RGB LEDs, signs and answers to questions.
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- Опубликовано: 3 окт 2024
- Part of the questions and answers video set. This also shows a simple signage system I used to sell the PCBs for, but have now put the PCB files on my website for free non-commercial use.
In this video I populate one completely with diffused 5mm RGB colour changing LEDs and add a USB cable to power it as an ornament.
The website page for the PCB software and file is:-
www.bigclive.co...
An eBay search for the diffused RGB LEDs is:-
www.ebay.com/sc...
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
www.bigclive.co... 
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Watching someone soldering has never been so entertaining. You're a really good story teller!
The positive way Clive talks about his work and his career is really quite motivating.
You say that, presumably as a barb, but after my father died a bit over a year ago, I had a pretty rough time psychologically, and quite often when the Dark Thoughts came in - and they came often - I'd binge watch a few of Clives videos; he enthuses about engineering and whatnot in a way not dissimilar to the late Old Man and it was quite a nice reminder of how he was, in a roundabout way, and helped get me through some of the crap.
My old man was more on the mechanical side (automotive and industrial mechanical engineering and maintenance - he helped design race car suspension, competition level ice karts (yes, that's a thing), maintain the catalysers in paint plants, etc) but the general unabashed love for looking at things that are broken and going 'that's interesting' and then moving on from there is much the same!
Can't give Clive all the credit through - AvE has had a similar effect (and is totally worth looking at if you like Clives content).
Angry? He sounds like the most laid back guy in the world!
Or do you mean the French he occasionally drops in? ;-)
I've never once heard Ave sound angry. The focus thing is a joke related to getting a new camera, I believe. Previous camera had virtually no delay in changing focus. The focus joke is even on t-shirts. Not sure how you could have watched Ave very long and missed the "focus you fack" joke and it's origins.
***** Best not watch Father Ted then, liberal use of 'feck' will have you crawling the walls.
Focus you FACK is a crowdpleasing turn of phrase that came about (as Bill above points out) after he got a shiny new camera and it's AF system was horrible. Although him using a graph-paper style workplace mat probably doesn't help with that - AF systems go off contrast for the most part, and that really won't be helpeding with foreground focus.
I suspect AvE *knows* this...;)
"The only difference with RUclips is that there's an iPad recording me."
There you have it, Big Clive talks to invisible friends while he's working, but sometimes he records it.
I do actually occasionally talk to myself while I'm working at the bench. But when video is recording I talk as if you guys are here with me.
bigclivedotcom Heck I talk to myself constantly when I'm working. Out loud. Weird looks are par for the course for me.
An older colleague at work constantly talks to himself, when he needs to concentrate, while another remains silent. It is weird for like a day, but if you listen to him rambling about, you get a feeling for the pace and structure he does his work in.
It's like a retirement castle. ;)
I'm electronically inept but I'm utterly obsessed with watching your videos, have been for the past year or so. I occasionally just flick through your older videos just to listen to the things you have to say, even if it's about a subject I have absolute zero knowledge of.
Klye™ You should have a go at flicking Clives bean. His magical sparkly eruptions are quite lively.
Vallen Larsen I'll put it on the list.
he's a very knowledgeable man and his voice is very soothing late at night lol
Glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks this.
I want him to come over and read me bedtime stories.
+Chris Northcott so glad you didn't mix up that last sentence, it was very nearly homo-erotic :)
I wish I had the same influences, however I just took stuff apart and got in trouble for it. My problem was that once the mysteries had been revealed I lost interest. LOL
I really enjoy learning from these videos because they really do tend to be great fun, mostly I think because Clive's true joy with the stuff chimes through and catches those who feel the same.
Happiest of New Years, Clive!
-and indeed to everyone on the channel!
It's cool that you took things to bits as a child, I also took many things to bits only I could never remember or figure out how they go back together so they stayed in bits and the electronics got added to my granddads parts collection in his shed where we spent many days messing around. I wish I could remember even a little about what he taught me but electronics are now a complete mystery which is why I love watching your videos, it helps me remember the good times. Thanks.
A Quick tip here: I've seen a few of your vids where you try to pry open ultrasonic welded plastic casing using brute force.
