bigclive

Testing UV curing resin with glow pigment.

For those of you with a 3D printer you can make one of these coasters from the tight little script (with my first use of a loop) in the description of the video on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/GXO0xJL-nUA

This started off as a project to pour two part resin into recesses in a coaster, but then became a test of how well UV cured resin from eBay works when loaded with Strontium Aluminate glow in the dark pigment (also...

Failed electric shower that went bang.

My brother Ralfy's old electric shower failed with a bang and lots of water spraying everywhere.

https://youtu.be/AlU69Y6NcxQ

Let's take it to bits.

HVAC overtime stream (if it actually works)

I'll be joining the HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) guys on the HVAC Overtime channel for a live stream if all goes to plan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n8djZiXkzY

If you're in HVAC or just want to hang out then feel free to join us.

This will be a first test of multi-person stream participation for me, so I'm not sure if it will work or not.  Time will tell.

The mystery of Kum rock - live stream.

Going live on Saturday evening.

https://youtu.be/rUtQQgnvGIc

Inside the potted ozone generator PSU.

The Radio Hams are NOT going to be pleased when they see the circuitry.

https://youtu.be/7GpsJN3P7vE

I'm not sure that big common mode suppression choke is going to be able to deal with the cheapness of the high voltage circuitry.

There are strong hints of the vintage Violet Ray in this design.

USB powered firm throbbing panty shaker.

The idea of having a tiny washing machine agitator for a sink or bucket might be appealing for those who travel.  But it's not really a great thing for bear sized clothing.

https://youtu.be/ugVRY-Cv7Ng

It's also not very waterproof, so I'm not sure what its rated life is in tiny Chinese panties.

Opening a cold plasma ozone tube with skanky PSU.

The ozone generating tube in this video is interesting.  Very simple and traditional construction.

https://youtu.be/yfmWGl1DRWI

The power supply is a bit rough.  It feels a bit retro, like an Oudin coil from the early days of quack medicine.  It is very likely to annoy radio hams.

I've just poured some solvent into the power supply to see if I can get it to reveal its secrets.

Patreon tax changes in America.

Some time ago the European union decided that Europe based Patreon supporters would be charged VAT (Value Added Tax) on their contribution.

Now the American government is about to apply the same state-based sales tax to American Patreons.   Depending on where you live you may or may not be taxed according to whether your local government feels that you are getting a taxable service.

I have to rate each tier for what services it provides, and Patreon's system doesn't seem...

Reflow with a proper PCB with solder resist.

I've been experimenting with using solder paste without a stencil.  I think the next step might be to get a stencil....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4d-Nk955JE

This is a version of my Gallium PCB, which is just a matrix of LEDs running from a USB power supply.  In this case I used my favourite self colour changing RGB LEDs.

Next experiment will be soldering it manually to see ho...

New PCBs.

I got a small batch of PCBs made by JLC (Not a sponsor).

Literally 6 days from placing the order to receiving the PCBs.  That must be the fastest yet.

The video where I have another more successful go at reflow soldering is just uploading right now.

I'll also be testing these for manual soldering, although the pads were sized to test reflow.

Saturday's stream is ready.

Here's the link to this Saturday's live stream.

https://youtu.be/uauDiyJDeek

Nice catchy URL.

Progress on the plasmacluster teardown.

This video will be Patreon and selected friends only, as it's just a progress video and has me slightly perplexed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfyyyRHV1e8

Sharp's marketing claims these units split water into positive hydrogen ions and negative oxygen ions that then "surround themselves with water molecules" until they combine on airborne impurities whereupon they combine into a hydroxyl radica...

Lock picking an outdoor faucet and taking it to bits.

It's a while since I've taken a plumbing component to bits, so here's a lockable outdoor tap / faucet with an interesting ceramic water gating insert.

https://youtu.be/nnXIDkI8-fg

The ceramic inserts seem very common these days.  I think this is the first time I've actually taken one apart though.

Not a video (yet). SplooshMeister Disko-Shart light.

One of the perils of cheap prototype PCBs is that you can make inappropriate ones.

I've just ordered a very small batch of five of the above circuit boards.

There will definitely be a build video when they arrive.

Not a video (yet). Exotic air "cleaner" vs Dremel.

There's something just a little bit suspicious about this high profile air cleaning system.  Lots of marketing hype and "molecular science" that could only be proven by a very skilled lab with a large budget.

The bit I can analyse is whether it produces ozone, which I suspected it did, since the ionising needles have a metal ring in front of them that is similar to an ozone generator. 

The unit does apparently produce both positive and negative ions from each module simu...

Inside a TM623 astronomical time switch.

