Every year a group of my friends have an engineering Secret Santa. The rules are simple: make something cool for under $20 that requires engineering to complete. In years past we’ve seen Google cardboard VR headsets that are 6DOF, match stick rockets, 3D printed fans that explode when used, 3D printed rockets with cardboard launch […]
Makin' (New) Connections
Dave Hrynkiw
January 19, 2012
Well, it's been a riveting week. We did all sorts of exciting things, like definitely not riding a pallet jack down a flight of stairs and off a totally awesome jump. Nope, didn't happen at all. And just like how our tech's face didn't connect with the ground after the jump he didn't take, we thought it'd be a good idea to celebrate this not-event with some new connector-type-stuff. And a motor. Because everyone loves motors.
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Mabuchi RF500TB Mabuchi Motor - $4.95 A very efficient, powerful, slow pancake motor. Mabuchi makes some of the best volume-manufactured motors in the world. They're usually a premium over "clone" motors, but for good reason. |
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2.1mm DC Power Plug Short - $1.75 This is a standard DC-style female plug, that comes as the connector itself plus a screw-on plastic casing. |
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Telecom & Ethernet 4P-4C Clear Male Plug - $0.31 USD / $0.33 CAD This is the standard connection type that's used for hooking up those wired telephone handsets that you barely see around any more. It has four pins, gold connections, and a clear housing. Exciting stuff. |
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3-Pin Jumper Wire - F/F, 35cm - $1.95 USD / $2.05 CAD Each cable is 35cm (about 13.75") long, and features a 3-pin JST Re connector at each end. They're fairly standard units, often used on 0.1" breakaway headers. |
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1-Pin Jumper Wire - F/F, 16cm, Bundle of 10 - $3.95 USD / $4.15 CAD These jumpers come in packs of 10, and measure 155mm (6.1") with a female connector at each end. They're really helpful for jumping all kinds of things, such as going from board to board or whatever else you have in mind. |
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Sharp Sensor Cable (20cm) - $1.95 USD / $2.05 CAD It can be a bit of a pain to get in there and solder up connections for a Sharp sensor, so we've brought in these 3-pin, 20cm (7.87") cables to make life easier. This makes for a convenient connection to standard 0.1" 3-pin headers, such as those used for servos. |
Look at all them connector things. The only challenge now is to find enough things for us to plug into other things. Just like how we definitely don't need to plug in the watermelon launcher to remotely fire when someone hits the doorbell. Nope, that won't freak out the delivery people at all...
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Closed for Good Friday
Please be advised that Solarbotics will be closed this Friday, March the 25th. We will resume operations Monday, March 28th so any Express Orders that come in after 2:00pm this Thursday will not go out until Monday, March 28. Take it easy on the chocolate!
New Motor!
We've been very fortunate to be offered a limited supply of the amazing Portescap MU915L gear motor. Sound familiar? They should - they're the motivators for the legendary "Walkman" by Mark Tilden. We don't have a huge number of these, so if you're interested, order soon! (Limit 5 per customer)
Closed for Holidays
Just another quick note that Solarbotics will be closed for Victoria Day, Monday May 23. Any orders received after 2pm today will not go out until we open back up on Tuesday the 24th.
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Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.