• »

    ITV Schools Clock (Pre 1978) – Part 1

    This project is running in conjunction with the BBC “Schools Dots” project – blogged about earlier (and still ongoing). Shortly before Christmas 2011, Graphics Designer & Computer Programmer extraordinaire, Dave Jeffery kindly forwarded me a screen grab of a 1976 example of the ITV Schools & Colleges clock – and asked me to pay particular [...]

    Read More
  • »

    Making your own PCBs – Part 1

    Being able to make Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) yourself has never really been any easier; and also something I have always wanted to be able to do as and when. Simple PCB manufacture was usually a topic covered in GCSE electronics at School – perhaps something these days that doesn’t happen due to some stupid [...]

    Read More
  • »

    Making films with only £250.000 in the pot.

    Day 1 Back in March 2011, I was asked to work on a short film, shooting in Sheffield- about still birth. I was asked if I could spare myself to work on the 4day shoot of the film. And thought why not. As drama goes, quite a heavy subject- though a subject pretty close to [...]

    Read More
  • »

    HT Power Supply – Part 1

    A continuation on upgrading my test kit. In more recent times I have mucked about with Valves (The Electronic thermionic variety) – being a technology from moons ago,  they are something I have only really been aware of- not really understood how they work. While studying Electronics, these components weren’t even considered (though still in [...]

    Read More
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    BBC Schools “dots” – Part 2 – Noddys & Fractions

    The artwork arrived pretty quickly (and cheaply); and within a few hours was ready mounted up on the wooden frame I had built the previous day. See previous post. The real big deal would be making the ‘dots’ dissapear. As pointed out before; each ‘dot’ would appear to spin away, rather than just vanish- which [...]

    Read More
  • »

    BBC Schools “Dots” – Part 1

    I had always been one of those kids who spent more time pondering over “how things are done”- such as with toys- I spent more time wondering how they worked than actually playing with them. This intrest also spread to the TV. I was one of those 70s kids who found the bits before, between [...]

    Read More
  • »

    Part 3 – Getting it built

    The initial idea to build a new test Power Supply unit began while attempting to power up some old GPO relays. Out of a box of 20 or so, with numerous PLATINUM contacts arrangements- I couldn’t get one of them to operate. Having metered out the relay coils- and their resistances being what they should- [...]

    Read More
  • »

    DIY 16mm Telecine – Part 1

    Telecine – only really a term used since the advent of Television. Television programmes were usually broadcast live; and with no such thing as videotape- items were shot onto film. But how do you show filmed pictures on a TV? The usual way to show film would be to project it onto a screen. Early [...]

    Read More
  • »

    The initial fire test (wood or corpses?)

    I fired up the stove in the yard- mainly as I didn’t want the workshop full of smoke! Smoke was quite a problem- at first the paint burning off the bottle was the cause; however, once things had heated up it was the wood / card that gave off a bit of smoke. I was [...]

    Read More
  • »

    Some progress made on the PSU project

    I was just about to shelve the great Bench Power supply project -until I was fortunate enough to aquire some scrap Military Transmission equipment from a mate. It was a case of it all either going in the skip- or me taking off the bits I required and chucking those really obscure MOD spec components [...]

    Read More

»

ITV Schools Clock (Pre 1978) – Part 1

This project is running in conjunction with the BBC “Schools Dots” project – blogged about earlier (and still ongoing). Shortly before Christmas 2011, Graphics Designer & Computer Programmer extraordinaire, Dave Jeffery kindly forwarded me a screen grab of a 1976 example of the ITV Schools & Colleges clock – and asked me to pay particular [...]

»

Making your own PCBs – Part 1

Being able to make Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) yourself has never really been any easier; and also something I have always wanted to be able to do as and when. Simple PCB manufacture was usually a topic covered in GCSE electronics at School – perhaps something these days that doesn’t happen due to some stupid [...]

»

Making films with only £250.000 in the pot.

Day 1 Back in March 2011, I was asked to work on a short film, shooting in Sheffield- about still birth. I was asked if I could spare myself to work on the 4day shoot of the film. And thought why not. As drama goes, quite a heavy subject- though a subject pretty close to [...]

»

ITV Schools Clock (Pre 1978) – Part 1

Posted by RB February 3, 2012

This project is running in conjunction with the BBC “Schools Dots” project – blogged about earlier (and still ongoing). Shortly before Christmas 2011, Graphics Designer & Computer Programmer extraordinaire, Dave Jeffery kindly forwarded me a screen grab of a 1976 example of the ITV Schools & Colleges clock – and asked me to pay particular [...]

»

Making your own PCBs – Part 1

Posted by RB February 3, 2012

Being able to make Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) yourself has never really been any easier; and also something I have always wanted to be able to do as and when. Simple PCB manufacture was usually a topic covered in GCSE electronics at School – perhaps something these days that doesn’t happen due to some stupid [...]

»

Making films with only £250.000 in the pot.

Posted by RB January 16, 2012

Day 1 Back in March 2011, I was asked to work on a short film, shooting in Sheffield- about still birth. I was asked if I could spare myself to work on the 4day shoot of the film. And thought why not. As drama goes, quite a heavy subject- though a subject pretty close to [...]

»

HT Power Supply – Part 1

Posted by RB January 16, 2012

A continuation on upgrading my test kit. In more recent times I have mucked about with Valves (The Electronic thermionic variety) – being a technology from moons ago,  they are something I have only really been aware of- not really understood how they work. While studying Electronics, these components weren’t even considered (though still in [...]

»

BBC Schools “dots” – Part 2 – Noddys & Fractions

Posted by RB December 5, 2011

The artwork arrived pretty quickly (and cheaply); and within a few hours was ready mounted up on the wooden frame I had built the previous day. See previous post. The real big deal would be making the ‘dots’ dissapear. As pointed out before; each ‘dot’ would appear to spin away, rather than just vanish- which [...]

»

BBC Schools “Dots” – Part 1

Posted by RB November 28, 2011

I had always been one of those kids who spent more time pondering over “how things are done”- such as with toys- I spent more time wondering how they worked than actually playing with them. This intrest also spread to the TV. I was one of those 70s kids who found the bits before, between [...]

»

Part 3 – Getting it built

Posted by RB November 25, 2011

The initial idea to build a new test Power Supply unit began while attempting to power up some old GPO relays. Out of a box of 20 or so, with numerous PLATINUM contacts arrangements- I couldn’t get one of them to operate. Having metered out the relay coils- and their resistances being what they should- [...]

»

DIY 16mm Telecine – Part 1

Posted by RB November 18, 2011

Telecine – only really a term used since the advent of Television. Television programmes were usually broadcast live; and with no such thing as videotape- items were shot onto film. But how do you show filmed pictures on a TV? The usual way to show film would be to project it onto a screen. Early [...]

»

The initial fire test (wood or corpses?)

Posted by RB November 18, 2011

I fired up the stove in the yard- mainly as I didn’t want the workshop full of smoke! Smoke was quite a problem- at first the paint burning off the bottle was the cause; however, once things had heated up it was the wood / card that gave off a bit of smoke. I was [...]

»

Some progress made on the PSU project

Posted by RB October 17, 2011

I was just about to shelve the great Bench Power supply project -until I was fortunate enough to aquire some scrap Military Transmission equipment from a mate. It was a case of it all either going in the skip- or me taking off the bits I required and chucking those really obscure MOD spec components [...]