I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/03/10/50mhz-to-100mhz-scope-conversion/
[Ross] is the proud owner of a 50 MHz Rigol DS1052E oscilloscope. He’d like to have the 100 MHz version but the $400 difference in price puts it out of his reach. After some extensive poking around on the PCB and pouring over datasheets, he managed to reverse engineer the design and upgrade to a 100 MHz version. This is as easy as desoldering one capacitor to deactivate a high-pass filter present in the lesser model of scope, unlocking the faster potential of its bigger brother.
March 10 2010, 3:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/03/10/game-glove-learns-your-weakness/
[Steve Hoefer] pulled together a great hack for the friendless. This glove will play a heated game of rock-paper-scissors against you. [Steve] realized that the middle and fourth fingers are all that need to be monitored to decide which of the three signs you are making. He used flex sensors on the back of these fingers as an input. There is also an accelerometer to judge the three shakes that lead up to the shoot.
The small screen you see displays what the glove chose and is a hack in itself. This idea adapts from an Evil Mad Scientist project, using three sheets of acrylic etched with the different icons and edge-lit with LEDs. All of this, along with a speaker and scoreboard, connect to an Arduino. The icing on the cake? [Steve] coded an adaptive learning algorithm that observes your playing style to gain an advantage.
See this in action after the break. Once you’ve mastered rock-paper-scissors you should consider building other glove-based peripherals.
[Thanks Zokier]
March 10 2010, 9:43am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/03/09/add-a-clean-room-to-your-workshop-2/
I Heart Robotics has posted a guide for building your own clean room. They’ve been clever with their materials, starting with heavy-duty shelving to provide the framework. We like that idea, it allows you to position your workspace at whatever height you desire.
The side walls are MDF painted with white enamel. Light, power, and tools are mounted to these walls. To keep things clean, a ventilation system uses a vacuum filter and 12V fans to keep filtered air moving in and dirty air out.
Maybe now we’ll be able to pull off that window hack without killing our hard drive.
[Thanks Mawitö and Ciric]
March 9 2010, 3:34pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/03/05/usb-oscilloscope/
Here’s a USB oscilloscope project from a few years back. It’s easy to build on a single-sided PCB and very cheap because it uses just a handful of parts. At the center, an ATtiny45 microcontroller uses its ADC capabilities for the two traces and also handles the USB connectivity. The internal oscillator is used and trimmed up for accuracy by referencing the USB clock. On the PC side of things, a program written in C# displays the data coming over the serial bus. Quick, small, and useful; a schematic, board layout, firmware, and PC software sources are all available for download.
[Thanks Shri]
March 5 2010, 2:15pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/03/03/vacuum-pick-and-place-for-smd-parts/
[Pete] has written up this in depth how-to on building a vacuum pick and place from an aquarium pump and a pen. The pump conversion to vacuum is extremely simple, with a slight modification to a valve being all that is necessary. The pen is only slightly more involved, but still extremely simple. This entire project could be done in an evening for less than $30. If you’re doing a ton of SMD work, it could be a no-brainer.
[thanks Drone]
March 3 2010, 9:39am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/02/28/open-source-logic-analyzer-2/
Hackaday alum [Ian Lesnet] has been working in cahoots with a dedicated team of developers to produce the OpenBench Logic Sniffer. This caseless logic analyzer can operate at 100MHz and sample 32 channels at once. Better yet, a digital oscilloscope add-on is in the works. The pre-order comes in at $45, that’s a lot of functionality for just a few greenbacks. We’ve embedded a demo video after the break that details installing and using this device under Ubuntu.
[Thanks Drone via Dangerous Prototypes]
February 28 2010, 5:28pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/02/26/drilling-perfectly-centered-holes/
If you’ve ever been caught in the situation of needing to drill a clean straight hole down the center of a bolt or rod, you’ve probably tried and ended up with a broken bit or tilted hole, and a ton of cursing to boot.
[Vik] let us know about this nifty trick for drilling ‘down the middle’ using a simple hobby drill press and vice. He claims it’s ‘physics guiding the bit’ but in reality its just crafty use of a chuck. Either way the quick trick works, and will hopefully save a lot of hackers some headaches in the future.
Let us know in the comments if you have any simple quick tips that you use when you’re out in the shop.
