I wrote a few weeks ago about replacing the hot water circulating pump on the boat with a new one, and mentioned that we’d been through several pumps over the years. After every replacement, autopsy of the pump has revealed the failure mode: the first pump failed due to old
Continue readingnb Tanya Louise Heating System – Oxide Sludge
As I’ve been posting some photos of decapped ICs lately, I thought I’d share the process I use personally for those that might want to give it a go 😉 The usual method for removing the epoxy package from the silicon is to use hot, concentrated Nitric Acid. Besides the
This particular IC came out of a very old VHF band radio, from the early 90’s. The die was encased in a custom ceramic package, like every other IC in the radio, with a custom part number. I managed to identify it from the markings on the silicon. This was
Continue readingIC Decap: Motorola MC68HC11E9 8-Bit Microcontroller
Everyone at some stage must have seen these EAS security tags in shops, usually attached to clothing with a steel pin. As some of this year’s presents had been left with the tags attached, I had to forcibly remove them before wrapping could commence. These are just a plastic disc
With a recent order from a Chinese seller on eBay, this little gadget was included in the package as a freebie: I’ve not smoked for a long time, so I’m not too sure what use I’m going to find for this device, but it’s an electronic lighter! Pushing the slider
Recently I’ve noticed my usual mobile rig, the Baofeng UV-5R, has had very poor receive, and non-existent transmit. I did a power test on the radio, and confirmed it was still outputting it’s rated RF power. Trying another antenna proved that the radio was fine. Time to tear down the
Here is an old fish tank external filter & a few pics of the insides. Label on the front of the pump head. Fittings on either side of the motor are water I/O. Underside of the pump head, inlet is on the right, outlet from the pump is on the