My Maker Tools: What We do

What we do and How we do it!

So what do we really do at MyMakerTools? This is a question we get all the time and the answer is complicated. Our main objective is to help out Makers, electronic hobbyist, brick creators, etc. Specifically those who want to build electronics and those who want to mechanize their Lego creations. How do we do this, you ask. Here is the multi part answer.

For those who are electronic Makers

USB Based Power Bricks

We make a series of USB based power systems. Using USB power we can provide a series of voltages that can be used to power your electronic projects.

Here are two of the small power bricks that we make. You plug one end into a USB power source (probably not a Laptop, but a charger, USB battery or wall source). The one on the left will generate 1.8VDC, 2.5VDC, 3.3VDC and 5VDC. These are the most common voltages used in electronic logic circuits today. Generally you would have to buy 2 to 4 commercial power supplies to obtain this variety of voltages and at several hundred dollars. Additionally you would be tied to the wall and not be able to take your creations out of the house. The one on the right is the same type, except it only has three voltage outputs, 3.3VDC, 5VDC and 12VDC.

This picture is a typical example of how it is used. The power brick will plug into the breadboard directly and then power your prototype designs.

Power Monitor

Next we make a Power Monitor, shown here. Well what is a power monitor? This a USB based device that is used to observe the voltage and current your prototype designs are using. As you can see in the picture there is a connector on the top. This is where one of the power bricks from earlier is plugged in. The opposite end then contains the voltages that were there before (1.8VDC, 2.5VDC, 3.3VDC and 5VDC in the picture below). The Power Monitor comes in two flavors, USB only or USB/BT. The picture below on the right shows an early test of the Power Monitor connected to a PC via USB and an Android Phone via BT. Either way allows you to record the voltage and current on either the PC or the Phone. Or the Power Monitor has internal memory that can record for several hours and download the data later.

LiON Battery Charger

Most electronic projects today run on battery and the battery of choice for long lasting is LiON batteries. However charging them is not simple. You should use a charger designed for these batteries. We have a USB powered dual battery charger that will charge two batteries at once, depending on the USB power source. A PC program sets the charge rate on each charging port (they can be different). One use is when your project is outdoors and away from AC power. Using a large battery that charges cell phones as the USB power source, you could have one LiON battery on the charger while you use another to power your project. In this manner you project is not restricted to AC power.

Temperature Sensor (T-DUST)

T-DUST is a small battery powered temperature sensor that is BT enabled. You can monitor the temperature of a project box from your Android phone. The APP will show you the current temperature, show a continuous graph over time of the temperature and record the temperature data for download to a text file. Or the T-DUST device will record the temperature internally for up to a day (depending on the record interval), then download to the phone when needed.

For those who are Brick Builders

USB Based Power

For those brick builders and who use motors to bring motion to your MOCs, we have the ideal power source. Built on our USB Power Bricks, you can use a USB Power Source (AC wall charger or cell phone battery charger) to power your MOCs. This is instead of 6 AA batteries that will only last a short time. This device will also power all of the accessories. So now running a MOC for hours is no longer an exercise in how many AA batteries do you need.

Brick Controller

The next item we make is an intelligent brick controller. The controller will control up to four motors and 4 LED lights sources. It can be controlled by either USB or BT from an Android Phone.

It also has a very simple scripting language. In simple terms, at each step you will tell the

1. what to do with the motors forward, reverse or stop

2. what to do with theLEDs, on, off, flashing, pulsing or lightning effect

3. at the end of the script, stop or repeat

The script has one tenth of a second resolution.

Below is a short video of two MOCs one with two motors and 4 LED sources and the other with one motor and 4 LED sources controlled our Brick Controller.

Softwear

We provide a range of fabric products, below are some of the things we have provided. Why, because the Maker/LEGO community is always looking for one of a kind and unique items. These items fulfill that need. We hand make each of these for the shows that we participate in. We also take special requests, as long as you know your size. We have also done custom pillow cases in the past.