February 26 2010, 12:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/02/25/nokia-usb-cable-is-usb-to-ftdi-in-disguise/
[Jethomson] worked out a way to use a Nokia USB cable at a USB to FTDI cable. He was able to pick up one of these cables for less than $3 delivered. A little probing worked out which conductors go with the appropriate signals and from there he developed a way to protect the 3.3v signal levels with a voltage divider.
It’s not surprising that this works, having seen [Will O'Brien's] post covering serial communications on Nokia phones. In that post we learned that the Nokia phones are using TTL communications. Once you’ve completed [Jethomson's] modifications to the cable you can follow his examples for using this in conjunction with an Arduino.
February 25 2010, 4:02pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/02/24/10-bit-rotary-precision-for-servos/
[Antonb] added 10-bit encoding to a standard servo. He’s removed the potentiometer, separated its shaft and used it to rotate a small magnet. By sandwiching an AS5040 rotatory encoder IC into the servo’s housing he can now measure the precise orientation of the servo horn. This is made easier by his tiny breakout board for the chip. If you want to layout your own PCB you can download the EagleCAD files for this device. Take a look at the final product in the clip after the break.
[yoututbe=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z0Giro4R7M]
February 24 2010, 2:57pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/02/18/lathe-modification/
The folks over at NerdKits got a shiny new Smithy 1220xl lathe/ mill. They found, however that adjusting the Z axis wasn’t as accurate as they desired. They decided to resolve this by installing a digital caliper and an LCD interface to display the adjustments. The writeup is quite detailed and the results seem to work great.
February 18 2010, 12:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/02/16/microscope-lens-hack/
Who doesn’t need to take pictures of the microscopic bits inside of an integrated circuit? [Mojobojo] made an end-run around the expensive equipment by building a microscopic lens from an old camcorder. He’s using a regular digital camera with the lens set to its largest zoom level. The camera is pointed into the salvaged camcorder lens where the fine tuning is done. His first iteration was just taped to the desk with a small hand flashlight illuminating the subject. He upgraded that setup by building a LEGO enclosure and changing to a much brighter light source. The images he’s getting are quite surprising and this will be very useful during those extreme hacks when you need to tap into an IC’s internal data rails.
[Thanks Julius]
February 16 2010, 8:26am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/02/12/transparent-rubber-enclosures/
This clear rubber puck serves as the enclosure for a diy mp3 player. The wires encapsulated in the rubber are just there for looks but the utility of using this material as a case is fascinating. Alas, there’s no details on the material other than that it’s clear rubber. Update: [Reboots] picked up on some info that we originally missed. Looks like this is made from some Smooth-On PCM 780 urethane rubber.
We’ve looked into casting our own molds from silicone rubber in the past. That may be the process used here but we can’t tell what allows the two halves to be pried apart. We’ve embedded video after the break that details casting rubber around a part in one solid block, then cutting the rubber off of that to create a mold. We’re also familiar with the mold making kits from Tap plastics but as far as we know, they’re always colored and never clear.
We keep our eyes peeled for new prototyping products and we want to know more about the materials and the process used to make this cylindrical elastomer. If you’ve got the goods on how this is done, please share them in the comments.
[via Gizmo Watch]
February 12 2010, 5:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/02/11/use-an-analog-oscilloscope-to-display-digital-logic/
[Mike Bradley] wanted to use his oscilloscope to display 8 channels of digital signals. Alas, the analog unit didn’t have this capability. Not to worry, he threw together an adapter module that does the trick. Using a PIC 18F26K20 microcontroller he inputs four or eight channel digital logic (at 5V) and filters the output to an analog signal that the oscilloscope can interpret. What you see in the photo above is the result.
February 11 2010, 10:30am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/02/09/tiny-power-supply-monitor/
[Manekinen] built a power supply monitor based around an AVR ATtiny13. Voltage and amperage are displayed on a 16×2 LCD character display (we’re not sure what the third number is… samples per second?). This is no small feat considering that the tiny13 is an 8-pin chip. He makes it happen by using the pins for both LCD control and ADC input. To make this happen the HD44780 compliant display is used in 4-bit mode. Check out the video after the break and hit up the non-translated page if you want to download the source code and PCB artwork. A note of warning, he’s using the RESET pin for I/O which means once you burn the fuses you’ll need a programmer that has High Voltage Serial Programming capabilities if you want to reprogram the chip.
