Sebastian, amateur radio operator KF5OBS, offers up this under the hood look at a C-Band DRO LNB. “A low-noise block downconverter (LNB) is a key element in a satellite receiver system and is responsible for converting the relatively high frequency of the received signal into the more convenient L-Band. But how do they work and […]
Category Archives: Teardowns
Voltcraft PS-1305/230 power supply teardown
Arhi tears apart the Voltcraft PS-1305/230 isolated 0-230 volts AC 4.5 Amp power supply. It also comes with a 0-30V 5A, and 5V 3A DC channels. The laboratory power unit is a combination of direct current power unit and safety variable isolating transformer with alternating current output. Via the forum.
X-ray BMD assessment machine teardown
Hak8or got his hand on an X-ray bone mineral density assessment machine someone dumped. It seems the only problem is a faulty temperature sensor, but Hak80r decided to break it down and share the pictures with us. For an in-depth gallery check out the forum (56K warning).
HP 5328A universal frequency counter teardown
Kenneth scored two HP universal frequency counters and popped them open. One generates the timebase from an uncompensated oscillator in a TO-5 package, while the other uses a large temperature controlled oven oscillator: here is both of my counters measuring the same 1pps taken from my AdaFruit GPS receiver. The lower one with the oven-compensated […]
Tektronix 465 oscilloscope teardown
Mick bought and disassembled a Tektronix 465 oscilloscope. It’s a 100 MHz dual trace, dual timebase analog scope. He points out that most of the transistors are socketed instead of soldered. More pics below. Via the forum.
Buy a vintage calculator get 8 Nixie tubes free
Philip scored a vintage Sanyo 4 function calculator in a local thrift store. He opened it up and was pleasantly surprised with 8 Nixie tubes. You guys wont believe what i just scored from a local thrift store [selling second/third/fourth hand stuff from japan] :) A good old 4 function calculator from sanyo – and […]
Weller RT type tip teardown and reverse engineering
Raj has been designing a soldering station that would support Weller’s RT type tips with temperature sensor and heater built into them. A stereo-type jack on the iron connects them to the soldering station cable. So far Raj has reverse engineered the pinout of the jack and how to read the temperature. The tip has […]
LC200A LC meter teardown and review
Kendal 852D hot-air rework station teardown
Schazamp bought a cheap Kendal 852D+ 2+1 hot-air and soldering iron rework tool. He opened it up and took some pictures. Most of the 852-whatever clones look pretty similar inside, there’s probably one factory churning out clones under a bunch of different brand names. Like our Aoyue 968, it’s made with through-hole parts. It’s a […]
Weller WSM 1 teardown finds DC driven iron
Weller WSM 1 is a 40w soldering station that drives WRMP soldering pencils with RT type tips. Inside you’ll find an LCD, a few ICs, and a few discrete components. It’s powered by a laptop power supply, and that the heater is driven by a DC/DC block. That sets it apart from the cheap AC driven […]
Flat screen TV teardown and fix
Hak8or got his hands on a few broken down TVs. One of which is a Dell W3000 set. It’s panel was intact so he figured it was worth to try and fix. After some probing he figured out there was leftover Flux short-circuiting the HV CCFL driver. He cleaned it up and the TV started […]
Teardown of USB 3.0 Azio HDD enclosure
EETimes has posted their video of the teardown of the Azio USB 3.0 3.5″ HDD enclosure, one of the first devices using USB 3.0 (4 Gb/sec.), with a street price of about $25 USD.
Repair your own oscilloscope
Hotsolder repaired his malfunctioning Rigol, A bad rotary encoder can make your tools useless in worst cases. Fortunately it is an easy fix, he has created a slide show demonstrating just how easy it is. Via Hack a Day
A look inside an OBD2 tool
Any car newer than 1995 has a fairly sophisticated computer used to monitor various systems ranging from accelerator pedal position to catalyst efficiency. This is a brief introduction to one example of the hardware used to diagnose automotive systems.
AVR decapping
Here are some examples by manekinen of what can happen when an apparently high reverse voltage is applied to several AVRs. Via Hack a Day.
Speed radar demo using toy radar gun module
Here’s another cool tech video by Jeri Ellsworth, this time illustrating how speed radar works using parts from a toy radar gun. Also refers to similarly using a satellite TV LNB module.
Zeno zit zapper tip reset
The Zeno is an acne treatment device with disposable tips that are electronically limited to 45 or 60 uses. Matt did a system teardown that revealed a Cypress cy8c27443 microcontroller in the main unit and a 128byte I2C EEPROM in the tip. He used the Bus Pirate to sniff I2C traffic going to the EEPROM […]
Sure Electronics PICkit2 clone teardown
Today we have teardown photos of a Sure Electronics PICkit2 clone PIC programmer, the type commonly sold on eBay. Scopria, who took these pictures, reports that his programmer stopped working after a few months. He recommends a real Microchip PICkit2 because it’s only a couple dollars more. Teardown photos and a look at the circuit […]
Microchip PICkit2 teardown
PICkit2 is a programmer for Microchip PIC microcontrollers. It has limited debugging features and a low-speed serial protocol analyzer. It’s really useful for low-volume production programming because it can store firmware and program circuits while not attached to a PC. Buy it at Mouser for about $40, Digi-Key has the new PICkit3 for about $70. […]