JonnyBoats
Member
Would you be willing to share some information on the tools you use for hardware development at LeafLabs? Things like reflow ovens, logic analyzers, DMMs etc.
In particular I would like to know about useful stuff that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, you know, things poor college students can afford ;-)
Thanks.
JonnyBoats,
We have oscilloscopes, a USB logic analyzer, a soldering iron with a fine tip, a hot-air rework station, a syringe of solder paste, regular solder, a microscope, tweezers, some multimeters, and copper solder-wick.
You can do a lot with those things. If I were to give some things up, I'd first give up the hot-air rework station, the logic analyzer, and the solder paste. If you're sticking to thru-hole components, breakout boards, and "shields", you can certainly do without a microscope. I think the expensive thing that is hard to do without (but it's absolutely possible) is an oscilloscope.
One way to do it is to learn about what's out there, start working, and then think about what you could use and if it would be worth it.
JonnyBoats
Member
Okie,
Thanks for your reply. Can you tell me about your oscilloscope(s), specs, cost etc. Also what specifically do they do for you that a USB logic analyzer can't.
Also I am surprised that you don't have some sort of re-flow oven made from a toaster oven with perhaps a Maple and a thermocouple to control it. How are you making the prototypes without a reflow oven?
JonnyBoats,
Currently, we have a couple digital and an analog oscilloscope, all with ~100MHz bandwidth. I believe all of them were bought used for $100-$250. (Mine is a Tektronics 466 Storage Oscilloscope that I got from MIT's monthly swap fest for $100.) Oscilloscopes show you analog signals instead of the binary (high/low) waveforms that the logic analyzer returns. The logic analyzer, however, does smart things with communication protocols (UART, SPI, I2C, etc.), like detecting and decoding them.
I built a re-flow oven awhile back and accidentally blew the thermocouple amplifier IC while messing with it. I haven't gotten to messing with it again because we're able to assemble very low-volume prototypes just fine with the other equipment. The hot-air station sort of does what the re-flow oven does, but I'm sure a re-flow oven is a great asset if you get it set up and figured out.
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