[Timon] just bought a new PCB holder setup for his desk. It’s one of those spring-loaded jobbies that uses strong magnets to hold it up off of a work surface, and is made of metal so that you can reflow solder with it. It might be a clone of the PCBite, but frankly I’ve seen similar projects everywhere — it’s hard to say who is copying whom these days. And anyway, that’s not the point.
What struck me about the holders was their tops: they’re repurposed 3D printer nozzles. That’s a fantastic idea because they’re non-magnetic, heat tolerant, relatively uniform, and probably dirt cheap in Shenzhen, where the designer of this board almost certainly lives. Maybe he or she even works in a 3D printer factory? Who knows? But the designer almost certainly looked around for something that would fit the bill, and found the nozzles.
Indeed, there’s been a lot of innovation in all things board-holding coming out of China over the last decade. I can remember when the state of the art was a vise-like affair. (I still like my homebrew Stickvise clone for low, square jobs.)
But with cell phone repairs requiring the ability to hold and reflow ever stranger board shapes, there’s been a flourishing of repositionable holders. The pawn-pillar designs are cool, but their utility rests firmly in how strong the magnets are. (I wouldn’t buy the one linked, for instance, without trying it first-hand.) I really like the look of these jobbies, which have springs to maintain tension. (Will the 3D-printed plastic jaws hold up to multiple reflows?) Anyway, it’s no coincidence that the inventors of these devices are in the cellphone-repair capital of the universe.
The old saying is that necessity is the mother of invention. But what if, like with real estate, it’s location, location, location? You dream up solutions to problems around you, using parts that you’ve got on-hand. If that sounds a little fatalistic, consider that you can also change your surroundings, either physical or even virtual. Are you in the middle of the right challenges and opportunities?
“one of those jobbies” – as a Scot the word “jobbies” has a different meaning to me.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Jobbie
It has been suggested to train puppies with a code phrase to let them know you want to take a dump when you let them outside (and to not let them think you are letting them out at 3am to play fetch). Ours is “Do your job!”
But we had no idea of the Scottish connection.
Similarly it grates my gears when I hear an American call an automotive transmission a “tranny”. To be fair, most use the time saved to work on Unified Field Theory.
Go ahead, put “developed a jobbie” on your resume. I dare you. Even in American English it sounds … less than professional.
In other news, “VW” in English has more syllables than “Volkswagen”. In German there actually is a savings.
Vee Dubb
I was disappointed with the PCBite’s spring loaded contacts and have these on order. -https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002851608107.html
Machinist’s dial indicator holders. Forgot who tipped me off to them, was it Proto G?
I built little adapters to hold my scope probes directly. They’re great b/c they have adjustable-stop spring loading, move around easily, etc.
https://i.imgur.com/6xPXgiu.jpg
(Hey Martin!)
We have gone full circle! The first 3D printer nozzles in the reprap project where capnuts with a hole drilled in them.
One would wonder why a natural gas jet nozzle wouldn’t work?
https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Gas-Jet-Set-Conversion/dp/B086YTGWJZ
Just use a regular nuts or standoff. They are like 50X cheaper.
If you mean for 3D printing, the flat surface might “smear” or run into nearby already printed area.
Hah! I didn’t even think of that. “Acorn nuts” we used to call them back in the day.
I do wonder if these were rejects from the nozzle factory (off-round, or whatever) and they got them cheap? Or pre-bored ones are even cheaper?
Economies of scale!
The operational amplifier was during a ferry ride. What does this tell us?
I guess I don’t get something (sorry). The nozzles appear to just the a fancy nut on top of the assembly, and the tall points seem to just get in the way.
They fit inside mounting holes, so you can tent the board up with them.
Necessity is the mother of invention
“Necessity is a mother!”
-Frank Zappa
Zappa, Carlin, where have all the pithy stars gone?
My take is that Dissatisfaction is the Mother of Invention. No one found it necessary to have a rubber fish move to music on a plaque, but someone was dissatisfied with the typical static mounted trophy fish.
Contrariwise, if one is adrift in the middle of the ocean a life raft is necessary, but no amount of being necessary will cause a person in that position to invent one. Rose and Jack settled that argument. Instead it’s up to those dissatisfied by finding people have drowned or been lost to do the inventing.
I would love to read the long-form article on the development history of the Singing Billy Bass!
Spoiler Alert!
It ends in a high speed car chase.
“it’s hard to say who is copying whom these days”
No, it isn’t. He bought it on aliexpress.