Clinics at September 2010 Coast Division
Quarterly
Meet
10 AM - RoHS for Model Railroaders
by: John Marshall
Are you familiar with RoHS ( Restriction of Hazardous Substances )?
Often referred to as the "lead-free directive", RoHS also applies
to many items that
we model railroaders use, including paints and pigments, solders,
lamps, bulbs and batteries.
John Marshall will present a fun, education clinic on RoHS, explain
what it is,
discuss the changes in the electronics components and assemblies coming
our way in the hobby field
and what the impact of RoHS legislation has been and will be on our
hobby,
how it will impact our abilities to modify electronics assemblies, and
will summarize the effects,
impacts, and benefits
of RoHS for all of us model railroaders.
Come and enjoy this interesting look at RoHS. You'll find it
entertaining and educational!
11 AM - Model
Railroad Roundtable - by Jerry
Littlefield
We
also have our ever-popular
Model Railroad Roundtable!
Check it out, you'll be
amazed at the good ideas,
lively conversation, you'll learn a lot and have fun doing it.
Don't miss it!
:-)
130PM to 230PM - Model Railroad Electronics!
by: Dave Falkenburg and John Plocher
Two
of the local preeminent electronics wizards of our local Coast
Division model railroading community
will be giving a superb clinic on the use of the Arduino Open Source Hardware
Microcontroller
in model railroad applications.
Haven't heard of the Arduino
Open Source Hardware Microcontroller? If you haven't, you
should!
This entertaining, introductory level clinic will explain the Arduino
open-source electronics
prototyping platform, and its readily available, flexible, easy-to-use
hardware and software.
Wired
Magazine wrote a great article about Arduino's open-source approach
to providing
open source hardware with free software, available for anyone to use, modify, or sell.
Think of
of it as similiar
idea to open source Linux software. Arduino is a
open-source, very low cost
hardware controller for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone
interested in creating
interactive objects or environments, such as controlling
various 12v DC model railroad outputs
or an inexpensive
build-your-own DCC throttle or an unlimited set of other creative
applications.
Arduino can sense the environment by receiving input from a
variety of sensors, and can
affect its surroundings by controlling lights, motors, and other
actuators, all with easily programable
solid state microprocessor control. Arduino
is something that you should strategically know about!
Dave
Falkenburg, immediate past president of the Silicon Valley Lines club
in San Jose, will be giving an overview at the
introductory level.
There will be demonstrations of lighting effects, control system
and animation applications. John
Plocher (senior
software engineer and also a member of Silicon Valley Lines)
will be demonstrating a you-can-do-it home-built
hardware example ( a modern-day dispatcher's panel with occupancy
and signaling).
If attendees have detailed questions, the speakers are able to
dive into details.
Come and find out how you
could be building your own model railroad signaling, animation,
and effects controllers using very
affordable state-of-the-art
open source electronic
hardware and software.
More importantly, come and find out about the Arduino open-source hardware and
software
that could impact our future daily lives in the same way that Linux has.
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