Category Archives: Blog

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Use CS3 and configure S88 sensors in Rocrail

With this tutorial, you will be able to use S88 sensors, connected to an S88 link, that on his turn, is connected to a Märklin CS3.Make sure your CS3 is connected to the same network as your PC with Rocrail, … Continue reading

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Christmas presents :-)

Aah, Christmas and New Year, a time of presents, a time of love …Here is an overview of the things that Christel and I bought for each other 🙂 Märklin set 41353 and 26360. (I bought set 26360 without a … Continue reading

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Using S88 (6pin flatcable) with S88link on bus 1 & 2 (CS3)

With my Märklin CS3, I use an S88Link, to use my S88 sensor modules.I have lots and lots of S88 modules, that still use a 6-pin flatcable version, instead of the newer network-cable version. On the S88Link there is however … Continue reading

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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !

To you, our reader: We wish you a very Merry Christmas and all the best for 2024,with lots of love, a good health, lots of fun, and may all your wishes came true !I hope you stay reading our blog, … Continue reading

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Use DMX in Rocrail (in combination with HA)

I have all my lights in my modelrailroad room connected with DMX.I can control it from within Home Assistant, and since shortly, also from within Rocrail at the same time !(A BIG thank you to Rob Versluis, to update the … Continue reading

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Putting all H0 rolling stock back into boxes

This weekend, I did put all H0 rolling stock that was displayed in our living room, back into the original boxes.All trains will be moved to my 2 enormous schadow stations. The idea is to not fiddle around with trains … Continue reading

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Use 12V COB LEDstrip for H0 passenger carriages

Until recently, I used regular 12V LEDstrips for my interior lighting inside my H0 passenger carriages.But I was not totally happy with it: sometimes a LED did not sit right above a compartiment,or was even placed on top of the … Continue reading

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HA – setting automations/events/color/conditions, without fiddling around in HA settings

My wife likes to set/change colors/brightness of our lights, based on certain conditions/events, butshe doesn’t want to fiddle around in the HA interface or yaml itself. I created some buttons on dashboards, so she can set the colors/brightness of every … Continue reading

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A whole bunch of new electronic equipment *UPDATED, July 15, 2023*

I’m currently in the preparation-phase of a makeover of my hobby-room.A 40m² space, that I need to share between 3 different hobbies:– My model railroad– My “maker space” (3D printing /lathe / CNC mills and routers / electronic projects)– My … Continue reading

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RPI Zero W – DMX/OLA

The RPI Zero W is the little brother of the RPI(4). This does have a less powerful processor and only 512KB Rams. Due to its very low power-consumption, it’s ideal to do some smaller (sub)automations.You can also attach a screen … Continue reading

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*Article in progress: Converting the A500 Mini to an Amiga 4000 (with WB 3.1)

Because a real Amiga 4000 is way to expensive, I bought “The A500 Mini” from RetroGames.This can be easily modified, to run as an A4000 (with WB 3.1), it can even connect to the internet (via WiFi) with little effort, … Continue reading

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RPI 400

The RPI400 is a Raspberry Pi 4 with 4 GB memory, build into a keyboard. (actually the same idea as the Commodore 64, some decades ago, but more compact and more powerful)The RPI400 is ideal to do some development with … Continue reading

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HA – switching from RPI4 to Odroid N2+

In December 2022, I switched my HA-machine from RPI4 to Odroid N2+.All went well (backup from RPI4 and restore to Odroid N2+ did take less then 15 minutes in total), and since then, my HA is running more snappy, smoother, … Continue reading

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Okdo Rock 5B – better then a RPI4 ?

I recently bought an Okdo Rock 5B 8GB.If you look at the specs, it’s a “better” alternative then a RPI4:– Faster CPU– 2x HDMI output, supports 8K60p– HDMI input that supports 4K60p– SD/EMMC and M.2 2280 SSD support– M.2 2230 … Continue reading

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*Article in progress: HA – custom notifications via Browser_mod to IOS and various devices

I have some “nice” notifications:– Showing cameras on our google nest devices, based on motion and/or other triggers.– Let google nest speak the number and name of people that are calling on our landline or outgoing calls.– Even show pictures … Continue reading

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Ultra-wide/regular touchscreens

Recently I discovered Ultra-wide and a regular touchscreen from WaveShare.They come in 2 flavours:– 11.9 inch (320 x 1480 resolution – 287.3mm x 69.1mm)– 7.9 inch (400 x 1280 resolution – 207.78mm x 69.8mm)– 10.1 inch (1920×1200 resolution – 217.91 … Continue reading

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Dyson V15 Detect Absolute – Vacuum cleaner

Our “old” Dyson “dust-sucker” FINALLY broke, after more then 15 years of usage 🙂So, it was time for something new. This V15 Detect Absolute, does also have some special functions and brushes for pet-hair. (with a green laser-light, so you … Continue reading

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Bosch WTH83001FG – Dryer

After more then 15 years, our dryer died …So, we both a Bosch dryer 🙂 Name Value  Manufacturer code WTH83001FG  Brand Bosch  Warranty 5 years  Type of dryer Heat pump dryer  Condensation drain Collection in reservoir, Via drain  Maximum load … Continue reading

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Bosch SMS8YCI03E – Dishwasher

After more then 15 years of loyal service, our “old” dishwasher died 🙁After some investigation, I came to the conclusion that a Bosch dishwasher with a “B” energy-label,is more economical, then a Siemens or Miele dishwasher with an “A” energy-label … Continue reading

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Pico (W) – Picomite

Specifications:-Uses a RPI Pico (W) as the main controller-VGA output 640×480 pixels monochrome or 320×240 pixels in colour mode.-PS2 keyboard input.-Full featured very powerfull BASIC interpreter with floating point,64 bit integers and much more. It executes a program up to … Continue reading

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Pico (W) – Waveshare evaluation board

Waveshare evalution board voor Pico (W):– ILI9488: 480×320 3.5″ LCD– XPT2046: Touch controller– WS2818: RGB LED– PCM5101A: Audio interface– ICM-2094: 9-axis Mems motion tracking/3-axis gyro/3-axis accelerometer/3-axis compas– LSF0204: 4-bits Bidirectional Multi-voltage level translator– Buzzer– Photoresistor– SD Card slot This board … Continue reading

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Pico (W) – DVI Sock & Pimoroni DV Demo Base

With the DVI Stock and the Pimoroni DV Demo Base, you can send a DVI signal (over HDMI connection) to a connected screen, with a RPI Pico (W)This is perfectly possible with the Arduino IDE.– First, add the Pico boards … Continue reading

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Asus Vivobook 17 X1702ZA-AU045W-BE AZERTY

My HP Pavilion laptop screen broke (don’t ask !), so I was in urgent need of a new laptop.For the first time in my life, I bought an ASUS laptop 17″ !No AMD Ryzen this time, but an Intel I7 … Continue reading

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HA – record video when doorbell rings + recording gallery + auto-delete old recordings

I have an EUFY video doorbell (but this should work with any HA supported doorbell) and also several Tapo C310 and EzViz cams.Whenever these camera’s trigger a motion (or button push from the doorbell), it starts recording video for about … Continue reading

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The Agon Light (2) – a Z80 computer

Agon light™ is a fully open-source 8-bit microcomputer and microcontroller in one small, low-cost board, built with state-of-the-art 21st-century technology. It has two claims to fame, both of which are substantiated in the next sections. In a nutshell, Agon light™ … Continue reading

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Building a Z80-MBC3 standalone computer

Next year, I turn 50. I think I’m having my mid-life crisis !Some people buy a Ferrari or a Harley Davidson, I’m becoming nostalgic about the computer I owned in my childhood … A Commodore 128D ! At school, I … Continue reading

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HA – switching from Conbee II to SkyConnect USB stick

I previously used a Conbee II USB stick, and switched to SkyConnect recently.“Switching” was very easy 🙂 Conbee II USB stick: https://phoscon.de/en/conbee2SkyConnect USB Stick: https://www.home-assistant.io/skyconnect 1. Make a full backup of your system.2. Download a separate backup of your ZigBee … Continue reading

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HA – using 1 “custom:my-slider” to control volume on several devices 

I have several devices to play my radio-stream. (A (windows) laptop from work, an HP Pavilion, a GigaByte mini PC with AMD Ryzen 7 …)Depending on the work I do, the mood I’m in, one of these devices is playing … Continue reading

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LocoMotion – the build : CS3 *UPDATED INFO*

I finally unraffeled the “mistery” of communicating with the CS3. This page is dedicated to all this information 🙂 First of all, both CS2 and CS3 speaks the same language. They both use the CANbus to setup communication between different … Continue reading

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HA – control “things” on a remote (linux) device

Sometimes it’s necessary to control “things” on a remote linux device. (possible a RPI, and certainly NOT your device that is running HA)In this posting, you will learn how to perform these tasks on the remote device:* Control the volume* … Continue reading

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HA – shell commands to RPI or other Linux machines, without the need to enter passwords !

Sometimes you just one to run a remote command from HA, on another machine. (RPI or other Linux machine)When using shell_command within HA, you get confronted with the fact that you need to enter a password on this remote machine … Continue reading

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HA – control/read entities via Restful API

1. JQ and Curl are needed for this tutorial !Note for windows users: Make sure Curl is installed ! It should be installed on newer windows versions,in case you don’t have it, head over to https://curl.se/windows (On linux / MacOS, it is installed by … Continue reading

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HA – communication between MQTT and Arduino

MQTT stands for Message Queuing Telemetry Transport.It’s a lightweight protocol where a small code footprint is needed, and the connection uses a small bandwidth. It is mainly used for “machine-to-machine” communication or IOT (Internet-Of-Things).It’s an ideal solution to exchange data … Continue reading

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HA – PAJ7620 gesture sensor

I have a “magic mirror” in our bath-room, to watch news/videos/house overview.When the screen is on, it “shines” trough this mirror, making the screen visible.When turned off, the mirror is just a regular mirror.This is done with a “one-way” mirror … Continue reading

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HA – good to know & snippets

Format date/timeWith the now().strftime(‘XXX’), you can output the current date/time, in a certain format.Replacing the XXX with a combination of “Format”, allows you to get a timestamp in the format your prefer. You can add multiple format tags, and also … Continue reading

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HA – using a 1480×320 display with a baremetal OS (RPI with Chromium)

I’m still working from home … I made a switch from our local (Benelux) department, to the global (worldwide) IT department. (still within the same company, for more then 20 years …)Because this switch requires lots and lots of teams-calls, … Continue reading

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HA – use ChatGPT (3.0) in automations to show data

Most people know by now what ChatGPT is. If not, check it out at https://www.openai.com and https://chat.openai.com/Most people use it to help them out with some HA automation.I use it “IN” automations, to get data and represent it in HA … Continue reading

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HA – Fix for images-issue with FeedParser / custom:list-card

I see lots of people struggling with showing images in RSS feeds.Some posts on different HA forums, suggest changes in sensor.py in /custom_components/feedparser/but this seems no longer to work. The issue is the way those images are placed inside the … Continue reading

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Time for a new year and a lot of new postings !

