Tuesday, December 20, 2011

The 'Mad Scientist' Lab Is Back Up And Running!


BWA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! :D

Back In Business

For someone who dislikes Karaoke as much as I do, I sure spend a lot of time repairing Karaoke equipment.

I finished repairing 3 Karaoke microphones and a DVD/Karaoke player last night at 3:30am.


As a side note - If you do any amount of delicate soldering, it would benefit you to get a good solder station and not try to use the crappy chinese stick soldering irons. Crappy tips, crappy temp control, crappy overall.

As another side note - try not to buy any electronics with a lot of knobs and switches. The knobs are potentiometers, and tend to go bad here because of the humidity and dust. Switches corrode and stop working. And especially - STAY AWAY FROM CHINESE ELECTRONICS (at least those not built for well-known companies who don't scrimp and use cheap parts). Carp, carp, carp!

PROMAC, MEGAMAXX, ACE, PENSONIC, and FUKUDA are a few brands to avoid.

Also note: at the Pure Gold, you can buy replacement remotes for most of the popular brands for under p100 - most likely p50. Don't buy from the street vendors that walk around the neighborhoods - they will charge from p100-150 or more for the same remotes.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Home Again

And as soon as my 16 bazillion balikbayan boxes show up, I will set up the lab and start producing again!

UPDATE: They arrived, with minimal damage. I lost a small glass statue of a dolphin (packing error on my part) and two of my buddhas were chipped (again, packing error). But everything else came out just fine!

UPDATE II: The Mad Scientist lab is up and running and I am repairing stuffs that need it - being gone for 10 months took a toll on the electronics around here! Soon, I should be able to start building new products again!

Monday, October 3, 2011

Moving Back To The Philippines

The mad scientist lab is getting boxed up, in preparation for shipping the works to the Philippines. Honey, I'm coming home! :D

Posting will be (more) sporadic (than usual).

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Sunday, July 31, 2011

New Product: Retro 'Skype' Rotary Phone

Retro 'Skype' Phone built from an old Rotary Dial Phone

- Connects to your computer via USB
- Yellow device active LED
- Uses original handset speaker/microphone
- Phone is a 1950s-60s rotary dial office phone from Holland.

NOTE: Rotary dial does NOT work with Skype. For esthetic purposes only.







Wednesday, July 20, 2011

New Prototype: MP3 Cane

Cane is made in the Philippines from tropical hardwood and inlaid with shell.
MP3 player is mounted to the end of the grip.

A production cane, which has a cutout in the cane to fit the MP3 player, will
be produced as soon as I have a chance to return to the islands.

I'll be taking the prototype out for a spin later today.
Should be fun :D





New Product: BT Handset Accessory - "Rip Cord"

Accessory for the Bluetooth Handset
"Rip Cord"

Non-functional but fun.

Plug in to the Bluetooth Handset to give it that
'just ripped from the telephone base' look.


New Product: Retro 'Skype' Touchtone Phone

Retro 'Skype' Phone built from an old Touchtone Phone

- Connects to your computer via USB
- Green device/call active LED
- Touchtone pad WORKS with Skype
- On hook (handset in cradle) disconnects call
- Uses original handset speaker/microphone

I Wonder What I Can Make Out Of This


Decisions, decisions.

New Product: Retro Bluetooth Handset w/Accessories

Retro Bluetooth Handset:

Just a regular touchtone phone handset - with bluetooth capabilities


Microphone end of handset, showing the recharging jack


Speaker end if the handset, with status LEDs and control buttons


Status LEDs - Yellow (Bottom): bluetooth status, Red (Top): charging status
Control buttons - left side: bluetooth function, right side: volume up/down


Recharging base - connects to computer via USB for power.
Touchtone pad non-functional.


Recharging base - recharging cord in storage (safe) position


Recharging base - with handset in cradle and recharging cable connected


Recharging Base - additional faceplate templates, made from 4x6 photos


Accessory: "Rip Cord". Non-functional, but when plugged into the handset,
gives the illusion that the phone has been ripped from the base


Accessory: "Rip Cord". Attached to the bluetooth handset