Power-Comm 1.2.1, Stepper controller 1.2.1 comments

I have now built and tested my power-comm 1.2.1 Board.
The board came from Zach and I cut and pasted the BOM to the Mouser site and about a week later I am stuffing boards.

Note* all my testing is being done running Windows XP sp2.

Everything worked as advertised.
There are 2 things that need revision.
1 Documentation the Long lead of the LED goes in the Square hole.
2 all of the .100 stake connector holes are under size for the BOM stakes.
I was able to press fit them using a vise, but it was a bit of a struggle.
That's it for now. I'm off to start stuffing the stepper boards.

Part 2 Stepper controller
Phase 1 assembly and testing of the Universal controller V1.2.1 is complete.
I added R10,R11,P3 and jumper as per Jonathan's post of 7/8.
Everything works just as it is supposed to. The stake connectors are a tight fit, but not as tight as the power board.
The only gotcha I had to get past was that the argument for the port assignment in the preferences panel is case sensitive. In my case com1 generates an error, but COM1 works like a charm.

Added the remaining components to complete the stepper board and did all of the recommended checks. Since I don't have any stepper motors yet I used the stepper tester. everything works.



Best,
Dan

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/16/2007 10:45AM by Dan P..

thanks for the feedback. good to know that the BOM is correct for this board.

the LED thing is definitely something that should go in our 'intro to electronics' page. it can be confusing at first, but once you know the orientations of common components, then its pretty easy.

bummer that the holes are too small, i've never had that problem (they're usually a bit tight... but they can be fit by hand.) i'll increase the size slightly for 1.2.2 anyway.

Adding the LED orientation to the intro electronics page is a good idea, but please also add it inline in the assembly instructions. Everyone talks about the learning curve, but its the forgetting curve that bites you in the back side.
Best,
Dan

Hey Dan,

Sounds like you and I are at about the same point in construction, I am waiting on my PIC programmer to get here to fire up my Universal Boards but have otherwise assembled the three to step one like yourself.

I will follow this thread so if you have any more good tips like the "com" v "COM" please share them and I will do the same as we will probably be hitting a lot of the same walls around the same time!

Good Luck
Tim

Will do

Best,
Dan