Colin O'Flynn

Danni steam engine: build diary

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 12:00:00 -0400

In February 2023 I built a Danni model steam engine using a small lathe and milling machine. These workshop diaries follow the build through the photographs and notes from each session.

Watch the build

Download the video.

The complete build, from the first parts to running on air (5 minutes 40 seconds).

The individual diaries include short workshop videos alongside the photos and notes.

ECED3403 - Computer Architecture

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

For active students, the class primarily uses Brightspace at https://dal.brightspace.com.

Material for my ECED3403 Computer Architecture class is available on the ECED3403 GitHub. This includes slides, assignments, etc. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE ACCURATE FOR THE CURRENT ACADEMIC YEAR

What the course covers

ECED3403 answers one question from a few directions: how does a program actually run on a machine? It starts with C source code and follows it down through the compiler, the instruction set, interrupts, memory and caches, to the pipeline inside the CPU core, and it finishes with how you measure performance and power.

ChipWhisperer

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Open-source toolchain for side-channel power analysis and fault injection.

Making it Small

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Small-scale electronics production book — lessons from building NewAE in a spare room.

Model Steam Engines

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Model steam engine builds

PicoEMP

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Low-cost electromagnetic fault injection tool built around the RP2040.

Starting a notes section

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In 2026 I moved my website from wordpress to static hosting. One thing I added is a new notes feature, as I find myself not writing down what could be interesting quasi-blog posts because I feel it’s not polished enough.

As a note to myself, create one with:

hugo new notes/whatever.md

The archetype fills in the title and date, so a note needs nothing but a body.

This new site was built with Claude - the backend is basically github pages, so things build on deployment.

Teardown Archive

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

PLACEHOLDER — an index of the teardown posts, pulled together in one place.

The Hardware Hacking Handbook

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Book, with Jasper van Woudenberg — breaking embedded security for fun and profit.

Announcing my "Small Scale Electronics Production" Book

Sun, 11 May 2025 13:09:53 +0000

During the pandemic I started a project I long wanted to do, which is to write down many of my lessons learned around building a hardware business. While this has now taken much longer than planned, I’m approaching a (hopeful) end of the draft process over the next couple of months. In combination with my Amp Hour discussion with Chris Gammel, I thought it was a good time to “officially” announce this!

Small Scale Electronics: Making it Small (The Book!)

Sat, 10 May 2025 23:11:22 +0000

What is this about? This is a book, that is being released with No Starch Press sometime in 2025/2026. This book chronicles many lessons learned in building NewAE Technology Inc, from how to deal with inventory and accounting systems to how you setup small-scale production in a spare room.

Achieve your most mediocre electronics production and sales dreams.

(Planned) Chapters:

Setting Up a Hardware Business
Costs, Pricing, and Accounting
Protecting Your Idea
Patents
Electronics Prototyping and Through-Hole Soldering
Surface-Mount Soldering and Equipment
Repair Techniques and Equipment
Static Control
Protective Equipment, Cleaning, and Storage
Production Soldering
PCB Design for Small-Scale Production
Contract Assembly Manufactures
Testing and Inspection
The JTAG For Testing Industry Standard
Enclosures
Milling Enclosures
Connectors and Cabling
Contacts and Crimping
Product Packaging
Barcoding and Tracking
Compliance
Product Security
Marketing
Fulfillment and Shipping

My Making Story

Modifying Welding Pedal for a Miller 6-Pin Connector (ArcCaptain Pedal)

Mon, 17 Mar 2025 02:45:53 +0000

I bought a Miller 161 STH welder which has a little hand remote control included, and found it was more difficult to use. I wanted to try a welding pedal but the miller ones are much more expensive than other brands, like ArcCaptain, and I found the ArcCaptain one sturdy enough. This post is how you can adapt other welding pedals to the Miller 6-pin connector. I made a video about the process, this post has the reference material:

My 2003 Low Cost SMD Soldering Guide

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 12:03:46 +0000

Back in 2003, I wrote a guide for AVRFreaks.net about low-cost SMD soldering. I had never mirrored this to my website, but recently needed a more permanent link to it for a PCB introduction lecture.

