EEVblog #798 - Mailbag

[EEVblog]

More Mailbag.



SPOILERS:
"Hole warmer" sex toy!
A documentary on "maskers"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/08/secrets-of-the-living-dolls_n_4561580.html?ir=Australia
PIC USB development board: http://www.hw2sw.com/pick4boot/
Schmartboard Schmartpatch Flexible SMD repair patches: http://schmartboard.com/schmartpatch/
USB to serial converter:
https://www.tindie.com/products/maxtch/fused-ftdi-free-usb-to-uart-adapter-5v-m180v3/

[SeanB]

Hole warmer was reviewed by Big Clive, he probably was the one who sent it in to you Dave.

Australians, leading a sheltered life............ No vibrator looks like that, they normally have a sharper tip, to get to the part that needs the vibration. Good for relieving tension knots on your back, though a washing machine on spin cycle is also good.

[technix]

Hi Dave, Max here.

Thank you for reviewing my boards! I think I have enough stock of M180v3 and M180v4 (yes it is up to revision 4 now but v3 and v4 are actually two different beast despite keeping a similar layout) to sail through the sales peak you gave me!

That horrendous M85 (now called M285v1 in my unified model number system) boards already down the trash can. If I am going to need a new microcontroller-based light dimmer the new version is going to have a vastly different design (and thanks to the LSOF project taking off, is going to use optical controls)

[MrAureliusR]

Nope, it wasn't bigclive ... 

And it was just as hilarious as I thought it'd be.

[dr.diesel]

Did the hole warmer smell funny, or sticky?

 

[BobC]

Every time I see a Mailbag video containing kits, I keep thinking I'd like to see Dave review a project, not just its end result.  Something DIY that could be of general interest.

Is (or should there be) an "eMailbag" video once in a while?  I have a specific example in mind that I think the EEVblog community would enjoy.

Last month (August 2015) Hackaday had a post about a 3D printed breadboard vise, which struck me as an Insanely Great Idea^TM, especially as I had been playing with RasPi and ESP-xx boards and was always losing jumpers to the breadboard.

The HaD post included a link to the creator's blog, which in turn contained a link to the Breadboard Vise on Thingiverse.

Anyhow, for me this was love at first sight, and I contacted Pat and insisted on purchasing one.  He offered me the one pictured on HaD, but then decided he'd rather send me one with some minor refinements.  When I got it I immediatrly moved one of my current projects to it and blogged about it.

Pat's goal is to get folks to print their own Breadboard Vise, but I did manage to talk him into setting up a Tindie store, which he did with some reluctance.

Anyhow, I think it could be a great short video if Dave or Dave² would print one up and review it!  (But please contact Pat before doing so, to ensure his latest and greatest has been uploaded to Thingiverse and/or GitHub.)

What do you think?  Not just of the Breadboard Vise, but of the idea for an "eMailbag" for useful DIY projects submitted by us, his loyal viewers?

[dentaku]

Nope, it wasn't bigclive ... 

And it was just as hilarious as I thought it'd be.

I figured it was a Big Clive fan or a forum member. I'm assuming you're both.

[MrAureliusR]

Nope, it wasn't bigclive ... 

And it was just as hilarious as I thought it'd be.

I figured it was a Big Clive fan or a forum member. I'm assuming you're both.

Oh yeah. When I saw these on bigclive's channel, I couldn't help myself. So frickin' funny. It's supposed to come with this little insert card with a picture of it in flames, which would have been even better.

Sorry Dave! But I was dying laughing, he was so confused.

[Vgkid]

That was a rather interesting  mailbag.

[apis]

You must have had bad luck, Italian pizza is the greatest, my favorite was with potato and truffle.

[German_EE]

The butt warmer on Big Clive and EEV Blog raised a smile but this one from Big Clive had me laughing so hard I pulled my stitches (I was recovering from surgery at the time).

This video is NOT work safe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=3&v=mcDgOGC5Lcc

[SeanB]

I quite enjoyed that one, especially the follow up of the making off.......

Could be worse, he could have sent in a blow up sheep.......... They are all anatomically incorrect.

[andersjm]

When Dave is evaluating that sent in board for safety, he says that it might have insufficient clearance between live and earth, and mentions the figure 8 mm for a more acceptable value.

Is as much as 8 mm really needed? I would have thought a lot of products don't achieve this. 8mm is really far!

I'm pretty sure that the clearance between neutral and live only needs to be 1.5 mm or so, for functional insulation. And surely there's no requirement to have more than functional insulation between live and neutral?

Reinforced insulation (where I think the 8mm might be coming from) is only used to insulate SELV ("safe" low voltage) circuits from mains circuits, right? So the important thing from a don't-electrocute-your-user-perspective should be the insulation between any low-voltage parts of your products and the mains-voltage parts, not between different mains lines?