Gillian's Diamonds LED crystal remix. Full build.

[@boonedockjourneyman7979]

Thanks. My teenage students love your channel and you convinced them they don’t need internet board makers for their final project. These kids are doing 20 to life for murder. The vocational shops may well be all they have in their heads about the world for a while. Your work matters.

[@bigclivedotcom]

It's quite gratifying making a circuit board from scratch. Especially after the experimental process to get it right.

[@bigclivedotcom]

I should add that making prototypes from scratch and then getting the files right for manufacture is all part of the game. Glad I'm helping inspire your students.

[@asystole_]

I'm stuck at an airport waiting for a very delayed flight so a 50 minute bigclive video is just what I needed!

[@jhsevs]

Fly safe!

[@bkuker]

Here is a drilling tip, well I like to do it this way. I put the board on a surface that is solid but easy to drill in to (I use a scrap of EPS foam) and hang the rotary tool from a hook on the shelf above my workbench on a bungee cord so that the tip of the drill is about a cm above the board. I hold the dremel with just two fingers of my right hand, almost like a pen, all the weight is supported by the bungee, but it takes no effort to pull it down that last cm. I slide the board with my left hand to get the holes roughly under the drill. All the holes in a 5 cm or so area around where the drill naturally hangs can be drilled without moving the board. It's a lot to describe, but easy to do, fast, does not tire out your arms or hands at all, and I (almost) never break a bit. Think of it like a super cheap drill press, but the wiggle room makes it so fast and easy to align the holes. Clear as mud?

[@phils4634]

I've built a 2-axis stand using rods and linear bearing spares from 3-D printing. The drill support's printed, and if you are into 3-D printing, there's a whole heap of .STL files on the Net for this sort of design (along with the editing software to give them any slight adjustments need to suit your drill)

[@chaos.corner]

You can actually buy the drill motors (they come with one or more bits) and build a press yourself. There are plans on Thingiverse if you want to print one. I drilled PCB holes freehand for many years but a nice drill-press makes a world of difference.

[@bkuker]

This is my opinion, of course, but I prefer the hanging rotary tool, I also had an appropriate drill press. The bungee method is faster and easier because you do the fine adjustment with the hand holding the tool, and can drill all the holes in a small area of the board without moving the board. With a drill press you must re-position the board for every hole, and line it up perfectly.

[@AndrewGillard]

I use my Dremel 4000 in a Dremel Workstation, which turns it into a drill press (albeit one without much vertical height to play with, but that's fine for PCBs). I then use that to drill the holes, and then I switch to a PCB routing bit that I bought from Mega Electronics (for around £5 per bit! The regular reground drill bits from them were £15 for 10, and the non-reground ones were £3 each...) to route out the board edge, because I don't have a PCB guillotine (I use a standard office paper guillotine to cut my pre-sensitised boards roughly to size before exposing & etching, but that leaves a pretty nasty edge - it's just barely good enough for what I use it for...) and I often want my boards to have odd shapes to them as well. It's definitely more time-consuming to drill the holes with a drill press than by hand, but I suffer from RSI in my hands & wrists (thanks to now-16-years of spending 24/7 sat at a PC causing those nerves to be a bit shot...) so my hands shake a lot and I literally cannot aim a drill accurately enough for Clive's method (sometimes I'm able to solder, sometimes I'm not, and given that I tend to favour surface-mount components, that can be a bit problematic!). A drill press lets me spend time carefully aligning the bit before holding the board in place while pulling the handle to lower the Dremel.

[@gregorythomas333]

FIFTY MINUTES OF CLIVE!!! I love these longer videos. And would not have minded seeing this project in it's entirety. :)

[@johnrehwinkel7241]

Yet again, the step where the resist is removed is omitted.

[@MrScotttraynor]

Big Clive and his neverending spiral bound pad of paper ;)

[@2100Warzone]

Paperatzi

[@NicolasBana]

I clearly want to hear the story when you fell asleep in a live electrical panel. Also more industrial stories in general they're always so fun !

[@jimmyrustler8983]

I have a pretty good one of a steel conveyor belt bearing burst into flames through friction once. The friction was caused by paper falling under the belt, and pushing up into the lower side of it. That paper almost went up, too....