A better way to do that is to apply a few drops petrol or cellosolve (which I use) in the slits and then to wait 30 seconds. It melts away a tiny bit of plastic and then you can effortlessly open the casing.
I think apprenticeships are the way it should be. I got my start in architecture through an internship and now they are doing away with the program here in the US. They are now forcing everyone to go to an expensive college and get a piece of paper, then when you enter the workforce you have to unlearn 90% of what they had taught you. I'm not against college but certain professions can benefit much more from internships. For my field, I'd get fresh out of college people hired on and they didn't have the slightest clue how a real life building went together.
First off, decent video, 10 out of 10 for the background commentary's, Question and answer period, and the great project. I have put 5 of those LEDs ( 10 mm size ) on a prototype board, with 2 AAs and a wack of cotton on the top to diffuse them. I call it " The Angry Psychedelic Cloud" I have it in the bathroom ( loo?) on a shelf in the Medicine Cabinet , or Hangover Relief Shelf as I see it. It looks pretty decent and does get the odd comment from guests. Thanks for the most informative and entertaining videos on the RUclips. Don't stop. P.S. Get your brother on as a sit in guest.... Don't give him a stick to hit you with tho...
Bless your mum! More kids need people who believe in them like that! You're testament to what investing in a kid's interests and encouraging them can lead to! 👍❤️
My goodness that was the fastest 35 minute video I think I've ever watched. Loved it, Clive.
Doctor: "Sorry, Mrs. Green... You've had a very large baby. Your butt won't work any more." I like your casual comments PLUS the Gay Daleks. What a hoot!
Your electronics career was kickstarted the same way as mine.
When I was 5 my father showed me a 6v lantern battery and an assortment of 12v auto bulbs.
After being warned about shorting the terminals, It was my job to test them lol.
I have now just ordered the Big clive pro rgb controller and wonder what my 5 year old self would have thought about that nice piece of kit. Keep up the amazing work!
This is the kind grandfather telling stories by the fire on a snowy Saturday night that I never had.
"Yeah, I discovered play-dough to keep my lamps in place while I worked on them when I was 3. Also motors, and components..."
Thanks. You showed me up.
I'm 30 and hadn't thought of that. *You had no RUclips.*
Once I could read, my mother would walk into town with me (about a mile) and once we did the shopping we'd go into WHS and I'd get another ladybird book. Once I was allowed to choose my book, I started out with "Magnets, Bulbs and Batteries" and worked through the 'Junior Science' series "Levers, Pulleys and Engines" and "Air, Wind and Flight" ... I never got to "Light Mirrors and Lenses" which was the last of the 4-book set.
My father helped by bringing home bags of electric motors and lenses, once a parabolic mirror from a scrapped UV spectrometer, with a few batteries, wire, bulbs, lego, plasticine, and imagination I built many marvellous things.
Somehow the lego motor units and light bricks weren't as exciting.
Clive, I've been fortunate enough to have traveled from the US and worked all over the world for my TECH job. As well I became acquainted with and partied with many Europeans. They were and are some of my best life memories. So I understand when you say Europe is your home and you couldn't see yourself living in America. Still nun the less, anyone I know here would be proud to call you a neighbor.
I worked in a foundry as an iron pourer for a while (we made disk brake rotors for large vehicles). You are so right about huge arc furnaces.
BigClive: First and foremost, I have to say how much I enjoy your channel! You and Sophie Madeleine are two of the best things to ever come from across the pond. You are magnetic, or perhaps electromagnetic. I think I have seen most everything you have posted over just a few sleepless nights. I couldn't stop! // I particularly like your narratives that give a little insight into your personality, background, and education. You are obviously brilliant when it comes to electronics (and I suspect when it comes to life in general, as well). Have you ever been a teacher, or thought about it? You have the ability to hold a student's attention and keep him interested in your subject. That is a rare and precious talent. And we need more good teachers. (Said from someone who had only one semester of electric shop in junior high school, and I never could get my crystal radio or one tube radio to work...)
While in Glasgow I worked as a guest lecturer at the GSA (Glasgow School of Art), helping the design students with their projects.
