nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 13hthis unusual experiment from @aisler.net is yet another PCB capacitor - the outer layers form the driven plate which shields the inner plate formed by the inner layers from interference! (NNNI26 for €10 off similar sketchy experiments!) 051
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 01/10/2026@aisler.net actually managed these super thin guard traces! I used KiCAD's solder mask expansion to create them! (NNNI26 for €10 off this year on all Aisler orders!) 052
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 22/09/2026the next one is something I've been looking forward to for a while, an open-source DSOXLAN board! github.com/aewallin/DSO... thanks @aisler.net !!! (NNNI26 for €10 off this year!) 041
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 20/09/2026first project is a dielectric tester designed by a friend! the idea here is to sandwich a dielectric between the exposed copper plates with a fixed distance between them, and measure using an LCR meter at various frequencies! thanks @aisler.net 071
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 19/09/2026I've been gone for 3 weeks and I got no less than SIX packages from @aisler.net ! contents will be revealed over the coming days 041
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 07/08/2026breakout board friday! if you want cheap(er) boards from @aisler.net, use my top secret discount code for €10 off - NNNI26 040
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 30/07/2026this is now my favourite engineering/science demonstrations 010
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 28/07/2026I love the RP2 but unfortunately even they can't do certain things 020
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 16/07/2026please tell me there is a way to automate this... I had to do this by hand + kicad's vertical and horizontal distribution tool 020
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 15/07/2026used the oven at work with very clean results, board is finally fully populated; next step - programming! 140
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 28/06/2026so not labelling the parts was a mistake, and making a test board as dense as the final product is always a mistake, so I added more test points! (boards from @aisler.net, NNNI26 for €10 off year-round, multiple times!) 081
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 19/06/2026two D flip-flops give me I/Q signals at any frequency (assuming the FF is fast enough, I'm using an 'ACT74) 040
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 17/06/2026routing using planes is something I enjoy, especially for power stuff 041
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 13/06/2026it's been a few years since I ordered something halfway complicated, but thanks to @aisler.net's rapid registration stencil, it should be easy (NNNI26 for €10 off throughout the year! 😎) 040
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 12/06/2026always remember to order a stencil with your PCBs! I tried smearing paste on the board here, but the results were blobby 🤰 (if you get your PCBs from @aisler.net, use NNNI26 for €10 off year-round! 😳) 031
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 01/06/2026@aisler.net to the rescue with some TMT SOIC-8 adapters! The year 2026 still has 7 months where you can use my discount code NNNI26 to get €10 off multiple times! 041
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 15/05/2026populated some more breakout boards from @aisler.net , bonus picture taken with a microscope (psst: NNNI26 gets you €10 off throughout the year, multiple times!) 171
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 15/05/2026I just realized that my new signal generator has adjustable rise and fall times, so here's a demonstration of I/C = dV/dt using a 10 nF / 1 kΩ highpass filter 062
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 14/05/2026the HMC8043 completes my all-LAN all-SCPI setup! to celebrate, I wrote a script that loads a few useful voltage/current configurations without having to fiddle with the front panel controls 061
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 04/05/2026phase one of my LAN upgrade is complete - scope, sig gen and dmm are now all connected to LAN 🎉 080
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 03/05/2026being able to RELIABLY read back 50,000 data points is amazing 030
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 03/05/2026I played with the 34410A for the entire day yesterday and scripting for it is so painless here, I measured the RMS noise at different NPLC settings and compared it to what it should "ideally" be (decrease with sqrt of integration time, normalized to lowest NPLC) 240
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 02/05/2026thanks to LAN and sockets, I can run the exact same script on both my PC and RPi 4B with 0 changes 020
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 02/05/2026I finally got myself a 34410A! I impulse-purchased this because: 1. it has a multislope IV ADC which I've always wanted 2. it has LAN, so the first step towards converting my bench to LAN + SCPI 160
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 23/04/2026fun little project, thanks @aisler.net for making this happen 150
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 22/04/2026feels like a good time to do some pcbposting, so here's another run from @aisler.net that I assembled using stencil-and-paste, and then a few minutes in the ultrasonic bath to get them super clean 150
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 18/04/2026tested the 3458A track-and-hold circuit with various input voltages, droop rate (after what looks like dielectric absorption settling) settles to -50 μV/s, which corresponds to -2.35 pA flowing out of the hold capacitor... the good old TL072 is pretty good in this regard 030
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 17/04/2026I replicated the track-and-hold circuit from the HP3458A (as described in the April 1989 HP Journal), and it's pretty cool - you can see the hold step, which stays constant because of the clever way they bootstrapped the sample JFET 080
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 11/04/2026I've spent four days trying to get something out of this chip but it's like 🤐 its capabilities are amazing but it just does not want to get configured and talk 060
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 05/04/2026yep... 4 gigasamples per second with "6.5 digit" resolution... it took 33 minutes to capture 1.2 μs worth of waveform (timebase not calibrated yet) 091
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 05/04/2026it's this circuit: www.radiolocman.com/shem/schemat... but much faster! delay is adjustable between 0 and 1 μs and the output pulse is 10 ns (available in both polarities) a 12-bit DAC controls the delay, so the delay should be adjustable in steps of 250 ps 041
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 04/04/2026populated board, the device under test will be connected "through-hole" to the machined pin headers so it's up in the air to prevent leakage currents hopefully 040
nnnilabs.net @nnnilabs.net · 28/03/2026yeah not very impressive, but I think I know why - the OPA145 I'm using as a pre-front-end to the LM311 has a very low bandwidth (5.5 MHz) compared to a straight fast comparator like the LT1016 (10 GHz) 030
