The problem with that Solar Cell was that it was so well packed it was almost impossible to get out without damaging it. Especially with the giant knife
EEVblog Maybe, hope he sends another. It will be interesting seeing you evaluate its efficiency. Maybe if you get an even bigger knife the opening process will be easier
***** Yes, i agreed with you. Now, I know this. :D Nevermind, it was a funny unboxing ever, but i am sad that you cannot test it. Dave, use a smaller sword! :)
I thought exactly the same. Some rigid plastic enclosure would do the job (like one used with CDs, just bigger). Or at least some huge red warning saying "Extremely fragile" or something like that. Too bad it broke, it could be nice big solar panel and Dave could do some great video showing how this actually works in practice.
***** Well, you can hear it though. One of the side effects of the replacement controller is that it makes the clock tick a bit more loudly than it naturally does. Which is a feature. :) And the hands come off fairly easily, and can be painted.
Every time I see your knife, I get a feeling something bad is going to happen. I thought I was a pro with a knife too. Then one day, while prying off a zip-tie for a pair of scissors, it slipped, went straight through the side of my left hand pinky finger, and severed both the flexor tendons. Only one could be repaired, so I lost some functionality in it. On top of that, I didn't have insurance, so the entire affair was about $19,000! Luckily they decided to be nice and knock half of the price off, but still. Also, love the 2 minute teardowns. If I'm gonna be honest, I love any teardowns
***** Why the hell would he use a knife when snips would have been better? He could have used toe nail clippers... People need to use the right tools for the job.
To answer both of your questions, I was out of work at the time and couldn't afford health insurance, and I didn't have anything else around at the time, PLUS I had literally never cut myself with my own knife before. Since then, I haven't cut myself with a knife again, even though I use a box cutter every night at my current job. That time was a simple slip up that just so happened to be angled perfectly for destroying the lever system in my finger. If you're interested, I have pictures :D
***** So.. in an effort to shave some bills off, you ended up cancelling your health insurance and paying the absolute TOP dollar for an unfortunate injury. If you're going to save on some cash, the last services you want to cancel are your insurances.
My favourite part of this blog is the teardown and repair videos and the associated commentary of how everything works. Personally I really didn't mind when you went off on a tangent in previous mailbags, but perhaps the two minute teardown is a good compromise between people like me who want to see a little bit more of the items that won't get their own video and those who just want to see you open mail like a kid on Christmas.
Thumbs up for the 2 minute tear down. I"m always happy to see a 40 min + mailbag! Plus I love tear downs of which I wish you could do more. Win-win in my eyes!
Hey Dave, its Rob here, the guy that sent you the ECG machine! I'm glad that you like it. I should point out that the machine came from eBay with that ground-wire bodge. The machine does work when the probes are hooked up and you press random buttons.
The 2 min teardowns are cool, I like how you give a general overview of the devices without too much detail, to me the general design is most interesting, not the tiny nifty details, at least for the mailbag.
Nick Guy That firmware is called the "Whacky" clock. It ticks once a second, but on a random tenth-of-a-second. The Vetinari firmware ticks imperceptibly slower, and when it's gathered up enough time, it does a "double" tick. It does this about once every half minute or so, give or take (it's random). From the description of the clock's behavior that I've gleaned (I haven't read the books), that was the best algorithm I could come up with.
I love the new 2 minute tear downs tides me over until Tuesday or whenever I actually get around to watching the previous Tuesday's video! Save the big things for the more in depth segment on Tuesdays!
Loving the 2 min teardowns for the stuff you may have already coverd in other vids to show diffrent layout designs. for newer stuff yeah teardowns are very welcome.
I would be up for the new batch of rulers. Love the mini tear downs. Way over wrapped solar cell! Now you have a time piece, can I have the time circuits. I would repair them and love them and squish them and love them some more :D Or donate it to Applied Science to put in his delorean, now he is playing around with the engine, it would make for a great console to display stats.
Well it's not often I see components made in the North East of England let alone 10 mins away from where i live. That Welwyn glass resistor was probably be made in a small town called Belington.
Hehe there's a metal detectorist here on YT called Beau Ouimette who regularly finds gopros at the bottom of a river where he is looking for american civil war history and where people go on rafting tours. Lots of people losing gopros :D it's fun because it will likely still work when you get to it and will have recorded everything until it's battery died :D
Nice bowie knife. :-). I have a couple. Nice letter & package opener. The rotary switch on the analog meter is a beauty. The good thing about the solar cell is, even though it broke, you can still use several of the pieces.