2022 has been a very busy year at work. 2023 may be even more busy !But this will not prevent me from posting lots of new topics 🙂2023 will be the year of my new hobby-room / music-room / modelrailroad-room … Continue reading

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STM32 !!!

I recently (re-)discovered STM32 modules 🙂Some years ago, I bought a mini STM32 V3 board (with a screen) for using it with Robert Evers MRDCC II(to control my modelrailroad).In the meanwhile, those STM32 modules became more and more powerful, and … Continue reading

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Loconet – Part V – Wireless Loconet

While using ESP32 for Loconet, we have WIFI onboard our microcontroller module.So, why not use it for wireless Loconet ?You could use one ESP32 as a “gateway”, that does the actual communication with the wired part of your Loconet, and … Continue reading

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Loconet – Part IV – More powerful controller !

While the Arduino UNO and Arduino Mega is “enough” for most projects, sometimes you need something more powerfull … In my case, I always grab an ESP32.Let’s begin with a comparison, ESP32 has a much more powerfull microcontroller AND has … Continue reading

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Loconet – Part III – Lots of I/O with only a few pins

Number of pins, you always have less pins available on your microcontroller, then you want …There is actually a simple solution for this, and the magic word is “I2C”.The I2C protocol let us communicate with other “devices”, over only 2 … Continue reading

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Loconet – Part II – Stationary sound decoder

I still had some DFRobot Mini MP3 player modules laying around.A stationary sound decoder, based on Loconet on one hand, and these MP3 player modules on the other hand, became to emerge as a new project. Those MP3 modules are … Continue reading

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Loconet – Part I – Introduction

No, this has nothing to do with LocoMotion (which I will continue in the future for sure …)Loconet is a protocol, designed by DigiTrax. Simply said, in a few words:Loconet can be seen as a “network topology” for modelrailroading.Modules are … Continue reading

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ESP32-Cam (and AZ-Touch as display)

While in my search for a cheap video monitoring system, I came across the ESP32-CAM.This is a very tiny and cheap camera (OV2640) with a max resolution of 1600×1200, with an ESP32 as the main “controller” of this “system”. (for … Continue reading

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Birthday present – Thank you Christel :-)

Because my H0 modelrailroad layout gets an upgrade in size (and staging yard), I need a few hundred extra C-rails.So, Christel ordered 15 KG om C-rails for my upcoming Birthday 🙂 Thank you Christel, for this nice present 🙂

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New trackplan + no music anymore

Throughout the years, I “tried” several other hobbies: making videos, RC cars, electronics, making “big” trains(scale 1/10 with my own lathe & mill …), making music …– Video-making I did start, because of the birth of my daughter (in 1998), … Continue reading

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HA – Sonoff NSPanel+ESPHome+Home Assistant+Nextion

While in my constant search for “better” home automation, I stumbled upon the Sonoff NSPanel.I already use several Sonoff devices, and with a Tasmota firmware ( https://tasmota.github.io/ )flashed on it, they do exactly what I want. (and are of course … Continue reading

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Showing locomotive info on control panels

While my new layout will be bigger then my current one, I will start to use some control panels.You know control panels, with a graphical representation of (a part of) your model railroad.it consists mostly out of “lines”, “switches” and … Continue reading

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Xojo – a multi-platform development environment

While designing my Loconet modules, I had a need to develop a configuration tool (that runs on the PC).Because I don’t want to be “stuck” with windows applications, I did have a look around on the internet.I stumbled upon “Xojo”. … Continue reading

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New modelrailroad additions for 2021

I thought that 2021 was a very calm year for my modelrailroad “addiction”.Today, when putting together all information about new additions for 2021, it came as a surprise that my list was longer then expected …

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Our new garden

Well, in september we had 3 weeks of holidays. Due to Covid, it was best to stay home, and since our garden was not “maintained” during several years (Due to my health issues), and since I feel better, we decided … Continue reading

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Happy Birthday Christel :-)

Every year on the 4th of November, we celebrate Christel’s birthday 🙂Besides some nice food and champagne, I gave Christel an Apple Watch Series 7 – 45mm RED Aluminium RED. Christel was still using a Series 1 Apple Watch, so … Continue reading

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A new AV-receiver – Denon AVR-S650H

Our old Sony AV-receiver, was getting some hick-ups, so we decided it was time for something new.We bought a Denon AVR-S650H.This new receiver does not only have 5x 4K HDMI inputs, but also supports all (new) sound formats. Also this … Continue reading

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Released another 3 songs !

My health is a lot better the last year and half. I even lost some weight 🙂So, due to beeing busy with lots of different things again, and heavy work-load,I had not been able to finish some songs.This weekend, I … Continue reading

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Some 3D printed projects in resin

As you already may know, I got a second resin 3D printer, an Anycubic Mono X. (as a second birthday present from Christel) Because this machines prints more then 5 times faster, and also has a bigger “printing plate”, I … Continue reading

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Spending money :-)

The last few months, have been some “expensive” months … 1. I got a fully automated coffee machine ! I really like my latte macchiatos 🙂2. Christel got a new BMW Gran Tourer, “the two”, with lots and lots of … Continue reading

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Orient Express passed in Belgium

On Tuesday, June 22nd and June 24th, 2021, the Orient Express passed in Belgium.Due to bad weather in the Swiss Alps, it was almost midnight on Tuesday, June 22nd (more then 5 hours delay),when the Orient Express almost passed at … Continue reading

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Another birthday present / LocoMotion delay

I already got a Märklin CS3 as an early birthday present, somewhere in February. As if this wasn’t enough, I also got a second birthday present ! I got another resin 3D printer. This time is was way bigger and … Continue reading

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LocoMotion – the build : progress on the 5″ screen

Today I finally found some time and energy, to start converting LocoMotion from the 3.5″ to the 5″ screen. Because I now have more “screen real-estate”, I made some subtle enhancements while in the progress of the “conversion”. 10 screens … Continue reading

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LocoMotion – the build : Aoyue 2703A+ 4-in-1-station *UPDATED, February 27th – 2021*

While sometimes needing a de-soldering station, I managed to get around things, without actually owning a de-soldering station. Until now … A while ago, I stumbled upon the Aoyue 2703A+, a 4-in-1-station !Functions:– de-soldering– Soldering – hot air-gun– fume extraction … Continue reading

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Early birthday-present: Märklin things !

Because of the development of LocoMotion, some things gained momentum. I was always looking at a Märklin CS3, but never felt the real urge to have/buy one … Until I started the development of LocoMotion !While making comparisons between Esu … Continue reading

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LocoMotion – The build : a bigger screen :-) *UPDATED, February 28th – 2021*

A few days ago, I decided it was time for a “bigger” display.I did find a 5″ screen with 480×800 resolution, with an SSD1963 controller. This screen not only has the advantage of being bigger than my previous one (ILI9488 … Continue reading

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LocoMotion – The build : graphic update

Something that bothered me for a long time already, was the color-scheme and overal presentation of the icons.Those TFT-screen do have a tendency to “discolor” the whole screen, when you look at them under an angle. With my new color … Continue reading

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LocoMotion – The build : Valentine update

even tough it’s Sunday, I don’t have a lot of time to do some coding …Today was a Sunday the Christel had to work half a day, and it’s also Valentine !So, This morning I managed to repair the 22″ … Continue reading

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LocoMotion – The build : Current status

Now that I’m finally able to take descent screenshots, It’s time to dive into the current status of this project.A lot of things have changed since the beginning of this project, so the “good quality” screenshots, do also contain some … Continue reading

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LocoMotion – The build : technical chit-chat

*Caution: this posting contains a bit of technical inside of the LocoMotion project*Previous weekend, I did not post anything !Some of you became worried that this project was not getting the attention it deserved. Nothing like that, I have been … Continue reading

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LocoMotion – The build : website online

While having only a few spare hours today, I managed to create a sub-part for the LocoMotion device.You can directly reach this part of the website via https://www.digitalplayground.be/locomotion.htm You can find the build-adventure, inside information, and firmware downloads …

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LocoMotion – the secret revealed :-)

Today I want to announce a major modelrailroad project ! Last Christmas, I got an Esu Ecos II as a present. Because I do own a lot of MFX locomotives, I needed a central command station that could handle MFX,MM-I,MM-II,MM-FX, … Continue reading

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LocoMotion – firmware download page

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LocoMotion – The build : captive portal

I needed a way to let the user change settings, without an actual connection to a WiFi network. (not only for first time setup, but also if something goes wrong along the way) The idea was to build a “captive … Continue reading

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LocoMotion – The build : hardware and coding

Because I needed lots of buttons, and the LilyGo TTGO T8 module is somewhat limited in the numbers of IO-pins(as every ESP32 module), I decided what everybody would do in my situation.I added some PCF8575 (16-bit) and PCF8574 (8-bit) I2C … Continue reading

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LocoMotion – The build : communication (with EcoS II) and screen testing

Today I managed to start the communication protocol with the EcoS II over wifi. Here is the description of the EcoS II communication protocolIt’s rather an old document (version 3, dated June 2011) but I assure you that this is … Continue reading

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LocoMotion – The build : battery testing

On the weekend of January – 16/17 – 2021, I started with writing down my ideas for the LocoMotion controller. I already decided on large parts of the hardware, and as I had already some parts laying around, I started … Continue reading

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LocoMotion – A little bit of history

Since I was a little kid, I was fascinated by model railroading … I had a (large) layout at my grandparents house.As I grow older, school, studies and girls got the upperhand of my interest.Until around 2004, when I suffered … Continue reading

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Happy holidays :-)

As tradition goes, we celebrate Christmas every year on September, 25th, and New Year on January, 1th.As another tradition goes, me and Christel always buy a present for each other 🙂This year we decided to order our presents together … … Continue reading

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Digitally controlled pantographs

Since a short time, I do own a Märklin e-locomotive with digitally controlled pantographs.Because I do own quiet some e-locomotives, I wanted to be able to control the pantographs of all these locomotives. This weekend I created a prototype of … Continue reading

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Converting a Trix 22941 to Märklin 39241

A few years ago, Märklin released model of Serie 241-A, SNCF, one of the biggest steam-locomotives in Europe. At the time of release, I was ill for a long time (in hospital, in a coma, re-animated 3 times etc … … Continue reading

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iPad Prod 12.9″ – Happy (early) Christmas, Kris !

