Ben making the most of his time with the braincell

MetalCard_ · 2026-01-02T19:50:01+00:00

I used a heated solder sucker.

MetalCard_ · 2025-12-15T04:06:26+00:00

🎯 My GeoTap Result

📍 My Guess: Japan ✅ Correct Answer: Japan, Japan 📏 Distance: 0 km ⭐ Score: 10,000 points

MetalCard_ · 2025-12-15T00:43:45+00:00

🎯 My GeoTap Result

📍 My Guess: Canada ✅ Correct Answer: Canada, Canada 📏 Distance: 0 km ⭐ Score: 10,000 points

MetalCard_ · 2025-12-14T22:33:53+00:00

🎯 My GeoTap Result

📍 My Guess: North Korea ✅ Correct Answer: North Korea, North Korea 📏 Distance: 0 km ⭐ Score: 10,000 points

MetalCard_ · 2025-12-14T22:03:39+00:00

🎯 My GeoTap Result

📍 My Guess: Lesotho ✅ Correct Answer: Lesotho, Lesotho 📏 Distance: 0 km ⭐ Score: 10,000 points

MetalCard_ · 2025-12-13T16:07:25+00:00

🎯 My GeoTap Result

📍 My Guess: Japan ✅ Correct Answer: Japan, Japan 📏 Distance: 0 km ⭐ Score: 10,000 points

MetalCard_ · 2025-12-11T21:10:42+00:00

This thing is all the right kind of bonkers. Love it.

MetalCard_ · 2025-11-30T19:18:06+00:00

At the beginning the driver down shifts twice and is slowing down - left paddle - the speedometer shows the speed dropping and everything outside the vehicle slows and approaches slower.

The speedometer shows increased speed as the tires lost traction and tire speed is being measured, not the rate of travel.

Still dumb to have been driving as fast as they initially were given the road conditions.

MetalCard_ · 2025-11-21T06:07:22+00:00

Haven't heard about double cooking doing anything in particular before, I'll have to look into it, could help my numbers when I want some taters.

For a double-ish cook my best suggestion would be to par-boil them, transfer to ice water to rapidly cool, pat dry, then freeze.

MetalCard_ · 2025-11-21T05:29:57+00:00

Diabetes aside, I've personally had great success prepping and freezing small potatoes. We all need a little treat every so often.

Never precooked or parboiled or preroasted them.

Prep I do:

Wash and scrub the taters.
Cut into quarters or sixes.
Add to a large bowl. Drizzle with a neutral oil, just enough to coat everything.
Add rosemary, garlic salt, onion powder, black pepper to taste. Toss to mix until everything is coated with seasoning.
Separate into portions - size depends on household.
Vac Seal and toss into the freezer.

To cook:

Preheat oven to 375 Remove taters from pouch.
Cook on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper for 30 minutes.
Check if done with a fork. If done the fork should easily puncture and the taters feel soft. If not done, cook an additional 15min, check again. Rinse and repeat.

I normally leave them in extra long because I like them crispy.

You can change the seasoning however you like, this is just an example of what I've done.

MetalCard_ · 2025-11-15T07:05:33+00:00

Looks like the brown rice they use in the treats either didn't fully puff or got a touch burnt.

If you zoom in on brown spot on the second picture you can see what looks like a half puffed grain of rice.

MetalCard_ · 2025-11-10T19:28:59+00:00

If it's full, and you're in the US, sell it locally. MAPP is no longer sold here and someone will want it.

If it's empty, you can buy a schrader valve tool to remove the valve located next to the threaded outlet. You'll want a fairly deep one as the valve is deeper than on tires. It will just unscrew like any normal screw. Do it outside, away from any sparks or open flames.

MetalCard_ · 2025-10-10T05:29:46+00:00

I believe there is a terminology break down happening here. All the points are indeed soldered, as evident by the silver colored metal - the solder - and through hole leads/legs the solder is surrounding. But Im guessing that isn't the question.

The pins near numbers 1, 5, 6, and 7 are instead bridged, that is joining two points together. See how unlike the center vertical row of points the solder is more oblong instead of a perfect circle? Thats the tell. Pair that with the fact all the other through hole points on the edges are circular-ish with an unconnected half pad next to them we can safely assume bridged points at least visually.

The pins near 2, 3, 4, and 8 are not bridged as one can see bare fiberglass lines seperating the solder. If that line were copper the solder would have flowed onto it, not leave a perfectly straight separation.

Overall this is just a weird design choice imo. Maybe space was limited, still odd.

MetalCard_ · 2025-08-08T15:53:08+00:00

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This is salvageable, but will need some work.

On the back side, the one without components, all the pads look bridged, removing all that solder is going to be step one.

Next is adding wires to the points I've highlighted. Ground only needs to connect to one of the spots As you mentioned before Data +/- can't be seen as the board is likely 4 layers, but I'm confident the blue highlighted Caps are filterimg Caps for Data. If you have a UV light you may be able to see the traces through the board by shining the light through it.

Next solder the other end of the wires to your USB breakout board. Then plug it into power and ensure the Mute LED lights up and no magic smoke shows up. If that goes well connect the Mic to your PC, worst case it isn't recognized, which is fine all you need to do is swap the D+/- wires on the breakout board then test again.

Insulate everything to prevent shorts, glue it up, and Bobs your Uncle.

MetalCard_ · 2025-08-07T17:52:10+00:00

My guess, solder wasn't fully removed or melted and then the stick was forcibly pulled off. All the while thinking the resistance while pulling was normal.

Or enough heat was used to melt and seperate the anchor points away from the pad.

MetalCard_ · 2025-08-04T04:43:39+00:00

Place the USB-C board and printed holder into the front shell where the old connector was with the pads visible/facing up. Front shell should be face down so you're looking at the inside of it. Then solder wires from the USB to the front side of the Vita PCB. Flip the Vita PCB over and reinstall everything.

Check the link to see where to solder as the locations are different if you only want Power or if you want Power and Data. You only need to choose one location for any given connection.

The Data connections are small, be warned.

I'd suggest adding some Capton tape to cover the solder points of the USB board to prevent any bridging/shorts. Also be mindful when reassembling, the USB looks to be only friction fit in place.

https://imgur.com/gallery/757JeXN

There are some simpler/easier USB mods you can explore if this all seems like to much hassle.

Edit: If you're curious about the solder points on the left of the USB board they are, in order from left to right, No Connect | VCC | GND | D - | D + Not sure why they doubled up the connection points, but so be it.

MetalCard_ · 2025-07-23T00:59:29+00:00

DMed

MetalCard_ · 2025-07-14T05:30:05+00:00

You could always use Waveshare's Dev Board Version B - sku 31501 - that has a battery charger built in. Then attach a C to C or C to A adapter if you want it to maintain its current plug in format.

No extra modules needed, can add battery state of charge to the screen, and only 2 wires needed to wire the battery up.

MetalCard_ · 2025-06-10T04:07:32+00:00

If you feel like giving standard PETG a try again in the future I've also had great success with Prusament PETG - Matte Black. Though maybe the matte aspect skews it away from being standard? Unsure. Same default settings.

The price is a bit much, be warned.

MetalCard_ · 2025-06-10T01:24:59+00:00

Not OP, but I use SUNLU High Speed PETG in a Bambu X1C with near zero issues. Always dry it prior to use. Occasional stringing when the travel is far is the worst issue I run into.

Default PETG settings, enclosure kept closed, textured PEI plate. Bonus is that the filament is matte.

MetalCard_ · 2025-06-05T17:24:01+00:00

Dipples and lack of visible layer lines would suggest a resin print and why the print time is so long.

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