Category Archives: Electronics

FILCO Majestouch 2SS Edition Keyboards

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I ordered two new keyboards this morning. I got a 104-key one and an 87-key one. The gory details are documented on the keyboard page on my wiki.

Usually I like to buy V3 keyboards from WASD Keyboards in America. But the price for the two keyboards delivered would have been AU$841, which was just a bit too expensive for me.

So I had a bit of a hunt around and I found these Japanese FILCO Majestouch 2SS Edition keyboards on Amazon:

They both come with MX Speed Silver switches which are the ones I like.

While I was researching I found the following content mill articles which I enjoyed reading to learn more about mechanical keyboards:

Adrian Black goes PRO

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In my feed today a note from Adrian Black from Adrian’s Digital Basement that he was retiring from his infosec job and going full-time content creator for his YouTube channels. His announcement is here. It’s fun because I managed to be the first person to wish him luck and my name was in the credits because I now support him on Patreon! You can see the proof in the screenshot below! :)

AliExpress diodes

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I ordered a bunch of SMD diodes from AliExpress (nine different types), and nine packages arrived, but they weren’t labeled. I tested everything to infer what I got, and they didn’t ship me what I ordered. My notes are here and the video of me doing all this is here.

I kept a note of the seller and will try to not order from them again. In the mean time I think I have filed the components that did arrive in the correct drawer.

Below are two happy snaps from this project. I guess on the bright side I got some practice doing SMD soldering and using my signal generator and my scope.

Oh, and I added a new item to my debugging notes, viz “is it plugged into the right socket?” (I had my output cable on the signal generator plugged into the wrong BNC connector on the device, that took some figuring out…)

John's test rig

John's test rig, labeled

Switching diodes and rectifying diodes

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I had an envelope full of SMD diodes arrive today. Three different types in three different sizes, so nine bundles. Unlabeled!

I’m not sure what they were thinking at the shop. I got them from here.

I managed to figure out that the ones marked ‘S4’ were the Schottky diodes (1N5819WS). I think the ones labeled ‘T4’ are the switching diodes (1N4148WS) and the ones labeled ‘T7’ and ‘A7’ are the rectifying diodes (1N4007), but I’m not sure of that yet.

I asked ChatGPT for help and it explained how I can devise a test circuit, so that’s on my TODO list for tomorrow.

Unboxing #5: Unboxing of AliExpress TE-801 Third Hand With Magnifier | In The Lab With Jay Jay

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This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video on this show’s homepage which is here.

You can support this channel on Patreon: patreon.com/JohnElliotV

In this video I unbox two “different” helping hands (AKA “third hand”) only to discover they are the same TE-801 model.

I purchased these separately on AliExpress:

They are exactly the same product so if you’re planning to purchase might as well get the cheapest option. Note that the first link above also has a separate more expensive option which is actually a different product, I didn’t get one of those.

In addition to unboxing these third hands I also add some 4mm heat shrink to the alligator clips to take the bite out of the teeth.

Note: in this video I have the annoying habit of calling “heat shrink”, “shrink wrap”. The correct term is heat shrink, shrink wrap is a different type of thing.

In the video I use 4mm yellow heat shrink:

The hot air gun I use is a part of my Horusdy Soldering Station.

The batteries I use are Duracell AAA batteries.

My gloves are:

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe!

Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

ENGINEER PA-09 Crimping ToolThis is an image of the product.notes

Let’s go shopping!