What did you do today?

[EdZ]

I must have used up all my technical karma on remotely defibrillating Josh's motherboard. Replaced the exhaust gasket on the bike only to fine there is now a gaping hole in the pipe itself. Then replaced the speedometer light and luckily caught that a contact had snapped off the break light switch. The switch itself is pretty corroded inside so could have done with replacing anyway, it's just annoying to be stuck without a bike for several days for such a simple part.

 

[iFreilicht]

Yesterday I though: "You know what would be awesome? A programmable Vandal switch with 12 RGB LEDs! You could make a clock or show how many controllers are connected. That'd be pretty rad. You'd be controlling it with USB internally, I bet I could even make it smaller than all those stupidly large ones."

So, after staying up until 4:30 yesterday and at 01:30 today (am, BTW), I had the basic idea down, decided on 16mm cutout, found a suitable LED, invented Charlieplexing, felt very smart and then discovered that someone already invented it before me, made the basic layout work in Eagle and searched for PCB manufacturers to get the DRC running.

So far, so good. 7 inputs for 36 individual LEDs, 12mm outer diameter for the PCB, so it should fit into a vandal switch casing and there's a 4mm hole in the middle for the slider to go through. Initially I had the idea of using a keyboard switch, but those things are way too large.
Then I searched for miniature connectors because I planned this as a multi-board assembly. Molex SlimStack 0.35mm pitch and 0.6mm mated height. The 10pin version has a 2mm*3.9mm footprint. That's pretty damn small, right?

WRONG!

Fuck. I'm done for today, have to think about possible alternatives. Maybe put the button on this board as well and just put the connector close to the middle. I wanted the slider to have a good but of travel because that feels nice and the LEDs as close to the ring as possible, but maybe that's not possible and I'll just have to use one of those cheap buttons. I could also go for a multi-layer board with blind vias but that would require buy an eagle license for at least 135$ and would make it more expensive. Not that those itty-bitty SMD parts aren't already expensive to solder. Also thought about micro-vias, those would be pretty cool as well.

So yeah, that's what I did today. Also watched "Now you see me 2" with my SO.

 

[jeshikat]

That's a cool project!

While a long throw button like the anti-vandal switches are nice, I think a SMD button makes more sense for this, plus you could make the whole switch much shallower than any of the anti-vandal switches available.

 

[iFreilicht]

Thanks!

Yes, and that would be a huge advantage in many cases. Plus, I've never seen a single person complain about the feel of those buttons, so I only need to make sure the one I choose is solid and I'll be golden.

 

[Phuncz]

SMD buttons seem better to me too. Very nice and interesting project !

 

[hardcore_gamer]

Spent last 4 days at a hospital due to nephrolithiasis. Worst pain I've ever endured.

 

[Phuncz]

Damn, my dad has had those. I'm hoping I don't by drinking water daily, which supposedly helps a lot.

 

[Kmpkt]

Spent last 4 days at a hospital due to nephrolithiasis. Worst pain I've ever endured.

It's like childbirth for men!

Feel better and hopefully it's a one off. You've probably been told this already, but there are a lot of dietary things that can significantly increase the occurrence of stones. Should be lots of literature out there about it.

 

[Soul_Est]

Spent last 4 days at a hospital due to nephrolithiasis. Worst pain I've ever endured.

I am so sorry that you have to go through that.

 

[onlyabloke]

Spent about six hours skimming over some course material. Had to do 300 pages in one day because the file somehow got lost/corrupted.

Eff my life.

 

[Soul_Est]

Spent about six hours skimming over some course material. Had to do 300 pages in one day because the file somehow got lost/corrupted.

Eff my life.

I am so sorry.


Today, I hung out and catch up with a friend that I have not seen in nearly a year. Her boyfriend joined us later on and we just talked and enjoyed each other's company. Now, I'm looking another project I'd like to realize.

 

[hardcore_gamer]

I am so sorry that you have to go through that.

Damn, my dad has had those. I'm hoping I don't by drinking water daily, which supposedly helps a lot.

It's like childbirth for men!

Feel better and hopefully it's a one off. You've probably been told this already, but there are a lot of dietary things that can significantly increase the occurrence of stones. Should be lots of literature out there about it.

Thanks guys. I know I brought this upon myself with my bad lifestyle. I've learned my lesson and made many changes to my diet and working hours.

 

[EdZ]

Wheel-balancing: done! They needed it.
Exhaust replacement: done! Apparently the only fasteners in a several mile radius that require M7 nuts.

 

[Phuncz]

I worked, on a saturday. But it comes with the job and usually with maintaining servers, you don't have much choice: it's either weekends or nights (for office environments). But atleast it was on my own terms and my boss is glad I do this willingly and on my own accord. I mainly looked at console screens counting up from 0% to 100% and sometimes going over 100% (103% isn't funny, damn trolls), I was storage-migrating some servers from a RAID-6 array to a RAID-10 array. All while being really stressed that if it gave an error, my weekend wouldn't exist anymore. But luckily I only saw good results !

