Uncategorized

Soldering Tips for Adafruit Motor Shields

Hi, Adafruit!

I recently ordered ten motor shields and have been diligently soldering them together. I’ve found a few tricks that make it a little faster to put the boards together and I thought it might be nice if you added them to your tutorial. My first board took almost 2 hours. I find with my current method I don’t need helping hands, because they aren’t. My latest board took about 30 minutes.

First I do the pieces that can’t hold themselves in place, starting with the central 74HC595N. Insert it, flip over the board, and lay it on a flat surface. The weight of the board holds it at just the right location. I use this same technique for the the resistor network, then the sockets, then the screw terminals, then the jumper.

For the capacitors and resistors I do them in two sets, based on which way they are oriented. It’s much easier to turn the board over and solder them quickly if the leads are bent in the same direction.

The servo pins proved to be a real PITA until I discovered I could put them in and then smoosh the IC foam onto the pin heads to hold them in place. Check they’re straight, turn the board over, and repeat as with the ICs.

The button is no challenge, just watch you don’t prick yourself when snapping it in.

The last part I do are the male shield pins, where I follow your steps to the letter. Then the L293D go in and we’re ready to test.

One last tip: the ICs don’t really want to go in because all their legs bend outward. insert one whole side part way, then gently run a fingernail down the legs on the other side and they should snap into place one by one. Then insert the rest of the way.

Thank you for making such clear instructions, and such a fabulous product! Everybody reading this, go buy some and tell them I sent you. Show me a Youtube video of your fastest assembly time so I can see how great is your solder fu.

Uncategorized

Drawbot wiki updates; one less configuration screen

Thanks to local user Alan who recommended several important updates to the Wiki. Wiring for red/blue/green/black wiring has been added, theory part of the layout is improved, and several other mistakes/out of date things/formatting errors have been spruced up. Remember: if you have an idea that might help, please don’t hesitate to share!

The “configure machine limits” and “configure paper limits” have been combined into a single configure dialog. The plan is to put a picture in the background of the dialog to visually explain what is going on.

Also big thanks to Michael who’s been helping debug 64 bit systems. You guys are awesome and I can’t thank you enough for the help. I’m sure everyone else facing these issues appreciates it, too.

So… should I create a forum for you to work together? I’d like people with drawbot variations to have a place to compare notes.

Uncategorized

Version numbers

I’ve never found an elegant way to track version numbers. I’m also looking for an easy way to track changes from one version to the next. Any suggestions?

Uncategorized

New Store Launched!

I finally bit the bullet and put this thing online. Spend lots of money so I can test this thing, OK? 😉

I’ve added the Skycam as a product and all the individual pieces for kits. Since the Etsy store hasn’t done me any business I’m going to move “Buy your own drawbot print” into my shop.

I’ve got the lightbox finished so expect new product pictures in the coming days. My cell phone camera isn’t up to scruff and my HD Pro, while awesome, warps every picture with its fish eye lens. Oh no, I might have to buy some new, slightly-used toys.

I’m really looking forward to the Life Tree Fundraiser party on the 11th, where Drawbot will be making an appearance. Drawbot is also going to be at the Super Happy Hacker House at the VHS on the 18th. See you there?

Uncategorized

WHERE now M114 like Repraps, jogging now reports current position.

Last night at the VHS Andrew showed me Gcode command M114 which tells the robot “tell me where you think you are right now.” I had this implemented as a WHERE command in Arduino. I’ve now switched it in both branches. I’ve also added it to every Jog Motor or Drive Manual button event, so every time you move the motors by hand it will tell you the current location. This can be handy for calibration: I can ship a 10x10cm grid with the kit that you tape around 0,0 and then you can jog to see if your pictures are going to come out square.

Would it be OK to store each Drawbot’s dimensions in the cloud? That way a given Drawbot would only have to be set up once instead of once per computer. I don’t know if there’s really a need, it just crossed my mind.