***Official Electronics Thread of Officialness (it starts off with lots of Nixie Tube Clock goodness

Aod · 19 Oct 2011 at 16:33

PermaBanned said:
Just aluminium foil. They're further away than Copper and Zinc in terms of reactivity anyway. The electrolyte is pieces of kitchen roll soaked in a vinegar-salt solution, and it's a stack of 10 in all. Took it from the dangerous book for boys and improvised a bit

Nice! what sort of open-circuit voltage were you getting? a copper-salt-zinc pile should get one volt per group

PermaBanned · 19 Oct 2011 at 16:35

No idea, still don't have a multimeter. Lots of money to be spent when i can be bothered to go to the bank i think

Aod · 19 Oct 2011 at 16:39

Ahahaha. i'm surprised that you didn't fry the diode if that's a stack of ten, although the Ally's probably responsible for the lack of voltage

Tealc · 19 Oct 2011 at 17:28

danza said:

Wow those are some large capacitors. My audio build had some largeish caps too. These ones aren't audio specific but are Metallised Polypropylene Caps, these are 0.47uF and rated at 275v which seems unnecessary for audio. They are non-polarised of course.

I had a lot of trouble sourcing these capacitors without resorting to places like Farnell which I wanted to avoid as they do minimum order quantities and minimum order values, which I don't like.

A guy on Allaboutcircuits.com called Audioguru suggested to me that Polyprop caps were a waste of time and smaller polyester film 63v capacitors are fine. I'm not convinced though. Bigger is better, right?

danza · 19 Oct 2011 at 17:47

Those aren't the caps I'm using - well they are, but the above image was just for example. Mine are 0.22uf/630V, and are 25mm long x 15mm diameter iirc. Not too big. I already failed to shoehorn in a pair of PIO caps of the same spec (they were about 50mm long). There was just no room for them at all with the rest of the board populated, so they were a waste of money really. The Obbligato Golds should fit, even if they're a bit of a squeeze.

Tefal · 19 Oct 2011 at 21:42

got a bread board and a few bits and bobs

Also picked up a old scanner to make a uv exposure box in a little bit.

Now to try and set fire to something not attached to me

Cosimo · 20 Oct 2011 at 09:29

Tefal said:
got a bread board and a few bits and bobs

Also picked up a old scanner to make a uv exposure box in a little bit.

Now to try and set fire to something not attached to me

Don't forget to post a build log and pics.

RomanNose · 21 Oct 2011 at 18:04

Thinking of doing a arduino project of some sorts, anyone got any nice ideas for a project that can be done in a week? I have my first interview in about a weeks time for Electronic & Electrical.
I study Electronics, guess I can handle most things as long as I have the schematics.

adamau5 · 21 Oct 2011 at 19:31

i posted this in the homecinema section... but here is a headphone amp i built for a mate. I designed it from the ground up, circuit, layout, the lot. Sounds stunning but cost £700 just in materials!

PermaBanned · 23 Oct 2011 at 00:17

adamau5, as much as i want to tell you how awesome that looks i'm trying to avoid it based on the price tag

Anyway, i was just browsing Instructables, as you do (looking at oscilloscopes as a matter of fact), and i noticed this in the recommendations:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-A-Fusion-Reactor/

What. The actual. ****. :eek:

adamau5 · 23 Oct 2011 at 11:53

PermaBanned said:
adamau5, as much as i want to tell you how awesome that looks i'm trying to avoid it based on the price tag
:

I made a cheap version for myself, single box design, £20 transformers instead of £250 txs. doesnt sound nearly as good though.

Dai P · 23 Oct 2011 at 21:42

My Nixie clock kit is coming on nicely

Mikeyboy · 23 Oct 2011 at 23:30

Liverpool-Lad said:
Very nice, where was that from?

Sorry for the late reply!

Got it from a guy on eBay, username laurencewilkins. He doesn't seem to sell them anymore though.

Tealc said:
Wow those are some large capacitors.

You think they're big, you wanna see the ones we have at work. The size of a loaf of bread.

Monkeynut · 23 Oct 2011 at 23:53

This might sound like a stupid question to the electronics pros here, but if you soldered a cap to a molex such that it was connected to +12v and ground, would it reduce ripple? I'm asking as tomorrow I'm getting some (complete arse) capacitors to recap an old junker ATX PSU and would like to try it. The caps are only GP and not Low ESR but it's going on the bin anyway so doing it just to practice my solder skills. (and if it even works afterwards then that's just a moment of glory for me - not being put to use)

bulb66 · 24 Oct 2011 at 10:39

Does anyone here make their own PCB?

I am working on a little project at the moment and used my homemade UV box to make a PCB, forgot how good it was actually, lol.

What methods you use?

J

PermaBanned · 24 Oct 2011 at 11:00

bulb66 said:
Does anyone here make their own PCB?

I am working on a little project at the moment and used my homemade UV box to make a PCB, forgot how good it was actually, lol.

What methods you use?

J

I'm going to try it with Ferric Chloride, although i don't have access to a laser printer so we'll see how good my hand drawing skills are

I have an idea for a sort of DIY rotary tool drill press too...

Has anyone seen the PCB 'blanks' from Rapid that are made from SRBP instead of fibre glass? Makes sense to me, easier to drill, cheaper. Why not?

bulb66 · 24 Oct 2011 at 11:38

PermaBanned said:
I'm going to try it with Ferric Chloride, although i don't have access to a laser printer so we'll see how good my hand drawing skills are

I have an idea for a sort of DIY rotary tool drill press too...

Has anyone seen the PCB 'blanks' from Rapid that are made from SRBP instead of fibre glass? Makes sense to me, easier to drill, cheaper. Why not?

Oh i still need to use the Ferric Chloride to etch the PCB but i use the UV box to get my circuit on to the board.

I get my boards from Rapid.

J

taliesyn · 24 Oct 2011 at 12:09

Dai P said:
My Nixie clock kit is coming on nicely

Good one Dai, keep us updated with progress

Like the way you've bridged the fuse connection with wire :eek:

PermaBanned · 24 Oct 2011 at 12:15

bulb66 said:
Oh i still need to use the Ferric Chloride to etch the PCB but i use the UV box to get my circuit on to the board.

I get my boards from Rapid.

J

So the exposure is 'instead of' covering it with something like permanent marker or the plastic ink from a laser printer? Makes sense, although you still have to print out the template... is it just onto a transparency?

bulb66 · 24 Oct 2011 at 16:28

PermaBanned said:
So the exposure is 'instead of' covering it with something like permanent marker or the plastic ink from a laser printer? Makes sense, although you still have to print out the template... is it just onto a transparency?

Yes that's correct, and yes you do have to print it (On transparency) but you can reused that as many time as you like in fact i reused one i made 6 months ago.

Some of the traces on the board i just finished drilling and fill are less than 1mm wide, i'm really happy with my <£40 UV box. Beats paying the £200 they cost from Rapid, lol.

J