Saturday, February 22, 2020

0000 0000 0010 0011

1206 SMD parts

I have billions of 1206 SMD parts which are less than useful given their size and infrequent use. Simultaneously I was finding sourcing an exact through hole part for protoyping to be quite frustrating. I did the usual things including:
  1. organising all the components ordered into containers which then went into lidded bins - with one problem being that if I want a 100nF capacitor I have to look up the bin number and the container number on a spreadsheet and then hunt through to bring the prize back to the bench - a little awkward at times.
  2. having a "common parts" container which houses those parts that crop up frequently in prototyping such as a green LED and a matching 220Ω resistor - with the double problem of firstly not having a, for instance, LM317 in the parts container (therefore see point 1 above), or spending 10 minutes with poor eyesight trying to dig out an appropriate resistor from the tangle.
  3. using a flip lid storage box - which took half a day to fill up with resistors and then label appropriately only to find that I've only reached for the parts in this way a couple of times, and I'm not sure why. 
Bins in bins - thorough but awkward
The "common parts" container

The tiny compartment method

So I was looking around for a solution to these (and other) problems, when I chanced upon an smd to dip adapter on the interwebs. I bought a few but they were 0805 size (which was fine, but most of my components in SMD are 1206 - eyesight!). So I looked hard for a 1206 version but all that I found seemed expensive given the simplicity of the board.

Chuffed with recent success making my own 555 timer PCB (and a few other projects), I threw a few ideas together on EasyEDA and then had JLCPCB pump them out to Tassie just before the twin brakes of Chinese New Year and COVID-19 slowed up delivery.

Arrival from China just before the gates closed

Half soldered after headers attached

With 1206 resistors attached

Forming a simple LED circuit - nice!
After triumphant testing (they're awesome) I decided that I needed to spread the joy so I've set up a Tindie shop if anyone else is interested in this way of prototyping. I'll chuck on a few other products (like the 555 PCB as a DIY kit) as soon as I can just to see if anyone else enjoys this sort of madness.

OMG and we're live



Let me know what you think (e.g. via the youtube channel or the store).




No comments:

Post a Comment