For projects requiring motor mounting or to temporarily mounting other components to prove a design, consider using copper clad PCB material.
This material is: very strong, easily drilled, filed, hole punched and cut.
It solders well and conducts electricity.
Common thicknesses of copper clad board are 1/32 1/16 and 1/8”.
This all points out that mechanical stuff like mounting and connecting devices and acquiring and using tools is one of the hardest things, especially for newbies.
I've spend more time and effort on the mechanical considerations of This Project than I have on code. SO FAR..
Anti static bags.
Take your least used (crappiest) soldering iron tip, adjust temperature to 500'C, clean tip.
Lay a bag (to be sealed) on a flat surface with a silicone baking sheet under the bag.
Place a metal ruler at the point of required sealing.
Draw the iron tip at ~1 second per inch along the straight edge.
For zip lock freezer bags, turn the temperature down to ~400'C.
You will have to experiment with speed for your conditions.
.
Hi,
At work I have to calibrate a device that requires its Program ROM to be removed and a calibration ROM fitted, just to cal the device.
The Cal ROM is plugged and unplugged about 100 times a year, so to protect its bendable/breakable leads we have it fitted into a machined DIP socket and we then plug the machined socket into the ROM socket.
Unfortunately we cannot do it to the Program ROM due to PCB clearance problems so the Program ROM is removed and fitted with the appropriate tools
So if you do not have ICSP provision on your custom PCB and need to swap out your 328 to a UNO PCB to program it , fit it with a machined DIP socket to protect its bendable pins.
I was meaning to post the dupont multimeter probes I made like that to this thread. Mine are dedicated leads instead of having the connectors like yours. I find those super useful and like how easy they are to use when breadboarding a circuit, rather than having some large probe handles with thick wires getting in the way.
pert:
I was meaning to post the dupont multimeter probes I made like that to this thread. Mine are dedicated leads instead of having the connectors like yours. I find those super useful and like how easy they are to use when breadboarding a circuit, rather than having some large probe handles with thick wires getting in the way.
In some situations, I use connectors made by the JST people.
Doing this helps keep the number of dedicated cables down to a minimum.
Using the male header end, it's great to plug your cable into the test equipment then straight into a breadboard.
Not having to hold test leads or use alligator clips on breadboards is very convenient.
We all do it now and then.
If you have a few extra plugs and a spare hour, make up a Voltage/Current test cable.
This speeds up testing and gets rid of those ugly alligator clips.
PCB vice.
You may have to tweek the clamps with a file to adjust the fit.
These are obviously for low profile SMD component boards before headers are soldered.
These are handy to hold your PCBs while you solder components on the board.
At $7.00 they are reasonably priced.
The two holes in the base are for securing the fixture to a heavier sub-surface.