Also Kris his iPad needed to be renewed. So, as an early Christmas present, Kris got a new iPad Pro, and a Magic Keyboard 🙂 IPAD Description Value  Manufacturer code MXAU2NF/A  Brand Apple  Tablet size Very large  Depth 0,59 cm … Continue reading

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Ipad Air 10.9″ – Happy Birthday Christel !

Christel needed a new iPad, so I bought here an iPad air, with backlit magic keyboard 🙂 IPAD Description Value  Manufacturer code MYFP2NF/A  Brand Apple  Tablet size Large  Depth 0,61 cm  Width 17,85 cm  Height 24,76 cm  Weight category Average … Continue reading

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uPyCraft on the Raspberry Pi (Ubuntu Buster)

Because I’m used to uPyCraft on my mac machines, to do some python coding on my ESP board (Lilygo ttgo T8 for example), I wanted uPyCraft also on my Raspberry Pi 4.As I suspected, it was not available, but that … Continue reading

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Use Elgato Stream Deck with QLC+

This is my “proof-of-concept”, that it’s possible to use an Elgato Stream Deck, together with QLC+, no need for the official Elgato software.This POC is written in Python, and communicates with QLC+ via a websocket.If your OS does support Python … Continue reading

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Ableton Live: Output audio to multiple outputs

It seems like some people are struggling with the ability to output audio to multiple outputs at once. I for example, have an audio interface with 6 outputs, normally you choose your default output-pair in your OS (even Mac !)But … Continue reading

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Yamaha MODX: Multi-track recording/editing with Ableton

While the Yamaha MODX comes with a Cubase license, I still prefer to use Ableton Live. (A fox never gets rid of his old tricks) All info on the internet, youtube and the Yamaha website and forum, all relates to … Continue reading

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Yamaha MODX: making screenshots to USB stick

Don’t know if anyone is aware of this, but I was looking for a way to make actual screenshots of my Yamaha ModX, just for storing my settings “visually” … This is another fine easter-egg, I think Yamaha don’t want … Continue reading

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A new iPhone (XR) for Christel

Description Value  Manufacturer code MRYQ2ZD/A  Brand Apple  Mobile phone type Smartphone  Recommended for use Gaming, Internet, social media, and light games, Making photos and videos  Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) category C  Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) category 0,99 W/kg  Year introduced … Continue reading

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My own Music Compositions *UPDATED, July 11th – 2021*

This is the place where you can download my music creations …Every download is password-protected. If you want to listen to my songs, contact me via email, and request the password nicely 🙂 2018 2019 2020 2021

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New Mac Mini – DIY memory-upgrade + 3x 4K screens

After year of reliable service, it was time for a new Mac Mini. The 2020 edition is the same as the 2018 edition, except that it comes with double the storage space. Because RAM memory is expensive in those Apple … Continue reading

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Yamaha MODX: Connecting an external touch screen

This week, I began my adventure to connect an external touch screen to my Yamaha MODX. Yamaha does not support this,so, we are on our own on this …After looking on several websites, I noticed that there are 3 touch … Continue reading

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Welcome to the music section

So, it finally happened, I added a music section to our blog !Since a few years, I’m addicted to “making music”.In the meanwhile, I already made some songs on my own, current counter is about 17 !From time to time, … Continue reading

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My first H0-related 3D printed miniatures

This weekend was a productive weekend !I started printing my first miniature in H0-scale, for myself !First, I started off with a download of a VW beetle from thingiverse, this needed to be printed in 6 pieces:– 4 wheels– a … Continue reading

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Belgian 3D printed H0 railroad signals *UPDATED, June 1st – 2020*

Today I started printing my first H0 railroad-related items, with my Anycubic Photon-S printer.I managed to stick 18 signals onto the build-plate. It did take about 6 hours to print.Eventually, I will re-arrange the signals in the PWS file, so … Continue reading

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Bear – photo album *UPDATED, July 13th – 2023*

It was december 2016 … Bear became a member of our family ! We really love our dog, he is so much more then an “animal”. A live without him, became unimaginable ! Time to put his photo album online … Continue reading

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Our new printer

Our old printer wasn’t function correct anymore. We decided to buy a Canon i-Sensys MF645Cx. This is a full-color A4 laser printer. – it prints 21 ppm in black-and-white and color, with a resolution of 1200×1200 dpi. – it supports … Continue reading

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Our new washing machine

After 15 years off loyal service, our Zanker washing machine started giving problems. We ordered a new one, a Samsung WW91M760NOA QuickDrive. This machine does have all whistles and bells you can imagine ! – it can run 9 KG … Continue reading

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Our new 4K beamer

About 8 years ago, we bought a FullHD beamer. This beamer did serve us very well over the years, so we decided to buy an Epson beamer again. This time, it was a 4K beamer. (Our TV provider already does … Continue reading

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Anycubic Photon S – first results *UPDATED, May, 9th – 2020*

After delivery a few days ago, it was time to test this new SLA printer. I filled the printer with some green resin, (this resin did came with the printer) and started a test (the anycubic cube …) Because we … Continue reading

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Another *different* 3D printer ! (SLA/DLP)

Now that I’m feeling fine again, my life can continue …In the meanwhile SLA/DLP printers became affordable. (a few year ago, prices were still between 5000 and 10000 euro, where it now has dropped to the sub-1000 euro category)So, it … Continue reading

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Finally, some good news !

Finally, after all those years, I want to share some good news with you ! After years and years, struggling with my health, I can say to you all, that I’m healthy again ! I finally found a *good* neurologist … Continue reading

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New modelrailroad additions for 2020

Hello all, Since I started feeling better and better over the past few months, we decided NOT to sell my modeltrains. (one lucky decision after all) Christel even bought some nice new things as a Christmas present, as a New … Continue reading

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Merry Christmas & Happy New Year ! *UPDATED, December, 30th – 2017*

Hi all, First of all, a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all of our readers and their friends and family … It’s been a terrible year for us, we hope that 2018 will be much better ! … Continue reading

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I’m still alive ! (+ 2 pages full of pictures of new modelrailroad additions for 2017)

Hello all, It’s almost the end of the year, and funny enough, this is my first real posting in 2017 ! Due to ongoing health issues (2 weeks in coma, 3 times reanimated etc …), I was not capable in … Continue reading

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some modelrailroad presents to motivate Kris’ Health *UPDATED July, 27th – 2017*

While Kris was hospitalized, I did buy him some locomotives, to motivate his health process. (after all he has been trough, he deserved this) I bought him some locomotives, while some friends did send him some railcars to create a … Continue reading

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About Kris’ health – MUST READ !

Hello folks, It’s been very quiet the last months, this is due to Kris’ health issues. Kris has been ill since Christmas. And on january 10th, Kris had an epileptic attack. This attack was so worse, that I had to … Continue reading

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Our family extended ! We welcome our new family member :-)

For almost 10 years, I was asking Christel for a dog. Christel gives me everything, except a dog … Until now … When I did show Christel a picture of a Pomeranian, she also became interested. On sunday 18 december, … Continue reading

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Santa Claus came by !

Also this year, Santa Claus came by. He left me with a great gift ! I got a complete Märklin “König Ludwig” set, included extension(So I have the loc and 5 coaches) and display & presentation stand … Furthermore, Christel … Continue reading

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Lots of new additions in my Märklin H0 collection !

