Author Topic: homemade axon "compatable" board *UPDATE* preliminary PCB design  (Read 16800 times)

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Offline sonictjTopic starter

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I finished building my latest avr board that is based on the ATmega640.  I thought it was cool that only a year ago I built my first board which was the often mentioned $50 robot.  Unlike my $50 robot board this one actually works ha ha!  Anyways I though some of you guys might get a kick out of seeing a fully point to point soldered 100 pin avr board.

I built the board as a prototype for a more professional pcb that I will eventually send out for.

PS I know it looks like there is a short in the bottom left power bus.  In reality it was piece of fuzz I noticed after I took the pic (random I know).

Hope this doesn't turn into multiple posts I was playing games trying to make the photos under the allowed kb.
« Last Edit: June 25, 2009, 10:39:32 AM by sonictj »

Offline SmAsH

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #1 on: May 29, 2009, 04:11:48 PM »
wow, holy bajeebas sonic!
that thing looks rad.
nice battery pack...
what was the cost of this thing including the atmega board?
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Offline sonictjTopic starter

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #2 on: May 29, 2009, 04:19:38 PM »
all costs approximate

Atmega640          $16
TQFP breakout     $1.50
headers               $5-6
protoboard           $5
assorted passives $3

amount of pain and suffering soldering all 86 i/o lines with wire wrap wire priceless lol.

I definitely spent more on extras but I think that's about what it cost for just what is in the picture.
              

« Last Edit: May 29, 2009, 04:22:23 PM by sonictj »

Offline SmAsH

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #3 on: May 29, 2009, 04:22:06 PM »
so like under $40?
that's great...
now imagine how admin felt soldering his on!
but really, i would pay for that! props to you!
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Offline sonictjTopic starter

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #4 on: May 29, 2009, 04:24:00 PM »
I'm betting Admin went straight to a pcb, but I don't know.

Offline SmAsH

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #5 on: May 29, 2009, 04:30:32 PM »
i know admin uses an earlier prototype in a video a bit down on this page:
http://www.societyofrobots.com/remote_control_robot.shtml
i think its in through hole form but not sure, watching the video now...
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Offline sonictjTopic starter

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #6 on: May 29, 2009, 04:40:12 PM »
I don't see it.  Admin did make a prototype based on the ATmega644P which is a 40 pin DIP chip.  In fact it is the biggest Atmel makes that is until the Atmega1284 ships.

Offline SmAsH

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #7 on: May 29, 2009, 04:44:29 PM »
my bad, all i remember is that in the video he is using a gyro connected to a servo, ill try to find it.
yep, it sure was a big one ;D
http://www.societyofrobots.com/sensors_accelerometer.shtml
bam
« Last Edit: May 29, 2009, 04:45:53 PM by SmAsH »
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Offline sonictjTopic starter

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #8 on: May 29, 2009, 04:45:56 PM »
Its the video with the dimension engineering accelerometer http://www.societyofrobots.com/sensors_accelerometer.shtml.

Offline SmAsH

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #9 on: May 29, 2009, 04:47:20 PM »
haha, beat you by two seconds!
but that chip looks really big... i mean, the cap was big enough...
but this is getting a bit off topic... :-\
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Offline sonictjTopic starter

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #10 on: May 29, 2009, 06:41:41 PM »
I just went through the arduino environment and made a few tweaks and now my ATmega640 board is Arduino compatible.

Offline Ro-Bot-X

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #11 on: May 29, 2009, 06:48:25 PM »
Congrats! Can you zip the modded files in Arduino to make it work with mega640? Thanks.
Check out the uBotino robot controller!

Offline SmAsH

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #12 on: May 29, 2009, 06:49:50 PM »
do you have any pcb files for it? i would buy one if you sold them!
kinda like the poor mans axon...
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Offline sonictjTopic starter

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #13 on: May 29, 2009, 07:13:34 PM »
I'm new to the pcb world so it will probably be a bit till I make a pcb but I'll consider selling it.  It wouldn't be a poor man's version though.  I would be going for a mix or arduino mega and the axon most likely with a ATmega2560 on board.

Quote
Congrats! Can you zip the modded files in Arduino to make it work with mega640? Thanks.

I attached the files I changed.  the first is the boards .txt this goes in the hardware folder.

the second is the zipped arduino folder found int the hardware/cores

put these in the arduino 15 win folder and you should be able to use the ATmega 640 with the arduino environment.  The way I did this was simply changing everymention of the 1280 to the 640.  The chips are identical with exception of their internal flash.

let me know if you have any problems.  This should work with the axon except in the arduino environment uart0 is the usb uart.  on the axon I believe uart1 is used.  The fix for this is to program using an avrispmkii.  To use one with the arduino environment change the preferences.txt.  In this file you will find a line that has bootloader change it to avrispmkii.  Further documentation about using a harware programmer with arduino can be found here. http://arduino.cc/en/Hacking/Programmer

Offline Razor Concepts

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #14 on: May 29, 2009, 07:21:12 PM »
Hi, could you tell me where you got the breakout board for the chip? Thanks!

