Project Logs

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• Official Toorcon Badge?

  MakersBox • 09/16/2018 at 03:01 • 0 comments

  The SMD Challenge had already spread misery to poor attendees of ToorCamp this year, and no good deed goes un-punished, so I was greatly disheartened when a request for more SMD Challenges for this year's ToorCon became a request to help with the official badge?  Four hundred kits.  Woe is me.

  Luckily for attendees, the SMD Challenge is actually just a small part of this badge.  There are all sorts of codes in all sorts of places.  I'm not sure what they all mean, or what you get if you figure them out.  I was sworn to secrecy, had my eyes gouged out, and was forced to burn all my gerber files.  I'm not responsible for the beautiful 8-bit art (obviously, because it is not miserable), nor do I know what "Toor" and heart cats have in common.
  

  This SMD Challenge is more miserable than other because it features eight, not six, SMD LEDs.  It is only by my distaste of handing the smaller parts (and their greater expense), that only one of the LEDs is of the 0201 variety.  Why eight?  Sworn to secrecy.
  

  Ironically, the beautiful artwork made identify component placement a bit ugly.  I'm also not sure what bit of insanity made me switch LED orientation based on what side of the heart the part was.  I'm obviously not doing anyone any favors, but here is a clear PCB screenshot, sans artwork and secrets, showing size and orientation.

  If you are struggling to even get started on this, Piotr Esden-Tempski has done an excellent video.  One hint for the initiated:  Get the Attiny in the right orientation, or it will go up in smoke.  Wait, that is the Attiny85.  This one used a more forgiving Attiny84, so it will be just a non-functioning piece of 8-bit art.

  If you are heartless enough to want to include some misery in your next event, please don't contact me.  Because apparently I can't say no.

• Apparently competitive soldering is a "thing" now.

  MakersBox • 08/30/2018 at 21:59 • 0 comments

  Don't blame me.  I just wanted so see what small SMD parts looked like up close.

  Tindie, who I sell my kits through, contacted me about some custom kits for DEFCON, and I was eager to see the board in different colors.  I think they turned out nice:

  I kitted 100 of each.  DEFCON turned it into a contest with a time limit and scoring system.  I'm sure I wouldn't score in the top group, but it sounds like it was a success. 

  
  

• Outdoor Misery

  MakersBox • 07/01/2018 at 18:33 • 0 comments

  Will C. (@WillCaruana), who I met at Teardown, decided to spread the misery to the great outdoors, more specificly ToorCamp.  And what to do we do when we are miserable?  Drink?  Will reported:

  The Toorcamp SMD Challenge was free form competition. There was no order that needed to follow for soldering on components. Attendees didn't learn about the challenge until they arrived on the island. They were welcome to use any gear they wanted (Though every one is camping so they didn't bring much.) The camp did supply soldering irons and flux on a first come first serve basis. One person did end up bring a hot air station. We had about 20 contestants all of them sharing equipment. Everyone was given 6 beers you had to finish one beer before you could solder the next two components. Bunny won completing the board in 1 hour and 2 minutes literally crushing his beers along the way.

  I believe Bunnie (@bunniestudios) is now the most prominent member of the 0201 Club. He was, incidentally, the keynote at Teardown, where he talked about his current project and his lawsuit to reform the DMCA.

  You can see the special edition ToorCamp Challenge pinned to the wrist of his sweater.  Now why doesn't he look miserable?

• An Unmiserable Artist

  MakersBox • 04/08/2018 at 16:02 • 0 comments

  This person is an artist.  And flux is your friend . . .

• Can it get any more miserable? Yes.

  MakersBox • 03/31/2018 at 12:13 • 1 comment

  I originally didn't think that hand soldering a 0201 component was possible.  Several dozen people have proved me wrong.  Can I make their life more miserable?  Enter the "01005" package:

  The Misery Edition of the SMD Challenge now includes a Attiny84 QFN20 package and a 01005 size resistor.  Since I haven't found a matching LED for it yet, I added another 0201 LED, but being a heartless and cruel man, I selected a diffuse one so you can't determine orientation visually (assuming you even have magnification available).

  I am not totally devoid of feeling, so I have designed it so that a backward LED will still light, but you will be denied the joy of witnessing the full terror of the Cylon sequence.  As a further enticement, I've included a power switch to save battery life.
  

  I assume you miserable people will want to celebrate your successful struggle, so there will be a 01005 Club, but don't think you can be the first, because some sorrowful sole found my evil designs on Github and made one on their own.  Truly depressing.
  

