I have just received some of my new pcbs back. Here is a photo of them.
For reference, the coin cell battery is a CR2025 (20mm = 0.8" dia), and a USB cable. The boxes are Hammond 1551 and the pluggable pcbs are designed to fit them.
The top 2 rows are 1"x1" and stackable with the top side shown in the top row and the reverse side underneath. They are CpuBlade (Prop); MemBlade (SRAM + microSD); ClockBlade (RTC + Battery 1225); AvrBlade.
The lower 2 rows are 1.2"x1.76" & 1.76"x1.76" boards and pluggable with the larger one in the centre being the Prop board which the others plug into. The stackables can stack onto this pcb. They are IoBlade1 (microSD & 4x I2C/PS2); IoBlade4 (Servo Interface for Quad/Hex/OctaCopter, etc); IoBlade5 (a prototyping IO board); BaseBlade1 (Prop, xtal, Eeprom, 3V3 regulator and transistor reset cct and contains a copy of CpuBlade at it's center); IoBlade2 (TV, Stereo, I2C/PS2, Exp4); IoBlade3 (VGA, Stereo, I2C/PS2).
Can anyone pick the error?
Post #18 contains a
Description of the pcbs.
Post #21 contains
Multiple Propeller configurations.
Here is a link to the specs thread
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?132769-Cluso-s-miniature-stackable-and-pluggable-boxable-propeller-boards-(1-quot-x1-quot-etc)&highlight=cluso%27s+stackable
Comments
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Not knowing the holder used, but it looks like the SD card holder on the IO Blade 1 is facing the wrong way.
Kenichi
Mac. Holder for uSD Cluso use have that placement of pads.
Sapieha
_____________________________________________________
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RoboPi: The most advanced Robot controller for the Raspberry Pi (Propeller based)
Oh, ok. The part I use has different orientation.
Kenichi
The IOblade1's mounting holes aren't drilled - that looks like an error.
Colors are all to do with cost! As I understand, any color can now be made. Actually pink on powder blue would be nice, if you are into that sort of thing
As Sapieha said, I use a different microSD socket from DigiKey. It is easy to hand solder because the pins are at the front and exposed.
I also have a set of tiny pcbs coming (some 0.6"x0.75") that just have simple blocks with headers to connect to any prop. They include: microSD; Clock (RTC); FT232RL (PropPlug with a twist); etc. They are designed to be really cheap add-ons specifically for hobbyists. I will post these on a separate thread as soon as they arrive (maybe today?).
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Novel Solutions - http://www.novelsolutionsonline.com/ - Machinery Design - Product Development
"Necessity is the mother of invention." - Author unknown.
Here are some photos showing the stacking. Remember these pcbs are a tiny 1"x1" (~25mmx25mm). They are smaller than the center of the protoboard that is sometimes cut out!
The pics show the connectors un-soldered. The connectors I supply are 4@ 1x9 pin female headers with extended pins and total length ~18.5mm. They female section is 11mm but has a 0.1" spacer which can be removed (its a bit tight so a little tedious) to lower the pcb spacing. This leaves a small gap between the stack of just under 1mm. I did this on the CpuBlade.
I also showed the BaseBlade1 which has the horizontal plugging ability as well as the stack. BaseBlade1's maybe daisy-chained. Multiple props the easy way
I will offer these assembled or as a kit of parts for those who would like to try smt. Be warned though, some of these pcbs are very tight to solder by hand.
And a few warnings...
* The ClockBlade cannot take the xtal socket pins
* The MemBlade (with the microSD) needs to be on the top of the stack because you need to trim the connector pins on the top of the pcb to insert and remove the microSD. This is not a design fault - there is no space!
* The ClockBlade requires the CR1225 battery to be inserted before soldering the connector. The battery cannot be changed, although it should last > 5 years! I am considering refining the pcb to have the option of a more expensive (another $1) battery socket which permits battery removal. I am using the expensive RTC DS1340C-33 which has an internal xtal with tighter specifications.
