You think should tie the columns together to simulate a breadboard layout? I can’t stand building on a protoboard where every pad is independent. You end up doing kludgy soldering of multiple wires/component leads to a single pad. The other thing is that I’m not sure this will be a great board to turn into something permanent. But anyway, putting a grid there is no problem.
I usually tie triplets together. Full columns really reduces the utility.
Probably not a permanent item in cases other than one-offs.
My thoughts on placement but do what you want.
- Short LED strip WS2812B at top, connections on left as placed.
- Header solder points a half inch below OLED connections. If a female header is used for the OLED, a header here will provide support to prevent the display from getting bent down.
- IR and distance sensor near edge pointing out.
- Side_strip for WS2812B near right edge for 90 degree female header.
- Pot near an edge for convenience.
- For my class, I like two DS18B20s in parallel to show one-wire protocol. It probably would be well to only have one for the DMS project to free up space.
- Loose my “space” and power connections unless you like them.
- I thought it would be good to provide for a header with +5, +3, SCL, SDA and ground. A jumper from here could allow access to almost any hobby type off-board component.
@ozindfw Already in the plans
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Excellent suggestions. This gives great context to design intent.
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In EasyCAD, do you know if it’s possible to have 2 holes on a single pad? I was trying to customize the Pico footprint so it had the extra outer rows of pins. I can add a pad hole or via in the footprint, but then I get DRC errors for pad-to-via or pad-to-pad spacing for each of the pins.
I’ve tried setting the extra hole size to be the same as the drill size, and the soldermask size is set to zero.
At this point the only way I know to add outer rows of pads is to add two 20x1 headers to the schematic and connect them up. This probably the better representative way to do it, since headers would be a good debugging aid.
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My labelling of parts evolved as the project moved. My current direction is for the top line to identify the part and the second line echos, as close as reasonable, the label on the module. For example, the distance sensor has Gnd,Echo,Trig,3v. The servo just has colored wires and is labelled Ora,Red,Blk. This is to assist students in class.
I should have mentioned in my placement comments above that the servo will need a male header.
I generally used +3V but clearly it implies 3.3 volts.
The header on the left for MPU6050 and time of flight sensor have not been tested and I think they are in the wrong order for how the male header pins are likely to be soldered to the parts. I’ll try to check it and comment later.
Drop two pads and connect them with a trace the same width as the pad diameter. Can make the inner pad rectangular.
The rabbit hole keeps getting deeper.
Latest update. Bumped version to 0.2 before making changes. This is still a WIP.
PCB changes
- added two 20x1 header footprints next to Pico to allow easy access to IO pins, per prior discussion. Also allows headers to be installed for easier connection of scope or logic analyzer. Headers are added to the schematic
- removed the following: SPARE_3/SPARE_3B header pair, DS18B20_3
- added a 3D model for the Pico. This is a user-contributed model, so didn’t check it for accuracy. But it looks pretty
- miscellaneous cleanup
Schematic changes
- Grouped peripheral connectors by function type and labeled the groups
- Changed connection style on some of the connectors to match a more conventional schematic style For example, GND and power signals changed to vertically oriented instead of horizontal. The LEDs and DS18B20s have this change. The original style was likely adopted to have a 1:1 visual correlation to the PCB layout/labeling, as in the original graphically daisy-chained connection of the DS18B20s.
- Changed some of the connectors to hide the labels, which are identical to the displayed pin numbers. Again, this is more of a conventional practice for connectors to only have the pin numbers on the component pins and not also on the connector body.
Still ToDo
- Add in solderless breadboard area. Need to clear some routing out first and possibly move some more components
- Clear out area under Pico radio
- Misc connector shuffling for easy of end user experience.
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Awesome! I see you posted this at 1:30 this morning. You must be having fun!
You may want to slide Strip_Right to the left a bit. I solder a 90 degree female header here and it would stick out a bit. Not really a problem at all.
The DS18B20s are awkward as you optimize the board. Dropping #3 was good. The popular modules that I use are about an inch wide. DS18B20_1 will not fit as you have it if the OLED or DS18B20_2 is installed. I would dump _1 and remove the _2 from the name of the remaining one. My original design had three vertically and I spent about a minute mentioning that One Wire protocol was interesting and why. Time to move on.
Can the Pot be moved to the left some and down at least 0.1" ? This is getting real picky but some of the pots have three wires protruding from the bottom that would fit perfectly into the holes or female header as you have it. But some have the center pin 0.1" up. Is it reasonable to add a pin, connected to the center pin and 0.1" higher?
The power and data traces look good. I love the hefty one for Strip_Right. The LEDs can take a lot of power. I had thought about adding a barrell 5V power connector near Strip_Right.
Please remove my email address. I’m hoping that this project spreads well beyond the DMS community. I see the bp5 as my name for the board. You should dump it and claim it with your initials or something like DMS 1.
Thank you for your incredible work on this project.
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Is this 18B20 module similar in size to the module you mentioned. Width of the module seems to be more like 0.5 " wide. It would be much easier to allocate 0.6" instead of 1" for the 18B20.
If you have a data sheet or link, please send.
https://www.amazon.com/DS18B20-Temperature-Digital-Singnal-Arduino/dp/B09LCMSD1Q
Do you links or a representative data sheet for the pot? If the mounting hole for the pot is used, then would the pot be mounted from the back and the pins bent ‘forward’ to mate with the pot holes (sans connector/header)?
I have adding a +5V barrel connector on my ToDo list.
Is there anything in particular driving the board size. Wasn’t sure if this is the max size to get the 5 boards for $3.50 price.
There is a special for 100x100mm. Also the shipping jumps up a lot for larger boards. Here is an example of two sizes. I have enjoyed the ability to create something quickly and toss out an order for about $3.50. Two or three times a month is an expense I don’t think twice about. $18.00 or so for a slightly larger board really would slow me down.
===. 100x100
===. 100x120
My DS18B20 module is about 5/8" but I also also use sensors on a cable with “pluggable adapter modules” which plug into the same header and are 7/8" wide.
I’ll check for specific on the pot tomorrow.
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Brady, who is thus order from (what supplier?)
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I use the free design software at EasyEDA.com. There are better options like download and run locally but I use the Standard online option because I plan to do a class and that will avoid the dreaded install-software-on-students-PC procedure. Pro option is free for now but Standard gives me far more than I want.
From the PCB screen, chose Fabricate and you can write a Gerber to take elsewhere or have it fabricated by JLCPCB. Choose that option and you are in a screen that allows you to choose options and shows the price. After you go through it the first time, you will be amazed at how smooth it is.
Except for the Pico and PCB, I order everything through Aliexpress and Amazon. I will try to post a page of links for the parts I use later today.
This must be a first in the history of Al Gore’s Internet when an item originally posted as a joke got hijacked into something so productive…
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