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Practical Electronics | March | 2023
Volume 52. No. 3
March 2023
ISSN 2632 573X
Editorial
Important advice
Last month, we published an excellent project, Driveway Gate
Remote Control for sliding and swinging electric Gates by Dr Hugo
Holden. It’s a clever design based around common and easily
sourced TTL logic ICs. A reader phoned me to say that readers
and potential constructors do need to see this as only part of the
design. If your automated/motorised gate is accessible to, or ever
likely to be operated by anyone other than you, then you must
comply with all relevant safety regulations – and yes, such gates
are specifically referenced in UK law (and doubtless outside the
UK too). The safety systems commercial gates use include, but
are not limited to, infrared beam or radar interrupts to ensure that
anyone near the gate cannot be trapped, crushed or otherwise
harmed. The PE design as presented does include provision for
limit switches, so it shouldn’t be difficult to add additional stop
functionality. It’s better to be safe rather than sorry, so do please
take this advice seriously.
We try to make all PE designs as safe as possible. This usually
means being careful with amps and volts, especially if sourced
from the mains, but all projects need to be viewed as potential
hazards. Often, common sense will cover possible dangers – don’t
let small children near circuits with a button cell, they are a real
choke hazard. However, in other areas a little more research may
be necessary, so do please always consider this. If you don’t know
or understand a risk then don’t plough ahead regardless – ask
someone with knowledge and experience.
Techno Talk – the end of an era ...
Last – but definitely not least – in this issue we bid a fond farewell
to Mark Nelson, who after 20 or so years is retiring from the
Techno Talk column in Practical Electronics. I will greatly miss his
keen eye for the strange, unusual, fascinating and unexpected that
regularly crops up in the hugely diverse electronics universe. From
nanogenerators embedded in skin-worn patches and activated by
body movement to PCBs made from mushrooms, Mark had an
uncanny knack for hunting down brilliant stories and condensing
them into a quick, coffee-break-sized one-page read. Trust me,
writing page after page of comment on fascinating topics is
relatively easy. Squeezing several stories into a thousand words is
a rare talent. All of us at PE wish Mark the very best for the future.
… and the start of a new one
That’s the sad news, but the good news is that the Techno Talk
column lives on! PE’s very own Mr Cool Bean, Clive ‘Max’
Maxfield will be taking on the mantle of Techno Talk scribe.
Max has an insatiable appetite for fascinating (and occasionally
ridiculous) technology stories, so the column couldn’t be in safer
hands – Max, over to you!
Matt Pulzer
Publisher
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