The LEDs, while washed out directly in the video, are prominent on the side of your hand.
Love the project!
You mentioned working for Cummins. I used to work as a gardener for the family who were once the CEOs. I worked for the Millers, who were the direct descendants of JI Irwin who funded his chauffeur ,Clancy Cummins with his diesel engine design.
I was employeed at Irwin Gardens, the estate the Irwins built in 1910 somewhat copied after Italian designs and inspired by a trip to Pompeii.
Cummins is still located in Columbus Indiana, but control has shifted and the Miller's are no longer really involved. The elder Mr Miller passed away in 2006 I believe only 2 years after I had started working at the gardens.
In 2008/2009 the family sold the estate and we lost our jobs. Later it was turned into a spa/bed breakfast resort of types.
I just found it interesting that I somehow connected to you since I found your videos via an Ashen vid. I enjoy doing my work around our massive old home and gardens.
I have a friend in Littlehampton who visited and who dabbles in electrician duties, and he was surprised and amazed to find pre WW2 wiring still abiding in our walls.
Anyhow, thanks for reading. I was plastering a wall when you mentioned Cummins and wanted to say something.
cheers.
I meant to type I enjoy LiStening to your videos whilst doing my work..
I am a part time acoustic musician.Winter doesn't present as many gigs as I usually play wineries and patio areas ect. I mainly take care of our home and our boys. 2 grown and 3 to go.
ah well you didn't ask for my fecking biography.
Your mam sounds amazing. Glad you have a good one. I had a good Dad. He died very young, but I was an only child and he always believed in me.
cheers again Clive. back to work for me.
ps you'd live our house. its cold,up on a hill and in the middle of nowhere
My father was a service engineer and used to bring back defunct parts of photocopiers and later microfilm machines for me to dismantle - I think it led to a lifelong desire to know how absolutely everything I see works 😊
RGB LED, soldering and Q&A ! Definitely one of my favourite Clive's video of 2016 .
Clive, a huge thank you!
This was just what I needed tonight after today's events. I took my father for his test results which weren't good - terminal pancreatic cancer 😟 Your Q&A with the therapeutic soldering and lovely RGB LEDs took me to another place that was truly wonderful.
Thank you and best wishes,
Mark
P. S. The light at the end of the tunnel may only be 35 LEDs but they made all the difference to me 🌈
+snowwotnosnow your comment gave me tears in my eyes
One of your best, this one, Clive.
What an interesting life you're having!
As for me. Well, after a lot of aptitude tests, I was offered an engineering trainee scholarship by the CEGB to UMIST when I left school, but I'd also been offered a place at Leeds Medical School. I took medicine, mainly because I figured I could do electrical engineering and electronics as a hobby. Couldn't really do medicine as a hobby, would probably have been locked up! I was very lucky my mum took my side at home. My dad worked down the pit, as had the men of the family for many generations past. My dad wanted me to work at the pit too, but my mum stood up for me. I'm glad she did.... Maggie Thatcher came along right at the time I would have started at the mine. Dodged a bullet there!
;-)
So, my day job is as a Doctor. When I get home, it's drones, Radio (I'm a ham), tree felling for our winter firewood, digging holes with the excavator (and filling them in again). and hunting rabbits on our 23 acre property here in Tasmania. I've a family I love, and consider myself one of the luckiest people I know. It takes work too though, to be lucky, especially in relationships.
Have a great Hogmanay!
Chris.
For starters, Clive, you're wonderful and I appreciate all the time you spend on RUclips. Whether or not it's financially lucrative, I don't think you have to worry much about losing your audience. The fact that you have a life outside RUclips is inseparable from what makes the channel great, which is that it's the collected ramblings of someone who actually goes and gets shit done.
As for Brexit, yeah, suffice it to say that it disappoints me that it's hardly possible to talk about whether the EU is just a fundamentally bad design, without getting tarred with that xenophobia brush.
And as for Germans, yeah, they're an interesting bunch. It's really just a case of mannerisms, I think. Of course they're good folks the same as anyone else, but a little something gets lost in translation and they can come off as incredibly blunt. Or as an English friend of mine says lovingly, when someone in a technical discussion seems really combative, "you might think somebody is an asshole, but it may turn out they're just German."