  You can induce your misery straight from source here: https://github.com/aspro648/KiCad/tree/master/projects/Attiny/AttinyChallengeMisery, or just buy a kit of pain on Tindie here: https://www.tindie.com/products/MakersBox/smd-challenge/ (select "Misery Edition").  It would save the terror of trying to flash an Attiny and help me pay off the $80 programming socket I needed to preload the firmware.

• 0201 Club

  MakersBox • 12/25/2017 at 06:42 • 4 comments

  As the misery spreads, it seems only fitting that we should recognize those who are unfortunate enough to suddenly complete the SMD Challenge.  To be included in this club, you must submit photographic evidence (or link thereof) of a working SMD Challenge to 648.ken@gmail.com, for which you will receive inclusion on this list and a digital copy of a frame-worthy certificate of your skill and/or insanity.

  Members:
  

  • William Petefish, July 2017
  • Martin Lukasek, August 2017
  • Michael Butler, Sigma Design, September 2017
  • Emily Reich, Sigma Design, September 2017
  • Valerio Nappi, September 2017
  • Michele Conati, September 2017
  • Drew Fustini, OSH Park, October 2017
  • Zach Fredin, October 2017 (thinking way outside the box!)
  • Michael Welling, November 2017
  • Jordan Bunker, November 2017
  • Mathew Mills, November 2017 (with a nicely hacked power switch)
  • Shawn Hymel, SparkFun, December 2017
  • Jeremy Gordon, December 2017
  • Alvaro Prieto, December 2017
  • Jeremy Hong, Hong's Electronics, December 2017
  • Ben Hencke, ElectroMage, January 2018
  • Tyler Folmer, FC builders and Hacker Cooperative, January 2018
  • Gary Baynes, FC builders and Hacker Cooperative, January 2018
  • Greg Courville, January 2018
  • Jeff Bogusz, January 2018
  • Ben Slagle, TEXAR Broadcast Systems, January 2018
  • Paul "LeoNerd" Evans, January 2018
  • Ben Hibben, January 2018
  • Jaren Havell, January 2018
  • Kris Cochrane, January 2018 (with an excellent video of the process)
  • Jeramay Brian, January 2018
  • Tim Czerwonka, January 2018
  • Eduardo Ramirez, February 2018
  • Peter Newman, FC builders and Hacker Cooperative, February 2018
  • Michael Teeuw, February 2018
  • Neal Zipper, February 2018
  • Tim Voss, February 2018
  • Vincent Trudel-Lapierre, February 2018
  • Alexander Huikeshoven, DARKPHOTONS, February 2018 (check out the video!)
  • Martin Samuelsson, February 2018
  • Bastiaan, March 2018
  • Andrew Mackenzie, March 2018
  • Randal Masutani, March 2018
  • Ward Ramsdell, March 2018, with a special bit of"008004" artistry.
  • Mario Mikocevic, April 2018
  • Tim Czerwonka (again), April 2018, including the Misery Edition and custom firmware!
  • Stefano Ledda, Arduino User Group Cagliari (Italy), May 2018
  • Karl Anderson, April 2018
  • Pia Nielsen, May 2018
  • Matt Riley, May 2018
  • Oliver Hannaford-Day, May 2018 (Misery Edition)
  • Pierre Baillargeon, June 2018
  • Lee Hewitt, June 2018
  • Bunnie Huang, June 2018, winner of the ToorCamp SMDChallenge event.
  • Piotr Esden-Tempski, June 2018 , brave enough to livestream the MIsery Edition!
  • Mårten Wikman, July 2018,  Lemony Snicket and Misery Edition!
  • Sidney San Martín, July 2018, Misery Edition
  • Andrew Colwell, July 2018, Misery Edition
  • Dave Adams, August 2018
  • Emily Craig, August 2018
  • Jan Dillmann, August 2018
  • Gustav Evertsson, September 2018
  • Erik Johnson, October 2018, Misery Edition
  • Chris Roddis, October 2018
  • Olav Haugan, October 2018
  • Adam Sachitano, October 2018,  Lemony Snicket and Misery Edition!
  • Oleg Zvonarov, October 2018, and Misery Edition reprogrammed in Morse code!
  • Gary Kaufman, November 2018
  • Charles Seeholzer, November 2018, Misery Edition
  • Eugene Parker, November 2018
  • Sean Murphy (duckythescientist), November 2018
  • Mark Mathis, December 2018
  • Matthias Welwarsky, March 2019,
  • @Ty881, March 2019
  • Daniel Kold, April 2019
  • Brandon Martinez, April 2019
  • Jiří Stavělík, May 2019, from scratch using Attiny13
  • Lloyd Longsworth, May 2019, Misery Edition
  • Timothy Mauk, June 2019 
  • Robert Lazarus, June 2019, Misery Edition
  • Connie Stillinger, September 2019
  • Philip Guldberg, November 2019
  • Alexander Davis, November 2019
  • Michael Foreman, January 2020
  • Sammy Lin, February 2020
  • Peter Schmid, April 2020
  • Roy Sun, August 2020
  • Tracy Albers, August 2020
  • Bradley Copp, September 2020
  • Ilay Levi, November 2020
  • Ryan Lehrman, August 2022
  • Casey Williams, January 2023
  • CoD_Segfault, February 2023
  • Fiona Parker, August 2023