Last time, i was indeed complaining about the length of the thermo Cam, but it was not my intention to make you go on quicker through your mailbags....If you show would last for two hours, it would be ok for me, as i *love* your show!! Thanx Dave!!
Dave. I think I know how to solve the problem with teardowns. Just put an annotation which allows to skip the teardown part. I someone does not want to watch them, he can easily jump to the next unboxing without using seek bar.
Maybe a few free for a local distrubuter in each country. Might save some losses etc. Just a thought. If still in stock, I wouldn't mind a trilogy set :D
I remember once I picked up a 32gb Micro SD card on sale for $10. When I went to use it, for some reason Windows wouldn't let me format it. And when I did finally get it to format, there was only something like 261mb listed on the drive. When I took it out and examined it, I realized I'd clipped the edge off with the scissors when I opened the package. I'm surprised it still "worked" as well as it did. I would have figured removing part of an SD card would damage it beyond any sort of operation.
13:46 - you of ALL people should KNOW why these sleeves are slipped over the batteries - it's to keep the electrons from falling out! :) At least they were 'smarter' than the Batteriser people, in that there is less risk of the 'case' shorting out the battery!
Hi Dave, Welwyn Electronics (pronounced well-in) were originally based just up the road from me in UKs first garden city (Welwyn Garden City) from 1937. They are now part of TT Electronics PLC but they still produce its iconic green vitreous enamel coated wire-wound resistors, but in Barbados rather than the UK.
Yes on the new microruler campaign! Bought 10 last round and gave 9 away to some very happy hackers .. Well .. they were happy with them rulers at-least :)
Different type of security gate. Checkpoint Systems makes anti-theft systems for retailers. There's probably some interesting RF processing going on inside. The right side of the board is probably power amps for the transmit antennas, and the left side of the board probably analyzes the received RF signal for the presence of anti-theft tags.
When the ECG machine came up, my wife said "It's not that old; we're still using them (at Westmead Hospital)". Sign of how old the stuff they use at the hospital, perhaps!
My goodness, even if he only used one piece of tape on the outside, this would still be the stupidest packaging seen in a long time. Sturdy box with a couple of layers of foam would have been fine. Bubble wrap does not prevent things from experiencing bending forces. Absolutely no thought went into this packaging at all, except for "more layers of bubble wrap is better", which is just stupid. Dave, you shouldn't feel even remotely bad about that packaging, you were framed.
12:22 - "meter movement PROTECTION" - I'm not sure how they achieve this, since there is NO 'off' position on the range switch (to short the meter terminals together)!
24:30 - Those Welwyn resistors - I wonder how much the values vary with humidity (even if the inside of those tube is evacuated (I'm guessing), the surface could get dew-ey and decrease the resistance! I'm guessing this is why it's rated at 10% tolerance.
Based on the purple color, I assumed the board was made by OSH Park. I searched the site, and found "Crazy Clock v0.8"... It basically ticks randomly, but keeps the correct time. The version on this clock is v0.6. Go to oshpark - dot com/shared_projects/INH02L3I
I think that solar cell probably cracked when you bent it if anything else. I don't think it had much to do with the knife, at least not directly. I love that you put up the video anyways, even though you screwed up, assuming it was in one piece when it arrived. I'm not an electrical engineer, and in fact I can barely wire a circuit to demonstrate ohm's law, but I love this channel.
Maybe the same electrical engineers that designed Italian cars wiring or mopeds for that matter. Classic mopeds are amp based rather than voltage, very confusing to a noob.
Who packs a solar cell like that? It would take an hour to unpack carefully enough to not break it. You would think that Marcell did this on purpose for the fun of making you think you broke something, and to see your face of innocent guilt! ;) If you watch it again knowing what it is, it's hilarious to watch the pounding :D Thankfully that exact solar cell only cost about $1.5 shipped if you auction well for at least 10pcs; I bought many of them that way.
