Category Archives: Workshop Update

Today we did our end-of-year administrative stuff. We also searched and wrote up the app note posts for this weekend. On the hardware side we started designing a simple fused fixed voltage breadboard power supply image by Ken Teegardin: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Today we edited the Tokyo Hackerspace video. Scanned receipts for China and Japan trips. Erected LED-adorned holiday post. We decided to add an update to our protoboards inspired by Adrian’s comment. The QFP breakouts now support two pitches. Three combos will be available covering the most common pitches (0.8mm+0.65, 0.8mm+0.5mm, and 0.65+0.5mm)

We had a late start today, as The Amp Hour interview started at 1AM for us. We worked on our video interview with Dimitri from Smartduino, so most of our time was eaten up by it. We are developing an acrylic board witch will have a Bus Pirate and a small breadboard attached to it. […]

We’re editing the tomorrows video. It’s the interview with Dimitri from the recently controversial Smartduino project, a market veteran with 7 years experience running market stalls and exporting components. We’re working on a Bus Pirate kit, and today we designed an acrylic board which will hold the Bus Pirate and a half-sized breakout board. We […]

We finalized 6 new designs and sent off a box of PCBs. Several test a new header-less programming pad we’re working on. We researched various feeder mechanisms for pick n place machines, and posted about them. Which also provided some material for app notes. The protoboards received another update. We added mini USB B breakouts […]

We edited the first of four interview videos from Shenzhen and Tokyo. Responded to email backlog that extended to October and sent out thank-yous to everyone from the most recent Geek Tour. We posted a few of the best FACEFRAME! pictures in the forum. We finished QFP protoboards v1.1 in all available pitches. Files and gerbers […]

We’re finally at full complement in the workshop. Today we fought the backlog of forum support and emails that accumulated over the last few weeks. Videos are being edited, pictures assembled, and impressions are being evaluated. Image by 17177: CC BY-SA    

Progress continues on the QFP protoboards. We rearranged the design a little as space became a premium. The goal of this board’s update was to extend each component’s pad length. To achieve this we had to pull some pretty neat tricks to make it all fit.

In the workshop we’re cooking up new versions of our QFP protoboards. We’re migrating them to the standard DP10080 PCBs. Since the old boards were also designed to fit Eagle’s 100mmx80mm limit, we’re having difficulties fitting the new PCB restrictions. (keepouts and mounting holes)

We’ve finalized our xQFP footprints. The pads in the old design were short, making soldering hard. The new design remedies that, and comes with our standard CC BY-SA license. The files are available in our Eagle library.

Ian visits Tokyo’s Akihabara electric town, and rides the second coolest escalator ever. Goes up, then flat, the up some more. In case you’re wondering the best escalator was a circular one in Hong Kong Times Square. We continue to work on our xQFP breakout board updates.

Ian is in Tokyo visiting the Maker Faire set to be held during the upcoming weekend (1-2 December). Our resident blogger Filip/arakis is back from our Shenzhen sourcing challenge, and is currently fighting jet-lag. Normal posting schedule will resume tomorrow. We continue to work on our xQFP breakout board updates. Currently we’re various  researching QFP […]

Today we’re preparing for the Shenzhen sourcing challenge, pricing shippers, setting up meetings, and etc. We’ll be in Hong Kong on Friday and in Shenzhen on Monday. Aaron from oomlout sent us an SMD reel stand which we’ll assemble as soon as we get back from China. In other news the 7400 Contest 1st place […]

We finished the Kochi video. We’re trying to get some stuff shipped by sea from Shenzhen, so we’re trying to figure out what shipping terms mean. FOB? EXW?

Sent thank yous to everyone in Bangalore. A huge thanks to Protocentral, Tenent Technetronics, NSK Electronics, Cerebra Tech, Center for Internet and Society, and all the readers who joined. Judging on the open 7400 competition is complete. We’re hoping for a new contest next year. Most useful lab tool? Scanning receipts from India for filing […]

Today we release the Bangalore part of out Global Geek Tour video. We spent lots of time editing and arranging this one.  Earlier today we finally located where our PCBs come from. We added it to our Shenzhen map layer. Yesterday evening we got to visit Technologia Incognita, the Amsterdam hackerspace. The picture above is […]

Bus Blaster v4 validation finished. Complete set of Sick of Beige basic cases will be available shortly. Received official looking business cards to satisfy the man. Took the day off of video, might work on it tonight. Still 13 minutes too long, but there is a lot of trash in here that is waiting for […]

Today we mostly worked on preparing the Bangalore video ahead of time. We managed to assemble mountains of video clips into a first cut by the end of the day. Loads of sound syncing and touch-up left for tomorrow. This one was epic with over 1000 shots and 100 audio tracks. At the same time […]

Ordered more professional business cards because our DangerousPrototypes.com Maker Faire giveaway cards seem to scare people in parts markets. Ordered a big return address stamp and some other order fulfillment stuff. We’re also planing our return to Shenzhen later this month. We plan to stay longer, visit factories, and really experience the whole “meet on […]