The green display looks great - nice fix!
-Pat
More toys arrived in the last couple of days.
An old Thandar TG-102 function generator to replace my embarrassingly bad homebrew one. I replaced the range switch on this as it was knackered. RS still sell the exact parts!
And a book I've been after for a couple of years.
Just received some goodies for my new man-corner
Two 120x60cm rubber ESD mats for on the bench.
Grounding box
Some grounding leads and a wrist strap
ESD safe brush and cans with IPA and contact spray
Solder fume extractor
PCB holder
The box of the fume extractor had me worried for a bit. I knew it was a cheap unit (about 50 EUR), but when the box needs to remind you that it's "100% high quality" you just know all bets are off and you just start praying the thing actually works. Surprisingly enough, it actually feels like a decent product for the money. The arm is mostly metal and feels like it should last at least a couple of years plus it has a decent reach. On the top of the fan you can attach one of two included pieces. One is an adapter that lets you attach a large air pipe/tube/thingy. The other one just redirects the air in one of four directions. The housing at the end of the arm is plastic and has an on/off switch. The fan itself has a metal housing and plastic blades and it simply runs directly on mains. It seems to displace a decent amount of air without being excessively loud. It's just a standard fan so it should be easy to replace it with something of higher quality. Although this one as QC PASS written on it, can't beat that
My only complaint about this unit is that they didn't route the wiring through the arm even though there are guides all over the arm for that.
The PCB holder is a piece of garbage. Lots of plastic and most of it is warped. At least it can hold a couple of small screwdrivers...
"QC Pass" is the best brand of fans
That green backlight fix looks really nice, good job!
Hmm, the fume extractor mounting on a swivel mount is interesting. I just have one that sits on the desktop. One the swivel, I would probably outfit the inside of the intake with a ring of high brightness LEDs and have it double as a lamp, since it would nearly always be pointed at the work area. Plus I'm already putting my monitor on a mount like that to free bench space.
Yeah, that's the first fume extractor I've seen on an arm like that. Pretty cool. I like your idea of adding lights to it to do double duty.
I have no clue who the manufacturer is for that fume extractor. It's made in China, but the labeling on the box and unit suggest it comes from the Czech Republic. Also found this:
http://www.tipa.eu/cz/odsavac-pajecich-zplodin-zd-153a-antistaticke-provedeni/d-135395/ The webshop I got my unit from must've imported it from there.
The idea of mounting some LEDs crossed my mind as well. There's plenty of room around the intake for some LEDs. Maybe those 12V LED COB's I have in my parts bin will fit
Sounds like a good project thread.
I call it Molly. Like Thor's hammer Molnir, but the Aussie version. "Oh, you don't want to break? Have a little chat with Molly. She's very persuasive."
Funny enough today I gave the nice new handle on "Gentle Persuasion" it's second coat of clear varnish. Now to do a third coat next week, then it will be in service again. Did not put the wedge back in, but used epoxy instead to make the fit a near permanent one. The black is not paint, but a phosphoric acid etch I did on the rust, and the shine is the remaining varnish on the brush from the handle work. Will not last long in use, but still, gives it that "new look" and for the moment it looks nice. Should have ground off the edges a little, but they are minor, just showing that it has been used a little.
Now it will join the collection sharing a space with the 3 4lb hammers I have. Why 3, sometimes you need a small anvil, and often you need a backing to whale on something, and having 3 means the anvil can still be in place on the small stuff. Plus i had them at home one day and needed some percussive fitting, so went to the hardware 50m away and suddenly had 3.
A beefy mosfet from IXYS in sot-227. or minibloc body.
Secured it from esd by connecting all pins with copper wire to prevent it getting zapped by accident.
This should be "adequate" while in handling period before connecting to the real circuit, right ?
Those Ixys parts have pretty good on board protection already. Remember the operating environment and the general installer putting one in is often a very hostile place.
Reminds me of getting my first MOSFETS, which came in a TO18 package with a small copper wire wound around all the leads and the case for protection. I used a 3N199 (IIRC) as a logic gate to do some switching, running it off a 30V rail. Used some 4M7 1/16W resistors as gate voltage dividers and protection.
Who can't use another power supply? This was an impulse buy 800W Xantrex XTR33-25. Clean and fully operational for $75 shipped. There are no better power supplies than XANTREX made by real Canadians.
@seanB, interesting re the sledge, here in Sth Oz the conventional thinking is to use a hardwood wedge, allows a bit of movement / expansion and also a lot of the wood handles are soaked in linseed oil.
I call it Molly. Like Thor's hammer Molnir, but the Aussie version. "Oh, you don't want to break? Have a little chat with Molly. She's very persuasive."
