Electronics Production

This week has been the most easy and yet difficult thus far. Understanding milling has been weird for me. It has both been easy and difficult to follow and understand. I am trying to get more accustomed to terms used and remembering what they mean. For example earlier this week I though "fabmodules" was a file type or a document, just to remember moments later that it is the website Neil created.

Milling my Board

Using the CNC, MDX-50

On Wednesday after the class, we were shown how to use the machine. It was a lot to take in as I've never even seen one before prior to being in the lab. It is fascinating that we can make our our boards here in the lab. I was worried I would need to invest in an arduino board for my final project so it is nice to know I can save myself some cash and tailor it to do exactly what I want it to do instead of potentially buying a board and only needing a fragment of it's capabilities.

How-To: MDX-50 CNC Milling Machine - Setup

Setting up your board:

Game face on!
1. Pick a board and wash your hands
2. Put double sided tape on the back of your board to prevent it from shifting when being milled, and clean the top of your board
3. Stick your board onto the wax spacer and clean the board again (just to make sure it's definitely clean!)

Setting up the machine:

1. Pick the correct tool from the set (1-6). For this, tool number 2 (0.4mm in diameter) will be used to mill the trace of the board. To do this, press menu until you reach the "tool" menu, then using the jogwheel, scroll to tool number 2 and press enter to select
2. Setup X,Y and Z. To do so, press menu until you get to "user menu". Then Click X and use the jogwheel to position your tool in the edge of your board, then click origin to set your X position. Do the same for Y.
3. To setup the Z, there are two options
   • Using the zero sense, you can allow the machine to find the Z position itself. To do this you hook up the ZO sense tool to the back of the tool board in the socket, and then place the tool ontop of the copper board. Then you go to the "user menu" settings (get there using the "menu" button) and click the "ZO sense" button. The machine will then begin to move, don't freak! It knows what it is doing. You will notice it moves very slowly towards the tool, then it will stop and move back up.
   • You can find Z yourself. To do this, you click Z, then using the jogwheel, rotate it so that the tool is closer to the copper. When you get closer to the copper, use the "rate" button to reduce the speed you're moving at. When you are still just above the copper, hit the "spindle" button to get the tool to start spinning, then continue to move closer to the board. One way to know you have got the ideal placement, is to use your ears and listen for a change in pitch which will occur when the spindle touches the board. From here you can press the "origin" button, and then move back upwards from the copper. Once the tool has been lifted you can turn off the "spindle" tool.

Milling the Board

Editing the board:

Making the board was a lot of fun. Everyone was adding their own touch to theirs by adding a logo. Initally I had no idea what to do as my logo and through sheer lack of creativity decided to go with the start theme again. However after creating it and seeing it, I think I might use a star as my logo for the fab lab. Perhaps design one to put on this website as well.

Unfortunetly, some of the bits did not come out as planned, and in the process of trying to manually fix it, it ended up being broken. However! Luiz and I managed to fix it using DIY methods.

I still however wanted to create a new one, but it's nice to know that all is not lost if it doesn't turn out perfectly. It also gave me a chance to adjust my star's placement as I felt it was too close to the lines and I wanted there to be some distance.

How-To: MDX-50 CNC Milling Machine - Setting up the Board to be Milled

1. Take your PNG file of the Hello.ISP Board and upload it to FabModules
2. Click input format and select "image (.png)"
3. From here you need to select your .png file of the board (start with the trace)

Note: you will see on the top right hand side of the screen now that there is a bit in bold titled "input" which contains information about the file you've uploaded. Double check that the size listed is correct and that the dpi is also correct.