I like the 2 minute teardowns, but I'd rather have them separate videos (youtube videos can be short, you know). But whatever you do, I'll still watch :)
The Checkpoint Security gate component is used for those annoying detectors that ring when the idiot cashier forgot to remove or deactivate the security tag in something you just purchased. One of the features is that it can connect to a high end DVR so that a pan tilt zoom camera will automatically turn to the door where the merchandise left. In the event of repeat thieves this actually helps to identify them so the next time they enter the store you can put feet on the ground and catch them in the act.
Dave it is time you design a hypersonic micro mail bag cutter with all super safety built in. You can do it !! take it as a "Super Sunday Challenge" - ah new section in your video series - what a idea !
I'm surprised you like those Tyvex envelopes so much. I noticed how much of your mail arrives in unnecessary plastic bags. I doubt any of that is recyclable.
Tilman Baumann he has had some bad experience with his uRulers cutting through the envelope from the inside. Also, there are not that many enveloped that can truly be recycled. The bubble wrap is normally glued in so well that you can't get it out of the paper easily
Two minute teardown is a great idea for mailbag Mondays. Good stuff.
EDIT: A Twin Peaks shout out! lol
The problem with that Solar Cell was that it was so well packed it was almost impossible to get out without damaging it. Especially with the giant knife
quincy8557 Well, if I knew it was a solar cell then I could have tried to open more gently :->
EEVblog Maybe, hope he sends another. It will be interesting seeing you evaluate its efficiency. Maybe if you get an even bigger knife the opening process will be easier
quincy8557 When I'll be sending you something i have to stick a tag with "don't use australian knives to open!!!" writen on it :)
Nope. The problem was the lack of warning on the package.
***** Yes, i agreed with you. Now, I know this. :D Nevermind, it was a funny unboxing ever, but i am sad that you cannot test it. Dave, use a smaller sword! :)
Solar cell package - how to pack something for protection in the mail while making it nearly impossible to open without breaking it.
I thought exactly the same. Some rigid plastic enclosure would do the job (like one used with CDs, just bigger). Or at least some huge red warning saying "Extremely fragile" or something like that. Too bad it broke, it could be nice big solar panel and Dave could do some great video showing how this actually works in practice.
Dave, the idea with the erratic clock is to be accurate on a by minute basis but drive you insane with the erratic ticking.
Exactly right. That particular firmware ticks once a second, but on a random tenth-of-a-second.
Nick Sayer Unfortunately the Black arms on Black background makes it functionally useless. :( I like the erratic click idea.
***** Well, you can hear it though. One of the side effects of the replacement controller is that it makes the clock tick a bit more loudly than it naturally does. Which is a feature. :) And the hands come off fairly easily, and can be painted.
Tilman Baumann it's called a Vetinari's Clock
I so want one to drive my friend nuts!
Two minute tear-downs are awesome!
By the way, you should start reading the letters before you open the package, that way you can avoid breaking something else.
Every time I see your knife, I get a feeling something bad is going to happen.
I thought I was a pro with a knife too. Then one day, while prying off a zip-tie for a pair of scissors, it slipped, went straight through the side of my left hand pinky finger, and severed both the flexor tendons. Only one could be repaired, so I lost some functionality in it. On top of that, I didn't have insurance, so the entire affair was about $19,000! Luckily they decided to be nice and knock half of the price off, but still.
Also, love the 2 minute teardowns. If I'm gonna be honest, I love any teardowns
***** Why the hell would you not have health insurance ?
*****
Why the hell would he use a knife when snips would have been better? He could have used toe nail clippers...
People need to use the right tools for the job.
To answer both of your questions, I was out of work at the time and couldn't afford health insurance, and I didn't have anything else around at the time, PLUS I had literally never cut myself with my own knife before.
Since then, I haven't cut myself with a knife again, even though I use a box cutter every night at my current job. That time was a simple slip up that just so happened to be angled perfectly for destroying the lever system in my finger.
If you're interested, I have pictures :D
***** So.. in an effort to shave some bills off, you ended up cancelling your health insurance and paying the absolute TOP dollar for an unfortunate injury. If you're going to save on some cash, the last services you want to cancel are your insurances.
I didn't cancel my health insurance, I had just never gotten around to buying any.
Two minute tear downs are awesome. A welcomed addition to mailbag Monday. Thanks.
