Week 06 - Time to make a smorgasboard
Electronics Design
To recap, this week I wanted to fabricate a smorgasboard so to speak. Specifically, I wanted to build a practice board for all types of different sensors, and actuators. Below, you can see the inital circuit topography I went with. I had to redo this from last week because I didn't include the proper design rules.
I am completely obsessed with the different component packages, connectors, and arrangement. These are aspects of a circuit that I haven't ever considered before. I spend quite a lot of time learning about different package/size standards, wire gauges/types, and component interfaces. Read more about it in the reference section. Once I decided on a final circuit (and the design rules), I had to export the relevent CAM files.
Fusion will export an entire compressed folder with a myraid of files in it. In this capacity we care about the "copper_top" and "profile" gerber files. This is an archaic filetype that details: feeds and speeds, bit size, and x-y-z coordinates.
Below you can see the board in the milling machine. Based on guidance from the EDS staff, I selected a one sided copper board backed with FR1 (a glass fiber composit board). The milling machine used the bantam cam program. I ensured to select the correct bit size (1/64 conservative), deselected outline, and followed the prompts to zero the z axis through a conductivity test.
Once the board was milled, I prepped for sodering the components on. I spent quite a bit of time prepping the work station to ensure I had all the tools I needed, components organized, as well as cleaned it up a little bit.
Final, my board was milled and the compone were attached. The next step was to check for connectivity between traces. For this I used a multimeter with the conductivity alarm selected. I checked between VSYS, VBAT and GND. I was then confident that these connections weren't shorted so I pluged in the battery and checked VBAT, VSYS, 3V_OUT, GND and the resistances.
