Breadboarded 74HCT7046 PLL very unstable

[Jon Kirwan]

The bag I have came from a ham fest. I did a little Googling without good
results for people selling them pre-packaged; apparently a lot of people do
just make their own using a cheap hand punch. See, e.g.,
http://www.piclist.com/techref/pcb/manhattan.htm


Do post if you find one...!

---Joel

Thanks, Joel. That web link and pictures there is wonderful!
I'm going to try this out, very soon. I need to see how it
goes, but it seems very practical.

Jon

 

[ehsjr]

That sounds useful. Where do you get them?

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Make your own when needed from pcb blanks. Steel wool/copper clean
the board first, then punch out what you need. Avoids tarnish.
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_SPM1722919701P?i_cntr=1293689526870

That tool - the Neiko hand held power punch - looks very close to
the Harbor Freight punch mentioned at the url Joel posted. (I have
the HF tool, but it's not in their catalog now.)

Ed

 

[Baron]

Michael A. Terrell Inscribed thus:

Vector made them.

That name means nothing to me. I do recall that mine originally came
from Radio Spares here in the UK and went by the description of "Do-nut
Drills". They came as a set of three in a small wood box. I vaguely
recall that they all had a 1mm drill and cut a 1mm wide track with 5,
6.5 and 8mm outer diameters.

I should still have them... that is if I can ever find them among all
the accumulated boxes of junk that seems to constantly breed and
inhabit the dark and dusty corners of the garage.

 

[Tim Williams]

Yeah, that does work well. A similar approach is to use little (~3/16"
or so diameter) circular "punch-outs" (chads) of copper-clad PCB
material... you
trade off the use of super glue (...careful not to glue your fingers
together...) for not needing a Dremel/drill-press setup (...careful not
to
drill into your fingers...); little baggies of such chads are available
commercially.

Buy them? Superglue? Doesn't that stuff melt easily?

I solder them on, after cutting a pile of 1/16" squares from a thin strip
of stock.
http://myweb.msoe.edu/williamstm/Images/AvalancheGen.jpg
You even see a strip from the avalanche transistor to the PFN connector
(top left BNC). Most visible is the +100V supply coming from the red
wire, top right, to the ceramic disk, 22k resistor and choke.

Tin the substrate board, then float the chit on top, it sucks right down
and becomes firmly soldered in place. You need an iron hot enough to do
this, which isn't hard to come by.

Tim

 

[Baron]

Michael A. Terrell Inscribed thus:

Vector is a US company that makes protyping materials.

shows one, with a description.

Thanks Michael,
That looked good... Until I saw the price. Choke choke.

 

[Baron]

Michael A. Terrell Inscribed thus:

Vector is a US company that makes protyping materials.

shows one, with a description.

Hi Michael,
I found this...
<http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/6MM-DIAMOND-H...werTools_SM&hash=item3cb38957a1#ht_640wt_1141>

Not quite the same, no handle. Apart from not having a spigot to ensure
centering should do the job. And the price is right !

 

[Baron]

Michael A. Terrell Inscribed thus:

I can't tell from that picture. It looks like it's for drilling
into ceramic tile. The tool I mentioned cuts a grove into the
copper clad to isolate it.

Yes it is for drilling ceramics and glass etc. That one is 6mm outside
diameter with a 4.25mm bore. I've just ordered some 6mm, 8mm 10mm
ones. I understand that the wall thickness is about 1.7mm on all off
them. Its identical to the one described as "New Jersey Islander Pad
Cutter"

I can't find the link to the PDF at the moment. I can send you a copy if
you want.

I hope that the shank is solid so that I can drill a hole all the way
through to hold a 1mm drill to form a spigot.

 

[Baron]

Michael A. Terrell Inscribed thus:

No need. I'm not doing much prototyping anymore. I am having a
lot of trouble holding on to most tools these days.

Sorry to hear that. I'm about to call it a day work wise and am in the
process of chasing a hobby that I never really had time explore !

So tools that help are very useful. Especially tools that can be
converted, modified, adapted to do the things that I want to do at
minimal cost. Time is free if you know what I mean.

 

[Baron]

Michael A. Terrell Inscribed thus:

Carpal Tunnel & nerve damage in my hands.

Ooo ! Not nice.

I just bought one of these:

to make it easier to work at my computer. One finger on top of the
programmable knob allows me to scroll through long pages without lots
of clicking a mouse. My hands don't tire out as fast, and I can work
faster, when I can work.

It can be programmed for six functions per program, including
simulating a sequence of keystrokes.

Apart from being attractive, useful and interesting, it looks like it
could be fun to use ! I like the idea of minimizing wrist movement.
Regretfully it only works with Windows/Mac machines.

Time is free at some points in your life.

True, very true...

 

[Baron]

Joel Koltner Inscribed thus:

Actually those PowerMate knobs work just fine on Linux -- someone
wrote a driver for it.

I only know this because they're popular with the guys who use
GNURadio as a tuning knob.

Hi Joel,
Useful tidbit of info.
Thanks:

 

[Baron]

Baron Inscribed thus:

http://www.njqrp.org/islanderpadcutter/NJ Islander Pad Cutter Manual.pdf

Yes it is for drilling ceramics and glass etc. That one is 6mm
outside diameter with a 4.25mm bore. I've just ordered some 6mm, 8mm
10mm ones. I understand that the wall thickness is about 1.7mm on all
off them. Its identical to the one described as "New Jersey Islander
Pad Cutter"

I hope that the shank is solid so that I can drill a hole all the way
through to hold a 1mm drill to form a spigot.

Hi Michael,
I got the diamond drills that I ordered today.
I took a micrometer to them and measured the OD, wall thickness and
bore. I obtained the following measurements:-

OD, Wall, Bore, Shank
6.55mm 1.25mm 2.92mm 5.5mm
8.72mm 1.26mm 3.8mm 6.02mm
9.22mm 0.92mm 3.8mm 6.02mm

The OD is the nominal outside diameter. The Wall is the measured width
of the thickness of copper removed at a depth of 1mm. The Bore is the
nominal diameter of the hole through the length of the Shank, and the
Shank is the measured diameter of the part held in the drill chuck.

I was a little surprised that the drills were made from a casting of
Mazak Alloy, die formed rather than machined. I had hoped that the
shanks on these would have been solid so that I could have machined an
accurate 3.2mm bore for a carbide drill shank to form a spigot. As it
was only the 6mm one could be drilled out. I then Used a collar and
6BA grub screw to secure a 3.2mm X 1mm carbide drill to use as a
spigot.

These Diamond drills are cheap and do the job intended with little
hassle. For hand use a spigot is a must. Very handy for a pin or wire
ended component.

 

[baron]

Michael A. Terrell Inscribed thus:

Too bad this isn't smaller, the price is right:

That picture is very similar to the "Donut Drills" that I mentioned
earlier. Pity I'm on the wrong side of the pond. :-(