What a great format, Clive. I think you've hit upon a real winner when it comes to entertaining AND educating your viewers! I had to chuckle a few times as your stories brought back memories of me tearing apart (taking to bits) old radios and flashlights as a little kid. Also brought back great memories of my mom. Keep it up!! 8^)
That is awesome Clive, my grandmother had an old Electrolux vacuum and it was my favorite vacuum. I never took it apart though. I do remember taking apart some electronics like a transistor radio and wondering what all the components were for and how they worked.
Serious greetings from Seriousland "Germany"! :D
Kyôdai Ken Für jemand ernstes sieht Ihr Profilbild etwas zu verträumt aus.
L3 P3 Stereoypes... But I can laugh about them. :D
Einen schönen Nachmittag, noch.
A serious nation for sure, but you can watch reruns of Hogan's Heroes until you crack a smile.
I know nothing! -Sgt. Schultz
"School gives you the best days in your life, and it certainly gave two of mine...
...the day I left and the day after, when I realized I didn't have to go back."
I really enjoyed hearing about your history during the making of this glowy rectangle
great ramblings on the q&a even though i'm a Brummie i did a lot of work up north and to hear you talk about the Clydesdale plant great memories thanks for the reminder.
I too started pulling things apart around age 3. It took several years for me to learn to put things back together.
When it comes to the American English vs English English thing, as an American I really wish we'd just bite the bullet and switch to the Metric System. I appreciate all the more the effort you put in to giving us those measurements as well. Thanks!
No u r wrong inches are better 12 is better than 10 . also inches give measurments in proportion, try visualing 9.7 mm or 10.9mm asopposed to 1 and a quarter or 1 and 9 16ths. also visualisations in3d come out better in jnches ie pleasing to the senses.
We switched to the Metric System in 1964. You must have missed the memo. But we still use Customary Units a lot. You really can use whatever you like. It is a free country after all.
I love that the longer you run this, the more interesting it gets.
I love these long rambling videos, would you consider doing more of them Clive? Where you sit down and talk about random things for a little while, whilst working on something, not too often of course since it's a lot of work.
Do you remember your first electrical shock?
Mine was after watching my father and an electrician test outlets using a testing screwdriver. When they left the room I picked up a regular screwdriver and put it into an outlet. A scream followed. When my father ran back in I looked at him, pointed to the outlet and said "Bite you!"
Clive you should work where I work. there's always someone's work that goes bang just as you're about to power up and test your own work :p Fuckin' Huge ass bus caps exploding usually. Never get used to it :p
It's that "feeling" you get as you power up a high current/voltage electronic ballast, drive or power supply.
Yes, I repair (or at least attempt to repair) all of these on a daily basis. It's that dreaded moment you are about to apply power where you squint your eyes and hope it doesn't blow up in your face.
Great Q & A Clive. An interesting life, by all accounts.
Keep your fingers out of live control boxes, and it may be a long one too. ;o)
Happy new year, and thanks for the excellent videos.
A long control box, or a long set of fingers?
I made something similar(ish) to this for my friend's birthday with WS2812B LEDs. Diffusing the light with translucent/white opal plastic gives a really nice effect
Great Reflections! Thanks for having us along. Thanks to the subscribers and viewers for their 3volts.
Thank you, Clive. I've really enjoyed this video.
As well as being heftily educational, there is something so soporific and about Clive's videos.
hahahaha clive when i was around 3 years old i would take apart my toys after i got bored with them and look around. i remember i loved to squish ceramic capacitors with my screw driver for a powdery surprise. my mom did the same thing but with a AA battery and a 120V pygmy lamp... it didnt light but that only fuelled my curiosity.
i guess we're all born to do electronics.
I have a theory that like bee hives have bees with different functions and ant colonies have ants with different functions, the human race has a type of human specifically for designing, building and maintaining our society. The engineers. Always destined for a life of technology and often with no "breeding" function.
+bigclivedotcom well said ! You're 'no breeding-function' is SO TRUE
With GreatScott around, I reckon you'd still have people watching. When a better channel has come around I tend to keep watching both channels.
hehe, i was the 'nopants' question, thanks for answering!