Offline sonictjTopic starter

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #15 on: May 29, 2009, 07:24:07 PM »
www.futurlec.com  they take a while to ship buth their cheap.  Also their breakout boards are not the special kind with grooves they are the cheap normal kind.  Make sure you have solder wick  ;).
« Last Edit: May 29, 2009, 07:25:40 PM by sonictj »

Offline SmAsH

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #16 on: May 29, 2009, 07:26:31 PM »
did you just order a pcb?
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Offline sonictjTopic starter

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #17 on: May 29, 2009, 07:32:06 PM »
Quote
did you just order a pcb?

its simply a header board

the 100 pin TQFP
http://www.futurlec.com/SMD_Adapters.shtml

Offline Admin

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #18 on: May 30, 2009, 08:10:56 AM »
Whoa, I see your soldering skills have advanced quite far from the old $50 Robot days! And actually, after you finished, you probably realized its 95% just like the $50 Robot, no? :P

Back before I decided to make the Axon I was thinking of doing *exactly* this, using the same exact components you used. But after doing the math, the board was just too big. I decided to instead figure out how to use Eagle and put it all on a compact PCB. After the first prototype on PCB I realized it would actually make a great product.

Offline sonictjTopic starter

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #19 on: May 30, 2009, 09:25:55 AM »
Quote
Whoa, I see your soldering skills have advanced quite far from the old $50 Robot days! And actually, after you finished, you probably realized its 95% just like the $50 Robot, no? Tongue

very similar I based my design mostly off of the arduino mega and the Axon. I wasn't as concerned about board size .  I plan to eventually make a smaller pcb but for now I plan to make some larger robots that will have plenty of space.


Offline SmAsH

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #20 on: May 30, 2009, 03:47:43 PM »
my god, how did you solder that beast down?
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Offline sonictjTopic starter

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #21 on: May 30, 2009, 05:11:07 PM »
surface mount soldering really isn't that hard.  It just takes patience and good technique.  I would suggest starting with chips that are not .5 mm spacing though.  Sparkfun has a good surface mount soldering tutorial. There are also some good vids on youtube.  The key is to put flux on the pads where the the surface mount part is, and then bring a solder loaded iron to the chip pins.  Its actually a lot of fun. Oh and solder wick is a must for undoing mistakes like bridged connections between pins.

Don't be afraid of surface mount.

p.s. magnification and proper lighting helps too.

Offline SmAsH

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #22 on: May 30, 2009, 05:16:19 PM »
ahh what the hell, when i order the parts for my module ill pick up a few of those too ;D
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Offline sonictjTopic starter

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #23 on: June 04, 2009, 08:28:25 PM »
 I just took a picture of the board after I finished writing an lcd library.  The pic looked pretty cool so I decided I'd post it

I have made a few modifications to the ATmega640 dev board.  I added usb support to all of the uarts via 6 pin headers.  The headers connect to an ftdi usb cable.  I also put in a power select jumper to select between usb or battery power.  The usb side has two ptc resetable fuses wired up to protect my computer.   I've been spending a lot of time low level coding my own libraries to gain a better understanding of the atmega hardware.  If anyone wants me to I can post the  code.  So far I have support for the  uarts, ADC, an LCD (as you can see), and I have written some basic servo code.     

Offline Webbot

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #24 on: June 05, 2009, 07:02:31 PM »
You could, of course, use my C library http://www.societyofrobots.com/robotforum/index.php?topic=7787.0 and benefit from all the 3rd party devices it supports.
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Offline sonictjTopic starter

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #25 on: June 05, 2009, 08:35:26 PM »
I could but I really want the experience and skill to be able to write my own.  I really enjoy writing low level software.  That being said I may take a look once in a while for ideas ;).

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #26 on: June 06, 2009, 02:28:20 PM »
oh my gosh dude :o that is soooooo awesome.
you should be majorly proud of yourself
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Offline kpmcgurk

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #27 on: June 06, 2009, 03:39:27 PM »
I love it!!! wow that is really great, Now all you need to do is find a use for all of those I/O pins!!

Just for kicks could you make a couple thousand LED matrix?
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Offline SmAsH

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #28 on: June 06, 2009, 04:28:11 PM »
why not just control a big ass plasma while your at it ;D
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Offline sonictjTopic starter

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Re: homemade axon "compatable" board
« Reply #29 on: June 06, 2009, 05:43:13 PM »
I did pick up eight 8x8 led matrixes.  I only ordered four but eight showed up lol.  I plan on using them soon, but I haven't decided on how I want to drive them yet.  I'm thinking spi from the micro and A cpld for shift registers.  I also would need darlington arrays for more current.

 


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