Franken Slurpee

I am proud to announce my very first electronics project - Franken Slurpee. I bought my son a slurpee drink maker for Christmas and was dismayed to find that it required four "C" batteries. The machine turns a metal drum full of ice and salt - which in turn mixes 12 oz of fluid into slush. I could picture constant trips to the store for new batteries, so I decided to convert the thing to run off of wall power. Knowing how to read a multimeter and not much more, I set off on my quest.

The first thing I needed to know was how much voltage the machine required and how much current it would draw. I got out my multimeter, opened the motor housing, and discovered that I needed to supply 6.4 volts of power using hardware that could handle up to 1.5 amps of current.

Next, I needed to build a circuit board that would provide 6.4 volts of regulated DC power. Using information from Bill Bowden I built a circuit with the following parts:

• 5 - 1N4003 rectifier diodes
• 1 - LM317T variable voltage regulator
• 3 - 100 ohm 1/2 watt resistors
• 1 - 330 ohm 1/2 watt resistor
• 1 - 1uF tantalum capacitor

These parts were assembled according to the following circuit diagram.


Neither the diagram nor the parts list includes a heatsink; however, it is very important to have one attached to the voltage regulator. I did not include a heatsink in one of my early prototypes. This would cause the regulator to quickly overheat and shutdown. Now, the machine will run properly. I used the biggest heatsink I could find although it is perhaps overkill.



Here is a picture of the completed circuit. You can see the resistors to the right of the heatsink and the bridge rectifier is sitting behind it. The voltage regulator is in front of the heatsink along with a diode and the tantalum capacitor.



Now that I finished my circuit board, I needed a power supply for it. I settled on a 12.6 volt center tap transformer. This transformer converts 120 volts AC down to a voltage that the regulator can work with. The transformed power is still AC, but the bridge rectifier takes care of the conversion to DC. Notice in the above picture that the center tap (black wire next to the yellow ones) is tied off. If you use the center tap and a yellow wire, then you will only get 6.3 volts of AC power as the output. This is not enough power to run the voltage regulator. The voltage regulator needs at least 3 volts of input higher than the desired output. So, for my application I want 6.4 volts of output which would mean I need at least 9.4 volts from the transformer. By using the two yellow wires, the transformer puts out its full capacity of approximately 14 volts.

Here is the transformer mounted to the bottom of the slurpee pedestal. The circuit board is sitting in front of it and ready for mounting.



The transformer and circuit board are in place, but it is still necessary to get power to the transformer. Drill a small hole through the back of the slurpee machine and feed in an ungrounded lamp cord. Make the hole as small as possible so the lamp cord fits tight. You don't want it moving around to much. You can also tie a knot in the cord inside of the pedestal housing so that it cannot pull out any farther than the knot. Strip back the lamp cord and connect it to the two primary wires on the transformer. It doesn't matter which wires are connected - just hook them up.

All that is left is to hook up my new power supply to the slurpee machine. When you very first open the slurpee machine, you will see a black wire and a red wire coming from the battery compartment. Clip these wires and strip them back. The red wire is attached to the output pin of the voltage regulator. The black wire is attached to ground.

Here is the circuit board and transformer fully mounted on the pedestal. Notice the black and red wires running from the board back around the transformer.

Now we can close everything back up. Front view of the Franken Slurpee. It is ready for business.

Back view of the machine. I wanted it to be as aesthetic as possible. No one should know that it ever ran off of batteries - but of course you know otherwise!

A child is born

We received wonderful news in February that a child would be joining our home sometime in October. My wife and I wanted to be surprised as to the gender of this child, so we anxiously awaited the for the nine months to pass. In September, my wife told me that her intuition led her to believe the child was a boy. She crotcheted a blue hat and bought boy outfits in anticipation of the big day. Our baby finally arrived on October the 13th at 4:30 p.m. (MST). The baby weighed 8 lbs. 4 oz. and was 20 inches long. After thorough examination, the baby was pronounced to be healthy and normal - and yes, it was a little boy. We will name him Ethan.

Ethan has just been cleaned and wrapped up.
A proud daddy and his baby.
Mom and baby.
Only a day old and already a charmer.

Behemoth Bread Machines

Wheat is the source of flour used for breads, pastas, cookies, cakes, and many other delightful items. It is a grass like plant that grows quite tall and the wheat kernels are what develop when the plant goes to seed. Thousands of years ago, wheat was harvested by hand. A scythe was used to cut the stalks. The stalks were gathered into a pile and then beaten with sticks to knock the kernels out. The straw was removed and then the kernels had to be repeatedly thrown into the air so that the wind would blow the chaff away. The cleaned wheat could then be ground and used for food. Now, machines are used to harvest large amounts of grain in a short period of time. Thirty tons of steel that can hold up to nine tons of wheat truly makes a behemoth bread machine.

