{"id":2755,"date":"2013-09-03T20:38:32","date_gmt":"2013-09-04T01:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/?p=2755"},"modified":"2013-09-03T20:47:53","modified_gmt":"2013-09-04T01:47:53","slug":"building-a-signal-generator-paper-prototying-instrument-panels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/2013\/09\/03\/building-a-signal-generator-paper-prototying-instrument-panels\/","title":{"rendered":"Building a Signal Generator &#8211; Paper Prototyping instrument panels"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:469,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.rmcybernetics.com\\\/projects\\\/DIY_Devices\\\/homemade_tesla_coil_tuner.htm&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.rmcybernetics.com\\\/projects\\\/DIY_Devices\\\/homemade_tesla_coil_tuner.htm&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:470,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/inkscape.org&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/finished_box.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/finished_box-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"finished_box\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-2758\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/finished_box-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/finished_box-1024x767.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>To test the resonant frequency of a Tesla coil or other resonant  circuit you need an oscilloscope (which I have) and a signal generator (which I didn&#8217;t have). I was able to follow <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rmcybernetics.com\/projects\/DIY_Devices\/homemade_tesla_coil_tuner.htm\"> these instructions from RM Cybernetics<\/a> to build one from a 555 timer and use it to test my primary and secondary.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/new_pot.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/new_pot-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"new_pot\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-2756\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/new_pot-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/new_pot-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/new_pot.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The only modifications I made to the circuit was the addition of a toggle switch so that I could use two different capacitors, giving a &#8220;low&#8221; and &#8220;high&#8221; frequency range (plus a &#8220;air gap&#8221; capacitance that basically runs the 555 as a 2Mhz sine wave generator). I built the circuit on a protoboard that came with a box, and decided to use a laster cutter to make the instrument panel. To do this, I opened up <a href=\"http:\/\/inkscape.org\/\">Inkscape<\/a> to design a control panel using vector graphics. I would print each design out and tweak it until it fit my box and circuit perfectly. I then tested various dial positions on my 10K audio scale (logarithmic) pot using my oscilloscope to mark the approximate frequency on the dial. After a few trials, I was able to laser cut the design onto a piece of 1\/8&#8243; craft plywood to get the finished product.  <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/paper_prototying2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/paper_prototying2-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"paper_prototying2\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-2757\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/paper_prototying2-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/paper_prototying2-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/paper_prototying2.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To test the resonant frequency of a Tesla coil or other resonant circuit you need an oscilloscope (which I have) and a signal generator (which I didn&#8217;t have). I was able to follow these instructions from RM Cybernetics to build &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/2013\/09\/03\/building-a-signal-generator-paper-prototying-instrument-panels\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-projects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2755\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.summet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}