Yeah, we make our circuit boards…

Two years ago we had some issues with poor electrical connections coming loose in transit (or randomly). Stock circuit boards worked in the mean time, but it was difficult to get a lot of functionality in a small space. Therefore we started making our own printed circuit boards. Learning to make circuit boards provides an opportunity for us to learn some more design software. With a bit of trial and error, we found a method that works quite well for us. If you want to find out more, check out our fb page and ask us a question.

Exposed to UV.

Photoresist developed.

Etching the PCB.

After etching, getting close to finished.

Product circuit board.

Iodine Clock v4.1

Over the past 2 years we’ve been trying to improve on our iodine clock design. We are constantly thinking of ways to improve the reliability as well as ease of use. Our first design v1.0 was wacky, our chemistry was off and the glassware was inconsistent. In v2.0, we balanced our reactions properly and rebuilt the clock to achieve ~3s accuracy. Minor design flaws in v3.0 were fixed in v3.1 which was continuously stirred and used in our last car Plastic Metals. The timing of v3.1 was ~1s, without accounting for degradation of chemicals during the day. The current clock was designed to keep some of the functions of v3.1 to the last clock but with better ease of use. Small edits were made between v4.0 and v4.1 to fix minor sizing flaws. Also it’s magenta – 3D printing is fun…

3D printed iodine clock