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What Changes Would You Like to See Made to Project14?

tariq.ahmad

Its been a long time since we've made any kind of changes to the format of Project14 but its due for an upgrade.   Its natural for programs to evolve overtime and things can't stay the same forever. We've experimented with different things with the program and some have been received more enthusiastically than others.   I'm starting this thread to see what kind of changes you would like to see us to make with this program.  What shouldn't be touched,  what would make things more exciting, and how do we grow the program without turning it into something different?  Should it be something different?   Where does Project14 fit in with the larger community?  Before getting this conversation underway, I would like to stress that the goal is to improve not diminish the program.  My managers have been very supportive from the beginning of this program and I want to reward their confidence.   Some of these changes are workload related.  Others are business related.  I'm open to all ideas and suggestions.

 

Topics on the Table:

 

- Launch Themes Every Other Month or Keep them Monthly?

- Shorter Contests or Longer Contests?

- If we have fewer contests Is there Stuff We Can Do In-Between?

- How Can We Make It Easier For More People to Participate?

- Should We have Bigger Prizes?

- Should we have a giveaway before we launch every contest?

- Most Importantly How Do We Make These More Fun?

  • in reply to tariq.ahmad

    That is a nice idea.  Maybe even update or upgrade old projects and show them off again.

  • in reply to dougw

    Swag... yes one of my ambitions was to get the blue guy and mebbe a breadboard or something... yes I like the idea...

  • in reply to hugohu
    it's more like a hit and miss to me

    Where possible (e.g. home use only) I would suggest avoiding Pb-free for QFN

  • in reply to 14rhb

      wrote:

     

    it's more like a hit and miss to me

    Where possible (e.g. home use only) I would suggest avoiding Pb-free for QFN

    With the right amount of temperature and the right amount of flux, Pb-free works ok for QFNs.

    I train by removing and placing-back QFNs on any scrap PCB I can lay hands on.

    You don't need to worry about breaking something that way, and you can experiment until you find a technique that works for you.

    Practicing with defunct PCBs takes stress and fear out of the equation.

  • in reply to Jan Cumps

    Good advice I'll try that with a few of the boards in my electronic waste pile, thank you.

  • in reply to 14rhb

      wrote:

     

    Good advice I'll try that with a few of the boards in my electronic waste pile, thank you.

    It's worth watching a few repair videos by Paul Daniels or Louis Rossmann. They show how tiny components can be reworked with normal rework tools. They do that all the time.

  • in reply to tariq.ahmad

      wrote:

    We have Project14 badges but haven't given them out in a while as its currently done manually.   With stuff like shipping getting backlogged and day-to-day taking priority this is still on the list of things I need to get crossed off the list to do.

    Don't worry. I can dish out the badges for you.

     

    What? Of course I wouldn't just award them to myself until I looked like a dictator at a military parade! How could you think such a thing! image

    image

  • in reply to dougw

      wrote:

    It is perfectly acceptable, and actually desirable, to occasionally repeat popular themes. Many popular themes have many more untapped potential projects than some new esoteric themes.

    I agree. A popular theme could definitely be repeated. The previous projects could be great inspiration. I can imagine people thinking "that was a good idea, but I could entend it or do it better".

     

    Maybe there's even room for a Project 14 where you have to base the idea on someone else's previous project? I might suggest next time.

  • Maybe we could differentiate between some formats on Project14 with different names and these formats would help inspire participation? Currently we work with a theme to make something that is loosely related but we could also have theme agnostic months. For instance, different formats could consist of the following, although we have sort of done some of these just without the additional format branding:

     

    Project14 - Our Choice (as voted in a previous poll). This is the current format and anyone is free to participate along the selected theme name as we currently do.

     

    Project14 - Lucky Bag (as I mentioned above). Those that apply get sent a low-cost bag of pre-selected parts to build what they can from. We move away from a set theme so anything could be built using those parts.

     

    Project14 - Two Up. Again no theme but the project is built in collaboration between two or more members. May need a way for prospective participants to sign up and list skills or project ideas as Jive isn't great for linking up to people initially.

     

    Project14 - Mentor. No theme but would suit an intake of students who could be paired up with a mentor. The student builds the project but with guidance from the mentor. Would also need some way for each to list skills and willingness to participate.

     

    That's just a few to explain the idea how formats could make the existing scheme continue whilst being different. With some stylist graphics each format could really stand out and depending on uptake you'd know which were popular and which to never repeat image

  • in reply to 14rhb

    Me who only used lead free once because it came with a radio soldering kit 2 years ago and used 63/37 or 60/40 or something along those lines ever since:

     

    ;-;

     

    But thanks for the tip. I find it a bit easier, for me to, well... melt the solder, pour the solder(I ordered some flux paste which hasn't come, I use the uhh waxy-solid flux thing, but not rosin), onto the pcb, put extra solder on 2 pins, melt and shove the chip onto it, literally pour solder, so each pin is connected, melt again and shove away, use wick if necessary.

     

    Call it inefficient but I think it works decently?


    I think you need drag soldering.

    I never managed to tin a SP25 tip correctly despite using all my solders, including the Weller one (pb-free) and also watching countless videos.

     

    I dunno.