"I am driven by two main philosophies, know more today about the world than I knew yesterday. And lessen the suffering of others. You'd be surprised how far that gets you"
Here’s a handy DIY Crimp Tool Holder brings more mechanical advantage to your inexpensive off-the-shelf handheld crimp tool — great for short production runs and interactive artwork installs that begin to get a little bit wire happy. Or if you were to break the arms off your crimpers! Via Oomlout:
We were getting frustrated with slow crimping. While not doing enough volume to warrant an automatic machine we augmented our hand crimps to make the job a little bit easier.
Simply grab a cheap pair of of the shelf hand crimps (we used these) cut the bits out and bolt together. You’ll be effortlessly crimping in no time.
Digital Genuine Hakko FX-888D (936 upgrade) – FX-888D: This iron is the last one your father will need for decades. Heats up in 30 seconds, with a calibrated temperature control knob gives precision heat to minimize cold solder joints. Once he knows he is on the path of electronics, this is the iron he’ll want beside him on his desk. (read more)
A few more treats for his electronics workstation…
Your friend gave her father a wallet, you gave yours a Faraday cage that fits in his pocket
Stainless Steel RFID Blocking Wallet: A reinterpretation of the average wallet for those who do not settle for the everyday but delight in the extra-ordinary. This is Stewart/Stand’s original bill fold design with crossing card slots. We picked one of these up a few years ago and still carry it every day, its incredibly rugged and good looking! (read more)
Remind him how he introduced you to the wonders of science
USB Microscope – 5.0 Megapixel / 220x magnification / 8 LEDs: We tried a bunch of different USB microscopes and found this one to be the best combination of optical clarity, usability, and price. It’s perfect for electronics hacking, rework, SMT (de)soldering, inspection, and soon you’ll find yourself pulling it out to look and photograph all sort of cool small stuff around your lab and home. (read more)
Check out our other USB microscopes and accessories…
Your father already has everything he needs for his computer at work, home, and in his car — here’s what he needs for the computer in his coat pocket
Raspberry Pi starter pack (Does not include Raspberry Pi): You want your Dad to get hacking with his Raspberry Pi fast, right? Get him everything he needs with the Adafruit Starter Pack for Raspberry Pi. It’s the perfect accompaniment to his new Pi. Everything he needs to get a distro image loaded and running. (read more)
Fuel his latest creation with exactly the components he needs (without peeking in his lab notebook)
$50 Gift certificate: Make sure to include your father’s name, email address, and any message you’d like to share with him in the “comments” box at checkout! (read more)
Mix-and-match gift certificate values for amount you’d like to give…
Father’s Day is Sunday, June 16th 2013! We are pleased to announce our annual Adafruit’s Father’s day sale: 10% off everything in stock. Give Dad the gift of electronics and pick up a soldering iron, accessories for building things or if you just want to get him a gift certificate, we have those as well. The 10% cannot be combined with other discounts. To get the discount use the code “fathersday2013” on check out in the discount code area. Limit 1 use per customer. Code expires June 16th at 11:59PM ET.
NEW PRODUCT – Autoranging Digital Multimeter Pen – MS8211D – Chances are you spent time today poking into a circuit with two hands and then craning your neck over looking over at a multimeter display, which causes you to slip and lose your spot. OK well at least we had to do that, and that’s when we decided it was time to pick up one of these pen-style digital multimeters. It’s small and light but has a full featured multimeter inside. The ground probe is actually a wired clamp (it has a nice sharp tip or you can grab onto a ground wire). So you can just poke around with one hand and see the values instantly.
Comes in a nice padded case and has a nifty retractable tip so you won’t accidentally stab something in your toolkit. Powered by 2 x AAA batteries, included.
