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Nice fix - what do you think? - In this video, I attempt to fix my previous PCB mishap where I mistook a common anode RGB LED for a common cathode. This required some soldering surgery with a hot plate, flux, and soldering iron. I maneuvered a pre-shaped enamel wire to complete the circuit properly and avoid previous mistakes. Despite a minor mishap with too much solder resist, the repair was ultimately successful, and the LED works beautifully now!

Tearing Down a Bistable Cholesteric Display - So, I finally tried out this bistable cholesteric display from my AliExpress stash after seeing Big Clive's teardown. It's super cool to play with, and I mean, it just clears up with a button press after you scribble on it. Gave it a whirl to understand the voltage involved and even ended up sparking it with some reverse polarity action (not the smartest move, I know). I might've broken it, but hey, it still sort of works manually. Check out Big Clive for a deeper dive into its reverse engineering, and remember to like and subscribe!

I Made a Digital Twin for my PCB - IMU Visualiser - Hey everyone! In this video, I’m diving into testing the cool functionality of my new board that I designed, and demonstrating how to use both an accelerometer and gyroscope with my favorite little tool. The board is rocking an LSM 6DS3 sensor, which works like a charm, despite the tiny LED snafu from before (watch my 'ninja repair' in the previous video, haha). I walk through the different modes, including a fusion mode that magically blends sensor data for accuracy. Also, there's some cool 3D modeling in play where you can bring any model to life on my public website – yes, even a teapot! Plus, it's all open source on GitHub, ready for you to get hands-on and maybe even add your enhancements. Enjoy!

Electronic Chopsticks? - So, I got this free gift from Secure - some HT140 solder tweezers, and they're pretty nifty! The kit comes with a stand, a power supply, and these tiny grub screws. Gave them a test run by desoldering components on a Pico board, and they heat up impressively fast! It's really handy, especially for smaller components. Thanks to Secure for sending these over. Definitely a great addition when working on my PCBs. Check them out in the description if you're interested!

Oops I Did It Again… Swapped VCC and GND, on My PCB 🙈 - Hey everyone! In this video, I made a little snafu with my PCB layout by confusing a common anode with a common cathode for my RGB LED. I walked through fixing it by a bit of desoldering, applying solder resist, and reconnecting with a fine wire. Thanks to PCB Way for their awesome service, and as always, all the mistakes you see are mine alone! It's all sorted now, and our LED is shining brightly once again. Let's take a look at the process!

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Thats a wrap - It's that festive time of year when goodies arrive from PCBWay, and what a delightful surprise to receive the Partner of the Year award! A huge thanks to PCBWay, my Patreons, and GitHub sponsors for the amazing support. This year has been thrilling, starting with ESP32 projects and diving into nickel plating experiments. I'm particularly excited about the ESP32 Rainbow project, now fully funded and gearing up for a 2025 release. With lots planned for the coming year, here's to a Merry Christmas and an exciting New Year ahead!

Printing PCBs At Home! - Got my hands on a Voltera machine for at-home PCB prototyping - it's a game-changer! Using conductive silver ink, it prints traces and pads, but it's quite finicky, much like 3D printing. It has limitations, such as trace widths, pin pitch for SMT components, and the high cost (over $5000). Plus, this tech requires a delicate touch due to the fragile ink bonding. Despite the machine's impressive capabilities, my partnership with PCBWay is still going strong, as this isn't a one-size-fits-all solution. Nonetheless, the ability to whip up a PCB in just a couple of hours is seriously impressive.

Look at my shiny crystal balls - Just upgraded my basic AliExpress crystal balls with some tech wizardry - I've thrown in an ESP32-S3-MINI, a mic, and made them battery powered. Thanks to WLED software, they're now smart and responsive! Shared the KiCAD project for fellow tinkerers. Check out my video to see these balls in action!

Esp32 s3 zx spectrum - In a bid to quench my nostalgia and flex my ESP32 chops, I managed to get a ZX Spectrum emulator running on my ESP32-TV board! Then, spurred on by PCBWay's new full color silk screen service, I pursuit the audacious task of recreating the ZX Spectrum's iconic keyboard. It's been quite the joyride - wrangling touch pins, shrinking screens and creating a thing of beauty on PCB. It's not quite ready for the spotlight, but keep an eye on my newsletter for more eagerly-awaited updates. It's like the Spectrum is reborn!

Scripting KiCad to make coils - I've been diving deep into the world of PCB (Printed Circuit Board) coils, inspired by Carl Bugeja's incredible PCB motors! After deciding to set up an automated process for creating the coils rather than manually drawing them (can you imagine?), I found our main constraints became track width and spacing, and the number of layers we could use. During the process of creating spirals for our coils, I encountered some interesting problems - spirals are easy, but what about arbitrarily shaped coils? My attempts ultimately lead me to develop more efficient algorithms and KiCad plugins to generate these special coils. A rewarding challenge of math, programming, and electronics! My code has been published on GitHub, and I’m eager to see how others might make use of it!