Mailbag Monday 201

[@lorisrobots]

Great mailbag as always!

[@AlanEvans721]

I always thought it would be fun to use a piezo element as a knock sensor for like a little novelty safe. Or use it for a Halloween decoration that would respond to knocks by knocking back at you or popping open. Maybe combine it with a useless box and have a hand poke out. I think it would work especially well if the box were maybe cough and shaped.

[@TerryLawrence001]

The piezo sensor looks like one that is used in alarm systems for glass break detectors.

[@pileofstuff]

That is one of many uses for them.

[@TerryLawrence001]

@@pileofstuff A number of murders have been solved by the data from these, even though the windows didn't brake They helped pinpoint the time of the shots

[@CTCTraining1]

If you get a chance to demo the quality of the video converter it would be interesting to see - during Covid I paid a lot for, admittedly, a much larger unit, to allow me to bin a load of vhs tapes but was unimpressed with the results so it has gone back on the bottom of my to do list.

[@Steve_Coates]

A man can never have enough breadboards.

[@GnuReligion]

Bad ones can be sacrificed as soldering jigs.

[@frankowalker4662]

I got one of those HDMI boxes for my Amiga A1200. It does a fantastic job.

[@fernsgilbert]

Piezo sensor Probably could be used in building a digital drum machine with an arduino to produce pre-recorded sounds that get triggered with drum sticks.

[@jtn8170]

As always, nice mailbag. You correctly say LM393 which is a Dual differential comparator. But you show the datasheet for a LM353 :-)

[@SidneyCritic]

Car knock sensor - lol -.

[@qwaqwa1960]

As I get older, I become more pragmatic & less perfectionist. Hence, permanent circuits on breadboards :-) We've come a long way, baby...

[@jonathanr4242]

Could you use the piezo thingy to sense and hence cancel vibration noise from a power tool?

[@pileofstuff]

I doubt they would be sensitive enough (or fast enough) for something like that.

[@kyleallred984]

How much of your ordering is for planned projects vs to good a deal to pass up vs restocking frequently used components?

[@pileofstuff]

It's about 50-50. I do need to start making notes when I'm ordering stuff, though. My memory aint what it used to be...

[@jstro-hobbytech]

​@pileofstuff i feel ya man. I have so much shit in queue and so many different notebook types on the go that i get overwhelmed alot and end up just shredding guitar all night. Haha. I got a cheap 120v 3a psu off amazon the other day for like 50 bucks. Im gonna grab another few if i find more on sale and run them in series. All the new cheapies use digital encoder dials with an output button. I remember when they all looked the same but were a different color. You had to short the leads to set the current limit haha. Kaiweets gave me a free one long ago unsolicited with an email. I commented on some video haha. Good video

[@petervancaeseele9832]

Does anyone have a link to where I can buy replacement breadboard spring clips? I've damaged a few rows jamming in things I shouldn't have :/

[@pileofstuff]

I haven;t found anywhere that sells them as a separate part.

[@TheUnofficialMaker]

the breadboards are Boeing quality.