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Some new eCogs - Buzzer, Servo, Motor, ISP Programmer
07/11/2016 at 22:01 • 0 commentsI made some new eCogs that have been sent out to the OSHPark.
Buzzer eCog - To generate tones like with an old PC speaker. This is in preparation for the GadgetBox testing plan for manufacturing. I want the buzzer to sound if the self test has failed.
ISP Programmer eCog - So to go right along with the buzzer is an eCog that can be used to do the initial programming of the GadgetBox over a ISP programming header.
A little more exciting is an eCog that allows up to 16 Servo's to be controlled. I made this to work with a cheap module that can be bought off eBay. But it looks very similar to the AdaFruit Servo Shield. So I might make another revision of this board and lay it all out in the eCog PCB format instead of using this big module board.
Finally, I couldn't find a nice Motor control module to use so I found the nice Motor Shield over at Adafruit. The cool thing is that it uses I2C which will free up pins on the GadgetBox. So I went ahead and adapted the Motor Shield 2.0 design to fit on an eCog. This is going to be a pretty handy eCog.
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GadgetBox Version 1.7
07/11/2016 at 21:51 • 0 commentsJust submitted GadgetBox V1.7 - Hopefully this will be the last revision before I do a run of 100.
Here are a list of changes:
7/11/2016 V1.7 GadgetBox
- Renumbered all components
- Added On/Off to BL Quadrant.
- Consolidated components to a single type for 10K and 10uF.
- Moved Quadrant silkscreen to layer 200 instead of 21.
7/6/2016 V1.6 GadgetBox
- Changed size of board to fit white cases. 93.5x53.5
- Added voltage divider to allow capturing battery power on pin D5.
- Added all BOM info.
- Rerouted 3.3v and GND to provide better paths.
- Moved location of components for the BH silkscreen and the new board size.
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KeyFob Remote eCog
07/07/2016 at 18:26 • 0 commentsI just made a new eCog that allows these cool 315Mhz keyfob remote controls to be used with GadgetBox:
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First GadgetBox Prototype in hand.
07/01/2016 at 22:22 • 0 commentsHere is a video showing the first rough prototype of the GadgetBox.
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GadgetBox: How pin function and sharing works.
06/30/2016 at 22:21 • 0 commentsThis video goes into detail about how to match up pin function using the shapes on eCogs. Also covered is how to ensure that pins do not conflict with each other.
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Project Cogs (pCogs) Explained
06/30/2016 at 22:16 • 0 commentsHere is a video overview of how a collection of 4 eCogs paired together as one circuit board is called a pCog. pCogs can be split into the 4 individual eCogs but manufacturing them together keeps the costs down.
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eCogs Video
06/30/2016 at 21:25 • 0 commentsHere is a video showing the eCogs that are done:
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eCogs: What we have so far.
06/30/2016 at 19:10 • 0 commentsHere is a list of all the eCogs that are designed so far, please leave a comment if you have ideas for more eCogs.
Blank eCog - For when you don't need all 4 eCog slots but want to enclose the GadgetBox
WIFI eCog - Using ESP8266 module to provide WIFI for your IoT devices
.096" OLED TFT Display - These inexpensive I2C displays don't use up any pins and look great!
uSD Card - Just in case you need some data logging.
Sensor eCog - This board is designed to use with these 37 in 1 sensor kits you can get. This board accepts almost all of the sensors from this kit.
PSP Slide Thumb Joystick - Connect a nice and compact Analog joystick.
PS2 Joystick - This joystick takes up a lot more space but it also has a select line when you press it down.
Button and LED eCog - When you need simple input and feedback.
IR Remote Control - Send and Receive IR commands. Uses the TVBGone design from Adafruit as the transmitter so it can blast out commands pretty far. Also has audio jacks so you can connect the IR transmit and Receive Blaster cables easily available on eBay.
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Updated the Font and graphics for GadgetBox!
06/30/2016 at 17:06 • 0 commentsWell, I wasn't really happy with the font that I was using. It's a font I used in the past for the Papilio DUO but it just didn't feel like it fit with the GadgetBox theme. So I found some cool free fonts at Google Fonts and one of them really looks nice. Any thoughts?
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EAGLE PCB Trick: Using a tablet to control EAGLE.
06/29/2016 at 22:03 • 0 commentsI figured that one of the reasons people follow projects like this is to check out all the tips and tricks that people share during the process. So I thought it might be interesting to share a trick I use while designing circuit boards in EAGLE - using a tablet. Here is a video of it in action, if there is enough interest I can make a tutorial too.