Ian's Blog: Electronics

Smol Things

2024-08-03 05:36 by Ian

Sometimes, you just need to solder smol things. Here is some of my best work with a microscope and a soldering iron.

As an object lesson in electricity, my youngest boy and I built a high Wattage transformer box with a trigger. It is named BuzzBox because while operating under full load, it emits that 60Hz buzz that usually means a fire is about to start.

2021.09.05: LiPo reverse engineering

2021-09-05 08:13 by Ian

I needed a specific kind of battery for a project. And I happened to have one salvaged from a ruined Nexus7 sitting in my "Reverse-Engineering TODO" box that fits the application perfectly. I guess it's time to tear into this battery and put it to good use.

Viam Sonus 2.0

2019-11-16 14:45 by Ian

This is an improved version of my audio router board.

Recent breakout boards

2019-07-28 16:46 by Ian

Last month was busy for hardware. I spent most of the month in KiCAD, and OshPark just shipped the last wave.

I think I fried my first digit

2017-04-29 01:27 by Ian

This is a running log of my postmortem analysis.

Digitabulum: Flex circuits, and a release choice

2017-01-05 23:46 by Ian

After 1.5 years, the digit design is complete, and is real hardware on my desk. This was easily the hardest (and most expensive) part of the project.

Digitabulum: Final digit layout

2016-10-19 02:13 by Ian

Fabricator is ready to roll with the flex circuits, after a looooong game of ping-pong and a few re-work cycles. Getting things right in such tight constraints was not a trivial task. And after more than a year of refinement, the digits should be landing on my bench around this time next month.