Some long time ago, I picked up a kit called a MAKERbuino. As you can probably tell, this is from the time period when anyone who did stuff at home as a hobby was suddenly a “maker” and not a hobbyist. Since it’s been kicking around the shop for a while, I decided to get it out and assemble it (along with some other kits that have been similarly hanging around.)
Here’s the kit itself:
The kit consists of a:
Circuit board
Display
Buttons
Parts
Case w/battery
There’s also a radio kit in the background, that one will show up soon.
The board comes with the battery connector already soldered, so I started going down the assembly instructions:
The way this one works is you proceed to a certain step (#12) and bring it up. It should come up to an adjustment screen, at which point you’re safe to proceed with the rest of the assembly. (I did add the control for the backlight, just in case…)
Mine did not do this.
The display, while lit, was blank. I could see what looked like the grid lit, but nothing else. However, after a little while, the screen started flickering to life, so I hit it with a little heat and it came alive. Touching it would send it into convulsions, so I’ve come to the conclusion that the screen is probably bad.
This is just a Nokia display. I had some similar units in stock, but they’re just different enough that they didn’t work. So, I’m stuck at this point. I reached out to the kit vendor, and they said that parts were no longer available for this unit as it was quite old. No surprise there.
I’ll see if I can find this particular style of Nokia display in surplus. Until then, stay tuned!
Pygg.xyz is where this blog started after being moved from blogger.com. It wasn’t a good look, unfortunately…anything xyz is pretty much automatically sus (non-scrofa, of course) and didn’t pass the smell test. That’s why you’re here on wereboar.com.
If you still have any pygg.xyz bookmarks, you can safely remove them. The registrar now owns the domain, and they’ll probably load it with ads like registrars do when it’s a parking page.
Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you find something of interest here.
I’ve put this one off long enough. It’s time to get this one done, and let’s call this one part 4a. Hopefully I can get this portion of the rebuild done in 3 parts…
This unit is going to require a complete overhaul, including every resistor on the range switch (and then some!) So let’s start with the range switch.
Since almost all of these resistors were custom values, I’ve ended up having to make some of them. There’s an easy way to do that, you can use standard values and a special calculator site:
I’ve got a kit on the bench called a MAKERbuino, and it’s been kicking around the shop for a while. I started building it a few days ago (videos on that will come later) and discovered something. The kit has a bad display.
Initially, it didn’t do anything, but then it started to flicker and come to life. Hitting it with a little heat will make it work for a while, but it’s very unreliable.
I’ve reached out to the manufacturer to see if they can provide a new part. If not, this is a Nokia display on a slightly different form factor, so something has to be out there.
Odysee is a YouTube-like that allows for videos and shorts, but offers content creators a bit more control over things. It will generally follow the YouTube feed, but there may be a short delay as things sync up.
I’ve added this for anyone who want to stay away from Google services. It’s located in the sidebar, or bookmark the link below.
A note on this: Odysee appears to be in some financial trouble. The founder left literally the day before this was posted, and he talked about having some monetary hurdles to overcome. It’s not really the platform - I like it, but as some commenters pointed out - it’s just a dumping ground for things already posted on YouTube, you’re not getting any creator interaction with videos.
I did notice that, and a lack of any participation. Watched a few videos on the platform last night. Years old, no views.
I’ll let that channel run as long as possible, but if it gets really janky or unusable because of bandwidth issues I’ll stop. If there’s one thing I don’t want to give you, it’s a video that has to buffer like it’s dialup.
I recently did an unboxing for a Radioddity GS-10B Pro. The included battery charger didn’t work, and a friend offered to help me open it up to see if we could figure out what was going on.
I picked up this clean example of a Heathkit IP-2718 triple power supply at Breezeshooters 2026. This popular supply is still quite common, and you can usually find one or two at a show. Some go for giant buxx in terrible shape - another example I saw at Breezeshooters was in this category - and some, like this one, are in pretty good shape for a reasonable price. This one was $30, and included the original manual.
The only thing that this one appears to need is a replacement ground binding post. This one has a white cap that’s shorter than the shaft, and is being held together with some washers. That should be easy enough to fix, it just requires finding one that fits the hole without drilling more.
This one is interesting in that it says Heathkit, whereas my other unit says Heath-Zenith.
Inside, it’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect from a 1970s power supply.
In the foreground is the 5V section with it’s singular large filter, and in the back is the dual 0-20 supply. The hefty transformer sits in the middle of it all.
So, does it work?
Sure does. There’s not much in here to go bad.
This is going to go on the shelf waiting for use, and it will probably show up at some point for the jack replacement. Stay tuned!
I picked this interesting example of a radio up at the Findlay Hamfest last year (2025.) It’s a Zenith 6D029, and was made around 1946 - so just after the war. It’s visually appealing:
It’s in decent enough shape for the age. The cabinet is all there, but the finish is eh. That’s about all I expected for the age.
The back panel is all there, although just a little damaged. That’s really unusual for a radio of this age.
The cord, of course, is in mint condition. I could plug this thing in right away, I’m sure. (Or not. Probably not.)
Removing the back panel reveals the antenna.
The OEM label is still inside.
Oh boy, loctals. Those are always fun.
The chassis is nothing unusual for a radio of this vintage. It’s a 6-tube unit, and has a tuned RF front end. It should be a solid performer when it’s peaked up. There’s only one OEM marked tube in this, so it’s seen a lot of use.
This is listed in Riders 15, Pages Zenith 26 and 27. I have that manual, and when I can get the book clasp to release, I’ll photocopy them and post them in the library.
Right now, one of the knobs is refusing to come off, so I’m deciding on ways to release that. When I’m able to get that off, I’ll pull the chassis and we can inspect the underside to see if anything has been done to this radio over the years.
While those of us here in the states celebrate our country’s 250th birthday, Projects from the Bottom Drawer celebrates a much more humble acheivment - that of it’s 5th birthday.
On July 4th, 2021, I set up pygg.xyz as a way to move my personal dealings off of a very breached gmail address. It had recently been in the 2021 LinkedIn breach, something I still get fallout from 5 years later as mailers insist that I’m actually a business and do I need help with employees/receivables/publishing/etc.
At the same time, I decided to re-open this blog - it had been hosted on blogger.com. I quicky found that .xyz domains had little trust in the internet world and set out on a search for another porcine-related site. Wereboar.com had recently been released by it’s owner, so I made the purchase and here we are.
Pull up a chair, have a slice of cake, and thank you for joining me these past 5 years. I hope to present strange junk and weird projects for many more.
