How-To Guides
goal: provide guides that are to-the-point with sited research
This set of tutorials will cover some essentials to designing circuits and pcb layouts using kicad,
an open-source tool for circuit (board) design that's free and has no restrictions on number of layers
or size (like Eagle). We'll focus more on the unintuitive things as well
as tips & tricks rather than re-write the manual.
The goal of this guide is to consollidate and test many of the numerous PS2
interfacing guides already out there. Included are the hardware connection
requirements, software protocol (including pressure vibration motors, pressure
sensitivity and guitar hero controller), and complete hand-shake traces showing
everything a real play station and controller say to each other on first connect.
Also includes c source code (MPLAB projects) for the PIC18F4550.
A set of tutorials (including video) showing inexpensive ways to solder a variety of surface mount components,
including: fine-pitch QFPs, lead-less QFNs, PLCCs, Resistors, and more.
It also includes a listing of inexpensive tools with pictures, and a tutorial
on using solder paste with a toaster oven.
This guide contains a 7 min. overview video followed by in depth discussion
of picking out the right tools (how much wattage & temperature is needed?
what type of solder? flux?), proper technique, and loads of hi-res, close
up shots of good and bad joints.
An 8-min. video introduction to working with metal. It explains how
to tap holes (embed screw threads in metal), accurately measure and
locate holes, and use a variety of tools including calipers, center
punches, squares, files, deburring tools, and more.
Ever wanted to know just how big a screw you need for a given application?
Or what the different types are and when to use them? (coarse thread, fine thread, machine,
wood, socket, lag, etc). How tight should it be? And what are washers for
and when are they needed?
What size drill do you need for a given tap size? What size clearance drill?
Just how big is a letter F or number 4 drill. Sizes in English and metric decimals.