Woah, more than 300 followers! Hello everyone!

As I said weeks ago, I needed a new electronic board to control Thor... The one I was using had many mistakes (a man may learn wit every day...) and I got tired of botching it. The initial idea was design a DIY PCB board, but due to its limitations and how cheap is to manufacture it in China I decided to design a better control board.

Of course using OpenSource software, KiCad again.

First of all, some pictures:

It took me a few hours to understand the values that I had to set (track width, drills diameters, etc.) in order to send it to the manufacturer... but it won't happen the next time >:D

Anyway, the new features:

1. First and the most necessary: Reverse current protection circuit. No more burned drivers because of mistaken power input polarity... It will save my wallet!
2. This board allows to control up to 8 stepper drivers (instead of 7 of the previous version).
3. Smaller size: Less than 100mm*70mm.
4. Easier assembly: the Silkscreen is a nice helper!
5. Added 3 confirmation LEDs (Power Input, PCB Power, Arduino Power).
6. Added more 12V aux outputs for the fans.
7. Added a switch to power off the steppers and keep the fans working.
8. The connections between the drivers and the male pins that connect with the Arduino Mega are now well driven. This has been possible thanks to the 2 layers board, and it will allows to simply connect a ribbon cable with a 2x18 connector without "hacking it"

And I think that's all! I'll send it to the manufacturer as soon as I finish another PCB I'm designing.

Of course, I shared it on the Thor's Github repository. If you are reading this close to the publish date, you will find the new PCB files in the ControlPCBUpdate branch. Feel free to take a look and share your opinions!

Hope you like it!

Best regards,
Ángel LM