Voltlog #295 – Weekend Update

Welcome to a new Voltlog, this will be just a short weekend update video, to let you know what I’ve been doing in the past couple of weeks. So I’m staying at home and only going out for important stuff, which gave me more time to tinker and work on projects. I hope you are doing the same because social distancing is a good way to slow the spread of this disease.

One of the things I’ve been thinking of doing for a long time is a bench tool holder, the kind that will hold my tweezers, soldering iron tips, flux syringes, stuff like that. So far I’ve been keeping them in one of these pen holding cups but they fill up and it’s hard to grab the thing you need quickly. So I’ve started designing my own in Fusion 360, I included 6 deep pockets, 2 shallow ones in the front and 5 tubes for holding syringes. 

The next thing I did with my 3d printer is related to the current pandemic, as you may know, medical staff in many countries which have been hit hard are lacking protective equipment, they just don’t have enough mask or suits or face shields, not to mention enough ventilators which are desperately needed for those in critical condition. 

In parallel I’ve been designing the battery monitor circuit for the power drill I reviewed in Voltlog #285, this is the first revision of the PCB, the circuit works as expected but I’m still waiting on some parts to be delivered and I’ll do a separate video on this subject. It probably needs a second revision of the PCB because this one doesn’t quite fit in, the way I thought it will.

I also started designing a T10 automotive LED bulb. It’s using a linear  constant current driver and some decent LEDs, because what I’m currently using in my car are the aliexpress bulbs which kinda start dying after a few months of usage. I’ll probably place an order for this panel today but who knows when I’ll receive it.