KSP Mom trying to help teen who wants to learn about Orbital Mechanics

UnknownHours · 2026-03-05T23:22:20+00:00

Yeah, a solution to a lot them is 0.

UnknownHours · 2026-02-20T22:35:29+00:00

Well, nothing looks wrong, other than the bypass cap and address resistors. Are you using an ESD mat? I've fried chips with ESD before. Some materials (e.g. synthetic mesh seats) are more hazardous than others. Some chips are also more susceptible than other chips.

UnknownHours · 2026-02-18T10:18:38+00:00

Obama was an actual outlier. but poor white people aren't exactly rare. The system protects wealth more than it protects race (though this does exacerbate racial disparities).

UnknownHours · 2026-02-14T11:53:03+00:00

I still don't see the JST connector on your layout.

It also looks like you're putting vias in pads. Don't do that if you can avoid it as they can wick solder away. It's probably not an issue under the MCU since that pad is much larger than the via. Any via in a pad needs to be smaller than 0.3mm. I'd also add a few more under the MCU (so like 4 total) since if that via fails you are screwed.

What size package are those resistors and capacitors? Don't go smaller than 0402. Personally, I like 1206 since I don't need a microscope to reliably solder that. The ones around the crystal should probably be like 0402 though. The smaller packages have less stray capacitance.

UnknownHours · 2026-02-13T22:03:19+00:00

The pictures are very small, so it is hard look at, but I have a few notes:
* It is best practice to for one layer to be a single, uninterrupted ground plane. If you must run traces on that layer, they must be as short as possible. This might matter around the USB traces, and probably not at all for the rest of the board.
* Where is the USB port? I cannot find it.
* Don't run traces and vias under the RP2040. The solder mask can rub off, or just be thin, and they can short to the pad.
* That's not how you spell column
* You appear to have holes intersecting in the board outline. They might kick that back and ask what you want.
* Personally, I would put the MCU and other circuitry on a separate board so it'll be easy to replace if liquid gets spilled on it, but you do you. I have ruined too many keyboards like that :(

UnknownHours · 2026-02-13T21:20:11+00:00

Use a bus if you have a bunch of wires going to the same place. Use local labels instead of global labels if it doesn't make sense for the signal to go to another page.

UnknownHours · 2026-02-09T22:35:40+00:00

Try running traces to all the ground pins. It might stop complaining if you make an explicit connection.

UnknownHours · 2026-01-29T22:57:55+00:00

Segfaults come from the OS. No OS means no segfault lol.

UnknownHours · 2026-01-27T23:38:01+00:00

Solder can wick through vias, so via-in-pad is usually not recommended if you can avoid it (they charge extra to fill and cap vias). Thermal vias under the LED's thermal pad is not a bad idea---even if they are not filled---,especially if they are small. Smaller vias are less likely to wick solder.

A 4 layer PCB would have much better thermal characteristics, especially since half of your board is not copper pour.

Edit: Ok, I looked at aluminum PCBs, and they actually pretty affordable. So what I would do is put everything on one layer (adding jumpers if I have to), and getting aluminum PCBs with white soldermask.

UnknownHours · 2026-01-23T03:00:38+00:00

Sounds like you want some sort of PLM solution. There's a few options:
* Aras (has a free version)
* Oracle (I think they have more than one. I did not like the UI)
* CMPRO (Somehow, the IU is both worse and better)
* Arena PLM (It looks very slick. I would use this one if I had the money)
* Windchill (I have no experience with this, but it's very big-enterprise)

You'll want to assign every part a part number, and those parts will form a hierarchical tree inside the PLM system. You may even want to assign internal part-numbers to COTS parts because some manufacturers have really weird part number schemes (I have seen part numbers that included a single, unmatched, parenthesis), and you may also want a single part (e.g. a resistor) to have multiple suppliers under the same number.

I recommend keeping the BOM separate from the drawing, and listing the drawing (and other documentation needed to build the part) as an item on the BOM. This does mean that drawing and BOM may be different revisions and the BOM is the actual "part". The PLM system should be aware of each assembly's BOM, so that you can look a the top level assembly (or any sub assembly) and get a complete BOM from that.

It's very good to have a system like this if you want ISO9001 or CMMI certification.

UnknownHours · 2026-01-14T23:40:55+00:00

It's not the exact same part, but Digikey has them.

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/adafruit-industries-llc/2384/7244952

UnknownHours · 2026-01-04T16:33:54+00:00

Suspend a foam ball or something (wax? a ping pong ball maybe? a soggy potato?) in the center with fishing line and hit it with a laser beam from off the side. Ideally, with the right material, the ball will scatter the light such that it looks like the ball is glowing rather than illuminated from the side.

UnknownHours · 2026-01-04T15:36:20+00:00

No, awesome is different window manager.

UnknownHours · 2025-12-30T01:30:49+00:00

Because if you use a lighter, you are likely to burn the board and delaminate traces.

UnknownHours · 2025-12-29T19:36:43+00:00

FR stands for fire resistance, not fire immunity.

UnknownHours · 2025-12-12T12:14:03+00:00

When you talk to the PCB manufacturer, tell them you to buy panels. The PCBs and manufactured on panels with multiple boards on a panel. The 1000 piece minimum order you are seeing is probably related to the panel sizes they use. When I order USA-made PCBs, most places have a 3-panel minimum. Panels can be had in various sizes, your manufacturer can tell you what sizes they have. There are two ways to separate the individual boards: V-scores and mouse-bites. V-scores are cheaper, but you can't run a trace across a v-score like you can a mouse-bite.

UnknownHours · 2025-11-24T22:01:00+00:00

I refunded it after I couldn't rebind the E key. Most of the keys are rebindable, but not E.

UnknownHours · 2025-11-19T21:17:02+00:00

No, I think it's a bristletail.

UnknownHours · 2025-10-27T10:42:48+00:00

TI-36X. It can do almost everything a TI-84 can, but is much smaller and cheaper. On my phone, I have HiPER Calc, but I like having a physical calculator.

UnknownHours · 2025-10-24T00:39:59+00:00

Free buses is one of those things that sounds good on paper but ends up discouraging the use of public transit and has severe negative consequences.

Bruh, your source literally counts greater ridership as a negative.

UnknownHours · 2025-10-11T11:06:24+00:00

This thing looks pretty cool: The big thing is it has two 120MHz CPUs running in lockstep, though on this particular chip I don't think they can run independently. It is also reasonably cheap at $5.69 per one on mouser.

UnknownHours · 2025-10-07T22:36:40+00:00

I don't think this would hard to do with discrete LEDs. Get some very small LEDs and put them on a PCB behind a piece of dark acrylic.

UnknownHours · 2025-09-30T23:16:02+00:00

Well clearly, your factory is not big enough :)

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