Check out this solder paste stencil review [PDF!], including differences between laser cut and chemically etched stencils: Page 11 has nice photos comparing three stencil production methods, chemical, laser, and electro-form. There is good information, scattered through-out. pg 15 to … Read more
Menno posts several alternatives to using pin headers for programming microcontrollers. Most use spring loaded pogo-pins make contact with the programming signal pads. Check out more pictures on his Flickr page. Via the forum.
Here’s a dirty subject many new kit makers don’t think about until the last minute: paying taxes. If you’ve sold your first kits or hardware you’ve got a lot of record keeping and paperwork to do. Here’s a rundown of … Read more
Kevin unveils the first production run of the successfully funded kickstarter BoardX project. The BoardX are development boards intended for a wide range of microcontrollers, which are placed on add-on boards. It’s finally here, after months and months of waiting. … Read more
All-Spec Industries contacted us about a biodegradable anti-static bag they’re selling for the same price as regular anti-static bags. They have the same properties as the normal non-biodegradable anti static bags, only these degrade within 9 months and don’t pollute … Read more
Developers of the BoardX started a kickstarter project with a target of $5K. They have reached their goal and overshoot it. Congratulations. The BoardX is a multiprocessor development board we wrote about in an earlier post. It accepts custom modules … Read more
Here is cool looking blue smoke monster “skill badge” from Adafruit. If you’ve ever had an IC go “poof”, this is the badge for you. For the uninitiated, blue smoke refers to the puff of smoke made when some electronics … Read more
Seeed has a cheap JTAG programmer/debugger for both major FPGA/CPLD brands. It emulates both the Xilinx Platform USB Cable and Altera USB blaster JTAG programmers with a flip of a switch. As a Xilinx Platform USB Cable it is supported … Read more
ITead started offering chemically etched stainless steel stencils. They’re usually used for easy solder paste placement on SMD boards. They recommend their stencils for SMD components with a pin spacing greater than 0.5mm, and passive components in 0603 packages and … Read more
Shaos let us know that his nedoCPU-32 boards and kits are available for purchase on his site. The nedoCPU-32 is a breakout board for PIC32 microcontrollers that come in through-hole packages. His board has a built in power supply, a … Read more
Seeed Studio has added a choice of aluminum alloy shells for the DSO Quad. It costs 20 bucks more then the normal version, but a free laser engraving service is included. DSO Quad – Aluminum Alloy now is available at … Read more
Luca is building a Nixie clock, and in this post he covers the high voltage power supply section. Nixie tubes are digit displays that use ~170V between the digit wire and a wire mash, to agitate the gas inside the … Read more
Ever get tired of fiddling with tiny surface mount components using tweezers and a magnifying glass? The OpenPnP project that aims to be your sweet relief: OpenPnP is a project to create the plans, prototype and software for a completely … Read more
MAKE has started their 2011 MAKE Holiday Kit-A-Day Giveaway. To celebrate the release of their latest publication, the Make: Ultimate Kit Guide 2012 (and its companion website), they’re giving away one of the cool kits reviewed in the issue each … Read more
It’s Black Friday, the busiest shopping day in the US. It’s a day to sell stuff, so here we are. At least you don’t have to wait in lines to get our stuff. Bus Pirate universal serial interface ($30), LCD … Read more
Octapart has an interesting analysis on electronics part volume pricing. Pictured above is a graphic depicting prices at different volumes for an example microcontroller project. They look at several different ways to finance a small production run, and find a … Read more
Big Mess o’ Wires’ Backwoods logger prototypes are now available: The Backwoods Logger is a programmable graphing altimeter / thermometer, originally developed here at BMOW and now an open hardware project. Interested in the Logger, but don’t want to build … Read more
Seeed Studio is now doing laser cutting of 3mm thick transparent acrylic. At the moment the service is in beta.
Arhi tipped us to this starter kit for CoolRunner-II CPLDs: I can highly recommend CoolRunner-II CPLD Starter Kit. I have this small board for a while and it’s more then you need to learn to use cpld’s and it’s fairly … Read more
Seeed Studio has started posting videos. This week they demo the Rainbowduino Cube, a color 3D LED matrix based on the Arduino. Mandarin is spoken, with English in subtitles. This is an idea Eric from Seeed mentioned when were on … Read more
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