[Thanks RicoElectrico]
February 9 2010, 6:17am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/02/06/update-adafruit-eagle-library-now-with-arduino/
Adafruit Industries has just added an Arduino shield footprint to their EagleCAD library. If you don’t know, the Arduino headers use non-standard pin spacing. Learn to deal with it, there’s too many Arduino shields in production to have any hope for a change in the future. This footprint should make it a lot easier to design your own boards. If you use this package make sure you’re getting the library from their github, they’ve been adding parts regularly. Setting up version control will make sure you always have the latest libraries.
[Thanks pt]
February 6 2010, 12:10pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/02/04/battery-holder-reuses-blister-pack/
In need of a portable power supply, [Alastair] threw some batteries into an Altoids tin. The problem was he didn’t have a holder for these size A23 cells. Inspiration struck and he realized the blister pack they came in fits them snuggly and just needs some conductors to complete the circuit. He pulled some battery contacts from a broken CD player. Using foam-based double-stick tape he added some spring to the contacts and came up with a perfectly sized holder that works wonderfully.
We’ve tried making battery packs by wrapping the entire thing in clods of duct tape. This looks like it works a lot better and there’s still room to fit the batteries and a switch inside of this minty enclosure.
February 4 2010, 12:34pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/02/02/usb-hdd-enclosure-to-dvd-connector/
This is a “why didn’t I think of that?” idea. [Alec] needed a way to connect an IDE DVD drive using USB. Rather than order a connector he pulled the circuit board out of an old USB hard drive enclosure and connected to his DVD drive. Bang, recognized and running.
This will prove extremely handy if you have a netbook without an optical drive. We’ve used Unetbootin to move Linux ISO images to a thumb drive in the past. In addition to getting around the lack of an optical drive, this saves burning the data to a piece of plastic. But, you should be able to use this with a Leopard retail DVD instead of a 16GB thumb drive for a Hackintosh conversion. That means you could install Leopard on a netbook without needing a Mac to transfer the disk image to your thumb drive first.
February 2 2010, 2:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/01/31/120v-switching/
[Kenneth] built a 5v controlled power outlet inside of a junction box. We’ve seen plenty of projects that can switch 120v outlets using 5v logic for refrigerator controllers, lighting controllers, or grow systems, but they almost always use solid state relays to facilitate the switching. This iteration uses mechanical relays along with the necessary protection circuitry. The project is housed in an extra deep single-gang box and allows for individual switching of the two outlets. You can see this connected to an Arduino switching two lamps after the break.
[Thanks Mightysinetheta]
January 31 2010, 2:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/01/21/adafruit-eagle-library/
We love it when a PCB comes out right the first time. We’re careful enough with our designs that if something is wrong it’s usually a footprint problem, like we picked the wrong package for the components. Adafruit is helping to make the design process easier by sharing their Eagle library. Like the Eagle library version control we saw earlier in the month, this library is housed on github making it easy to stay up-to-date. The library includes many components (switches, crystals, IC’s, etc.), and fixes some prolbem-footprints, like 0805 surface mount pads.
January 21 2010, 2:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/01/19/servo-hacked-linear-actuator/
[AntonB] has modified a servo into a powerful linear actuator (think: changing rotational motion into linear motion). The process is simple enough, modify a servo for continuous rotation and then add the custom built actuating shaft. You do of course lose the precision of the servo, but a small price to pay to be able to lift ~20 pounds straight up. Inspiration for such a cheap solution came from his Planetary Surface Exploration Rover. Check out a video of both after the break.
[Thanks Eric]
January 19 2010, 6:41pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/01/12/makita-battery-pack-repair/
[Rob] grew tired of his Makita power tool battery packs dying so he figured out how to repair them himself. The video after the break walks us through the process which starts by cracking open the case. Inside there is a controller board and a battery of ten cells. [Rob] has pinpointed these battery failures to just the first cell, which is confirmed by measuring the cell voltages with a multimeter. The first cell in the demonstration battery reads zero volts and needs to be replaced. For some reason he’s got heck of a lot of these cells on hand, at the end of the video he shows off a massive block of them that provides one half of a kilowatt-hour of power.
To complete the resurrection he removed the control circuitry from the integrated PCB. It seems that the microcontroller on the battery’s PCB monitors it and bricks them when it thinks the life of the unit has ended. By hacking a charger he can now balance-charge the altered battery packs and get more use out of them before they hit the landfill.
