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6h 55m 31s logged

Fixed all schematic, PCB, and CAD

Ok first I need to crash out because why did my KiCAD crash 4 times during these sessions is my laptop genuinely that bad its 16GB it cannot be that bad

also why did I have to almost rewire everything because I flipped around the connectors dude this cannot be real I spent 4 hours of my life on routing it and found out it was flipped. Thank god I found a much more elegant solution - flipping it around and rotating it 180degs

Crashout over sorry

Anyways, finally finished the PCB. Well at least for now.

What I have done:

  • Routed the connectors on both of the boards (I don’t think I have mentioned this in my last devlog, but I’ve decided to remove the rp2040 zero for its redundancy and extra power usage. It is much easier if I connect the two PCBs with FFC wires - 15pins - and hence that’s why you see 15 errors in the DRC). This actually took very long and was comparable to solving a jigsaw puzzle.
  • Made the schematic a bit prettier and organised
  • Added a space for the Lipo battery on the KEYBOARD side. This saved so much space and now I have so much freedom, mightve been my proudest moment. But this will require me to use the 400mAh battery instead.
  • I removed the pads for 3 of the buttons in order to fit the traces in this tight space, and since tactile buttons do not require all 4 pins, this should work fine.

What I need to do:

  • Add some protection system for the solar panel, still need to research off camera
  • Create CAD cases for everything, and make sure everything fits
  • And then I think I’m finally done after the README and BOM!

Some stuff I need to correct from my previous devpost

  • Turns out, there is a much more efficient way to change all CAD models of a footprint in KiCAD - there is a button in the menu for that in the update footprint from the library page. No need to use Notepad++, we aren’t in 2013 anymore.
  • Panelisation may not be cheaper, in fact it might be more expensive than if you ordered the boards separately.
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