ARTICLES

THREE-AXIS CHOPPER, STEP MOTOR CONTROLLER FOR COMPUTER NUMERICAL CONTROL (CNC) APPLICATIONS — PART 4 - Dan Mauch
Retrofitting a desktop milling machine for CNC.

SERVOS, STEPPERS, AND OPTICAL ENCODERS — PART 1 - TJ Byers
Which one works best in your robotic or R/C project? Here’s everything you need to know ...

DC-TO-LIGHT RADIOS: YAESU AND ICOM COMPARISONS - Gordon West
Two brand new ham transceivers from these major manufacturers undergo side-by-side comparisons, along with some torture tests.

BUILD AN LED DIGITAL THERMOMETER - Fred Blechman
Construct this under-$38.00 kit for an LED digital display thermometer that can measure temperatures in all kinds of environments from either -040° to +100° Centigrade, or from -040° to +212° Farenheit.

BUILD A DIGITAL WATT AND WATT-HOUR METER - Dan Harrison
Ever wondered why your electric bill is so high, or how much electricity your freezer, blow dryer, or air conditioner consumes? With the Watts Showing™ digital meter kit, you can accurately measure power consumption and calculate operating costs on anything that plugs into a 120VAC outlet.

HIGH “TEC” REFRIGERATOR - Kenton Chun
Build your own electric cooler for a quarter of the price you would normally pay, plus make it solar- powered.

TOP 10 SOLAR PV POWER APPLICATIONS - Kenton Chun
Just in time for summer ... Look at 10 terrific solar power applications that will show positive cost benefits.

COLUMNS

AMATEUR ROBOTICS NOTEBOOK - Robert Nansel
The birth of Breadbot’s power switch board, more on I2C, and loving Linux.

OPEN CHANNEL - Joe Carr
Notes on vibration detectors and seismographs — Part 2, plus a note on lightning and WWV clocks.

STAMP APPLICATIONS - Lon Glazner
A Stamp-controlled high power H-Bridge. This circuit can be used for controlling high current motors, driving relays, controlling lamps, and powering heating elements, just to name a few possible applications.