• A Miserable Competion

  MakersBox • 12/07/2017 at 05:58 • 0 comments

  I don't know how this keeps happening, but the misery spreads despite all my warnings.  The latest victims include four hands from SparkFun.  You think they would have known better:

  https://www.facebook.com/SparkFun/videos/10156329586911416/
  

  What I learned from watching the pros at work:

  •  I used the stock KiCad 0201 footprint (which I may or may not have verified against the data sheet).  This is appropriately inappropriate for hand soldering. 
  • You don't need the data sheet if you test your components.
  • Speed is good, but attention to detail is King.
  • There is far less swearing at SparkFun than at my workplace.
  •  I've got to get me a loop!
  • My chance at getting hired on at SparkFun may have significantly decreased.

• Lousy Firmware Update

  MakersBox • 11/05/2017 at 21:33 • 1 comment

  This project shared firmware with the much less miserable I Can Surface Mount Solder one.  Both projects have a 1206 LED that flashed with a heartbeat.  On the SMD Challenge, the additional LEDs blinked randomly.

  Thinking it would be more frustrating to have it quite obvious when you invariably mess up an LED, I decided to have them flash in sequence, much like the cold and heartless Cylon Centurions. 
  

  If you want to learn more about how sadly slow our eyes are compared to computers, check out http://www.makersbox.us/2013/12/arduino-beyond-blink-how-fast-is-fast.html.

  Unfortunately, I had to make another set of kits.  There must be a lot of miserable, frustrated hobbyist out their willing to pay for some woe.  The PCBs came in groups of four with an boring star-shapped cut out in the middle.  I promptly punctured my finger on one, so if there is blood on your kit, know that I share your pain.

  I should have left the mouse-bite edges on there to punish you further, but decided to coat my table and lungs with fibreglass to add to my own misery.  You are welcome.
  
  

• Influencing Digkey Search Results?

  MakersBox • 10/17/2017 at 04:28 • 1 comment

  An Unfortunate SMD Challenge Participant Reported:

  On DigiKey, when I was searching for the 754-2022-1-ND (the 0201 LED), I
  noticed that in the "you might be interested in" results from DigiKey,
  they listed:
  
      BAT-HLD-001 - Linx Technologies Inc. | BAT-HLD-001-ND DigiKey
      Electronics
      BAT-HLD-001
      Linx Technologies Inc.
      HOLDER BATTERY 20MM COIN
      Unit Price 0.28000
      BAT-HLD-001-ND
  
      ATTINY85V-10SUR - Microchip Technology | ATTINY85V-10SURCT-ND
      DigiKey Electronics
      ATTINY85V-10SUR
      Microchip Technology
      IC MCU 8BIT 8KB FLASH 8SOIC
      Unit Price 1.25000
      ATTINY85V-10SURCT-ND
  
  So it would seem that the SMD Challenge orders have affected the DigiKey
  search results...  though, who else would be ordering 0201 LEDs, right?
  LOL

• It Can Be Done!

  MakersBox • 09/13/2017 at 04:59 • 7 comments

  I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it my self.  Hand soldering a 0201.  A miserable young whelp of an Electronics Technician.  Proved me wrong.  Photographic proof submitted to boot:

  He did use a microscope.  And a JBC station with a 0.2mm tip.  But still, it can be done.  Misery upon us all who don't have young eyes and steady hands.

  I've been thinking about scoring. 

    + 50 points for attempting this project (or being foolish).

    + 10 points for getting one LED to blink (you got the Attiny in correctly and can tell the polarity of an LED).

    + 5 for the 0805 lighting up (Give me a break, it is not much smaller than a 1206).

    + 10 for the 0603 (so you have an unfortunate set of tweezers on hand).

    + 10 for the 0402 (alright, we getting serious up in here).

    + 15 for the 0201 (you got lucky, punk).

    - 5 for using a microscope unless you are over 50.

    - 10 for using a paste and a mask (hey it works, but you cheated).

  By this method, my young unfortunate friend scored a 95.

  And I have scored an 85 and 90.  Yes, I used a mask, but I need to prove the circuit and code worked, right?

  So, to break the record, submit miserable proof of all LEDs blinking, without a mask, and without a microscope, unless you are unfortunate to be over 50 years of age.

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