Green Dragon Maker Space
Low Voltage Electrics and Electronics Courses: Catering to all skill Levels, from complete beginners to the totally jaded! The Green Dragon Maker Space boasts an entirely solar-powered setup, offering a wide array of equipment and resources. Each activity is risk-assessed to ensure a safe learning environment.
In Summer 2024 we will be running courses at:
Radical Bakers Summer Gathering, Shrewsbury, 5th July 2024
radicalbakers.org/summer-gathering
Radical Bakers Harvest Camp, Shrewsbury, 6th September 2024.
radicalbakers.org/harvest-camp
If you are interested in having the Green Dragon Mobile Maker Space at your event, please email info@greendragonproductions.co.uk
Equipment
Within our 6 x 6m white canvas structure, we provide a 3D printer, a Kweld mini spot welder, soldering irons, heatproof mats, soldering iron holders, PCB holders, solder paste dispensers, SMD solder reflow hotplate, several SMD reflow hot air guns, a projector, laptops, screen and PA system, multiple multimeters, oscilloscopes and signal generators, 18650 testers, power supplies up to 18A 50V, LEDs of various types, microcontrollers, and many other electronic components and equipment.
Green Dragon Maker Space Courses 2023
Reclaim Lithium Batteries
Activity: Build a USB Powerbank or Colour-changing LED light with reclaimed Lithium Cells from disposable devices.
Time: 2 hours. Cost: £40 (free at Radical Bakers Gatherings). Places: 6. Takeaway: 4 cell 5V USB Powerbank
Learn to test and match reclaimed 18650 and 13350 Lithium Cells and to build larger packs from them. Use a Kweld Mini Spot Welder to weld cells into packs with Nickel strip.
How do Lithium batteries work? How do we safely charge and discharge them? Find out about BMS (battery management systems) and Lithium protection circuits.
Materials provided: 4 x reclaimed 18650 Lithium cells and a 3D printed holder, 1 x 2A QC 3.0 5V Powerbank Module PCB, solder, Nickel strip, Copper cable, Heatshrink.
Equipment provided: Kweld mini spot welder, 18650 tester, battery ISR tester, soldering iron, heat gun, snips, scissors, safety glasses.
Online documentation HERE.
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Analogue Noise Machines
Activity: Build your own Analogue Oscillator circuit or noise machine. Join our house band and record a track.
Time: 2 hours. Cost: £45 (free at Radical Bakers Gatherings) Places: 6. Takeaway: One Analogue Noise Machine.
The Green Dragon house band is Analogue Noise Machines, join me at my Maker Space in North Yorkshire or find me at festivals in the summertime. Build and play a home-made electronic instrument. Learn about the components, solder them together and play. Everything can be put through our speakers and lots of different instruments can be mixed in… A look at and listen to some different types: 555s, Transistor based Phase-shift and the Reverse Avalanche used in Blinky!, Wien Bridge, Logic IC based. Use a power amplifier and speakers to listen to audio frequency waveforms from a Signal Generator.
I have designed several 5V usb and 12V DC jack analogue tone and noise generator circuit boards to choose from with all components supplied. (all with minijack output, power supply not included)
Materials provided: Analogue Oscillator or Noise Generator PCB, SMD Components, Through-hole components, solder, solder paste
Equipment provided: multimeter, oscilloscope, audio amplifier, soldering iron, heatproof mat, soldering iron holder, PCB holder, solder paste dispenser, tweezers, hot air gun, SMD reflow hotplate
Online documentation including schematics: HERE.
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Beginners Session! Basic low voltage DC wiring, Fusing and Safety
Activity: Wire LED strips to a 12V battery.
Time: 2 hours. Cost: £25. (free at Radical Bakers Gatherings) Places: 8. Takeaway: 1m of 12V WW COB LED strip with fuse, switch and splice connectors.
Learn to use electrical testers like Multimeters and find out what the numbers mean. We will cover cable sizing, fusing, connectors and the very basics of electricity (simply put).
