In the fourth week we explored Electronics production. Most pieces of high tech equipment have some sort of circuit board in them. They monitor the inputs of a system and acting on a predetermined set of rules cause outputs to happen. Using printed circuit boards (PCBs) we can control almost anything. During this week we will make our own PCB and program it to program the other boards we will need for our projects.
Here is a list of tasks as I see them for the fourth week.
I used a Roland Modela MDX-15 milling machine.
Repeat steps to cut the outline of the PCB board. Use file "fabTinystar-012_outline.jpg"
Clean circuit board with alcohol and brush.
Proceed with populating the board.
Next comes the task of populating the board with electronic components. The first thing I did was to practice my soldering technique. We used practice kits laid out in the lab for us.
After some practice I felt that I could tackle the soldering of the PCB board. We were given a picture showing the placement and types of components needed for our circuit. We organized all our parts by taping them down on a sheet of paper. That should keep them from getting misplaced.
Here is a picture of the half completed PCB.
Here is a picture of the completed part.
Using the information from Zaerc's website we porogrammed our new PCBs.
sudo apt-get install avrdude
sudo apt-get install gcc-avr
make -f hello.ftdi.44 echo.c.make
sudo make -f hello.ftdi.44.echo.c.make.program-usbtiny-fuses
sudo make -f ello.ftdi.44.echo.c.make program-usbtiny
Here is a picture of the board test.
My documentation pretty much speaks for itself. As far as problems I found that I needed to helped quite a bit along the way. I am still a little fuzzy as to what exactly happened when we programmed our PCB boards. I assue that we will get further incite into the process as the class progresses.