Thanks everyone who has contributed toward The Bikeshed Board.
I’m not calling these final, since there will always be more (and hell, something changed so now I have to validate that these work) but I incorporated all he suggestions into a simplified layout with only one jumper resistor and no 0402s.
Once the first one is built and proven to work, I’ll start selling these as kits. I have a stainless steel solder stencil ready that will be accessible to anyone who needs it.
Next I need to make up a real nice PDF for how to assemble, how to use, and what all the little features are, and the story of the board.
Unfortunately, I didn’t capture who gave what suggestions, so I’m going to credit every single one of them as some person at VHS, I hope y’all are OK with that.
I’ve gone ahead and assembled the first 3 board of v0.4, and I had no problems, no rework required. I’d probably say most of that is a factor of the stainless steel stencil. The stainless is a world of difference compared to the plastic I’ve used in the past, especially for the fine pitch components.
Here’s a nice little pic of them all lined up and one charging a battery
I’ve validated it works properly to stop charging when it reaches full battery, now I need to deplete a battery to make sure the low cutoff works as expected.
I’m working on packaging so that I can easily provide all the components without mixing them up. Once I’ve done that, I’ll figure out my final cost and figure out a way to take orders.
Is there any interest for these boards to be available as a kit for self-assembly (note you’d still need access to the stencil that lives at the space)?
Otherwise, I can wait until we can do in-person events.
All kits with all parts to build the kits are in the yellow/black tool box under the electronics bench. There’s a suggested donation to VHS of $20. A stainless steel stencil is provided and solder paste is usually in the fridge.
Please post if you end up making one. A build guide can be found here:
