TT555 Soldering Kit now available on Tindie!

Probably the most-viewed post on this blog so far has been my project to construct a discrete-transistor replica of the 555 timer IC. I’m pleased to report that, due to popular demand, the TT555 is now available in kit form!

This is your chance to prove that you’re a real SMD soldering expert: to assemble it, you need to place 43 components onto a 10×10 mm2 PCB, pick and place 01005 size resistors (0.4×0.2 mm2), and solder DFN-1006-3 packages (1.0×0.6 mm2). A microscope, sharp tweezers and a fine-tipped soldering iron are essential tools to complete this project.

Please click here to find the TT555 on Tindie!

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First Alert Smoke and CO Detector

I bought this smoke and carbon monoxide detector several years ago, and it’s been doing its job just fine ever since: mostly being silent, screaming when I burn my toast, and beeping every two years or so when its batteries run out. Recently however it began beeping for no reason, and I couldn’t get it to stop other than by removing the batteries. So I bought a new one and decided to tear down the old one.

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