Before crossing into China I always stop at Taco Loco half way up the mid central level escalators on Hong Kong Island. very easy to get here from the terminus of the airport express train. As always, a couple carnitas on soft corn shells and a Sol. Worlds longest escalators on way to taco loco. […]
Author Archives: Ian
Taking components to Shenzhen
On Tuesday I leave to spend a month working on new projects in Shenzhen. Here are the parts I’m taking with me. Everything could be bought there, but that would waste a ton of time. This a good assortment if small smd stuff. Resistor kit, key capacitor values, regulators, LEDs, a few chips, crystals, and […]
WORKSHOP VIDEO #59: 946A+ solder reflow hot plate
This week we take a look at the 946A+ solder reflow hot plate from our last Shenzhen equipment haul. There’s a ton of no-name 946A+ out there, ours happens to be D-GOLD. They’re all pretty similar, and run about $50 in Shenzhen. Using a kitchen hot plate is a common hack for DIY reflow soldering, […]
WORKSHOP VIDEO #58: Visit to Switch-Science open hardware offices in Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan
Yoshi, who you may remember from the New York Trip video, takes us on a tour of the Switch-Science.com open hardware design, manufacturing, and shipping office. The office is on the edge of Akihabara, Tokyo’s electronic component market. Check out our video report of Akihabara we made last year. Switch Science is open source hardware […]
Possible issue with voltage regulation on some Bus Pirates
Bus Pirate users MightyOhm and A connected Ape reported oscillations of 150mV-400mV on the 3.3volt supply pin. A huge thanks to them both, as well as numerous investigators in the forum for looking into the problem. This appears to effect SparkFun Bus Pirates, and some Seeed Studio v3a/v3b Bus Pirates. It does not appear to […]
Box of parts from Mouser for Bus Pirate edu kit
A box just rolled in from Mouser, two days early by FedEx. Mostly 8pin through-hole chips for the Bus Pirate educational kit. Sadly, not free.
Workshop cleaned and sorted
Wow, there was a lot of crap treasure in there! Next a few new tables for the tools and oscope. Going to anchor a table to the wall for the pick and place, as suggested in the comments. There’s also a new big box of roving parts from the clean out.
Loading TM220A pick and place part stacks
Loading up the pick and place with part reels. We decided to put the most common, cheap stuff in the back of the ‘stack’ of reels. After all, it won’t need to be swapped. Less used stuff is going towards the front, that way it is easier to swap out. We’re leaving free 8mm reel […]
TM220A pick and place
Experimenting will probably continue all day. A sturdier table is going to be a must.
TM220A pick and place first test
Managed to get the language to English by setting the language configuration to ‘0’, then loading a pick and place instruction file. After loading a file everything is magically English. Settings won’t save without a special warranty voiding password from the manufacturer though. Exported placement data from a DP LED matrix badge to test it […]
TM220A pick and place arrives
Currently made it half way up the stairs.
WORKSHOP VIDEO #55: Infrared reflow oven Qinsi QS-5100
After you’ve dispensed solder paste it’s time to reflow all that solder. This is where the reflow oven comes in. It seems like reflow hot plates are a more popular choice in most small shops because they’re smaller, cheaper, and it’s easier to monitor the reflow process. A reflow oven is a lot more convenient […]
WORKSHOP VIDEO #54: 983A/986A Solder paste dispenser
Without a doubt the solder paste dispenser is a cool tool. Compressed air hisses and solenoids crackle while precise amounts of solder paste extrude into beautiful droplets on a PCB. A few minutes with a paste dispenser saves $15-$25 (or more) on stencils, a life saver if you want to pick and place a one-off […]
Dual headed component pickup vacuum pen
Last goodie for today is a dual headed vacuum pickup pen. A pump creates a vacuum to the pin. Set it down on a part and cover the small hole in the side of the pen to suck up the part. Position and then release by removing a finger from the vent hole. This was […]
853 PCB preheating station
A PCB preheater warms boards before removing parts for repair. This makes it easier and less traumatic to remove big parts like smd voltage regulators, TQFP and BGA chips. The hot plate can serve dual use as a preheater, but as the preheater manual explains this won’t work for PCBs with placement on both ends. […]
PE 968A solder paste dispenser
This is a air driven solder paste dispenser with suck back for precise solder droplets. Size of droplets and repeat interval are set on the front panel. Dip switches on the back control 16 different modes. Seems to be exactly the same at similar 983a dispensers on aliexpress but a whole lot cheaper in Shenzhen. […]
Next tool shipment arrives on schedule
Should have board preheater, paste dispenser and part suction pickup things. Ordered the air compressor for the dispenser 5 minutes past deadline for delivery today so this will get tested tomorrow.
Reflow oven at 200 solder temperature looks good
Nice solder job with peak temp at 200, no noticeable scorching on the pcb. Oven must run a bit hot. Need a thermocouple to do some more testing.
Reflow oven USB jack test with new heat profile
Cranked the solder temperature down to 210 and tried some boards with bigger parts. Still looking good, though the paste dispenser will help a lot as the tweezers aren’t the right tool. The lower solder temperature still scorches the boards making the tidy white silk a sort of blond roux color. That is a lingering […]
Hot plate reflow test 1 and 2
Reflowed two 0805 caps on two qfp protoboards. One at 250 and one at 240c.p Both took about 30 seconds to reflow. Anyone know the optimal temp for crappy old lead solder paste? Board at 250 looks scorched but that could be from the reflow oven instead. Will do a second test to find out.