The good news is I finished a project

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timmeh87
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The good news is I finished a project

Post by timmeh87 »

The bad news is that it isnt a portable.

Its a USB to RS232 bridge.

Ive needed one for a while, so I finally got around to making it. Somehow I actually ended up taking pictures and writing it up.

http://www.timmeh.bravehost.com/

Check it out to find out how I managed to use this chip

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edit: fixed image. you'd think I could hotlink my own site :P.
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Skyone
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Post by Skyone »

Looks nice and cute, glad to see you finished something. (How about that battery monitor?) :P
ganonbanned
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Re: The good news is I finished a project

Post by ganonbanned »

timmeh87 wrote:
edit: fixed image. you'd think I could hotlink my own site :P.
well you are timmeh.
khaag
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Post by khaag »

That's an ugly penny...
Harshboy
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Post by Harshboy »

Looks nice :wink:
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Post by benol »

why does that penny have a chunk missing?
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Post by Jongamer »

benol wrote:why does that penny have a chunk missing?
Musta had a hungry mouse around :lol:
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Post by vskid »

benol wrote:why does that penny have a chunk missing?
timmeh got hungry.

Sweet job, you has sk1llz.
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Metallica Man X
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Post by Metallica Man X »

That thing is TEENY! That must really have been a pain to do!
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Post by marshallh »

I'm just throwing this out there, but wouldn't it be easier if you tinned the pads with solder, aligned the chip, and didn't clamp it down at all? When you heat the solder up, the chip should center itself because of the solder's surface tension. At least, it works for TQFP packages.
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timmeh87
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Post by timmeh87 »

regarding the penny: I attacked it with nail clippers a long time ago (wanted to see what was inside) and left it for dead. For some reason it was the fist penny i found in my room. Its shiny too so I used it.

marshall: that was the first idea I had and it almost worked, but I was getting a lot of unevenness since I didn't have the same amount of solder on each pad. The chip was basically floating upwards and some connections didn't get made. (some pins have traces for which the solder to flow outwards onto, and some are just little dots of copper where the solder has nowhere to go). I was probably a bit light on the flux too; I try not to use much cause it gets under chips and corrodes the copper and all kinds of nightmares (I need to get real electronics flux)

The clamping was really just an experiment. but hey, it worked so I left it alone. I was actually surprised it worked, I was expecting to get a lot of shorts when the solder got squeezed out of the joints.



oh and battery monitor - right now Im going to make an official statement that goes something like
"I dont have a lot of time right now (ie. since I started university) so Im basically doing projects that somehow improve my own life. There will probably be a 8-cell Li-Po management circuit down the line (my own portable) but no promises on anything."

That said, getting lots of people saying "hey I would pay for one of those" is definitely going to get me thinking. I'm thinking that maybe once I have enough *useful, mass-produceable* projects I could open up some sort of e-store with kits and stuff. More of a pipe dream than anything.
Last edited by timmeh87 on Thu Apr 05, 2007 7:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Felino »

Real flux? :?
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timmeh87
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Post by timmeh87 »

The stuff I have now is for stained glass I think, its a clear liquid and powerfully acidic. Problem is all those little acid ions conduct electricity and (ironically) corrode metal.

'Real' flux is a harmless paste. I dont know whats in it.
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jeroen
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Post by jeroen »

Mmmmmm I think something like this was in elektuur. (elektor) An electronics magazine.
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Post by Edutainment »

khaag wrote:That's an ugly penny...
I was going to ask what you have against Canada but I noticed your from Canada (I assume from your odd location field) :lol: You mean the chunk missing? Yea, what's up with that!?!

I would never be able to solder that, you know, if I could solder anything :lol:
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