Collaborate Disseminate
In the world of cheap amateur radio transceivers, the Quansheng UV-K5 can’t be beaten for hackability. But pretty much every hack we’ve seen so far focuses on the firmware. What …read more Continue reading Reverse Engineering the Quansheng Hardware
While a machinist can put a beautiful finish on a piece of metal with their lathe or mill, to achieve the ultimate finish, a further set of polishing procedures are …read more Continue reading 3D Printing Aids Metal Polishing
Join us on Wednesday, March 10 at noon Pacific for the Decapping Components Hack Chat with John McMaster!
We treat them like black boxes, which they oftentimes are, but what lies beneath the inscrutable packages of electronic components is another …read more
Continue reading Decapping Components Hack Chat with John McMaster
We rarely take a moment to consider the beauty of the components we use in electronic designs. Too often they are simply commodities, bought in bulk on reels or in bags, stashed in a drawer until they’re needed, and then unceremoniously soldered to a board. Granted, little scraps of black …read more
Continue reading Components Cut in Half Reveal their Inner Beauty
It seemed like a good idea to build a semiconductor lapping machine from an old hard drive. But there’s just something a little off about [electronupdate]’s build, and we think the Hackaday community might be able to pitch in to help.
For those not into the anatomy and physiology of semiconductors, getting a look at the inside of the chip can reveal valuable information needed to reverse engineer a device, or it can just scratch the itch of curiosity. Lapping (the gentle grinding away of material) is one way to see the layers that make up the silicon die that …read more
Continue reading Fail of the Week: The Semiconductor Lapping Machine That Can’t Lap Straight
Ever wonder what’s inside a surface-mount inductor? Wonder no more as you watch this SMT inductor teardown video.
“Teardown” isn’t really accurate here, at least by the standard of [electronupdate]’s other component teardowns, like his looks inside LED light bulbs and das blinkenlights. “Rubdown” is more like it here, because what starts out as a rather solid looking SMT component needs to be ground down bit by bit to reveal the inner ferrite and copper goodness. [electronupdate] embedded the R30 SMT inductor in epoxy and hand lapped the whole thing until the windings were visible. Of course, just peeking inside …read more
