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LochNessMonster posted:I’m looking for some helping hands to hold smallish pcbs for soldering. I have a version of the middle one and it's fine for the price. The 8 arms are generally overkill, and the alligator clips come off all the time, but it holds things and doesn't generally fall over. For work I splashed out for one with the larger base and it's a lot nicer but it was a lot more expensive. As usual you get what you pay for. I found the cheap 8 arm one was great for soldering wires but too wobbly for precise work, like holding a pcb while I solder stuff to it. The old school one with the cross bar is fine, if it's decent and not a cheap fake that will just fall over. The disadvantage of the cross bar is less flexibility in where you grab, the advantage is it won't wobble.
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Dec 20, 2022 00:19
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i have one with the four goosenecks and it works ok. i could see it not working so great if the PCB was heavier. the other style i've seen that i like have a slide rail that grabs on either side like this: https://a.co/d/b4KB2iq
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Dec 20, 2022 00:20
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I really, really like my Stickvise. I had the company buy me some for the benches at work too. If you have access to a 3D printer, you can also make pretty much any kind of jaw set for it that you can dream up. https://www.stickvise.com/
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Dec 20, 2022 00:43
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Acid Reflux posted:I really, really like my Stickvise. I had the company buy me some for the benches at work too. If you have access to a 3D printer, you can also make pretty much any kind of jaw set for it that you can dream up. Do you put these in anything or just put them on the table?
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Dec 20, 2022 01:22
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DR FRASIER KRANG posted:i have one with the four goosenecks and it works ok. i could see it not working so great if the PCB was heavier. I have one of these and find it decent. Not exciting, but useful. Really intrigued by the magnetic stand ones
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Dec 20, 2022 01:25
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Cojawfee posted:Do you put these in anything or just put them on the table? They just sit on the table. I do have one at work that I stuck some little rubber feet on to help keep it from sliding around if that's ever necessary, but it rarely is. You get used to holding it down pretty quickly just by letting your hand or hands rest on it while you work. It's still not the right tool for every single solder job, but I definitely use one way more than I use any other fixtures.
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Dec 20, 2022 02:00
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Stickvise + Mantis microscope at work. The low profile is really nice for soldering under the microscope.
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Dec 20, 2022 08:43
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A secret thread reader? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTLwlrk7oF4
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Dec 20, 2022 17:13
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Yeah of course I can't find those anywhere.
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Dec 20, 2022 17:22
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DR FRASIER KRANG posted:Yeah of course I can't find those anywhere. He did have an Amazon link. Which doesn't ship to my location.
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Dec 20, 2022 17:25
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Well those look fantastic and I just bought a set.
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Dec 20, 2022 17:43
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VictualSquid posted:He did have an Amazon link. Which doesn't ship to my location. Same. Stickvise looks nice but doesn’t ship to me either. Local company that sells it at 250% the original price 
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Dec 20, 2022 18:35
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I like my Panavise Model 201 a whole lot, enough that I bought a second one. It's not really a helping hands sorta thing but it's great for just like, holding a circuit board.
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Dec 20, 2022 19:29
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Shame Boy posted:I like my Panavise Model 201 a whole lot, enough that I bought a second one. It's not really a helping hands sorta thing but it's great for just like, holding a circuit board. This is actually similar to what I did, I bought this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0001LQY4O?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title And these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01FT2QTDA?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title And use it 90% of the time. Weight = stability is the name of the game in my opinion
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Dec 20, 2022 19:34
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Just an abstract question here so I can learn, since I'm not sure I'm getting useful answers out of Google on this. Say I have an LED setup that hypothetically needs 200A at 5V at maximum output. If I have two separate power supplies that can put out 5V 100A, would connecting those in parallel... work? Are there some extra hardware requirements to make that work? I'm imagining they have to be balanced in some way. Harvey Baldman fucked around with this message at 04:03 on Dec 21, 2022 |
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Dec 21, 2022 04:01
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The power supplies themselves would need to be capable of being put into parallel. High-priced supplies will often have some additional wiring you can do to put them into controller/peripheral mode to do that. Now, the elephant in the room is that 100A@5V is insane. It's easier to handle high voltage than high current. If you can do 10A@50V, for example, you'll be in way better shape, financially, and fire-hazardly.
