Year: 2013

Projects – Hobbybotics Reflow Controller Quad V1.0

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Here’s a quick update to the new reflow controller project I introduced earlier.  I have fully populated one of the prototype boards and began to write test sketches to ensure it functions properly.  The project is moving a little slower right now as I am in the process of closing on a new house and that has been taking up a lot of my time.

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The last picture shows an early prototype for the LCD/Button interface for the controller.  I am in the process of redesigning the LCD/Button interface to use a 4-way rotary navigation switch with a center select button.  I borrowed this idea from the Viki LCD project over on Kick Starter.  I’ll post more updates in the coming weeks.

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Projects – Hobbybotics Reflow Controller Quad V1.0

hobbybotics Projects , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’ve been working on a redesign of the original reflow controller.  Here are the features for the new board:

  1. Four MAX31855 Type-K Thermocouple interfaces
  2. DS3234 Real Time Clock with battery backup
  3. FT231x USB
  4. XBee or Bluetooth Wireless
  5. MCP23008 I/O Expanders for 2-wire expanded communication
  6. ULN2803 Darlington buffered output relay/SSR control
  7. Internal or external micro SD interface
  8. External LCD I2C interface/input
  9. ATMega 1284P TQFP AVR with Arduino bootloader
  10. 16 MHz Crystal

Take a look at the new board:

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 I’ll post more on this project in the coming days.  I’ll be offering this project as a full kit for those who are interested.

EEWeb Site of the Day

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EEWebHobbybotics will be the Electrical Engineering Community (EEWeb) featured site of the day on Friday 22 February, 2013.  I have been to the site on numerous occasions but was not aware of the user engineering blog section.  there is a lot of good resources available for experienced engineers and hobbyist alike.  EEWeb also provides a free circuit simulation tool know as PartSim.

PartSim-Sidebar-Graphic“PartSim is a free and easy to use circuit simulator that runs in your web browser.”

A plus for PartSim is the integrated Bill Of Materials (B.O.M) that allows one to assign Digikey part numbers to their designs.  I’ll definitely add the site to my “Daily View List” and give the circuit simulator a whirl.  Hey, it might save me from some of the design mistakes I tend to discover after I have already sent board files off to be produced.