#1631

Episode 1631 Chinese Kit Time
pretty basic
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[@tedivester4947]

First job out of college was in a small startup firm in Napa, California. We had just come out with a piece of equipment that nurses could use to test power cord integrity of patient equipment. The R&D engineer thought that we didn't need a tech writer so he wrote the instruction manual. I had a friend who was a nurse so I took the equipment along with the operating instructions for her to review. It made no sense to her. I explained what the equipment was supposed to do, so she spent several hours rewriting the instructions in nursing language. Took it back Monday and showed our engineer. He was somewhat offended but the instruction manual, written in Nurse, was accepted. It's hard to believe that engineers do have limitations.

[@IMSAIGuy]

I might be headed for the State Hospital in the future 😮

[@MrVosh-nj2lc]

When I was an industrial chemist I was responsible for developing chemical process test methods and then writing the test method to be used by technicians running the test. I quickly learned the best way to do this is to first write up the method in your office. Then take your "perfectly understood" edition to the technician's lab, and with his assistance, edit your "perfect" method so that it could be practically understood and performed by the techs.

[@frednitney5831]

​@@IMSAIGuyGosh, I hope not!

[@robinbrowne5419]

Hmm.. An almost useless function generator. But, as you say, it would be instructive for a beginner. And also makes a fun video for you to post on KZbin. Thanks :-) PS - Your channel reminds me a bit of the WolfePit channel. You build all these weird kits so WE, THE PEOPLE 👈 don't have to. PPS - Don't be too disappointed that not everyone supports you on Patreon. Many people have just enough money to pay the rent, etc. And making these videos is probably an artform, which is its own reward. And they really are awesome 👍👍

[@peterhemmings2929]

As a cheapskate, I looked at various options for a function generator. Easy to knock up something specific for a project - a 555 / colpitts / something else, possibly with some control. E.g. my last one was a 1 kHz square wave generator with variable duty cycle. If you want an actual flexible generator, you'll be wasting a lot of time if you don't just get a cheapo fy6900

[@frednitney5831]

Possibly of interest: The legendary -- and soon to be going out of business, horrors! -- electronics surplus mail order business Fair Radio Sales of Ohio still has in stock ASC-583-B signal generator kits. Enclosure, switches, and miscellany are not included. I have not assembled or examined mine yet, but I can't imagine it not being better. It's $5 plus shipping and non-included parts. (Then again, if it isn't better, the used/checked Tek branded function generator I also bought should suffice. ;-)

[@RonDogInTheHouse]

Oh, how we've fallen, "I have to share my lab with a washing machine". Funny I share my workbench with the furnace and hot water heater!

[@thomas-i5o7h]

Interesting that you should mention " tech writers ", after my dad retired from the U.S. Army, he got a job working as a Technical Writer/ Editor working for the gov't. He wrote and illustrated technical manuals for many different pieces of electronic equipment for many years.

[@1mouseman]

Every time I hear your dryer, I think 10 meters is open 😂😂

[@uni-byte]

Might work a bit better with Q2 in the other way around. Also, if C5 was 4.7uF or 10uF the square wave would look a bunch better.

[@W1RMD]

This would be interesting to build on experimenter bread board were you can easily swap the components and test the results.

[@tfrerich]

Of course you are in the garage. You're following the tradition of Mr. Hewlett and Mr. Packard. I wonder if they had a Maytag tub washer in their workspace?

[@nickcaruso]

At Teradyne we had a tech writer with a PhD in English who specialized in Shakespeare.

[@IMSAIGuy]

I'd love to read a Shakespearean style datasheet!

[@reedreamer9518]

That was a good laugh at the beginning. Obviously been watching Steve.

[@KJ6EAD]

I haven't seen this circuit before. I've made the op amp-based one that often was called MK103 and had the advantage of three simultaneous waveform outputs. Then there's the ASIC-based function generator kits that seem good except for poor amplitude flatness.

[@nickcaruso]

when a man is tired of old oscilliscopes, he is tired of Paris. Or something like that.

[@herbertsusmann986]

"Pining for the fjords". Must be an old time Monty Python fan! " It's spelled Raymond Luxury Yacht but it's pronounced Throat Wobbler Mangrove"

[@IMSAIGuy]

I wanted to be on television, but KZbin will have to do.

