My first ever Instructables - a PCB mockup out of cardboard

   This blog post is about my first-ever Instructable entry: a PCB mockup made out of cardboard. I will explane it better:

   I live in a third-world country (Brazil); as so, many of the materials have to be imported. I work with embedded systems development, so importing electronic components is basically a daily task for me. I basically buy most stuff from China and get free shipping, and it may take up to 90 days to a free-shipped material to get to my hards: this is because customs in Brazil are slow and tough at the consumer, always willing to tax us a bit more here and there.

   One of the biggest slow-downs of an electronic product development is the manufacturing (and iterations necessary) of the printed circuit board (PCB), because it is almost an "art" and most designers don't make it right the first time.

   So basically on a scenario where anything can take 90 days to make it to my hands from China, I cannot afford making big mistakes!; this is why I have come up with a cardboard-based mockup of my current PCB design, so that I can mechanically test it before sending it to the (PCB) board house.

   Of course (as it is simples plain paper and cardboard) you cannot connect it to and a power supply or the like; this technique is intended to mechanically-test component collision and positioning only!.

   You can find my full instructable on this link. Hope you like it and share the knowledge with your friends.

Professional Electronics Blog - FritzenLab

Hello everyone, how are you doing today? the end of the year is approaching fast, right?

   So I came here today to present you my newest venture: an embedded systems professional blog!. I just left my job at a tech company in Brazil to startup an electronics design house, and decided that in paralell I would run a blog.

   One of my passions is to learn electronics, and be able to teach people what I have learned; this is exactly what I plan to do in my new FritzelLab ( <3 ), be able to pass my knowledge to everyone that wants to learn; all of that in a free and open way. 

The blog will be written in Brazilian Portuguese (my mother language) because my target is the Brazilian market and its proeminent maker scene!. You can enter my blog in here: www.FritzenLab.com.br .  

Feel free to comment and suggest (even in English if you will!). 

See you all, 

Tilt-based led light

Hello makers, readers and curious!

   I´m here today to bring you a sort of toy I have made for the Arduino Day (March 28th, 2015). It is a simple tilt-based LED light (images below), and despite the fact that it features no Arduino (!?), it made me proud of my maker capabilities!. 

   The working principle is simple: depending on the  position of the tilt ball switch, the LED lights or not; you can check the schematic below. I have used the following materials:

- 2x 1.5V coin cell batteries

- 1x 100R/ 0,125W resistor

- 1x Tilt ball switch 

- 1x 5mm red LED

- Soldering

- Glue, to put the batteries together :) 

The original idea came from my mom, which is a special children's teacher, and it intends to stimulate and entertain them, and help them learn quickly.

I have not tested the toy with children so far, but will be glad to share the results with you when I do. See you guys next time!.

The Hackaday Prize 2015 !

Hello readers, how are you doing today?

   So I´m back to this blog after some time, now to spread the word about an incredible opportunity form the Hackaday website team: today is the beginning of a new Hackaday prize, the @HackadayPrize 2015!. This is a maker competition in which you can submit your idea to change the world (or just to water your plants more efficiently..), and for which there is a go-to-space first prize.

   I have entered a project in the 2014 edition, having reached the quarter-finals with mine `chip timing for running clubs´, you can see my project in here. For this year´s prize, I am planning to enter this open source weather station here, which features a bunch of sensors and communications options, all of that being supplied by a fraction-of-watt solar panel!.
   By the way, the 2014 champion was a project called satNOGS, satellite tracking stations. So if you guys have any project idea and would like to share it (and maybe win a trip to space and many other perks), enter the Hackaday prize now!. See you guys soon.

Open source - explained in LEGO!

   Browsing the internet (as I do every single day of my life) sometimes exposes me to some very interesting stuff; as for example this video (below), explaining with LEGO (in stop motion) how does the Open source movement works. That's some worth-watching-content, for sure!.