Cristiano Maker

 One of my passions are antiques, specially if they have some engineering or electronics envolved. Since I was a child, I had contact with antiques from my grandparents, and one of the things I remember is an old kerosene pressure stove. Some time ago, I decided to buy one, just for decoration, but I also love to keep things working, if possible, so, I decided to turn it on, and made a simple tutorial on how to start it. I made a vide that is available on YouTube, please check it below: I added some subtitles to the video so you could understand better, but I'm also going to write it here: 1 - Put some kerosene in the tank 2 - Fill the small cup below the head with alcohol (+ 90% is good) 3 - Light up the alcohol and let the head warm and start vaporizing the kerosene 4 - Once you feel the pressure increase, give some pumping to help it increase even more 5 - The kerosene vapor will light by itself with a beautiful blue flame (if you need more pressure, pump it more, for less, rele...

 After my first tube amp , I decided to try a battery powered one. There is not a lot of information about guitar tube battery powered amps on internet, but I found some resources. My search began on YouTube and I found a video of a guy that wrote the schematic link in his video description here . I just followed it, mounted the components of the amp (all point-to-point wired) inside a large tin can and used my small 6 inch speaker connected to it. The amp is powered by 10 x 9v batteries ( for tube plates ), one 1.5v battery ( for tube filaments ) and 3 x 1.5v batteries in series, providing 4.5v of negative bias. The tubes used, are one 1Q5GT and two 1T4, early used in battery powered radio receivers. It has just two controls - volume and tone. Here is the schematic: Here is the power supply schematic: And here, the built amp: Check out my videos on YouTube of this amp playing a song from my computer and also a song from my guitar: Hope you enjoy and if you plan to make an amp li...

 One of my favorite electronics projects are metal detectors. I'm trying to build some famous and more complex detectors like the TGSL (VLF) and the Delta Pulse (PI) but I also decided to try a very simple approach - using an Arduino and a few electronic components. As I also work with programming, it was very interesting to join the 2 areas (electronics and IT). The detector works as an "educational" purpose as it detects a large coin at about a 3-4 centimeters distance from the coil while professional detectors can detect objects at a very larger distance, although it can be a great opportunity to learn more about how metal detectors work (in this case using the Pulse Induction technology). I found this project in a YouTube video, and it is not created by me but I'm sharing it with you. In my test, I replaced the LED with a piezo buzzer, so, the components I used were: - 1x Arduino UNO - 1x protoboard (optional as you can mount the components any other way) - 2x 220...

 This is one of the most essential safety devices you must have if you work with electronics. Not only for the safety of the device you are making/troubleshooting but also for you and your electric installation. It is a famous device - the light bulb current limiter also know as dim bulb . The construction is very simple, that's only a high wattage bulb connected in series between your device and the wall. Here is the schematic: I recommend to use a high wattage filament bulb, like a 150w or 200w, usually the rule is to use a bulb with a higher power than the device do be tested. Please not that the wattage must be the real and not the "equivalent" as we find in modern fluorescent lamps. It is mainly used as a "detector" for short circuits: if your device has a short it will draw a lot of current from the mains and the bulb will be as bright as it can, limiting the current because itself will convert the energy into light and hot. If the device has no shorts, th...

Since I was a child, I love vacuum tube/valve stuff, like old radios and guitar amplifiers, so I decided to build my own guitar amp. I have made a Fender 5f1 model, all from scratch. I made it as a "head" because I want to try different speakers along the time, and the speaker I have at the build time is not a very good one but it does the job. Before I started the build, I read a lot of things about vacuum tubes so I can be more comfortable with the build. As you also may know, tube circuits use generally high voltages (around 650v in this case) so it may be dangerous if you don't know well what you are doing. There is a lot of information on the internet about this specific tube amp model. If you plan to build something like this, I recommend you visit this page  and watch a lot of videos on YouTube about tube amp build and repair (I recommend 2 channels: Uncle Doug and D-lab Electronics). Below are the layout and schematic I used for the build. They are the original Fe...