What a scary and fascinating week - this is the first time I ever did anything with electronics - so this week is a week I feel quite empowered by what we are doing. I unforunately was not able to make it to the rescitation due to my Teaching Assistant commitments - so instead I did a lot of research online and purchased a book to better understand the components we are working with. I recommend "Getting Started With Electronics"

The first step was using the Mods Program and the SRM-20 to mill out the board. I had issues in the beginning where the SRM-20 was not cutting deep enough to go through the layer of copper that covers the top of the board. To overcome this I added pressure to the bit and raised the cutting depth from .004 to .005. This change was enough that the tool bit cut through the copper

After milling came the soldering of the components. This was a bit frustratin with the smal size of the components, the sticking of the solder to the old soldering iron tips and my inability to keep my hand steady to tack on the components - it is certainly a skill I need to develop and improve over the course of the semester.

The very last step this week was programming the board. With the Help of Calvin the board programmed and the led lit up. This, while perhaps not so impressive, was very impresside to me.

home