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Dec 21, 2022 04:27
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e: mis-read the question
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Dec 21, 2022 04:30
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The other thing you can do is have smaller banks of LEDs where you step the voltage down. So 48V main system power supply, supplying a bunch of 5V regulators that only output a few amps each. As in each 5V rail is separate from the others. That kind of architecture is kind of how the power grid is set up (except it's AC rather than DC) and that is done for a reason. Paralleling power supplies (that aren't specifically designed to do it) is a bad idea. If the two power supplies disagree on what the output voltage is, (this can be due to different feedback voltages, different length wires, lots of things), then one will try and output a higher voltage than the other. This can easily turn into a positive feedback situation and cause one power supply to output too much current and fail. This will immediately cause the other power supply to fail as it now has to service the entire load. There's pretty much always a better way to design your system than adding parallel supplies, regardless of what your system actually is.
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Dec 21, 2022 04:37
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All this talk about helping hands and clamps... Does anyone like silicone mats? Or do we just not give a poo poo about our workbenches?
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Dec 21, 2022 04:56
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kid sinister posted:All this talk about helping hands and clamps... Does anyone like silicone mats? Or do we just not give a poo poo about our workbenches? I've got one because I got sick of burning holes in my desks, but there's not much to talk about - a silicon mat is a silicon mat
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Dec 21, 2022 05:18
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It's good to get one with the little compartments to stop you from losing screws and things.
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Dec 21, 2022 05:36
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kid sinister posted:All this talk about helping hands and clamps... Does anyone like silicone mats? Or do we just not give a poo poo about our workbenches? My typical solution for a work surface is to get a sheet of MDF, cut and shape it to size, and then start painting it with polyurethane. The first few coats will get sucked right in so you have to repaint it almost immediately, then slower and slower with the recoats until it stops wicking up the poly. The polyurethane + wood fibers form a pretty tough working area that is cheap enough to just replace every X years when it gets all burned/scratched/drilled out and cruddy. I would blow Dane Cook posted:It's good to get one with the little compartments to stop you from losing screws and things. My co-worker just ordered a couple of these, haven't tried them out yet but I guess the pockets could be useful when dis-assembling something to keep parts in. I'm a bit skeptical that it will be any better than my current method of just putting screws into random containers (the plastic cases that electrical tape comes in are great), but the silicone surfaces are so cheap it's worth a try. 
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Dec 21, 2022 05:51
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I have one and it always collects a ton of just random dirt and crap that sticks to it, so I don't use it and have just embraced burning holes in my table.
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Dec 21, 2022 06:00
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I use one and just transfer all the screws every so often so I can dump the solder dust and wipe it down with alcohol. It's nice to work on, though
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Dec 21, 2022 06:53
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5V@200A requires a power architecture. You can and should do this with an off-the-shelf 48V 1.5kW supply and many smaller point of load regulators to drop the 48V it down to 5V. But you will need to do some engineering wrt heat dissipation (I guess mostly the LEDs?), wiring, connectors, etc. Also, have you already made a 5V@20A LED panel and did it work out ok?
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Dec 21, 2022 07:21
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I don't have any mats except one antistatic mat that just seems to spend it's days rolled up and forgotten. My main issue I have no dedicated work table and I have not the discipline to bring out all the stuff I should when working on my desk, usually next to the keyboard and mouse.
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Dec 21, 2022 07:44
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200 amps and 5 volts is an arc welder.
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Dec 21, 2022 10:55
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For lighting applications you usually connect LEDs in series and regulate the current instead of the voltage. This has two advantages: smaller wires since the current is lower and more consistent brightness from LED to LED, since light output depends on current and process/temperature variation might make the current at a given voltage quite different. If you want to see the kinds of pains it takes to build 100A plus low-voltage DC supplies, check out the giant multi-phase buck converters on modern PC motherboards.
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Dec 21, 2022 13:01
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Stack Machine posted:For lighting applications you usually connect LEDs in series and regulate the current instead of the voltage. This has two advantages: smaller wires since the current is lower and more consistent brightness from LED to LED, since light output depends on current and process/temperature variation might make the current at a given voltage quite different. This is definitely the most correct approach. Current regulation can be a little bit intimidating for beginners though.