I have got a set of Christmas decoration lights in my window, which use these sort of self-colour-changing LEDs. They go out of sync fairly quickly, producing a nice hypnotic effect .....
Instead of red silk, gaps in the black resist may have worked better
The red silk works pretty well. In hindsight, the back was supposed to be a white silk, but ended up with the red too. I've never really considered the idea of leaving gaps in the resist. I'd be too scared I got something completely weird back from China.
Mike you legend, loved the last camera vid, has been a saga already.
Will fit in great with the teardown list (it's like an insomniacs Twilightzone, in a nice way).
Clive, liked this format.
How about a monthly thing, you build a random object whilst answering questions? (opposite of a teardown, maybe start building and reviewing kits along the way?)
I understood that the cheap chinese factories that are actually affordable to mere mortals at low volumes are notorious for having problems with layer alignment, as well as having tendencies to round up or down trace widths... causing things like tracks shorting to ground by running through tight gaps in the ground plane. I would be hesitant to try something fancy like that.
These Q&A videos while working on a project are great! Definitely looking forward to more of them!
As long as you continue to put out quality content (as you have been), we'll continue watching. 🙂
I'm really digging that PCB Clive. I think it would be way cool to have a larger panel hanging on the wall of my home. It is interesting to see ho over time the LEDs get out of synch. Thank's for the video.
I took a bedside table lamp to bits in bed one night when i was about twelve years old, it was plugged in and switched on of course, do you know what? i got it down to the bayonet holder before it bit me, shit that taught me a lesson. When i left school i became an electrician in the naval base at chatham, like you i had a brilliant time, i've retired now and i fiddle around with dcc trains. I would be keen to get your spin on soldering with this solder glue that they sell as an alternative to using an iron. I'm doing n scale so i'm using smd micro components and i wondered if glueing them would be easier? Interesting video, its always nice to hear someone else's background and there stories.
Cheers Phil
I was one of those lucky kids who was given broken appliances to take apart. Vacuum cleaners, washing machines, dish washers, lawn mowers. Radios, etc. First thing I successfully fixed was a 1959 Philco Television. It worked better than the one our family had so I had to put it in the living room, and then fixed the other TV for my room. Only 6 year old I knew with a console TV in their bedroom.
What you were saying about school rang so true for me, I hated it too. It bored me, I just couldn't be bothered having to sit in a classroom and listen to the teacher. I would have much rather been doing something constructive. I did manage to leave school early at 15 to go to college to do motor vehicle engineering. I had to get permission from school which wasn't a problem, don't get me wrong I wasn't a disruptive pupil I wasn't there often enough to be one!! I remember the Safeway at Giffnock, it became Whole foods market after Morrisons moved. That didn't last long it's now a Lidl. My thoughts on school are best summed up by This, I went the first day fine but when my mum woke me up to go the next day I Just said, "What again?!!"
We like you too, Clive!
If it were me I would have to put all the resistors the same way round !
UKHeliBob You have some german roots!
same I always put my resistors the same way
pufferfish0101 why? ? So the electrons won't fall out?? hahaha 😂 😂 😂
As a newbie I like to put them in the same way round especially if they are maked on the board, that way if I have to look at it again it's easier to read.
I would do the same, since ocd is like Christianity; don't like things that aren't f'ing straight (settle down, that is a joke. Away with your torches, shoo. We have electricity).
Enjoy your vids Clive.
I was pretty much like you as far as school and work. I hated school and almost dropped out in my Junior year. As I found out I had enough credits to graduate mid term in my senior year,I dumped almost all my classes and went to work. I got into a grunt type job that in the end didnt work out so got into the auto manufacturing parts job. It was great money and full time. After four years though I had enough and moved on. I had the opportunity to get into HIVAC repair but didnt for some dumb reason. I guess it all worked out in the end though. I do electronics as strictly a hobby and got into it because of my dad. My bedroom was his workshop. He would work on Tandy kits in his shop and loved to bring home electronics and putz around with them. When I got sent to my room,it was great! Lots of neon tubes,nixitubes and everything else. Yup fun times.
