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Messages - Taniwha

2
General discussion / Re: Hacker Camp Shenzhen April 2014 Participants thread
yes I agree, totally awesome - thanks Ian, Jin and everyone else.

(the hotel net was screwed because there were 2 rogue servers running on it - for next time the router/DNS you want is 10.88.88.1 - if they gave you a wifi router make sure it's plugged in the right way around ....)

Suggestions for the next one you run:
- a link to the course mini-web site from the DangerousPrototypes front page
- a scheduled day off in the middle to go shopping
- PCB exchange (for those who want to - we should have just done it)

    Paul
3
General discussion / Re: Hacker Camp Shenzhen April 2014 Participants thread
Kiko: HK subway is indeed excellent - to save money take the airport express to Lai King Fong and transfer there to the subway (red line will take you to Ap Lui Market - get off at Sham Shui Po)

Ian: many thanks for the map (and for organising the whole thing!)- that answers most of my missing questions of how to get from here to there for Day 1

Everyone: Like many I'm sure I'm getting in on day 0, what are people doing for dinner that night?
4
General discussion / Re: Hacker Camp Shenzhen April 2014 Participants thread
Hi - I'm Paul - I build embedded stuff for a day job, over the years I've variously been a chip designer, kernel hack, hardware designer, etc etc I have a vague claim to fame of having sold one of the first open source kits back in the mid '90s (while living in the US).

I'm coming from New Zealand, I'll be washing up in Hong Kong March 31st and will be crossing over on the 2nd - I'm hoping to get a 5-day Visa at the border but Ian's mail today has me worried .....
5
Tools of the trade / Re: High speed Pick & Place for $3600
I mix strips and reels - for short/non leaders on strips I'm taking a length of thick thread - fold it in half - tie a few knots to make a loop and drop that into the slot of the take up spool, pull the loop at the other end tight and then fold a thin bit of masking tape through it, stick one side above the short leader and one below
6
Tools of the trade / Re: My experience with Smart-Prototyping
so first of all what you got for the soldering iron was probably a Chinese plug (not specifically an Aussie one, they are actually subtly different and aren't always quite interchangeable) changing plugs on stuff bought from China seems to be normal, I do it all the time and expect it. Grab a set of side cutters, cut off the old one and replace it with one from the hardware store.

I've also bought stencils from Smart-Prototypes - the thing about them is that they are really really cheap (half the price of Seeed et al), it's why I buy from them - most of the issues you have are not things I've had problems with since I make those changes to my designs anyway - for example I break up large heat-sink pads  into smaller ones (so I can tent heat/power conducting vias).

However I've had exactly the same problem you've had when I tried to add locating pins to my design - they disappeared likely because I'd put them over holes in the underlying board - I suspect it means one needs to have to call this out in the fab instructions.

Probably there's a standard set of things that the stencil house does that all their customers are used to, that they expect, we're one step removed here, going through a middle man (Smart Prototyping), plus a language barrier - better to be up front and tell them what you want - I learned something here for next time I try that trick
7
Tools of the trade / Re: High speed Pick & Place for $3600
I think that what you do is you start to design for smaller numbers of parts ..... need a 1k5 resistor for USB pullup? use 1k5s in place of 1ks for LEDs and other places you don't care much.

I bought a 240, it's definitely worth having the larger number of feeders - I wish Neoden did something simple - publish a photo of the two machines side by side to show the difference in sizes, and explain the difference in capabilities more, to help people decide

I'm starting to think about the number of reels when I do design - plus suddenly I'm buying parts by the reel - Digikey will charge you $8 for a reel of resistors - which is stupidly cheap - spend a couple of hundred dollars and buy a standard range - I got 1k/10k/... and 4k7/47k/... plus reels of .1uF and 1uf caps and a couple  of reels of LEDs from Aliexpress

Meanwhile I'm trying to figure out what to do with the crate it came in, maybe I'll make a small boat
9
Tools of the trade / Re: High speed Pick & Place for $3600
my 240 is on order I wait with baited  breath

I also have one of those stencil  machines (or something similar )  it has a large adjustable  weight  to make it  stay up when you lift it

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