Alex Tech Bits
Railway Engineer
Projects (DIY) & Hobbies
Confucius said: "Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life".Approximately that summarize my daily work, however, in my freetime I have some hobbies that I like to hang out, for example, travel, practicing fencing, etc. for further information please go to Places or Projects & Hobbies.
In the following paragraphs you will find summarizes some of my works in the railway field:
Link to WEB page
Dust Race (a 205 raid)
In 2019 I've started a very interisting proyect, with my wife, we participated in an amateur rallye driving an old Peugeot 205.
The raid was e quite taugh but it also was a a great experience.
However, one of the most important excuses to carry out this raid is the solidarity action that we carry out, helping with a minimum of 10 kg of school supplies so that the south of Morocco can develop better.
See the Team webpage if you want more information.
Link to WEB page
3D Design
I like to design in 3D and with the new additive printers many of those pieces can become reality, as there are many technologies and materials today I prefer to be linked to a company that prints my designs.
I also offer my design services to mold anything that the client requires and that can be printed through this company.
The link leads to my profile in ShapeWays
Link to WEB page
Home Automation
I'm also involved with Arduino, a very powerful platform that serves for multitude of projects. In my issue, the biggest project is the development of home automation, mainly to replace the one I currently have whose operation is erratic and very expensive maintenance.
Spot Welder
A spot welder ir a very easy project to do. You just need a transformer of an old microwave, remove the secondary winding and replace it with another one of just two or three turns.
My spot welded was made with a transformer of 1 kW, after the upgrade, the numbers given by the transformer is about 120A @ 3Vac.
To finish the tool I will need to build something to give the enough pressure to ensure the welding.
See the drawings
Bat Top Arcade
I have built an Arcade with an oldish style.
I designed it in 3D and draw the drawings, then cut the wood and assembled it. In the core it has a Raspberry PI with the SO and the software to play hundreds of games.
It was a present for my wife.
CNC
Always is good to have colleagues to help. Antonio Ramos is one of them, among other things, Antonio has mounted a CNC machine (Computer Numerical Control). For the time being he only can make 2D pieces, but he is working to upgrade his CNC to shape 3D pieces.
He is open to collaborate too. I am also in conversation to make 2D carbon fiber pieces to repair radio controlled cars
Alex's General Purpose C
At the beginnin (early 2000) I used PICs to design my own circuits. This in the picture in particular it has been design to have different blocks that you can weld or not if it is needed (it was a kind os Arduino, before it went on the market).
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LCD display port
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ICSP port
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A couple of amplifiers
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Optocuplers
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Darlington Array
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Port A, Port B, Port C and Port D connectors
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16F877 and 16F876 sockets
Hobbies & Sports
As I said, not everything is engineering, I also like many other things, reading, cooking, partying. I try to stay as fit as I can, for that I usually practice some martial art.
Wing Chun Kung Fu
I try to be as fitter as I can.
Twice a week I practice a couple of hours of Wing Chun, a kind of Kung Fu.
My masters (Sifu Guillermo & Sifu Elías) are great teachers and better people. They give awesome classes where a learn not only Wing Chun but a way to control ourself and keep calm in any situation.
Link to WEB page
My Sifus, my collegues and me in my 2nd exam
Ancient Fencing
I have practiced ancient fencing several years, it is a not common but very interesting and jazzy sport. We use medieval sword to fight and we also must wear heavy protections, from gloves to helmet. It not only a sport, but a martial art that grow your sence of cordiality and respect. For example, often during a fight is very difficult to know who have gave the hit so if the opponent hits you you must say it.
That's me fighting (the one in black)
Link to WEB page
My Rubki's cube collection
Rubik Cube
In my early years of university I started playing with the cube of Rubik and after a few days I solved the problem and then I started to train to solve it quicker. With some friends and I, we've reduced the movements to the minimum reaching my own record to 25 seconds, an average of 35 seconds. Nowadays, I do not have the same ability but I still solving it in around a minute.
Reading books
Whenever I can, I like to read a good book. I usually read Fantasy books where, of course, The Lord of the Rings is one of my favorites, but Science Fiction is my fancied style. I have read many Sci-Fi books, some ancient books like "Brave New World" written by Aldous Huxley or "Farenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury and some more modern like the last ones written by Brian Herbert, that continues the saga of "Dune" written by his father. Of course, Isaac Asimov is one of my favourite writers too.
Kerbal Space Program
One of my favorite hobbies is this interesting and addictive computer game. Simulate a space race in a world and solar system similar to ours. The game is quite complex, since you have to have a multitude of variables in mind when you design and mount the rocket. The applied physics is quite close to reality and the game also has the possibility to include plug-ins to improve the experience.
Simply AWESOME!
Link to WEB page