Technical Details:
DC Voltage Range 200mV/2V/20V/200V/600V: ±(0.7%)
AC Voltage Range 200mV/2V/20V/200V: ±(0.8%)
AC Voltage Range 600V: ±(1.0%)
DC Current Range 20mA/200mA: ±(1.5%)
AC Current Range 20mA/200mA: ±(2.0%)
Resistance Range 200Ω: ±(1.0%)
Resistance Range 2kΩ/20KΩ/200KΩ/2MΩ: ±(1.0%)
Resistance Range 20MΩ: ±(1.0%)
Display Counts: 2000
Auto Ranging
Manual Ranging
Logic Level Test >3.5V is High Level <3.5V is Low Level
Auto Power Off
Diode Range: 2.7V
Continuity Buzzer <50Ω
Maximum Value Hold
Data Hold
Retractable Tip for Safe Storage
Power Supply: 2 x 1.5AAA Batteries
Product Size: 208mm / 8.2″ x 38mm / 1/5″ x 29mm / 1.1″
NEW PRODUCT – SMD Component Testing Tweezers – These tweezers are perfect for anyone who does a lot of work with SMD components (and hey, who isn’t these days?) Use these instead of squinting and trying to use clumsy multimeter probes to detect an LED’s color, polarity or resistor/cap value! The multimeter ‘probes’ are the two tips of a tweezer-shaped multimeter. Simply ‘grab’ a resistor, capacitor, diode or LED to test. It has a “scanning” mode where it will try to guess what type of component you have, or you can select the component type with the Function button and it will auto-range for you.
We find these ideal for checking unmarked-SMD values, and LED polarity/colors: there’s one on every production desk! Comes in a nice clear hard case with a CR2032 battery and an extra set of tips. These are a great investment for any E.E.
Technical Details:
Max Dimensions: 32mm / 1.25″ x 175mm / 6.9″ x 20mm / 0.79″
Weight: 46g
Multimeter specifications:
Auto Scanning (detects component type), Auto ranging & Manual ranging
This is an Arduino porting of the excellent work by Markus Frejek. The final aim is to create an economic component tester using Arduino and a few passive components;
NEW PRODUCT – TV Microscope – 25x & 400x magnification / 8 LEDs – As electronics get smaller and smaller, you’ll need a hand examining PCBs and this little TV-output microscope is the perfect tool. It’s smaller and lighter than a large optical microscope but packs quite a bit of power in its little body. There’s a 1.3 megapixel sensor inside and an optical magnifier that can adjust to about 25x (for basic PCB inspection) or 400x (for detailed inspection). Eight white LEDs are angled right onto whatever you’re examining so you get enough lighting to see, and are smoothly adjustable via a dial on the side.
Compared to our popular USB microscope cameras, this one does not plug into a computer. Instead, there’s a composite video output. Connect it to any TV (including our lovely little displays) and the magnified output will appear in 4:3 aspect ratio. There’s a button on the side, when pressed, it will “freeze-frame” what is currently on the screen. Press again to release the freeze.
We tried a bunch of different AV microscopes and found this one to be the best combination of optical clarity, usability, and price. Because no computer is involved, it is near-instant responsive and much better for rework or soldering-while-inspecting. These microscopes are great for all electronics hacking, rework, SMT (de)soldering, inspection, and soon you’ll find yourself pulling it out to look at all sort of cool small stuff around your lab and home.
To demonstrate it, we show the microscope above with our articulated microscope stand and a 7″ TV, the TV is not included (but we have them in the shop and they’re great additions).
