood shop--after the pizza, of course.
If anyone has an old electric organ, I have a student that would like to work on it and possibly fix it and donate it to the Skyline music department. We will have contact info on our website, so you can call us if you have one. We'll pick it up from your location--well, within 20 miles or so.... :-)
You can see the site here, and watch it as it develops. Right now there is no content, but we have a nice little scrolling feature that gives thanks to our partners/sponsors.
I'm always impressed by how much my students can juggle and still find time for a project like this.
Next week we finally get to work on stuff in the wood shop--after the pizza, of course.
If anyone has an old electric organ, I have a student that would like to work on it and possibly fix it and donate it to the Skyline music department. We will have contact info on our website, so you can call us if you have one. We'll pick it up from your location--well, within 20 miles or so.... :-)
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