I like the mini reviews in the mailbag episodes, adds more content. Longer episodes = awesome as we do not get nearly enough EEVblog each week :)
My favourite part of this blog is the teardown and repair videos and the associated commentary of how everything works. Personally I really didn't mind when you went off on a tangent in previous mailbags, but perhaps the two minute teardown is a good compromise between people like me who want to see a little bit more of the items that won't get their own video and those who just want to see you open mail like a kid on Christmas.
Two minute teardowns definitely a winner.
Thumbs up for the 2 minute tear down. I"m always happy to see a 40 min + mailbag! Plus I love tear downs of which I wish you could do more. Win-win in my eyes!
Love the 2 minute teardowns! Maybe even 3 minutes!
Mailbag is the best!! No teardown is too long I think! The videos are great no matter what!
Like the 2 min tear down and the ruler .
I really like the lead bending tool on the end of the new ruler, definitely start a new campaign!
Needle nosed pliers work great for me. But I would like to have one of those rulers also.
Hey Dave, its Rob here, the guy that sent you the ECG machine! I'm glad that you like it.
I should point out that the machine came from eBay with that ground-wire bodge.
The machine does work when the probes are hooked up and you press random buttons.
Enjoyed the 2 minute tear downs! Nice to see some of what you open that doesn't make it into a full tear down video.
I was so sad about that Solar Cell part *:(*
The 2 min teardowns are cool, I like how you give a general overview of the devices without too much detail, to me the general design is most interesting, not the tiny nifty details, at least for the mailbag.
About that clock, it's Lord Vetinary's clock!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havelock_Vetinari
***** yes! Vetinari's Clock, the one he put in his waiting room to make people go crazy
Not precisely. I do have a firmware load that acts like Vetinari's, but this one isn't it.
Nick Sayer
Sooo.... what is it then? (I was thinking the same. Couldn't remember the name though.)
Nick Guy That firmware is called the "Whacky" clock. It ticks once a second, but on a random tenth-of-a-second.
The Vetinari firmware ticks imperceptibly slower, and when it's gathered up enough time, it does a "double" tick. It does this about once every half minute or so, give or take (it's random). From the description of the clock's behavior that I've gleaned (I haven't read the books), that was the best algorithm I could come up with.
OK, I see. Thanks for the follow-up. :-)
I love the new 2 minute tear downs tides me over until Tuesday or whenever I actually get around to watching the previous Tuesday's video! Save the big things for the more in depth segment on Tuesdays!
Loving the 2 min teardowns for the stuff you may have already coverd in other vids to show diffrent layout designs. for newer stuff yeah teardowns are very welcome.
The ground plane on the Protocol Analyzer is connected - bottom layer and vias through to the top.
I would be up for the new batch of rulers.
Love the mini tear downs.
Way over wrapped solar cell!
Now you have a time piece, can I have the time circuits. I would repair them and love them and squish them and love them some more :D Or donate it to Applied Science to put in his delorean, now he is playing around with the engine, it would make for a great console to display stats.
People should mark their mail to Dave as kickstarter and an expiration date so Dave know it needs atention sooner than later :)
Hi Dave, 2min teardowns are great and new ruler campaign sounds even greater! Thanks!
Well it's not often I see components made in the North East of England let alone 10 mins away from where i live. That Welwyn glass resistor was probably be made in a small town called Belington.
Tip: If something is that fragile, don't make it that hard to open.
I approve of the 2 minute teardowns, also, too short.
Dave don't knock the knife. In the immortal words of Steve Jobs, you're holding it wrong.
EEVblog's new slogan: "It was all going well, until I broke it"
EEVblog
Try reversing your knife policy, get a scalpel :)
Hehe there's a metal detectorist here on YT called Beau Ouimette who regularly finds gopros at the bottom of a river where he is looking for american civil war history and where people go on rafting tours. Lots of people losing gopros :D it's fun because it will likely still work when you get to it and will have recorded everything until it's battery died :D
There is, and he has found at least two. They are watertight and will last for ages under water
the 2 min teardown is a nice compromise, i quite like it!
'Straight to the pool room' - there can be no greater compliment!
Nice to hear a quote from my all time fav film. Dreamin'.
For some reason I really love the casing on the security gate board. Looks really cool.
Nice bowie knife. :-). I have a couple. Nice letter & package opener. The rotary switch on the analog meter is a beauty. The good thing about the solar cell is, even though it broke, you can still use several of the pieces.
2 minute teardown is great for mailbag.
