Interesting Bistable Cholesteric Liquid Display - I broke it :(

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Our friends at PCBWay did an awesome job with their PCBs and SMT assembly! Even though Big Clive got to this AliExpress gizmo first, I couldn't resist taking it apart and having some fun myself. Want to check it out? I've got some links where you can buy your own. If you enjoy my antics and want to support my shenanigans, feel free to join our Patreon or visit our shop. Plus, we've got a cool Discord community and newsletters, so jump in on the fun!

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!

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!

Surprisingly not CR*P - Vibing hardware - Well folks, what an adventure! After vibe coding our vibing button, I took up the challenge to vibe code the actual hardware for an ESP32 S3 dev board. Used a tool called at pile and gave it a whirl with some AI help from Claude. Interestingly, it handled everything from sourcing components with LCSC part numbers to wiring them up. Had a wee hiccup with missing capacitor in the RC circuit, but overall it was a thrilling ride watching the AI process! A bit of tweaking here and there, and we're good to go! Can't wait to see it in action.

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!

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!

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!

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!

Crowdfunding Success - Was it worth it? - I embarked on a thrilling adventure of turning a nifty idea into a tangible product — the ESP32 Rainbow, a Sinclair Spectrum-inspired gadget that merges retro vibes with modern tech. With the brains of an ESP32-S3, capacitive touch, a built-in display, and some snazzy UV silk screen printing, it's a little marvel that got crowdfunded successfully. But, oh boy, was the journey enlightening — from grappling with pricing conundrums and the bureaucracy of certifications to the harrowing odyssey of international shipping. While it didn't line my pockets with gold, seeing people enjoy something I created is worth all the sweat and jitters. Would I do it again? Well, maybe if lightning strikes twice with another great idea.

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!

Thanks to https://www.PCBWay.com/?from=atomic for the fantastic PCBs and SMT assembly.

Big Clive beat me to this - it’s been in my box of interesting AliExpress bits for ages. But I thought I’d take it apart and blow it up anyway!

You can buy them here - shop around as there are many sellers: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_oDjfIhT

If you’d like to help support the channel and help me buy more nonsense - I have a Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/atomic14

We’ve also got a shop now! https://shop.atomic14.com

And if you’re shopping on AliExpress or Amazon then if you click on these links I will get a little bit of affiliate money:

Aliexpress - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Ac05mF
Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/?tag=atomic14-20

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There’s also the Atomic14 newsletter here: https://atomic14.substack.com/

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HELP SUPPORT MY WORK: If you're feeling flush then please stop by Patreon Or you can make a one off donation via ko-fi

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Interesting Bistable Cholesteric Liquid Display - I broke it :(

Written by

Chris Greening

Supported by

atomic14

A collection of slightly mad projects, instructive/educational videos, and generally interesting stuff. Building projects around the Arduino and ESP32 platforms - we'll be exploring AI, Computer Vision, Audio, 3D Printing - it may get a bit eclectic...

Interesting Bistable Cholesteric Liquid Display - I broke it :(

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Written by

Chris Greening

Supported by

atomic14

A collection of slightly mad projects, instructive/educational videos, and generally interesting stuff. Building projects around the Arduino and ESP32 platforms - we'll be exploring AI, Computer Vision, Audio, 3D Printing - it may get a bit eclectic...