[@professortrog7742]

Two remarks for aspiring PCB makers of things that i found out a long time ago. First off: if you put the iron (or other heating element) below the PCB it is a lot more easy to do the thermical transfer. Just place it on the hotplate :-) Second: you can use a laserprinter to print the schematics on a sheet of vynil (overhead projector sheets as they where known back then) and *directly* heat-transfer that onto the bare copper if you heat the PCB to exactly the right temperature. Throw it into the ferric chloride and done. Just be sure to test the sheet if it is actually the heat resistant stuff, you dont want it to go all melty-gooey.

[@pwkoert6594]

Insted of vinyl you could use regular printer/copier paper, use an iron or laminator (modified? Mr Carlson's Lab made a nice video about that) for transferring the layout. 8-)

[@phils4634]

Watching this at breakfast time (7 a.m. Aussie EST). Great breakfast entertainment and a big thank you for a nice LONG video too! Makes our Aussie winter mornings a little more bearable!

[@ZPdrumer]

I applaud your one handed solder application and PCB holding at around 35:30 I can never solder without my helping hands stand. You made it look so easy

[@rlsimpso]

I am rather enjoying this video. I have to admit I order most of my PCBs, since it is so easy now. I just bought a bunch of those drills. My suppliers sold me 20 boxes really cheap because many are broken. They have trouble shipping them. The non-broken ones work very well.

[@MrAlex3461]

Clive. Just got back from a friend's 18th. We crawled the town for 10 hours. Excellent to come home to this before bed.

[@vortmax1981]

I quite like the longer videos and seeing all the little details of a build.

[@Bleats_Sinodai]

Seeing the reflection of your phone right over the etchant gave me a bit of the chills!

[@bigclivedotcom]

It's on a solid ledge. And when you record some of the stuff I do, you have to consider the phone as a consumable tool that gets replaced when you end up destroying it. This one has a slight crack on the screen from filming an explosive stunt.

[@TheSadButMadLad]

The last minute needs to be converted into an eight hour video. ;-)

[@MrEvilWasp]

Yeah definitely... i was just thinking the same and was going to make a comment but thought i would check if it had been mentioned first lol Peace

[@freeranger1677]

Anyone know what music track that is??

[@professortrog7742]

@@freeranger1677, soundhound can not find it.

[@atomipi]

Did you have "Dalo" pens there ? You could draw your on traces on the board with an acid resist pen, called a Dalo pen. You could also use lettraset rub down letters - a thin plastic sheet covered in letters, and ic pads, you would use a biro pen to rub them off direct onto the PCB - and same, we have a semi pro pcb one in an hour, and cost less than a dollar! ahh the good old 1980's :)

[@Aquagene]

Love these longer videos. It's almost like a podcast with some building as the overarching subject matter.

[@Anvilshock]

Wonderful long video, thanks for letting us sit by and watch!

[@mavos1211]

I hope you are coping ok after the tragic loss of your mum Clive, my mum passed 2 years ago and it’s still very painful. Please remember you are not alone in your grief. X

[@dgedi78]

Bathroom silicon is a nice thermal conductor and a good electrical insulator. Very nice pcb!

[@raddel123]

Great project. My understanding of electrical circuits is quite limited, but watching you do the stuff you do is just so interesting.

[@capitalinventor4823]

Great video, thanks. A couple of years ago Thomas Sandlander posted a video on his channel Made with Layers that showed how to make circuit boards using a resin 3D printer. The video is titled "The fastest way to make crisp PCBs at home!" Instead of printing a mask using a regular printer like Clive has done, the masking ability of the 3D printer is used when the 3D printers UV light exposes the gel on the copper. Then the process to continues with the chemical washes.

[@andrewbarnes5506]

Infomative humerous and enabling. So glad your doing this. Love it. I've got back to dabbling as a result. Etching technique very interesting and encouraging. Thanks keep it up please.

[@kargaroc386]

I like how (almost?) every time you use a circuit board in something in a video, you show the whole process of making it.

[@bigclivedotcom]

I work on the basis that someone might not have seen the process before and anyone who has can skip forward a bit.

[@willybee3056]

Good job Clive. . Just a note,,, breathing fiberglass dust made me cough blood for a year. Not good,, thought I was going to die, then I thought I wouldn't be able to, then I was sorry I didn't. Up side,,, I never smoked again. Keep up the good work.

[@georgestewart5879]

Great vid Clive, love the longer ones and your DIY builds

[@Extras16]

I love these long videos - thank you for uploading!

