Success!

Ah, finally got to experiment yesterday with the basic dough recipe from my sister's book. It was a success although the taste is different due to the Canola oil. Sadly I ended up in the toilet around midnight, but I don't think it's due to that. Most probably the takeout dinner.

This morning the final parts of the Pic programmer/debugger a.k.a. Inchworm, got soldered on and preliminary tests shows it's working. I have yet to upload the firmware to it from MPLab. I'll be doing that in a few days. This project's been on hold for a long time. Hopefully it'll work.

re:Laser toner-transfer

So it actually works, this Samsung laser printer I've had for some time. As from my previous post -- lotsa microholes which forced me to buy and modify AND wreck an Epson inkjet. Turns out all the Samsung wanted was some love...and a new toner cartridge (which I had in storage). That plus turning off the temperature sensor on the laminator so that I could exceed 200 deg. C finally results in very nice transfers using sticker backing paper, with minimal microholes. So my PIC programmer/debugger project marches onward!

back from hibernation...

Hmm, it's been a long time. I'm still alive but somehow lost the mojo to blog. But anyway I'm back though no guarantees I'd do this with more regularity.

Solar Eclipse

Last July 22nd the longest solar eclipse for this century occurred, although it would be only a partial eclipse from my location. Tsk,tsk, if I were still in Taiwan the maximum obscuration would've been 82%, as it is only around 35-39% of the Sun would be blotted out. However this would be my first eclipse of which I'll be using a digital camera. But after days of spotty weather (sudden drizzle or outright rain) I was not so enthusiastic of setting up the telescope, so I just got out the old solar filter on the 20th and tried some shots just using a 100mm lens. Tests were good so I re-updated it that night, and did further tests the next morning. On eclipse day, I awoke earlier than what I set the alarm to. The weather was great! and I was thinking - I really should've set up the scope. Anyway while waiting for the sun to clear the neighboring building, I did my morning duties. Then went back up to take some test shots, and finalize the camera settings before doing cashier duty. While waiting to pass the cashier's baton I was wishing I had set up the scope OR at the least readied the adapters to attach the DSLR to it. So when I got off, I ran upstairs took some shots, seeing the weather as it is, I decided to GO FOR IT...grabbed the T-ring and an adapter and head on to my uncle's house, set up the scope, pulled out the EP adapter,and tried to screw on what I had - it's too SMALL!! and so there goes my chance to shoot ANYTHING thru prime focus for the first time. Quite a lesson for the unprepared.I had to settle for the 100mm f/2.8 macro and this pic is probably the best of the bunch...

Until next time... :-)

bad printer...Bad, BAD Printer! among other things

Arghhh, damn Epson T10 wouldn't want to work anymore. So my PCBs were coming out better and better, then it was time to change the yellow cartridge (after the magenta and black). But then I get this dreadful 'Ink cartridge cannot/are not recognized' message - for all FOUR of them cartridges. So off I go online to figure it out and WTF, lots of ordinary people are very angry at epson for this same problem. Man, the same brand of printer that should've finally given me a chance to make very good PCBs turns out to be quite a headache.

Meanwhile I found some nail polish solvent which I think could be useful to plug or re-melt those micro holes in them laser toner transfer PCBs. But current tryouts weren't encouraging. So I'm again in the doldrums, can't make good PCBs for any projects. Stuck in the same full-of-stuff-I-want-to-try-but-can't state.

Also have the bad throat syndrome again.

Direct Inkjet Print to PCB

I always had problems with the laser toner transfer method to PCB, my Samsung laser printer 'should' be able to do it as there are people out there that have been successful. The problem most have is that the Samsung toner requires a higher temperature to fuse to the board. But my problems were:

1. I had maxed out my laminator's temperature setting, my multimeter with temperature probe reads 184-190 Centigrade.
2. Using transparencies, most of the toner adheres to the board but there's always micro-holes/fractures throughout the toner.
3. Using the paper backing of labels, ALL the toner adheres to the board but still the micro-holes/fractures remain.
4. I tried using a clothes iron at a hotter temperature than the laminator to melt it more, but I tend to smudge the traces or if not, it doesnt have much of an effect. I was already deforming the transparency and pretty much started burning the label backing doing this.
5. When I make a mistake and try to remove the toner I use acetone, recently I can't find acetone anywhere anymore. Lacquer thinner could remove the toner but it requires a lot more elbow grease.

So I looked around the web and found out about direct-to-PCB inkjet printing on the CNCZone forums. A popular choice for modding was Epson branded printers as the Durabrite inks could withstand th etching process. I read all the posts on that particular thread and came across someone modding an Epson T20 (also here). Now this printer's sibling is available I my area and it was dirt cheap, so I bought one last week and after testing to make sure it works, I proceeded to tear it apart. I have just finished it a couple of days ago and a test print on paper came out well and good. I'll post some pics of my modded printer later on (for modding instructions see the link above) and PCB results.

Acetone, where art thou?

I just don't get it, where the hell did all those bottles of acetone gone? Can't find it the supermarket, drugstore/pharmacy nor hardware store. I even asked my sis in the big city to look and so far none came up. Did the company making it gone bust? Did some nut swallow gallons of it and got poisoned so it was pulled outta shelves everywhere? I need it to wipe off laser toner off my printed circuit board coz its easier to use than anything else. But now where can I buy it? Not in this country? Sheesh.