The information may no longer be the most current (22+ years later!), but I wanted to keep an official mirror of it on my website. You can find it inline below:

Fixing Ubiquiti Dream Machine (UDM) SE Hard Drive Not Detected Errors

Wed, 11 Dec 2024 02:34:43 +0000

My UDM SE can fit various hard drives. Ubiquiti have decided to have a cool tray the hard drive snaps into & slides into the UDM, which also means you have to have a very good fit. As it turns out, the fit may not be good enough without shimming the drive out!

I used a Seagate Skyhawk 4TB Video 3.5 Inch SATA (ST4000VXZ16/ST4000VX016) drive, which is reported as being compatible. In sliding the drive in there was no spin-up sound. I then tried rebooting it & repositioning the drive several times, it wasn’t clear if the hot-swap should work or not. But there was never a spin-up sound or a LED flashing on. Very annoying, especially if you are rebooting your houses internet for a “5 min project”!

All Blog Posts

Sun, 08 Dec 2024 17:25:44 +0000

Dumping Parallel NAND with Glasgow

Sun, 14 Apr 2024 23:00:05 +0000

I recently got my Glasgow device, which is a rather impressive piece of tech. I followed the Windows installation instructions and it “Just Worked”, including installing the toolchain! On one computer I needed to use Zadig to force the driver to be libusbK, but on another Windows computer it wasn’t needed. In this blog post, I’m going to explore a parallel NAND device that I wanted to dump, and find out how well Glasgow works.

ECED4406 - Computer Security

Thu, 07 Sep 2023 11:54:24 +0000

For active students, the class primarily uses Brightspace at https://dal.brightspace.com.

Material for my ECED4406 class is available on the ECED4406 GitHub. This includes slides, labs, etc. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE ACCURATE FOR THE CURRENT ACADEMIC YEAR

Lectures from the 2020 edition are on YouTube. The 2020 edition was online-only, so some labs and other items changed in 2022 and later editions of the course.

What the course covers

ECED4406 is about the security of embedded systems: IoT devices, cars, and the small computers inside everything else. It covers both sides:

RECON 2023: Adventures of My Oven (Pinocchio) with ChipWhisperer

Fri, 09 Jun 2023 14:40:27 +0000

At RECON2023 I gave a talk about reverse engineering my Samsung Oven. This blog post has slides & links to information, with more to come! You can get a copy of the slides below:

OFLYNN-RECON2023 Download

Oven-Specific Stuff: https://github.com/colinoflynn/samsung-ovens-deconstructed
Python Loader for TMP91 Series: https://github.com/colinoflynn/pytoshload
Resource CD for TLCS900: https://github.com/colinoflynn/Toshiba-TLCS-900-L-Resources

Intel LGA1700 (12th/13th gen, i9 3900k) Top Resistors/Capacitors

Thu, 16 Mar 2023 01:46:06 +0000

If you’re a bit careless with your CPU (especially if e.g., delidding it) you can knock these resistors off the topside. From measuring a known-good device (but without removing them) I measured the following values as a reference:

i9 13900K image source: techpowerup.com

These all appear to be 0402 sized resistors.

If you do damage them, the best source would be another 12th/13th gen device, as they look to be identical. You could find a used/defective low-performance device and use that to get resistors/capacitors.

Danni build - February 26: First Assembly and Run

Sun, 26 Feb 2023 12:00:00 -0400

The first assembly

Exciting times—the first assembly! With all the pieces connected together, the engine was running.

All the pieces together for the first assembly and run.

A little flywheel clearance

The flywheel was catching the base—oops. I could have taken a little more off the flywheel, but instead used a small shim to give it the clearance it needed.