Its not for you guys, its for me ^^
Some parts have very fragile legs that tend to break off during shipping.
In a hard box that is a non-issue, so all enclosure-buyers will have to look for their kits inside the enclosures.
But in a padded envelope, a DIP8 part might bend a leg or two.
To prevent that, you stick the part in a small piece of foam that protects the legs.
And if you use cheap non-conductive foam that might have a static charge, you fry the component you are trying to protect.
So you work on an ESD-surface that is properly grounded, stick the part in conductive foam that sits on your ESD-surface and then place them in an ESD-bag.
All the while, you wear a cute little armband with a wire that is connected to the SAME ground as the surface you are working on.
All that is done to prevent dead parts from reaching you and to save you trouble.
Some parts have very fragile legs that tend to break off during shipping.
In a hard box that is a non-issue, so all enclosure-buyers will have to look for their kits inside the enclosures.
But in a padded envelope, a DIP8 part might bend a leg or two.
To prevent that, you stick the part in a small piece of foam that protects the legs.
And if you use cheap non-conductive foam that might have a static charge, you fry the component you are trying to protect.
So you work on an ESD-surface that is properly grounded, stick the part in conductive foam that sits on your ESD-surface and then place them in an ESD-bag.
All the while, you wear a cute little armband with a wire that is connected to the SAME ground as the surface you are working on.
All that is done to prevent dead parts from reaching you and to save you trouble.
Don't wear any clothes made from plastics.
(Microfiber underwear is still plastic...)
Do not work on plastic surfaces (kitchen- and living room furniture is often coated with plastic).
Glass, metal or wood are all preferable.
Keep grounding yourself while you work.
If your house uses metal plumbing and water pipes, a kitchen sink works (if it's metal).
Otherwise the heating radiators are usually good for this.
Proper ESD mats, wristbands, brushes and tools are nit expensive.
A mat and a wristband retail for ~20 to 40€.
That's a good investment. It not only saves you the money from fried components.
It also saves you tons of time troubleshooting your stuff for fried components.
Regards,
Jokener
(Microfiber underwear is still plastic...)
Do not work on plastic surfaces (kitchen- and living room furniture is often coated with plastic).
Glass, metal or wood are all preferable.
Keep grounding yourself while you work.
If your house uses metal plumbing and water pipes, a kitchen sink works (if it's metal).
Otherwise the heating radiators are usually good for this.
Proper ESD mats, wristbands, brushes and tools are nit expensive.
A mat and a wristband retail for ~20 to 40€.
That's a good investment. It not only saves you the money from fried components.
It also saves you tons of time troubleshooting your stuff for fried components.
Regards,
Jokener
I'm living in a multi-flat house. There's a possibility that other habitants are as wise as me and also ground their stuff(refrigerators, washing machines, PCs, ...) to the pipes. Is it dangerous to ground through water pipes in such conditions, or it doesn't prevent ESD from properly sinking?
Thanks for the advice!
I don't think people would ground their home electronics to the piping in the walls.
And you are not really "grounding" anything permanently when assembling your O2.
The amount of energy transfered when you are "fully charged" by static electricity and then touch a grounded radiator/sink... it is minimal.
Regards,
Jokener
And you are not really "grounding" anything permanently when assembling your O2.
The amount of energy transfered when you are "fully charged" by static electricity and then touch a grounded radiator/sink... it is minimal.
Regards,
Jokener
Don't worry. None of the components in the O2 build are very sensitive to ESD (possibly only the op-amps). Take of your shoes and don't use an office chair with plastic wheels. Soldering technique is way more critical in practice - IMO.
Cheers,
Nic
There have been reports on blown MOSFETs, so some extra care when handling these could be advisable.
No case?
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Okay. The first cases (black and blue) have arrived.
As did the "Farnell extras" that some people ordered.
Everything is intact and stored safely, waiting for the rest of the orders to arrive.
The black case looks really great. Deep and good black, nice texture.
