Collaborate Disseminate
Although less popular these days, wire-wrap is still a very relevant, easily reversible solder-free way to assemble (prototype) systems using wire-wrap wire and a wire-wrap tool. This latter tool can …read more Continue reading 3D Printing a Wire-Wrap Tool: Emergency Fix or Permanent Solution?
As hobbies go, stargazing has a pretty low barrier to entry. All you really need is a pair of Mark 1 eyeballs and maybe a little caffeine to help you …read more Continue reading Keeping Track of the Night Sky with Discrete Logic Chips
[Mr Innovative] likes to keep his wire harnesses tidy, but it is a pain to neatly wrap cables. So, he automated the process using a combination of milled acrylic and …read more Continue reading Wiring Harness? That’s a Wrap!
If you’ve ever wondered where the term “banker’s hours” came from, look back to the booming post-war economy of 1950s America. That’s when banks were deluged with so many checks, …read more Continue reading Retrotechtacular: Building the First Computers for Banking
If you’ve ever wondered where the term “banker’s hours” came from, look back to the booming post-war economy of 1950s America. That’s when banks were deluged with so many checks, …read more Continue reading Retrotechtacular: Building the First Computers for Banking
A question: does anyone who was around in the early days of the 8-bit computer revolution remember a dual-CPU 6502 portable machine like this one? Or just a dual-CPU machine? …read more Continue reading PERSEUS-9, the Dual-6502 Portable Machine That Should Have Been
The idea of trying to prototype with SMD parts on the fly sounds like insanity, right? But then we watched [Leo Fernekes] walk calmly and carefully through his process (video, embedded below). Suddenly, SMD prototyping jumped onto our list of things to try soon.
[Leo] speaks from a lot of …read more
We think it’s pretty safe to assume that most of the electrical connections our readers are making out there involve solder or solder paste. But we’ve all made a crimp connection or two in our lifetimes. Maybe you’ve squeezed a butt connector here and there, or made an Ethernet cable. …read more
Continue reading Grace Under Pressure: Shelley Green Celebrates Crimped Connections
If you design printed circuit boards, then you will have also redesigned printed circuit boards. Nobody gets it right the first time, every time. Sometimes you can solder a scrap of 30gauge wire, flip a component 180°, or make a TO-92 transistor do that little pirouette thing where the …read more
The rise in cheap PCB fabrication has made old-school prototyping methods such as wire wrapping somewhat passé, but it still has its place. And if you’re going to wire wrap, you’re going to want a quick and easy way to strip that fine Kynar-insulated wire. So why not use PCB …read more