Happy Fourth of July

I have not had much news lately.  I am waiting for parts to put together ELF Tags for each of my co-workers.  I have managed to work through the tough parts of the build and have put together all of the boards partially.

All I am waiting for are the 3.6V Zener diodes and the Attiny85 chips.  They should arrive tomorrow, so I think I will be able to bring the finished tags in on Monday.

In the meantime, I did receive my buzzers and surprisingly... my order for 100 USB Mini connectors.  Here is what 100 USB connectors look like...

I have already tested the footprint I created in KiCAD and it was a perfect (but tight) fit.  The connections were clean though and the soldering was fairly easy.  So, I am happy with these little connectors.

It just amazes me that I was able to get 100 for under $4 dollars.  Even though I would probably never use 100, at 4 cents a piece compared to $1.15 it is a no-brainer.  The same with the buzzers.  The buzzers turned out to be of excellent quality.

They all seem to be working and are loud and clear.  Another win for Aliexpress.

Here is my first use of the through hole version of the mini USB connector.

It will be the smallest device I have made... and probably will make.  It manages to beat the ELF Tag by virtue of the connector.

You'll notice it is waiting on parts as well.  Oh well.  Some of it should arrive tomorrow as I said.  I actually have a second order coming afterward that has even more chips... and sockets.  I ran out of sockets as you can see.

And now I am close to running out of 68ohm resistors.  Whoooh.  I guess I will be making a THIRD order to Tayda for resistors.  I have 6 pairs left.  Maybe that will be enough for a while. Maybe.