January 12 2010, 3:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/01/12/dont-put-that-eprom-in-your-mouth/
[Jeremy] had some chips on hand that included EPROM. We’re not talking about EEPROM, we mean EPROM that need a UV light source to erase. Most people don’t want to drop a few hundred dollars on a dedicated EPROM eraser, there must be another way.
Boy, EPROM really suck. But so do pacifiers and he already had a solution for exposing those to UV. He pulled out his $30 UV pacifier cleaner and tossed the chip inside. Two times through the cleaning cycle and the data was gone. We’ve looked into using UV LEDs to do the job but some experimentation shows that it doesn’t work. These pacifier cleaners are cheap and easy to get a hold of. The real question is are you still using chips that require UV for erasing?
January 12 2010, 11:53am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/01/07/version-control-for-eagle/
[Jeff] set up version control for Eagle libraries and projects. He mentions that Eagle has become the standard for open source hardware projects and he’s absolutely right. We use it for our projects, and we’ve grown to expect that the posts we feature have Eagle files available in most cases.
But Eagle falls short in its library management. There is some amazing work from SparkFun to support a usable parts library, but who hasn’t added parts themselves? [Jeff] setup libraries using github so that changes and additions to the libraries can benefit all and cut the amount of time spent making custom footprints for new components and packages.
January 7 2010, 1:11pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/01/03/powder-coating-at-home/
[j_tenkely] wanted to do his own powder coat painting at home so he built everything he needed, including a coating booth and baking oven. The oven is double walled and built around a frame of steel building studs. Electric oven elements are controlled by a digital control panel and thermostat.
A spray booth is fashioned from a large storage bin. The powder coat gun used in this setup is a commercial project. But don’t fret, this is something you can build rather than buy.
[Thanks goat]
January 3 2010, 2:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/01/01/more-cnc-goodness/
[Jerry] retrofitted a Supermax Mill that he purchased from a friend. The main problem consisted of the original controller failing so he used some Pixie boards and a PC to get the system back up and running.
But thats not all. [Jerry] also retrofitted his Monarch lathe (yes, not a CNC, but are you really going to complain) by replacing the original Ward-Leanard motor generator with a 2 kW brushless AC servo.
The Harford HackerSpace group claims their CNC can kick any other CNC’s butt! Currently it lifts up to 65 pounds, but is still accurate enough to make ninja throwing stars. The only problem left is naming their CNC, any suggestions?
[Ciric] has finished up the hardware side of his CNC project. However the software is still being worked on, but because it is his own stepper control board it might take a while. The good news is the controller and software are planned to be released free.
January 1 2010, 2:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/01/01/old-equipment-repository/
[Swake] tipped us off about a collection of old equipment. The site is packed full of various hardware that was used for electrical and chemical testing, metering, and experimentation. You could use this to identify the dinosaurs found in backrooms of college science departments, or draw inspiration from it. The next time you’re laying out a panel, or working on a steampunk-ish project go to the source to achieve that vintage look. Some of these remind us of the control panel on [Steve Roberts'] bicycle.
January 1 2010, 12:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/12/31/coffeescript-like-aspirin-for-javascript/
CoffeeScript is a language that compiles down into JavaScript. “But why? JavaScript is so simple?” Bullcorn.
If you don’t use JavaScript everyday the language is wonky and frustrating. When you need quick snippet of Javascript to build into a page you may know how to do it with three or four different languages but struggle with the touchy syntax that has long given developers headaches.
Give CoffeeScript a try, you’ll like it. If you do, give them a hand with development too.
[via @hornbeck]
December 31 2009, 9:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/12/29/cnc-project-roundup/
We asked for CNC projects, and wow did you guys deliver!
First up is [J-J Shortcut's] MDF based CNC. He’s made three thus far, with the most recent costing about 180 euro and taking 2 months to build.
[Qwindelzorf] has also constructed a multitude of CNC machines including this industrial size router and this smaller miller.
Finally, [Mick's] large steel CNC which just made its first cut only a week ago!
Keep up the great work guys, CNC machines are not easy to build and your accomplishments are ones for the record books.
