Week 12: Output Devices

Making the Board

This week we had to design, make and program a board with an output we can control, since I'm gonna use a DC Motor for my extruder I opted to have that as my output. I started by looking at Neil's board.

EXAMPLE

I wanted to add both a LED to be able to show programming skills for week 9 and a LED to show when the board is powered.

First, I downloaded the allegro-2 library for my eagle to have more component choices.

EAGLE 01

Second, I added the components I was to use.

EAGLE 02 EAGLE 03 EAGLE 04

Next, I connected the paths, changed the names of some paths and checked for errors in my schematic.

EAGLE 05 EAGLE 07

After a couple more components and connections my schematic was done.

EAGLE 15

It was time to start routing

EAGLE 08

When I start I like trying auto-route to get a general idea of where my components should be although its not as easy as it sounds.

EAGLE 09

After I moved my components around and tried routing and checked for errors (Aside from the missing routes everything seemed ok).

EAGLE 11

I couldnt connect all the paths. D:

EAGLE 12

So I started again.

EAGLE 13

This time I managed by using a 0 ohms resistor bridge.

EAGLE 14

I optimized the space used and this was the result!

EAGLE 16

I exported the monochrome png image of my design.

MONOCHROME

After I inserted the monochrome into FabModules to get my G-Code file (.nc).

FAB MODULES

Using the Modela I milled my board and started soldering.

SOLDER 01 SOLDER

After about 25 minutes I was done(getting better at soldering).

SOLDER 02

Programming the Board

I connected my board to my laptop using my FabISP and an FTDI cable.

PROGRAMMING 01

Next, I started my Arduino IDE and selected the right options in the tools area. After, I opened the blink from the examples folder, added some lines of code to make the DC Motor run in one direction for 1 second and then change direction for another second(with the blink following the pattern). It burnt the bootloader on the first try and right after my code updated succesfully.

ARDUINO 02

The next day I went to the lab and connected my board.

PROGRAMMING 02

And turned the power on, giving it 12 volts.

IT WORKED!



Download the original files from the links below:
DC Motor Schematic: Eagle (.sch file)
DC Motor Board: Eagle (.brd file)
DC Motor G-Codes: FabModules (.nc file)
DC Motor Source Code: Arduino (.ino file)



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