iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Well there's your problem. 🥲😰

TQFP soldered to a PCB, one leg is slightly lifted and not soldered.

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

This is intended for debugging and attachment to test-points on a PCB. I've not bothered with a "proper" clamping setup, screws on each corner works well here.

colourful testpoint wires routed into a 3d printed plate

colourful wires crimped onto pogo-pin holders

040

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Apart from the 3d print tolerance not being great at these sizes and breaking a few of these R50-2W7 sleeves getting them in. A 3d printed bed-of nails jig work surprisingly well for an afternoon build.

3d printed surface with precariously placed protruding pogo pins perpendicular to the plane

2100

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

I fixed a damaged USB-A port on a PS5 this week. The most tedious part was the 42 security trox screws encasing an EMI/Heat shield to the motherboard. 🙃

PS5 front I/O circuit board, next to a pile of screws.

ifixit page for PS5 repair. showing 42 screw locations.

050

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Not my neatest work, but it works. This wire's pvc melts super quickly, so soldering can be a challenge. But I still prefer having the colours 🙂 A quick 3d print to hold the wires avoids strain

circuit board with coloured wires soldered to an SMD footprint.

0150

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

The scope traces were crisp atleast. Maybe I didn't need to look to closely at my xacto scratching and probe landing 😆

Spring loaded scope probes landing on test points on a PCB

0100

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Well there's your problem. This chip has a pimple outbreak. 😅

$SOIC8 part with a visible fracture in the encapsulation$

0172

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Pretty cool that you can actually see the logic clouds as a blob in the middle. Early parts from wafer.space, perfect to take photos

silicon chip from wafer.space held in tweezers

1212

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Quick weekend project to put enclosures over my various Glasgow prototypes. Teaching myself the "configurations" feature in fusion to handle slightly component placement differences between various Cx versions.

Colourful 3d printed enclosures for the Glasgow interface explorer

1160

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

First samples on the first run from wafer.space! There is a disclaimer with these parts, that only ~80% are fully bonded successfully. This could be marketed as a feature, an air gapped solution using state of the art wireless bond wires. 😜

Bondwires in a COB packaged part, one bond wire has snapped from the PCB.

0161

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Fresh and custom silicon day! 😍 This is a multicore riscv soc design based on the serv processor core. Based on GF180MCU PDK, and fabricated through wafer.space 🚀

wafer.space chips populated in a COB carrier PCB.

0245

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

When the stencil aligns perfectly 🫠

Solder paste stencil over an ENIG PCB. Stencil openings are aligned with the ENIG pads

Solder paste perfectly applied to a circuit board.

0351

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Yes! I messed that one up 🫣

010

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Small USB PHY from WCH. CH123C. Who needs symmetry in footprints 🤪

QFN silicon chip sitting upside down on a ruler, showing that it is 2mm across.

3191

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Oscillators don't like begin installed upside-down 😭

Circuit board with QC sticker pointing to an oscillator which has been installed incorrectly.

5140

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

LEDs ❇️ These are about all on at about the perfect brightness for visual indication. But my standard macro photography process (off camera flash) just floods so much extra light that these appear really dim.

Green light emitting diodes on a circuit board

2120

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

Another day. Another bodge ✨

Circuit board. 0402 capacitors. A bodge wire connected neatly between two vias.

3282

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

Not if I want 400kHz. The internal pull-ups are equivalent to 50kohm in this case. 🐌

010

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

It has been 0 days since I forgot i2c pullups. 🥲

Resistors soldered to the edge of a TSSOP package, with a bodge wire connected to them.

5532

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Some BGA footprints are distinct enough to act like a fingerprint for the part. If you've used this part on a board design before you'll likely recognise it. 😉

solderpaste applied to various footprints on a green circuit board.

2130

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

GC-10. Sure, I’m not planning on testing alternatives given how well it works for me.

010

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

I wondered if anyone would notice. Yes. The stock fans don’t actually push that much air, and they’re very noisy when this gear is right on the desktop. I need to whip up a small inline 24V to 12V adapter to make the conversion a bit neater.

130

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 26/12/2025

Now all my benchtop gear that had GPIB can now connect via USB 🙌 "Weekend" project complete!

