#4 Electronics production

I started this assignment with lots of concerns. Our instructors told us that we would struggle with this assignment, and even if we did everything right, we probably wouldn't make it. So with this being said, I was very cautious at first.

First I personalized my card. So I downloaded the PNG archive and opened it on Adobe Illustrator. I wrote my name, the year, and added the Fab Lab logo. Then I copied it to Adobe Photoshop on a new sheet with a higher resolution (300dpi) and saved it again with the PNG extension. When I started milling, I noticed that the pattern was too big, so I stopped the process, went back to my Illustrator archive, and saved it with the same resolution I opened. This time the scale was ok, and the milling went perfectly.

After some soft sanding, I had my card ready to start soldering it.

Before I began, though, I practiced my soldering skills with an old card. At first I just played with dots, trying to make them as homogeneous and smooth as possible, avoiding peaks. Then I tried to put some solder only in the paths. After that I started welding some cables and useless components. My goal was to improve my skills, but it was also kind of relaxing and playful. I got into the habit of looking closely at the card after every point to see the results and try to do it better for the next one.

I identified all the components first and started from the center out to the sides, as the books and manuals instruct, finally finishing with the USB and Pin.

By then I was very anxious to know if the soldering had gone ok. So I tried with the AVR to see if the green light went on, but I got the red light. With great disappointment, I was ready to start all over again, but I noticed that the bridge SJ1 was missing. So I soldered that immediately and tried again, and this time I got the green light and felt a great relief.

When I was still celebrating my achievement, my instructor told me that I would have to wait till the programing was done, because the green light did not really guarantee anything. So I immediately went to program my card, followed all the steps and everything went well.

Was it too good to be true? I don't know, but I was really excited, and my instructors were very proud of me. I know that the road won't be this smooth all the time, and I am prepared for that, but at least I had a great time running through this assignment.

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