 

[onlyabloke]

I worked, on a saturday.

Right there with you. Every other weekend for me.

Decided not to build my PC this winter. Gave it some thought and decided that a $1500+ PC build is something I shouldn't do right when I'm about to start a new chapter in my life. Could put the money elsewhere. Just going to upgrade the SSDs and RAM in my MBP instead. I'll still be here of course because ideas are always helpful.

 

[iFreilicht]

Right there with you. Every other weekend for me.

Decided not to build my PC this winter. Gave it some thought and decided that a $1500+ PC build is something I shouldn't do right when I'm about to start a new chapter in my life. Could put the money elsewhere. Just going to upgrade the SSDs and RAM in my MBP instead. I'll still be here of course because ideas are always helpful.

As much as one would like to ignore this, life is more important than hobbies sometimes. Good on you for making that choice!

 

[hardcore_gamer]

Yesterday I though: "You know what would be awesome? A programmable Vandal switch with 12 RGB LEDs! You could make a clock or show how many controllers are connected. That'd be pretty rad. You'd be controlling it with USB internally, I bet I could even make it smaller than all those stupidly large ones."

So, after staying up until 4:30 yesterday and at 01:30 today (am, BTW), I had the basic idea down, decided on 16mm cutout, found a suitable LED, invented Charlieplexing, felt very smart and then discovered that someone already invented it before me, made the basic layout work in Eagle and searched for PCB manufacturers to get the DRC running.

So far, so good. 7 inputs for 36 individual LEDs, 12mm outer diameter for the PCB, so it should fit into a vandal switch casing and there's a 4mm hole in the middle for the slider to go through. Initially I had the idea of using a keyboard switch, but those things are way too large.
Then I searched for miniature connectors because I planned this as a multi-board assembly. Molex SlimStack 0.35mm pitch and 0.6mm mated height. The 10pin version has a 2mm*3.9mm footprint. That's pretty damn small, right?

WRONG!

Fuck. I'm done for today, have to think about possible alternatives. Maybe put the button on this board as well and just put the connector close to the middle. I wanted the slider to have a good but of travel because that feels nice and the LEDs as close to the ring as possible, but maybe that's not possible and I'll just have to use one of those cheap buttons. I could also go for a multi-layer board with blind vias but that would require buy an eagle license for at least 135$ and would make it more expensive. Not that those itty-bitty SMD parts aren't already expensive to solder. Also thought about micro-vias, those would be pretty cool as well.

So yeah, that's what I did today. Also watched "Now you see me 2" with my SO.

A couple of years ago, I did a Chalieplexed design as a part of a large UI panel. I dug through my mails and found this:

Schematic:

In this design, the LEDs were driven by a dedicated hardware block that reduced the main controller overhead and code. This also allowed higher refresh rates, and higher peak currents (this may damage LEDs in a firmware-based implementation, if the code hangs).

Layout of the bottom layer (can't share the top layer due to a proprietary touch sensor design in the center) :

The 5-line bus on the right side connects the LEDs to the controller. Routing was easy in this case due to the large size of the LED circle (~5cm in diameter).

 

[iFreilicht]

A couple of years ago, I did a Chalieplexed design as a part of a large UI panel. I dug through my mails and found this:

Schematic:

In this design, the LEDs were driven by a dedicated hardware block that reduced the main controller overhead and code. This also allowed higher refresh rates, and higher peak currents (this may damage LEDs in a firmware-based implementation, if the code hangs).

Layout of the bottom layer (can't share the top layer due to a proprietary touch sensor design in the center) :

The 5-line bus on the right side connects the LEDs to the controller. Routing was easy in this case due to the large size of the LED circle (~5cm in diameter).

Unfortunately, I don't think there's much space for me to get another IC into this switch, I can just barely fit a 32TQFP inside and I still have to put the support components somewhere. I also have to use a number of resistors that is divisible by 3, because each colour needs a different resistance. (Maybe I should make a separate topic for this project, it seems like this could become an actual thing at some point)

BTW, why are there 20 LEDs in the schematic but only 17 on the board? Seems like quite an odd number.

 

[hardcore_gamer]

I can just barely fit a 32TQFP inside and I still have to put the support components somewhere.

Is that a microcontroller?

(Maybe I should make a separate topic for this project, it seems like this could become an actual thing at some point)

That would be a good idea. It will help with further optimizing the project.

BTW, why are there 20 LEDs in the schematic but only 17 on the board? Seems like quite an odd number.

3 remaining LEDs are used as status indicators near another circuitry. However, the overall routing technique remains the same.
In the worst case, a 4 layer PCB may be required. Using blind / buried vias on the other hand, would increase the cost PCB cost way more.

 

[LocoMoto]

Today I had one productive meeting and one cancelled meeting..
Followed by a Minecraft gaming session with one of my little siblings then I checked some bills and noticed my power consumption has gone down 20% since the last two months despite colder weather and a more power hungry pc overclock and know I'm wishing I lived in the UK and could watch Red Dwarf XI, lol.