week 6: electronics design

1. redraw an echo hello-world board, add (at least) a button and LED (with current-limiting resistor) check the design rules, make it, and test it

This week we had to redraw an echo hello-world board and add a button and LED. I decided to redraw the ATtiny412 and add a button and LED.

Over the past week we had a recitation where Anthony and Zach talked about electronic design and different types of software to design PCBs. They talked about KiCad and Eagle, and I decided to use Eagle. I watched some tutorials online, but Anthony’s recitation was a great reference. Once I imported the fab library that has the components in the shop, I started to design my PCB. I also was sure to set the clearance for the design rule check to be 16mil for almost all entries since we will be using the 1/64” end mill.

I am not very familiar with electronics, so I had to do a lot of research online and asked a lot of questions. I followed the generated board from the HTMAA website for the ATtiny412. I then had to add a button and LED. Anthony taught me about pull-up resistors, so I added a pull-up resistor followed by a button. Lastly I added another LED near the top of my board.

Once all of this process was complete, I used the Othermill to mill my PCB this week since my Clank was still not working completely.

I am not very familiar with electronics, so I had to do a lot of research online and asked a lot of questions. I followed the generated board from the HTMAA website for the ATtiny412. I then had to add a button and LED. Anthony taught me about pull-up resistors, so I added a pull-up resistor followed by a button. Lastly I added another LED near the top of my board.

Once all of this process was complete, I used the Othermill to mill my PCB this week since my Clank was still not working completely.

Once the pcb was cut, I went ahead and started to solder. I am not great at soldering, so this was a really good experience to get better. Below is my final product with the added button and LED.

I think soldering will be like my experience with Eagle: I won’t get better at it until I keep trying and getting more experience.