Everybody who reads my blog on a regular base, knows that we had a “major incident” with our H0 collection. Somewhere in june, one of my cabinets, dropped from the wall on the floor. A lot of locomotives and railcars … Continue reading

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Holidays – part 11: Wernigerode (unplanned end of holidays)

The day we arrived in Wernigerode, we did go to the center of the town, where we had a nice dinner. When going back to the hotel, I suddenly didn’t feel so well, and I hardly made it to the … Continue reading

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Holidays – part 10: Rathen (part 3)

And ofcourse, we had to take some pictures of the gardenrailway of the hotel 🙂

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Holidays – part 9: Rathen (part 2)

On Tuesday, we visited the “Bastei” itself, a rock-formation you have to see yourself …

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Holidays – part 8: Rathen (part 1)

On Monday, we drove to Rathen, to visit the “Bastei”. We stayed in the “EisenbahnWelt” hotel, a nice hotel with a “Spur 1” gartenbahn in the garden of this hotel. (Which, as guests of these hotel, we could visit freely)

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Holidays – part 7: Dresden (part 5)

Due to beeing our last day in Dresden, we visited “Zwinger Palace”, later on that last sunday of our stay in Dresden …

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Holidays – part 6: Dresden (part 4)

On Sunday, I had an appointment with Jens Steiner from the Eisebahnmuseum Dresden Alt-Stadt. Normally, the museum is open only one sunday every month, but Jens gave me and Christel a private tour trough the museum. Jens, if you are … Continue reading

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Holidays – part 5: Dresden (part 3)

Yesterday we did visit Meissen (famous for its porcelain). It’s about 24 KM from Dresden, and we did make the trip by boat. It was another hot day, so, seeking some cool air on the water, was not a bad … Continue reading

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Holidays – part 4: Eisenbahnmuseum Chemnitz

Today, in the morning we did visit a local modellbau shop, named “Modellbau Peter”. http://www.modellbaupeter.com  (you can also buy online) Every year when we go on holidays, I try to lookup a local modeltrain shop, in front of the holidays … Continue reading

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Holidays – part 3: Dresden (part 2)

Today, we had a very busy schedule. In the morning, we did take the sight-seeing bus to The Volkswagen glass factory. (They don’t make glass, but it got his name because it’s a complete glass “see-trough” buildling) In the past, … Continue reading

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Holidays – part 2: Dresden (part 1)

Yesterday we drove from Neuenmarkt to Dresden. We arrived in the Hilton hotel at around 2 PM. After checking in, we did a small sightseeing and visited the “Altmarkt Gallerie” (a Shoppin Centre) We did eat something on the Brühler … Continue reading

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Holidays – part 1: Dampflok-museum Neuenmarkt

Holiday season started for us 🙂 Left home on Saturday morning – september 27th, with a brand new car. We didn’t leave our street, or already a problem appeared with the internal navigation of the new BMW gran tourer 🙁 … Continue reading

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A new cabinet for my H0 Märklin trains :-)

It was already some months ago, that I was already thinking about building a new cabinet for the H0 Märklin trains. The old cabinet became to small, trains where already standing in 2 rows in this cabinet, only allowing us … Continue reading

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A very black day in the history of my modelrailroading hobby :-(

It was monday, june 13th – 2016. While watching the European Championchip Football, the match between Belgium and Italy (which we did loose by the way), that one of my closed cabinets came loose from the wall, with more then … Continue reading

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3D printed case for Nixie clock (www.circuitsonline.net) *UPDATED, April 9th – 2016*

A few weeks ago, I got the change to buy a nixie-clock kit from www.circuitsonline.net Circuitsonline is my favorite (Dutch) electronics online forum 🙂 a nice guy with the nickname ‘Klein Is Fijn” (Thijs), made available a whole bunch of … Continue reading

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Happy Birthday to me – a very nice birthday-present :-)

Today is my birthday, so: “Happy birthday to me” 🙂 I got a very nice birthday-present from Christel ! Because I do a lot of CAD design, a big screen with a high resolution is a must. Until now, I … Continue reading

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3D-printed DDA40X locomotive (Scale 1:32) for the garden railroad *UPDATED, December 29th – 2016*

While I’m still waiting for some paint and motors to arrive from China, to finish the EMD SW1500, I already started drawing / partitioning / slicing / printing a new one 🙂 This time it’s also an American diesel locomotive, … Continue reading

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Modifying the Velleman K8200 3D printer

My first 3D printer was a Velleman K8200 (DIY kit). I already have this 3D printer for 2 year now, and in the beginning, I was not happy with the results. One of the first things I did, was improving … Continue reading

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H0 modelroad-related 3D printed parts

We are currently preparing to work on our long H0 module again. This module is 4m70 long an part of the bigger H0 layout. Because we want to be able to run trams and cars along this module,  we are … Continue reading

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Summary of new modelrailroad-related additions …

I collected a few new nice modelrailroad related items the past few months, so this is a little summary of all of it 🙂 1. Marketplace in H0 (Noch 15741), bought this during our holidays, at the Veluwse stoommaatschappij. 2. … Continue reading

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Our 3th 3D printer – a Prusa i3 DIY kit

Until recently, we already owned 2 3D printers (a Velleman K8200 and an Ecksbot) A friend of mine from the 3rail forum (Hi John !), was looking to buy a 3D printer recently. I did a search on Ebay for … Continue reading

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3D-printed EMD SW1500 locomotive (Scale 1:32) for the garden railroad

Christel like American locomotives, and as you know, she also owns a garden railway. Because I’m still recovering and nog beeing able to spend a lot of time on the mill & lathe, I decided to print some material for … Continue reading

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Selfmade mini (PCB) CNC milling machine *UPDATED, April 28th – 2016*

I already own a Colinbus Profiler portal CNC machine and converted a large/heavy HBM BF-25  to CNC, but al this is a bit “overkill” and/or consumes a lot of time to setup, to only create a printed circuit board. So,  … Continue reading

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Holidays – part 7: IMA & Märklin days

Part 7 of our holidays feels like “comming home” 🙂 We have already been several times in Göppingen for IMA and Märklin opendoors … The last time was 4 years ago, but it still feels very familiar 🙂 We arrived … Continue reading

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Holidays – part 6: Faszination Gothard Bahn

Just outside Rörthenburg-ob-ter-Tauber (about 7 kilometers), there is a small town, called “Steinfeld”. In this town, you can visit “Faszination Gothard Bahn”, a Swiss-themed model railroad … I was a little disappointed while visiting this modelrailroad. (Maybe I have seen … Continue reading

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Holidays – part 5: Röthenburg-ob-ter-Tauber

The fifth planned stop during our holidays, was in Rörthenburg-ob-ter-Tauber, were we visited the old city (within the city-walls).

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Holidays – part 4: Nördlingen and the Bayerisches Eisenbahnmuseum

The fourth planned stop during our holidays, was in Nördlingen. We visited the old city of Nördlingen, and also visited the Bayerisches Eisenbahnmuseum, where we made a trip with a 01 and 052 steam locomotives.

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Holidays 2015 – part 3: Titisee-Neustadt

The third planned stop during our holidays, was in Titisee-Neustadt. Ofcourse we visited the Titisee, and did make a boat-trip on it 🙂 During our trip to Titisee-Neustadt, we also made a “shopping-day” in Freiburg.

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Holidays 2015 – part 2: Technik museum Speyer (Germany)

The second planned stop during our holidays, was in Speyer. We visited the Technik museum … (Furthermore, we also visited to old city of Speyer and did some shopping)

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Holidays 2015 – part 1: Veluwse steam company (The Netherlands)

Our annual holiday started with the Veluwse steam company this year. We did visit them last year, but this year, it’s the 40th anniversary of the Veluwse steam company, so they had several guest-locomotives, and they organized a locomotive-parade for … Continue reading

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A new toy: Playstation 4 (+3D printed holder/charger for controllers)

Friday-night, we bought a Playstation 4 ! After owning a Gameboy, a Playstation 1, a Sega Dreamcast, an Xbox, an Xbox360, a WII and a Playstation 3, it was time for a “nextgen” console 🙂 When I got back from … Continue reading

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Protected: 2 mei 2015 – communie feest Kimi Van Elowijk

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WordPress update & NextGen gallery: pictures are downloadable again !

When I got home from work, I noticed some updates for NetGen galleries. (ooh well, they are already available for several weeks, but I just noticed it) After the upgrade, and a bit of “fiddling” with PHP files and templates … Continue reading

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Christmas: RGB LEDs & 3D print *UPDATED, May 9th – 2015*

Due to my health issues, I started early this year with my Christmas light projects … Until a few years ago, we decorated our garden with lots-and-lots of lights during the holiday season. But, because of my health issues, we … Continue reading

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RGB LED matrixes ! FUN – FUN – FUN *UPDATED, March 15th – 2015*

I’m still very ill for the moment, but besides working half-time, and spending most of the rest of my time sleeping, I still try to learn some new things 🙂 I got a few RGB LED matrixes for Valentines’ day … Continue reading

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LED-ring for digital photography

Back in september 2014, we bought a new DSLR camera, while on holidays in Germany. (A Nikon D5300) Also at this point, I got my hands on a LED-ring for this camera. The Meike FC-100 (with the included adapter rings, … Continue reading

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Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2015 !

Hello dear readers, Christel and I, wish you all a Merry Christmas and our best wishes for 2015 ! I think the underneath google-based youtube-movie, expresses our toughts about 2014 exactly. Besides my bad health, it has been a wild … Continue reading

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ESP8266 – cheap Wifi/Serial module !

I recently purchased a few of those ESP 8266 modules ! They are really small, only needs a few pins to connect to an MCU, and are also very cheap.(about 2,30 euro a piece !) I have lots of ideas … Continue reading

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Arduino environment with ATTiny + Arduino Mini Pro programming *UPDATED, December 7th – 2014*

While I picked up my own car-system for the H0 modelrailroad again, I started with the ATTiny IC’s to control the cars. I’m currently switching from RF to IR. I normally use Microchip PICs in my projects, but because the … Continue reading

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WordPress update screwed things up ! (again !)

