If you needed to weld something in a pinch, what’s the minimum complement of equipment you could get away with? In [Professor Bardal]’s case, it’s a couple of motorcycle batteries and a roll of flux-core wire, and not much else. We suspect this one is going to elicit quite a few comments, not least by […]
Sometimes it’s the simplest hacks that make the biggest impact. Take these DIY magnetic PCB vises for example. Sure, you can go out and buy purpose-built tools, but [Dylan Radcliffe] just made a trip to the hardware store for some nuts and bolts. He chose 3/8″-16 bolts, which would probably be around M10 for the […]
As a general concept, fault injection is a technique that studies how a system reacts to unusual or unexpected external forces. The idea is that, if you can trigger a glitch at the precise moment, you might be able to use that to your advantage in disabling security features or otherwise gaining further access to […]
When we reviewed the iFixit FixHub back in September, one of the most interesting features of the portable soldering station was the command line interface that both the iron and the base station offered up once you connected to them via USB. While this feature wasn’t documented anywhere, it made a degree of a sense, […]
For a lot of us, soldering just seems to come naturally. But if we’re being honest, none of us was born with a soldering iron in our hand — ouch! — and if we’re good at soldering now, it’s only thanks to good habits and long practice. But what if you’re a company that lives […]
At this point, many of us have gone all-in on USB-C. It’s gotten to the point that when you occasionally run across a gadget that doesn’t support being powered USB-C, the whole experience seems somewhat ridiculous. If 90% of your devices using the same power supply, that last 10% starts feeling very antiquated. So why […]
[Garage 54] is no stranger to vehicle-related projects of the “because why not?” variety, and their latest is using 50 cordless drills combined into a monstrous mega-motor to turn a gutted (and extended) Lada into an electric vehicle (EV). Doing this leans on some of [Garage 54]’s earlier projects, such as replacing the aforementioned Lada’s […]
If you’re into building large projects, you’ll eventually find yourself looking at wire rope. Multistrand steel wire used as antenna guy wires, bridge supports, and plenty of other uses. The [HowNot2] team tested an old rule of thumb for wire rope. “Never saddle a dead horse”. Click through the break for more: The old saying […]
Can you use brake cleaner for flux removal on PCBs? According to [Half Burnt Toast], yes you can. But should you? Well, that’s another matter. In our experience, flux removal seems to be far more difficult than it should be. We’ve seen plenty of examples of a tiny drop of isopropyl alcohol and a bit […]
Over the last few decades, electronic devices have drastically changed. Radios that once had point-to-point wiring gave way to printed circuit boards with through-hole parts, and now microscopic surface mount devices are the norm. But most of us still use probes that would have been just fine for a 1940s receiver. There are other options, […]