OPEN SOURCE: "CC-Boost" - 2.4 Amp boost driver - RC1

crazyspaz said:

Meanwhile, I'm over here still waiting for oshpark to fabricate my boards. It says it was sent to the fab like a week ago, how long does it take

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My most recent order took 11 days from
payment to return from fab.

Laser Project said:

I was only remarking that often things are said which wouldn't happen face to face OK I will see what I can do.

One of the thoughts which comes to mind is if these devices cost as much as something you could order from China off of ebay, why not just buy some of the ebay drivers and characterize them to see what they can do? Maybe some of them are actually up to their stated ratings and have soft start built in and all at a price we can't duplicate on our own?

One of the reasons I don't like to buy drivers from China is that so many of the sellers outright lie or don't know anything about what they are selling. If I knew the real information about some of those drivers, I'd buy them, if they passed muster. Although building your own, making your own design is more fun as well as furthers your understanding about the devices

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I agree. That's when I show up face to face. How do you like me now ! LMAO ! I'm not crazy.

The thing about China/Fleabay drives, and I have ordered and tested a lot of them, they are never what they say they are. "Suitable for 3.5w 445nm diode"
I guess they are if your happy with your expensive 3.5w diode terminated to a Mickey Mouse drive putting out 2.5w.

I'm one of those weird people that don't mind spending a little more for a good drive and peace of mind. I have never had a bad X-drive or X-boost and think they are priced too low. I have three builds running the CC Boost with no problems.

I actually like the CC Boost better. Not because I think it's a better drive. Because like you said, I get to assemble it. It puts me closer to my goal of building everything except the diode.

Someday I will be able to make my own drive for my own use. Until then rhd has been kind enough to help us out.

Edit: Every time I use a drive rhd designed. I send him money for using his design. Why ? Because I'm rich ? No, because the price for components and the amount I send him is a reasonable amount to spend for a quality product, well, that and I hope he keeps sharing his designs with us.
(Just a shameless plug for rhd)

I think the X-Drives are priced about
right. It's hard to build a driver for
less than $10 component costs. He is
having a fab assemble them for him now, and
that adds another $5-10. $5/driver profit
is a reasonable amount. We do need to eat,
after all.

If I do eventually get these things to work
and sell some for a profit, some of it will
go to rhd. Of course I will keep some as
well since it took time and effort to
assemble them.
:gh:

I've always said, and continue to believe, that X-Drives are great drivers, sold at a reasonable price, and that everyone should be very grateful to Lazeerer for them, because he's not getting rich off them.

The thought that people dual 2x Flexdrives at a cost of $60 ish, is just depressing. That's largely why I released this open source drive.

Ordering components to assemble a few RC1 boards, but it appears the 33uH inductor in the parts list is out of stock on Digikey (until March...)? Any suggestions for alternatives?

Seems like it will be tough to match the footprint since it was a non-standard size. These were the closest I could find so far: SRP1038A-330MDKR-ND and 445-3596-1-ND.
Don't know enough about inductor types to know if ferrite vs. carbonyl powder makes a difference though.

jayhawker08 said:

Ordering components to assemble a few RC1 boards, but it appears the 33uH inductor in the parts list is out of stock on Digikey (until March...)? Any suggestions for alternatives?

Seems like it will be tough to match the footprint since it was a non-standard size. These were the closest I could find so far: SRP1038A-330MDKR-ND and 445-3596-1-ND.
Don't know enough about inductor types to know if ferrite vs. carbonyl powder makes a difference though.

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The first one might work. The second is too low saturation current. Mouser has the correct ones in stock though.

rhd said:

The first one might work. The second is too low saturation current. Mouser has the correct ones in stock though.

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Good call. I always forget to check Mouser for some reason. Ordered everything else from there as well. Can't wait to put these together. I have access to a nice scope in my lab that I can test them on. Thanks for all your hard work.

The Lightning Stalker said:

I think the X-Drives are priced about
right. It's hard to build a driver for
less than $10 component costs. He is
having a fab assemble them for him now, and
that adds another $5-10. $5/driver profit
is a reasonable amount. We do need to eat,
after all.

If I do eventually get these things to work
and sell some for a profit, some of it will
go to rhd. Of course I will keep some as
well since it took time and effort to
assemble them.
:gh:

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I agree they are priced about right, but I would pay $5 or $10 more and still think they are a good deal. To me they are a beautiful drive in appearance and they always function like they should. Even when an idiot like me parallels two SXB's and melts down a host. The drives lived.
That is good news he is having them assembled now, that will let him have a life and keep us building. I can only imagine how many emails he must get.

You will get yours going, it's a matter of when, not if.
"Do or do not, there is no try"~Yoda

Soooo going back to my previous comment, what is everyones preferred solder paste? I would like to avoid getting some random crap off ebay.

crazyspaz said:

Soooo going back to my previous comment, what is everyones preferred solder paste? I would like to avoid getting some random crap off ebay.

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I use random crap off ebay.

After purchasing $15 solder paste from digikey that was annoying as heck to use, I decided that the $3 stuff from China, plus a toothpick, worked best.

I use one of those jars of paste from digikey. Super handy to scoop out what you need, can't do that with a syringe.

I haven't had good experiences with the stuff from ebay because it doesn't stay cold during transit whereas the digikey sends the solder paste with a cold pack to keep it cool until it's at your door.

I have a rework station and use this paste I got off eBay that works well. It is called Mechanic Solder Paste and it has an alloy of Sn 63% and Pb 37% and is 25-45 microns in a no clean paste. I have a jar that is 42g and cost about $3.50. The product is listed as XG-50. It works very well for my uses.

Cheers guys. My boards are made, looks like they will ship tomorrow. Woot

paul1598419 said:

I have a rework station and use this paste I got off eBay that works well. It is called Mechanic Solder Paste and it has an alloy of Sn 63% and Pb 37% and is 25-45 microns in a no clean paste. I have a jar that is 42g and cost about $3.50. The product is listed as XG-50. It works very well for my uses.

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Thanks. I'll try that. I tried some from DigiKey and using a stencil. I made a complete mess. I went back to using my iron and placing components one at a time. I just have to be carefully the order in which I place them so I have access to the next one.
It works but I really want to learn the proper way.

IWIRE said:

It works but I really want to learn the proper way.

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There really is no proper way with drivers, to keep it small many design rules have been broken which makes them hard to reflow, but the components are so tightly packed that it's hard to use an iron too. Whatever gets the job done

ARG said:

There really is no proper way with drivers, to keep it small many design rules have been broken which makes them hard to reflow, but the components are so tightly packed that it's hard to use an iron too. Whatever gets the job done

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Thanks. In my world "small" is an understatement. These things are tiny to me. I have a lighted magnifier I use to work on them with. Helps me a lot. It gets the job done.