Funny enough today I gave the nice new handle on "Gentle Persuasion" it's second coat of clear varnish. Now to do a third coat next week, then it will be in service again. Did not put the wedge back in, but used epoxy instead to make the fit a near permanent one. The black is not paint, but a phosphoric acid etch I did on the rust, and the shine is the remaining varnish on the brush from the handle work. Will not last long in use, but still, gives it that "new look" and for the moment it looks nice. Should have ground off the edges a little, but they are minor, just showing that it has been used a little.
Now it will join the collection sharing a space with the 3 4lb hammers I have. Why 3, sometimes you need a small anvil, and often you need a backing to whale on something, and having 3 means the anvil can still be in place on the small stuff. Plus i had them at home one day and needed some percussive fitting, so went to the hardware 50m away and suddenly had 3.
What's not to like about a good hammer.
---What's not to like about a good hammer.---
I always carry a hammer-
@seanB, interesting re the sledge, here in Sth Oz the conventional thinking is to use a hardwood wedge, allows a bit of movement / expansion and also a lot of the wood handles are soaked in linseed oil.
Was thinking of oiling it, but while I do have the oil, the varnish won out because of the quick application time and ease of use. Could not put the wedge in, the fit between the head and handle is too tight, I was using the head to put the handle on so the epoxy as a helper was perfect, plus filled the top nicely as well. As it is only used when I need either a portable anvil or to destroy something I think it will generally hold out.
@SeanB , lots of different ways to do things. Until today I tended to think of good plumbing as copper pipe braised but a friend is using the Oz Snakebite system on a bathroom job - they are getting really good results and SO easy to do
Yes, good fittings and easy to use. Here however having exposed external brass fittings means they will go the first night into the scrap guys grasping hands, who will rip them off just for the brass. Same with aircons, you mount them at least 6m up or higher, and run the copper pipe inside the wall to stop it being stolen, and also put a massive steel frame around the unit so they cannot easily get it to rip the copper out.
Here the similar fittings are all plastic, and you even get all plastic fittings including taps that go with it.
Harsh environment engineering! HiHi.
A beefy mosfet from IXYS in sot-227. or minibloc body.
Secured it from esd by connecting all pins with copper wire to prevent it getting zapped by accident.
This should be "adequate" while in handling period before connecting to the real circuit, right ?
These IXYS mosfets are very hard to kill. That should be plenty adequate for protection.
If you don't mind my asking, what type is it and what to you plan to do with it? I ask because I have about 80 IXFN200N07 and 17 IXFN106N20 mosfets that have been sitting in a box for many years. The 106's were samples I think at a previous employer. I got the 200N07's because that same previous employer thought that mixing batches decreased reliability of their motor controllers, which used 6 per controller, so whenever they found the date code about to switch with less than 6 left, they just set those remaining ones aside. I nabbed them one day when they were cleaning the parts room. I've thought about listing them on eBay or new Tindie Flea Market section, but never got to it. When Digikey still sells the 200N07's for $26 each, I feel like I should do something with them or sell them, but they have been sitting for probably 15 years or more...
Got an old Associated Research Hypot Junior 2500 VAC hi-pot tester. Totally not something I need, but it was being sold cheaper than I've expected to see such.
Verified that the leakage indicator turns on around 500 uA with a 1 M ohm resistor, turned on around 500V.
Then verified that USB chargers sold by Apple and Amazon test to 2500 VAC without leakage. On the other hand, a cheap non-safety-certified wall-wart starts leaking at only 750 VAC. We have a winner.
These IXYS mosfets are very hard to kill. That should be plenty adequate for protection.
If you don't mind my asking, what type is it and what to you plan to do with it? I ask because I have about 80 IXFN200N07 and 17 IXFN106N20 mosfets that have been sitting in a box for many years. The 106's were samples I think at a previous employer. I got the 200N07's because that same previous employer thought that mixing batches decreased reliability of their motor controllers, which used 6 per controller, so whenever they found the date code about to switch with less than 6 left, they just set those remaining ones aside. I nabbed them one day when they were cleaning the parts room. I've thought about listing them on eBay or new Tindie Flea Market section, but never got to it. When Digikey still sells the 200N07's for $26 each, I feel like I should do something with them or sell them, but they have been sitting for probably 15 years or more...
Its IXTN46N50L linear mosfet, planning to use it for constant DC dummy load, mine is used though, new at Digikey cost $42 a pop.
Technically, yesterday, but better late than never. Snagged some RF stuff at a swap meet - some SMA unions and r/a connectors, filters and attenuators, and a few BNC feedthrough terminators - three 50 ohm ones, and one 600 ohm. Also got a pair of Tektronix generators - a type 106 square wave generator and a type 191 constant amplitude sig gen. I was surprised to discover that both are hybrids with both tubes and transistors, and are from the mid 60s. I'd have guessed they were mid 70s at the earliest. Surprise, surprise...
It turned out to be a banner day for manuals - got a bunch at the swap meet and then more at the surplus place later.
-Pat