Electronics parts

Fortunately the IR transmission of acrylic sheets is pretty high, so it can be used to detect objects behind them. Unfortunately the range is just a few mm. And I need to get rid of the nice little breakout board, as it is too thick. Why didn't they use 0.5mm laminate. I'll have to pull the thing off and glue it directly on-top of the micro.

This one is quite good. Doubling from 2V to 4V still gives several hundred mA of juice. Nice. And the little chip didn't even get warm.

Now this stuff is GOOD. No smoke (at 285°C), stays on the PCB for quite a while, almost no smell at all. And it already comes with a nozzle. No need to buy another one as I did. The nozzle was horrendously overpriced at close to 2$. I totally agree with the verdict of the guys at dangerousprototypes. I did a quick test job (TQFP-32 7x7 package) and it just worked nicely. One 'helping' of flux was enough. I didn't have to constantly re-add flux like in case of the FL-88 dispenser pen.

It's not bad, but it's mostly alcohol. Leaves a white residue. I use(d) it for adding a little extra flux when the rosin core of the solder wasn't enough. Not suitable for rework, as it evaporates too quickly.

Nichia " NSPWR70CSS-K1", 200mW each.

Initially I wanted to buy 'orange' LEDs, but chose the cheaper 'yellow' ones. These look quite orange to me.

30V > 3V

0.99€ down the drain. Nichia NSSL157T-H3.

This contraption is quite useful for extreme macro shots.

These LEDs are about the size of a match head.

I was planning to use 0402 components in my next project, as well as AVRs in MLF20. Saving space is good I thought. Now that I have seen the size of these LEDs, or more precisely the LACK thereof, I'm not so sure anymore. 1206 and 0805 are not critical and I have dealt with these many times before, but 0402... holy sh... for these I'd need a new pair of glasses + a good magnifying monocle.

Time to shut of the mind and relax with a little bit of soldering.

The only winning move is not to play. This time I put the LEDs into my freezer, and I only wrecked 1 out of 40! Considering the small mass of the package and that hand soldering each of them takes me at least 30 seconds, I doubt that it had any effect at all.

It will be used for adjusting current. Unfortunately I couldn't get a metric version of this thing. Now I have to deal with a 1/4-in shaft. Yuck. The range of available knobs for non-6.0mm-shafts is rather limited.