REVIEW – Fixing broken things is one of the Gadgeteer superpowers. We use a lot of different materials for this, and we were recently offered a new product that can fill those patching and repair needs. It’s a series of light-curing products called BluFixx. These are liquids that are designed to repair everything from your phone charger cable to wood floors and plastic pipe. The liquid is cured with a UV light, just like the tooth-filling material your dentist uses.

Note: Photos may be tapped or clicked for a larger image.

What is it?

A tube of liquid that flows easily, backed by a UV light source at the opposite end, which cures the liquid into a hard material.

Hardware specs

The product is sold both as a full kit (holder with a tube of liquid and UV curing light together) or just the refill of the actual material. (Since any UV light source, even direct sunlight, will cure the liquid, this is an easy entree into trying out this product.)

What’s in the box?

As mentioned, there are two main ways to order: as a kit (including holder and light) or as a refill (liquid in tube with applicator tip. There is also a three-fold brochure on safety and usage tips that is 7”x11” when fully unfolded. The lede photo above shows two kits – one fully assembled on the upper right, and the other disassembled on the lower left. The Refill is just the tube with the white label in the lower center.

Design and features

The design of the product is sheer simplicity. A needle-tipped applicator is used to direct a thin film of product onto a surface needing repair. When the liquid is in the right spot, the user spins the applicator around and activates the UV light on the other end (it’s a push-on/push-off affair), and in 5-10 seconds, the product is hardened into a tough, yet pliable surface.

Setup

While there is really very little “setup”, I thought a few words about how the “pen” aspect of the design. It feels very natural to hold it in your hand, point down, gently squeezing the flexible body of the tube and allowing the gel to flow into the area of application. If it gets too thick, however, the UV light won’t penetrate and cure it. Remember: Thin layers, just like your outdoor adventure guide always told you.

Performance

I found the application and curing process easy to work with, but many repairs have points where the edges do not line up and I needed to build up layers of material to fill in space, or the liquid flows into a deep crevice of the surface, where the UV light cannot penetrate to cure it. Placing just a dab in a deep crack, curing it, and adding another layer is not intuitive to those of us raised on airplane glue. But once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty good stuff.

What I Like

• No fumes
• Doesn’t dry out easily if left uncapped
• Cures instantly
• Can be shaped after curing

What needs to be improved

• Not as flexible when cured as some glue/patching products

Final thoughts

If you’re really a Gadgeteer at heart, you are always playing around with stuff, trying to make things do something just beyond the edge of what they were built to do, prototyping, or breaking stuff. If you’re not using a bit of superglue, Sugru, Epoxy, or Duck tape on a regular basis, you’re not living up to your full potential. (As an aside, anyone reading this site regularly needs to know about This to That. It’s a website devoted to helping visitors find the best way to attach one material to another. You’ll get lost in there, so set a timer!) This product is an entry into a new line of connectivity methods that I’ve been exploring. I find it easy, quick, and usually robust. BluFixx’s innovation of different grades of liquid and colors is a needed innovation.

Price: $14.99 for a full kit, $9.99 for refills.
Where to buy Manufacturer’s website and Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by BluFixx.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: Do-It-Yourself

BluFixx repair gel kit review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 30, 2018 at 11:00 am.

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REVIEW – You can find Raspberry Pi 3 cases all over the Internet.  They are mostly all good, and mostly all priced the same – $15.  New Age Enclosures is looking to break out from the pack with a high quality, durable case that costs less.  Is that possible?  Read on to find out…

Most people buy a Raspberry Pi bundle when they are getting started.  Bundles usually include the board itself, a power supply and heat sinks, a micro-SD card with NOOB, and the same basic black case that comes in 3 parts.  If you are a school or other organization who buys the Pi in bulk, you are almost always on the lookout for a solid case that’s a bargain.  New Age Enclosures – already selling some pretty nice specialty cases like weather-proof utility enclosures – has created a Pi case that starts at $6.50 and goes down from there, depending on how many you want to buy.

Personally, I prefer a 2 part case over the ubiquitous 3 part cases that come in every bundle.  In my opinion, there are fewer opportunities to mount the Pi incorrectly with the 2 part case.  It does require, though, a more exacting manufacturing process because the board has to fit without having too much “free space” inside the case.

The next few pictures show the board mounted and the case made ready to deploy.

As you can see the case is a perfect fit for the Pi 3+.  The board went in smoothly and easily, and the top snapped in without a struggle.  The unit feels secure.  And there are a couple of very nice touches – first, there are mounting holes in the case so you can secure the board to the case itself.  Most other cases on the market rely on everything being properly set and then the tension from the case snapping together.  If you are using a Pi in an industrial or educational setting, this added bit of security is a very good thing.

The other nice bit is the inclusion of mounting holes on the bottom of the case.  Your Pi can now be mounted on a wall or other surface.  If I could add anything, I would love to see New Age make a VESA mounting plate that would use these mounting points to put 1 or more Pi cases on the back of a monitor.

I did have one concern, though – on initial examination, I did not see what I thought would be adequate ventilation.  Your average Pi case has a top that looks like a raspberry that has been shot through with buckshot.  So I hooked my Pi up to my monitor and played Donkey Kong for nearly an hour.  That’s called research, and I am happy to take the bullet for you.  After many barrel mishaps, the Pi did not overheat and the case was no warmer or cooler than any other case I’ve had.  So the two ventilation grooves on the top of the case seem to be a nice compromise.

The case comes in black, white, clear, translucent blue, translucent smoke grey and translucent red – the color I have.

What I like

• Precisely engineered for the Raspberry Pi 3 series
• Sturdy
• Comes in colors other than black and clear

What needs to be improved

• None, really

Final thoughts

If you are looking for a case – or a case of cases – New Age Enclosures has you covered.  If I could get a VESA mount this would be the perfect solution for all my Pi needs.

Price: $6.50 (lower pricing in quantity)
Where to buy: New Age Enclosures
Source: The sample for this review was provided by New Age Enclosures.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: Do-It-Yourself

New Age Enclosures Raspberry Pi 3 Tinker Case review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 28, 2018 at 12:21 pm.

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