yesterday
Alright... well... how to start this off... hmmm...
Well, I set out today to get some stuff done... Didn't know what... just wanted to... be "productive" (as opposed to just sitting on my a** all day playing video games... @_@)
So, I figured, hey... my plasma globe is broken (long story, but I put too much voltage in, and it eventually stopped working), I should fix it!
So, I spend an hour sorting through electronic datasheets on the web... another half hour sorting through my box of electronic stuffs... and another id'ing potential broke stuff on the circuit board.
Okay... so I go, and take off everything I felt that could be broken (except for one IC that was NOT going to come off easily... I'll leave it at that), and test 'em all... and one power transistor comes off dead.
w00t! Fix 'n progress! I go and grab a replacement (that I salvaged from an old tv), solder it in... nothing. (as well as all the stuff I pulled off)
Okay... well... maybe it's just the replacement was somehow bad (even though I tested it, and it was fine), so I grab a HUEG power transistor (it was HUEG!) (and it tested fine), and pop it in... nothing.
Okay, that figures... so I figured it was the IC... IC costs... $20... Plasma globe costs . ~$15... So much for that fix.
So... I go and find that there are some easy to make circuits to drive a plasma globe (as well as all sorts of other fun HV stuffs... n_n)... so I grab a transistor (a power one, like before, but a PNP instead of an NPN... big difference... >_>), two resistors, some wire... and I go and take the feedback coil off of the board...
And my soldering iron starts... acting up... so I go to scrape it on the concrete to clean it (done this MANY times before... even today)... and it bends.
...I grab some pliers bend it back... tin the tip, and all is well...
I get the feedback coil off of the board and go and start building the circuit. Not hard. But while I'm doing this... I think I see a flash. I sniff... nothing smells burnt, is burning... all is well (not that I could have smelled much anyways... but burnt plastic is a giveaway. o_o)
I continue... then I go off to double check another solder point (I can be OCD at times, OK?! @_@), I come back... and try to solder it.
Iron is cold. Dead cold.
SONOFABITCH. ._.
All right.. well, it's 6:30 at this time, and I haven't eaten anything since... 10ish? I figure that the guy above is telling me that I oughta pack it in, get some food... and whatnot.
I clean up (I had another smaller project going... but it wasn't much, just something I broke while I was testing a dvd burner diode... which I broke. x_x) And for shits and giggles, decide to see if I can fix my soldering iron... I unscrew the four screws holding it together... open it up... and it falls apart in a cloud of rust dust.
...Figures. Then again, I got the damn thing out of someone's trash a while ago... and hell, I needed a reason to get something with a little more... kick (with electronics, it's better to have a higher wattage iron *to a point*, so that you can apply high heat momentarily, rather than medium heat for a little longer, which can fry components... which is BAD) Anyways, so much for that, I chunk it, and finish cleaning up...
So, I do my things (eg. eat, go for a walk... etc.)... and a little later, for some reason... I figure I want to try and get my laser open again... the switch is broke (still works kinda), and I wanted to tweak the power...
To this date, I have used vice grips, rubber holders... an actual vice... a freaking SAW... and a number of other things, and have not even budged the damn thing to being close to open.
'Course... after a good hour of messin with it, it pops open... FINALLY!
I tweak the power, works great (eg. it was horribly overpowered before... and now... heh. heh heh. twisted )... and go to swap out the switch...
I go back to my box of electronic stuffs... pull out a suitable switch... get the laser...
And realize that my soldering iron is broke. And a broke soldering iron cannot help me swap out said switch.
...
T___T
So... Sibby... was unproductively productive today.
*sigh*
At least I didn't burn myself with the soldering iron! sweatdrop
Well, I set out today to get some stuff done... Didn't know what... just wanted to... be "productive" (as opposed to just sitting on my a** all day playing video games... @_@)
So, I figured, hey... my plasma globe is broken (long story, but I put too much voltage in, and it eventually stopped working), I should fix it!
So, I spend an hour sorting through electronic datasheets on the web... another half hour sorting through my box of electronic stuffs... and another id'ing potential broke stuff on the circuit board.
