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viscomjim
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Joined: 08/01/2014
Location: United States
Posts: 925

Posted: 08:47am 09 Dec 2014

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Against all odds, I happen to have a very cool mother in law and for this Christmas I have been working on an "antique radio" for her that is neither antique or a radio. I used a uMite along with an mp3 module, a 3231RTC, 2 rotary encoders, an IR detector (for an apple remote) and a 2004LCD display for the electronics and built a cabinet to put it all in. Here are some pics...

This is the pcb (my very first one) designed in Autotrax Dex and made by Itead.

The board with all its parts.

another view of board.

I used a piece of black acrylic to mount the display and board. The square hole below the display is for the TSOP4838 for remote control.

I reverse printed a "decal" for the front panel and applied it to the back side of some thin non-glare acrylic with the cutouts for the display and the IR detector. I tried to hide the detector in the graphics.

I put my close to non existent woodworking skills into play to make this simple cabinet.

A little stain and clearcoat.

I used some gold material and laser cut some plastic for the speaker grills. Found some nice gold guitar knobs and gold feet. Notice the apple remote sitting on top.

This better get me some brownie points with my mother in law and hopefully her beautiful daughter will understand what in the world i am doing in my "lab" all the time.

I downloaded about 250 old time radio programs, including the hindenburg disaster, war of the worlds, abbot and costello, amos and andy, etc. along with 32 full Elvis Presley CDs onto the sd card. The encoders control the program selection, volume, pause and play. The lcd displays the program number, the volume and 2 lines of information about what is playing. When the unit is "off" it displays "RADIO BETTY", the time and date and temperature.

Big thanks to Geoff once again and WhiteWizzard for his apple remote code and all the useful things I have learned on this forum!!!
Edited by viscomjim 2014-12-10

matherp
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Joined: 11/12/2012
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 10189

Posted: 09:17am 09 Dec 2014

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Truly EXCELLENT

BobD

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Joined: 07/12/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 935

Posted: 09:22am 09 Dec 2014

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Jim
all I can say is WOW. It is magnificent. Keep sucking up to the MiL. Having her on your side is a major plus.
Bob

G8JCF

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Joined: 15/05/2014
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 676

Posted: 09:25am 09 Dec 2014

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Superb !

Peter

The only Konstant is Change

Lou

Senior Member

Joined: 01/02/2014
Location: United States
Posts: 229

Posted: 09:29am 09 Dec 2014

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Wow !! Great project, hats off to you Jim.
I bet is sounds as good as it looks.

Lou

Microcontrollers - the other white meat

JohnS
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Joined: 18/11/2011
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 4033

Posted: 11:01am 09 Dec 2014

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Wow, that is quite something.

hmm, "close to non existent woodworking skills", really!

John

bigmik

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Joined: 20/06/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 2949

Posted: 12:50pm 09 Dec 2014

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Jim,

That is absolutely magnificent...

I had to pick myself up off the floor... I dont know what else to say..

Regards,
Mick

Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<<

Grogster

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Joined: 31/12/2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 9585

Posted: 12:51pm 09 Dec 2014

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JohnS said hmm, "close to non existent woodworking skills", really!

Indeed - I only wish my woodworking skills were as bad as his are.

Absolutely beautiful bit of kit. To say that is "Well done" is an understatement.

I do like the idea of the embedded SD card. It only becomes an issue if you ever want to change the content - you have to take the unit apart to get at the SD card. However, that may be a non-issue, as you may well never need to get at the card again with all the stuff you have loaded on there.

When I need a wood cabinet for my next idea, I will be in touch.

Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops!

bigmik

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Joined: 20/06/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 2949

Posted: 01:07pm 09 Dec 2014

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Grogster said I only wish my woodworking skills were as bad as his are.

Hear Hear !!

Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<<

donmck

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Joined: 09/06/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 1313

Posted: 01:46pm 09 Dec 2014

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WOW again.

I think it needs to be featured in an Electronics Mag.

I know you are US based, and Nuts & Volts or similar, may be more geographically suitable, but would be nice to see it in Silicon Chip to complement what Geoff has already done.

Cheers Don...

https://www.dontronics.com

Justplayin

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Joined: 31/01/2014
Location: United States
Posts: 327

Posted: 03:40pm 09 Dec 2014

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I really love this! The electronics and cabinet work look great!

My only question is... Where's the radio? I think you need to add one of these. Si4703 FM Tuner It can output RBDS data (station info and song titles) broadcast by the radio stations.

Seriously though... Great work, and you really should do a magazine article about the build or submit it to HackaDay.

--CurtisEdited by Justplayin 2014-12-11

I am not a Mad Scientist... It makes me happy inventing new ways to take over the world!!

paceman
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Joined: 07/10/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 1329

Posted: 06:39pm 09 Dec 2014

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Geez! - there's no stopping some people is there. Great job Jim

Greg

jman

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Joined: 12/06/2011
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 711

Posted: 08:34pm 09 Dec 2014

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Jim

A BIG WELL DONE
What an awesome job

Regards

Jman

Frank N. Furter
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Joined: 28/05/2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 946

Posted: 08:56pm 09 Dec 2014

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Respect!!!

It's really cool! Your housing looks perfect and the complete "radio" is amazing!

Frank

viscomjim
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Joined: 08/01/2014
Location: United States
Posts: 925

Posted: 03:49am 10 Dec 2014

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Wow, that went over well. I appreciate the response. Based on that, I think she'll like it. Thanks again!

CircuitGizmos

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Joined: 08/09/2011
Location: United States
Posts: 1427

Posted: 05:20am 10 Dec 2014

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That looks great! Very nice work!

Micromites and Maximites! - Beginning Maximite

viscomjim
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Joined: 08/01/2014
Location: United States
Posts: 925

Posted: 05:02am 21 Dec 2014

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I made an "instructable" for this project. Hopefully it will help send some people over to the micromite and the back shed forum. Here is the link.

mindrobots
Newbie

Joined: 21/05/2014
Location: United States
Posts: 32

Posted: 06:44am 21 Dec 2014

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Jim,

That is outstanding!! Radio Betty is BRILLIANT!

You really should contact Nuts & Volts, especially since you have a PC board to offer up for kits. What a great project for the May issue maybe, it being Mother's Day and all. (There's probably a Mother in Law's Day but not so often celebrated!

)

Rick

atmega8

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Joined: 19/11/2013
Location: Germany
Posts: 724

Posted: 07:31am 21 Dec 2014

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Bohhh ey ;-)

Hammer !!!

bigmik

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Joined: 20/06/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 2949

Posted: 01:32pm 21 Dec 2014

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Brilliant!

Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<<

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