Saw this from
@pcbherohq
on Linked in:
It's just a small mirror and lens to shift the perspective. Then by rotating you get an interesting 3d inspection around a part.
I wonder how easy it would be to attach to my stereo microscope.. 🤔
I bought some 01005 resistors in my last LCSC order, just to marvel at how small they are.
Pictured with a ball-point pen, and some raw sugar.
Pretty sure I won't be designing any PCBs using 01005's any time soon :P
Some low cost RISCV ICs 😋
These are CH32V003's that I bought from the WCH aliexpress store.
@Patrick_RISCV
tweets a lot about their RISCV offerings.
Crazy that you can get 32Bit, 48MHz with 16KB FLASH for <$0.50 in low qty.
Hmm. I wonder if
@oshpark
flex would be flexible enough to experiment with this technique....
Construction is 2 separate layers with polymide between them, bending causes top electrodes to slide forward/backwards compared to the bottom electrodes. Very clever!
Really liking these reverse-mount RGB LEDs:
Combined with some clear resin mixed with just a drop of titanium dioxide based white dye makes for a pretty good diffuse indicator.
I've also used the PCB as an end plate for aluminum extrusion enclosure
Took some footage of the d20, some b-roll, complete disassembly, and some hot-air rework.
It needed some quick repairs:
- 2 LEDs I damaged when my fingernail caught under them catching it.
- 2 more LEDs were missing a colour.
- I damaged a Mosfet while removing the panels.
These PCBs turned out great! There is something magical about Matte Black/ENIG. 😍
This is my first time doing silkscreen art like this. After routing I exported my board layers into inkscape, did the artwork then imported back into kicad.
Macro photo time: These boards have exposed ENIG around their perimeter to make good electrical contact to a metal mechanical assembly.
But it also just looks nice! 😍
These uncoated micro-striplines look great on
@oshpark
purple.
Solder mask over transmission lines can increase transmission loss. You'll typically see it in test/measurement gear.
It's unlikely an issue in this case, But I do like the look.
So the OrangeCrab gets a bit warm/hot when running designs with the LiteDRAM DDR3 Controller.
Seems to settle in around 55-65C.
Small brain: Alter the gateware to reduce power.
Big Brain: Design a custom heatsink.
From a recommendation on twitter a few months back I ordered some of these SDK08 SMD test-hooks. They're cool, the main shaft is just 1mm and insulated, so it's possible to use these to probe something like a TSSOP part.
These will come in handy :)
For all you folks complaining about AliExpress vendors’ lacking ESD practices, I present you the literal sandwich bag - received from a German manufacturer of RF modules
Do you see the two resistors next to my coffee mug?
Let me zoom in so you can see. 😅
Sizes: 2512 vs 01005 🤏
One reason to pick a larger package is power dissipation. In this case: 1W compared with 1/32W
I was cleaning up my desk and found a project I did a couple of months ago.
I got this 3B+ Pi awhile ago for free with an arrow order. There was no A variant at that time.
All processor critical signals are kept near the processor. Some quick work with a hacksaw it still boots
I love 3d printing!
Took a few iterations to get tolerances perfect.
This jig holds these tiny pogo-pins securely in place and enables initial programming of the bootloader onto this board.
Much easier than me soldering wires down to every board 😂
I've been having fun de-layering PCBs. So I thought I'd try out one of my own.
These are the panels on my LED d20. Each panel has driver circuitry for driving a 16x16 RGB matrix, but there are only 120 LEDs on the front in a 15 wide, 15 tall equilateral triangle. Fun to route.
Routing buses is much more challenging when you're not using FPGAs and can't just assign any pin to any signal 😩
Slowly untangling the mess of spaghetti
Half routed, a prototype of an icebreaker design replacing the FTDI with a CH32V305, a low cost microcontroller featuring a High-speed USB interface.
It's offered in a 64-pin package which would be a nicer fit on this PCB, but that package isn't available at distributors yet.
After mentioning these SD cards from lcsc ~6mo ago I've finally bought some for a project.
These are "SD cards" are in an SMD package.
This particular device is 1Gbit (they have devices upto 8Gbit). For about $2.
Way simpler to source than 1Gbit uSD cards.
Willem reached out to me with this project log. They've recreated my LED cube design, using custom LED panels!
After myself and
@arturo182
, they're the 3rd person I've seen complete this project! Congratulations!
The media says millenials don't own their own home because they spend all their money on things like avocado toast, and uber eats.
In my case, it's because I spend all my money at digikey 😆