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scott wrote:
> I found that in Maplin there are two sorts of employee. One is the
> old-and-wise fat guy with a beard who knows everything about everything,
> the other is the spotty teenager who they probably got in just because
> the fat guy doesn't know anything about that annoying DJ stuff over in
> the corner, but who doesn't know anything about any other electronics.
Interesting... I've generally found that they *all* know stuff about
stuff. (And all of them seem to be early 20s or so.) They all know what
a 20 Ohm resistor is, and they all know the difference between a CD and
a DVD, and they all know whether that microphone in the corner needs a
preamp or not.
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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> Interesting... I've generally found that they *all* know stuff about
> stuff. (And all of them seem to be early 20s or so.) They all know what a
> 20 Ohm resistor is, and they all know the difference between a CD and a
> DVD, and they all know whether that microphone in the corner needs a
> preamp or not.
Guess there's just a shortage of knowledgable young people who want to work
in Maplins around Southampton ;-)
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scott wrote:
>> Interesting... I've generally found that they *all* know stuff about
>> stuff. (And all of them seem to be early 20s or so.) They all know
>> what a 20 Ohm resistor is, and they all know the difference between a
>> CD and a DVD, and they all know whether that microphone in the corner
>> needs a preamp or not.
>
> Guess there's just a shortage of knowledgable young people who want to
> work in Maplins around Southampton ;-)
OTOH, if you're the sort of person who knows when he wants a 20 ohm
resistor you probably won't need any help locating it in Maplin.
It's nice being able to buy that sort of stuff in a high street shop
though. Sometimes you don't want a brand new 20 quid scart lead, just
the connector at one end because you bent the pin or whatever.
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> OTOH, if you're the sort of person who knows when he wants a 20 ohm
> resistor you probably won't need any help locating it in Maplin.
Yeh, I used to love Maplins. I could just show up and buy an IC, a few
resistors and capacitors and go home and make something. Or get that right
combination of plugs and sockets to make a custom cable for whatever I might
have been up to at the time.
> It's nice being able to buy that sort of stuff in a high street shop
> though. Sometimes you don't want a brand new 20 quid scart lead, just the
> connector at one end because you bent the pin or whatever.
OTOH, I remember trying to solder on to a 15-pin VGA plug, and I kept
melting the plastic housing that held the pins in place, in the end I Just
went and bought a 20 quid cable and chopped it in half to get a "ready
soldered" plug ;-)
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scott wrote:
>> OTOH, if you're the sort of person who knows when he wants a 20 ohm
>> resistor you probably won't need any help locating it in Maplin.
>
> Yeh, I used to love Maplins. I could just show up and buy an IC, a few
> resistors and capacitors and go home and make something. Or get that
> right combination of plugs and sockets to make a custom cable for
> whatever I might have been up to at the time.
I have a bucket of 7400s and some breadboard somewhere... ooo, and lots
of LEDs and a batery pack. Damn, where did I put them?
Of course, if KLogic would ****ing work properly, I wouldn't need that
lot. :-P
>> It's nice being able to buy that sort of stuff in a high street shop
>> though. Sometimes you don't want a brand new 20 quid scart lead, just
>> the connector at one end because you bent the pin or whatever.
>
> OTOH, I remember trying to solder on to a 15-pin VGA plug, and I kept
> melting the plastic housing that held the pins in place, in the end I
> Just went and bought a 20 quid cable and chopped it in half to get a
> "ready soldered" plug ;-)
It's surprising how much you can be charged for cables. Like, when I was
Oh, sure, the PC World one says "Belkin" on it. But come on, is it made
of *Gold* or something?! It's a *wire* with a plug at each end FFS!
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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scott wrote:
> OTOH, I remember trying to solder on to a 15-pin VGA plug, and I kept
> melting the plastic housing that held the pins in place, in the end I
> Just went and bought a 20 quid cable and chopped it in half to get a
> "ready soldered" plug ;-)
Haha, what were you soldering with, a steam iron? :-D It's true though,
so many components that used to be serviceable are now machine-built and
sealed in plastic.
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On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 11:57:14 +0000, Invisible <voi### [at] dev null> wrote:
>
If you are making something with components bought from Maplin's or RS you need
to be aware that the tolerances might be very low. Many years ago when I worked
for Motorola we had three levels of specifications. The highest one was Military
spec which had the tightest tolerances then there was within spec, sold to the
industry followed by functionally working which was sold to hobby shops like
Maplin and RS. The latter could not be relied on in any critical circuits.
Regards
Stephen
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>> OTOH, I remember trying to solder on to a 15-pin VGA plug, and I kept
>> melting the plastic housing that held the pins in place, in the end I
>> Just went and bought a 20 quid cable and chopped it in half to get a
>> "ready soldered" plug ;-)
>
> Haha, what were you soldering with, a steam iron? :-D
Hehe no, it was just after soldering a row or two the next pin I touched
with the iron caused it to bend round to the side because the plastic it was
touching had partially melted. Probably just a cheap plug.
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>
> If you are making something with components bought from Maplin's or RS you need
> to be aware that the tolerances might be very low.
the one from PC World. (But without the "Belkin" sticker.)
I haven't seen *any* shop that will sell you USB plugs on their own - I
suspect it would be hell to attempt to solder them...
> Many years ago when I worked
> for Motorola we had three levels of specifications. The highest one was Military
> spec which had the tightest tolerances then there was within spec, sold to the
> industry followed by functionally working which was sold to hobby shops like
> Maplin and RS. The latter could not be relied on in any critical circuits.
Yeah, probably...
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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scott wrote:
>>> OTOH, I remember trying to solder on to a 15-pin VGA plug, and I kept
>>> melting the plastic housing that held the pins in place, in the end I
>>> Just went and bought a 20 quid cable and chopped it in half to get a
>>> "ready soldered" plug ;-)
>>
>> Haha, what were you soldering with, a steam iron? :-D
>
> Hehe no, it was just after soldering a row or two the next pin I touched
> with the iron caused it to bend round to the side because the plastic it
> was touching had partially melted. Probably just a cheap plug.
I find you often have to let the whole thing cool between pins, because
they conduct a surprising quantity of heat to the surrounding mount.
Especially if, like me, you spend 15 minutes and 15 inches of solder on
each pin :D
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