Last time, i was indeed complaining about the length of the thermo Cam, but it was not my intention to make you go on quicker through your mailbags....If you show would last for two hours, it would be ok for me, as i *love* your show!!
Thanx Dave!!
The CheckPoint stuff is theft protection device used in stores. It must have a 58 kHz RF loop as antenna attached to be able to detect armed RF tags.
This video was a total winner! love the 2min teardown.
Dave. I think I know how to solve the problem with teardowns. Just put an annotation which allows to skip the teardown part. I someone does not want to watch them, he can easily jump to the next unboxing without using seek bar.
EddieTheTurtle Majority of people ignore or disable annotations!
EEVblog True. I love your videos Dave, I will definitely send you my product one day. The two minute teardowns are awesome and work well!!
EEVblog or watching on mobile and can't see annotations
2 min teardown. Perfect..
i want that ruler! :D
I want rulers, too. Number of them, they are good presents, too!
I want it too !
Want it! :D
Dito!!!!
Maybe a few free for a local distrubuter in each country. Might save some losses etc. Just a thought. If still in stock, I wouldn't mind a trilogy set :D
I remember once I picked up a 32gb Micro SD card on sale for $10. When I went to use it, for some reason Windows wouldn't let me format it. And when I did finally get it to format, there was only something like 261mb listed on the drive. When I took it out and examined it, I realized I'd clipped the edge off with the scissors when I opened the package. I'm surprised it still "worked" as well as it did. I would have figured removing part of an SD card would damage it beyond any sort of operation.
Hey Dave, love the blog! It's revived my passion for electronics! Would definitely back a campaign for the pcb rule.. Keep the videos coming!
Loving the two minute teardowns! Keep it up! ;)
Those impossible to tear mailbags remind me of those sleeves the old floppy discs came in lol
Dave, you need one of those airport X-Ray screenes to view the contents of the mail before you wield the knife.
22:04 - Oh Dave! You're giving me a couple of ABSOLUTELY DREADFUL work-related flashbacks! :)
13:46 - you of ALL people should KNOW why these sleeves are slipped over the batteries - it's to keep the electrons from falling out! :)
At least they were 'smarter' than the Batteriser people, in that there is less risk of the 'case' shorting out the battery!
Hi Dave, Welwyn Electronics (pronounced well-in) were originally based just up the road from me in UKs first garden city (Welwyn Garden City) from 1937. They are now part of TT Electronics PLC but they still produce its iconic green vitreous enamel coated wire-wound resistors, but in Barbados rather than the UK.
Love the two-minute-teardowns!
Yes on the new microruler campaign!
Bought 10 last round and gave 9 away to some very happy hackers ..
Well .. they were happy with them rulers at-least :)
I love the new two minute teardown segment!
Love the 2-minute teardowns!!!
Different type of security gate. Checkpoint Systems makes anti-theft systems for retailers. There's probably some interesting RF processing going on inside. The right side of the board is probably power amps for the transmit antennas, and the left side of the board probably analyzes the received RF signal for the presence of anti-theft tags.
When the ECG machine came up, my wife said "It's not that old; we're still using them (at Westmead Hospital)". Sign of how old the stuff they use at the hospital, perhaps!
What can we learn from the solar cell dave...? READ THE NOTE FIRST!
No, what we can learn is that 1 piece of tape on the outer layer is sufficient... sheesh...
He should read the note first though IMO. Just out of respect
LoseThePlotGaming I didn't see the note in the bubble wrap.
My goodness, even if he only used one piece of tape on the outside, this would still be the stupidest packaging seen in a long time. Sturdy box with a couple of layers of foam would have been fine. Bubble wrap does not prevent things from experiencing bending forces. Absolutely no thought went into this packaging at all, except for "more layers of bubble wrap is better", which is just stupid. Dave, you shouldn't feel even remotely bad about that packaging, you were framed.
lovin the 2 minute tear down, keep up the good work :)
Lucky Dave - you got a Havelock Vetinari Discworld clock. Keeps good time but advances randomly to increase the stress levels of waiting visitors!
12:22 - "meter movement PROTECTION" - I'm not sure how they achieve this, since there is NO 'off' position on the range switch (to short the meter terminals together)!
25:25 yes please, run another campaign where we can buy the uruler!!
I love Mailbag Monday!
