Unboxing a shipment of tools we sent back from hua qiang bei electronics market in Shenzhen, China. We got a test rig which will help us standardize manufacture testing for our boards. We got two tools for solderpaste reflowing, one is a digitally controlled hot plate, and the other is a reflow oven with programmable […]
Author Archives: Ian
First reflowed board
Worked great soldering two caps to a proto board with old crappy lead solder paste. No adjustment or levitating the board with other boards or any funny business. Need to try a full board to see it really in action.
Reflowing first board with IR oven
Popped a couple caps on a qfp proto board and started a reflow cycle. Dry run went OK. Unit was dropped pretty bad. Frame is out of whack and drawer bent. Seems to still work. Not sure if damage is shipping or existing as I didnt have time to test and inspect in the market. […]
Biggest tool shipment received
This is the second and biggest batch of stuff we sent from Shenzhen.
Getting back to you today!
Sorry for the delay, there are 300 read-but-not-replied emails that came in during the Shenzhen trip last. Today is all about getting that backlog cleared, at least until FedEx drops off the next batch of toys – then it’s video time!
Database backup to Amazon S3
A while ago we posted a simple database dump and FTP backup script we use to backup all the site databases daily. Since jet lag is setting in pretty bad I added an extra option to upload the script to Amazon’s S3 storage system at 4:30 this morning. The latest version will always be on […]
Maybe Mouser will give us free stuff?
A few months ago Bearmos was kind enough to nominate us for an award. It’s crazy that an open source hardware hobby habit would get this out of hand! President/engineer/entrepreneur, Dangerous Prototypes [Ian] is leading the industry in creating open-source hardware. He runs Dangerous Prototypes, whose Bus Pirate has become extremely popular among hackers/makers, is […]
Stuff to do in Shenzhen: Open a bank account
So you’ve got the hang of shopping for stuff on the Chinese auction site Taobao, but you’re sick of dealing with brokers? Open a bank account in China to pay the seller and shipper directly. Bank accounts are easy to open. Take a passport and an initial 100rmb deposit to any branch of any bank […]
Things in Shenzhen: Tailors in Louhu
Besides hunting electronics, we always have clothes tailored in Shenzhen. The Louhu Commercial City is a mall right outside the boarder crossing. Its mostly knock off crap, but at the top there’s a huge fabric market and dozens of tailors. They do suits, but also anything you can imagine, and its way cheaper than the […]
Shopping with students from Penang
Met up with a group of grad students from Penang Malaysia and took them to my favorite shops to buy tools. Here they are wheeling a cart full over to Susi at shippers row. Also met up with TJ from Indonesia. Thanks guys! It was a ton of fun and we built better relations with […]
Bus Pirate v4 should be available again soon
Spotted it on the PnP at Seeed.
Out of Shenzhen: Sea of people at Louhu/Lo Wu
Guide books warn that the boarder crossing from Hong Kong to Shenzhen at Louhu can be extremely busy. We’ve always sailed through in a couple minutes. Today, after leaving China immigration, we encountered this sea of people in the no mans land bridge to Hong Kong. Still only took about an hour to get through, […]
Out of Shenzhen: Totally Gangnumed out!
Had enough Gangnum style? Yeah me too. Its blaring from every market in Huaqiangbei in Shenzhen, and seemingly all of China. Even The Party endorsed it calling it a harmonious tone. Kevin, our test engineer, even made Eric and I dance it at the Seeed anniversary/New Year party. Enough already! Can’t someone make it stop?
Out of Shenzhen: Nannie Sunday in Central
Hong Kong nannies, mostly from the Philippines, have Sunday off. Thousands of nannies gather and setup camp along Central Hong Kong island. Its absolutely one of the coolest things to see on a Sunday afternoon, and a great chance to practice my 4 Pinyo vocabulary words – salamat, oo, hindi, and seget (spelled phonetically).
Out of Shenzhen: Central mid level escalators
In my humble opinion the kilometer long central mid level escalators are the top attraction in Hong Kong. On the way out of Shenzhen we always check in and drop bags at Hong Kong city checking and then head up about half way to Taco Loco for some if the best carnitas tacos anywhere in […]
Seeed Studio anniversary party begins
The theme is cosplay. Everyone has a costume and each department will perform a show.
Practice for Seeed Studio anniversary party
Tomorrow is Seeed’s anniversary party and every department is doing a skit or song. There are rumors of Gangnum. This the r&d department getting into the spirit.
Sample boxes for Bus Pirate educational kit
Needed a box for the educational kit so Seeed’s sourcers went to Huaqiangbei market and returned with this collection a few hours later. Very cool.
$5000 pick and place
This is a $5000 pick and place by the people who made the reflow oven we bought yesterday. Not as cheap as the $3200 PNP discussed in the forum recently, but we can’t see that one because they are in Shanghai. They demoed with 0402 and it worked quite well and super fast. Even on […]
Shipping goodies from Shenzhen
Checked prices from shippers right in the market yesterday. You can buy stuff and haul it over there piece by piece if you can’t carry it all. You could probably hire someone to cart it too, but hauling treasure through the market is a point of pride. Best rates for FedEx air freight (6 to […]