New run of orbshields

[vputz]

Okay. Whew! Got my inventory system mostly set up and a test run of my SMD boards. Design is final and the SMD boards work (except that I can't find my SMD LEDs, so the test boards don't have that, but they do work as far as "being an Orbotron", and connect to the computer and orb just fine and make axes wiggle). The case is on the thick side; if I cut a hole in the top for the DB9 and made a programming jig to eliminate the 6-pin programming header (which I'm going to do soon), I could make it thinner... but unless people see a real need, I probably won't (the case is mostly spurious anyway, but it's nice not to have a bare PCB rattling around your desk).



I don't yet have any production PCBs ordered for the SMD version, so if you want those it'll be a longish delay (mid to late May) but I still hope to send the first wave of PTH kits out next weekend and then take a couple weeks off.



As far as the SMD boards... man, unless solder mask on the production boards makes a HUGE difference, I am going to have to charge a decent amount for assembly. I'm terrible at this! Solder bridges everywhere and lots of debugging afterward (and I can NOT get it through my head that the indicator on the polarized capacitor is on the positive lead; another POOF! mini-explosion). On the other hand the SMD parts do cost a tiny bit less, so that's nice.



So tomorrow will be more website work and maybe I'll put in a test order for a big batch of boards. Lots and lots of learning going on around here, but I think it's finally coming to a fairly happy ending.

[kenyee]

[quote="vputz"if I cut a hole in the top for the DB9 and made a programming jig to eliminate the 6-pin programming header

...

As far as the SMD boards... man, unless solder mask on the production boards makes a HUGE difference, I am going to have to charge a decent amount for assembly. I'm terrible at this! Solder bridges everywhere[/quote]



That was my main issue w/ those SickOfBeige style boards too...they end up being huge because of the damned connectors. You pretty much have to do custom cutouts for them (if you're doing custom laser cut pieces, you probably should do that, but I was buying SoB cases).

For the 6-pin programming header, don't bother making a programming jig. Just add a Tag-Connect footprint to your board:

http://www.tag-connect.com/catalog/6

No header needed so no expense for it and less wasted space. Hold it onto the board for a second or two to program and take it off or use the legged version if you're not trying to make it as small as possible.



Where are you getting bridges in soldering SMD? If it's on the main arduino chip, what technique are you using and what soldering gear are you using? Looks like there's plenty of space (usually the problem is all the components are bunched together and soldering one w/o touching another is a PITA). If you're using a reflow plate, you shouldn't have any issues w/ bridges either (as long as the solder mask is there).

And why are you using polarized caps? Most aren't any more, so you shouldn't be putting those things on unless you have to. Only LEDs are polarized on most boards now...

[vputz]

Custum cutouts aren't really a problem; the tradeoff is more complex inventory because now I have to have tops and bottoms, and then maybe two different tops because the PTH version may want a cutout for the large USB-B connector too, and then two different sizes of spacers and screws... it's an annoyance. It'll probably grate on me enough to change it at some point.



Tag-connect looks nice, but I'm actually planning on making pogo-pin test fixtures for the boards and just using the 6-pin ISP footprint. People can solder in a 6-pin header if they want, which gives flexibility.



The bridges are indeed on the 32u4; I'm using stencil and reflow. There are two problems: one is that I find it very difficult to get the chip on straight without a little jitter (even with a vacuum pen), which smears the paste a bit. The second is that this is still on prototype boards without solder mask. I may build a jig to stabilize my hand. There IS plenty of space; this could be a smaller board, but again I wanted simple inventory; this makes this board exactly the same size as the PTH kit so they share the same case.



As for the 10uf cap being electrolytic, that's one of the big questions I have too. On both the Leonardo schematic and the Adafruit schematics the 10uf cap is shown as polarized and none of the others are. I'm not even totally sure I need that cap at all if we're using nice clean USB power (I ditched the voltage regulator and such)--on the first board when the 10uf cap burst, the thing actually worked fine. In this case I'm leaving it on for the extremely indefensible reason that "well, the other guys had it that way and I got tired of trying to understand why."

