Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Weekend Projects – Bleeping Talk Timer”.
Hi, i’m laura with make. Do your co-workers talk too long in meetings? There always seems to be that one person that just never stops talking or are you the chatty kathy that never lets anyone get a word in edgewise. Well, today, we’re going to fix that problem with the bleeping talk timer by our very own nicknormal. It’S a simple countdown timer built using analog logic that triggers a piezo alarm when the time is when the time is up. No arduino is here just a simple circuit. Put together with common components that keeps track of time, it’s built around the venerable 555 timer, and because of this it’s best to test out your circuit on a breadboard first, this allows you to adjust any components to get the timer in a range that works best For you to get started with this project head on over to your local radio, shack where you can pick up all the electronic components needed for the build you’ll also need an assortment of these basic tools.
You’Ll need about a day to build everything. It’S a moderately difficult project to complete, but the step-by-step documentation on the project page should make it an easy build for anyone with even a modest level of soldering skills. Okay, let’s get started with the build we’ll start by breadboarding the circuit, so we can test the timing insert the 555ic into the middle of the breadboard, with pin one oriented in the top left.
Next add the 470 ohm 150 kilo and 33 km resistors, followed by the ceramic disc capacitor. Now you can add the electrolytic, capacitor green, led and red led these components are all polarized, meaning they have a specific negative and positive lead, be sure you orient them properly. Next we can populate the breadboard with the wires needed to make all the additional connections. According to the schematic, there are 10 wires in total, so you might want to try using different colors for each connection.
It makes keeping track of things much easier. Now, let’s prepare some of the external components: these live off the circuit board, so they will need to have wires that will connect them to the final circuit start by adding two lengths of wire to the potentiometer’s middle pin and outer pin once completed. Add it to the breadboard, the piezo already has wires so simply plug it into the breadboard next solder, the battery holder’s red wire to the switch and a length of wire to the other terminal of the switch. Now you can plug the battery’s black wire and the length of wire from the switch into the breadboard. That’S the whole circuit. Let’S give it a test flip the switch and the green led should light up followed by the red led as soon as the as soon as the time runs out.
If everything works it’s time to make it permanent by soldering the circuit onto perf board, because we’re using perf board that is identical to the breadboard. It’S a fairly simple task: to move everything over to the perf board. Take your time and rebuild the circuit.
In the same order as on the breadboard, you will need to add two lengths of wire to each led, so they can be moved off the board and to the project’s enclosure. Otherwise, everything else remains the same. Now all you need to do is prepare the enclosure for all the components start by drilling two holes for the leds. Next drill, a hole where you want the switch located, followed by another hole for the potentiometer. You could drill some mounting holes for the perf board, but a nice dab of hot glue works just fine and it’s a lot easier. The battery is held in place with a battery holder, a little square of double-sided foam tape on the holder and you’re done next up is the piezo buzzer a little hot glue on the back and simply press it in place? The last component to be mounted is the potentiometer it’s held in place with another dab of hot glue, insert it into the hole you just drilled in the enclosure, apply glue and close the lid. This will line everything up perfectly and a few decorative embellishments, like these.
Laser etched labels always help your build, look snappy, that’s it now. You no longer have to sit there. Listening to someone drone on and on in, your next meeting simply adjust the potentiometer to the desired length of time. Flip the switch and let the countdown begin be sure to head on over to the project page for more details on making your own bleeping talk. Timer. Let us know how your build goes and you .