I have no intention of doing anything with that stuff if I can help it. Sure,
the old parts are reportedly getting harder to find, I hear, but I have
plenty of parts to mess with, and while some of the newer stuff may be
exceedingly nifty, I don't see a _need_ for it. I'm not after minimum size,
and feel that overall the major thrust of SMD is convenience in manufacturing
more than anything else -- manufacturing in large quantity, which I'm not
doing.
you may be right there, one advantage is manufacturing.. but not only in large quantity,
also in small quantity it is nice if you don't need to drill holes, bend wires, cut wires.
I find it faster to use and throughhole parts are definitely going to be hard to find in the
near future. (and smd is cheaper too.. but i was told that this is no "how to do it cheap" list)
Perhaps. I don't use all that many of them, and in fact have found some in a
box that I've had for years, and never opened.
I have no such box ;-)
If you are facing working with a rather unknown pcb software, making a
layout, sending it out and paying a lot, waiting weeks... i know this makes
you use protoboards. But if you are experienced with the layout software and
have a good pcb setup you just print it out,
This assumes the use of a laser printer?
yes.
fuse it,
Are you talking about toner transfer here?
yes.
peel it,
And here?
still TT.
etch it,
Yeah, not time-consuming if you happen to have everything already set up to
use, and don't have to go through all of that process...
correct, if you have to get everything ready you might just choose not to make a board.
drill it,
Another time-consuming aspect of it, unless you have a CNC setup or similar
(something that's on my list to do).
I try to avoid CNC by heavily going into SMD, limiting the drilling to connectors
and such. if you only convert all the 2-legged ones to smd you can still use your stock
of ics and special parts - but greatly reduce drill effort.
ready. no more than an hour.
I suspect that it would take me considerably longer than that.
Only becaus you haven't set it up and are used to it.
I've been salvaging / scrapping stuff for a lot of years. :-)
me too.. need more storage space. definitely.
If it is possible without too much investment i will try to preserve the
whole frequency range. maybe i just add another direct output from the 038
with 50Ohms, you won't need high amplitude there, or dc offset.
What part would you use to do that?
a resistor. just like in the datasheet. and a bnc connector of course.
the max 038 has 3V amplitude or so on a low impedance output, and a seperate TTL out.
In a meter? First I've heard of that.
Metex has it all, but you can only adjust in steps.
they have crammed in all from Cap. meter, inductance meter, transistor, temp.,
diode, frequency, sig out, logic test,
of course all the RMS amp and volt, ohm stuff and a beeper into a standard size handheld meter...
But there are of course limitations... especially 3,5digit..
I only use it for these special functions, like the desktop meters (with LED display) more.
(fluke 8000). i also highly recommend norma meters, 4 1/2 digit, really fast and high quality..
Tell me more about this?
Counter, using a CPLD, you have a oscillator (i hope i find a more precise one some day)
and you then program your counter in there.
of course you can interchange gate and input so you get period display (you have different
gate times inside by dividers). then you can also add a counter for the thumbwheel (out of
a microwave ;-) ) and let it count n gate times (selectable) before it inverts the output.
you simply buffer the output to protect the cpld and that should be it then.
really not much difference between a counter and a programmable generator.
I have coded the counter function already, and there is still space for a generator i think.
Now i am doing the hardware (when i have time) because i want to do some tests
before continuing the programming.
It's a damn small package these cplds did came in (ebay so i couldn't select plcc).
The toner transfer works fine down to 6,66 mil (2 dots at 300dpi) but the metric spacing
of the tqfp100 leads to errors (uneven spacing).
I'm also not sure if the package can take the heating of the led current, will see.
If it doesn't work i need to scan the display and do the hardware again.
That's a key, figure out what you want to use it for first! :-)
Of course i know what i want to do with it, because otherwise i wouldn't notice a particular tool is missing.
I just don't want to cut corners and then have to make a new unit next week when i need other
functions.
ST