Hello readers, Today I noticed that the last automatic WordPress update, screwed up some picture galleries 🙁 So, it’s possible that you did find articles on our blog, without pictures ! In the meanwhile, we fixed this issue, but please, … Continue reading

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H0 scenery – Block of houses *UPDATED, November 23th – 2014*

Due to health-issues, I’m not able to do a lot on the modelrailroad. Also, I’m currently working half-time, because I realy need my rest ! So, a few small things, take up ages to complete ! Some time ago, I … Continue reading

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Eurospoor 2014

This weekend, we visited Eurospoor 2014. While years ago, we almost liked every modelrailroad on modelrailroad exhibitions, we became more and more “critics”. There was a lot of stuff we didn’t like anymore. However, we did like the French railroad … Continue reading

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My first H0 scenery – coalmine (top part) *UPDATED, November 9th – 2014*

Last week, I started building on the top-part of the coalmine. These are my first steps in H0 scenery, so this all is relatively new to me ! I started with a 6mm piece of MDF, 90cm x 50 cm. … Continue reading

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Some new modeltrain related stuff

During our holidays, we visited Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg (Germany), so we bought the MiWuLa car over there. Furthermore, there was a Märklin store about 4 kilometers from our hotel in Mettmann (also Germany), and they had some cars I … Continue reading

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Some new photo equipment

During our holidays in september, we bought a new DSLR camera – the Nikon D5300. It has more features, wifi, GPS and a much higher resolution (25 Mpixels), compared to our Nikon D60. It also features “live view” on the … Continue reading

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Holidays 2014 – part 7: Bergbau museum Bochum (Germany)

Today we visited the Bergbau museum in Bochum – Germany. The past years, we visited several mines, but this mining museum is a bit more recent. (The mine was still in use till january 2000 !) As a result, the … Continue reading

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A new friend: Christian from Denmark :-)

While visiting the VSM “terug naar toen” in Beekbergen (The Netherlands) last week, we met a nice guy 🙂 While taking pictures in the field between Beekbergen and Loenen, a guy came to me, reading out loud, what was on … Continue reading

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Holidays 2014 – part 6: Eisenbahnmuseum Bochum-Dalhausen (Germany)

Yesterday we visited the Eisenbahnmuseum Bochum-Dalhausen in Germany. We also made a trip with the schienenbus over the Ruhrtalbahn. It did take me a bit longer to get the pictures “up” on our website. First of all, a WordPress update … Continue reading

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Holidays 2014 – part 5(B): OktoRail in Essen (Germany)

Today we visited OktoRail in Essen (Germany) An H0 Märklin layout … Because Kris recently started filming in 3D, we tried something different. From now on, I will be taking pictures, while Kris record videos. Today, we both did take … Continue reading

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Holidays 2014 – part 5(A): OktoRail in Essen (Germany)

Today we visited OktoRail in Essen (Germany) An H0 Märklin layout … Because I recently started filming in 3D, we tried something different. From now on, Christel will be taking pictures, while I record videos. Today, we both did take … Continue reading

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Holidays 2014 – part 4: Schwebebahn in Wuppertal (Germany)

Today we visited the Schwebebahn in Wuppertal – Germany. The Schwebebahn is unique in the world, and was taken into service in march 1901. It’s 13,3 KM long and it takes about 40 till 45 minutes to go from Vohwinkel, … Continue reading

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Holidays 2014 – part 3: Veluwse Steam Company (The Netherlands) *UPDATED, September 7th – 2014*

Today and tomorrow, we will visit the “Veluwse Stoom Maatschappij” (Veluwse Steam Company) at the yearly “Terug naar toen”-days. For more info, please visit the VSM website. Here is a short photo-impression … (I also started filming again, so expect … Continue reading

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Holidays 2014 – part 2: visit to Palace “Het Loo” (The Netherlands)

Today we visited the palace “Het Loo” in the Netherlands. It’s the former Dutch royal palace, and is now a museum. For more info, please visit the website “Paleis het Loo”. Here is a short photo-impression …

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Holidays 2014 – part 1: Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg (Germany)

Yesterday we visited MiWuLa (Miniatur Wunderland) in Hamburg (Germany) In 2007, we visited MiWuLa for the first time. A lot has been changed since then, they now also have the Swiss Alps and a large airport 🙂 For more info, … Continue reading

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A 3D mouse (for Solidworks)

It’s official, I’m a Solidworks addict ! So, to “enlighten” my pain/illness from the previous months, Christel decided to give me a nice, usefull *gift*. I got a 3D Connexion wireless SpaceMouse ! Since I use this 3D mouse, my … Continue reading

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Some 3D printing projects *UPDATED, August 17th – 2014*

As a Solidworks-addict, in combination with my 3D printing addiction, I have *lots and lots* of ideas, so after beeing ill for to long, I started working out some of these projects. 1. Hexapod So, Andy, my hexapod, is finally … Continue reading

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Intel NUC – D54250WYK OSX + Win 2012 R2 Server *UPDATED, August 13th – 2014*

It’s been a long time since I posted something on our website, this was mainly due to illness. (I now also have Sarcoïdose besides my HHC (HyperHomeCystenemie)) Due to my 3D printed addiction, I’m now a “full-blown” Solidworks user. (I … Continue reading

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*** Bad news – you must read this ! ***

Hi folks, Due to illness, it will take some time before I can update this website or answer your emails. I’m already “offline” for several months now, I hope to be “better” within a few months … Best regards, Kris

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Some 3D printed things … *UPDATED, May 7th – 2014*

First of all, I have been ill for a very long period, so excuse me for not updating our website frequent enough. First 3D printed pieces – A wobbler engine (air powered) In the meanwhile, I started using the K8200 … Continue reading

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Very early birthday present ! *UPDATED, February 17th – 2014*

Christel already ordered my present for my birthday (april 3th) … Because this year, I get something that comes in “kit”-form, and that I need to built together myself, she decided to already order “it” ! Because the building and … Continue reading

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2 motorized ball machines !

Since I was a little kid, I made some ball machines with my Lego Technic (and mindstorms) sets … Recently, a dream came true 🙂 My first laser-cut motorized ball machines ! Painted and mounted, up and running ! Click … Continue reading

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Merry Christmas, happy holidays & best wishes for 2014 !

Merry Christmas, happy holidays and best wishes for 2014 for all our readers …

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Our Christmas 2013 – a little report :-)

Christmas 2013 … On Christmas Eve, we went out with my sister in law Yolanda, brother in law François, and their daughter Nathasha. We left home by 6:30 PM … Menu (together with some great wines): – Apetizer – Tataki … Continue reading

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Watt’s steam engine *sneak peak*

I found some good information about the Boulton & Watt’s 10hp steam engine. I was so intrigued by this beautiful machine, that I decided to build a scale replica 🙂 Check out this wiki page for more info about the … Continue reading

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7 stirling engines and 1 mendocino motor ! *UPDATED, December 27th – 2013*

My first stirling engine is a fact 🙂 A stirling motor, is a motor that runs on hot air. (no water or steam needed). Just by heating the glass capsule by a flame, the motor is able to run. I … Continue reading

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Arduino Mini Pro and CP2102 USB-to-TTL serial converter

Hi folks, Just a little note, and a reminder to myself 🙂 No pictures this time, just a simple and brief explanation. I had some unused Arduino mini Pro boards laying around. They contain an Atmel 328p IC, I have … Continue reading

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A free week – lots of new stuff :-)

Last week, it was Christels’ birthday, so we both did take a week off … For her birthday, Christel wanted a wireless vacuüm cleaner. (She already owned a “regular” vacuüm cleaner and a small handheld one) I bought a Dyson … Continue reading

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Nitinat River Railroad – H0

Last weekend, AMRA did held it’s yearly open house exhibition. ( http://www.amra-modeltreinen.be ) Christel and I, visited this exhibition together. One of the guest railroads was “Nitinat River Railroad” (in H0) I made a short movie about this model railroad, … Continue reading

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Antwerp Model Railroad Association – open house exhibition

During the weekend of november 9th till 11th – 2013, AMRA (Antwerp Model Railroad Association) did held it’s yearly open house exhibition. (They also celebrated 50 years of excistence) Check out the website at http://www.amra-modeltreinen.be I did take the opportunity … Continue reading

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New macbook Pro 15″ Retina with Haswell processor

Christel decided it was time that I also got a Macbook Pro 🙂 Christmas is comming near, so time to order one. (During Christmas-rush, there are waiting times for apple products to be delivered). On october 22th, the new Macbooks … Continue reading

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new IPAD / 3D camera / homemade LED matrix

During our holidays, my Acer Iconia Tab gave up … Since I’m becomming more and more an Apple fan, I decided to replace it with a new IPAD 4 with retina display (so, the large one, not the IPAD mini), … Continue reading

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Holidays 2013 – part 7: visit to Hermeskeil, Bernkastel, Bullay and Dieblich

In the morning, we did take the “Autobahn” to Hermeskeil. (It was a 142 KM drive, but at a speed of almost 200 km/hour on some parts of the highway, we made it in about an hour) We visited the … Continue reading

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Holidays 2013 – part 6: visit to the DB museum (Koblenz)

Today, we visited the DB museum in Koblenz. (DB = Deutsche Bahn = German railroad company) We were lucky, because today was also the day that the “Trix Express day” was held in the museum in Koblenz. (Trix is a … Continue reading

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Holidays 2013 – part 5: narrow-gauge train-trip

Today we made a train-trip on narrow-gauge, with the “Vulkan Express”.(Brohltalbahn from Brohl to Engeln and back) Fore more info about this narrow-gauge, please visit http://www.vulkan-express.de/ Furthermore, we had some “Apfelstrudel” at a terras, back on the way to the … Continue reading

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Holidays 2013 – part 4: boat-trip from Obenfell to Cochem

Since a few days, we are checked in, into a hotel in Dieblich. (Located in the Moselle region in Germany – between Koblenz and Trier) Today we made a nice boat-trip from Obenfell (about 6 KM from our hotel) to … Continue reading

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KMYCA – 27th international steamdays – part 2

On september 7th & 8th, KMYCA did hold it’s yearly international steamdays at “Rivierenhof” in Deurne. More info at http://www.kmyca.be Here you find the photo-impression of sunday – september 8th.

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KMYCA – 27th international steamdays – part 1

On september 7th & 8th, KMYCA did hold it’s yearly international steamdays at “Rivierenhof” in Deurne. More info at http://www.kmyca.be Here you find the photo-impression of saturday – september 7th.

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Holidays 2013 – part 3: pictures of the steam-engine museum in Medemblik

Yesterday, we visited the steam-engine museum in Medemblik. We also went to Enkhuizen and did have a “koop-avond” (buy-evening – all shops stay open till 9 PM). For diner, we did have Japanese food 🙂 We just arrived back home, … Continue reading

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Holidays 2013 – part 2: pictures of Steam-tram/boat trip Hoorn-Medemblik-Enkhuizen

Today we made “the trip” with the steam-tram from Hoorn to Medemblik, followed by the boat-trip from Medemblik to Enkhuizen, and a “regular train-ride” from Enkhuizen, back to Hoorn. (the last was a bit *boring*) I just uploaded our last … Continue reading

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Holidays 2013 – part 1: First pictures from Hoorn

Tomorrow, we will make a trip with the steamtram in Hoorn. Today we already arrived in Hoorn. We visited the steam-engine depot and workplace, and had a great diner in the harbour. I just finished uploading the first pictures, enjoy … Continue reading

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Ambilight up-and-running (with HDMI, no PC needed !)

