January 10, 2014

a challenge is a challenge is a challenge...

my mother, boyfriend and some others have shaken their heads more than once laughing and think I'm crazy to want to make something in a way that makes it way too difficult or seems impossible.

well, I think that sometimes too ;) And yesterday was one of those times.


not even doing anything with wiring itself I got myself another laptop wiring challenge yesterday.
This time with the plugback I added to the plugbase with milliput. When I was filing it, I handled the delicate wires too much keeping them out of the way. As soon as I realized that, one had already weakened too much and fell of, right at the point it goes into the plug...


I didn't even curse or anything, just sat looking at it, this was a bit of a problem. The plug was ready except for some final filing, attached to the wire and I could not transfer to another wire. Not to mention what's attached to it - the result of all kinds of non visible challenges and several failed attempts facing them in many small steps over a long period of time - all glued together & that finally will 'plug' (permanently) into the laptop.So okay..., that kind of sucks, now what?

 

first of all I secured the other wire by giving it a coat of glue hoping the copperwire inside was still intact. And got my microscope and try to fix the other. The use of a microscope while doing something with the subject on it is a challenge in itself. But, had to try since I could hardly see what I was doing even with my trusted magnifying glasses (magnifies 3,5 times which for a lot of things is sufficient, but not for the really small stuff).

it looks professional doesn't it, a microscope? I thought it would be very expensive to have one, but needed it to be able to cut the ridiculously small logo's for the laptop. I found it at a toywebshop for a very nice price! It's a binocular one (so you can look with two eyes, instead of one as with most microscopes), one that's used by watchmakers and seemed the best choice.
first option, glue: wire end in the tiny bit of room in the plug, and get it against the small piece of exposed wire where it broke of and a bit of glue. Not ideal as a solution or a solid connection, but I don't solder, especially not something so small. But it was so tiny that I couldn't get it right and couldn't be sure enough the wires touched each other with the movement of them while glueing. So, on to....
...option two, (micro)soldering: I have had a small and simple solderingtool for a couple of years now, but only once used it to try it out, which was no succes. I know practice would solve that, but never had the chance. And that had been for something small, noway near as tiny as what I needed to do now...

yet I knew it would be the only serious option. So I did and when looking for the solder I knew I had, I stumbled upon very thin solder that I must have ordered once too that was ideal for this job. Long story short: solderingtool doesn't match microscope, haha, the heat of the tool darkens the glasses instantly.

so back to my beloved magnifying glasses. Besides hardly seeing what I was doing despite them, the solder kept sticking to my tool instead of the plug and the wire kept falling out again and again and some more. Breath in, breath out, take breaks, try again, again and again. Not going well.

then I remembered I have stuff that should make soldering easier. Blue flux it's sometimes called, what I have is 'soldering helper' from Aber that the superthin solder is from too and wow, it really helped! It took a while to get the wire into the tiny hole again and more important to have it stay there, but when I got it the soldering it actually went surprisingly well after a couple of tries! It was attached again, sigh of relief! But then I decided to give it a tiny bit more solder to be sure it would be enough, and that of course melted the other solder breaking the connection again... Rookymistake I guess. Once I got the wire in again it wasn't even too long, thanks to the solder helper and it felt pretty strong too (for such a tiny connection). I was so happy but the important thing was....

.....would it have worked? So testing the lights, but didn't work, but wasn't sure if it was in that part or the problem I still had with the rest. Seperately testing reveiled that it díd work!! I did it! I still can't believe I managed to do it! Now just needed to glue the wires to the socket to prevent any more accidents with that part, instead of keeping them seperable that had been the plan. But that dicision was as easy to make as it was to do.


woohoo, another step closer to the finishline!





and for those of you that wondered or have asked: I have no electrical skills at all besides knowing how to attach wire to a dollhouseplug. Didn't know or understood about current, ampères, volts etc, how to wire something. Still don't actually ;) But I'm not scared of a challenge or maybe it's more that I can be a bit stubborn when I have something in my head that I think should be possible, or I want it to be possible (which is what made or makes something possible I guess).

of course I'm very lucky to have a boyfriend who has a background in electronics I could ask for help, that I could not have done without. Starting with my minilaptop and whenever needed he has been so sweet to explain, look up and reading and calculating explainations that to me might as well have been written in Chinese. After some laughing on his part he patiently explained about resistors after I blew up the first 1,5 volts light I wanted to use for my minilaptop connecting it straight to a battery, not bothered by any knowledge of their existence, haha.

he also showed me how to use and connect the lights together etc (this was not too difficult, just be consequent with your + and - and he showed how to tell with leds or bare wire). And the rest I learned of course by just doing and making mistakes. The learning kind but also by stupid things like holding the circuit down with my finger while testing, connecting the + and - and 'poef'! Expensive little buggers those lights, especially the tiny led's, but I guess it's all been learning money that will surely pay itself back in the pride of the endresult and a learningcurve that I can use in futureprojects. No pain no gain right?