And a few comments...
* The AvrBlade has the ATtiny84 fitted. The ATtiny85 is not fitted (forgot to order one). The pcb supports either or both. Most I/O pins are brought out on headers. They can be programed by the prop using the SPI programming interface on their own header to connect to the prop (by a cable or jumpers) although I have yet to prove this. I have intended to use an I2C interface to the prop and they can be jumpered to pins 28 & 29 on the stack header.
* There are a few restrictions when using the MemBlade with other stackable blades because it requires the use of ALL P0-P29 pins!!! The microSD correctly shares these pins (as I have done with the TriBlade and RamBlade previously). The ClockBlade and AvrBlade have restrictions on their use with the MemBlade due to the sharing of these pins, as does the Prop's Eeprom
.
P1 Prop OS (also see Sphinx, PropDos, PropCmd, Spinix)
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You need the obligatory "quarter" in the photos so people can see just how small these are
cheers
tubular
P1 Prop OS (also see Sphinx, PropDos, PropCmd, Spinix)
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The processor board is the BaseBlade1 and has the identical circuitry in the center to the 1"x1" CpuBlade. This permits stacking vertically as well as plugging horizontally. BaseBoards can be daisy-chained end to end
You will see the RA pin header for the PropPlug side expansion has two mounting positions. This is so the pins can be kept inside the Hammond 1551 box if desired, and a male/female header used to extend the propplug. There is a pin header between these two connections providing an expansion for the I2C eeprom bus. There is a design trick to soldering these in the correct order and to prevent the I2C pins from interfering with the RA connector!!! Likewise, there is an expansion header on the other side for placing a daughterboard onto the 4pin daisy-chain connections instead. This is for the RamBlade3.
Also shown in the pic is the IoBlade3 that has a VGA, Stereo, and PS2/I2C via a miniUSB-B connector. This pcb will plug horizontally into the BaseBlade in either of the two 14pin (5V,Gnd and 12 I/O) expansion ports.
I have an alternative pcb (IoBlade2) that has TV, Stereo, and PS2/I2C, plus a 6pin 4I/O expansion port too.
BTW I have slightly reemed the xtal socket hole with a jewelers 0.9mm screwdriver and the sockets fit. Just a little too much plating. The socket pins can be carefully soldered on the top side, so the through-hole plating is not actullay required.
Now, I am about to trial stacking a CpuBlade onto the BaseBlade, and using the VGA, try two props driving the VGA in alternating lines to get higher VGA resolution. Fingers crossed
Tips:
* The plastic insulation on the male pin headers I am using can be removed easily.
* To create low profile links for short shunts, put the pins into the board from the top (as normal) but reverse the pins so that the long side of the pins go through the pcb. Solder them normally and cut the extra pins off. Now, on the top side of the pcb, carefully remove the plastic holding the pins together (they are now soldered so they no longer require this plastic. Now you have short pins for using with short shunts.
* To create low profile header pins (to connect to female stackable headers, just follow the proceedure above for the shunts.
* To create the headers where the RA connectors are fitted underneath, use the same proceedure with a twist... Before you solder the straight pins onto the underside of the pcb, trim as close as possible and evenly to the pcb, then solder. Now loosen the plastic retainer as above, but this time do not completely remove. Then turn the pcb over to the underside and heat each pin in turn with the soldering iron, while pushing the pin with the iron until it is flush with the pcb. Now remove the plastic retainer. Now you can solder the RA header to the underside of the pcb.
P1 Prop OS (also see Sphinx, PropDos, PropCmd, Spinix)
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P1 Prop OS (also see Sphinx, PropDos, PropCmd, Spinix)
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CpuBlade
These pcbs are in addition to my other "Cheap and tiny modular pcbs" which are just building blocks on this thread http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?134219-Cluso-s-cheap-and-tiny-modular-pcbs...
