Week 06 Electronic design

                                                                                    

This week's assignment is to redesign Hellow World board and add an LED and a switch. I used Eagle to redesign and milled the circuit with Roland MDX20

                                                                                    

            I learned how to use Eagle from Rob, I found the Eagle easy because they were very user friendly unlike other softwares that I've used in this course. Moreover, the automatic shift from schematic to board was very helpful. Had it not had such program, I don't think I would be able to redesign it.

            Redesigning wasn't really the problem. But getting the parts all connected was the hardest part. I had problems connecting them because some parts were not really connected. So, before you do anything, make sure that you double and triple check whether the parts are all connected in schematic. I had to go back and forth numerous times.

            The steps are

            1. Import libraries. I imported the libraries from the fab website and used the ones that were given. Also Rob provided us with some libraries earlier this semester via email. I used that library for this project.

            2. Draw Schematic. Drawing schematic is pretty easy. just add by dragging from the library. The most useful technique that I learned is to use "net" command to connect them without actually drawing all the lines. It will save much time. When you finish making the nets, the eagle program will ask you whehther you want to connect them.

            3. Board. This is the hardest part of all. First thing you need to check is the dimension of the board. Sometimes they might be incorrect.

            4. Milling! For windows user, please invert the image that you got from the Eagle. I don't know why but somehow, I had to invvert the image to mill it. First time I tried it, I forgot about it and milled it wrong way. Also, before milling anything, you need to check the milling drill. It was broken when I tried it. I foolishly didn't check it beforehand.

             For some reason, it wasn't milled thoroughly, I had to use a knife and scrape the surface to have the path cleared away. I think this had been problem with taping. Be sure to tape uniformly accross the board.

            5. Soldering. Next step would be to solder. This part was easy but make sure that you solder every part without any excess amount of solder. This might accidently connect parts that you don't know to connect.

             Wallah! it blinks!!!!