4. Select output format and in the drop down choose "Roland mill (.rml)"
5. Now select process and from the drop down go to "PCB trace (1/64)"
6. On the right hand side there are now two sections below "input" - "output" and "process". Start with output. The machine to select is MDX-40. Set it up like in the image below

7. Now hit calculate and see whether there are any glaring faults. If not, save the .rml file
8. Repeat the same steps for the trace (1-4)
9. Instead of selecting PBC trace, you now select "PCB Outline (1/32)"
10. Now make sure the "output" and "process" align with the image below

11. Lastly, like before, calculate it, and then save the .rml file

How-To: MDX-50 CNC Milling Machine - Milling the Board

1. Using the .rml files of your board from FabModules, upload them to VPanel for MDX - 50 software by clicking the "cut" button (highlighted in the image below)


Note:Make sure the XYZ are the same as the machine!

Note: To be double safe that nothing else but your own board gets milled, hit delete all before uploading your .png

2. Click "output" and the job will start

Note: Keep an eye on your milling board, this way yo can ensure nothing is going wrong or you accidentally seemed to have missed a step along the way. If a problem exists, you can pause it from VPanel. If it is an emergency, hit the red button on the side of the MDX-50 machine.

Tip: The "override" button can be used to alter the speed of the machine during the process.

3. To then mill the outline, you need to change the tool the same way you did at the stat, by pressing menu until you reach the "tool menu" and scroll to tool one
4. Now upload your outline to VPanel just as before and hit "cut" to begin.

Note: Again, keep an eye on things happening. It should only take a moment anyways to mill

5. To remove the board, be gentle. First start by using a brush to remove the access copper removed by the machine
6. Use a spatula to gentley lift the board off the wax.
7. Wash your board. I recommend using some soap, water, and scourer, wash the board (do not be too rough!)
8. Dry your board
9. You are now ready to begin solder!

Soldering my Board

I re-did my board on Monday and began soldering my parts on. I used the template to guide myself and stuck my bits on double sided tape stuck to paper that I labelled to avoid confusion and speed up my soldering and be more efficient.

I didn't finish, but managed to do most of it. The remaining parts are the bigger bits (the resistors and (SAY WHAT ELSE BASED ON LIST). However, when I returned Wednesday to continue, I ended up breaking my board and so need to make a new one again.

It is frustrating but at least now I will be able to create one that avoids the issue I had before.(ADD IMAGE OF NEW DESIGN OF BOARD VS OLD DESIGN TO SEE DIFFERENCE)

On Thursday (22nd) I re-attempted my board for the 3rd time. The first failure was that the zero sense didn't work and so my board wasn't cuting through properly. So I restarted and set my z co-oridinate manually. It all worked smoothly and it looked more visually appealing... that is until I did the outline bit to cut my board out. Everything was working well nutil the last second, when the machine was returning to it's finishing position, it cut through some of the board.

This meant having to re-do my board fot the 4th time! Very frustrating and was very de-motivating. It can be fixed, but as the point it cut through is so small, I'd be spending more time trying to fix it rather than if I simply made a new board. After he fourth attempt it finally worked!

Howver, as it was a very long day, I didn't start soldering till Monday that follwowing week. I did manage to solder everything on Monday, ran into a few bumps though; when I was soldering my USB bit, I accidentally soldered a bit together and had spent ages trying to remove the solder which was so small but obviously didn't work (confirmed through continuity testing the board).

Despite the fact that it took 4 attempts to finally mill my board and then solder it all correctly, the siverlining to it meant I got to do lots of re-milling and re-soldering so in a sense I got much better at doing the two. And having the offset, something I hadn't done in my first board, meant it looked cleaner.

How-To: Soldering the board (Tips and Tricks)

• Start by laying out all the components you will be needing so that you are organized and can work systematically and much fast/smoother
• Heat the pad with the solder pen first before putting solder on
• When soldering a component on, put the solder on the trace first then using tweezers, place one side of the component on and using your other hand to melt the solder underneath.
• Place the solder pen between the component and the pad and then place the solder ontop so that you not only use less solder but it looks much neater and higher chance of connecting (this is especially useful for the crystal and the ATTiny!)
• Solder the smallest components on first then go up in size. This helps when trying to angle around things
• Always refer to your schematic!
• As you go along, test the current flow in your circuit board to ensure yo haven't messed up a solder bit somewhere along the line
• Make sure no bits are soldered to others (especially important for the ATTIny and the USB Header!)