[@drteeth7054]

Yet another brilliant video from BigClive Productions. Such a fluid delivery too. Very enjoyable as well as being good to watch a few times. I hope Clive does some videos on 3D printing. They will be so much better than the young Americans' videos. We need the voice of experience. This is the only channel to which I donate.

[@jerrybarbender9987]

You solder beautifully Clive. It is interesting to hear about LED suppliers and getting good LEDs . I have to say I have never had any really bad ones , fortunately. I occasionally buy LEDs on e-bay , but , for past 10 years or so I get most of my LEDs from a component store in Japan when I'm there . (I buy big quantities at a time , several thousand) They are incredibly cheap and they only have very good quality branded ones. I also like "vintage" LEDs and will snap them up / stockpile them when I can find them. The company I work for used to do a lot of the moving message signs in the late 80s early 90s and we used to replace individual LEDs . I still have a good stockpile from those days , (so they are all 25 years+ old). I have several bags of very old "Bulgin" branded reds from early 80s. They are lovely , indestructible and everlasting. Also a load of various old Kingbrights which are very good and robust . Some of the new ones are pretty decent though , although they don't make them like those very early vintage ones anymore. Would love to know your favorites and your thoughts on the best ones ?

[@bigclivedotcom]

Up to the point that cheap gallium nitride LEDs became available on eBay I used to only use Kingbright sourced from a UK supplier called Rapid Electronics. I'm jealous of your Japanese source. It's good to know that you change individual LEDs in the big signs. I used to maintain an old tungsten RGB video wall in Glasgow before LED walls became affordable.

[@jerrybarbender9987]

I am fascinated to hear about the tungsten video wall Clive? How big / what type were the lamps and how much power did the whole thing consume?

[@-EC002-]

Put a small cable tie on the flex inside the cup, that should stop it being pulled out too far.

[@mmmlinux]

Decided to take a break from my lava lamp tinkering to finally build one of these. Used some kind of empty glass tall sauce bottle I had around, and 3D printed a stand and cap for it. Thanks Clive!

[@bigclivedotcom]

Sounds good. It would be interesting to make 3D print models to suit common supermarket product bottles.

[@mrsheesh3743]

Any left over solder bits here, and all dribbles / spatter from desoldering, go into the lead alloy pot and are used to cast things (I use a lot of Lead/Tin alloy so solder's ideal to add to that, extra Tin helps the alloy fill out the mold nicely.) I get rid of any acid core solder I get that same way, just have to neutralize the Acid flux!

[@Blitterbug]

Very inspiring, as usual. Glad you're using gloves, Clive. Your hands are back to their old selves...

[@peteb2]

Intriguing process having the UV resist film but for homemade boards you can’t beat heat transferring a laser printer printout onto the board, soaking off the paper and use it as the resist. Saves a ton of time and fiddle.

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

No problem with the MPEG4 or SPDIF data,2x 660R green wire wounds they should give you the heat to make that lamp work.

[@fluffycritter]

Washing salts aren’t so commonly available in the US but they’re easy to make, by spreading sodium bicarbonate out on a baking sheet and heating it in an oven to 350F or so for a couple hours, which releases the excess carbon atoms and reduces the sodium bicarbonate to sodium carbonate. I do recommend wearing eye protection when working with it though as it becomes a very fine powder which has a very high pH when it gets slightly wet.

[@BerndFelsche]

For half the mains voltage, split the load into halves and run them in parallel. E.g. on resistor per side, both resistors on the rectified side.

[@GingerChristmas]

A really wonderful video so far, thankyou so much for posting stuff like this.

[@noggin73]

PCB making videos are always welcome! I've been getting excellent results with poundworld photo paper & toner transfer. No soaking, peels off leaving a perfect image. I struggle to solder these raw copper boards without any solder mask though :-(

[@SigEpBlue]

You might want to try chemically tinning them (see MG Chemicals #421), and/or use a really good flux. Even a little surface oxidation makes soldering difficult.

[@Alan_Stinchcombe]

Scotchbrite?

[@johngypsydoe862]

SigEpBlue Another option is photo sensitive solder mask.

[@alanblay1826]

This video for me is what youtube is all about. I was happy you listen to techno too

[@SigEpBlue]

Two more applications of polystyrene: 1. Analog panel meter covers, though static can be problematic. 2. Low-range (pF) capacitors, which are VERY stable over time.

