Author Archives: Bill

Helpful Helping Hands

Posted on May 7, 2011 by Bill

Tired of those  not-so-helpful helping hands letting you down?  Well not any more! They look mean, and they wrestle those “old hands” to the mat!    The old hands are shown here crying for mercy (in mid-air) just before being thrown … Continue reading →

Posted in Hardware | Leave a comment

ThunderPower RC TP820CD 800 Watt Dual-Port Multi-Chemistry Battery Charger/Discharger/Cycler/Balancer

Posted on April 20, 2011 by Bill

Wow, that title is a mouth-full, and this monster delivers!   With the new generations of Lithium-Polymer (LiPo) batteries capable of being charged at up to 12C (12X battery pack capacity – YMMV), the “last generation” chargers were holding my batteries … Continue reading →

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Quantum Random Number Generator

Posted on April 6, 2011 by Bill

Tired of unpredictable pseudo-random number generator (PRNG) seed artifacts?  Need a high-speed/high-volume source of truly random data for Monte-Carlo, gaming, or security?   The Quantis Quantum Random Number Generator from IDQ could be what you need.   Certified by the Swiss … Continue reading →

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Fedora 14 Quad Monitor Configuration (and issues)

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Bill

Need (or want) a single desktop using dual graphic cards and 4 displays? Here’s what I found upgrading to Fedora 14  from Fedora 11: First of all,  I had to perform a fresh install since there is no direct upgrade … Continue reading →

Posted in Computers | 3 Comments

Building the EVR miniBrute Tesla Coil – Part 1, The Advanced Modulator

Posted on February 6, 2011 by Bill

On this blog I’ve shown how to build a classic Spark-Gap Tesla Coil (SGTC) and small Solid State Tesla Coils (SSTC’s).  It’s now time to step-up into a Dual-Resonant Solid State Tesla Coil (DRSSTC).   Advantages of the DRSSTC include reduced … Continue reading →

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Probing Your Megavolts

Posted on January 8, 2011 by Bill

So, you’ve invented this amazing process for converting water into wine, but investors want to know exactly how much power it takes before they cut checks.   After all, vineyards do it for free, with just a bit of sunlight. … Continue reading →

Posted in High Voltage | 2 Comments

World Robotic Boxing

Posted on December 31, 2010 by Bill

Cool: The domain “WRB.COM” I sold to Disney several months ago (through a 3rd-party negotiator) has now surfaced as the web-site “World Robotic Boxing” for the movie “Real Steel” starring Hugh Jackman.  (Real Steel Trailer)  Excellent!!

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The 12 Days of Tesla

Posted on December 24, 2010 by Bill

While successfully transmuting lead into gold with a small Solid State Tesla Coil (SSTC), it became apparent that a much larger Tesla Coil (TC) would be necessary to make a dent in the national debt.  The new coil would need … Continue reading →

Posted in Tesla Coils | 2 Comments

A Mini-Solid State Tesla Coil (SSTC) Kit

Posted on December 7, 2010 by Bill

Here’s a compact little Solid-State Tesla Coil (SSTC) that you can run INside your home (with the appropriate RF ground).   It’s quiet, doesn’t produce a lot of Ozone, and is fun to play with (as-well-as being a good introduction to … Continue reading →

Posted in Tesla Coils | 11 Comments

Making Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) With Your Laser Printer

Posted on December 1, 2010 by Bill

So you have a picture of a circuit board, or maybe a Gerber file, but you need that hard PCB STAT (right now)!  Pop-Quiz: what-do-you-do?, what-do-you-do? There are quite a few sites out there on how-to make PCBs with your … Continue reading →

Posted in Electronics | 5 Comments