Lately we’ve been experimenting with pogo pin connectors for programing our boards. Beth designed another DIY ICSP pogo pin connector using two PCBs to align the pogo pins properly. One board holds the pin connections, and the other stabilizes everything for alignment. In the end I decided to use two pcbs to make the pogo […]
Author Archives: DP
Dangerous Prototypes stickers
Three times a week we give away free PCBs, and on some weeks other random giveaways as well. When they’re around, we also toss in a few stickers. Systemstech shared his restyling of a Hakko 951 soldering station with a free PCB sticker. Feel free to share yours as well. Via the forum.
App note: Benefits and pitfalls of aluminum electrolytic capacitors
A video tutorial on the benefits and pitfalls of using aluminum electrolytic capacitors. Learn how these capacitors degrade, and how their life cycle is proportional to the stresses you put them through.
Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB
We go through a lot of prototype PCBs, and end up with lots of extras that we’ll never use. Every Sunday we give away a few PCBs from one of our past or future projects, or a related prototype. Our PCBs are made through Seeed Studio’s Fusion board service. This week two random commenters will […]
App note: Filtering 101 whiteboard series
Here’s a series of video tutorials on filtering from Analog Devices. First in the series (embedded above) covers simple single pole filters made out of resistors and capacitors. The series moves onto active filtering with op-amps, and finishes with multi-pole Sallen-Key filters. Geek alert: theory and math zone!
App note: Regulator output voltage accuracy
Texas Instruments goes over regulator output-voltage accuracy, warning that feedback resistor tolerances have a high impact on the output accuracy and should be chosen with care.
App note: SCT2024 16 channel LED driver
A part presentation from the Electronic City blog describes the SCT2024 16 channel LED driver with programmable current output and a serial control interface. SCT2024 integrated circuit is a serial-parallel interface for LEDs with the programming and the limiting of the current on outputs in between 5 and 45mA. It makes an ideal option for […]
Workshop Update for February 8th, 2013
Today we workshopped a few ideas and concepts for a PIC32 development board using some free parts Microchip offered. In this regard we checked up on the current state of available USB bootloaders for this microcontroller, as well as open source USB stacks.
Soda pop can DIY solder paste stencil
How to make solder paste stencils out of old soda pop cans. Applying the toner transfer method of etching and you can end up with a usable stencil. Via Adafruit.
Importing SVG images as polygons Into Eagle
Here’s an SVG image to Eagle polygon importer called svg2poly. It seems like an excellent alternative to the BMP importing plugin we’ve been using to make cool silkscreen artwork for our boards. Surprisingly often, I find myself wanting to import vector images into eagle, and have them appear as polygons – usually for silkscreen. Whilst […]
Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters
Every Friday we give away some extra PCBs via Facebook. This post was announced on Facebook, and on Monday we’ll send coupon codes to two random commenters. More PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday and the blog every Sunday. Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every week: Free PCB Sunday. The classic. Every week, get […]
Week in (p)review February 08, 2013
Here’s a summary of major developments over the last week. Free PCB Friday is coming up soon. WORKSHOP VIDEO #54: 983A/986A Solder paste dispenser v2 QFP surface mount protoboard 0.80mm available at Seeed ATX breakout board bench power supply and Serpac box fits DP5031 with central hole, ATX Breakout Board V1.1 Acrylic case V1 are back in stock USB […]
Pinoccio’s Web Rover
Here’s a video demonstrating the Pinoccio Web Rover. A mobile phone accelerometer in Brazil is controlling the small robot in Nevada in real time. The Pinoccio is an Arduino compatible Wireless platform. It’s based on the ATMega128rfa1 microcontroller with an 802.15.4 compliant radio built in. We built a “Web Rover” — an unmanned little robot […]
Workshop Update for February 7th, 2013
Today we recorded and edited the solder paste dispenser video. Work continues on the Bus Pirate v4 UART debugging mode. We fixed yesterdays bug and after some code cleanup it will be committed into our SVN tomorrow. There will be two modes available. One is activated at compile and completely disconnects USB communication. While the […]
Power toggle switch with an indicator LED
Meet Powah, a little power on/off toggle with an indicator LED. It uses a pair of Schmitt triggered inverters to debounce the button, and a P-channel MOSFET to switch the power on and off. The board is designed to be plugged into a breadboard. It is designed to mount on one end of my breadboard, […]
Simple electronic circuit patents
While circuits can’t be copyrighted, they can be patented. Mats spotted this simple undervoltage indication circuit that is supposedly covered by a patent. As always the devils are in the details, so a specific non-obvious aspect of the circuit may be the patented component. Imagine how difficult innovation would be if there were a patent […]
Lithium iron phosphate (LIFePO4) battery charger
After two DIY Li Ion chargers this week (first, second), here is a lithium iron phosphate (LIFePO4) battery charger. These batteries are a safer cousin to the standard Li-Ion batteries, but sacrifice some of it’s energy density for the safety. The charger above is designed around the PIC12F510 microcontroller which implements a rudimentary USB powered […]
Serpac box fits DP5031 with central hole
We designed Sick of Beige cases and the accompanying PCB standard sizes because we were sick of plain beige boxes. If you, however, are not sick of them, here is a beige box that fits the DP5031 standard PCB size. It will need an extra central hole in the PCB for the enclosure to be […]
Workshop Update for February 6th, 2013
Prepared for Thursday’s workshop video. We’ll cover one of the new tools each week in detail. This week is the solder paste dispenser, followed by pick and place (hopefully), then reflow oven, hot plate, board preheater, and on down the production line. Boards and stencils from Hackvana arrived just a few days after leaving the […]
NU-Xtal packages winner
Today we announce the winner of the NU-Xtal packages! These boards are quartz crystal and load capacitance breakouts, designed for breadboard prototyping by Mats. There were lots of great ideas, thanks for your submissions. Congratulations to Kevin, his idea for a function generator scored him the NU-Xtal 20 Mhz package: I have been thinking about making a […]