gloomy-place

Welcome to gloomy-place

Welcome to the personal web site of Andy Shaw. This is the place that I keep things that may be of interest to someone out there. Feel free to browse around and if you find anything you would like to know more about then mail me and I'll try and help.

Why gloomy-place? Well those of you that have met me may know that I'm a long time fan of A. A. Milne's character Eeyore (and some would say I share some of his outlook on life!). The place that you will find Eeyore in the 100 Acre wood is called Eeyores gloomy place. So what could be a better name for my own web site? 

Anyway I hope you find something here of interest and in the words of the Disney version of my favorite character "Thanks for noticin' me!"

Walking and the Outdoors

A long held interest of mine has been the outdoors. I've often walked on the local hills of the Pennines, the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District. Since 1994 I've visited the far North West of Scotland every year for a weeks walking with friends. Most of my summer holidays over the past few years have been spent in the Alps,  Dolomites or the Islands of Scotland. In recent years I've become more and more involved in climbing, both indoors and outside in the real world. Take a look at the my outdoors pages for some photographs. All of my digital photographs are now on line take a look at my album pages to see them.

Weather Station

Towards the end of 2005 I had an early Xmas present, An automatic weather station! Another opportunity to work out how to use software and hardware to interface to the real world (in this case one that could be very wet and very windy!). Take a look at my weather pages for real time weather information and details of the fun I've had getting it all working.

CNC

I love making things, using computers and working with electronics. This project combines all three. A computer controlled milling machine.

Model Submarines

I've always liked to build things and one of the areas I've been involved with for the past 10 years or so is building model boats. In particular I tend to specialize in the construction of working model submarines. I'm a member of my local model boat club (Kirklees Model Boat Club) and also an international association of people interested in model submarines (The Subcommittee). My submarine pages have a number of photographs of my own and friends models.

Microcontroller Projects

The major challenges with model submarines is actually making them work. I cheat by using a lot of electronics to help! These days cheap microcontrollers allow you to build some very complex control systems without having to have lots of parts. My  projects page has some details of a couple of the designs I've built to make controlling a submarine a lot easier. It never ceases to amaze me how much you can do with these devices.

Lego Mindstorms/Cybermaster

I grew up playing with Lego (what a great toy). I've also always had an interest in robotics. So when I heard that Lego had produced a couple of robotics kits I had to rush out and buy them! You certainly seem to get lots more types of bricks these days! Take a look at my Lego pages for some more details of what it is I've done with the kits.