This is a session aimed at beginners with an emphasis on safety and plenty of time to ask questions.
Materials provided: 1m 12V LED strip, 3m dual core cable, inline blade fuse holder, blade fuse x 2, Wago connectors x 3, Splice connectors x 2, solder
Equipment provided: Multimeters, screwdriver, snips, cable strippers, pliers, soldering iron
Online documentation: HERE.
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Small scale Solar installation
Activity: Wire up a demonstration solar power system and program a solar charge controller.
Time: 2 hours. Cost: £25 Places: 8. (free at Radical Bakers Gatherings) Takeaway: The Knowledge!
Following on from the basic low voltage DC course, we begin with a hands-on session with cables, fuses, bus bars, solar panels, lithium batteries and charge controllers. Then we will look at a high-end 2400W Victron/Outback Solar power system with 6kWh LiFePO4 battery and talk about Off-Grid Solar power practicalities, costs and calculations. We will finish by taking a look at the Grid and Green Tariffs.
Materials provided: Cable, fuses, bus bars, screws, cable clips
Equipment provided: Multimeters, laptop, charge controller, spanners, screwdrivers
Online documentation: HERE.
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Blinky!
Activity: Solder a board of flashing Reverse Avalanche LEDs.
Time: 2 hours. Cost: £25. (free at Radical Bakers Gatherings) Places: 8. Takeaway: Take your Blinky home (power supply not included) or add it to the Wall of Blinky.
Learn to solder through-hole components in this relaxing session using retro old stock transistors and reclaimed capacitors.
Learn about the RC time constant and series/parallel resistors. We can salvage capacitors from old and broken electronics by desoldering them with hot air. By using Light dependent resistors, we can make some interesting cascading LED effects and rhythmical modulated audio oscillations.
Materials provided: 12V Blinky! PCB, Through-hole components, solder
Equipment provided: multimeter, oscilloscope, audio amplifier, soldering iron, heatproof mat, soldering iron holder, PCB holder
Online documentation including schematic: HERE.
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LEDs! (Light Emitting Diodes) How they work and how to power them
Activity: Build a 12V LED PWM driver/dimmer using surface mount components.
Time: 2 hours. Cost: £35 (free at Radical Bakers Gatherings) Places: 6. Takeaway: PWM LED driver for 12V LED strips
Using a multimeter and an Oscilloscope to see how LEDs are driven by Pulse Width Modulation.
A look at addressable LED strips and Arduino and a breakdown of the different LED lighting products available on the market.
Materials provided: 12V PWM Dimmer PCB, SMD Components, Through-hole components, solder, solder paste
Equipment provided: Multimeter, Oscilloscopes, soldering iron, heatproof mat, soldering iron holder, PCB holder, hot air gun, SMD reflow hotplate, solder paste dispenser, tweezers
Online documentation including schematic: HERE.
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Switch Mode power supplies
Activity: Build a small switch mode boost type 5V USB Powerbank module from scratch using SMD Components.
Time: 2 Hours Cost: £30 (free at Radical Bakers Gatherings) Takeaway: A 5v 1.5A USB Powerbank module for use with Lithium cells.
Switch Mode power supplies, basic operating principles of common ICs. Includes a deep dive into DW01 lithium protection circuits.
Materials provided: USB Powerbank module PCB, SMD Components, solder paste
Equipment provided: multimeter, oscilloscope, PCB holder, solder paste dispenser, tweezers, hot air gun, SMD reflow hotplate, soldering iron, heatproof mat, soldering iron holder, PCB holder
Online documentation including schematic: HERE.
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3D printing
Activity: Print a case for a previous project such as the Powerbank or the 12V LED Dimmer.
Time: 30 mins Cost: £10 Takeaway: A case for your project.
Print a functional object using our Solar powered CR-10 3D printer.
Materials: 1.75mm PLA, hairspray
Equipment: Creality CR-10 3D Printer, Laptop, memory card
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Other Projects
- Disposable Vape Battery Reclamation.
- Microcontrollers for All!
- Injection Mould Machine for Plastic recycling