P1 Prop OS (also see Sphinx, PropDos, PropCmd, Spinix)
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Good descriptions and it's very impressive to see all that you've accomplished with these small boards in one post - i.e. you've masterminded a great deal of hardware. It's good that you can specialize and let others write the software for their intended apps.
P1 Prop OS (also see Sphinx, PropDos, PropCmd, Spinix)
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Here are some examples...
The first and second pics show a CpuBlade stacked on top of a BaseBoard1. By inserting an extra set of stacking connector(s) between the BaseBlade1 and CpuBlade, various configurations of parallel connections between propellers are possible without making cables or soldering wires! These stacking connectors I use are 1x9 - they can be cut down or just simply remove the pins from the housing. This configuration connects 5V & Gnd (obviously required) plus P8..P23.
On the BaseBoard1 I have connected an IoBlade2 (just the TV section has been soldered today) to P0..P11 (the TV will use 3 pins P4..P6) and an IoBlade3 (I am only using the VGA) to P16..P27 (the VGA will use P16..P23). The BaseBoard1 propeller will drive the TV using 3 pins P4..P6 and the CpuBlade propeller will drive the VGA using 8 pins P16..P23. Note, there is no protection between the common propeller pins P8..P23 so do not make a programming error or you may damage the prop chip(s)!
To the right in the pics is my TriBlade. I am only using this temporarily to provide both 5V and the PropPlug section for downloading code. As soon as I get time I will build my new PropPlug replacement (see this thread http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?134219-Cluso-s-cheap-and-tiny-modular-pcbs... I will be doing a boxed version shortly too).
Note how simple this parallel connection was to construct. It is just as easy to pull the modules apart and replace with a different set of extra stacking connectors between a different set of prop pins to form a new parallel configuration.
You may well ask why I have constructed this particular configuration. Well, I want to try driving the VGA with 2 propellers, each alternating displaying a horizontal line in the display frame. This way I have P16..P23 of the props in parallel and I have P8..P15 at my disposal for communicating/synchronising between the propellers. This should enable me to get a higher resolution VGA
Other Multiple-Propeller configurations...
The next picture shows an example (not really soldered) of how the daisy-chaining between multiple BaseBlade1's. Of course, each of these BaseBlade1's may in turn be multiple propeller stacks.
And yet another configuration (sorry, no picture, at least for now) is a vertical stack of BaseBlade1's where the 14pin expansion ports can be used for separate expansion boards. I have a prototyping board available. The stacking of these boards would be just as for the previous example of stacking CpuBlades, but instead of using CpuBlades, substitute BaseBlade1s. The stacking would still use the 1"square center pins, and the parallel connections between propellers would be made using extra stacking headers as before.
Thus, the combinations of multiple propellers are almost endless with just a few simple modules.
RamBlade3 (when available) and the exsting RamBlade can add to this mix.
Enjoy
P1 Prop OS (also see Sphinx, PropDos, PropCmd, Spinix)
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Note that I have not yet trimmed the lid of the box (the rim needs filing) to let the connectors (on the underside of the pcb) sit into the lid recess.
P1 Prop OS (also see Sphinx, PropDos, PropCmd, Spinix)
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I have setup a new website (far from complete) that starts to detail the different boards. There is more at the start of this thread as far as specifications go. However, the website details the pcb costs. While I have listed assembled pcbs, at the moment I am still short on time so will not be offering much of this. Bare pcbs and pcbs with most parts are listed.
Its also a way for any of you wanting to try out smt. Some pcbs are harder than others, but with good glasses, fine temp controlled soldering iron, fine solder and flux pen, all is pretty good.
Here is my new website... www.clusos.com/home
I used a new software package to setup my website and didn't realise I was naming the filename when I called my home page "home". Now I have to get ftp running to put a dummy index.htm page there!
P1 Prop OS (also see Sphinx, PropDos, PropCmd, Spinix)
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The ATTiny84 has 4 I/O pins and 4 ADC pins available on headers.
