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Introduction

After a long period of using the unit with exposure times exceeding 40 minutes in PCB manufacturing, it was finally time for the previously announced upgrade. The goal was to double the number of LEDs from 48 to 96. This is intended to achieve more uniform coverage of the exposure area, as well as, of course, shorter exposure times.

1. PCB Problems

The increased number of LEDs also increases the power requirement. And that posed a problem - the first control board was only rated for 1A at 12V. So a new one is needed - the exposure unit exposes its own new controller board.

The Idea

It’s christmas time. And that means finding something to give as a gift to your closest. And a problem that especially families might know is that when washing many bottles by hand, the dish rack is filled as they consume a lot of space. To tackle this, i imagined a simple bottle dryer to hold the wet bottles. After sorting ideas, I came up with a collapsible design that can adapt to the available space.

Times are changing

No one really knows one way or the other - it’s an unprecedented situation. And yet, somehow, we have to deal with it. A virus is spreading, and suddenly the whole world is barricading itself behind its windows and front doors. Clearly, we are talking about the COVID-19 pandemic and the accompanying lockdown(s). Schools in Germany were also closed for a long time during this period, with homeschooling replacing face-to-face teaching. For some, the internet was still new territory (”Neuland”, as some famous female german chancellor once said), while for others, this new reality created unexpected opportunities (including in terms of free time). I was one of the latter - at the time in seventh grade at a Bavarian high school.

If you’ve been around the (electronics) DIY scene for a while, at some point you can’t avoid circuit boards (printed circuit boards/PCBs). The main advantages over soldering circuits by hand on perforated or strip-grid boards are that they are easier to replicate (once designed a circuit can theoretically be produced as often as you like) and that space can be used more efficiently (a board is almost always smaller than a soldered perforated grid board with the same circuit). Ultimately, devices with circuit boards also simply look more professional. There are certainly more advantages (and of course also disadvantages!), but I will not list them here for the sake of simplicity.

Initial considerations

I’ve been thinking about how to write this post for a long time. What needs to be told, what is unimportant? A lot has to be left out for the sake of clarity, and I might not even remember some of it. In any case, I would like to use this article to explain my intention in starting this blog. But to explain that, you have to understand the origins.