A few years ago, I made an ambi-light, based on a PIC, some ADC controllers, an LM1881, and an bunch of other components. It only worked for a fixed resolution, and used 3 LEDstrips: one for left, one for right, … Continue reading

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Open-up those *cheap* MP3 players, and use them in your own electronic projects …

On the 3-rail forum, there is a topic running, about using MP3’s, in conjunction with (model)railroads … I found some cheap MP3 modules on Ebay, a complete MP3-player, for less then 2 Euro ! It comes with an internal battery, … Continue reading

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Download collection for my electronics projects *Updated*

During the past 5 years, I designed a whole bunch of electronic projects, You can see a list of all these projects, in the “Electronics” section. I collected all project-files into a few downloads. 1. Home automation related (click here … Continue reading

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First poll: Give us your opinion on our new design

Hi folks, To make our website a bit more “interactive”, I just installed a plugin for polls. First poll is a fact now, so please give us your opinion about our new design / possibilities … Note that you may … Continue reading

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Please read: www.digitalplayground.be – *NEW STYLE*

Hello (again), If you are reading this, it means we finally upgraded our website to a new style. On july 5th, 2008, the first blog-posting on www.digitalplayground.be was created … It did take a few days, before “someone” did see … Continue reading

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Some new electronics to learn/play with … (for the KöF 5 1/4″)

For the 5″ KöF, I was looking into an android tablet (that I still had laying around) to control the locomotive. But after a second thought, I decided to create my own custom controller. This gives me the advantage of … Continue reading

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To weld or not to weld, that’s the question !

Because I’m doing some metal-working now (for the 3 1/2″ and 5″ locomotives), I decided it’s time to learn how to weld … I bought a semi-automatic welding machine and an automatic welding shield … Now, I still need to … Continue reading

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A new NAS, mediaplayers and other “related” new things

Aah, our old NAS died 🙁 One of the discs where failing. This old NAS, was a Conceptronic 2-bay Ch3sNas. I installed fun-plug on it, so I could use this NAS for various other functions. (PHP / MySQL, Torrents …) … Continue reading

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KMYCA – riding in the park

Every 2th and 4th sunday of the month, we have a “riding in the park”, with the KMYCA club. (If the weather is OK) Club-members can ride on the tracks in the park, with self-made locomotives (electric and live-steam), mostly … Continue reading

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Christels’ new Macbook Pro 15″ with Retina display

I bought an Apple Macbook Pro 15″ with Retina display for Christel 🙂 After seeing Christel drool for more then a year, when I was working on my Imac, I decided it was time for some changes. Out with the … Continue reading

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Building a KöF in 5 1/4″

in september 2013, we visited the steam-days of KMYCA in “Rivierenhof (Deurne – near Antwerp – Belgium). We decided to become a member of this club. Because it takes some years to build a working live-steam locomotive, we decided to … Continue reading

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Album: Visit to the international steam days in Turnhout

As a yearly habbit, the Steam-group of Turnhout, did held it’s yearly international steamdays in may. As steam-enthousiasts, we visited this event.

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Another handy tool for the HBM-BF25 CNC

The homing-switches, emergency button and 4th axis are also done ! I will try to make a video of the machine in action, when milling some parts. But CNC milling and filming is not a good idea for the moment, … Continue reading

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HBM-BF25 conversion finished – some extras

The conversion of the HBM BF-25 to CNC is finished ! I added home/limiting switches to all three axes. (X/Y/Z) Due to how Mach3 works, I’m able to control these 3 switches, by one I/O port on the breakout board. … Continue reading

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Leap Motion: a new way to interact with your PC !

My leapmotion already arrived, for free ! (it’s good to be a developer, otherwise I had to wait until july, and pay 80 dollars for it !) click here to see a movie clip of the Leap-motion in action !

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A new milling machine and a major upgrade of the “machinery-room” …

I already got a lathe for Christmas 2012 (somewhere in Oktober !) But, just before Christmas, Christel gave me “permission” to order the BF-25 mill :-)(I should have gotten this machine for my Birthday, in april 2013) On Christmas-day 2012 … Continue reading

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X-/Y- and Z-axis calibration done on HBM-BF25 CNC

I finally managed to finish the CNC conversion of the HBM BF-25 machine ! (Ooh well, still some homing-switches and emergency-buttons to wire, and my 4th axis, but everything comes along fine now) After some calculations about motor steps per … Continue reading

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Something wrong in my head !

After a long time of illness, doctors discovered something in my head ! (no bad jokes about discovering brains please …) I have some extra bone-structure growing in my head, which causes pressure against my brains. (Which causes the headaches) … Continue reading

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2 new FPGA boards for me: Xilinx Atlys and Xilinx Nexys2

I got 2 extra FPGA boards (with some additional breakout boards) I already managed to create Tetris, Pong and a fractal generator, onto these FPGA boards ! Note that you don’t write software for FPGA boards, but you “define” the … Continue reading

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To much medication leads to (funny/useless) experiments !

It’s almost a month ago, since the last website update, this is mainly because of illness. At the end of my illness period, I was highly on medication, which leaded me into some “past-midnight” experiments. *What if I could control … Continue reading

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Valentine present: A new TV in the bathroom for Christel

So, when we bought our home, several year ago, I installed a TV in a wall, behind our “bubble”-bathtub. This was a small 4:3 17″ TV, with no HDMI connectors. In the meanwhile, we have digital Full-HD television troughout the … Continue reading

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Valentine present: a XC3S500E Xilinx FPGA dev board for Kris

Since a long time, I wanted to start with FPGA’s. So, I got an FPGA development set, with lots of additional modules, for my Valentine 🙂 The Dev-board includes a Xilinx Spartan XC3S500E, a JTAG/USB programmer (Xilinx platform USB cable), … Continue reading

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In Memoriam – Ludo Claes (08-09-1945 – 29-01-2013)

In Memoriam – Ludo Claes Last night, our good friend, Ludo Claes, passed away … Always ready to help someone, always smiling, never complaining … This is how real friends are supposed to be ! He will always be remembered … Continue reading

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HBM BF-25 milling machine – X- and Y-axis operational

The X- and Y-axis are both operational. I did some tests, and used the mill as a very expensive “spiral drawer” 🙂 I did put a drawing marker in the mill-attachement, and loaded a spiral example into Mach3. The chirping … Continue reading

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HBM BF-25 milling machine – CNC conversion

I’m currently in the process of converting the BF-25 milling machine, tot CNC. I already milled,turned,drilled all the parts for the Y-axis conversion. I also installed all needed electronics, and wired everything together, So I can control the X-axis and … Continue reading

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Overview of (model)railroad related *newest additions*

While migrating from the old website to the new one (in WordPress), I didn’t feel like converting all those “newest addition” postings … Instead I did take out all pictures from those postings, and grouped them together. Those newest additions … Continue reading

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Merry Christmas !

first of all, a Merry Christmas to all our readers and their family 🙂 Yesterday-evening, I had an intimite Christmas diner with my wife Christel … Besides some good food, I had to openup a lot of presents, between 7 … Continue reading

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Album: Happy Birthday Christel !

So, yesterday was Christels’ birthday. We enjoyed some good food and some nice drinks … Besides that, I also had some presents for my girl 🙂 Well, it was a “plan B” present ! During summermonths, I bought a live-steam … Continue reading

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Brutus – live steam G-scale – on the lathe

Dirk (Ardjoena) showed us his ‘Brutus’ on the KMYCA days in september. Once this was a club-project in the KMYCA club, where Dirk introduced it. This looks like an ideal (yet simple) loco to start with as a beginner … … Continue reading

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Early Christmas present ! (Lathe + extras)

This year was the ‘big’ year for a brand new lathe and mill/drill machine. Christel decided to order this for my Christmas, including lots and lots of extra’s. With a long delivery period in mind, She started ordering somewhere at … Continue reading

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Our garden railway

Welcome to our garden-railway ! Last year, Christel already bought an LGB startset. (see september 2011 in the railroading section) This year, we decided to do a complete make-over of our garden, to include some LGB layout. We started somewhere … Continue reading

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KMYCA – yearly live-steam days

Due to the garden-railway, we became a member of the GrootSpoorForum. This forum is dedicated to 30,32 & 45 mm rail-based rolling material. In this forum, they also have a live-steam section, which did draw our attention, because we were … Continue reading

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a better view – 3D FullHD beamer + mediaplayer

Since a few weeks, we switched our livingroom-beamer to a “better” model. We can now watch TV/movies in Full HD ! (1920 x 1080p) Even in 3D ! (We did bought 4 Epson 3D glasses with) So, we did bought … Continue reading

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Raspberry Pi and Gooseberry board

Since today, I can call myself a proud owner of a Raspberry Pi ! Since the launch in februari 2012, I was hoping to receive an order invitation from RS components. On May, 19th, I finally received my personal invitation … Continue reading

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I fired the laser (again) – H0 lasered buildings *UPDATED, August 31 – 2017*

After another week of illness, I finally start to feel better. Last sunday, I fired up the laser again, and the past few evenings, after work, I made some other funny things 🙂 I started using CorelDraw, since I bought … Continue reading

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I fired the laser – first lasered creations

Christel ordered for me a 50W CO2 laser machine for my upcomming birthday in april. But the machine arrived way to early 🙂 First test, some Belgian railroad signs … Filips did send me some files he made in Visio, … Continue reading

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Early Birthday present (CO2 50W laser CNC)

Last thursday I had my last treatment for my HHC. I had to undergo 3 extra treatments 🙁 I’m still not fully recovered (will take some more weeks), but this did not prevent me from “playing with my new toy”. … Continue reading

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Digital Car System

A while ago, I started thinking about implementing the FallerCarSystem onto my layout. It was clear that I wanted the Digital version, because I want my cars to start/stop very smooth, and not like the standard FCS, which suddenly starts/stops … Continue reading

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Late pictures of our Christmas presents

Hello all … I’m still under treathment for my HHC, but today is one of those days that I feel slightly better … So, I took the opportunity to give our website a small update 🙂 First of all, we … Continue reading

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Our best wishes for 2012 …

Our best wishes … Click here to see our best wishes for 2012

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Saint-Nicolas came by

When we arrived from work today, we noticed that Saint-Nicolas has came by our house 🙂 Besides some chocolats and other sweat things, I and Christel, both got a really nice present … Every year, at newyears’ eve, we like … Continue reading

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H0 factory build + interior

For the long (3m70) module, I bought the Marklin limited edition of the original Marklin factory set 72150. This building is 1m15 (45,5 inch) long and 29 cm (11,4 inch) high, when finished. Because this building will become a real … Continue reading

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H0 layout extension – modules in other garage

First of all, the past few months have been very quiet. This is mainly due to illness. At january 12th, 2012, I need to start with a new therapy for my HHC. You can compare this with chemo, I will … Continue reading

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George Michael in Symphonica (Sportpaleis Antwerp)

On Friday, we enjoyed George Michael in Symphonica (in the Sportpaleis in Antwerp). I was ill, but we decided to go, I didn’t regret after all, this was a really awesome concert ! (We did have tickets via the official … Continue reading

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Album: visit to the NMBS Antwerp North train workplace/maintenance depot

The NMBS (Nationale Maatschappij der Belgische Spoorwegen = National Society for Belgian Railroad), did held an open house, during the weekend of september 26/27 – 2011. We visited the workplace/maintenance depot in Antwerp North.

