DorkbotPDX people doing strange things with electricity

=== Announcing the third PCB Order! ===

Now's your chance to get that design you've been working on professionally fabricated in the USA.

This is open to DorkbotPDX dorks, Make:PDX makers, OpenTechSpace hackers, and anyone else that wants in on it. Orders must be received by February 2nd, and will be distributed by mail by February 10th or at the DorkbotPDX meeting on February 15th.

=== What you get ===
- Three 2 layer boards (see design rules below)
- Soldermask on both sides
- Silkscreen on the top side only.
- Optional Mylar solder paste stencil ($5 extra)

=== The Costs ===
$5 square inch for three copies of your board. So, a 2 square inch design would cost $10, and you'll get three copies of your board. Shipping by US Mail is included.

Scott Dixon has agreed to make Mylar solder paste stencils (for easy application of surface mount componants) for $5 a board stencil. If you'd like to take advantage of that, just include the "tcream" file the CAM file below produces, and tell me you want a stencil.

With the inclusion of a functional AVRISP MKII (and PDI!) programmer in LUFA, I thought it would be fun to make a programmer board to take advantage of it.

This is an programmer "shield" for the Teensy2. Solder on some headers, plug in your Teensy, flash it with the LUFA AVRISPMKII code, and you have a functional ISP programmer.

Lots of folks have asked about where to get solder paste for surface mount work (after the workshop). Here's that info for reference.

Digikey Solder paste part numbers: > SMD291SNL-ND 5cc Tube $14.25 > SMD291SNL10-ND 10cc Tube $20.93

Local Vendor: General Tool on NW Nicolai This was reported in Blabber by Richard Harding back on 10/16/09. I haven't tried them myself, but here's what Richard had to say: quote:

For the Eagle workshop/2nd PCB group order, I put together a pair of minimal breakout boards for the Parallax Propeller and would like to make the Eagle/Gerber files available for anyone who might find them useful.

So have you ever wanted to use one of the ubiquitous 16 pin LCDs in a project but found it a pain to wire up all the signals (not to mention the pot for contrast control and maybe a backlight control as well)? Me too. Sure there are serial backpacks and other ways to cut down on the number of pins and connections that it takes to run the LCD but sometimes that seems like overkill for a simple one-off project.

Thanks to all who attend the Workshop! Watching the group go from shocked amazement at seeing the tiny parts placed with tweezers to the point where everyone built a board themselves in just a few hours was both fun and exciting for me. Hopefully, those experiencing the process had as much fun. The hot plate process worked great and the solder paste silkscreens Scott made on the Tech Shop laser were outstanding.

Ten more Dorkbots are off and running with Surface Mount Technology!

I have been thinking a lot about not having constant network connectivity. At least for the next week or so I am without it so I will have to work from experience. If you need something you can call me. There was also a time when things other than bills came in the mail.

420 SW College #B Portland, OR 97201

So, you've designed a circuit board in Eagle, gotten it fabricated, and you just got it back. Now you see that the parts which looked so big in Eagle are actually REALLY DANG SMALL. What are you going to do? How are you supposed to solder that?!

Working with tiny Surface Mount parts is challenging but can be done in the comfort of your own home. Come to Dorkbot's Surface Mount Soldering Workshop, presented by Jim Larson, held at OpenTechSpace at TechShop, on Saturday, December 19th, 2009 from 1pm to 5pm.

When you're done, you'll have a step-up voltage module to take a AA battery up to 5V.

To sign up, email smd-workshop@denizen.org.

Cost will be $35, payable at the class.

Please bring:

• A soldering iron
• A pair of tweezers
• A pair of wire cutters

Class will be held at:

OpenTechSpace at TechShop
10100 Southwest Allen Boulevard
Beaverton, OR 97005

At the eagle for fabrication workshop on sunday I started with a design that Thomas Lockney threatened to build about a year ago called the Low Fi Arduino Guitar Pedal.

(http://www.instructables.com/id/Lo_fi_Arduino_Guitar_Pedal/)

Inspired by Laen's group PCB order and Ladyada's breadboard power supply, I decided to try making one that runs from a single AA battery.

click Read more for schematic and rambling about the design.....