So I’ve been looking at making a circuit board for some of the roaster project for quite some time. As the shape/size of the enclosure has started to become real I started trying to figure out what exactly would fit inside the case options. Some of the items I figured I could prototype/etch myself and others I’d need to send out to get made.
The first board that seemed likely to be something I could make on my own was what I call the “button board”. It turned out that I decided to send this one off rather than try it myself because I had already made one using Radio Shack parts for an early microswitch version. The circuit worked great and I happened to be finishing the Laser Cut Roaster Controller case. The spacing is kind of tight for what I want and rather than trying to drill it manually and the fact that it will ultimately be a pretty permanent part of the project until I switch to version 2 that won’t only use a single analog pin and instead goes entirely digital with a group of pins or I do away with the button pad entirely… so I decided to have it made too.
I wanted it to use 2×5 shrouded pin sockets and some single row pin headers in addition to the MultiMec 3F switches, 1V “Arrow” key caps, some round ones, and some square ones. I started where I laid out all the buttons and then had some left over pins after allowing for all of the bi color internal lighting LEDs. I then added some connections for the Fan and the Heat potentiometers that were to the left and right as well as the LEDs on each side. The wiring harness for each side will had the GND/Voltage and Potentiometer wires in one bundle and the LED Cathode/Anode wires in the other all connected to a 5 pin connector on their respective sides.
Once I had the design figured out and checked all the spacing and sliced out a paper template with an knife and slid the cover over the buttons and the holes lined up etc I started looking at how much it would cost to get a board made.
One of the first places I looked was BatchPCB. Once it figured out the whole CAM/Gerber/whatever process and zipped up my files I uploaded the board to the site and a few minutes later it reported it was ready to add to my cart and would cost me $18.83. I figured I needed at least 2 because I was going to make a second controller at the same time I was making the first one so I always had a “test” one and a “now that I made the first one funky I’m “in the zone” now and can make the second one prettier/better.
So I started thinking I need to double that and maybe a third one wouldn’t be bad since I might use the button pad pattern on this other project I was thinking about. So two of them is $37.66. Wow… that’s starting to get kinda spendy for a button pad I’ll probably stop using eventually and need to redo. PLUS the buttons are horribly expensive too!
I started looking for cheaper options and came across iTeadStudio, SeeedStudio, and DorkbotPDX as some of the more recommended ones. All would give me 3+ boards and iTeadStudio and SeeedStudio would do around 5 to 10 boards depending on some of the options selected. A few people reported damaged boards coming back on one of them but usually had replacements to “cover” it but the occasional issues and the frequency of damaged boards showing up seemed a little too weird for me. Further one of my board has really wide dimensions compared to the height. This immediately bumped me into a cost structure that made a stack of boards run $70-80+ instead of the 30s. Additionally since I’m making a prototype that had limited utility and I intend to use hard for a while I figured I’d stick with either BatchPCB or the Dorkbot option since the boards seemed nicer. For projects that are a little more generic that I could make a lot of a really small boards for mounting certain chips or other devices I’d come back to Seeed or iTead someday.
As mentioned since two boards from BatchPCB cost so much I looked over at Dorkbot PCB Order and realized Laen had launched a new website – OSHPark.com to act as the front end for the PCB ordering. It automatically reviews the files, renders a bunch of images and then calculates the dimensions and gives you a price and collects money via PayPal or Google Checkout! One of the big problems with the sites other than BatchPCB was that they all made you email your files to someone who looked them over and then emailed you a price later. I’m soooo instant gratification when it comes to buying stuff and needing to know the price. I was VERY tempted to go BatchPCB just to get it in the queue and have a price even if it was high until I saw OSHPark.
When I saw it actually render the images out in such a decent quality and large size it totally stomped BatchPCB. BatchPCB has HORRIBLE renderings and the price per single board is really pretty awful compared to OSHPark/Laen/Dorkbot. BatchPCB wants $37.66 for two button boards plus the $10 handling fee per order. Three of them from OSHPark is $37.70. So this afternoon at lunch I uploaded my button board AND my interface board. More on that at the bottom.
Button Board v1.0
RoastGeek Button Pad v1.0 Top
RoastGeek Button Pad v1.0 Bottom
Interface Board v1.0
RoastGeek Interface Board v1.0 Top
RoastGeek Interface Board v1.0 Bottom
As you can see there are numerous connectors on this board. There are a few resistors and two DB25 connectors. I’m using the DB25 to connect from the Arduino over to the other boards that will be mounted inside the Roaster Controller Case. Each one will be attached using a short header pin extension or plugged in directly. Most of the boards are SparkFun breakouts with a few odd balls. The connectors marked F_PAD and H_PAD are the ones that go up to the Button Pad V1.0 board and are serviced by that left side DB25. Most of the other headers and connections go to the other DB25.
The interface board is insanely tight for the routing. It absolutely will test the software and manufacturing of the manufacturer and will test my selection of screws and stand offs when I try to connect it. I believe I may have to dig out the plastic stand offs that have “spring clips” instead of screws that I had laying around in storage if it turns out to be too bad.
Like the Laser Cut Case I need to “hurry up and wait” for this one too. I will be adding comments as I have communication about status and receive the items etc. I’ve got a LARGE amount of 0603 resistors loaded into a shopping cart at Mouser and DigiKey right now and am trying to figure out the various parts that I need and the back order state/cost/estimated time to ship/etc to decide what I’m going to do. The biggest problem is finding 330 ohm 0603 resistors. Apparently nobody sells the damn things in stock. I have to back order them even though they’ll sell for the same price as the in stock ones in any quantity… they’re just not stocked right now. I also need to order 2 short 3 foot or so DB 25 cables.
10 days later I open my mailbox and see two padded USPS yellowish brown envelopes from Laen PCB Order / OSHPark.com.
Each package had the indicated 3 boards floating loose in the envelope. New blog post to follow.
This afternoon I received not two but four emails from OSHPark reporting that they have received my order from the fabricator and are “depanelling” the boards and should ship them in a few days.
Got a notice yesterday evening that said my boards were sent to the fabrication house…. no idea if that was the day they were actually sent or whether the 30th/31st thing mentioned before was the day and the system didn’t “keep up” due to not being completely written yet…. according to the email there were over 300 boards on that order and 90 some orders…
Interesting thing I noticed. The website reports the panel is May 30th. The email said the panel is May 31st. It said an email would go out indicating it being sent to the fabricator which has not occurred yet.
Today a received a fan to vent the case, some potentiometers, some small standoffs, a knob for the top of the pots, some rubber feet, as well as a ton of 0603 sized resistors, the various panel LEDs that I am using, some power entry sockets and additional DB25 connectors to mount to the PCBs. The OSHPark order is supposed to go out on the panel tomorrow for fabrication.
Today I received an “official” looking email saying my boards both have been assigned to the may 31st panel to be sent for fabrication. Not sure if that is really the panel since I was told it was panelized prior to that or if that is just the next date it was going out. Obviously things will be clearer in the future since it has been programmed into the system now where it was not when I placed my order this time.
A quick tweet to @laen at @oshpark reported that my boards have made it to the panel even though the site still says it is waiting to be panelized. The site still has a kink or two for parts that are not written entirely. So far so good!
and today… I came home for lunch and intended to order the LEDs and a few other parts for the case as well as the surface mount resistors and discovered my laptop had a cracked screen…. So this evening I had to find a replacement screen after taking it apart and trying to confirm which LCD the laptop had. Some connected on the left side and others on the right…. So now that I found it I identified a place to order one from. It’ll be here Tuesday probably…
THEN I ordered the parts from mouser….