Downing's Basement

Changes!

Posted: 08/17/2012 in General News

Sorry for being a few days in between posts. Though I was still quite happy with the Hack-A-Day posts that I’ve been picked up on recently I’ve had to go through some extreme lifestyle changes in the fact that I am no longer employed by the man.

I’ve decided that it’s time to start making my own moves and expand on my creative endeavors. So as of now, I’m breaking out of my comfort zone and will begin to start designing and producing my own products.

I know, this is kind of like a “WHOA” moment and believe me, I’ve be stopped on several occasions to reconsider what I’m getting myself into, but honestly, it’s been over a week and I’ve been busy, not bored! I dunno what it is about the go go go aspect of a job, but I’ve missed it and the fact that everything I do now has direct consequence, I certainly want to keep that attitude and intensity!

So, with that said, “what do I have in mind”? A few ideas are already into the planning phase, bringing some of my other creations into a potential market. Be sure to check back soon as shortly more of this plan will begin to unfold!

Posted: 08/08/2012 in Uncategorized

Thank You HAD! I’m always very excited when a project get’s picked up on your site. It helps me out considerably!

Testbox phase 1 complete, Johnny #5 approves of spare parts usage

Posted: 08/05/2012 in Current Project, General News

Every now and again I get an idea that actually pans out the way I intended. This was not one of those cases, but the end result was still in line with the original idea. As the previous posts state, what I’ve completed phase 1 on is a multi-voltage power supply that connects quickly and is switchable. And it was made out of 90% spare parts!

A key change from the original design is that after a regulator exploded on me, I decided that I needed something a bit more stable. A PC power supply unit was forced into my head by a member on the MBB forums and as much as I hate to admit it, it worked out much better than my original plan. Though it’s not until after the fact he tells me that the PSU has enough amps going through it to fry an elephant and that connecting with it could be quite bad for my health. Important safety tip, thanks Electro.

So, next up is phase two which will be the addition of two variable regulators and an LCD voltmeter which will allow me to really have any number of voltages in the 12V range. Though I’m not sure I’ll need to have anything that specific, the ability to get to that odd voltage will be a good benefit to have.

As always, check us out on the MBB forums for some more info and I’ll post some more updates when I get them on the start of phase 2!

Testing of the test box is so far successful!

Posted: 07/25/2012 in Current Project, General News
Tags: case mod, cool, custom, Downing, Hacks, LED Mod, Made-By-Bacteria Forums, Modding, Mods, neat design, technology

So far I have to say that I’m quite pleased that this worked on the first shot and didn’t turn my evening into a lesson on fire safety! In terms of the audio/video, everything worked exactly like it was meant to, a trend I intend to keep up once the regulators arrive in the mail. Though of course I did once again wire the audio tact switches backwards…so down is up and up is down…and on the SNES-001 Advance I had the left switch as volume up and the right a volume down…I’ll get that right one day.

But as you see, I’ve made a quick demo video of the test and how it works, so please have a look! More info with more progress. Hopefully I’ll have this complete within the week and then I can start the testing of my controller for the computer desk. Until then, just wait!

Downings Basement: Now with 50% less URL

Posted: 07/25/2012 in General News

Well, I officially decided it was time to ditch the .wordpress advert in my site address and bought the domain “downingsbasement.com”! I’d been on the fence about it for some time now, but with the popularity of the site increasing and the attention spans of internet users everywhere decreasing, I came to the conclusion that it was time to make this site my own and give new users an easier domain name to search.

However, I did just recently discover that if you Google “Downing” I am surprisingly close to the top of the list. The site shows up only behind 10 Downing St, Downing College, and an English Soccer player, but then is followed by a news story of some perve who lured a couple of 16 year old girls into “Downing’s Basement” and got charged with statutory rape… Not exactly helpful promotional press I’m afraid, but I don’t think it will take long to make the distinction.

But anyway, here’s to fewer letters typed from now on and more updates about my projects to read about! Cheer’s Mate!

UPS gets a color show

Posted: 07/24/2012 in Current Project, General News
Tags: case mod, cool, custom, Downing, Downings Basement, gaming, Modding, Mods, neat design, technology

How befitting it is that the sacrificed encasement for this project comes from an abandoned product called ColorMorphics?! Though this was simply an unnecessary add-on to the unit while waiting for my regulators to arrive, I figured this would be a nice touch. Though the third LED from the right is still giving me trouble, you can see that all are in place and all are wired up. However, I did make a mistake that I didn’t notice until after I had all the LED’s in place. I wired up all Green LED’s, not Red! I know, the pic above shows blue, that was intentional as that’s not a voltage line, it’s the A/V power line and was supposed to be that way. But man was I surprised (and quite frankly temporarily blinded) when the bright green light came emitting from the unit to my retina! So, it’s a lot brighter than I was anticipating, but that’s really alright and I’m not redoing it at this point.

So after the regulators arrive and I can get those wired up correctly I’ll be able to start the testing of the test box and then back to my desk. Oh, and the pic up top also shows the far left switch being turned on but no light. I didn’t have both power supplies in plugged in so the pic below shows that in working order. More details soon!