Day 161 of #PCBs - Assembly and testing edition!

I updated these two boards (8-bit switch / 8-bit LED stamps) to the latest template for #Protonema stamps, and got the BOM all fixed up. That way I can get a bunch assembled.

These aren't hard to hand assemble, but after a few hundred 0603s plus a blunt soldering iron tip, it gets a little tedious.

Putting the component values on the board really helps with hand assembly. Highly recommended for simple boards.

Turns out I copied and pasted a part number wrong somewhere in the past, and had 100 pf decoupling capacitors specified instead of 100 nf decoupling capacitors.

This didn't affect these boards, since I was assembling them by hand, but this may have affected a few other boards. Fortunately it seems that I did this fairly recently, and all of my boards where these capacitor values are critical aren't affected.

BOM management requires a lot of discipline, and it's easy to mess something up.

Best is to have a "house library" of preferred frequently used parts (e.g. ones you have in stock, or ones that your assembly house has in stock), and keep a template PCB up to date that you can leave open and copy and paste from.

Day 187 of #PCBs - Assembly and testing edition!

Here's a full panel of H500 computer lab switch stamps assembled and ready to test!

So, they all work...

BUT, when I updated them to use the new header, I forgot to offset the power connector, so I'll have to do another revision. :(

Day 187 of #PCBs (Part 2) - Assembly and testing edition!

At least I didn't mess up the H500 computer lab LED stamps. They all test out OK.

Day 187 of #PCBs (Part 3)

Fixed the above mistake on the template for the H500 switch board, and have a new revision to go out for manufacturing in the next batch:

Day 213 of #PCBs (Part 2) - Assembly and testing edition.

Here's the updated H500 switch stamp. Everything tests good, so this board is also ready for final documentation.