PCB: Part 3

Hey folks, hope all is well. I continued grinding on PCB work since the last update and I’m finally moving back to code. Here are the bits:

  • The primary PI side PCB has been fab’d and shipped out. It will be here before the end of the week.

  • Today I sent the remaining boards to fab:

    • I ordered additional units of existing designs (mug platform, cone mech connector daughter boards, etc).

    • I sent a new design for a breakout board for custom user hardware integrations. This breakout exposes all the PI pins. It used to live on the previous PI side PCB but it is now its own board. This is extra nice because it allowed me some room to put additional connectors that can be used with jumpers to customize each connector‘s functionality. A connector is only routed to a set of jumpers. So if you want to use the board’s ethernet jack for some new hardware, you just add jumpers from the relevant pins to that jack’s pins.

Some more details:

  • ALL GPIO is broken out into three sets of 10x1 pin headers, just under the ribbon cable, which connects it to the Primary Pi side PCB. Some commonly used pins are duplicated for convenience.

  • 5x JST, from 3p to 6p

  • RJ45

  • Just noticed a labeling error too! Pin 8 on J3 should be labeled 03. The routing is correct though 🫠

  • I wanted to throw in some prototyping space and some additional breakouts, but timing was critical. We will add these “nice to haves” to the next revision.

And here is the completed Pi side PCB:

Some details:

  • The DRV8871 based pump driver has been integrated into the design so no need to use aftermarket boards. I received a shipment of the DRV8871 chips on Friday.

  • External power inputs and outputs for both 12v and 5v.

  • 3x Ethernet for the mug platform sensors, cone mech sensors, and the relay board.

  • JSTs for the enclosure lighting and 2x temp sensors.

  • Supporting caps and resistors.

It looks like we will get all the boards on hand before the tariffs kick in. I also did a bunch of orders for things like the updated pumps, stepper drivers, leds, strain gauges, updated RFID readers, etc. Just to make sure I have enough on hand. It was a pretty terrible week honestly, but we’re in a good spot now.

Ok, that is all for now. I am pivoting back to software but will not have an update until the weekend.

Cheers!

MComment