[vputz]

Ugh, never a dull moment ;) Just to show I'm not being a total slacker while I wait for boards, I finished my "manual pick and place gantry" to stabilize the vacuum pen (if it works, I'll show a picture, but I'm too embarassed to show the monstrosity if it's just a waste of time :) ). I also converted a couple more demo sketches to the new format and only one more (mouse and keyboard bindings) needs to be done. The mouse works like a champ (but I still have one more awesome idea) but the keyboard will take a bit more. Next Saturday should be build day as well as hopefully getting the site up for "beta orders".



Oof. Awesomely productive day, but I'm knackered (on the plus side, I discovered how to use the Kettletron 9000, the PID controller I use to reflow the boards, to make bacon-infused bourbon. So that's awesome.)

[kenyee]

[quote="vputz"]tradeoff is more complex inventory because now I have to have tops and bottoms, and then maybe two different tops because the PTH version may want a cutout for the large USB-B connector too

...

The second is that this is still on prototype boards without solder mask

...

As for the 10uf cap being electrolytic, that's one of the big questions I have too.[/quote]

Make the top cutout the same for PTH and SMD...it's ok to have a bit extra space for the SMD version. Then you only have two parts.



The solder mask does make a huge difference...the reflowed solder just rolls off it and merges w/ the metal, so there are less bridges. You can hack fixing bridges by running solder wick against it w/ a soldering iron usually.



I've used 10uF caps like that on MSP430 designs (that power design is nearly identical)...it's to make sure power is clean when you plug it in and to make sure usage surges don't pull it too quickly out of the power source. If it's clean power, you don't really need it. And I've used these MLCC caps w/o polarity on my boards w/o issues:

http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Taiyo-Yuden/EMK107BBJ106MA-T/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMsh%252b1woXyUXj0Cks%252bXuBt5ieQmPq3BOHJU%3d

Stop using polarized caps unless you have to (no idea if the PTH stuff you use is polarized, but the SMD stuff definitely isn't)...

[vputz]

That was actually the response I got from Adafruit too (it doesn't have to be polarized; they just used it because electrolytics were cheaper at the time but they use ceramic now). Well, learning experience. I may make that change for production, may not; I'm not bothered too much either way to be honest; it's a minor change to the footprint so I probably may as well. Might do the cutout too, as it looks like the bottom spacers will be enough height to use as top spacers for the SMD version, and it WOULD be nice to have it smaller, but let's be honest; volumes on this will be pretty small either way.



Edit: clarification; changed the cap while on hold cancelling my credit cards after a police call saying they'd apprehended someone with my information (nothing abnormal on my accounts thank goodness, but bleah, not something I wanted to deal with). As for the case, I think the PTH is going to remain tall but I'll make that change for the SMD cases... the large PTH USB socket is the same height as the DB9 so there's no sense just cutting one out, and even cutting out both wouldn't help all that much because the ADM232 chip is sitll 10mm or so combined. It'd work for the SMD version sans programming header, though.

[kenyee]

[quote="vputz"]cancelling my credit cards after a police call saying they'd apprehended someone with my information (nothing abnormal on my accounts thank goodness, but bleah, not something I wanted to deal with)[/quote]

Make sure to check your credit records in a month or so...a friend had his identity stolen and the thieves had enough data to create fake credit cards using his name for a while and it was ugly.



Thanks for putting the cutouts in. I hate the wasted space from my msp430 gizmo using the SoB case w/o the cutout so I'm going to have to figure out how to do cutouts at one point as well..

[vputz]

[quote]Make sure to check your credit records in a month or so.[/quote]

Will do. So far I've been lucky and all my brushes with this have been harmless but I'm always worried.


[quote]Thanks for putting the cutouts in[/quote].



It's much worse than that; you've forced me into an existentialist crisis on the subject of proper use of space and I'm going to try shrinking the SMD board considerably after admitting the case should be different... and once that's done, my arguments about simplicity in inventory start to lose impact compared to lower cost and tighter design. It'll mean a small delay, but not much hopefully and in the meantime you can have a couple of PTH kits at cost...

[vputz]

Heh heh... okay, yeah, this will be worth the delay. Much nicer even if I only dropped from 4 square inches to 3.25. I've placed the proto order for new PCBs (and now need new stencils, and new cases; this is what you drive me to... ;) ). But seriously, I like this much better, plus I found another prototyper (more expensive per board and longer delays but solder mask, at least. There will be more. Learning experience).

[kenyee]

[quote="vputz"]you've forced me into an existentialist crisis on the subject of proper use of space and I'm going to try shrinking the SMD board considerably after admitting the case should be different[/quote]

lol. I do that too...OCD engineering optimizations :lol:



Doesn't sound that much smaller than the PTH. Should be ok to use the same case...just that one component on one end is smaller. And you can stuff the programming pins in that cutout on the SMD version too...looks like it'd fit in the same hole as that gigantic PTH USB connector.

I'm sure you'll find the solder mask a lot easier to use...the solder really should roll off the mask and prevent bridges, assuming you aligned the chip roughly right.

[vputz]

Well, the total board area is almost (but not quite) 1/4 smaller, and at about $1.6 GBP/square inch (in small batches) x 2.3-2.75 (recommended multiplier), that could be about $4 off the end price, which will still likely be much higher than I'd like it to be (which is why first round will be at cost for everyone who's been hanging in there waiting). Basically it's now just as wide as the DB9 connector, so there's no "cutout" needed on the case; the top is just about 1/2" smaller than the bottom.

[kenyee]

[quote="vputz"]Basically it's now just as wide as the DB9 connector, so there's no "cutout" needed on the case; the top is just about 1/2" smaller than the bottom.[/quote]

Nice...that's a nice way to do it...just move the standoffs back :)

[vputz]

I'm about to go postal on delivery services, as it were. Attempted delivery of the boards Thursday and would "automatically attempt a second delivery on the next working day" so I arranged to work at home and sat here until the end of the delivery window... 7:30pm. Nothing, not even a "missed you" card, which means, yep, stuck until Monday since they don't deliver on Saturday.



I did have some time to polish a few things up on the software. Sensitivity curves and Keyboard bindings to axes and buttons work again, and mouse bindings to axes and buttons work too. I even tried an "absolute movement zone" in the middle of the axis for mouse emulation; in other words you could have a little bit in the center where you move "absolutely" for aiming and then if you push past that it continually moves. But for some reason it just doesn't feel "nice" and doesn't always come back to center, so it may have been wasted efforts. I also may have to tweak the SMD board again to add test pads for the USB connection, but really that shouldn't change anything.



Anyway, I still have some work to do tomorrow making a wiki and redesigning the SMD case, but I'm really cheesed. I can still get the kits out next week; my guests will probably find it funny--but this is still annoying. I'm really sorry for the delays.

[vputz]

New cases designed. Plus bonus chance to learn more about Blender and Inkscape. At least I can do something semiproductive with the delays...

[orb-a-new]

Hiya Vic ... Sup everyone;



Great work Vic, your efforts are nothing short of heroic in my book.



Please add me to the "I GOTTA HAVE IT" list, thanks.

A kit or fully assembled. Please just tell me, where, when and how much.



I had a thought about the "belly button". Could it be used as a chording button?

Perhaps during the first 10 to 30 seconds from plugging in could set orientation (vertical or horizontal) and from then on be a chording button.

Seems to me the "belly button" is accessed very easily with either hand. Just an idea.



I've had my ORB since first introduced and hope to use it one day again. (hidsorb and OrbShield did not work for me as hoped). Though the OrbShield worked perfectly on Linux (keyboard, mouse).



Thanks so very much for your hard work and diligence. I (we all) look forward to using our ORBs again. You rock.

orb-a-new