24:30 - Those Welwyn resistors - I wonder how much the values vary with humidity (even if the inside of those tube is evacuated (I'm guessing), the surface could get dew-ey and decrease the resistance! I'm guessing this is why it's rated at 10% tolerance.
Love the idea of two minute teardowns :)
Based on the purple color, I assumed the board was made by OSH Park. I searched the site, and found "Crazy Clock v0.8"... It basically ticks randomly, but keeps the correct time. The version on this clock is v0.6. Go to oshpark - dot com/shared_projects/INH02L3I
I miss Fundamentals Friday. And when are you going to finish the USB power supply? I enjoy those segments so much!
Hey Dave, really enjoyed the 2min tear downs!
Hello Dave! Glad you liked the keyholder..and the sand..haha!
Love the mini-teardowns!!
Solar freakin' mailbag
azayles I so missed that one-liner!
EEVblog You should sell the fragments in little glass pendants!
You like to talk - we like to listen! That is why we all are here. Knowledge!
2nin teardowns love it!!!!
Like the 2 minute tear down Dave
2 minut teardown is awesome!
Got to do another run of the ruler, many of us missed the last run.
I think that solar cell probably cracked when you bent it if anything else. I don't think it had much to do with the knife, at least not directly. I love that you put up the video anyways, even though you screwed up, assuming it was in one piece when it arrived. I'm not an electrical engineer, and in fact I can barely wire a circuit to demonstrate ohm's law, but I love this channel.
Idea: Wall of multimeters secured with velcro
The Cylone II is actually NOT upside down, you got the special Australian edition!
Thanks Dave. I wonder how many people die before their mail get's opened?
39:45 of course it's all rusty, it's Italian!
Many thanks!
Maybe the same electrical engineers that designed Italian cars wiring or mopeds for that matter. Classic mopeds are amp based rather than voltage, very confusing to a noob.
I like the 2 minute tear downs :D
Still trying to figure out what 'Looks a little "how ya doin'"' means. But, I'm guessing it's bad :P
I like long teardowns; even on Mailbag Monday :)
Who packs a solar cell like that? It would take an hour to unpack carefully enough to not break it. You would think that Marcell did this on purpose for the fun of making you think you broke something, and to see your face of innocent guilt! ;) If you watch it again knowing what it is, it's hilarious to watch the pounding :D Thankfully that exact solar cell only cost about $1.5 shipped if you auction well for at least 10pcs; I bought many of them that way.
you are getting suspiciously skilled with that knife....
Loving the 2 minute teardowns
I like the 2 minute teardowns, but I'd rather have them separate videos (youtube videos can be short, you know).
But whatever you do, I'll still watch :)
The Checkpoint Security gate component is used for those annoying detectors that ring when the idiot cashier forgot to remove or deactivate the security tag in something you just purchased. One of the features is that it can connect to a high end DVR so that a pan tilt zoom camera will automatically turn to the door where the merchandise left. In the event of repeat thieves this actually helps to identify them so the next time they enter the store you can put feet on the ground and catch them in the act.
I like 2 minute teardown!
Dave Jones
Just some correction as usuall :D
Boros is spelled like Borosh and the C in Marcell is much sharper, our names are never spelled right
Definitely do another μRuler campaign! I'll take 5 please. ^_^
cool ruler, just idea to add to it. Put some codes for VRMs, ceramic caps on it.
Whatever, really. Unpacking the solar cell was way more fascinating than the cell in it's non-broken state ever could be :P
Yeah, suck the 'CLOUD'. I will wait for a standalone EXE.
Cheers,
Mark
**********************
Vetinari style clock?
Dave it is time you design a hypersonic micro mail bag cutter with all super safety built in. You can do it !! take it as a "Super Sunday Challenge" - ah new section in your video series - what a idea !
I'm surprised you like those Tyvex envelopes so much.
I noticed how much of your mail arrives in unnecessary plastic bags.
I doubt any of that is recyclable.
Tilman Baumann he has had some bad experience with his uRulers cutting through the envelope from the inside.
Also, there are not that many enveloped that can truly be recycled. The bubble wrap is normally glued in so well that you can't get it out of the paper easily
*****
is it fun to comment all over this video?
the compaq nerd I think it's pretty fun, yeah
Yes you should do another campaign for your micro-ruler! :-)