Tag: SMD

Voltlog #256 – Best BST-863 Hot Air Rework Station (Alternative to Quick 861DW)

Inside the box of the BST-863 we have the station, a really nice and heavy stand for the tool piece, a total of 3 nozzles, a grounding strap and a power cord. The first thing I notice is the hose which pretty thick, certainly thicker than what I had on my old Gordak station but seems to be softer material. The way it’s designed with the tool standing vertically in the stand makes the air hose forms this loop which depending on your bench setup might or might not bother you but it’s something to consider. But I like the quality of the stand, it’s heavy and feels very sturdy, you get this accessory here which allows you to remove the nozzles while hot and the station has a sensor to detect when the handle is in the stand.

Adjustment of temperature and air level is made through this touch screen control. I’m a bit anti touch screen control on test gear so I would’ve preferred some switches on the front panel but don’t get me wrong, the touch screen works well on this unit, it has nice big touch keys and after setting up your presets you are likely  not going to need to adjust the temperature you will just be using the presets like leaded, lead free and another one for heatshrink maybe.

Is this cheaper station a good alternative to the Quick 861DW? This video review should provide you with enough info to decide which one to buy.

Here are some high resolution images from the teardown:

Voltlog #217 – Constant Current LED Driver Boards Assembly & Testing

Welcome to a new voltlog, today we’re going to assemble some prototype PCBs for different constant current LED Drivers. I’ve designed and ordered these pcb’s a while ago, the goal is to test different constant current led drivers I have ones that are switch mode and ones that are linear and I wanted to see if I can get away with using the linear ones, because there is a significantly lower part count at the expense of burning energy away and generating more heat.

I haven’t ordered a steel stencil for these pcbs, I’m gonna hand assemble them, I’m gonna use some of this mechanic leaded solder paste which comes in a syringe and then I’m gonna reflow the boards over a hot plate. One hint here about the paste, if the syringe is very old, the paste might get dry which will make it unsuitable for the job and not to mention hard to push out of the syringe so try to keep the paste fresh by storing it in a fridge and replacing it when it starts to dry up or separate inside the syringe.

These two boards will be powered from 12V current through LEDs will be 25 mA and the total string voltage is 10 V calculated with a typical led forward voltage of 2V. That means the difference of voltage will be dissipated on our regulator and that can be calculated 12V-10V we have 2V dropping on the regulator times our current 25mA and is equal to 50 mW.

Voltlog #203 – InTheMail With Cheap Electronic Components

So LCSC seem to be trying to be like the Digikey or Farnell of china and I think they are succeeding. Yes they have many problems regarding their website, which doesn’t exactly make it easy for us to filter and find the required part as we will see in a moment, but it might be worth the trouble because you get access to a whole new set of chips coming from Asia that you wouldn’t normally find and all of this at very affordable prices.

Another advantage is that you can bundle together your PCB order with your Component order and have them delivered in the same package. That’s a pretty neat idea, considering that you find anything you could need in their inventory. You could practically build an entire project with just a single order placed online.

Voltlog #123 – Buzzer Comparison

In this video I am measuring the output level of the various buzzer that you can find on ebay, banggood or aliexpress.

 

Get the UNI-T UT353 Sound Meter from these sources:

Here are all the buzzers shown in this video:

Voltlog #71 – Electronic Touch Musical Keyboard Kit

A while ago I saw this touch musical keyboard kit on banggood and it seemed interesting enough to order one. It turns out the kit is using a single atmega8 to do all the touch sensing (8 ch) and play the tunes accordingly. Although not very useful for me it sure was fun to assemble and play with.