The ATTiny85 has 2 ADC pins on headers.
Comms to the prop could be I2C or 2 wire serial, or even SPI (without using the external available pins).
There is a 3v3 regulator on the pcb.
I am still considering what I will use the Avr's for... This pcb is just to provide a basis to connect them to the prop. Here are a few ideas...
1. Make a cheap USB for the prop
2. Touch panel interface to the prop (I have already done this directly with the prop)
3. Jazzed has done I2C to PS2 keyboard and mouse
4. Test out a mosfet driver to control the temperature on the extruder and heated bed in a RepRap/Mendel 3D printer project
5. Something else???
P1 Prop OS (also see Sphinx, PropDos, PropCmd, Spinix)
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The MemBlade features a microSD, 512KB 55ns SRAM and a 3V3 regulator on a 1"x1" pcb designed to stack onto my CpuBlade 1"sq pcb or my BaseBlade1 1.8"sq pcb.
The SRAM address A0-18 is on P0-18, data D0-7 on P19-P26, -CE on P27, -OE on P28 shared with SCL, -WE on P29 shared with SDA. This is a non-latched design although by interposing a small pcb between the BaseBlade1/CpuBlade, a latched design could be simply implemented.
The microSD uses -CS on P23 (and requires -CE=P27=1), DI on P22, CLK on P21, DO on P20. An LED is on -CS to indicate microSD selection/access.
The propeller I/O and programming is via P30/31.
These two pcbs form a RamBlade3. The ClockBlade is an RTC with battery pcb 1" sq and can be inserted between the BaseBlade1/CpuBlade and the MemBlade, and runs of the I2C Eeprom pins. The ClockBlade is yet to be tested.
Here is a pic of the working setup together with my USB module which derives power from the USB port
P1 Prop OS (also see Sphinx, PropDos, PropCmd, Spinix)
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P1 Prop OS (also see Sphinx, PropDos, PropCmd, Spinix)
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I'm trying to find an appropriate chip to use on the MemBlade.
This one at Digi-Key looks promising. Would it work on your MemBlade?
Index of my projects and interesting forum posts
http://www.futureelectronics.com/en/technologies/semiconductors/memory/static-ram/asynchronous/Pages/1039023-AS6C4008-55SINTR.aspx?IM=0
You will also require a 74LVC1G97DBV
P1 Prop OS (also see Sphinx, PropDos, PropCmd, Spinix)
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Thank you for the link to the SRAM.
A search for the gate at Future Electronics didn't produce any hits but I found this at Digi-Key. Is the Digi-Key 74LVC1G97DBV the correct part (I only see the one package type)?
I haven't been able to find a schematic for the memBlade. I'm hoping you can help me select the remaining parts I'll need to complete the board.
I think I can figure out what uSD socket to use (I probably have one).
I figure R3 is the current limiting resistor to the LED so the value isn't important as long as it's at least 100 ohm.
I'm guessing Q1 is the MCP1700-3V3 LDO voltage regulator and C0 and C1 are the regulator's caps (IIRC 1uF each).
It looks like R2 connects with a pin of the logic gate. A glance at the datasheet didn't provide me with any clues of the value of R2.
I'm also at a loss as to the values of R1 and C2. If I were to guess, C2 is a 0.1uF cap but only since it seems to be a common value used to bypass ICs.
Again, thanks for including your designs on the Smorgasboard. I look forward to trying these boards out.
Index of my projects and interesting forum posts
I have since done a new revision of the schematic (but no pcbs done). The differences are:
The 74LVC1G97DBV - "DBV" specifies the package (see the datasheet) so yes the one at Digi is correct.
I never use anything less than 1K (I usually use 3K-5K) to drive a LED. These days it is just a waste of power since superbright leds are cheap.
It is nice to see someone building these boards.
CpuBlade Construction
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I'm glad you see it that way. I feel like I've been pestering you.
Thank you for the help.
Index of my projects and interesting forum posts