This category will hold everything DIY related.
This video is mostly a time-lapse of me doing the PCB layout for the Dark Load project that I am working on. However during the first minutes of the video I am commenting and giving some hints on some design decisions that I make during layout.
This entire design is open source and it will be shared once I have it working but for now it’s still quite beta and I don’t want to release something that is potentially not working or might contain errors.
In this video I am going to show you how I assemble PCBs with surface mount devices. First I apply the solder paste with the help of a stainless steel laser cut stencil, next I manually pick and place all the components and the last step is to run the boards through a reflow profile in my DIY reflow oven.
In this video I’m opening the Fluke 77 I scored at a recent auction to show and repair a small issue it has. One of the MOV (metal oxide varistor) in the input protection circuit had suffered damage probably while protecting the rest of the circuit when a HV signal was applied to it’s input, so I decided to replace the MOV.
The original MOV part number is V910LSX1399 specs: 910V 10% 1mA
The replacement MOV part number is Panasonic ERZV10D911 specs 910V 1mA
In this video I am hacking this vk-172 cheap usb gps module to use UART instead of USB. The module contains the ublox 7 chipset which is quite nice and it makes it much more useful having an UART interface.
PIO10 > pin 33 controls the hardware pin remapping feature
PIO10 low = UART remapped to PIO15 > pin 36 and PIO16 > pin 37
PIO10 high = UART on standard TX on PIO6 > pin 19 and RX on PIO7 > pin 18
In this video I’m showing you how I made my own bench silicone wire test leads with different end connectors.
This is the first video for 2016 and hopefully one of the many this year. I’m giving you an update on what I’ve been up to, that is an auction score where I got myself some nice multimeters (Fluke 87, Fluke 77 and Tektronix TX1) for a good price and the dark load project that I’m working on.
This one is a very short video showing you how to use the drag soldering technique. I am using this method every time I need to solder in line pins, I get good solder joints in half the time it would take me to solder each individual pin. This can add up to a lot of saved time when you’re working on boards with more than 400 solder joints.
Links for products used in this video:
In this episode I am testing the various menus on the Graphical LCD Transistor/Component Tester purchased from banggood. This gadget does more than just measure and identify components, it can also measure frequency, it has built-in frequency generator as well as a 10-bit pwm generator with adjustable duty cycle.
Links to the products shown in this video:
In this episode I am assembling the Graphical LCD Transistor/Component Tester purchased from banggood. Once again I give some hints on through hole soldering and in the end the kit works as expected on first go.
Here are some links where you can purchase the kit shown in the video:
In this video I am showing various techniques I use for desoldering and salvaging electronic components like: inductors, tantalum capacitors, connectors, ceramic capacitors, op-amps, comparators, switches, battery connectors, dc jacks, mosfets, fuses and ferrite beads from old motherboards.
I am also taking a look at some laptop optical drivers and lcd pannels to see if there is anything usefull we can save before taking them to the recycling bin.
Here are links to some tools you can use for desoldering jobs: