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March 29, 2024, 07:51:37 am

News:

SMF - Just Installed!


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Messages - Phil

1
Yes, SMD connectors (micro or mini) are a separate issue. I agree and only use ones with through hole connections.

Also, re: the crystal, it IS a tuning fork. See:

http://www.nkg.com.hk/pdf/NKG-TIT_TuningForkCrystals.pdf
2
Interesting comment on mini-B connector. I always heard that the micro-b was more reliable (see: https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/18552/why-was-mini-usb-deprecated-in-favor-of-micro-usb ).

though i only ever had 1 micro-b connector fail (none for micro-b). in the end i standardised on micro-b as this is more common though annoyingly, i still have some mini-b's around which i leave the cable plugged in to avoid annoyance.

3
Glad to see you are back. I feel that there will be a new project to connect sleep function to the new monitor!
4
General discussion / Re: All OK, Andy?
March 15, 2018, 10:48:18 am
Hope you find time for more projects soon! My free time also evaporated the last 6 months...
5
General discussion / All OK, Andy?
March 15, 2018, 03:57:41 am
No updates for a while. Getting worried. Hope all is OK with you!
6
Out of interest, did you pre-bake the BGA? Maybe with the FG version, it isn't as critical.

I know Xilinx recommends at least 4 hour pre-bake at 125c and I've seen some recommendations for 24h pre-bake. They have a couple of application notes on this...
7
General discussion / Re: Cheap PCB production
July 04, 2016, 02:15:47 pm
The boards arrived back! I'm pretty impressed with the turnaround time. I even managed to assemble the 2nd one and found that it worked! The first board, I can't assemble yet as some components I need to still pick up...
8
General discussion / Re: Cheap PCB production
June 26, 2016, 01:13:00 pm
In case it is useful for anyone else, I used this small script to do the renames:

#!/bin/bash
cp *-B.Cu.gbr ITEAD.GBL
cp *-B.Mask.gbr ITEAD.GBS
cp *-B.SilkS.gbr ITEAD.GBO
cp *-Edge.Cuts.gbr ITEAD.GKO
cp *-F.Cu.gbr ITEAD.GTL
cp *-F.Mask.gbr ITEAD.GTS
cp *-F.SilkS.gbr ITEAD.GTO
cp *.drl ITEAD.TXT
9
General discussion / Re: Cheap PCB production
June 24, 2016, 05:23:49 pm
You are right. C3 was originally also a SMC, but I changed it at the last minute to THT as I didn't have the right SMC capacitor on hand but had loads of THT ones. I didn't care too much about the closeness as I will bend the capacitor over to the right.

I actually plan to have the low numbered pins as male pins mounted on the underside and just have the last few pass through pins as female mounted top side, so there will be no issue with space on the top board.

Thanks for your feedback, I'll send you a copy of the board :)
10
General discussion / Re: Cheap PCB production
June 19, 2016, 04:05:12 pm
Here's a preview. It gives what I presume is some warning so I guess something is wrong, but I chose to ignore it and I will see whether it still works or not...
11
General discussion / Re: Cheap PCB production
June 19, 2016, 12:03:06 pm
I noted that in both uploads, the system 'failed to analyze the gerber files'. Hopefully nothing drastically wrong... :)
12
General discussion / Re: Cheap PCB production
June 19, 2016, 12:02:10 pm
Thanks! I did :)

In the end, I made 2 different PCB designs and sent them to Itead. Let's see how it goes. If they come back OK and you send me your address, I can send you a copy of each :)
13
General discussion / Re: Cheap PCB production
June 16, 2016, 03:31:02 pm
Thanks for the tips, they are much appreciated. I think I'm ready to go now except... the OCD part of me refuses to submit it while I have half the maximum 5cmx5cm unused!  ;D

I'm now busy thinking what else I can populate the board space with so that even if the main part is a total failure, I can still make use of the rest as SMD breakout, testing PCB footprints for various components etc.

KiCad comes with a GerberViewer, but maybe it also makes sense to use another app to sense check it. You mention version 2.0 is more expensive, but it according to the page, if you use the Download version it is read-only but free! I guess for checking, this is fine.
14
General discussion / Re: Cheap PCB production
June 16, 2016, 03:29:38 am
Thanks for sharing your experiences. I think I will try Itead.

I probably would have gone with OSH since they have a KiCad upload feature which makes it very easy for beginners like me, but for the price you get only 3 boards instead of 10.

With Itead, I need to figure out how to plot the different files and rename it to the right specifications.

I need to investigate if KiCad has any feature that can automatically prepare to specific manufacturer restrictions and/or if there is a script which can automatically create as doing it by hand each time is not convenient.
15
General discussion / Cheap PCB production
June 14, 2016, 09:05:41 am
Hi. It seems you have tried a few different PCB manufacturers. I wondered if you would share your experiences of the different ones you tried and which ones you would use in which circumstances?

Thanks a lot for your site. You inspired me to try SMD work and designing my own PCB!