If you don't tinker, you don't have taste
https://seated.ro/blog/tinkering-a-lost-art
#HackerNews #tinkering #art #creativity #innovation #craftsmanship #taste
I 3D printed a laptop / polymatt
2/
I opened up the one with the issues to have a look, and happily, the input section is on a separate board! Well then, hopefully I can swap it out for the input section from the newer unit, to A, confirm that the input section was the problem, and B, get the better amp fully working.
I removed the suspect input board and immediately my eye was drawn to these semitransparent yellow polymer caps. I can’t say exactly why, but I don’t trust them.
…
3/
I then went and opened up the other unit, and pulled out the input board. Under all the dust, a few things became apparent.
First, they revised the design to remove the stupid metal tab that you had to bend to be able to remove the input board without taking every other board out first. Nice.
Second, the only noticeable revision to the input board was replacing those exact yellow capacitors with a different kind of film/poly cap. Aha! Vindication perhaps?
Anyway, I was able to swap the newer input board into the older amp (after removing all the dust).
And then test, and yay! It worked great!
Nice quiet fans achieving plenty of airflow, chassis doesn’t get hot, no input popping. This 20-year old amp is ready for another decade or two of service, I hope.
And maybe I’ll get some filter foam over the front intake…
Mike [SEC=OFFICIAL]
boosted
I wrote a quick blog post about my Soldering Fume Extractor v4 finally.
It's a relatively cheap (~AU$120), compact, effective and quiet fume extractor, that uses cheap off-the-shelf filters.
Anyone who's interested in making one, check it out. If there's more interest I'll see about building a v4.5 with stronger 7mm ply.
I wrote a quick blog post about my Soldering Fume Extractor v4 finally.
It's a relatively cheap (~AU$120), compact, effective and quiet fume extractor, that uses cheap off-the-shelf filters.
Anyone who's interested in making one, check it out. If there's more interest I'll see about building a v4.5 with stronger 7mm ply.
Had a dead Soundcraft Ui12 needing repair. Was browning out any PSU connected.
Ruled out the CPU board and DSP board, meaning it was the analogue board.
Sheesh, three factory bodges! Early unit I guess?
Running it current-limited, the inductor for the 48V phantom power boost converter was getting warm.
desoldered the caps, and despite being bodgy, they weren’t dodgy.
Desoldered (and broke, whoops) the inductor just to confirm it was this section. Yep, board works fine without it! Next I need to find a replacement for this boost driver chip. And the jellybean inductor.
Super closeup of the boost driver chip, marked U51, 741F / L5002 / MA
Photo showing the board section before inductor was removed, with an electrolytic cap bodged on top of a large ceramic cap.
Closeup of a PCB showing a switch mode circuit layout, with the inductor missing. Below is an Atmel Atmega 48P microcontroller.
fuck yeah, just made a huge breakthrough in reverse-engineering this 20-year-old software implementing an undocumented protocol by Yamaha for remote head-amp gain control, without having one of the other end devices to test with!
#Tinkering#s0Projects
Hey hey HEy I spent today designing and laser cutting a box to fit the fan and filters and adapt to my 75mm pipe.
this thing is gonna work super well! Just put together the box and spun up the fan and there’s so much suction.
Now I just have to buy some air filters. It’s designed to take Toyota car cabin air filters, which are super cheap (literally like $10), rectangular, available with activated carbon media, and fit the fan size great.
The filter will just slot right in the top here (will be the side in operation)
Closeup of the back side showing large centrifugal fan mounted with free exhaust out the sides, and intake facing into the box. Also a small fan controller PCB with a knob plugged into the fan.
Photo of a laser cut box labeled “SP Soldering Fume Extractor v4” with a round hole in the front and large slot visible at the top.
This baby is gonna be the centre of my DIY open hardware soldering fume extractor version 4.
Going to design a laser-cut box that adapts to any generic inlet pipe and fits off-the-shelf rectangular air filters.