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Homework
Our homework was to mill and stuff a PCB (printed circuit board).
Challenges
First time working with electronics
First time soldering ANYTHING
New language to me.....components, circuit boards, etc.
Having to cut several boards to get one correct and it takes a long time to mill
What happened below? We think I did everything correctly as far as operating the machine and sending the proper image and parameters to the machine. I'm puzzled as to why it did not complete the path in the upper left hand area near the 4 dots. They shouldn't be dots, but instead, a complete path that goes up and around. Hmmmmm......That's the one I cut below.
This is one my instructor had as a sample.
Before the lecture, we were introduced to the Modela milling machine in the Lorain Lab. Just like last week, I was REALLY excited to make "stuff". I watched my instructor and a classmate pull up the correct image, choose the proper settings, and run the machine. When it was my turn, I was fairly confident and enjoyed working with the small parts and tools for the machine.....AND I think I was pretty good at it...
Learning to Solder
Check it out! My first soldering job EVER. I loved doing it! I practiced with the small resistors first and then moved on to parts with legs, which, of course, were more challenging. I found the microscope very helpful, yet I was able to solder without it.
After my second go with the Andy and 2 incorrect boards, I decided to change to the Valentin design. I think it will be easier to solder anyway because it has a little more room. Here's is the one I'll work with, but I'm going to make a back up the next time I'm in the lab just in case.
Here it is! My "stuffed" circuit board. I really enjoyed soldering all of the components onto the board. It was so challenging because everything was TINY! I made sure to get the polarity right on the diodes AND I learned that you need a plan before soldering. I saved some of the larger components and those with legs until the end so those wouldn't be in my way while working on the smaller items. I followed the diagram below to get proper placement of components. Now I need to clean it up and get ready to program it to do something wonderful.
Does it work?........NO! I repeatedly plugged it in and got an orange light. I attempted to fix it in several ways:
Several of us studied the traces and found a couple issues. Some traces were connected to pads where they shouldn't be.
I had one of my resistors soldered in the wrong direction, so I had to unsolder it and resolder it to be parallel with its neighbor.
I worked with a very skilled Electronics instructor at LCCC on many occasions as well as Scott, my teacher, and we have yet to determine why my ISP won't work. Still working on a solution......