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An Apple imac 27″ for Kris

Just before the holidays started, I did have some problems with my main PC. (the PC with the most processor-power / disc-space / memory available in our home) So, after returning from our holidays, Christel decided to give me an … Continue reading

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Album: Holidays 2011 – visit to Märklin days and IMA

During our september-holidays 2011, we also visited the Märklin days and IMA in Göppingen. Due to the large amount of pictures (about 89), I created a separate album for these pictures.

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Album: Holidays 2011 – visit to Modellbahn in Wiehe

During our september-holidays 2011, we also visited the Modellbahn in Wiehe.Due to the large amount of pictures (about 297), I created a separate album for these pictures.

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Album: Holidays 2011 – visit to Modellbundesbahn in Bad-Driburg

During our september-holidays 2011, we also visited the Modellbundesbahn in Bad-Driburg.Due to the large amount of pictures (about 409), I created a separate album for these pictures.

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Album: Holidays 2011 – visit to Deutschland Express in Gelsenkirchen

During our september-holidays 2011, we also visited Deutschland Express in Gelsenkirchen.Due to the large amount of pictures (about 546), I created a separate album for these pictures.

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Album: Holidays 2011 – visit to Ardenner Culture Boulevard

During our september-holidays 2011, we also visited the Modellbahnshow in Merklingen.Due to the large amount of pictures (about 60), I created a separate album for these pictures.

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Album: Holidays 2011

During our holidays in september 2011, we visited several “things”, during a trip trough Germany (that started in the Belgian Ardennes): Caves of “Hannes-sur-Lesse” Ardenner Culture Boulevard Deutschland Express in Gelsenkirchen Modellbundesbahn in Bad-Driburg Modellbahn in Wiehe Wernigerode: Visit to … Continue reading

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Background pictures for the H0 layout

I digged up my Busch and Jowi CDRoms with nature/buildings/industrial/harbor/mountains/landscapes pictures on it.  I decided it was time to create the background pictures, for the whole layout.  I created graphical files with Gimp (free photoshop alike), at 300 dpi, with … Continue reading

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Some electronics for the H0 layout

The last weeks, I did spend some time on watching “Lost” (all 6 seasons), and soldering some Velleman kits. I do have a CNC machine (Elektor Profiler), and normally I would like to create schematics and PCB myself, but since … Continue reading

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H0 railroad layout – current status

I just made a little movie (4 minutes and 9 seconds), about the current status of the HO layout … Enjoy 🙂 Click here to see the movie

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A bunch of new “toys” …

It all started with the wish of the modelrailroad club where I’m a member off. They wanted an android device, to control the modelrailroad layout remotely. So, we bought some cheap android devices in China, (about 83 euro !) with … Continue reading

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Home automation – my own hardware !

I started creating my own bus-system, to control via a network connection. (Winsock ?) I have created some basic modules, to start with in the modelrailroad room. But I will certainly create other/extra modules in the future 🙂 Every module … Continue reading

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H0 real working traffic lights

I started building some traffic lights … A modelrailroad friend of mine, asked me for a solution to control his modelrailroad traffic lights. Because I also need some traffic lights at my new layout, I started building a configurable traffic … Continue reading

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Album: visit to Ontraxs in Utrecht

We visited the modelrailroad exhibition “Ontraxs” in Utrecht …

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The building of Diorama “The cargo dock” (scale 1/35)

In our new cabinet, we have about 3 large glass shelves, each 90 cm x 90 cm (35,43 inch x 35,43 inch), on each shelve we are going to put a diorama. The central theme of each diorama, will be … Continue reading

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Amerigo Vespucci – Deagostini version (scale 1/84)

Today, I received a “shipwreck” of the Amerigo Vespucci … For those who don’t know the Amerigo Vespucci, check out this wikipedia link Actual image of the Amerigo Vespucci, docked in Venice (Italy) A few years ago, Deagostini published a … Continue reading

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LED controller for momentary switched modelrailroad turnouts

Since a few months, I (and Christel) became proud members of MAG (Modelrailroad Club Agfa Gevaert). For the current modelrailroad project, they were looking for a way to have “control LEDs” on a synopic board, to indicate the position of … Continue reading

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Our best wishes for 2011 …

Our best wishes for 2011 … Click here to see our best wishes for 2011 …

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Coolest gadget I discovered this year – O2 Joggler

A product that already exists for a few years, drew my attention this year … It’s called “O2 Joggler”, and is a product that originates from the UK. The reason why this “joggler” caught my attention, is first of all, … Continue reading

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Christmas presents already known :-)

While it is still more then 2 weeks, before Christmas arrives, the presents are already known 🙂 But as a sidenote, they stay under the Christmas tree, until the Christmas night ! I bought an Apple IPAD for Christel, the … Continue reading

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A 6-digit, 7-segment, RGB-LED clock for Christel

Aah, finally another nice project 🙂 We already have a green 7-segment LED clock in our living room. Those digits are 10 cm high. Christel asked me to build another clock for the master-bedroom, and it “escalated” a bit 🙂 … Continue reading

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Stairs light controller – project on demand

I got a request for a project on demand, and I agreed, because I can also use this device for something else 🙂 A few weeks ago, “someone” asked me to build a stairs-light-controller. He wanted to put 10 bright … Continue reading

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Album: Holidays 2010 – visit to Modellbahnshow in Merklingen

During our september-holidays 2010, we also visited the Modellbahnshow in Merklingen.Due to the large amount of pictures (about 553), I created a separate album for these pictures.

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Album: Holidays 2010 – visit to Schwarzwaldbahn in Hausach

During our september-holidays 2010, we also visited the Schwarzwaldbahn in Hausach.Due to the large amount of pictures (about 257), I created a separate album for these pictures.

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Album: Holidays 2010 – visit to Schauswanzlebahn in Blumberg

During our september-holidays 2010, we also visited the Schauswanzlebahn in Blumberg.Due to the large amount of pictures (about 218), I created a separate album for these pictures.

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Album: Holidays 2010 – visit to Faller in Gutenbach

During our september-holidays 2010, we also visited Faller in Gutenbach.Due to the large amount of pictures (about 95), I created a separate album for these pictures.

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Album: Holidays 2010 – visit to Miniland in Munchen

During our september-holidays 2010, we also visited Miniland in Munchen.Due to the large amount of pictures (about 538), I created a separate album for these pictures.

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Album: Holidays 2010

During our holidays of 2010, we mainly visited Germany, and lots of (model)railroad related “things to see” … This is a list of places (non railroad related) we visited: The castle of Neuschwanstein The waterfalls of Triberg Museum of clocks … Continue reading

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The *new* H0 layout …

Back in april 2010, we started with the renovation of the second garage. We teared down the wall between these 2 garage, and dit put an iron I-beam under the roof, to “hold it up” … I installed airco/heating, laminat … Continue reading

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Tour de France in Belgium

Tour-de-France did pas by our village today …

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My entry for a contest: “Weathering for modelrailroad”

On the Dutch 3-rail forum, they organised a photo-contest, based on Weathering for modelrailroad. I still have my WR360, so I did take some pictures, and send them in.

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Home automation software

In the meanwhile, we did the necessary brainstorming about the “modularity” of this home automation project. We concluded that it is best to divide the system in different logic blocks. These blocks are: @Home Client This application will be a … Continue reading

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H0 modelrailroad – the end of a chapter …

Back in october 2008, we started with our H0 modelrailroad. We did this in our first garage. The situation was not that optimal at all, with a workbench located underneath the layout (due to space limitations), but hey, we could … Continue reading

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Some snow in Belgium

We had some snow here in Belgium. About 500 meter from our home, we have a protected nature area. We went for a walk 🙂 Furthermore, we also added some pictures of our garden in the snow …

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Building another BR52 Steam locomotive *EXTRA* (scale 1/35)

We currently have 2 Trumpeter BR52 sets laying around (don’t ask !) … So, Christel also started to build one ! Today, she completed building steps 1 & 2, before she can continue on step 3, the extra LionRoar PE … Continue reading

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Märklin globe in cabinet with twinkling stars

On April 12th, 2009, the Easter-bunny brought me a present … Actually, today I drove about 312 kilometers to get my Easter-present 🙂 (156 KM in one direction) A trip from Ekeren, to somewhere above Utrecht, (with a bag full … Continue reading

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Building closed-shelf cabinets (for H0 models)

Due to some illness, I was not able to work on my modelrailroad layout for some months. So, I did spent a lot of time (and money) on Ebay, which results in the fact that I now own more trains … Continue reading

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Building a BR52 Steam locomotive *ORIGINAL* (scale 1/35)

In our new cabinet, we have about 3 large glass shelves, each 90 cm x 90 cm. The idea came to mind to put some “big” locomotives on these shelves. So, I started looking around, and noticed that “gauge 1” … Continue reading

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Building a gondola (scale 1/35)

The WR360 will be part of a diorama (number 2 in a set of 3 diorama’s), and so I needed 2 extra gondola’s to put behind the WR360. Here you can follow the building of those gondola’s. Due to my … Continue reading

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The building of Diorama “The loc shed” (scale 1/35)

In our new cabinet, we have about 3 large glass shelves, each 90 cm x 90 cm (35,43 inch x 35,43 inch), on each shelve we are going to put a diorama. The central theme of each diorama, will be … Continue reading

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Album: Night of the Proms

On sunday, we did go to the “Night of the Proms” in the Antwerp Sportpaleis. We did enjoy the following artists: Roxette OMD Sharon Den Adel (from “Within Temptation”) Toots Thielemans Peter & Zoltan Katona John Miles Fine Fleur (vocals) … Continue reading

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The cyborgs are here – Happy Birthday Christel :-)

The Cyborgs are here ! No, it’s actually Christel, playing on the WII, with LCD Cinema Screen glasses on 🙂 Happy Birthday Christel !