Okay... so I go, and take off everything I felt that could be broken (except for one IC that was NOT going to come off easily... I'll leave it at that), and test 'em all... and one power transistor comes off dead.
w00t! Fix 'n progress! I go and grab a replacement (that I salvaged from an old tv), solder it in... nothing. (as well as all the stuff I pulled off)
Okay... well... maybe it's just the replacement was somehow bad (even though I tested it, and it was fine), so I grab a HUEG power transistor (it was HUEG!) (and it tested fine), and pop it in... nothing.
Okay, that figures... so I figured it was the IC... IC costs... $20... Plasma globe costs . ~$15... So much for that fix.
So... I go and find that there are some easy to make circuits to drive a plasma globe (as well as all sorts of other fun HV stuffs... n_n)... so I grab a transistor (a power one, like before, but a PNP instead of an NPN... big difference... >_>), two resistors, some wire... and I go and take the feedback coil off of the board...
And my soldering iron starts... acting up... so I go to scrape it on the concrete to clean it (done this MANY times before... even today)... and it bends.
...I grab some pliers bend it back... tin the tip, and all is well...
I get the feedback coil off of the board and go and start building the circuit. Not hard. But while I'm doing this... I think I see a flash. I sniff... nothing smells burnt, is burning... all is well (not that I could have smelled much anyways... but burnt plastic is a giveaway. o_o)
I continue... then I go off to double check another solder point (I can be OCD at times, OK?! @_@), I come back... and try to solder it.
Iron is cold. Dead cold.
SONOFABITCH. ._.
All right.. well, it's 6:30 at this time, and I haven't eaten anything since... 10ish? I figure that the guy above is telling me that I oughta pack it in, get some food... and whatnot.
I clean up (I had another smaller project going... but it wasn't much, just something I broke while I was testing a dvd burner diode... which I broke. x_x) And for shits and giggles, decide to see if I can fix my soldering iron... I unscrew the four screws holding it together... open it up... and it falls apart in a cloud of rust dust.
...Figures. Then again, I got the damn thing out of someone's trash a while ago... and hell, I needed a reason to get something with a little more... kick (with electronics, it's better to have a higher wattage iron *to a point*, so that you can apply high heat momentarily, rather than medium heat for a little longer, which can fry components... which is BAD) Anyways, so much for that, I chunk it, and finish cleaning up...
So, I do my things (eg. eat, go for a walk... etc.)... and a little later, for some reason... I figure I want to try and get my laser open again... the switch is broke (still works kinda), and I wanted to tweak the power...
To this date, I have used vice grips, rubber holders... an actual vice... a freaking SAW... and a number of other things, and have not even budged the damn thing to being close to open.
'Course... after a good hour of messin with it, it pops open... FINALLY!
I tweak the power, works great (eg. it was horribly overpowered before... and now... heh. heh heh. twisted )... and go to swap out the switch...
I go back to my box of electronic stuffs... pull out a suitable switch... get the laser...
And realize that my soldering iron is broke. And a broke soldering iron cannot help me swap out said switch.
...
T___T
So... Sibby... was unproductively productive today.
*sigh*
At least I didn't burn myself with the soldering iron! sweatdrop
Alright... today, though I spent most of my day at school, turned out a little better... o.o
See, after school today, I ran down to the nearest Sears (in a mall, where I *thought* a Radio Shack was)... to grab a soldering iron... Get there, long story short, there was no Radio Shack, most of the mall was closed... but Sears had a nice beefy soldering iron (45W, as opposed to the little 30W which prolly wasn't even putting THAT out, before it broke).
Buy it, come home... start working on fixing laser pointer. Not 5 minutes into it, what do I do? I touch myself with the *much hotter* soldering iron.
... x_x
*Thanks God, nature, or whatever deity or deities exist, for Aloe*
But, I fixed it. Put it back together... Works great. PROJECT DONE!
HOORAY! AWESOME LASER POINTER IS FIX'D! n__n
Alright, now, for the other project, the plasma globe HV circuit... I finish it... and it doesn't work.
...
._.
*gives up on it... just too much time & headache*
So... 1 outta 2... not bad, especially considering that 1 is AWESOME! n_n
So... yeah. That's about it, for now. ^___^
And one more thing! I has a piccy of said laser in action! n_n (compared how it looked like in the camwhore post o.o)
http://www.freewebs.com/sibeiko/Sibbypiccies/Sibbygreenlaser2.jpg
^_^( )
