Itās not my design, but I should have additional plastic of the various colors
Iāll post a pic when Iām done
Made good progress on my car ignition project today. I wanted to be double check how my ignition switch worked + figuring out the actual pinout, before I could finalize the board design and send it off to be made. So, I went to the junkyard, found a car the same model as mine, and spent about 45 minutes ripping out the ignition switch. Would have been easier, but I didnāt think to bring a 1 foot long socket extension with me (needed to remove the lower dash panel, had some crazy deep bolts), so I had to just cut it out from the front. Thankfully a lot of my assumptions were validated, just gonna spend some time today triple checking pinouts and making some notes on paper for continuity on each key position. It has 9 pins, but it seems that quite a few are redundant. The ignition switch obviously came with a lock I didnāt have the key for (and neither did the junkyard), but thankfully, I do locksport 
I would definitely recommend anyone else do the same if they plan on doing a similar project, having a spare ignition switch to test with has been a huge help. Not having to half disassemble my dash and having to risk my car not being able to start was well worth the money. The $30 it cost will also be well worth it if it stops me from shorting something out and breaking my body control module.
In other news, I got some more PN532 breakouts ordered, and my PinePhone comes Thursday. Iāll post a write-up for the NFC case Iām making for that as well, hopefully that should only take a day to finish. 3D printing the NFC case itself will take the longest time. Assuming everything goes well with that, Iāve also started on a super basic touch NFC app for the PinePhone, just enough to pull UIDs and hopefully NDEF records. libnfc is compatible with the PN532 over I2C, so it shouldnāt be insanely awful to implement. Should be a good project for learning mobile Linux toolkits, too.
The Pinecil is still somewhere in China it seems. It shipped about a week ago, but China Post is not quick. Should definitely have paid for DHL for it, would have been well worth it it seems.
2 Likes
can we have all future implants put into Rupert Drops? kthx. ((of course not, but damn that is cool))
1 Like
I like that idea, incredibly strong, and on the off chance you do some how manage to break it, it will explosively remove itself, saving you from a costly removal fee!
2 Likes
Andre the giant hand size comparison.
Andre.
Myself.
Conclusion: not sure really. Just thought of this with all the hand size talk going on.
1 Like
3 Likes
yeahā¦ itās not the size of the hands, itās how you use them 
2 Likes
but it takes a damned long time to get to England in a rowboat
Should have used them to get on a plane
Out of curiosity, has anyone here used JLCPCB in the past? Just got the first revision of my ignition board ordered (after a bunch of tweaks today), want to hear otherās experiences with them. They seem remarkably cheap compared to everywhere else, for 10 boards (5 of mine, and 5 breakout boards for another project) + DHL international 2 day shipping it was only $26. Itās not a super complex board, so hopefully they canāt mess it up too bad 
Also for those that were interested, looks like bare board cost is gonna be almost exactly $5 + shipping method of your choice. Still tweaking the BOM, but itās looking like ~$15 in parts with locking connectors, or $8-10 without. That also includes LEDs, resistors, and capacitors, so if youāve got a good stock, you likely wonāt need any of those.
Iām working on my final project write-up as we speak, so I can post that when the project is installed finished (hopefully within the next 1-1.5 weeks). Time all depends on how long Amazon takes to deliver my programmer and a few other tools I need, and how long Digi-Key takes to deliver the parts.
1 Like
Sweet 
Looking forward to it
Super important question
how are we pronouncing
2 Likes
Yes use them alot for prototypes and small batches at home and work there super quick and never had an issue. Iāve used both board and assembly service as well as 2,4 and 6 layer boards.
1 Like
Haha, Iāve been going with Car-FID (eff-eye-dee). IMO when said out loud itās a decent merge of Car and RFID.
Glad to hear that, thanks for letting me know. I had a few other services recommended to me, but for a board my size (135mm by 89mm) the prices were absolutely outrageous.
1 Like
Iāve used JLCPCB, Seeed Fusion, PCBWay, and OSHPark. The first three all have the same prices, and they do good work. Personally I prefer PCBWay for a ton of reasons, but if you use EasyEDA and octopart then JLCPCB is the way to go.
Iām surprised that PCBWay had the same prices in your experience, I just uploaded my gerber files for a quote, and on PCBWay itās $43 for 5 PCBs, while JLCPCB it was $9.11 for 5. Puts it at $61 total with shipping on PCBWay, while itās $23.91 total on JLCPCB. Thatās with identical options, and DHL shipping on both.
big hands = Big gloves
3 Likes
Yeah, Iāve never found a cheaper PCB fab than JLCPCB for small / low complexity parts. Saying that, I do see some small imperfections with JLCPCBās boards, and I think PCBWay has better cost at scale / more flexibility.
Mind sharing the reasons you like PCBWay? Iāve never ordered from them, but might be soonā¦