PCB Part 2/2 (Finished)

As the saying goes: The definition is 50% of the work. These 10 hours (and some more unlogged hours) were some of the most perfectionist work I’ve done in a while, aligning everything nicely and drawing clean tracks. I really wanted this to be a quality piece of open source hardware instead of some lazy slop.

Steps

I’ll describe my process in these 10 hours, since I think it is not only good for me to reflect on the stuff I did, but also great (debatable) experiences I could share with others so you could learn from the inefficient work I’ve done:
1.Imported 3D models for 1-to-1 sizing and making sure it all fitted in the case, and transferring over to a CAD model with my tin.

• This actually took a while because of the niche modules I’m using, and I had to design many of them myself. I recommend you try to design it as simply as possible for layout. This will give you a rough idea of the size of each component. As you can see, I had many components with lots of details, and that lagged the hell out of my Shapr (and caused my KiCAD to crash as well, didn’t press ctrl + s again when checking DRC), so making simple polygons would be the way to go.
• A neat trick I learnt to quickly add 3D models to KiCAD was to edit the PCB in a text file using Notepad++ (and plugins) to find all and replace all.
• The 3D models also let you know how wrong you designed your footprints, so don’t skip this step.
• ALL of this should be done before routing, or else 1 reposition could waste so much time.

2.Create clean, manageable tracks.

• I spent a lot of time making sure the tracks were arranged in a logical way where I can draw the tracks through my 2-layer PCB.
• Vias were very useful when I topologically had no way to get to my endpoint.

3.Add mouse bites to finish it off.

• I used mouse bites to make the PCB into 1 piece instead of 2 separate ones so I can save a bit of money. Again, my goal for this cyberdeck is to make it relatively cheap. I used mousebite footprints from this amazing library: https://github.com/AchimPieters/mouse-bite.pretty

4.Switched protocols from USB to UART, because the USB pins were too difficult to solder on the other piece if I soldered it flush against the PCB - this is a trade-off between compactness and functionality.

So yeah, to the ones reading this devlog, hopefully you learnt something. I certainly wish I’d learnt all of this before I started the design so that I could’ve saved 5 hours.

Problems

• The battery and solar panel cannot fit together at the same time.
• The wires may not fit for crossing the channel (UART wires) when the lid is closed.
• It may not be rechargeable with a solar panel because the charging module would break, unless I make room for another switch.
• I cannot order LiPO batteries from overseas due to legal customs constraints (at least I don’t think I can unless I pay hefty fees)

What I need to do next

• Now that the PCB is done, I need to find a smaller solar panel and lipo battery to fit everything inside - at the cost of power, however.
• Once the space issue is solved, I need to create a CAD case for the keyboard and the screen.
• And finally, I can create the firmware and finish the project at last.