December 29 2009, 7:53am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/12/28/five-updates-for-the-steadicam/
[YB2Normal] has updated his steadicam 5 times! For those that remember the original, it allowed indie film makers to create smooth and steady video. Version 2 implemented a new gimbal based on a throttle linkage in cars. Version 3 allowed the user to easily adjust angles and weights to prevent accidentally knocking the assembly. Version 4 seems to have disappeared. And finally, version 5 updates the gimbal again using a Traxxas U-joint and redistributes the weight. What should come next? We think a handle, holding onto a threaded bolt can’t be good for your hands.
[Thanks Update]
December 28 2009, 8:39am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/12/18/need-to-source-nixie-tubes/
Nixie tubes make for fun projects but the fun can’t start until you get your hands on the hardware. Well, [Dieter's] got you covered with his one-stop repository on Nixie tubes and where to get them. We know that Woz’s watch isn’t currently available because of a lack of tiny tubes an obsolete accelerometer. Ladyada’s Ice Tube Clock depends on a rare 8-digit VFD tube. But you can get around parts obsolescence by adapting these designs for an available replacement. So when you take on the Dekatron Timer or a Bottled Nixie Clock you’ll know where to turn for the goods.
Update: Our mistake about Woz’s watch. It wasn’t a tube shortage that put it out of production.
[Thanks Aaron]
December 18 2009, 10:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/12/04/sugru-moldable-silicone-adhesive/
Reader [James] told us about a new product developed with hackers in mind. Sugru is a silicone-based adhesive that cures at room temperature. It is moldable and once hardened it remains slightly flexible. You can see in the picture above that it has been used to create a hook but the inventor shows off a slew of other uses such as replacing missing feet on a chair, molding hand grips, and waterproofing. One of the most enticing aspects is that Sugru will create a chemical bond with smooth metal.
The product reminds us of the two-part earplug material used to ruggedize electronics from a while back. The difference is that Sugru is one part and is an adhesive. It comes as a satchel full of individually-sized packets. To use it, choose how much you need, cut open the package to reveal the product, then knead and mold the chewing-gum-looking substance to fit your needs. Check out the demonstration video after the break.
Want to try some out? Yeah, so do we but it seems they’ve already sold out of their initial supply (good for them, bad for us) and we haven’t seen word on pricing. We’d love to use this to mold enclosures, and for about a billion other things.
December 4 2009, 3:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/11/20/tube-prototyping-station/
[Gio] enjoys using vacuum tubes in his projects. He designs the circuits using a CAD program but was finding that there is no substitute for actually building a prototype before heading to a final design. To make this process easier, he built his own tube prototyping station.
At the top of the board he’s got three different sizes of tube sockets with the pins from each wired as common. The nine pins from the sockets break out to a terminal strip where they can be interfaced with a solderless breadboard. For added versatility he’s included terminals to tap into some RCA jacks, as well as a 100 kOhm variable resistor. We’d bet this is not something that you can find ready-made, but it sure does look a whole lot better than a workbench full of components alligator-clipped together.
November 20 2009, 12:51pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/11/14/rc-lawnmower/
[Johndavid400] built this incredible looking R/C lawnmower. After spending some time repairing broken R/C cars, he wanted to move on to something a little more useful and powerful. He decided to build a mower. He’s using a transceiver set from ebay, with an Arduino interpreting the signal and outputting to his custom motor board. In the video after the break, you can see that the mower looks responsive and quick. He does note, however, that he had some glitches early in the process that left him with a runaway mower. We covered a very similar mower ages ago that used a wheelchair as the base.
[via littlebirdceo]
November 14 2009, 10:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/11/10/pcb-light-box-in-a-scanner-shell/
[Kizo] repurposed a flatbed scanner to use as an exposure box for making printed circuit boards. Exposure time is controlled by an AVR ATtiny2313 microcontroller. The device is connected to a separate display board to control four 7-segment displays using one shift register for each. Time is set in ten second increments and once started, switches on the lights with a relay. Once the right exposure time has been reached, the lights are switched off and a piezo speaker is buzzed. There’s no mention of they type of bulbs he’s using but they look like compact fluorescent with tin foil beneath as a reflector.
If these are just CFL bulbs, how will the performance compare to a light box based around a UV light source?
[Thanks Jake]
November 10 2009, 10:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/11/09/diy-circuit-etching-video-tutorial/
Circuit-bending blog GetLoFi has posted the best tutorial yet on home-made printed circuit boards using the toner transfer method.