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Dec 21, 2022 13:06
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my workbench is a standing desk in the living room. Yes I’m blessed with a super awesome partner, why do you ask? I have one of the small mod mats with the screw holes that almost never gets used. In order to protect the desk though I have a pretty good solution in my opinion. Get one of these thick silicone mats. It almost covers the whole table. I’ll add an Amazon link as soon as I’m on my computer e: here it is: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09MJ1HNZX/ ee: Oh, only drawback was from the poster who said it gets dirty... they're right. But wiping down with some alcohol on a cloth cleans it perfectly. namlosh fucked around with this message at 16:50 on Dec 21, 2022 |
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Dec 21, 2022 16:47
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namlosh posted:ee: Oh, only drawback was from the poster who said it gets dirty... they're right. But wiping down with some alcohol on a cloth cleans it perfectly. I think y'all have different kinds of dirt than me somehow, because while that gets maybe 70% of it there's still quite a lot that I can't seem to remove (especially little tiny shards of solder and bits of random metal from cutting wires over it that subsequently get ground into the silicone). I was able to get it mostly clean once by scrubbing it thoroughly under water with a brush but that is far too much of a pain in the rear end so now I just don't use it. My workbench is one I built myself and the surface is cheap pine treated with several coats of danish oil to harden it up, so I don't really mind it getting messed up. If I ever gently caress it up bad enough I can just sand down or even completely replace the surface I hosed up, but it's been going for 7 years now and hasn't gotten to that point so eh. It's got holes drilled into it, burn marks all over, a few chunks gouged out here or there, but all that just adds character. Plus when I burn it it smells great 
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Dec 21, 2022 17:43
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This is my workbench, 80% constructed. It started as an old wood desk and then I added the MDF/poly replacable work surface on the right, an instrument shelf at a 13 degree tilt in the middle and a general use junk shelf on top. The cabinets on the right hold up the other end of the shelves and store even more crap. I've since installed an outlet strip w/ GFCI and under-shelf lighting and got a nifty carpet off Etsy with electronics symbols printed on it. It's a nice little nerd cave. 
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Dec 21, 2022 18:05
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Splode posted:This is definitely the most correct approach. Current regulation can be a little bit intimidating for beginners though.
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Dec 21, 2022 20:55
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PDP-1 posted:
Do you live in an old office building? Lol My workbenches are all at home.
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Dec 21, 2022 21:32
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ante posted:I use one and just transfer all the screws every so often so I can dump the solder dust and wipe it down with alcohol. It's nice to work on, though That right there is why I like mine. I can pick it up and dump all the little poo poo right in my trash can.
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Dec 21, 2022 21:54
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namlosh posted:Do you live in an old office building? Lol Nah, that's at work. I actually don't have much electronics stuff at home, I've always gone to school or worked at places with way more/better equipment available than I could reasonably ever have with a personal home setup. I do all my simulation/CAD stuff on my home computer then order the parts and assemble/debug at my work desk after hours. I did build the cabinets and shelves at my home shop which is much more centered around woodworking stuff than anything electronic. Then hauled it all to my office and assembled it. Via the magic of 3D CAD it actually fit!
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Dec 22, 2022 00:05
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PDP-1 posted:I'm a bit skeptical that it will be any better than my current method of just putting screws into random containers (the plastic cases that electrical tape comes in are great) Get yourself one of those weekly pill containers for old farts. 7 days a week * 4 times a day = 28 little compartments that snap shut for like $10.
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Dec 22, 2022 09:23
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As an old fart who uses those for both pills and various hobby purposes, I concur. I know these aren't something that most people would have readily available to them, but I also use the hell out of these little crack vials that a lot of our aircraft connector contacts come in. You can never have enough containers of any size. 
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Dec 22, 2022 12:33
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I use take-away sauce containers
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Dec 22, 2022 12:48
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Thanks for all the responses on the power supply question. I’ve got a thing I’m working on that in theory would be about 6,500 LEDs and I was just scratching my head about how the power distribution would need to work on that, and I think you guys have given me enough of a starting point to dig from with the 48V supply as a base and more regulators down line.
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Dec 22, 2022 18:55
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