Perfboard planning for hardcoded dispenser design

[ashleyleal]

Description

Breadboards provide very subpar connections and are very prone to various issues such as loose connections, electrical noise, and unstable connectivity. This can lead to unreliable circuit performance. For our final design, we should aim to use more permanent and stable prototyping methods such as soldered perfboards or custom printed circuit boards (PCBs).

Our first step in achieving this will be designing and soldering a perfboard for our first iteration of the dispenser. This first iteration operates independently and is controlled by a push button that is hardcoded to dispense only one resistor at a time.

The software we will be using to design the perfboard is Fritzing. Follow the installation instructions listed here. Also, in the project Google Drive you can access the installer files for Windows and Mac.

Once installed, download and open this file in Fritzing. In the tabs, you're able to move through different views of the circuit.

Navigate to the Breadboard tab to see all the components and the perfboard. Additionally, the full schematic is already completed for you to reference in the Schematic tab.

Task

Your task is to design a layout for the perfboard and components provided.

Keep in mind the following:

• Ground should be common; all components that need to be grounded should share a common ground point.
• Minimize the length of connections to reduce potential noise and interference.
• The stepper motor and two servo motors will be connected to the perfboard with male header pins (already included in the view)
• The Arduino Nano and the stepper driver (DRV8825) will be connected to the perfboard with female header pins (not included in the view; you don't need to add them in but it's implied that they're there).
• The dashed lines (suggested wiring) between components in Breadboard view can be pretty misleading, it's better to reference the schematic to understand the connections.
• Keep the capacitors close to the components.
• The IR sensor module is a placeholder for the counting system to be implemented in #2 ; try to leave some extra room on the board where the IR sensor module is.
• 12V terminal powers the stepper driver and the Arduino Nano (through Vin); 5V terminal powers the servo motors; all other components are powered by the Arduino Nano through its 5V pin.
• Fritzing only allows us to see one side of the perfboard but in real life we can use both sides.

To do:

• [x] Install Fritzing
• [x] Download the HardcodedDispenser fritzing file
• [x] Design a layout for the perfboard and components provided

Resources

• Arduino Prototyping Techniques #104: Perfboard
• Using Fritzing to layout strip board project (Note: this guy is using strip board instead of perfboard but same idea lol)

[ashleyleal]

[ashleyleal]

Noice