[@frankowalker4662]

Nice kit. The Sawtooth has the best output.

[@jj74qformerlyjailbreak3]

I never had luck with these Diy module kits. I think I ordered like 5 for $2. They do function but low low amplitude. They need a buffered output.

[@W1RMD]

Try 2n3904's or better yet 2n5088's transistors with higher hfe than the 9013's that are in this circuit. I don't know how they will work, but the hfe is pretty low on a 9013.

[@1shARyn3]

For your next bit of entertainment, switch to building a mechanical device and put a twist drill bit thru your finger. (Don't ask me how I know)

[@kveldulfpride]

Thanks for the content. Hopefully one day i can make my foray into circuit land (coming from network/voip). Maybe i can try my hand at building my own NIC and a dumb protocol for it.

[@electrosheeps6718]

Love that stories 😁

[@T-Tronix]

It only a single frequency as the sign and triangle wave would not work correctly if it was variable. 😮

[@jagmarc]

The sine wave wi

[@davidv1289]

Asks us to be Patreons then tells us he has an air conditioned garage. Now that's marketing 😂 Thank you for another interesting video. Regards, David

[@IMSAIGuy]

an used portable craigslist air conditioner, it's not the Ritz 😎

[@davidv1289]

​@@IMSAIGuy Yes, just joking, love your channel!

[@IanScottJohnston]

I thought you were going to say Amy was Steve Jobs personal tech writer or something.......erm, wasn't expecting!

[@herbertsusmann986]

That Q2 transistor definitely looks like it's in backwards.

[@KJ6EAD]

Yes, I also noticed that, at least if the silkscreen means anything and wondered if the circuit function was affected.

[@romancharak3675]

I hope Amy watches this video !

[@ivolol]

Get this *out* onto a tray 🤣🤣

[@andymouse]

The nasty square wave down to Q2 being in the wrong way ?....cheers.

[@billywallace1360]

Was transistor Q2 in the right way around? The outline on the circuit board seemed to go the other way.

[@frankowalker4662]

Well spotted, I think you are right.

[@jj74qformerlyjailbreak3]

I like donated Old Oscilloscopes.

[@farhadsaberi]

No resistor between output and C4? Must be over spec at T=0. Leave it running for a long time and see if the 555 breaks 🙂

[@ke9tv]

You don't know how many times I shouted at the screen about the backward transistor! Is the siklscreen backward, or does the circuit work with the transistor reverse-active biased?

[@caulktel]

I think the waveforms would look a lot better if you threw those crappy caps in the bin and replaced them with something better.

[@garyramsey4275]

Chinese kit time was okay. Enjoyed story time more, though.

[@richardockman8303]

H.P. Started in a garage.😀

[@charlesnelson619]

How did the waveforms look after turning Q2 around ?

[@paulperano9236]

eeeerr is ticking your finger a requirement for level/grade 3 soldering ? As for sharing my 'lab' with a washing machine ... In my dreams.

[@W1RMD]

I'm curious how this would compare with a Weinbridge oscillator distortion wise. I've built the Weinbridge oscillator with a 12 volt 1 watt Xmas light bulb and 072 op amp and it's amazing clean it is but I don't have a distortion analyzer to verify, just a scope. "Mr. Carlson" has a specific bulb he uses with extremely low distortion, but I'm not that fussy. Has anyone here tested both of these oscillators and done a comparison with a distortion analyzer?

[@IMSAIGuy]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pYCpiqWQfZZ4edksi=Ms9uw-WDI_VX9MC0

[@georgesampson4714]

Yeah, you have to watch out for those eccentric people because in reality they may be the normal ones and the rest of us may be the abnormals.

[@kwazar6725]

Lol. Amy also used ne555 oscillators

[@davidknightaudio934]

huh?

[@davidknightaudio934]

amy?

[@kwazar6725]

@@davidknightaudio934 the temp tech writer who sold xxx toys

[@jj74qformerlyjailbreak3]

Amy used the 556.

[@andymouse]

She liked a good buffering !