Comes with lots of black screws, even though they are not very good at cutting their threads into the case.
And their Philips head shape doesn't match any of my screwdrivers. And I live in a car dealership...
But they're black, you can drive them in the case if you're careful and then you're golden.
The blue, I'm not so sure. It seemed darker on the pictures.
If I had to describe it, its halfway between the Mercedes color they call "Deep Sea Blue Metallic" (Tiefseeblau Metallic) and a "Baby Blue Metallic".
Its not hideous, but not quite what I expected.
Pictures will follow tonight once I am back home.
(Oktoberfest right now. Only place where a man can spend 100€ on beer alone and he can still walk to his bed alone... Good times and good thing I have a chauffeur for the trip back home ^^ )
Regards,
Jokener
As did the "Farnell extras" that some people ordered.
Everything is intact and stored safely, waiting for the rest of the orders to arrive.
The black case looks really great. Deep and good black, nice texture.
Comes with lots of black screws, even though they are not very good at cutting their threads into the case.
And their Philips head shape doesn't match any of my screwdrivers. And I live in a car dealership...
But they're black, you can drive them in the case if you're careful and then you're golden.
The blue, I'm not so sure. It seemed darker on the pictures.
If I had to describe it, its halfway between the Mercedes color they call "Deep Sea Blue Metallic" (Tiefseeblau Metallic) and a "Baby Blue Metallic".
Its not hideous, but not quite what I expected.
Pictures will follow tonight once I am back home.
(Oktoberfest right now. Only place where a man can spend 100€ on beer alone and he can still walk to his bed alone... Good times and good thing I have a chauffeur for the trip back home ^^ )
Regards,
Jokener
I came across a Velleman 15V 500mA AC-AC adapter (price € 8,95) when i was in a local electronics shop today.
Link to the Velleman adapter (dutch):
Velleman nv
I don't know if it has the correct plug, but perhaps this could be an alternative to the adapter timpert mentioned?
Link to the Velleman adapter (dutch):
Velleman nv
I don't know if it has the correct plug, but perhaps this could be an alternative to the adapter timpert mentioned?
I don't understand, why didn't the manufacturer thread the holes beforehand? For economic reasons?
I guess its a mixture of two things:
A) its cheaper without threaded holes.
B) threaded holes force the consumer into one fixed thread-inclination
As long as you are very careful with the screws and don't try to turn without pressing the screwdriver down, you will be fine.
The coating on the screws is not that bad, considering they are typical chinese rolled screws...
And here are the pictures: klick me!
By the way: iPhone camera sucks. The blue looks darker and more "serious" in the pictures than in real life...
Regards,
Jokener
A) its cheaper without threaded holes.
B) threaded holes force the consumer into one fixed thread-inclination
As long as you are very careful with the screws and don't try to turn without pressing the screwdriver down, you will be fine.
The coating on the screws is not that bad, considering they are typical chinese rolled screws...
And here are the pictures: klick me!
By the way: iPhone camera sucks. The blue looks darker and more "serious" in the pictures than in real life...
Regards,
Jokener
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They are both okay, if you ask me. Just the blue color threw me off my game a little...
I didn't expect as much "candy wrapper" and more "business" in that color.
But quality-wise, they are more than adequate.
The white you see is not bare aluminum underneath the anodization, its just a reflection of the halogen-spot on the ceiling.
And also, as you can see in the first picture, the color is very consistent.
The uneven color distribution on the front panels in #2 and #3 are reflections of the ESD-bag underneath.
Regards,
Jokener
I didn't expect as much "candy wrapper" and more "business" in that color.
But quality-wise, they are more than adequate.
The white you see is not bare aluminum underneath the anodization, its just a reflection of the halogen-spot on the ceiling.
And also, as you can see in the first picture, the color is very consistent.
The uneven color distribution on the front panels in #2 and #3 are reflections of the ESD-bag underneath.
Regards,
Jokener
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