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The building of Diorama “Crossroads” (scale 1/35)

In our new cabinet, we have about 3 large glass shelves, each 90 cm x 90 cm (35,43 inch x 35,43 inch), on each shelve we are going to put a diorama. The central theme of each diorama, will be … Continue reading

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Building a WR360 C12 Diesel locomotive (scale 1/35)

In our new cabinet, we have about 3 large glass shelves, each 90 cm x 90 cm. The idea came to mind to put some “big” locomotives on these shelves. So, I started looking around, and noticed that “gauge 1” … Continue reading

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Album: Holidays 2009 – Modellbahnwelt Oberhausen

During our september-holidays 2009, we also visited “Modellbahnwelt Oberhausen”.Due to the large amount of pictures (about 645), I created a separate album for these pictures.

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Album: Holidays 2009 – visit to Märklin Erlebeniswelt

During our september-holidays 2009, we also visited Märklin Erlebeniswelt in Göppingen.Due to the large amount of pictures (about 135), I created a separate album for these pictures.

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Album: Holidays 2009 – visit to Madurodam

During our september-holidays 2009, we also visited Madurodam in Den Haag.Due to the large amount of pictures (about 359), I created a separate album for these pictures.

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Album: Holidays 2009 – visit to Railzminiworld Rotterdam

During our september-holidays 2009, we also visited Railzminiworld in Rotterdam.Due to the large amount of pictures (about 426), I created a separate album for these pictures.

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Album: Holidays 2009

During our holidays in september 2009, we visited several “things” in Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany: Brugge – Venice of the North (Belgium) Amsterdam (we stayed in the CitizenM hotel !) Den Haag (where we visited Madurodam and also visited … Continue reading

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a new lens for our Nikon DSLR

While taking my Nikon DSLR for the second time with us on holidays, I felt the need for another lens. I had a 18-55mm lens (standard lens that came with the Nikon DSLR), which is actually sometimes not enough, when … Continue reading

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A whole bunch of new “high-tech” stuff !

The last few months, we invested quiet a large amount of money, in “high-tech” gear 🙂 (No, we don’t feel like there is any financial crisis out there !) We bought: 2 smartphones (with windows mobile) a 42″ Full HD … Continue reading

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Ultrasonic cleaner

I do have a few “dirty” locs, the idea came to mind, to clean them “ultrasonic”. So, after reading a few reviews about ultrasonic cleaners, we decided to buy one … The result is an E-sonic 1200GH Technical specifications: High … Continue reading

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Our (current) robotics collection

One of my other passions, is robotics. Since I have the necessary “machinery” to build things, I don’t have so much urge to buy robotic kits anymore. (I create my own things now => Check out the topic about Andy … Continue reading

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A brand new home-cinema receiver

Due to some problems with our previous hifi-set, we decided to buy a brand new home-cinema receiver. I already knew what I wanted, weeks in advance 🙂 So, we bought a Sony STR-DG820 ! I must say, the sound that … Continue reading

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Byebye Telenet, hello TV-vlaanderen

This weekend, our set-top-box from “Telenet Digital TV” died ! Because we already tought about switching to satellite reception this year, this was the moment to buy a dish-set. (a bit earlier then forseen). So, now we pay about half … Continue reading

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Giant 128×64 LED matrix display

As you would have allready guessed from previous projects, I really love LEDs ! No Really, I really do ! (and even this is still an understatement) I allways wanted a giant LED display, to hang on the frontwall of … Continue reading

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Andy hexapod – CNC’ed

Since I have a CnC machine, and I needed some practice with servo’s for my home automation projects, I decided it was time for a little “fun” project. Inspired by some forum-threads at www.trossenrobotics.com, I made a hexapod, completely from … Continue reading

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Short-coupler on Märklin Hogwarts Express

I do own the Marklin Hogwarts Express, aka the Harry Potter train. (which is actually a Hornby set, but who cares) Because the coaches were to far apart, I decided to put Ribu shortcouplings underneath it, do minimize the distance … Continue reading

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Merry Christmas !

We wish all our friends, family and visitors of our website, a Merry Christmas ! Some of you got a Christmas card from us, with the following picture on it … The solution for this riddle is easy, you can … Continue reading

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230V – Triac board – DANGER ! HIGH VOLTAGE !

I stumbled upon a real bargain on internet. 200 Triacs for about 12 euro, including handling & shipment ! Those babies are able to drive 4A at 400V, so I couldn’t resist, and ordered these Triacs.  I decided to build … Continue reading

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Album: Night of the Proms

To finish our “party week” (Due to Christels’ birthday), we went to the “Night of the Proms” in the “Antwerp sportpaleis”. This 4-hours long show, was really good … We did see: Midge Ure (the guy from Ultravox, well-known from … Continue reading

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Album: Happy Birthday Christel !

Aah, it has been a while, since the previous update, this was mainly due to a lack of time 😉 (No, really, I mean it !) – First of all, in the weekend of october, 25th and 26th, we went … Continue reading

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Cube@Home – LED cube 8x8x8

I have seen lots of LED cubes on different blogging sites in the past. Actually, I saw so many of them, that I decided to create my own. The result is a LED-cube with 8x8x8 LEDs (8 LEDs in every … Continue reading

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Album: Modelrailroad exposition – Mechelen

We visited the “Modelspoor Expo” in Mechelen. A 2-yearly event, organized by Modelspoormagazine. Please enjoy the pictures 🙂 (about 222)

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Learning electronics by building clocks

On of the first things I learned in my self-study of electronics, was building clocks. The main circuit to maintain the clock, is mostly the same in all projects. (using a DS1820 RTC, backup battery and precision 32 Khz oscillator) … Continue reading

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Album: Holidays 2008

In september 2008, we had a big trip trough some countries and cities in Europe. Due to some medical limitations, I’m not allowed to use airplanes, so travelling by car will be our main transportation utility during our holidays. We … Continue reading

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Eifel Tower – CNC’ed

In preparation of our visit to Paris in november 2008 (For Christels’ birthday), I looked at the Eifel-Tower website. I found a DXF (3D) file of the Eifeltower 🙂 “Mangling” it trough AutoCad and Rams3D Gold, I finally got some … Continue reading

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Electronic “analog” clock

Not really “fully analog”, but getting close to it … With analog I actually mean a clock with a number-plate and hours/minutes arrows …  This is also one of those “could I do it ?”-projects. I wanted to see if … Continue reading

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A bit of history …

As long as I can remember, I had a great interest in electronics and mechanics. When I was a young kid, I did take everything apart, to see how things work ! Hey, I’m from 1974, we didn’t have discovery-channel … Continue reading

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Album: Lillo and Doel

Together with Rik & Monique, we decided to bring a visit to Lillo and Doel. Lillo is a small town, in the middle of the Antwerp harbour. You can take a free ferry from Lillo to Doel. Doel is almost … Continue reading

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A small RGB LED project, including housing

After a period of “building clocks”, it was time to move on … While spending our holidays all troughout Germany in 2007, We also visited Legoland, were they can laser-engrave a 3D picture in an acrylic block. We decided to … Continue reading

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GPS logger / photo tagging

We recently bought a “GPS logger”, with the next vacation in mind. A GPS logger is a small device, that you turn on at the beginning of a trip, you put it in your pocket, and just forget about it, … Continue reading

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About us …

First of all, what would a personal website be, without a picture of the owners ? 🙂 This is a picture of Kris and Christel, taken on the top of the Mont-Blanc in France, during some holidays 🙂

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Album: Antwerp harbour day

At Antwerp open harbour-day, people can visit the Antwerp Harbour, including a boat-trip trough the docks, and a visit inside some companies … So, we visited this event, and did take the opportunity to test out the GPS logger and … Continue reading

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A new photo-camera – DSLR – Nikon D60

On Saturday, june 21th – 2008, my sister in law (my wifes’ sister) and her husband, did trow a party, because of there 25th anniversary of marriage. A few days before that party, she phoned us, with the question if … Continue reading

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A white Christmas (with lots of lights)

Back in the summer of 2007, we finished our garden. That same year, we exaggerated a bit with our Christmas lights and decoration 🙂 It was also in that same year, that we did have a white Christmas. (This is … Continue reading

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*Venatio* – the movie !

You will probably think, a posting, dated in 2005, for a site that started in 2008 ? Yes, you are right, but this is one of three exceptions 🙂 Back in 2005, is was a member of AVAC. A Belgian … Continue reading

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Lego Mindstorms Vision Command ActiveX

This is one of those 3 exception postings, that do exist way longer then this website 🙂 Back in the year 2000, I was selected as a preview member by the Lego company, for the release of the Vision Command. … Continue reading

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Lego Mindstorms enhanced CD wall

This is one of those exception postings (there are three of them) Because the old website where this belongs, does no longer exists, I decided to add these to our blog, dated before the start of digitalplayground.be in 2008 … … Continue reading

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