[@krishna34674]

not as stable as C0G.

[@johngypsydoe862]

SigEpBlue Also CD "jewel" cases. Solid PS was introduced years before bubble PS (EPS).

[@phils4634]

Another obvious application - all those Airfix / Revell Polystyrene Model Kits!

[@dcallan812]

A Neopixel ring might look great. You can set any number of colour combinations using a small script on an arduino. I know its another PCB and mains supply change, but if I can get hold of some “gems” I will give it a go.

[@yxcvbnmmnbvcxy544]

Great Idea! Basic Rainbow, Gradient and Solid Color Animation should Look nice.

[@gx8fif]

That's my thought too. I've used Neopixels to create a flame effect already (3D printed Hallowe'en pumpkin) so I think this would work really well. It'll have to wait its turn in my "project queue" for a while though

[@moth.monster]

Clive, that is a beautiful PCB layout.

[@i-will-get-you-there]

Great video! One of my fav type of video and the other being repair/teardown type. Cheers

[@Lumibear.]

Ooh, that’s really clever! Great update on an old classic. I’d say crystals with a metallic element of some kind would probably create a more empathised effect, either rhinestone style reflective backing or an iridescent coating. I’d love to see someone try this with those multi-coloured ‘quick flash then rainbow fade’ types of LEDs, it would look like rainbow-flames! :D

[@bigclivedotcom]

Both the iridescent coated crystals and the ones with a chrome back do float OK.

[@Lumibear.]

bigclivedotcom - ooh, the possibilities are endless! You could try mostly all white LEDs with let’s say six quick-fade rainbow RGB ones spaced equally for a subtle colourful twinkle, or all UV LEDs with a few big flat shapes made of UV reactive plastic that will self-glow and cross paths and mix colours, and maybe some of those big orbeez squishy balls that turn invisible in water and are weight-neutral so you get ‘mysterious’ gaps moving amongst the visible shapes, or... You know, I hope anyone who has a go at making one at home posts a video, do you fancy judging a DIY sparkle-lamp version of Eurovision, Clive? “Live from the Isle Of Man, the bear centre of the Northern Irish Sea, it’s... Twinklevision!” (Cue cheesy ‘70s game show music) I’d watch it! ;)

[@TheAdeybob]

I've got a bunch of old lava lamps here (not vintage), and I reckon I'll convert them - but I think I'll tear-down some 'smart' rgbw bulb and slap them in instead of starting from scratch. Thanks for the inspiration

[@basicbodyhealth]

How about color changing LED'S?

[@HuntersMoon78]

Big Clive's Notepad of knowledge

[@trustthewater]

I'd like to see this something like this done with some cheap violet lasers and some florescent dye added to the liquid. The effect of the beams hitting the crystals and bouncing around could be very neat looking. It would probably need quartz or maybe some type of plastic to allow the UV through, though.

[@Bushougoma]

37:16 High wattage carbon film resistors in a heater application? Metal film would be a lot safer especially in a line voltage application. I've had 1/4 watt carbon films burst into flames before I was shocked something that small could produce a flame that big they're like match heads. Granted I was just starting out and grossly exceeded it's wattage but as a rule since then anything over 1/2 watt I use metal film I'd rather have smoke than fire :-).

[@lwilton]

That's actually where carbon composition resistors are a better choice than film resistors. They distribute the voltage fairly evenly over the composition filler rod, and aren't prone to arcing over the edges of the spiral like film resistors are. If you short a carbon comp resistor it generally just explodes without any flame.

[@twocvbloke]

Nice relaxing build there as I de-china a deskfan I've bought for someone as a present, sharp edges, lack of lubricants, questionable construction, not thinking this is worth the £24.99 ebuyer sold it for........

[@dimitar4y]

ahahha de-china that's a fun hobby I share

[@8bpspfreak2]

I am literally doing that at the moment :D Adding a resistor into a cheap chinese torch, "de-china"-ing

[@ManWithBeard1990]

I didn't know more people did that... I do that too.

