New PicAxe PCBs arrived

Received some new PCBs today from iTeadStudio. I did these boards using their new colour pcb and 100% test service.

This is the first time I’ve done blue boards with iTeadStudio. They look fantastic. I’m a convert I think… no more red boards for me. 😉

This boards is intended to get my kids and up and running with a reasonably capable all-in-one design based around the Picaxe 40X2. I’ve done a smaller PicAxe board in the past around the 28X2 but this time I wanted to really max it all out. The board a dual 3A h-bridge, built in programmer/debugger, d-class audio amplifier, nokia 192×192 graphic LCD, slave PIC processor, 25 I/O ports, 2 regulators, as well as a bunch of buttons, leds and whatever else I could think up at the time.

Schematics in PDF format

It was also my first foray away from Eagle for my personal stuff. After test driving a bunch of other tools, I’ve decided to move to Diptrace. Its an amazing layout program, as well as bundles cheaper than Eagle. With version 6 of Eagle coming out, I was looking at a $550 upgrade charge to move to the new version. Perfect time to jump ship. 😉

Schematics in DipTrace format

PCB layout in DipTrace format

The Freescale MC33932 that I’m using on this board (as well as a few others) has a big old heatsink on the bottom of it so its easier to run the PCB and chip in my reflow oven. The trick is the the MC33932 chips are MSL3 (moisture sensitivity level 3). Once you open the package, you’ve only got 168 hours to reflow the chips before they absorb so much moisture that they are likely to crack during the temperature profile of reflow. I hate MSL3 parts. Anyhow, once you open that package you are committed. So I ended up running a batch of 19 boards tonight, putting this chip on the Picaxe design as well as a firefighter design that also uses the chip.

Weeeeeeeeee! I don’t need all those boards but no sense wasting the h-bridge chip.