EEVblog #1110 - Mailbag

More than an hour of Mailbag!

SPOILERS:
Sony DVO-1000MD medical device video DVD recorder teardown
8:09 Security ISA card teardown from the 1980's
18:39 Power Grid the board game!
25:02 USB soldering iron
27:21 TI-nSpire CAS+ calculator PROTOTYPE!
35:28 DIY JBC/Hakko soldering iron controller
41:49 UV LED lamp for PCB exposure
45:10 DIY battery spot welder
51:44 10W Laser Diode circuit PCB design review
1:00:00 EL light teardown
1:02:41 IC2 rotary encoder Kickstarter

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[RuiApostolo]

+EEVblog Dave, I'm 90% sure that 'unseen note' was written with UV sensitive ink, maybe the UV marker was a hint?
Edit: Yep. UV led as well :D

[CAZinAustralia]

I think you were supposed to use the UV light on the unseen note.

[thethufir]

"It's upside down!" Well... it IS the austrailian expansion :P

[Thermosphere]

Hi Dave, thanks for the shout-out for my JBC soldering iron controller! A quick note; your power supply seems to hit its power limit and droop some voltage under load, which can be seen at 37:30. While heating the controller (and the JBC tip) can draw 8A. This can explain the "slow" first heating and sluggish step response (to the some extent) when you apply wet sponge.

[LaughingBuffaloes]

You should totally do a livestream of you and David playing a game of Power Grid. I would love to watch that.

[wasilibarka]

22:10 Aussie tries to explain that the map is upside down... Meanwhile he is standing his whole life upside down.

[SaturnV]

I worked with something very similar to the "Safe-Seal" during mid 80's period called X-Lok50 security card . . . it was a hardware "key" for the hard disk -  generated a password protected login screen for the PC in the DOS/Unix environment, before the days of password protected boot/BIOS . . . . I think it also did encryption of HDD, and other useful security functions  . . . it modified the MBR somehow so HDD would not boot if you simply yanked the X-Lok50 security card in attempt to bypass login . . . .  it was a very sophisticated device, cost about $500 USD back then

[dlayman]

Thanks again Dave for all of the great knowledge delivered In a way that doesn't induce sleep, you're the best

[Atech]

i have been using my ti nspire cas as every day calculator almost 8 years. Its a beast

[Ghozer]

DVD Drives sticking shut like that is quite common, happens with CD/DVD/Blue Ray drives that are tray loading..

due to the spindle, and the magnet that sits on the top side of the disk, to hold it in place while spinning, if it's not used very often, the metal on the spindle becomes magnetised, combined with the magnet on the top, it makes it too strong, so when pressing eject, the assembly that holds the motors and laser etc can't pull down and move the motor out of the way for the tray.... all because the magnet is too strong... put a disk in it (once it's open) and keep a disk in it, then it will always open (I use the clear ones from the top of blank disk spindles) - I always keep one in any of my drives/CD players for this reason :)

Oh, and I love Powergrid, it's a GREAT game! :D - first played it about 10 years ago :)

[FranLab]

The classic Al Bean Moon Fix - hit the top with a hammer.

[heathwellsNZ]

Super interesting to watch this compared to the live recording... Gives a real peek into the production / creating side of things! Thanks Dave!

[jetraid]

Schrödinger cat badge the best of the mailbag :)

[petersage]

Glad you included the footnotes in the segment with the little EL panel explaining how they work. These things seem to run forever and piss away bugger all power. The phosphor slowly degrades with use, like the target screens on magic eye tubes and CRTs, but I have one that's been running nearly continuously for over two decades and it still puts out enough light to find the bathroom light switch in the middle of the night.

[kozmaz]

This mailbag is the best in years so far.... at 25mins right now... but it is wow

[jull]

"let's get straight into it" and actually gets right into it. Good Guy Dave.

[joeybushagour]

Great video as always Dave! I'm consistently impressed by your wealth of knowledge.

[johndrachenberg]

Dave, maybe you should consider filming Kickstarter Mini Mailbags... When an appropriately-labelled package comes in, perhaps write a due date on it (two weeks perhaps?) with a highlighter pen. I bet you could have helped quite a few great Kickstarter campaigns over the years.

[Mythricia]

Oh snap. That LTC6820 is really neat! I've been looking for something just like that, except for I2C. LT has some really unique solutions to problems you never thought you'd have... Maybe I can migrate my project to SPI instead, just based on that chips existence.

[RoyvanLierop]

I personally have the kWeld for about 6 months now. It's a great spotwelder and i'm glad Frank got on this mailbag. For a hobbyist its a perfect way to create your own li-ion battery packs. Would love to see him assemble it.