Week 00: Tiny House Dream

Adventures in Making

Tiny Houses

Step 1: Models and Inspiration

Inside ...

Project 01
On the road.
Project 01
Inside
Project 01
Outside
Project 01
Marine Stove
Project 01
Inside with Loft, ~175 square feet.
Project 01
Inside
Project 01a
Looking down from loft


Step 2: Stuffing the Board

Once the traces were milled, we shop-vac'ed the board clean and gently abraded the surface with ultra-light sand paper to remove any copper burrs. Next we collected all of the tiny components we'd need to "stuff" (solder bits to) the board. Dealing with microscopic, unfamiliar, and sometimes unlabeled bits in a configuration whose sense was still mysterious, it was super helpful for orientation and workflow to: 1) list all components: (resistors, capacitors, oscillator, microcontroller etc.), 2) lay down a strip of double-sided tape alongside list, 3) collect components with tweezers and place beside names.

Project 01b2
Worksheet Printout w/ Sticky Tape
Project 01b
Collecting Bits on Double-Sided Tape

What We Learned

a) Heating up the copper square (pad) beneath the piece you're about to solder is helpful to prime the flow. b) 1-1-thousand, 2-1-thousand, 3-1-thousand, 4-1-thousand is usually how long it took for the solder to melt when we used copper braid to wick the solder back up off the board. c) it's possible to accidently solder a piece vertically in the air (see photo). d) Flux looks like marmite. It's messy, but it works to help stubborn solder become mercurial again and wick up like liquid. e) soldering under a x7 power microscope is actually remarkably easy and satisfying. f) In the milling stage, think of x-min, y-min as the southwest (bottom left) corner of where you'd like the Modella to start milling. g) their are several parts that have directionality (they need to be in a certain orientation to work): 1) Diodes (D1, D2) have an anode (A) and cathode (C) end. Look for the tiny line that marks the cathode end. 2) Microcontroller (looks like piece of centipede) has a tiny dot that needs to be oriented to line up with R3 (upper left when hold board w/ USB on top).

Project 01
Soldering Resister on its Head Oops
Project 01a
Flux to Flow the Solder
Project 01a
Not Marmite

Programming the Board

...

Project 01a
Golden Gate Wire
Project 01a
Though counterintuitive, good to brush clean board w/ soap and water.
Project 01a
Clamping Plastic Socket w/ Header Pins onto Rainbow Ribon Cable

Rob H. suggested that we clamp the wires together with a vice until the gap on the sides of the white plastic closed. Make sure that the ribbon cable is centered under the pins before clamping socket. Be sure to clamp evenly; clamp once, flip socket 180 and clamp again to ensure even closure. Header pins are biting through the colored insulation to touch the conductable wire inside. If socket clamps unevenly, might short the wires in the ribbon cable. If you don't have a vice, try tap, tapping with the hammer. This Instructables Tutorial cautions against using wires because it's so easy to clamp sideways and mess up the connections.