Macrochips: A collection of laser engraved, 4 inch slate tile microchip coasters
evilgeniuslabs.orgSo this is interesting: I'm an EE, so I look at stuff like this all the time. I have a surprisingly decent chance of being able to identify random ICs I've never before (from major Western manufacturers) by pattern alone.
These almost all look deeply wrong or counterfeit to me, which is kind of unnerving to look at! I think it's mostly the fonts. There's not a lot of Arial or Bitstream Vera Sans (& descendants) on IC packages.
Yes I'm rather disappointed at the lack of effort with the fonts. I don't understand why they didn't just convert an image of the chips to SVG, clean it up, and engrave that.
Fonts and being slightly uncentered, for me.
Awwww, it's just the packaging. I was hoping for exploded circuits... maybe they could team up with Ken Shirriff?
I wonder if the laser engraver would have enough resolution for something like this? https://www.4004.com/ (quick&dirty black&white version https://ibb.co/HTCxVMh )
edit: quick google finds advertised resolution to be 1000dpi for the engraver, so that 4004 die could be within the realm of possibility. Anything more complex probably would not work very well though.
Resolution of the laser isn’t the problem. Resolution of the medium might be.
I don't need these (we already have coasters we like), but they're really cool.
The AD7746 has had enough of an influence on my life that, well, a big one as a coaster/paperweight would be a perpetual source of smiles.
But I want them with solder bumps on the underside, or even pins for some of the older chips.
Get silver-colored silicone bumps to keep from scratching your tables. Bonus points if you have the full grid of contacts, matching the original.
Slate slab coasters from Amazon work really well for this. Engraved a couple of these for myself, like a Taito Bubbble Bobble chip and the MOS 6502 for a friend. They make amazing gifts.
would be awesome if they had fluidic circuits which harnessed coffee drips for computation
I absolutely love this, the next time I get access to a laser cutter I'm running off a few as gifts for the EEs in my life.
I was going to make some coasters by gluing some 4-inch silicon wafers underneath glass coasters. I should get on that.
Before I clicked on the link, I was expecting some oversized 555 or 741 type of circuits.
How is this legal? They're using trademarks out to wazoo to make money?