Reviews on Colin O'Flynn

SMD Solder Paste Stencil Creation with Silhouette Cameo

Fri, 21 Nov 2014 01:03:00 +0000

I made some additional details in a long YouTube movie:

This is far from the first blog post on this, but I wanted to write down exactly what I did to get this working on Windows 7, 64-bit with as little fussing as possible.

1. Buy Silhouette Cameo [NOTE: The v1 I used is no longer available. I've heard the V2 with latest firmware does work OK]

2. Decide on material. I originally used the Transparency Film but it's a little thick, so instead ended up finding that you can buy 3 Mil drafting file individually from art stores.

Rigol DP832 Review

Wed, 15 Oct 2014 23:37:00 +0000

The majority of the review is available in movie format:

I purchased a Rigol DP832 power supply from RAE Electronics (local supplier). I had a chance to play around with it and wanted to leave a bit of a review.

To begin, I also bought some useful accessories. I got them from Digikey, and here are the part numbers:

Test Leads: Ponoma B-24-x, where x changes for color

Aligator Clips: Digikey 461-1208-ND

Minigrabbers: Ponoma 4723-0 / 4723-2

I think those are the most useful accessories to get. Buy at least 4 supply cables, maybe more as if you want to have +/- supplies it's nice to have a colour for '0v'.

PicoScope 2204A Review

Fri, 18 Apr 2014 20:50:00 +0000

I've been spending some time with a low-cost PicoScope device, and wanted to give a review in case you're looking at one. To begin with, you can check out my Circuit Cellar Articles about selecting a scope.

There's also a video version of this:

Introducing the 2200 Range

PicoTech's 2200 range is a compact oscilloscope, if you want all the details check out The PicoTech Website. Presumably you're interested in my hands-on experience instead though, so I won't duplicate everything there.

PicoScope 5000 (5444) Review

Wed, 08 Jan 2014 01:23:00 +0000

If you check out my older blog post, you'll see a very detailed review of the PicoScope 6000 series device. I also had a chance to use a 5000 series device, specifically the 5444.

The 5444 is a 4-channel scope with a built-in AWG. The sample rate is up to 1 GS/s in 'normal' mode, but you can use something called Equivalent Time Sampling (ETS) to boost that up to 10 GS/s in specific cases.

PicoScope 6000 (6403D) Review & Comparison

Mon, 16 Dec 2013 15:02:00 +0000

This is an *EXTREMELY* long post, but there is a ton of ground I want to cover. I hope you find it useful if you are seriously considering purchasing an oscilloscope.

Looking for a medium-cost scope? There's lots of options out there, and I'm going to concentrate on the Picoscope 6000 series for this review, specifically the 6403D. This device has 350 MHz analog BW and 5 GS/s max sample rate on a single channel, which can be boosted with Equvilant Time Sampling (ETS) to 50 GS/s on *all* channels. Anyway I wanted to give you something more than the normal 'press reviews'. I've spent a ton of time doing this review & hope you find it useful.

Hardware, Box, First Impressions

The scope comes in a nice plastic carrying case, and includes a power adapter with plugs for everything (even Australia!). It's always nice having somewhere to store your equipment when it's not out on the desk.

Quit wasting time debugging USB: Using TotalPhase Triggers

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 01:52:00 +0000

This blog post might seem commercial… but I have no connection to TotalPhase. I’ve used their Beagle 480 USB analyser for some time, and before that have used a variety of other solutions (mostly SW-based), so have some idea what other options are out there. It’s worth noting that they seem to give free updates forever. When I first used the Beagle 480 it could dissect mass storage & HID I think. Since then they’ve added almost every class possible… hell you can even do stuff like sniff a USB-Ethernet device, and pass the frames to Wireshark for IP-layer decoding. Total Phase has added tons of features in the last 4-5 years I’ve used this device, and they’ve all been freely available and usable with my device. So why do I think other debuggers are a waste of time? Simply: the ability to trigger in/out of the device. Check out this video for more: I also wrote about some of this in an article in Circuit Cellar, see The CC Webstore if you want to check that out, but the part I talk about debugging with the 480 is only a few paragraphs. Basically you can do stuff like the following:

Metcal MX-500P Soldering Station Review & Repair

Wed, 09 May 2012 13:08:00 +0000

For some time I've been using a METCAL soldering station. I picked mine up used on E-Bay, as they are expensive new.

They have phenomenal heat transfer ability - they use RF energy to transfer heat right to the tip. It means you can go from soldering a 0402 capacitor to desoldering an entire SMA connector with the same tip, and it all works perfectly.

There is a few "must" tools for anybody deeply involved in electronics. The Metcal soldering station is very high on that list. Simply put you are wasting your time with a normal soldering station. I previously used a fairly good soldering station - ceramic heater element, good temp control, etc. The Metcal is still just that much better.

Springer / SpringerLink MyCopy Review

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:30:00 +0000

Recently I was using an e-book I had access to through my school’s subscription to Springer. They advertised a ‘MyCopy’ service, which gives you a printed copy of the e-book for $25 including shipping http://www.springer.com/mycopy. I couldn’t find a review of the printing quality anywhere so though I’d post one quickly… The actual copy would be $98 for softcover or $103 for hardcover. The trick with MyCopy is you can only order it assuming you have access to the e-book: thus you have a license to print a physical copy, and springer is just printing what you already are licensed for. Anyway it looks good: colour wrap-around cover, B&W inside. Print quality is good - black is very “black”, although noticeably shiny. Paper seems bright and weight OK. As far as print on demand (POD) it’s great - better than I was expecting for $25. It’s lower quality than a real offset-print textbook, but it’s pretty close, better than other POD I’ve had. I recently bought a “real” book from the ‘Missing Manual’ series, which is apparently using POD for some books. The “real” book I got is far lower quality than the Springer MyCopy, so should give you some idea for comparison. The Springer MyCopy I got was printed in USA as well. Some images (click for full resolution): Front Cover: Binding Detail: Text close-up, white-looking areas are shiny reflections: Binding can be pushed down and lay somewhat flat without breaking: