So here's a quick update. I finished the circuit board and got all of the parts soldered on, but it didn't work correctly. While trying to fix it, I ended up burning some of the solder pads off. So I'm working on making a new one and using what I've learned from the first one, I'm going to make it better. I had taken some pictures while working on the first board, but my memory card went bad, so I lost all of the photos. So I'll try to take more pictures as I make the new board. So far, I've cut it out, scrubbed it, made a cardboard cutout (which required gluing 2 pieces of cardboard together)...

So I went ahead and after about 5 tries, I was able to get a circuit board that looked reasonably good. Things I learned during this time include:

1. Drill holes and use those for alignment.
2. Use a cardboard jig to help steady the design.
3. Keep running the board through until the parchment paper looks like waxed paper (no design stuck to it). It took me 8 times for the good one.
4. Wipe the board with acetone prior to applying the design.
5. Give the laminator plenty of time to warm up.

So I transferred the artwork to the board, etched it (wasn't quite as scary as I thought), and ti...

Wow, it's been about 2 weeks since my last update. During that time, I've made so many attempts at making the circuit board with varying degrees of failure. I am so close now. So, here's what I've done.

First I started by cutting the board out. I found out later that you should leave a little margin, but it seems that this would work well for aligning the 2 sides.

I originally started out printing my design onto some cardstock with a shiny side like I've done before. So far everything was going as planned. Then I ironed the pattern on like before, but it wouldn't take. After about 6-7 tries wi...

Finally! I have everything I need to make the board, though some green spraypaint would be nice for a solder mask. Anyhow, I have a drill press and I've received all of my parts. I reworked the board design based on the parts and I was able to get them to fit much better. I still want to add a couple of LEDs and resistors for power and status indicators and put together another test circuit, however, I should be able to start, if not finish, making the board this weekend. I also got some breadboard to stick to my protoshield, so now I can make a final test on that board.

Yesterday I received the Gyro/Accelerometer/Compass sensor in the mail (only 1 day later than estimated, but it came from China). I found out today that my order had been cancelled due to some credit card authorization error. I just resubmitted the order today and payed more for the shipping because I didn't want to wait another 2 weeks. I also ordered some more pin strip headers and some mini breadboard for my arduino protoshield.

I stopped by radio shack yesterday and bought some circuit board etchant, a couple soldering iron tips and a better pair of flush cutters. My old one looked like so...

There's not much to tell. I finished with my circuit board design, although I'll probably be fine tuning the design. I did come across an arduino shield that is similar to what I have been designing. The main differences are that I have multiple plugs for I2C, SPI, and UARTs with all of the necessary signal wires included in each plug. I also have special connectors for the gyro/accelerometer/compass, the SD Card holder and my DIP switches. I have 3.3v and 5v I2C with the voltage logic converter built into the board as well as the pulldown resistors for the DIP switches. Because I think my boa...

I was able to desolder 6 more mosfets from boards, so that should give me plenty for prototyping. I'm getting pretty good at desoldering SMD components. Yesterday, I broke 2 of the 4 that I tried to remove and today, I got all 6 in perfect condition.

So, I went ahead and built a prototype logic level converter to make sure the components I have would work. So I built it on some 20 year old perf board (it really is) and soldered the smd components, some through hole resistors and some wires on the board and tested it. It tested as expected and was able to determine the logic both ways at the co...

Well, I've been out of commission for a few days because of my back, but I've made some progress. I went through some tutorials for Eagle and now I'm working on my own board. I went ahead and designed standard connector wirings for each type of output. I based it on the standard RC 3 wire plug and went from there.

At this point, I'm running into a slight design issue, which is I²C running both 5v and 3.3v devices. Since the the 1 device I will definitely hook up runs at 3.3v, I'm partial to that, though I want to be able to hook up 5v devices in the future. 1 suggested solution on the internet...

[img full_sensors1.jpg||left]I've been working hard on a test board for the robot. I believe I have all of the sensors that I have received mounted on my bread board and everything fully wired together, except for the DIP switches. I hooked up most things with wire ties for temporary measure and they fit so well, I may just leave it that way or at least do something similar if I have to move them. I didn't attach the arduino or the breadboard, so they're currently just hanging there.

[img full_sensors2.jpg||right]I'm going to continue working on getting all of the required sensors in place, de...

So, I've been working on getting the sensors working on the arduino. I decided to start with my existing Accelerometer/Gyroscope chip (MPU-6050), since it is the predecessor to the MPU-9150 that I ordered a few days ago. I was able to get accurate readings off and even so far as to use the build in digital motion processor using sample code in the i2cdevlib library that can be downloaded here. As a bonus, this sensor also can sense temperature, which I'm pretty sure the one I ordered can do as well. Although I hooked up my magnetometer through its auxillary I²C connectors, I have yet to test i...