We’ve covered homebrew PCB fabrication techniques about a billion times before. What sets this tutorial apart is that it collects many bits of knowledge otherwise scattered all about the web, and then depicts the entire process on video, from initial printing to cut PCB…because reading about it versus seeing it done are two different things entirely. They give a number of immensely useful tips throughout: choice of materials and where to get them, tools and techniques, and dispelling several myths about these methods (for example, they’re adamant about not using acetone to clean toner from the PCB). Well worth the 30 minutes to watch. If that’s too much and you’ve been stuck on just one part of the process, the tutorial is in three segments.
Trimming finished boards on a paper cutter? Who would’ve guessed?
[via Make]
November 9 2009, 5:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/11/06/servo-database/
Starting a new robotics project and want to find the perfect servo for the job? It can be a real pain in butt sometimes. This is where ServoDatabase.com comes in. They’re compiling specifications and reviews on servos. We love seeing these databases pop up. Remember the online chip reference? You simply can not have too much reference material.
[via makezine]
November 6 2009, 8:49am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/10/28/xerox-ink-will-print-circuits/
Xerox has announced a breakthrough in printable circuits. They’ve developed a conductive ink called “silver bullet” that can be printed on many different types of substrate to create circuits. The key part of the new ink is its lower melting point. Plastic film substrate melts at 150 degrees Celsius but the ink is liquid when ten degrees cooler to avoid damaging the film. This begs the question: how do you then solder components to the circuit?
The benefits of printable circuitry are obvious. Aside from cheaper and easier RFID, disposable circuits like greeting cards, and fabric-based electronics, we’re hoping this will facilitate more environmentally friendly PCB fabrication. That really depends on the ink’s production process and the resilience of the resulting circuitry.
[via Gizmodo]
October 28 2009, 11:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/10/25/double-sided-surface-mount-pcb-population/
Above is a video detailing one method for populating a two sided surface mount PCB. We covered using a stencil to apply solder paste for a PCB a few weeks ago. In the comments there was a debate about the virtue of using stencils as well as a question about how two sided boards are populated. This was a good question because reflowing a board twice can cause components on the underside to fall off.
[Wim L's] comment mentions that there are a couple of methods for two sided population. In the video you will see that a stencil is not being used, but instead, paste is applied by a pedal actuated syringe. The paste is applied to the underside of the board first, then a teeny dot of epoxy is added to hold the component in place. Each part is then positioned normally and baked in a reflow oven. This process both reflows the solder, and cures the epoxy. When the board is reflowed a second time, the epoxy holds the bottom components in place as the top solder reaches its melting point.
This method of applying solder paste is slower than using a stencil. But if done correctly, every component can get the amount of solder needed.
October 25 2009, 12:39pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/10/23/hot-air-pencil-for-under-20/
Here’s a project from back in 2001 that might be of interest to some of you. It is a guide on how to build your own hot air pencil for SMD soldering. He is using a super cheap 45W soldering iron from “the shack” combined with a pump type desoldering tool and an aquarium pump. He says it works pretty well, and we don’t see why it shouldn’t. This is a pretty elegant solution. There are also some more recent versions of this mod, but the idea is basically the same.
[thanks Stuart]
October 23 2009, 9:08am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/10/19/dresser-tool-chest-isn%E2%80%99t-as-ghetto-as-you%E2%80%99d-think/
A dedicated rolling chest for one’s tools is among the most indulgent yet worthwhile acquisitions. Having everything mobile and organized for quick access improves efficiency and keeps the shop tidy. But holy living crap, have you priced these things? Even a mediocre setup costs more than the gross national product of some small nations!
Here’s a project that tarts up a dresser into a passable tool chest. Using casters, modern drawer pulls and a tidy paint job, they turn a nasty old dresser into something presentable. It’s nowhere near as slick as the commercial units…no ball bearing glides, not chemical resistant, and your macho grease monkey friends will just roll their eyes…but if you’d rather spend your hard-earned money on more and better tools than a pretty box to put them in, this might be just the thing. From across the room, you’d hardly know the difference.
A good tool chest will include several shallow drawers so that all the tools are visible at a glance and not buried in a jumble. If searching for a piece of furniture to re-use, look for something with multiple slim drawers rather than just a few deep ones; a large jewelry chest might work well.
[via Craftynest]
October 19 2009, 4:00pm | More »