Vias don't go well in pads, of course. In fact, I think it's fair to say that vias go as well in pads as large igneous rocks go in peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. But it's not just vias in... Read more
How do you keep your MOSFETs running cool? Flyback diodes? Managing the PWM frequency? Big heat sinks? Fans? More MOSFETS in parallel? Duane Benson Remember, no matter where you go, there you are. Read more
Years ago, it seemed like the last two weeks in December were just full of retrospectives on the year. It was all over the media all the time. I don't really hear so much of that any more, which might... Read more
Just another tale of a poor little capacitor feeling lonely and trying look up to a big inductor for advice and guidance. Sadly, Henry, the inductor rebuffed the little uf with nary a word and kept his emf to himself.... Read more
I recently started reading the magazine Chip Scale Review. It's a different take on things than I'm used to. Most of what I read for work is in the engineering and assembly realm, but this one goes back to the... Read more
What's wrong with this picture? I forgot to warn you that there'd be a pop-quiz. It's only worth 10% of your final grade though, so not to worry. We're fully into the rainy season here in Oregon now. It's dumping... Read more
I've mentioned some cautions with parts substitutions before; wrong V values on barrier or flyback diodes, counterfeit parts and things like that. Here's another example of something to watch out for if your supply is tight and choices are limited.... Read more
So, I just read that Newark purchased Cadsoft Eagle. I guess it's probably old news to everyone but me. The press release about it that Newark posted on their website Element 14, has a date of August 13. I find... Read more
I've been spending some time with the mbed here and I'm convinced that there are a lot of good uses for this little thing. One in particular popped in to my head with a lot of vigor. Back in December... Read more
NOTE: I've recently (8/18/2010) updated this post and the downloadable PDF to match the IPC 7351. We will properly assemble both ways, but this now matched industry standard. Every now and then, we get questions on the centroid file (AKA... Read more