[@jerrybarbender9987]

Interesting , good to hear there are others out there "de-china-ing" stuff. I do quite a lot of this myself . I do it for my work , not just for myself. Mostly it is Chinese LED lamps . At work (I repair / maintain signs , but the work extends to other lighting too such as outside lighting at hotels , etc where we maintain the signs) I use LOADS of the LED "corn " bulbs , (the type with plastic cover), in various sizes and different caps , some screw , some bayonet) These are the type of lamps Clive did a breakdown of where he did a 12 volt , a 24 volt and a 240 volt version. Many people dislike these lamps on the grounds that they fail and have short lives . BUT THEY DON'T NEED TO . THEY ARE EXCELLENT LITTLE LAMPS! With a couple of simple modifications they can be made almost ever lasting and super-reliable. I simply fit them with a much lower capacitor , usually a 0.22uF , and a series resistor , (a parallel pair of 600ohm 1/4 watt) . This makes them bullet proof , super long lasting and runs the LEDs so they are hardly even warm . The resistors prevent inrush current blowing a LED. The overall brightness is only slightly reduced. Clive actually did this hack pretty much to one of these lamps in a vid of it's own. I wish the Chinese manufacturers would do this already and not push the components and LEDs so hard in an effort to just get a bit more brightness. If they did the lamps would gain a good reputation for being reliable and long life and THEY'D SELL MORE OF THEM!

[@eideticex]

So that's what it's called. Have been doing that kind of thing for 15 or so years. Great way to get some good stuff if you don't mind putting the finishing touches on what would have been a high quality product if the factory didn't partake in extreme penny pinching.

[@Afrieal]

Oh my giddy aunt it's a Bio Rod! Just Kidding it's a beautiful lamp thanks for the info

[@bigclivedotcom]

It does look like a bio rod from Mission 2110. I had one of the prototype bio-rods and binned it because the gel was oozing out of it.

[@Afrieal]

I went back thru some of your older videos and you mentioned the show and that just popped into my head. Thank you so much for making these videos

[@frostfirei]

That device you are using to bend leads, with some precision. When I was soldering on PCB's in ~1985, we used those!! :)

[@HappyQuailsLC]

I recommend you discover a product called "Shoo-goo". It is remarkable stuff and seals well to plastics and neoprene which might otherwise dissolve in other plastic glues. You can run a bead of it on the underside of plastic trash can handles which are tearing free and on the bottom of plastic muck or garden buckets to reinforce them to a remarkable degree. The repair abilities of this stuff is considerable due to its strength and lack of tendancy to crack. Just remember to allow it extra time to cure beyond normal drying time.

[@jamest.5001]

Awesome video. I have enjoy your stories while you work. I can imagine most of them. Keep it up!'

[@petersage5157]

For 120V mains, a more elegant solution may be to whack 6.8K straight across live and neutral to dissipate a little over 2W and drive the LEDs with a capacitive dropper. Overall power factor should still be high since most of the power is dissipated by the heater resistor.

[@iamfuturetrunks]

Pretty cool, also interesting on how to make one of these.

[@GingerChristmas]

I would really REALLY love to see a build of one of those glitter lamps too, mainly the bottle. I know you made videos in the past talking about how theyre made but I thought it'd be a nice idea to put one together on film just like this video.

[@xaytana]

Have you ever considered investing in a small desktop cnc for pcb machining? Less supplies and chemicals, plus you can get the traces and pads made, drilled, and final board cut all in one process.

[@bigclivedotcom]

I have considered isolation milling, but it can have issues with even the slightest bit of warp in the PCB causing excessive cutting depth or skipping.

[@teacfan1080]

Very interesting process on how you make your own circuit boards! Now make a 5 hour long video of the ending so a person can just sit there and relax and watch the diamonds float about.

[@weaselbox6746]

Love this video too xoxo schematics doodles circuit boards ...full build is a fun watch...so much thought behind your pretty art. Gaaaah I love these lamps : 0 D thank you for this video! Ì wish I could return the joy you give me from this! Tiny yay to my day!

[@Tryin2FlyII]

I am going to have to give this project a try I liked the first one you built - like this one even better just need to study up to get it correct as I live in the U S and self taught -I sort of got lost at the end lol Thanks Clive for posting!!!

[@bigclivedotcom]

I'll probably do a 5V USB version too. Safer and compatible all around the world.

[@Tryin2FlyII]

Really looking forward to that video Clive. You have a Great channel & I have learned a lot from watching you .

