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Andy Colborn

@acolborn.bsky.social
40 followers 55 following 10 posts

mechE and maker - excited about materials, design, nature, electronics Open source DIY soldering kits -> learntosolderkits.com Currently spending too much of my free time designing a robotic dragonfly (anisopter?)

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Reposted by Andy Colborn
Mark Gerl @markgerl.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
#TodaysMomentOfAwesome My favorite project is students learn to solder in Wearable Tech. In part because it reminds me @emmafletcher.bsky.social & @acolborn.bsky.social are genuinely awesome people & the crew at Learn To Solder kits are encouraging kids to make great things. #EduSky #MakerEDU
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Andy Colborn @acolborn.bsky.social · 14/06/2025
We're heading to an educator conference at the end of the month, hoping to teach some STEM teachers to solder at our booth. After being inspired by what other's have done with @oshpark.bsky.social's after dark, I threw together the design for a sick new soldering badge with twinkling LED stars.
Printed circuit board designed to show a Saturn Five rocket flying through space
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Reposted by Andy Colborn
Pookleblinky @pookleblinky.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
When learning something, one of the most important resources is a person who will tell you "no, you are wrong, you are not making sense, what you are saying is meaningless," to keep you from going further and further wrong without knowing it. Chatgpt tells you what you want to hear.
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Andy Colborn @acolborn.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
Now that we've been shipping the deluxe version of our soldering kit for a while, I wanted to share some of the messy, joyful practicality involved in bringing a product (even a simple one like this) to life. learntosolderkits.com/blogs/news/d...
learntosolderkits.com
Designing a Deluxe Kit
One of the most common questions we've had from people over the years was if our soldering kits included all the tools they needed - to which we had to answer a shameful
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Andy Colborn @acolborn.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
When we buy raw materials that go into a finished product, we're not required to pay sales tax since the product will get taxed when it our customer buys it. Can someone ELI5 why nobody has talked about doing this with tariffs? You can't actually make stuff in the US if you can't afford parts.
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Reposted by Andy Colborn
Caitlin G. DeAngelis @caitlindeangelis.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Everyone in the past was neurotypical, which is how we got things like this single-author, eight-volume encyclopedia of ferns
eight leatherbound books all titled "FERNS" volumes 1 through 8
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Andy Colborn @acolborn.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
My first ever flex board has arrived from @oshpark.bsky.social! Not sure I've ever been this excited for the inevitable discovery that I've made a series of mistakes.
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Andy Colborn @acolborn.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Component day for a new prototype PCB! It's pretty overwhelming to try and keep track of 40 or so bags of such teeny tiny things. How the hell do EEs manage?
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Reposted by Andy Colborn
Brown Anthony™ @anthelonious.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
Black Mirror pitch: POTUS destroys democracy in 90 days. Everyone watches it happen on their phones. The opposition party leaders are 85 years old and post "Hey, stop" once a day. Toiletries are locked behind glass. An evil online bookstore sends Katy Perry into space for feminism. [fin]
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Andy Colborn @acolborn.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
Anyone else have packages in flight and are not sure what's actually gonna happen when they show up? We ordered some components on 3/17 - $583 - under the de minimus so we were assuming no tariffs They've gone in and out of customs in this craziness. Do we pay UPS $729 to liberate $583 in parts?
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