Benchtop test gear with GPIB adapters installed

1192

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 26/12/2025

Printed off some enclosures. Made a small modification around the M3 nut tolerances, which was easy as the f3d file was provided in the repo 👍

3d printed enclosures around a circuit board and connector

2110

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 26/12/2025

It's not stupid if it works 😅 Avoiding soldering down a connector for the one time operation of burning fuses, and loading bootloader/firmware for some UsbGpib adapters. github.com/xyphro/UsbGpib

AVR programmer attached to a circuit board

2332

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

Are they still doing this? I had bought the same part maybe 5 years ago and had the same slightly bent pin issue 🥲😅

110

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

A linux client spite coding session in the near future? 😅😆

110

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

Surface mounted components atop solder paste

Circuit board macro photo showing capacitors, resistors, and other components ontop of solder paste ready for reflow

0291

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

Board manufacturer date of wk10 2024. Wild that this issue is still making it into designs.

020

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

I'd forgotten that the ECP5-25F doesn't have all the I/O, and 4 or so pins that are on the 45/85F are N/C on the 25F. I just happened to use one of these for the ULPI interface. 🥲 Bodge wire to the rescue! Now we're enumerating again! USB boot loader in gateware, takes up ~15% of the device

Circuit board with bodge wire neatly snaking between passives. Connecting two vias.

Terminal output from nextpnr showing an error that T16 is not available on this package.

nextpnr output showing device usage around 15% of the logic for a HS USB core and QSPI logic to implement a boot loader.

1130

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

If by fab house, you mean my a toaster oven in my fabulous houses garage? Then yes. 🙌

060

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

Small update to PCB and I forgot to buy a new stencil 😅

020

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

These two boards have the same BGA geometry defined in their gerbers. For some reason JLCs DFM adjustments have expanded all the "via in pad" connections. Makes for an interesting visual effect.

Circuit board with a large BGA footprint. Some pads on the BGA package are larger than others.

Circuit board with a large BGA footprint. All the pads on the BGA package are the same size.

1180

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

How's my solder paste application? I think I missed some spots. 🫣

Circuit board with solder paste applied. The photo is close enough so you can just start to make out the tiny spheres that make up solder paste.

There are 2 components which don't have solder paste applied.

3120

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

When I started using brand name AMTECH flux. I realised it had a “sweet” smell, then immediately bought a fume extractor, because I realised if I was smelling that I was 100% inhaling the rosin and additive vapours 💨😵‍💫

020

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

FPGAs programming FPGAs 🐢

ECPBreaker FPGA development board featuring a Lattice ECP5 FGPA. Being programmed via JTAG from an ORBTrace, that is powered by a Lattice ECP5.

0201

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

The bodge works! A DFF in front of the ECP5's FPGA SPI configuration port before a mix leading to FLASH and PSRAM. Enabling an initial jump through FLASH where the clock frequency is bumped and QSPI entered. This now fixes an issue violating the PSRAM's tCE<8us requirement.

0100

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

I’ve noticed looking at some modern SMD 32k quartz crystals may have what look like laser trim dots on the forks. Could that be one reason to manufacture these with a glass top rather than metal?

130

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

Plan vs. Execution The messier the plan the cleaner the bodge looks in comparison. 😅

PCB layout in KiCad showing a bodge plan

Circuit board with bodge wires connecting a new component

2331

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

Nicely done! Looks similar to the XPS I did the same mod to. Resistor straps to inform BIOS of larger DRAM parts. Luckily I got a board-view which shower the net names. Made it easy to work out the 16GB variant.

040

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

Can't recall where this came from, but ended up in my labs cable drawer. Curious why it wouldn't enumerate.. 🤮

USB-C with cable cut, showing only 3 wires: red, black and white.

290

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 03/08/2025

Why is my circuit board lying to me 🥲

Electrical schematic showing pin ordering into a connector. Next to the PCB layout which has silkscreen that in no way matches.

160

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 26/07/2025

“I’d rather write the hw” much easier 😆😆🤣

020

Greg @gregdavill.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

Impedance control is a myth. A term made by big circuit to sell more ground planes. /s

070