What just arrived from Aliexpress?

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#2919550 27-May-2022 20:40

neb:
neb: This rather nice T12/858D SMD rework station for $80.

Been using it a bit, this is a really nice piece of gear for $80, you can barely get a basic pistol-style on/off heat gun for that and this is a fairly sophisticated temperate- and airflow-controlled device.

And like sausages being made, I wish I hadn't looked inside. This is the base station:

Note that there are exactly two wires, active and neutral, running to the heat gun. This is the heat gun:

There's sensors and wires for the fan, the reed switch, and an NTC sensor, but none of it is connected. However, the OLED display on the base shows the status of the fan and the sensor and reacts to the reed switch being triggered.

Also a closer look at one of the product images implies there's 240V across the pins at all times, not just when the heat gun is running.

If anyone has any idea which Chinese electronic voodoo they're using to communicate with the sensors in the heat gun with nothing connected to any of the sense pins on the GX16 connector, I'd love to hear it.

sleemanj

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#2919615 27-May-2022 22:31

The connector is soldered on a PCB, the additional wires you can see running from the cable in the handpiece will terminate on the PCB via said connector and be used for the sensing there.

The Live and Neutral are run as direct wires because they are modestly high current (and mains) which you don't want running through the PCB (which is low voltage).

Only concern I have there is if the metal on the heatgun is earthed, hopefully it is, through the PCB, but it might not be.

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neb

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#2919617 27-May-2022 22:49

sleemanj:
The connector is soldered on a PCB, the additional wires you can see running from the cable in the handpiece will terminate on the PCB via said connector and be used for the sensing there.

Ahh, that explains it! Thanks, I'd missed that detail, and it was driving me nuts :-).

Yeah, the heating element shroud was the first thing I checked, not earthed but also not connected to active or neutral so it's relying on the fact that... how to phrase this, normally I'd use the term "double-insulated" but given where this came from it probably doesn't actually meet the requirements, so let's say logically but not necessarily physically double-insulated equipment.

Grounding the case is a standard mod for these units suggested in online forums, will be doing that tomorrow.

In any case it's still better than the earlier design which put the SoC on the PCB next to the power electronics and had the triac heatsink right above the ground plane on the circuit board. The recommended mod was to either grind away that part of the heatsink or try and slide some Kapton tape under it so you had more than just a layer of flux trying to keep 240V apart.

richms

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#2919625 28-May-2022 00:57

Its from amazon, not aliexpress but I really do like my new stapler. Much better built than my previous one from the warehouse or wherever. Not that I have much to staple.

Richard rich.ms

neb

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#2919627 28-May-2022 01:12

richms:
Its from amazon, not aliexpress but I really do like my new stapler. Much better built than my previous one from the warehouse or wherever. Not that I have much to staple.

Which one? I love my Rapid S-series, it's a flat-cinch stapler so you can stack sets of stapled sheets without one side slowly getting higher and higher due to the staples sticking out.

richms

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#2919685 28-May-2022 13:56

neb:
richms:

Its from amazon, not aliexpress but I really do like my new stapler. Much better built than my previous one from the warehouse or wherever. Not that I have much to staple.

Which one? I love my Rapid S-series, it's a flat-cinch stapler so you can stack sets of stapled sheets without one side slowly getting higher and higher due to the staples sticking out.

A red swingline because of course.

Richard rich.ms

neb

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#2933360 22-Jun-2022 23:30

This water flow meter with 6.35mm push-on connectors so you can hook it up to the inflow on a water filter and it'll tell you when the filter needs replacing:

Or in the absence of that it'll give you an x-month average use so you can estimate when you'll need to replace it in the future.

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richms

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#2933459 23-Jun-2022 11:25

neb: This water flow meter with 6.35mm push-on connectors so you can hook it up to the inflow on a water filter and it'll tell you when the filter needs replacing: Or in the absence of that it'll give you an x-month average use so you can estimate when you'll need to replace it in the future.

Is 6.35mm the normal fridge and bench water filter size of hose? I remember I had a hell of a time getting a long piece of that locally to relocate my fridge. One of these would be helpful to put on that to know how much ice I make.

Richard rich.ms

neb

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#2933467 23-Jun-2022 11:40

richms:
Is 6.35mm the normal fridge and bench water filter size of hose? I remember I had a hell of a time getting a long piece of that locally to relocate my fridge. One of these would be helpful to put on that to know how much ice I make.

It's the most common one, equivalent to 1/4", but others exist. If it's a push fit connection it's almost certainly 6.35.

I'll dig up the Ali link later today, from memory it's sold as an FP-03, got here in about two weeks.

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#2943456 18-Jul-2022 14:47

eBay, not AliExpress. An original MS Natural Keyboard from 1994, new, in box.

I've opened it up and everything seems to be there, all in the original packaging, seemingly undisturbed. It's a thing of beauty.

I used one of these as my daily driver from February 1997 until May 2021. The Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard (2019) I replaced it with is the first model that comes close to the original layout so I thought I'd take the opportunity to upgrade before they phased it out and brought in something worse. The keys on the new model are already showing signs of wear and some of the markings are scratching off, so I certainly don't expect 24 years from it.

I shall now disassemble the second hand unit I got off TradeMe in 2003 (used as a work keyboard) and try the Retrobright process on it to see if it can be restored to a more pleasing colour, before doing the same with my 1997 example.

neb

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#2943533 18-Jul-2022 17:50

richms:
Is 6.35mm the normal fridge and bench water filter size of hose? I remember I had a hell of a time getting a long piece of that locally to relocate my fridge. One of these would be helpful to put on that to know how much ice I make.

Yeah, 1/4" LDPE tube. How much if it do you need?

Edited to add: A much less common size is 1/2", but the standard quick-fit water filter size is 1/4".

neb

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#2949474 1-Aug-2022 19:08

neb: This water flow meter with 6.35mm push-on connectors so you can hook it up to the inflow on a water filter and it'll tell you when the filter needs replacing

Slightly less impressed with it now, it won't give a reading when placed flat on the ground but needs to be tilted about 30 degrees off horizontal, which makes it very difficult to read. It works fine and it's good to know how much water is passing through it, but the non-flat-operation is a bit annoying.

neb

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#2952214 8-Aug-2022 17:37

This brilliant router jig to replace one I made a while back from ply, it's for flush routing/flattening out timber joins where one part is sticking out above the other. You set the bit level with the lower piece of acrylic and then run it up to whatever it is that's sticking out and flush rout it down to the level of the surrounding area. The final finish is with sandpaper or a plane, the router just removes the bulk of the material.

lchiu7

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#2952218 8-Aug-2022 17:54

Screen protector and case for my OnePlus 9 phone. Phone came from Amazon. Both ordered at the same time, the phone is still stuck in Customs for some reason after firstly my having to get a customs code to be able to clear it and now it's being inspected (and also in a different shipment but still being checked) as well as a pair of wire strippers!

Must be tons of phones coming in via Amazon so I wonder what Customs is looking for?

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ashtonaut

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#2952699 9-Aug-2022 19:34

I’ve recently ordered NDIR CO2 monitors and some wireless chargers.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_m09HiYs
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mKSVFVQ

I’ve been impressed by delivery speeds. When I first started using AliExpress 5-6 years ago things took 2-3 weeks. For the past 2-3 years things have taken 4-6 weeks. For my most recent 3 or 4 orders I’ve found delivery times are back to 2-3 weeks, which is a pleasant surprise. This is using standard cheap shipping options, usually AliExpress Standard Shipping or China Post Registered Mail.

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