NEW PRODUCT – DSO Nano v3 – Pocket-size color digital oscilloscope. This cute pocket oscilloscope is a perfect companion to your tool box. For beginners, its a good starter scope – it is not as complicated as a benchtop scope so its easy to use. For advanced EE’s, its useful as a scope-on-the-go, for field-debugging, when you don’t want to drag your scope over, or when a floating-ground is needed (it will naturally do ‘differential’ measurements as long as its not plugged into a computer USB port). It’s not a terribly fast scope, best used for signals up to 100KHz, and it is only a single channel, but we still find uses for it all the time, especially with analog projects! The new version 3.0 has a nice fully-metal case for increased durability
Portable and lightweight, only 76 grams and 95mm x 62mm x 13mm
2.8″ 320×240 Color TFT display
Built in Lithium polymer battery, USB rechargeable
Waveform storage and playback to microSD card slot (microSD card is not included)
6 triggering modes
1 channel input, 200Khz Analog Bandwidth, 1 Mega-sample-per-second. Best for use on signals from DC to 100 KHz
Complete measurement markers and signal characteristic
Built-in Signal Generator
Comes complete with: 2 types of probes, one with hooks, one for plugging into a PCB, screwdriver, carrying bag, stand
A useful tool for covert and undercover operators, those that travel abroad in unstable countries, or anyone at risk of being held unlawfully.
The Titanium Escape Ring adds another tool to the operator’s E&E options for escaping captivity. It’s a simple but elegant-looking ring made of titanium, cut from solid barstock and polished to a mirror finish. But unlike all other rings, this one contains a saw and handcuff shim pick combination tool which is completely hidden from view when worn. Located on a finger, its always in the exact area needed to quickly access and deploy, even when handcuffed. The shim can be used to open single-locked handcuffs, while the saw can cut zip-ties, disposable handcuffs, duct tape, rope, and other non-metallic materials. This stainless steel tool is 2″ x 1/8″ x 1/64″, and its unusual flexibility allows it to curve around and be seated in the ring’s interior.
NEW PRODUCT – WiFi Portable Microscope – Usable With Android/iPad/iPhone – As electronics get smaller and smaller, you’ll need a hand examining PCBs and this little USB microscope is the perfect tool. Its smaller and lighter than a large optical microscope but packs quite a bit of power in its little body. There’s a high quality 640×480 camera sensor inside and an optical magnifier that can adjust from 5x (for basic PCB inspection) to 200x (for detailed inspection). Eight mini white LEDs are angled right onto whatever you’re examining so you get enough lighting to see, and are smoothly adjustable via a dial on the side.
Unlike our USB microscopes, this ‘scope is WiFi based. This means that instead of having a cable or wireless-usb-dongle type connection, there’s a WiFi access point inside the camera enclosure. When you turn it on, it will create a new hotspot just for the camera, so that any tablet or smartphone (such as an iPad/iPhone/Android/etc) can connect to the camera and view the microscope’s video output. This isn’t possible with a USB microscope as many tablets and phones don’t have a USB port and even if they did, there wouldn’t necessarily be drivers available for the camera.
Comes with the microscope, charging cable, CD with software and manual. A stand is not included, the photo above shows it with our articulated aluminum stand (which works great). While this camera is more expensive than a wired-variety, there’s nothing like it for when you want to view the output on a smartphone or tablet!
NEW PRODUCT – Hakko Soldering Tip: T18-D24 Screwdriver – For Lead or Lead-Free – Upgrade your Hakko with a new tip, you’ll get better & faster solder joints and the whole process will be much more enjoyable. This tip fits the FX-888 analog and digital irons, and they’re fast to swap, takes only 30 seconds to change out. All the tips are good for either lead or lead free (simply set the iron to the temperature required for the solder you are using).
This is a wide “Screwdriver” tip, great for thru-hole soldering or big SMT parts, especially big stuff you need to heat up fast or that have a heat-sink attached. It’s 150% wider than the tip that comes by default on the FX-888.
NEW PRODUCTS – Hakko Soldering Tips: T18-C2 Hoof, T18-S4 Fine SMD, T18-D16 Screwdriver – For Lead or Lead-Free Use – Upgrade your Hakko with a new tip, you’ll get better & faster solder joints and the whole process will be much more enjoyable. These tips fit the FX-888 analog and digital irons, and they’re fast to swap, takes only 30 seconds to change out. All the tips are good for either lead or lead free (simply set the iron to the temperature required for the solder you are using).
Printable catalog (PDF)
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