[@bdf2718]

Hmmm. The light seepage is going to be, at least in part, because the transparency is spaced from the gel by the peel-off layer. That peel-off layer serves no purpose, the way you use it. Could it be that it's there so you can peel it off to stick the transparency to the gel to prevent movement when it's in the UV source and get closer spacing? Of course, that way you don't get to re-use the transparency.

[@hobbified]

If you have a solder pot, you can also throw little leftover bits in there.

[@LbZPr3dator]

I wonder how it would look like if you use those slow color changing RGB LEDs?

[@Tgbec]

That’s a nice lamp, I’d like to mount to a wall with a few others. It reminds me of a glass fuse.

[@Patrick-qm4xt]

Great project! You've got me inspired to make one of my own!

[@bigclivedotcom]

I'll probably do a safer USB version too, which will make the component values the same around the world.

[@herrpez]

Would it be at all feasible to devise a mounting solution for putting the (roughly) circular PCB on a drill, and using that as sort of a lathe, and just applying the file to the edge as the PCB spins around on its own? I'm currently thinking two strategically drilled holes on the PCB that are only there for the mounting itself (and to keep the PCB centered, of course), which in my mind wouldn't require too fancy of a fastening solution and would make the finishing up much quicker -- and potentially scalable depending on the positioning of the mounting holes. I do hope I am wording this in a reasonably clear manner. :)

[@frac]

@2:30 I clicked on the ' - + ' in the top right corner, and it didn't adjust the zoom level of your workbench. You may want to repair that.

[@zacharyrib]

Great video as usual! I enjoy longer videos with more content.

[@donaldasayers]

I have had great success printing circuits out onto normal paper and using the old WD40 trick. Later I progressed to quality tracing paper. I found that when printed with a laser printer they were more durable than even copier transparence, where the toner used to flake off. Last time I made a circuit board with a circle of LEDs I put them so that + was inwards to the circle. I can't remember what program I used to do this, I suspect it was a graphics program as opposed to a dedicated PCB one.

[@bigclivedotcom]

I used to print my transparencies with a laser printer on standard Daler tracing paper. But some modern printers put down a very thin layer of translucent toner.

[@volvo09]

The older hp printers let you chose toner density in the settings on the printer itself. No idea how helpful it is, but turning that "high" and turning off toner saver would lay down a dense, feelable bit of toner. Default settings are thin and transparent looking, which is odd because you'd think they would want you to use up toner. Some of the aftermarket toner cartridges are "weak" also.

[@robertkirkby-toms2128]

I like the longer video even tho it takes longer to upload:(

[@Rosscoff2000]

If you used ws2812 LEDs you could have a way simpler PCB layout, use a 5v PSU and have an infinite range of colour and animation possibilities. Control by Arduino or just use one of the really cheap WS2812 remote controllers. And/or try using PTC heater to get more constant great without risk of thermal runaway or burning resistors.

[@Arachnoid_of_the_underverse]

A very interesting concept Clive and looks great ,maybe colour changing LEDs and a Resident Evil Helix might add to the mix.

[@crystalsoulslayer]

Stuff like this makes me want to get into electronics.

[@donaldasayers]

Could you design a version to run a proper Mathmos style lava lamp? The proper tungsten spotlight bulbs are getting very difficult and expensive to find. You would need 20 to 30 W of heat though! Perhaps two circuit, one for an adjustable heater the other for a ring of LEDs.

[@bigclivedotcom]

The Mathmos lamps require a lot of heat and it has to be within a fairly tight range for proper operation. Quite tricky to do with resistors.

[@donaldasayers]

More research and I find that Mathmos actually marketed an LED plus thermostatically controlled heater version, but it seems to have been unreliable and it has disappeared off the market. I might have a go at it.

[@volvo09]

Don't know if it's the same version, but in my wax lava lamp I use appliance bulbs as replacements.... The little 40w bulbs intended for ovens and dryers.

[@ZeedijkMike]

This is better than going to a therapist (-:

[@mygreenfroggy]

Hey Clive, can you do a written version of this to go with the video? I'm a newbie and it helps to have both.

[@nicktecky55]

I was always taught to solder first and clip after, because the long lead acted as a heat sink, helping to protect the component. This was in the early days of silicon circuits (early 70s if you're asking, but as you're all proper gents, you won't be asking!), are components more robust these days?

[@bigclivedotcom]

Modern components do handle higher temperatures. I prefer to pre-trim leads to allow better soldering iron access. Theoretically the shorter lead will heat faster and store less heat. I'm not sure which has the advantage.