although youtube may not be viable finacially if ad revenue changes i dont think you have to worry about someone coming by who will replace you on youtube, i think you are seriously undervaluing just how entertaining you are, you speak in laymans terms, you are very laid back, and you tinkers with things in the way we at home who lack the skills would do if we had the skills.
exploding the caps on that transformer thingy, making prety colors with led's, testing cheap chinese products that could kill you and making gay daleks. i dont think realisticly anyone could come close to providing the same mix of funny, informative, entertaining and all around interesting that you bring to your videos. and as if all that isnt enough, there is also the fact that you clearly care about what you upload, you arent just in it for the money, you care aboutuploading quality material and it shows.
anyway great video as always, i recently got a cheap soldering iron for christmas and watching this gave me a few ideas to do as my first project, cant wait for your next video i look forward to seeing it =D
Great project Cliff and love the answers to the questions. You had a great apprenticeship location to start from.
It might be interesting to add some sort of diffuse plastic over the top so you can get that plasma type effect as they blend.
I love that light board ! That is such a cool effect with them working their way out of sync, chuck it in a picture frame and send it to me BC. As always, a joy to watch and listen to chief, and I'm Scottish and have no ginger in my big Clive beard, all brown and grey :(
3 years old.. I don't remember those times very well but I'm told I used to tear apart every mechanical toy I got :) I do remember my dad bringing me stuff like old tube radios to tear apart, I must have been 4-5 yrs old then :-)
Thanks for taking the time to do another DIY project.I doubt I was the only one who asked but I still wanted to say thanks.
Also I really appreciate you putting the schematics out for free and I'll be sure to send some coffee money your way when I D/L them. I've got a idea already planned for my daughters room and that board is going to make things look perfect.
Last but least is I've used Olimex for boards in the past and they're in the EU.It might be easier dealing with them if you decide to make another batch.
I also forgot to mention that my 3 year old daughter managed to take stuff to bits with a ratchet simply by watching me.I was changing a headlight in the car and let her hold the ratchet with a 10mm on it and before I realized it she managed to remove 3 bolts.I honestly thought she was playing,but by the time I pulled my arm out from swapping the light I realized she'd figured it out for real lol..So yes that vacuum story is totally plausible although you may have had a little bit of help as I've done the same with my daughter. ;-) If I remember I'll send you a pic of her helping me build her doll cradle at about the same age :-)
Outstanding video! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and your past life on how you got into electronics. While I've never been to Britain, my parents have when they took a European Vacation (not with the Griswolds though!) They went on the London Eye.
I absolutely LOVE what you made in this video. I gotta make one or two or three!
My mothers favourite story is catching me at the back of a tv, screwdriver in hand as a toddler lol
WeirdScienceX In he kitchen on top of a shelf with a wooden spooon and a mixing bowl. I turned out a baker.
This is such a simple but great effect.
Greetings from Germany! And, yes we are sometimes very serious about things. Great Videos. Thumbs up!
Hey Clive! Coming from near Düsseldorf actually. Don't be scared - wir sind gelegentlich auch sehr nett. :). Keep going. Your videos are my favorite past time.
They had the xmas wired version of these leds at bandq in a string of 140 or so for £20 or so. Sadly I missed them, but they do look lovely. The little globes are about 15mm dia. So pretty!
I took the colour TV apart as a kid and I got it back together but crossed the blue and the green wires that linked to three separate driver boards by single pin plugs. The TVs in those days were so murky you could hardly tell, it just looked a bit "odd" for weeks - until the snooker came on, and then I twigged.
Great video, like always! And btw, about the youtube and if there'd be another channel that would take your audience: it isn't the content only, it's the person behind of it. Like I was never too big on, well, anything to do with electricity, yet here I am. You've taught me not to be "scared" of electricity, but to respect it. I watch your videos because I like your way of teaching while doing. Plus you've got an awesome sense of humor (very weird thing for a Scot to have.. /s)!
My first "experience" with electronics was when I was very young also. According to my parents, I figured out how to open up the back of the black&white console TV and removed all the tubes. And I managed to do it without getting shocked by the flyback. Considering the number of times that I've been hit by a flyback since then, I have to think that I must have lost some skill/knowledge/luck over the years.
