Last Week’s Featured Products

1. Pliers!

We carry a variety of hand tools for all kinds of diy assistance. Featured here are Flush diagonal cutters, Hakko Professsional Quality 20-30 AWG Wire Strippers, Hakko Precision Flat Pliers, Precision screw removal pliers, and Simple pliers.

2. AdaBox

Curated Adafruit products, unique collectibles, and exclusive discounts. All delivered quarterly.

Subscribe now or give AdaBox to a friend.

The first time you soldered up a surface mount component you may have been surprised “these are really small parts!” and there’s dozens of different names too! QFN, TDFN, SOIC, SOP, J-Lead, what do they mean and how can you tell how big they are? Now you can have a reference board at your fingertips, with this snazzy PCB reference ruler.

Measuring approx 1″ x 6″, this standard-thickness FR4, gold plate ruler has the most common component packages you’ll encounter. It also has font size guide, trace-width diagram, and a set of AWG-sized drills so you can gauge your wire thicknesses.

New! As of Sept 15, 2014 we’re now shipping v2 which is basically the same thing as the original but Inches are marked with 1/10″ rather than the more common 1/8″. The centimeter side is still 0.1cm marks.

4. Keyboard with Blue-type Mechanical Switches and LED Backlights – 87-Key

If this keyboard doesn’t catch your eye, we don’t know what will! It’s cool, it’s colorful, and it’s clicky in the best way, and it’ll make you feel like you’re operating some kind of retro-futuristic typewriter. It’s the Keyboard with Blue-type Mechanical Switches and LED Backlights! With 87 keys and rows that are backlit by LEDs, you’ll be hacking, coding and gaming with unparalleled style. The six rows from the top down light up red, white, green, blue, orange, and purple–but it doesn’t stop there!

There are six built-in LED backlight modes (and even more sub-modes!) that’ll keep you mesmerized for hours on end:

Traveling mode; the light travels around the keyboard one key by one key, ending at the “O” key and repeating.
Breathing LED backlight mode; the brightness of the backlight cycles from off to its brightest setting.
Spreading mode; the backlight defaults OFF, but each key you press will release a ripple of LEDs around it.
Lights ON mode; all 6 colors of LED backlight are always ON.
Gaming mode; ASDW, ESC, and arrow keys are the only keys lit; there are also 5 sub-modes within this mode.
The keys which you press will light ON for a few seconds, and recline gradually (this is our favorite).

Features:

Mechanical “blue-type” (tactile click) switches, similar performance and feeling to the Cherry MX Blue
Compatible with Cherry MX style keycaps
USB full speed 2.0; supports 1000 Hz real report rate
Full keyboard anti-ghosting (all keys have response)
Double injection keycaps with translucent legends
Aluminum plate
Compatible with Windows, Linux, MacOS X, and many other systems – pretty much anything that has a USB keyboard port!
Multiple pre-set LED backlight modes
Adjustable feet for different angles

While it’s not as small as our Miniature Microcontroller-Friendly Keyboard, this keyboard will work great with a PC, Mac, Raspberry Pi or Beagle Bone. And damn if it isn’t better looking!

March 15, 2017 AT 1:34 pm