Just when I thought the worst was over, the next storm came in...

Programming my Board

This is the link thatacted as our guideline to program our boards

For whatever reason, still unbeknowst to myself and Luiz, my programmer refused to a programmer! I've tried once more to mill another board and solder it, but still, nothing. It wasn't until take x (I lost track of how many attempts there were at this, yes there were THAT many), where I decided before giving up and cutting Luiz's board to see if maybe the problem was with my design, to try programming using his programmer but instead now from my computer that it mysteriously worked. On the first time too. Not sure why. The only difference made was switching devices. But alas it worked.

Initially we thought the issue was with the feedback given by the board during the prgramming stages (see below image).

But when the same message appeared on my screen when I was trying it from my laptop, it still worked. Which is puzzling as it does not appear in the document posted on the fab academy site....Unfortunetly it was too far down along the line to bring it up with Neil (in terms of how many weeks had passed since this week).

On the fab link, it states things to look out for if the board doesn't program (see image below)

However, when I double checked everything, including checking all the soldered component parts under a microscope, everything was alright. At least I can say that out of this, my soldering skills are basically amazing if I do say so myself. ;)

How-To: Programming the board Part 1

Because I had issues with mine, for documentation purposes for the instructions, I will be using images from the fabacademy instructions page..

1. Download and Install Crosspack AVR
2. Get Make (via XCode):
   • If you are running Lion or higher - you can download XCode from the Apple App store.
   • If you are running a pre-Lion OSX - Get the install disks that came with your mac and install the developer tools.
3. Download the firmware and scroll down to the Mac section to find it
4. Open terminal and navigate to where you have downloaded the file to. Easiest place to have it is the desktop
5. Unzip the firmware.zip directory
6. Use a programmer and connect your and the programmer to your computer usb ports
7. Onto the Makefile (it is in the firmware directory that you downloaded).Open the Makefile with TextEdit.
8. Go to the line that says:

   #AVRDUDE = avrdude -c usbtiny -p $(DEVICE) # edit this line for your programmer

   AVRDUDE = avrdude -c avrisp2 -P usb -p $(DEVICE) # edit this line for your programmer

   If you are using the USBtiny programmer or another FabISP....:

   • Remove the "#" in front of the line with "usbtiny" in it
   • Add a "#" to beginning the line with the "avrisp2" in it to comment it out and save the Makefile
9. Navigate to the firmware file
10. in terminal, type "make clean"
11. If successful, you will see this response

12. If you do, the next step is to type "make hex"

13. In order to set the fuses so your board will use the external clock (crystal), type "make fuse". If you are successful you will see this message print

How-To: Programming the board Part 2 (Programing the board to be an ISP)

1. Type "make prorgam"
2. If you succeed the following message will print

3. ERRORS HELP!:
   • Read the errors and follow the instructions
   • If avrdude cannot connect to your board's microcontroller - you should follow the "Troubleshooting Short Circuits" image shown earlier

Is my programmer a programmer now?!?

The answer is hopefully yes. But to double check, go to the "apple" menu in the mail toolbar and select "about this mac". From here select "system report", and under the "hardware" - go to "USB". Here you should be able to check to see if your ISP pops up. If not, go back and try to see what might have gone wrong.

Once you have confirmed it is, remove the 0 Ohm resistor on your board as well and the solder bridge. AND HEY! LOOK AT YOU! YOU'RE COMPLETE!

Downloadable Links to Files:

My Programmer

• Programmer - Traces
• Programmer - Outline

Luiz's Programmer

• Programmer - Traces

This weeks homework:

1. Make an in-circuit programmer by milling the PCB
2. Cut something on the the VinlyCutter (preferably not just a sticker for an object e.g. laptop or phone

And for those extra brownie points...

• Then optionally trying other processes
3. Group Work - Characterize the specifications of your PCB production process