Question about building a Basic Stamp Project

wtdedula

Hello All;
I need your expert advice again. I have been doing a lots of research via. the web into ways the BS-II was integrated into various rocket payloads and other high altitude experiments.

Assuming that I have a project prototyped and working, what is the best way to have high school students mount the components and connect them together ?

Would you suggest fabricating a circult board ? If so, how can this be done cheaply but professionally and in very small quantities ?

Or would you suggest building the project on a perforated thru-hole board from a source such as Digi-Key ?

Keep in mind that this is something that high school students would be putting together.

Thanks much for your thoughts and advice.

Tim

Chris Savage

Tim,

There really is no simple or easy answer to this. A lot will depend on space, cost, etc. If you want to mount a BASIC Stamp 2 into a socket I have found that the machined sockets have the best grip on the pins. I would recommend against soldering the module directly for two reasons. One is it makes it hard to change out if there is a damaged pin. Also the soldering process can sometimes damage the module depending on the skill of the students. Depending on how much external hardware you have connected and space you could use the BS2 OEM Module. It could be soldered directly to a daughter-card. I hope this helps. Take care.

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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support

wtdedula

Chris;
I agree 150% that I should use the machined IC sockets rather than the cheapie kind for the BS-II. And I definitely agree to use IC sockets rather than soldering to the board. As was discussed in my other discussion, I like the idea of using the BS2 OEM module but am still curious of a cheap and reliable way to build the daughter board.

Tim

Chris Savage

Tim,

You could make a custom board using OEM parts…Not only would this be less expensive but it could be made smaller as well.

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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support

T&E Engineer

You also might want to consider using Zero Insertion Force (ZIF) sockets for the BS2. I use them on my Professional Development Board (PDB) and BS2 Board of Education (BOE).·If you need to remove them more than once or twice, ·a ZIF socket makes it very easy to remove and insert the BS2 without the possible threat of bending / breaking any BS2 pins.

Kevin Wood

This seems like a great small business idea for somebody with the design experience - small circular modules that could be stacked and inserted into the rocket tube.

LSB

There are also some board houses that manufacture small quantities cheaply. BatchPCB charges $10 (per order shipping) plus $2.50 per square inch--and circles are not a problem (they've made me .75 inch round boards without complaint). Turn-a-round seems like forever, but if its part of a planned curriculum this shouldn't be a problem (?)

Only “Iffy” is, you must email Gerbers. I like DipTrace for the similarity to ExpressPC (another possibility for boards) and because the free trial was suitable for many projects (the free version won’t output Gerbers, but it let me build up a bunch of boards to order before shelling out for the real version).

For my money and time there’s nothing like the confidence, professional look, and reliability of custom boards (especially in high-G environments).