★★★★George Graves★★★★ Project Blog for e30 Gizmos and Gadgets - 2025 UPDATE

[Schnitzer318is]

LOL at least I'm not the only one holding out for a boost gauge in the econometer. I can't wait to ditch my boost/vacuum gauge...

George I'm jealous of all those toys. I'm going to have to start working on v2 of my LED tail lights, but with all 5mm bulbs as you suggested a couple of years ago.

[SpecRaceM5]

Guess i said it wrong, its technical name is 'adhesive lined heat shrink tube' its basically a dual layer shrink tube with the inner layer being about the consistency and stickiness of hot glue when you put the heat gun to it.

http://www.cabletiesplus.com/Departm...nk-Tubing.aspx

We use the stuff you are describing at BMW. Good shit. It's super thick compared to normal heat shrink, but when it heats up you can see the "hot glue" ooze out either end to seal the heat shrink to the wire completely.

[Chewy72ss]

Numeric WB02 "hazard switch" would be tits...

[E30Nova]

George I'm jealous of all those toys. I'm going to have to start working on v2 of my LED tail lights, but with all 5mm bulbs as you suggested a couple of years ago.

Pics of LED tails plzkthx.

Matt

[george graves]

You can see his thread here. Trying to keep this thread clean - thanks.

[Coyote_ar]

George, any progress with the boost gauge in the econometer?

[Zinno.e30]

Sent you an e-mail concerning your gauges from my e-mail

[einstein57]

i'm on board for the boost gauge econometer and the WBO2 digital display hazard switch.

[george graves]

Does anyone have a M30 ECU they would trade me for a m20 ecu? I'm working on a circuit that I need to tap into the ECU for testing.

I'm looking for a

0 261 200 179
Bosch Motronic M1.3

Or a

0 261 200 150
Bosch Motronic M1.1

I have a 542 M20 ECU to trade.



I pulled from a '90 325i with 90k mile on it - really strong running car.

Please PM me.

[mkcman17]

just wanted to say that i ordered both a narrowband afr and voltmeter from george and they came in quickly and professionally. i know absolutely NOTHING about wiring, and i got both installed and working properly within a couple hours. they look amazing..especially at night. bump for a really cool product and a good guy!

[Matt-B]

just wanted to say that i ordered both a narrowband afr and voltmeter from george and they came in quickly and professionally. i know absolutely NOTHING about wiring, and i got both installed and working properly within a couple hours. they look amazing..especially at night. bump for a really cool product and a good guy!

looks good, now just get a new CD player, for a touch of "ice"

[george graves]

I'M TAKING ORDERS FOR THE LAST BATCH OF GAUGES - GET YOUR ORDER IN NOW.

After I stop taking orders (sometime soon) I will no longer be making these gauges. Don't miss out. Click here: http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=195551

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I've been hesitant to show you guys what I'm working on. One reason is that I'm getting a lot of "when is ____ going to be out?". I don't mind that except if it gets posted in a current for sale thread. I find that it really distracts people from what I'm currently selling - you can imagine how frustrating that could be.

Now that's my fault - I'm not pointing fingers - I have to deal with that - my bad. But it makes me really reluctant to show what I'm working on. I'm sure you can understand.

For the time being I can show you a few things:

This is some work I stared finding a new workflow for SMD parts on really small runs of boards like I do. SMD stands for "Surface Mount Device" - rather then having a "lead" that you stuff into a hole on a circuit board, the parts are soldered directly to the surface of the board, then they are "soldered" in an oven all at once. It's like magic.

It can really cut down on assembly time, and defects if done right. Just about everything now-a-days use this method, nothing special. The trick is trying to find a way to do this on very "short run", in a "to order" kind of fashion. Basically taking mass manufacturing techniques and making them work on a small scale. So that's one of the things I've been working towards.

Some surface mount stuff to test


It's really hard to convey to people how small this stuff is.


Some test boards - they do nothing. Just testing pad size and the effects of surface tension, pad width and trace location on centering parts during reflow. Trying different pad sizes, ect. And I hope that I can sneak a trace between the pads of an 0805 - that would be nice.


I'm a sneaky little bastard.


Paste laid up.




ready for reflow


Finished. Needs a small tweak - but otherwise perfect. Those are 8 mill traces I believe. Yea, I'm that good.


Soldering is a lot like welding - this is quality check of the "fillets" on the joint. Another look at the heel.


__________________

[Moto-Mucci]

It's really hard to convey to people how small this stuff is.

Think you nailed it there...

Awesome looking stuff. I have no idea what it does, but looks awesome.

[nando]

nice, I toyed with SMD soldering (with an iron!) and PCB etching like a decade ago. I had some success but my interest in electronics waned for a while so I never took it further. I built a circuit that replaced a motherboard's quartz crystal and basically gave you FSB speed control with a knob. But nowadays every motherboard and CPU is built to be overclocked so it's pointless..

[Brandon12V]

George, I had no idea you were such a soldering beast! this is some very cool stuff. thanks for documenting so well.