Long Time No Post

Yes, I haven't posted in a while. In my defense, I have been very busy failing most of my classes and haven't had time for blogging. I promise, more interesting things will be arriving at some point.

My MakerBot CupCake CNC is assembled, but not quite working yet. I will be showing my many pictures of the process soon. The reason I am writing a post today is that this blog had a viewer! I got a message today that started, "Hi there! I am a completely random person from the internet..." Turns out another local wants feedback from someone printing with a low-resolution, non-support material 3-D printer like the CupCake. I said I'd be quite willing to print his designs and give feedback. Of course, this requires that the CupCake be able to print. So now I have the dual goals of updating this blog and getting the CupCake a little closer to actually printing things.

USBtinyISP

Hello again! It's been a little while, but I'm back and ready to start updating this thing. This week's project is the USBtinyISP from LadyAda. It's a great little programmer for under $25 that connects with AVR connectors, both the six- and ten-pin varieties. I bought it specifically to burn the bootloader for my MakerBot Cupcake CNC (post to come!). It's a fairly simple project if you have some soldering experience, all through-hole components and nothing too small to see.

All the components, fresh out of the bag and laid out for all to see. A few resistors, a couple chips, a couple LEDs, a board, a couple cables, and a case. Nothing too complicated, I don't think.

All assembled (minus the case)! Sorry for the lack of pictures and poor quality. My camera was not cooperating at the time.
Overall building time: ~1hr
Difficulty rating: Slightly more than beginner

If you want to look at the full set of photos, just check out the Flickr set.