[Scotty Allen] of Strange Parts is no stranger to Chinese factory tours, but this one is now our favorite. He visits the font of all WS2812s, World Semi, and takes a good look at the machines that make two million LEDs per day.
The big deal with the WS2812s, and all of the similar addressable LEDs that have followed them, is that they have a logic chip inside the LED that enables all the magic. And that means die-bonding bare-die ICs into each blinky. Watching all of the machines pick, place, glue, and melt bond wire is pretty awesome. Don’t miss the demo of the tape-and-frame. And would you believe that they test each smart LED before they kick it out the door? There’s a machine that clocks some data in and reads it back out the other side.
Do we take the addressable LED for granted today? Probably. But if you watch this video, maybe you’ll at least know what goes into making one, and the next time you’re blinking all over the place, you’ll spill a little for the epoxy-squirting machine. After all, the WS2812 is the LED that prompted us to ask, three years ago, if we could live without one.
WS2813, WS2815…
I’m still learning English, but it’s probably the *fount* of all WSxxxx, not the font?
Well… not exactly:
https://grammarist.com/phrase/fount-of-knowledge-or-wisdom-vs-font-of-knowledge-or-wisdom/
So it’s fount, just as it is colour.
If you like.
Cool, thanks for the hints! TIL differences & similarities of fountains and typefaces http://www.dougrose.co.uk/founts_fonts_typefaces.htm
Welcome to the world of US vs UK vocabulary differences. It will drive you mad, so just embrace the madness.
This is not a US vs UK thing. I’m English and I thought it was “font”, and apparently a third of OED users voted for “font”.
Aluminium
Historically aluminum was first, came from the discoverer, and used commonly everywhere. It was a decade or two before those pesky Brits decided to change it
Except, historically, the discoverer wanted to call it Alumium.
So… everybody in the place is using face/hair covers… expect him…
I mean: in 5:02. In the rest of the video nobody wears face/hair covers… which is… odd.
BTW: why now HaD doesn’t remember the name/mail data?
Yup, another batch of dodgy WS281x parts.
I did like the “…and here are the rejects that we sell to people to put up on eBay” bit.
Want not, waste not!
So you’re ok with the person wearing open toed sandals? ;)
I’m OK with it.
Whaaaat????? minute/second, please!!!!!!
The video is sponsored bij a shaving company. These razors are so good, there’s no problem walking around even in a cleanroom without hair cover!
I like that he went to all the effort of setting this up and then didn’t ask anyone what any of the machines are doing – the number of times he says “What I think this is probably doing…” or “I think this might be doing…”
It’s like they let him wander in off the street unsupervised with a video camera.
“You can look, but don’t touch.”
“Where?”
“Yes.”
Wow, that was great! The speed and precision of those machines is unreal.
Gee, can we buy direct?
1000 WS2813E are 44USD @LCSC…
is amazing how to wire connect 4 LEDs and IC with high precision is cheaper than make an complete IC with embbebed LEDs in one die.
Its a very different semiconductor process to make a chip vs. an LED, so yes, that would be costly, have low yield etc.
even the semiconductor itself is different ;-)
Interesting video. The speeds are amazing. Also, confirmation that components/semis that make it to the amateur/hobbyist market are often manufacturing dropouts.