I started by watching a sparkfun's youtube video on an oscilloscope
I learned:
that an oscilloscope measures voltage over time: getting amplitude, frequency, transient signals;
The important buttons...
Calibrating the probe/Adjusting compensation capacitor
on the probe select to X10;
connect the probe to channel one plug;
connect the probe to the 1kHz 5V square wave generator
turn on oscilloscope
make sure only channel one is on, click on CH2 button until its off and the other way around on CH1 button;
select DC coupling with the F1 key;
press button F4 to select 10X on probe mode;
press trig/menu button and select type as "edge" and source CH1
Select slope as "Rise"
Adjust the Vertical and horizontal knobs until you see the wave
if wave is moving adjust trig knob until it stops
to calibrate the probe adjust the screw on the base of the probe until the wave is square.
Eagle introduction:
I started by watching the video tutorials below I had a look through the
eagle tutorial
for the week 6. Following it I downloaded and installed the Fab library for eagle.
under projects → right-click on eagle → click on new project → name project
right-click on project name → new→ Schematic
type "add" → search for each part
place part with let click → repeat procedure until all the same part is added → press ESC to add next part → search for next part or press ESC to go back to schematics
Type "rotate" and left click on part origin to turn part around to desired position
Type "net" to connect part to each other;
type "name" and left click on top of part to name part;
type "label" and left click on wire to connect one to the other without having to net;
type value and left click on part origin to designate part "value";
type "move" to position the part as needed
save the file
Drawing the Board
To position the components on the PCB use commands as done on the schematics:
Left click on file → type "board" → accept warning and left click yes to create start designing the PCB from previously created schematics
all components will be displayed to the left of the board → Drag them one by one with command "move"+left click drag to position inside the board
type "rotate" to turn the components the same way as in the schematics
after all is positioned → resize board size dragging the sides of the original board with the command "move"
type "polygon" and select top layer and draw a square around the board limits in order to creat he top layer of the PCB
type "ratsnest" → start autorouter type "auto", this command is very convenient as it gives initial idea on how you can route the board, but it doesn't replace manual routing
select start
adjust traces if needed with command "ripup" to remove positioned paths
place new paths with command "route" and "move" to better position
type command "info"+left click in order to fine tune position of paths as well as thickness
You can watch how I did it here, pump up the volume for some Cash!
in case it doesn't play watch it on youtube!
Adding the LED and Button
In order to add the LED and the Button I went back to the Schematics.
In the schematics type "add" to add two resistors, one LED and the button
The fist resistor works to limit the current that goes to the LED. It should be placed in the positive side of it. In other to dimension the LED I checked first the LED data sheet. There I looked for, Dc forward current, in this case 30 and forward voltage, in this case 2.1.
with those two values plus my input voltage "5" in hand I input the values to the website
LED center
in other to calculate the correct resistor, in this case 100Ohms
as for the switch I used a 10K resistor as a pull-up resistor
like before I used the commands move rotate and label name copy to position all components on its place
Make BOM (Bill of Materials)
Left click on design link → left click on Schematic
wait for program to display part → type new search string in case desired part does not appear → left click manual search → choose desired part → left click select
Go to Options, Set, Misc and deselect Display Pad names, signal and via lengths. This will prevent undesired text from appearing on the exported image.
On layers toolbar select only the top layer
next type "export"→ select image nd monocromatic→and in resolution type 500
save to desired location
the result is a black and white image
Edit in gimp
With the exported eagle file in hand open in gimp.
in gimp I decided to add some wording, this was easy by selecting the text tool, then font size and rotating the wording to an ideal location.
I also removed unnecessary black areas with the bucket tool
to create the outline I selected the area I wanted to keep and covered it with the bucket tool
in the end you should have two images, one for the PCB and one for the outline
Fab modules and Milling
The process in Fab modules and Milling is already outlined by the week 4 assignment so I will only keep here an image of the result
Soldering/Populating the PCB and Debuging
The result
As before the populating and debugging is already outlined by the week 5 assignment so I will only keep here an image of the result
Conclusion
I really enjoyed learning this new tool. I have used eagle before to view pcb's but never actually designed one. I feel it opens my mind to a lot of new things to come!