The 555 Design Contest shook a whole bunch of really creative circuits out of the trees, hence the 555-heavy content lately. While not technically part of the contest, [esalazar] wanted to know wha… ...

Each sub-module that makes up the 555 — comparators, flip-flop, and amplifier — are made from salvaged discrete parts in actual breadboard fashion, soldered to brass nails hammered into wood.

I use 74HC04’s and 74C14’s but not 555’s. I’ve used ECL fast logic, and discrete transistors. But the 555 just does not do anything precise, or even semi-precise, that I need done. So that’s one thing ...

In this project, I'll make a small circuit capable of controlling a servo, it is a servo tester made out of a 555 timer IC.

Using a CMOS 555 timer and a single NPN transistor, you can drive as many as seven LEDs using a minimal amount of voltage and power from a single NiMH (nickel-metal-hydride) AA cell. The circuit works ...

A close look at the circuit reveals that it consists of a discrete D-type flip-flop formed by NAND gates U1a-U1c. The setup delay of the LS series gates is around 10 ns. This causes the settling ...