User:Keith

Bio

Hi! I'm Keith! I've been a software engineer / architect for over 20 years in the Atlanta area. I did not finish college back in the early 90's so I'm self-taught in electronics and embedded systems (some of my hobbies). In my day job I work daily with mobile application development (iOS, Android, WinPhone) and also with cloud platforms (mainly Azure).

I am also something of an EV enthusiast after buying our first Tesla in 2014, and now I participate in many local EV events (EV Club of the South, National Drive Electric Week, etc.) as well as occasionally bringing my car out to show at the monthly Caffeine and Exotics car shows.

Interests & Skills

I am interested in all sciences and engineering to some degree, but especially:

• Astronomy and Astrophysics (I have a 120mm telescope that I take out on occasion)
• Computing Systems

I've worked with many embedded platforms - some more in depth than others:

• Arduino (Uno, Leonardo)
• Espruino
• MicroPython
• MicroDuino
• TinyDuino
• Spark/Particle
• TI Launchpad
• MicroView
• AttoDuino
• Raw Atmel microcontrollers (many models, from AtTiny to AtMega)
• FPGA (Mojo / Xilinx Spartan)
• Intel Galileo

I've taught myself (through online resources) the fundamentals of analog and digital electronics. I've also taught myself about 3D printing technology and have tinkered with them quite a bit.

• I also have some background in 3D modeling software.

I attend online university courses as time allows - typically studies in astrophysics, relativity, electronics, and embedded software.

I also back a LOT of Kickstarter projects (Public profile here: https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/keithrome).

Community Involvement

In addition to being involved with our local Makerspace, I am involved in several communities. Some are maker-related, others are just environmental or career-related:

• Contributor to the IronPython OSS project
• Contributed to ControLeo reflow oven OSS firmware
• Maintain a few public forks of OSS 3D Printer firmware - Marlin for One-Up / Two-Up printers, and Repetier for RXL / RXXL printers
• Help run several local Atlanta developer user groups
• Help manage the annual Atlanta Code Camp conference
• Frequently speak at regional user group meetings and conferences
• Member of EV Club of the South Atlanta Chapter

My Public URLs:

• Thingiverse: http://www.thingiverse.com/MacAttak
• GitHub: https://github.com/KeithJRome
• Twitter: @keith_rome
• Blog: http://www.wintellect.com/devcenter/krome

Projects

I tend to do a lot of projects up until a point where I prove to myself that an idea is possible, or until I find a commercial solution that is much cheaper / easier than what my project would have done. In those cases I just stop and move on to another project that I can learn something from. In some cases, my projects are intended to provide some personal benefit on my workbench - such as the reflow oven and 3D printer projects.

Relatively Recent Completed Projects

1. ControLeo Reflow Oven (v1)
2. One-Up 3D Printer
3. Various 3D-printed mods for RXL and Two-Up printers
4. A number of small electronics projects

<gallery widths=300px heights=300px caption="Project photos" File:KeithRome_Projects_RXL_Mods.jpg|Modified RXL Printer File:KeithRome_Projects_ReflowOven.jpg|Reflow Oven </gallery>

Current / Ongoing Projects

1. Filastruder construction
2. H-Bot Dual-extrusion 3D printer
3. Particle Photon Internet-Connected VFD Display
4. 8x8 LED Cube (because who hasn't wanted to make one?)

Equipment

I have quite a bit of gear, especially considering that I don't really have space for any of it at home. No workshop - I just have a small desk in a guest bedroom where I use this stuff. I am always happy to lend out anything as long as it is well cared for and you know how to use it safely... and obviously I'm a bit more cautious when it comes to the more expensive, heavy, or fragile items. Most of my gear is for electronics testing and soldering, as well as 3D printing. But I also have quite a collection of embedded development boards - even a really cool FPGA board.

Electronics Test Equipment

• Digital Bench Power Supply (CC / CV, 15V 3A)
• Uni-T UT61E Digital Multimeter
• Agilent U1241B Digital Multimeter
• Arachnid Labs Re:load Pro electronic dummy load
• Rigol DS1054Z 4-channel oscilloscope
• Digilent Analog Discovery USB Logic Analyzer
• USB Inspection Microscope
• Cheap Chinese-made ESR meter
• CAT-5 Cable Tester

Electronics Work Equipment

• High-temperature ESD mat
• Weller WESD51 Solder Station
• Atten WEP 858D Hot Air Station
• Home-made ControLeo Solder Reflow Oven
• PCB-Grip full kit plus probe clips and header blocks

Embedded development boards and modules

• Arduino Uno
• Arduino Leonardo (x3)
• Intel Galileo v1
• MicroView (x2)
• Particle Core (x2)
• Particle Photon
• Espruino
• MicroPython
• Mojo v1 w/ LED Matrix module
• Handful of PNMini power supply modules
• Quite a few TinyDuino boards and modules, including TinyScreen and TinyJoypad
• Some TinyLily boards and modules and conductive thread (for wearables projects)
• Pixy camera vision module
• Box full of SmartDuino boards and modules, PSU, etc
• MicroDuino Joypad kit
• Chipper programming board for ATTiny and small DIP Atmel chips
• A bunch of DIP Atmel chips - ATTiny 13, etc
• Atmel AVR JTAGICE3 programmer module
• TI Tiva LaunchPad TM4C123GXL

Other Equipment

• QU-BD RXL 3D Printer with E3Dv5 bowden extruder (offline until I replace the nozzle)
• QU-BD Two-Up 3D Printer with custom upgrade parts (offline - cannibalized to support a new H-Bot printer I am building)
• Structure Sensor 3D Scanner for iPAD/iPhone
• Specialty plastic filaments - several Taulman Nylons and T-Glase, Carbon Fibre PLA, Flex PLA, etc. These are very rarely used since I usually print in ABS or sometimes PLA.
• Set of woodcarving tools used to clean up 3D prints
• Cordless Dremel
• All the other assorted tools one would expect - socket set, torx/allen sets, drills, taps, etc.

[equipment photos]