Hahaha. I remember taking apart my fisher price tape recorder when I was 4-5, and then the TV maybe a year or two later :)
Interesting. I was a taker to bits child as well, knew how to wire a plug by 4, parents bought me electronic sets from 5 onwards, my older brother studied electronic engineering at college and I remember I used to copy all his notes. Funnily enough I ended up going into a career in software (such was the power and influence of the zx spectrum) :P I've only revived my interest in electronics in the last 5 years or so
.
Glad you're not afraid of Germans. When I was sent to Coventry (pun intended) to study I learned that people between 20 and 30 and above 50 rarely had an issue with Germans. But those in between, oh boy. It sure didn't help being in Coventry during the 60th anniversary of the Coventry Blitz. At that time all Germans claimed to be Austrians. Strangely, most people didn't take any offense in that.
I really did enjoy my study in Coventry and having a beer and burger with a patty that is grilled beyond recognition.
When you said “dot matrix” it gave me flashbacks of my old dot matrix printers...... wait 10 mins for something to print out only for the f*cking paper to screw up or you would get a buffering error 🤬
I also remember trying to wind the ribbon back to the start to try and get some more out of it.
Phew, I'm sure glad about the pants!
I am currently making something like this as a nightlight for my daughter. I am spacing the leds further apart and placing a diffused screen in front to get a slight mixing of the colors. I am hoping that as they get further out of sync it will make for an interesting effect.
I think the electric shock answer covered my question nicely (think it was something like "What's the biggest electrical mistake you're willing to admit to", or along those lines!)... :P
Nice little light that, would be fun seeing it done with an LED lamp with the vertical PCBs (like the early LED bulbs where they were plastered with hundreds of 5mm LEDs), would be an interesting effect... :)
Brilliant Clive. I admire your work ethic.
Clive, touch the tip of your right hand's middle finger to the palm of your hand, secure your finger in that position with tape, when you wake up tomorrow 'stretched' skin will have formed over your raw knuckle -- I have always done this if I skinned my knuckles, otherwise it will take forever to heal.
A scab forms first and later the skin -- but a scab will keep cracking open every time you stretch it.
Mick Kennedy I use super glue on those types of injurys now. It really holds the skin together and no splits. I learned it from all places,the drs. office. I thought he was going to use stitches on my knuckle after cutting it open but nope,he used a medical grade superglue,then told me regular over the counter stuff works just as well. He even told me if it didnt hold,to reglue it myself.
Yes, I've used superglue too --- did you know that a scab is formed of sugar, that's why some kids eat them.
Ya know, that panel would be wicked evil to put in an eye doctor's office as a color-blindness test. "Is that a seven? No, it's a pound sign... maybe a doubleyou?"
I wonder how Clive feels about some of the things now that a couple years and change have gone by. As the time has gone by, his content has occupied my screen increasingly often
You'd be fine in America... especially with a guide (it's a big place). I started out as the earnest, if humble, kid of a postman and a small business bookkeeper. After 20 years of stops at both Bell Labs and Istel, I ended up in the Cotswolds. Obviously your mileage may vary, but you'd do just fine. Merry Christmas and Sláinte!
Let's see....Bell Labs and Istel...Cotswolds...Malmesbury perchance?
Bigclive.com is the bob ross of electical bits.
I noticed a new streetlamp xmas light this week. it was an elongated triangle, with a wave illumination motion, over many leds, moving top to bottom. It's in 3 types, white only, 2 colours split top to bottom, but the 3rd version does a wave over a multicolour pane. I don't think they're pixel lights, but possibly RGB lights being kept at fixed colour gradations and the illumination wave superimposed over the fixed colour gradation. I haven't seen many about, and haven't manage to ID the make/model online so far.
Always interesting to hear a reference to Caithness from people who aren't me. Proper 'interesting' part of the world, that.
Like Royston Vasey (of League Of Gentlemen fame) with slightly softer scottish accents...
He said pretty good at what i do. i would change that. Very good at what YOU do.
Much respect for you sir ! You had to prove your metal so to speak. it seems you did just that.
