New Big Project: Power Wheels Racing

So its been a while since I’ve posted an update; I’ve been busy with the job hunt and other things pertaining to my impending graduation. Regardless, I’ve found time to work on a major project: Power Wheels Racing.

I’ve been busy at work helping to soup up a toy Power Wheels jeep and make it go fast. Really fast.

You can track our progress at Megacycle Labs and the Power Racing Series websites.

The actual race will be at the Detroit Makerfaire, July 31-August 1, 2010; at the Henry Ford Museum. Full details of the event time/location pending.

LED Ring light for macro photography

So for a long time I’ve had my Canon S5 IS camera capable of macro and ‘super-macro’ (focusing down to 0mm from the lens), but the main problem that exists is the lack of sufficient and even lighting on the subject to produce a quality, low noise, sharp image. Since ambient light typically comes from above the camera, the lens itself produces a shadow below the camera which is visible in these close up photos, a typical solution is to use a ring flash or ring light around the lens to provide even lighting coverage of the subject.

Instead of spending a few hundred dollars on a ring light or flash by Canon, I decided to hack my own. Since my camera already has a 58mm lens tube adapter and UV filter, I decided to laser cut an acrylic ring, sand one side to a ‘frosted’ finish for light diffusion, and glued a common 60mm LED ring light (runs from 12VDC unregulated) onto this acrylic ring. After sanding the inner ring for a friction fit, the ring was press-fit onto the UV filter.

Press fit LED ring onto the lens adapter/filter.

This sample image shows just how even the lighting is at close range in the foreground

Here is another sample close up image showing a 9V battery with background lighting, with and without foreground lighting from the LED ring light.

I plan to order in another 58mm lens adapter and a UV filter so I can simply swap the regular lens tube for the macro-light version without needing to screw and unscrew the 58mm UV filter repeatedly.

Another improvement is to properly terminate the power cable on both ends, and possibly make a small belt-pack with a battery. The lamp draws 180mA at 12V, thus 2.16W; using a small switch mode circuit I could probably make a 2xAA to 12V dc-dc converter. Another alternative is to use 14450 sized Li-ion batteries (same as AA), and design the switch mode circuit to use either AA or 14500 batteries (2.7 vs 1.5V per cell, input range varies but output should remain at 12V).

Total cost, about $10 ($8 ring light, $1-2 acrylic) plus the cost of the new adapter and filter.

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Vacation and Goodies Upon Return

So you may have noticed that I’ve been away for 2 weeks on a trip to Hong Kong/China, and a writeup of my travels is pending, but until then enjoy this photo of the goodies I have returned with.

The goodies:

1. KG-UVD1P hand held transceiver and spare battery with charger and car adapter (not battery eliminator)
2. 2x 4 position 2 axis joystick, 2x 2 position 1 axis joystick, 2x 2 position 1 axis joystick (momentary)
3. 2x CM300DY-24H IGBTs
4. Ultrafire C2 flashlight (single mode) with Cree Q5 emitter (200lumen approx), 2x 2400mAh protected batteries and charger
5. 12V 20A SMPS
6. Digital thermometer with K-type thermocouple (real cheap, only about <$8CAD for the whole kit with a case)

I also picked up a little ring of LEDs that approximately fits the lens adapter on my Canon S5IS camera, configured to run off of unregulated 12VDC, I plan to make a little battery pack and extension wire to let me do evenly lit macro photography without the normal lens-tube shadow that you’ve seen before in my photos. I need to laser cut an acrylic ring to get it to fit onto the lens tube as well (plus a diffuser), but more on that later. For now, a rough test shows that this idea works.

Yes, my desk is that dusty, especially after not touching it for 2 weeks.