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#oshpark

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Continued thread

@3dprinting This morning I soldered the FilaBilly dehumidifier PCB. I need to crimp up some connectors, reprint the orange standoff/surround (it's like 0.3mm too tight), and finish the firmware. Then it'll be system testing time! I already know the ESP32 boots, either from USB or 12V power.

I found out about r/PrintedCircuitBoard yesterday, so I'll ask for a PCB review there, even though the board is assembled.

🧵 23/N

Replied in thread

@recantha using KiCad is an art. It's relatively easy to learn, and getting your first PCB from #oshpark is not too hard (and rewarding). Designing for low-cost prototype services is more difficult. Using the correct design rules, using supplier component databases, balance default components with special components (if available), label them correctly, double- and triple-check orientation of, e.g., diodes...

Having an up-to-date guide certainly saves time (or money).

@concretedog

Continued thread

I also tried to have #OSHpark bid my #PCB fabrication.

Their website claims to support #KiCAD files directly, but it choked because I'm now on #KiCAD8 , which was released about a week ago.

They also wanted more for 3 pieces (with soldermask only available in their trademark purple) than I paid for 8 pieces (in my choice of color) through one of my old favorites, Colorado's #AdvancedCircuits ( 4pcb.com ).

For a bit of research yesterday I uploaded gerbers to a few of the well known budget PCB fab houses. JLC, DirtyPCB etc... two things I found, one is that if you're working on smaller boards less than 2*2cm and not in a particular rush nowhere is cheaper than #OSHpark. Also all the services are now really slick at file upload/rendering/ordering. I remember lots of pain with many services say 6-8 years ago!

The #CircuitPython driver for the AD5293 Digital Potentiometer is a wrap! This is the 100k-ohm version that's in short supply, but DigiKey currently has a bunch of the 20K-ohm chips in stock. The chip works nicely with single or dual power supplies from +/-9V to +/-16.5v. The driver is available in the @adafruit CircuitPython Community Bundle or in the repo (github.com/CedarGroveStudios/C). The PCB is perfectly purple #OSHPark.