[@rahulkushwaha9500]

As you are an optics guy, can you see the iphone 15 teardown of JerryRigEverything and please explain what in the world is that tetraprism thing. Maybe make an video about it?

[@IMSAIGuy]

just a prism to bounce the light a couple of times to save space, same idea used in binoculars so they are short

[@bayareapianist]

​​@@IMSAIGuyI think the main reason to use prism in binoculars is to make the images right side up. No need to do so in digital cameras because d cameras can be rotated and place 180 degree wrt images.

[@MaxPivovarov]

You made mistake with Q2!

[@stefflus08]

Amy, are you here? What do you do now?

[@SergiuCosminViorel]

Am not a fun of 555. I studied electronics, in the faculty, and i had such a project, made all with AOs. That is a real functions generator! ah, it also had a 565. not 555! back then, Romania was producing those ICs. Then communism fell, and the ICs that were pruduced in Romania, they are still produced today, and the price starts from 25 USD per piece, and it goes up. While we produced those, the price was 10 cents per piece. Then Romania was reformed at requests from IMF, and divisions of Western specialists.

[@GeorgeGraves]

This is SO MUCH better than #eevblog

[@KJ6EAD]

In some ways certainly, but I find EEVBlah useful also.

[@GeorgeGraves]

@@KJ6EAD Sure - scope reviews and such. He's given a lot of gear to test. But now-a-days, it seems to be just on-air live hang out so he can get his ego stroked by his fans.

[@DavidJohnstone-hi9kr]

How about providing a link for this cute little kit?

[@IMSAIGuy]

read down the comment, I gave a link

[@DavidJohnstone-hi9kr]

I'm not seeing it anywhere. Even read all the comments.@@IMSAIGuy

[@DavidJohnstone-hi9kr]

Got it! It was in a reply to a comment. Yup, I started reading all the replies.

[@philiphoeffer7442]

Looks like Q2 is backwards.

[@jagmarc]

Clever how the sinew

[@PatientZiro]

That sex toys story 🤣🤣🤣 Does your solder wire contains flux? Do you even use flux?

[@IMSAIGuy]

yes the solder is has a flux core. I do you flux for SMD and corroded parts.

[@mr1enrollment]

Just a note of feedback: when you say "everyone likes Chinese kits" or "everyone likes chip of the day", that is not exactly accurate. Personally I enjoy the more sophisticated instrumentation applications. But the reviews of radios, chips, kits, not so much. Good job on the multistage wide bandwidth amp demo - that is instructive. Anyway - my two cents. Cheers D

[@nickcaruso]

au contraire, mon frere -resistance is highly effective

[@a3b36a04]

I share my toilet with chem lab.

[@IMSAIGuy]

don't touch the handle 😎

[@bartonstano9327]

IMSAI guy -> where did you buy the kit? how much was the kit? For a hobbyist like me this migt be a great kit, except I would want some thing with adjustable frequency.

[@IMSAIGuy]

Aliexpress $0.36 www.aliexpress.us/item/2255799897699515.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.25.3858629bzKG4eE&algo_pvid=7184f415-192f-436d-b5e5-d389c85a0e9a&algo_exp_id=7184f415-192f-436d-b5e5-d389c85a0e9a-12&pdp_npi=4%40dis%21USD%210.41%210.36%21%21%210.41%21%21%402101e9ce16956601063483430e795c%2110000000223262665%21sea%21US%21166904661%21&curPageLogUid=9Z9ZU2GPFpSn

[@KJ6EAD]

​@@IMSAIGuyWith "shipping", I'd call it $3.

[@IMSAIGuy]

what really kills me, I could not re-ship that item to a friend for $3.

[@KJ6EAD]

@@IMSAIGuy The treaty that allows China to ship cheap junk worldwide at US taxpayer expense but doesn't allow domestic companies the same opportunity is fundamentally unfair and wrong. The only effective way I've found to recoup the expense is to buy the cheap junk I want directly from Chinese suppliers, bypassing as many middlemen as possible. I hate buying from AliExpress but I'll be damned if I'm going to buy the exact same item at Walmart for three times the price.

[@nicks4597]

copied steve hahah :)