Week 6

Building the hellow world board.
I found myself in an odd place at the begginning of week6, Excited and motivated ready to get a jump into the next project.
Watching Neil's video filled me with energy. We are making a fabduino of sorts. 
Goals for the week:
Select a design software
Layout the Hello World board in said design software.

Sounded simple. The more I tried to get my start into EAGLE the more overwhelmed I found myself.
Unable to find the Fab Library ( a list of components stocked in most every fab lab).
Every student linked to the original file which was missing.
I finally found a link on a students page. http://fabacademy.org/archives/2015/as/students/hobern.craig/week06/

This was a great start, as my first was a false start. I built the board using entirely wrong components.
After seeing one of my peers move along with a bit more success, I decided to siphon off some of his knowledge.

"What are you doing!" he exclaimed as he round the corner to find me sucking gasoline through a garden hose.

"Gbbbllllrrghhg" was all I could muster
The last thing I could recall was the look of disgust and horror on his face. All went black.

Anyway, after talking with Sam I learned my Fab Library wasn't available to import.
I had created my Project and sketch files before I had actually added the library to my computer.
Time to start over again I suppose. 
I rebuilt my board a total of three times before finalizing and getting my traces made.
I found no easy layout for my components I HAD to add three 0 ohm resistors to get all my traces to fit on a single sided board.
Adding these components openend up much of my board, no longer was I trying to route 3 traces in between the legs of the ATTINY44. 

I could not find an easy way to export my board layout for milling.
The best solution I found was to use a script to controll viewable layers in EAGLE.
Script can be found here http://fabacademy.org/archives/2015/eu/students/mason.david/weeksix.html

I modified the script by removing the 2nd to last line, the output command.
I simply copied the text into notepad saved it as script.scr and ran it within EAGLE.
This turned everything off with the exception of the component foot print and solder traces.
From that point I was able to export to monochrome png.

The door flung open with a bang. Crash! the glass that was nested within the door fell to the floor.
Words that read "Steven Fett P.I." were no longer in federation on the glass they called home, scattered in exodus across the floor. 

I had to know where I knew this intruder from. 
"That's right!" I exclaimed, internally I knew this person from...

The time I loaded my .PNG into MSPaint to erase the unnessacry pixels in my circuitboard.
I took to the easel (personal computing machine) and erased the odd outlines around my components.
It would not be opprotune to have the local modela cut strange traces into my board.
Traces that isolated components from the traces needed to connect them together.

It wasn't a long walk; a few blocks and 'round a corner to visit the local mill. A few hours till sunset. 
"Plenty of time to get clues" I mumbled while kicking a piece of refuse into the gutter.
The air smelled of burnt flour and garbage water. Typical for the Trash-Bread Quarter. 
"Good Day Millwright" I said
"Evenin" he replied
I knew his name but it often slipped my mind. Roland. His name was Roland Modela, I woundlt know if it were an odd name.
Him being the only millwright I know.

I loaded my file into the (dated) fab module and set my tool to 1/64th and made my path. The tool paths looked odd.
I had overlooked some process. I had no idea how to control scale accuratly during this process of design and production.
I ran the job as the module had interpretted it and found the scale to be nearly 10x larger than the board was supposed to be.

To be continued...