Re: My new workbench

Just finished an "update" of my home workbench today. Thought some

>people might be interested in a before and after pic: >
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>No prizes for guessing which is which. > >Closer shot of the electronics bench: >
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> >Anyone else want to share pics of their workbench? > >Dave.

Very cool Dave.

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Reply to
dmm
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In message , dmm writes

You need to spend some time documenting that watch on your site... very cool, I want to build one!

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Clint Sharp
Reply to
Clint Sharp

I know, and I intend too. I've only just put the preliminary site up. Somewhat sadly, you won't be seeing it in Silicon Chip.

Dave.

Reply to
David L. Jones

"David L. Jones"

Very cool Dave.

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** Pourquoi ?

Leo is still ag'in uP projects per se ?

Looks a front cover, guaranteed magazine seller to me.

........ Phil

Reply to
Phil Allison

"Phil Allison"

** Its kinda obvious now I think about it - the darn thing is all SMD.

Total freak out for kit sellers.

Still make a great front cover pic - minus the hairy arm of course !!

Just needs a serious looking babe in horn rimmed glasses to wear one .....

...... Phil

Reply to
Phil Allison

Good try, but not even close to winning the cigar.

Yeah, might have to ditch the hairy arm!

I could doll-up the wife and get her to model it. Wouldn't be the first time she's modeled tech gear!

Dave.

Reply to
David L. Jones

Hi Dave. Can I ask why? This is *exactly* the kind of project Silicon Chip should be publishing. It's cool, useful, and something not currently commercially available.

Personally I haven't bought Silicon Chip for years...not being particularly interested in the latest incarnation of "electronic dice" or whatever trivial projects they seem to recycle from month to month... ;)

If the SMD components are the reason then Silicon Chip needs to bring themselves into the 21st Century and realise that this is where electronics is at the moment. Hobbyists have shown that with ingenuity they *can* build with SMD, and it's really not much harder that with leaded components.

Lionel...

Reply to
Lionel Theunissen

SC thought very few people would build it, because very few people use calculators any more, fewer still use a scientific!

While it's likely true that the percentage of readers who would actually build it would be low, I can't see how this is different to most other SC projects. What would be the percentage of readers who build each project? From my experience, I know the figure can be well in the sub 1% range. A "popular" project might be an order of magnitude better than that.

In any case, I have a lot of people interested in building one already.

That's what I thought too. Even if it's not useful or practical to most people, I still thought it would make for an interesting article.

Nothing to do with SMD at all. In fact SC have done articles on SMD recently. I thought it would have made a good follow-up SMD project in fact.

Dave.

Reply to
David L. Jones

Here's a good project for S.C. I'd make one if I could get the little motor. Perhaps S.C. could help

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Reply to
L.A.T.

open up your old mobile phone, and there will be one inside.

Reply to
kreed

David L. Jones wrote

While SC has published some notable projects in the last year or so, in particular the class-A amp, they have also published some rubbish that hardly anyone would construct. Just look at the last 6 months....

Nov. 2007 Playback adaptor for CD-ROMs.... Who would bother when CD players are so cheap ? To be fair, the articles contained info about ATAPI interfacing, but the project itself is a flop. UV Light Box for PCBs..... Way too complicated for what it does. You don't need a PIC and a digital readout to expose PCBs correctly, just a simple timer. You don't need to build your own box either, just buy a twin-20W batten with shroud, a piece of glass to fit the shroud and two 20W actinic blue flouro tubes. To be fair, the article contained useful info about making PCBs at home, but the project itself is a flop. Water Tank Level Meter...... How many readers have 1-10 water tanks (with pumps) ? And why use an RGB LED ? What's wrong with a bargraph LED ? The basic method of measurement using air pressure is suspect in the long term, as subsequent errata prove.

DEC 2007 IR Audio Headphone Link..... Why would anyone build this mono link when you can buy wireless stereo headphones for $30 or so ? The SC project still uses a cable between the headphones and the receiver box, which must sit on the floor etc., why not just extend the headphone cable and plug it into the TV ? I doubt if any readers have built this project.

Jan 2008 Emergency 12V Lights Controller..... Commercial emergency lights have an inbuilt battery and automatically switch on when the mains fails. Why bother building this project ? (It is just a Jaycar free advert.)

Feb 2008 Mini Solar Battery Charger..... Another cheap Oatley project....not very well thought out. A very inefficient design, THREE diodes in series ????, using

6V panels to charge 12V batteries ??? and using a shunt regulator does not result in an efficient solar regulator.

Mar 2008

1pps Driver for Quartz Clocks..... If you built the GPS Frequency Reference project (hands up, did anyone really build it ?) this may interest you. Otherwise, it is a boring waste of space.

Apr 2008 Two-Way Stereo Headphone Adaptor..... Way overkill for what it does. You could replace the two relays with DPDT switches and ditch all the circuitry to the left, including the need for a power supply. But then it would hardly justify being called a project, eh ?

So I don't understand why David's watch project gets knocked back while the above crap gets a run..... SC is generally a very good magazine, I'm a subscriber, but they aren't immune from criticism about their selection of projects.

Reply to
fritz

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