25 comments:

  1. You are MAD, you do realise? It's almost as if you're challenging yourself to do the impossible =0) Well bravo Lady. I think you could just about achieve anything you set your mind to

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    1. Haha, I guess you're right, I must be mad.. ;) My 'problem' is I want a certain thing a certain way and then just have to find a solution for it, but I know the outcome is the same as how you've put it: challenging myself to do the (almost) impossible. Oh why?? :D Because I love it when I succeed!

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  2. ¡Qué paciencia!! Enhorabuena por el resultado.

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  3. Sheeee!! Good for you, great skills! It looks wonderful.

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    1. Thanks a lot for your enthousiasm Jean, great to read!

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  4. Replies
    1. Tnx Gee, always nice to hear from you and thanks for your big compliment!

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  5. Pepper sums it up quite nicely ;-) I'm looking at this shaking my head: this is way out of my league. I am in awe.
    X
    Véronique

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    1. Haha, guess you can shake hands with my mother, boyfriend and some other familymembers, but thanks for the great compliment, feels great!

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  6. Impresionante trabajo,que minuciosidad,desde luego eres una persona muy paciente!!!!!
    Besos.

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    1. Muchus gracias Pilar, yo también lo creo. Y por supuesto un poco loco ;)

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  7. Replies
    1. Tnx Noelle! Mad in this case is what I don't mind hearing and just has to be true ;)

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  8. Replies
    1. Hi Eliana, it was a bit nervewrenching I must say.. :)

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  9. This is fantastic, I love seeing your progress with this project =)
    Hannah

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    1. Thanks a lot Hannah, I hope to be able to show a finished project soon!

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  10. Hello Monique,
    Terrific! Congratulations on a mission accomplished.
    Big hug,
    Giac

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    1. Thanks Giac, so far so good. It's a typical case of falling and standing up again, but I will get there! Big hug for you too!

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  11. Hi Monique, When you say Fabulously Small, you mean FABULOUSLY SMALL!!!! You have me shaking my head in disbelief at your persistence and your determination to WIN! This may just qualify for the Book of World Records once you get it done. And you WILL!
    YOU GO GIRL! :D

    elizabeth

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    1. TNX you so much Elizabeth, for your warming enthousiasm! And ehh.. I guess so. It is what I had in mind when I came up with that name, but knew I couldn't do it justice right away. But knew I would some day, although I had no idea it could be a minilaptop and certainly not this kind of difficult problem solving. But my brain got the message I send myself with that name unwillingly and got me thinking about really difficult stuff I guess. Or something.. :D

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  12. hoi Monique,
    kom ik thuis, laptop aan, lees ik jouw berichtje. Lief.
    Aan mijn blog heb je tot nu toe niks gemist, want er komt niet veel uit mn handen haha.
    En ik reageer ook niet overal op, snap ik helemaal want dat is bijna een dagtaak erbij.
    Vind het ontzettend leuk in hoe je het zoekt in niet voor de hand liggende dingen, en dat je dan ook de volharding hebt om te zoeken tot je de problemen die je tegen komt oplost.
    Dat is karakter.
    Het is een groot plezier je blog te kunnen volgen.
    Groetsels,
    Gee

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    1. Heel graag gedaan hoor! Nou, dan hoop ik van harte dat je het komende jaar meer uit je handen krijgt, is dat mijn extra nieuwjaarswens voor jou. Dank je voor je complimenten, erg leuk om te lezen, ik bloos ervan ;). Tot blogs!

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  13. Thanks for all your lovely comments Monique, I will be going back over your blog with more, now I know it is acceptable :D I had to show your blog to my mum, I forgot to show her the teabag though, despite telling her about it, I have to work fast with her, because the page scrolling makes her head spin :D She adores the scrubbing brush. Later on, she was laughing about the hand cream, when I told her about your fear of people handling your miniatures, she knew that would be the first to go :D When I showed her my needlepoint rug, she asked for the magnifying glass, and then looked at it outside with the sunlight, and the burn ALMOST started! Anytime she is near my stuff I say DON'T TOUCH!

    You are a genius though, I was just about to throw out my coke can, but I kept it to someday to make a clock. I am sure something else could be made with that as well, that hasn't been thought of yet :D

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