Week 6
Electronics Design
The sixth assignment is to redraw the echo hello-world board, add (at least) a button and a LED (with a current-limiting resistor), check the design rules, and make it.
This was the toughest assignment so far. I had a great deal of difficulty trying to do this on my own. I got the software loaded and downloaded the fab library files, but could not find them to get them on the board. Matt helped over the phone, but I decided to drive to Bakersfield from Los Angeles a day early to get Matt's help. Very helpful!!! but still not easy. It took hours to learn how to learn the software and it was a major puzzle trying to move the components around and make connections without crossing circuit paths and shorting out the circuit. I enjoyed the process, but it took way more time than I thought it would. I still have some doubts that the Modella can mill to the needed precision so that the circuits will not short-circuit.
This is the loaded components on the schematic. It took some time to load and label the components and assign the wires to the proper locations.
This shows the process of working with the board view on EAGLE. It is sweet that the software attempts to turn the schematic into a board with connnections of yellow lines showing what connections need to be made. One must design a millable conductive path by replacing the yellow lines with a millable ciruit path. It turns into quite a jigsaw puzzle to make the connections without crossing circuit paths and shorting out the circuit. You need to get creative and make the paths go through some very narrow gaps. This is the part where I am concerned about the ability of the Modella mill to make the precise paths.
This is my final...hopefully millable board that meets the requirements of the assignment. I added a LED, On-Off button and a resistor to prevent the LED from burning out. My concern is if the conductive paths are far enough apart for the mill to remove the proper amount of copper without short circuiting.
This is my final milled board that passes all of the electrical and programing tests. I was so excited...I did fabbercise. Check out the Eagle schematic Week6boardbuild.sch and board Week6boardbuild.brd in the File Repository folder on the left side of the browser window, or click on the links to the two boards in the above discription.