I've ordered a bunch of these slow colour changing LEDs and one of those kit lamps you were using a couple of videos ago. Might be a nice combination :)
As a postie - sorry mate.
Our competition can undercut us and then use us through downstream access to deliver the parcel they undercut us for at a huge government enforced discount. Unfortunately, we had to put our prices up to make a profit on our own services.
On the bright side, at least you know your parcel isn't going to get left on your doorstep or some random spot somewhere roughly in your neighbourhood.
The problem lies within the government and outdated pension-heavy management of the postal system.
The government did actually bail Royal Mail out of the pension deficit ...but they blew it on shit instead lol.
The management is the problem imo, we (the posties) just wanna deliver shit and bugger off home on time. =)
mickenoss yes, wherever I have lived our posties have been great and done over and above their job to help (like spotting when one of us was on nightshift and not knocking but going straight to a neighbour with parcels, and even a couple of things they have got ino real trouble for, just to help the customer). Ive nothing. but praise for the British postie!.
Thanks man, it's nice to be appreciated. =)
My life all over. I used to take stuff to bits as a kid. I microwaved my mums favourite musical box, sparks all over and the spring unwound with epic noise. Stuck my finger in the fridge light socket with tingly never-did-it-again results, destroyed my sisters air-fed reed organ by poking wires on the motor and blowing a fuse (old domino type of course) and the motor going with a bang, took my bontempi orgaan apart and made a robot out of a box with the bits and god knows how but got an LED to light on it with a 9v battery with no knowledge of using resistors (or any idea they existed lol). All this and more before I was 10. Then made my first 4bit binary counter at comprehensive school with yellow LEDs and my first experience of 555 timer and 74xx chips :) then did a 2 year youth training scheme in Basic, Intermediate and Advanced Electronics and Microprocessing at 16yrs, I loved programming a PLC for basic traffic light control. Made a few things there, like Astables, monostables, signal generators, variable power supplies, audio filters/amplifiers and my favourite, 4 channel disco light sequencer. Always with standard 74xx or 40xx chips, transistors, resistors and capacitors. None of that namby pamby cheaty pic controllers back then lol all done the real mans fun-to-learn way and we got to design, develop and etch our own PCBs with a proper UV thing and all the chemicals. There was a little room to one side with a PCB etching/developer tank in the corner, lots of stinky yellow nasty acid lol :)
great, look forward to more Q&a, same story, take things apart as a kid, do an apprenticeship, mine was with BT, go back ? in a heart beat!
that might make me sound old and reminiscing, wrong side of 45 right side of 50, hope that clears up anyone thinking I'm a valve man lol
OK, here's something that I should've asked before. In all the years that you've been doing all this hard work have you ever injured yourself in a non-electrically related way? I'm wondering more specifically about herniated disc's, or torn ligaments that sort of thing.
Mainly back damage due to old and badly designed equipment, but also a significant ankle injury when I was dragged into a cable duct by a steel cover plate.
Glad to hear you like some of the way of life here in the good old US of A. Speaking of the Germans and their way of life, that seems to have had quite an impact on us over here as well. You see, many of us trace our liniage back to Germany. Myself, for instance, Dad was a full Swed, mom half German and a mix of French and some other questionable background with some Native American blood. Where I grew up, just north of our farm by about fifteen miles lay New Lipzig a small town made up of nearly all Germans from Russia. To our South, the city of Lemmon, a nice mixture of backgrounds formed by a famous cowboy, on land given him by the Rail Road since he was their bison hunter, and fed the crews that brought the rails across the nation. That town, where I live in the summer months is mostly Scandanavian and German descent, with a couple native Americans, and one black man, and perhaps 2 or 3 hispanics.
This kind of assembly frame also gets used in wave soldering. They pop 8 or 10 boards in and then let them go through the soldering machine. (Without the foam cover of course)
Fascinating conversation, nice spending that time!
come on over to America bud, we would love to have you!
We're trying to cut back on immigrants these days. I mean nothing personal, but we're just about all full up now.
Thanks for the entertaining video. It's always interesting to hear what journey through life folks have taken.
That little board of color is really nifty Clive!! Happy New Year!