More About Tractors

I showed you my little garden tractor and promised that I would write more about big tractors. They do all the same kind of work as a little one, just on a larger scale. For example, we raise crops in blocks of 160 acres which is an area .5 miles long by .5 miles wide. A large tractor can easily cover every inch of this ground in an 8 hour period.

Here is the small tractor with a 4-wheeler next to it for size comparison


And here is the large tractor with the same 4-wheeler next to it

Solitude and Beauty

Many may think that rural living is a lonely existence, but the solitude and beauty of it is unparalled. I enjoy majestic views, fresh air, clean water, no pollution, traffic jams, or loud neighbors. My dog really enjoys it too. She is not bound by fences or chains. She has free reign to run as far and wide as she likes. Here are some pictures of the views from my house. The thing that is most enchanting about them is the beautiful depth of colors that can be seen during sunrise and sunset. These colors aren't a once-in-awhile experience, rather they are something that can be seen almost everyday through the spring, summer, and fall months.


Sunset on the mountains (looking east)




Sunset (looking west)



Sunrise on the mountains (looking east)

About Tractors

The invention of the tractor in 1868 revolutioned agriculture and is an integral part of modern day farming. You can imagine that I spend a lot of time on a tractor as well. Here is a tractor that I drive.



This tractor is used for tilling, planting, cultivating, and hauling sprinkler pipe around. Some of you may be thinking "that tractor seems small for use on a modern farm". If you thought that, you are absolutely right! This is my garden tractor. I use it for tilling, planting, and cultivating my garden. It also gets used for other odd jobs around the farm, but it is mainly a garden tractor. I will post a picture of a real farm tractor a little later.

Adventures in Wireless Networking

Moving from a big city with a myriad of internet access options to a rural area with only 24 Kb dial-up is a challenging task. I tried living off of dial-up for a few months, but could not stand how slow it was. I undertook the challenge of designing and installing a wireless network that could serve high speed internet from a location that could receive it to my home.

I discovered that my brother could get DSL at his house. I now had a basis with which I could start planning a network. Because we both live in an area that is 100% farmland there are no homes or trees to obstruct the line-of-sight between our antennas, but there was a potential concern with a small knoll that sloped down into our line-of-sight. I used a program called Radio Mobile to download topographic terrain data and run line-of-sight scenarios that would tell me how high to place my antennas and whether my selected hardware would provide an adequate signal. The modeling program suggested that the knoll would not be a problem and that I should be able to receive a signal. Follows is a description of my final setup:

DSL Site

• 35 foot antenna tower
• 2 x 24 dBi parabolic grid antennas
• I decided to put my dad on the network also and needed two antennas to cover both of our locations
• 2-way 2.4 Ghz antenna splitter
• 50 foot of low loss antenna cable
• Linksys WRT54G router

My Home (2.69 miles away from DSL)

• Satellite dish mounting pole and bracket
• 24 dBi parabolic grid antenna
• 50 foot of low loss antenna cable
• Linksys WRT54G router

Dad's Home (6.9 miles away from DSL)

• 35 foot antenna tower
• 24 dBi parabolic grid antenna
• 50 foot of low loss atenna cable
• Linksys WRT54G router
  

The installation went as planned and I now have a working high speed internet connection. My network runs at approximately 2 Mbps. The link to my dad's home is around 512 Kbps.

Pictures
Here is a picture that shows the type of terrain that my signal is crossing. Notice a red circle on the picture that shows where the antenna tower at the DSL site is located. The view of the tower is as seen from my home. The view and type of terrain from my dad's home is the same.




The next photos show the antenna tower at the DSL site and the installed antennas






This photo is a closeup of the antenna splitter at the DSL site and how I waterproofed the connection. I used standard heat shrink around each of the connections. I then placed industrial heat shrink on each connection. This type of heat shrink has a glue in it that creates a waterproof seal. The heat shrink is typically used in direct-bury electrical applications.




Here is a photo of the antenna at my home and how it is mounted. It is placed on a standard satellite dish mounting pole and then anchored to the roof.





The final photo is a view the waterproofing of the connection on the antenna at my home. I used Scotch 88T tape as a base layer around the connection. I then applied contractor grade rubber tape to provide the watertight seal. Finally I finished it off with another layer of 88T. Warning, the rubber tape becomes very gummy and will ruin your cables if you do not put a layer of Scotch 88T underneath it.