Sunday Quickie!
Hey folks! I’m having one of those multi-day grind sessions were nothing seems to be working out. I wanted to get a quick update out as I have not completed any of the items I planned on discussing today. I’m going to step away for the day and pick things up again tomorrow to give the brain some time to re-solidify. I will have a full update going out either tomorrow or Tuesday at the latest.
Currently Working On
Mug Platform Load Cell PCB x2:
I have a proto breakout for platform’s left side load cell wiring out to fab but I neglected to add a way to mount it to the load cell assembly. I started revising the design and when I uploaded it to the fab house I realized I forgot to add in the ground plane. Easy fix but I’m going to pick this up tomo. Please note that the breakout shown in the thumbnail is an off the shelf board Ive been using for testing and will not be used in prod.
The left side load cell connects to the right side load cell with a TRRS cable. The right side handles the signal routing to the rest of Mugsy using a 15P (0.5) flat flex cable. The load cell signals are combined and sent to the HX711 amplifier. The output from the HX711 is sent over the flex cable to the Pi. Additionally, the RFID sensor signals need to be sent over this cable as well. I spent several hours soldering up a proto and the results were pretty janky due to the tight spacing requirements and suddenly soldering like a new born baby. The right call here is to just fab the PCB and bypass the protoboard step. I’m going to pick this up tomo along with the left side PCB and send them out to fab together.
Calibration View:
Calibration script works well and sensors are coming in with sub gram accuracy.
I started coding the frontend view for the functionality and despite a simple layout, I was fighting the editor at every line…This is when I accepted that the brain is mush and to just put a lid on it until tomo.
Shipping:
Shipping is still on track to start before the end of the Month. Initial shipment will be 1-2 assembled units and 5 kits. More info in the next update.
Ok, that is all for now, will see everyone again in a day or two. Thanks!