[@RFC3514]

Technically, you could have used four of the LEDs to make the rectifier (at the cost of having those four flicker a bit). Also, with the right type of wall bracket(s), that lamp would look like a giant fuse.

[@minkorrh]

I did the muriatic acid (concrete cleaner) method, but you need to mix a percentage of hydrogen peroxide into it for good results (can't remember % - need to find the video) . It works well, very fast, to the point you may want to dilute it slightly to slow it down.

[@dumdum7786]

call me crazy but wouldn't the tungsten lamp design be more efficient? it makes more sense to have the light source and the heater combined together rather than have a separate heating element and set of leds because that would create more losses.

[@RWBHere]

Airfix models were always made out of polystyrene, and glued together with polystyrene cement - basically polystyrene in a volatile solvent.

[@LongPlaysGames]

All that etching brings back memories. Messy ones :)

[@abigguitar]

Seems you have skipped a step. The PCB traces went from covered in purple at 26:44 to copper colored at 27:15. Clearly, you removed the rest of the gel covering, but seems you didn't show us this step? Did I miss it?

[@SomnolentFudge]

I've tried the copper chloride etchant method aswell. the problem seems to be the source of hydrochloric acid, most have additives for cleaning applications that take the resist off. TheHomeScientist has a video on purifying HCl if you can't find a more pure source.

[@bigclivedotcom]

I've been researching it and it does look like there may be some sort of solvent thing going on. I'll be trying again later, but will stick to the ferric chloride at the moment.

[@johngypsydoe862]

bigclivedotcom It may be different in the UK, but around here 1l bottles of pure basic chemicals like HCl and NaOH are readily available in supermarkets and building supply stores. Except Ethanol of cause.

[@howardroark3052]

You're likely aware, and there may not be many swimming pools in the IOM, but HCl (aka muriatic acid) is used as an oxidizer in pools.

[@paulevans7876]

Clive makes a bleedin' huge glass fuse filled with water!

[@gordonrobertson102]

Wow R.M.E. I'd almost forgotten that that place had existed. I expect you will remember Marshalls too.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Yes indeed, and Regent Electronics.

[@lwilton]

Fro 120V US voltage the right choice for 2W dissipation is 2400 ohms total. or 1.2K per resistor. W = E^2 / R. Rearranging: R = E^2 / W. For 70V drop and 2W this is 70^2 / 2 or 4900 / 2 = 2450. Per resistor that is 1225 ohms, and 1200 ohms is a standard value. Now to go watch the USB version of this build...

[@bigclivedotcom]

You have to keep in mind the current through the LEDs. It's better to keep it below 20mA for 5mm LEDs. The USB version is better.

[@designworksdw1949]

putting a knot in the wire just off the circuit board would protect the leads being torn off say if someone tripped over the cord, or just from general wear and tear.

[@peregrine1970]

I wonder if you'd throw in 1 or 2 rgb slow changing leds… would it just have a nice tinting effect? Also, for cords with no real room for strain, I tend to use a little tiny 4in zip tie.

[@bobbyhill7948]

I use electronic snippers A lot in pyrotechnics they’re actually very nice at cutting fuse

[@drteeth7054]

If you use tungsten carbide drills, they snap far less frequently at slow speeds.

[@serge933]

Clive this is a fantastic video, love the longer formats. I know it must be time consuming editing such long videos, but the content is fantastic as always. A few more long videos would be perfect! What was that song in the end? Very mesmerizing, also would have loved to see your final product with the blue and red LEDs

[@christeamhound]

Loving the longer videos! ny chance of a tour of your work space? Anyone else really interested what’s ‘behind the camera’? In my mind you have a massive bank of components in little draws :)

[@milksheihk]

Plastic model kits are typically injection molded polystyrene

[@SPARKY832010]

really like this clive enjoyed watching mate

[@dimitar4y]

I love it when a device uses the "waste heat" :D

[@ADR69]

That is a really nice effect

[@Erik_Swiger]

Where I grew up, for some inexplicable reason, we pronounced the word as "sodder." It sounds a little different to ears in the U.K., doesn't it? "Sodder that board!" 'Do WHAT to it?!'

[@SPARKY832010]

thats is brilliant to watch hey clive i got a suggestion for u. diy infinity mirror led coffee table using led tape. im working on one and would love to see your version of it.