There are many interesting things about this unit.  It seems OK inside, but has some very odd design quirks.

https://youtu.be/W9MTzDJtlfs

My favourite is the two external terminals that you short with a bit of wire to reset the clock...  By shorting out its internal lithium button cell.

I've also put a programming guide in the description, as the manual is not for the faint of heart.

This on...

Should I tempt fate by releasing this video?

Last time I made a video about these switches it turned out they were clones of a Dutch brand.  They managed to get me a brief channel strike on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/P98o7wavQCM

In hindsight, I now see that there are other switches with different coloured bodies and labelling, that are still based on the same cover and base design.  Maybe I should get some of those ones for a video instead.

N...

Going live on Saturday at the usual time.

Get some beverages, candy and cookies in.  And think of intriguing technical questions too.

https://youtu.be/uufINKjpnXI

Full USB LED lamp build with optional 3D printed bit

I just discovered the hard way that the video resolution settings are directly above the timelapse settings, so this video is brought to you in glorious 720P retrovision.

https://youtu.be/mhwbIxa2CRU

I was going to do this as a live stream build, but decided it might be quite awkward to build along to live.  This video is notable for my greed to stuff 50% more LEDs into the test tube than planned, with the i...

The green banana test.

A quick video experiment inspired by a link to another video where they discovered that UVC rapidly discolours bananas.

https://youtu.be/7lzq6LuVWH0

It seems to work OK.

Mousetrap Monday. The teardown version.

This electronic mousetrap is actually quite complicated as it uses a couple of metal plates to both detect a mouse and then zap it.
Taking it apart was easy, but reverse engineering the circuitry was quite tricky, as it has a lot of filtering to protect the circuitry from interference by the chunky high voltage transformer.

https://youtu.be/R476G9nmFJ8

I've provided a link to another channel that specialises i...

Fixing my Hotcup single cup water boiler.

Just a random video featuring a device that is way too large to fit in my normal filming area.

https://youtu.be/b0UM1Uvdb48

This is a Breville Hotcup water boiler that has a reservoir of water and a heated chamber that fills with a fixed quantity of water, boils it on demand and then blows it out to your cup using steam pressure.

Note that this is  a 3kW appliance, so it's only likely to be available i...

Next Saturday's livestream.

Here's the link for next Saturday's livestream.
https://youtu.be/i-b5xcYFyOc

Teardown of a fake UVC corn cob lamp.

Let me know if I'm doing too many UV videos.  I'm always aware that if I do too many on the same thing it can result in subject-fatigue for you guys.

https://youtu.be/_EVw_AhPJ7E

I'll probably release this video soon as these things are all over eBay and amazon.  The sooner I get the video out, the sooner people will realise they have a plain light blue lamp that has a significant shock risk associated ...

RCBO (mcb with rcd/gfi) fault. (With recording blooper)

Uh-oh.  I've done it again, and filmed a bit that wasn't supposed to be filmed.  The extra bit is me checking out the differences between the schematic and actual implementation.
It's from 7:33 to 10:44.  I'll probably trim that out the final video.

This device was sent to me by YouTuber Thomas Nagy, who is an electrician working in London.  He documents his working life on YouTube.

2020-05-03 20:09:13 +0000 UTC View Post

Saturday's stream link.

Hopefully this'll work - I'm just finding my way around scheduled streams.

https://youtu.be/VyAjELPCRvU

It'll be good to know if the start time that shows up on YouTube relates to the 21:00 UK start time.  It does seem to be showing it correctly now.

Using devious techniques to test UV lights.

I'm not sure I can justify spending £1000 on a UVC meter to test a disco light that is obviously not UVC.

https://youtu.be/7wibGVQpHCc

But by using science I reckon I can get an answer with an Adafruit module and a piece of glass.

Reflow disaster and accidental project.

This started off as a solder paste reflow experiment (that went wrong) and rapidly evolved into a sudden-project with custom designed PCB.

https://youtu.be/sWjRAizFKho

It actually looks pretty good.

The LED panel build.

I'm toying with making a small batch of these.  Is the 6" by 4" (150mm by 100mm) frame size standard around the world?  In metric only countries is the frame actually about 100x153mm?  I want to make sure it fits in most of these styles of frame without needing sanded or filed down to size.

https://youtu.be/D0KMvwIiF5o

The reflow of standard solder was not a good result.  I've ordered some mor...

Making LED stuff (not a video yet).

I showed the artwork for this project in the last live stream, so today I'm experimenting with my first attempt at using a heated reflow plate to simultaneously solder 54 resistors.

The slight downside is that I don't really have a proper solder paste applicator, so instead I'm going to try roughing it by pre-soldering all the pads, brushing them with flux and then placing the resistors on top of the solder mounds.

I'll video the reflow so you can share the glory or disaster.