It's another new year, another good opportunity to tweak things. Here's a bit of an update about what's to come on a general level! ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXmdQmbMUmY
This is another one of my Tinkering with Atkelar videos! Yay!
The video at hand is about the setup and first tryout of my woodturning lathe. I always wanted one of those, it makes several tasks so much easier if not possible to begin with!
As you might have realized by now, I try to keep these in certain categories: Restorations, Builds and now "Workshop Projects".
I hope that these title additions make it easier to navigate and eventually will form individual playlists.
I may have a fourth category - "Repairs" - for anything that is not a restoration, either because it is too new or it is more of a "can you get this working for me?" request.
On the technical side, I did use a new (used) camera for some but not all of the shots, but had improved lightning all over. Feedback welcome as usual!
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAl2dlF_uMk
I consider this my second "one day build". The old house I use for a workshop has a little nook where nothing regular fits, but I needed some storage space for bits and pieces of cardboard. Well, here we go: get some cheap lumber and some HDF sheets, add a few screws, close your eyes when measuring for right angles or even surfaces, and it is "good enough" :)
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltq-B7FwxaU
Ever since I discovered ebay, I was hunting for an affordable Commodore SX64 for nostalgic reasons... it was the very first computer I ever used myself and there's quite some fond memory connected with it, even though all it's downsides compared to the "normal" C64.
This is a summary video of the restoration effort. Summary as in: there was quite a bit more footage, but it mostly was "repeating" patterns while trying to locate all the issues. A semi-working CPU was the last one that keept me scratching my head.
Anyhow, here we go! The audio is from the YouTube audio library, so here goes:
Airport Lounge - Disco Ultralounge by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100806
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HlUHLvIPAQ
Build Project #9 - "Super Probe"
One of my regular watches on YouTube is Mr. Carlson's Lab; he specializes in electronics repair and restorations of tube equipment. Right up my alley! Occasionally, he also designs circuits; most are for his patreon subscribers, but this one which has cought my eye, was up for free on his channel, you can check out the original video in the link below.
0:00 Intro / Description
1:15 KiCAD Circuit / PCB Process
2:50 PCBs and Parts arrive / Populate Probe...
4:18 ...Capacitors / Solder
5:25 Probe Insulation / Amp PCB Population
6:15 SMD IC Pinout Fail and "Fix"
7:10 Amplifier Case
8:48 Probe Case
11:25 Assembly: Amp
13:40 Assembly: Probe
15:20 Test! / Overview / Credits
Music:
My Train's A Comin'
Unicorn Heads
(YouTube Audio Library)
You can support me on Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/atkelar
Mr. Carlson's Super Probe video: https://youtu.be/uVkJqqZroN0
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv76ybwcp5I
First off: yes, I know that you can mail order just about any arbitrary stamp design... but where would the fun be in that? :)
The stamp was an idea that I had when I walked through the isles of my art supply store and came across some blanks and cutting tools... I wondered, if there was any use for stamps these days and randomly compared them to stickers in chat application - and that's when it hit me: why not turn a fun sticker into a stamp?
I like how the linoleum behaves with the sharp carving tools: I find it very easy to make clean and straight cuts... keeping them exactly on the line is what needs practice. Also: I need to find a better way of transferring the sketch to the linoleum... Larger or more elaborate pieces would not work the way I did it here.
To round off the story, I did scan a stamped piece of paper and converted that into a sticker for Telegram... Besides the animated ones, this must be one of the most work intensive stickers around :)
Music:
My Train's A Comin'
Unicorn Heads
(YouTube Audio Library)
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgbbMBXnzmE
After I made the last video, Karpour asked me if I could have a look at one of his Windows CE based devices. An HP Jornada 820, where the screen had some LCD column problem. Every 10 or so pixels, one column was semi-dead, but only in the upper half and also only one or two color channels. To me it was clear that either the connection between the glass panel and the driver was faulty, the driver chip had experienced a meltdown or - unlikely but possible - the LCD controller on the mainboard had some damage.
Karpour said, that he already had a replacement screen in a somewhat broken but compatible model that could be swapped out if needed. I agreed to give it a try, but suggested to skip any pixel-addressing fixes and go for the replacement screen right away, since it may damage the screen permanently if I tried something more... invasive.
Doing some research about the Intel StrongARM chip showed that the CPU is also the display controller. So if that was at fault, I couldn't do much. The CPU is a tight BGA chip and I have no intention of reflowing one of those any time soon.
Turned out to be "just" the display, because swapping the one from the broken model worked like a charm from the get go.
The plastic was about as brittle as it can get... some of the threaded inserts just crumbled away. I used epoxy glue to secure as many of the lose parts as possible.
Not shown in the video, but still an issue: The part that was broken in the damaged model is broken in all 820s it seems: There would be room for two screws to hold it in place, but HP decided that "one is enough" and so the entire tension of the hinge is always tugging on that one screw. Eventually the plastic there WILL break, as the hinge has a counter-spring to hold the display open or closed and it doesn't move easy on that side.
Links:
Wikipedia about the Jornada: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jornada_(PDA)#Jornada_820
Karpur (Twitter): https://www.twitter.com/karpour
Donate a few bucks for some coffee (or some equipment upgrades): https://ko-fi.com/atkelar
Music:
My Train's A Comin'
Unicorn Heads
(YouTube Audio Library)
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SjU_W3nOzM
A brief "commercial" or "reminder" I did for FPS's pre-easter show to remind people of the "Chocolate Bunny Death" segment...
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXvIpBxEtHU
Another rather short video, because of uneventful cleanup process. Note that the multiplayer adapter is done in late 2022 while the other elements are done in late 2019... so the footage stretches over just about three years, in case you notice some differences in the environment. Or a gray hair here and there. I just put them together into one video, cause it would be too short for individual ones and I still think it's worth showing the insides of these devices.
The Gameboy printer is rather well documented, there even are "drivers" out in the wild to print from arduino and similar devices. I didn't get around to try that (yet) but it might be an option for some project.
This video connects to my GAME BOY screen mod video I did some time ago, you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2UN6f2tAO8
0:00 Intro / Presentation
1:29 Game interlude
2:39 Disassembly: Printer
4:20 Disassembly: Camera
6:08 Disassembly: Multiplayer Adapter / Electroplating / Cleaning parts
7:58 Reassembly: Printer
8:58 Reassembly: Camera
9:58 Reassmebly: Multiplayer Adapter
11:05 Camera and Printer Test / Summary / Credits / Outtakes
Music:
My Train's A Comin'
Unicorn Heads
(YouTube Audio Library)
You can support me on Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/atkelar
Wikipedia articles about...
...the printer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Boy_Printer
...the camera: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Boy_Camera
...the link cable: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Link_Cable
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OanX5ChMQbo