Mech MarkBuild write-ups, tutorials, and project post-mortems from the bench.https://mechmark.co/I gave my plant a microcontroller it didn't ask forhttps://mechmark.co/blog/esp32-garden-guardian/https://mechmark.co/blog/esp32-garden-guardian/Soil moisture, pump control, an ESP32, and a tiny PCB. The plant is fine. The project is overkill. The write-up is here.Sat, 02 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTKiCad in 90 minutes — schematic to fab fileshttps://mechmark.co/blog/kicad-90-min/https://mechmark.co/blog/kicad-90-min/A no-nonsense walkthrough. No design wizardry, no "easy" shortcuts that aren't. Just the workflow I actually use.Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTThe fume sniffer that keeps yelling at mehttps://mechmark.co/blog/fume-sniffer/https://mechmark.co/blog/fume-sniffer/A particle sensor + RP2040 on the bench arm. It works. It also thinks toast is a hazardous material.Fri, 03 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTThree reasons rev1 boards never workhttps://mechmark.co/blog/post-mortem-rev1/https://mechmark.co/blog/post-mortem-rev1/Footprints. Decoupling. Hubris. Pick any three. A short list, written from the smoking ruins of a prototype.Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTA pocket SDR scanner that I probably shouldn't carry aroundhttps://mechmark.co/blog/rtl-sdr-pocket/https://mechmark.co/blog/rtl-sdr-pocket/STM32 driving an RTL-SDR in a 3D-printed grip. Battery life is honest. Reception is suspicious.Wed, 04 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT