Hackaday Newsletter 0x19

Sometimes fully automated is not as cool as semi-automated. [HACKADAY]( How To Modify Your Car Stereo for Bluetooth or Aux-In [Read Article Now»]( The Man-Machine By [Elliot Williams]( This week we saw a couple DIY tools for small-run manufacturing at home that help make your life easier if you're climbing out of the [happy bucket and into the pit of despair]( -- when you're making enough of the item that it's not fun any more, but you still don't have the volume to leave the manufacturing to someone else. The first was an automatic [through-hole soldering machine made from a 3D printer](. This actually makes sense even if you're getting boards assembled for you, because through-hole pads are a lot more expensive than SMT parts, and they usually charge per pin. Put a 2x20 pin header on your project, and it can end up costing a lot. Or you can robotificate the solution. [pnpassist_thumbnail.png?w=250] This week's second solution really caught my eye. [PnPassist]( is machine that turns your PCB around, locates a laser crosshair over the next SMT piece that you need to place, and even has an OLED screen that tells you what to put there. There are many great mechanical design choices here, but what really drew my attention is how well this machine fills a gap between manual and fully automatic pick-and-place. I know you hate looking back and forth between the board and the schematic or parts list, trying to find just where Q23 is on the darn board, or looking up resistor values. With PnPassist, you still have to do the placing, but with machine guidance. If you don't have the money or the space for a fully automatic PnP, this is an obvious win, but also for short runs when loading up the reels takes more time than populating the board, this could be a huge win. I love this kind of human-capability-enhancing machine, and I'm always happy to see a design like this. It reminds me of the [very clever Shaper Origin]( or even just this [handy automatic XY table for drilling many precise holes](. In all these cases, there's some part of the problem that would be hard to solve, require extremely bulky or expensive machinery, or can just be more simply accomplished by a meatbag. But combining machine precision with the human element produces something more than the sum of the parts. What's your favorite human-enhancing tool? Bring-a-Hack! If you've got something cool to show the Hackaday crowd, head on over (virtually) to the Hackaday [No-Mask-Required bring-a-hack]( on Aug 5th. There will be fellow hackers galore, and you can demo your project from the comfort of your own video salon. What are you waiting for? Sign up now. From the Blog --------------------------------------------------------------- [Who Flew Across the Atlantic First? The Airborne Boats of 1919]( By [Al Williams]( Can't fly all the way across the Atlantic? Try a flying boat! [Read more »]( [Know Audio: Amplifiers And Distortion]( By [Jenny List]( This week, Jenny takes a look at amplifiers, and what makes a good one. Measurably. [Read more »]( [Keebin’ with Kristina: the one with the Mad Model M]( By [Kristina Panos]( Kristina catches you up with this week in keyboards. [Read more »]( [Hackaday Podcast]( [Hackaday Podcast 129: Super Clever 3D Printing, Jigs and Registration Things, 90s Car Audio, and Smooth LED Fades]( By [Hackaday Editors]( What happened last week on Hackaday? Editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams get you up to speed. [Read more »]( If You Missed It --------------------------------------------------------------- [Black and White TV Was Hiding A Special Input Board]( [Classroom Surplus Becomes Linux Powerhouse]( [It Takes A Lot To Build A Hacker’s Laptop]( [Emulating the IBM PC on an ESP32]( [Orbiter is Now Open Source]( [Hackaday]( NEVER MISS A HACK [Share]( [Share]( [Share]( [Terms of Use]( [Privacy Policy]( [Hackaday.io]( [Hackaday.com]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} [why did I get this?]( [unsubscribe from this list]( [update preferences]( Hackaday.com · 61 S Fair Oaks Ave Ste 200 · Pasadena, CA 91105-2270 · USA