First QUBE Ever!

Well, it's finally here!  The first ever Qube by Nilok Productions!  That's right, it works.  Let me explain:

This morning I decided that since I had all the components, boards, and materials that I need, I should actually maybe put one together!  I woke up, wasted time, and then finally decided to get to it.  Lets do another picture post in chronological order!

First, a picture from last night.  This is the 400 wires all cut to the proper length, which took HOURS.  Then, I stripped all the red ones.  That's right, only 600 more ends to strip before I can make cables!

All Cut Up

The first thing I did today was organize.  When you go to stencil a PCB, you need a perfectly flat surface to lie the stencil on top of.  The most common way to do this is to use scrap PCBs, and since I have 40 lying around, I figured I might as well.  So, I taped all the PCBs to eachother except the middle one.  This made sure that it was a very tight fit and that I can just pop a new board in to stencil.

Taped Rig

After making the rig, I put a blank board into the center hole.  I taped the sheet of mylar with the laser cut holes so that it matched PERFECTLY with the PCB underneath.  On one side of the mylar, there is a huge strip of tape to keep it in place snug.  On the other side, there are two "lift" tabs that allow me to peel away the one side when I'm done stenciling, but keep it down while the paste is being spread.  Check it out.

Stencil Frame Rig

Once I had that all ready, I wanted to arrange the components in place.  Since the paste dries up rather quickly in my experience, I decided that I should have my parts all ready to place.  I decided to make two boards since I only have enough microchips to run 3 total.  I figured 2 would give me a good chance of one turning out right.  I pulled out my assembly sheet (which is VERY important to have, in my eyes) and lined up the pieces.

Components

After that was ready, I took a deep breath and dispensed a ton of paste onto the boards.  The theory behind this is that you use the squeegee to fill the holes on the first run by holding it almost horizontal.  Then, when all the holes are filled, you do another pass at closer to 60 degrees up so that it scrapes all the remaining paste (lots of it) off the mylar.  Once that's done, what's left is something like this.

All Filled In

The next thing to do is put the components on.  I decided to work from right to left, top to bottom, small to large (since I'm left handed).  I placed the capacitors, resistors and LEDs on the top of the right board, then the top of the left board.  Then the bottom of.... you see where this is going.  After, I tossed on the USB connector, the crystal, and the silicon chips.

Components Placed

Here's the boring step... you bake the boards.  Throw 'em in a toaster oven!  The paste turns to molten solder at high temperatures, so you bring it up, then back down.  There's a lot of science and a lot of "trial and error" to this at the same time.  I went with a well known "solder profile" and the boards reflowed very nicely.

Cookies in the Oven

Once the cookies are done, you have to let them cool down for a few minutes!  This is when I took the time to inspect all the joints.  Sometimes there is not enough paste and it doesn't connect.  Sometimes there is too much and a bridge forms between two pins.  With a stencil, this happens much less frequently, so luckily enough they turned out great!

Time to Inspect

Once the boards cooled, I went at them with a multimeter.  The board on the right has a short from power to ground, so I'm going to have to figure out where and maybe fix up a bridge that I didn't see.  The board on the left passes all my testing!  So, the next thing to do is to solder all the through hole components.  Unfortunately, I didn't get time to take a picture of this, but it's basically just connectors and a reset switch.  Once all those were in, I did a quick power test to make sure everything went fine... NO SMOKE

Then, I put the whole thing into the prototype enclosure to see how it all works.  When I was testing the LEDs I didn't think they would be bright enough, but that was a stupid mistake on my part because I was using the wrong supply.  When it's lit up by the right power supply, they are plenty bright.  Once the screws went in, so did the USB cable, and I was left with a gorgeous power LED and a nice blinking USB light telling me that everything was going smoothly!

Nilok Productions QUBE v1.3

Well folks, its been a very very long time since my first post about the 3d concept model, but it's finally here.  On the last day of 2009 we have a working Qube.  Once I get the enclosures from Australia, production officially starts

Lots of Pictures!

As it turns out, I found a camera that I had from last Christmas.  It's a video camera but I remembered today that it can also take still frame photos with some pretty decent quality!

The first shots are the wires.  I said I have 400 to cut total, the picture shows about 130 cut.

Wires Cut

The next shot is of the spools and the baggies of wire.  There is also a baggie with the crimp ends that go on after (ugh).

All the Wire

And here is how I cut the wire.  First, I pull a strand of wire and measure 12" on a ruler with a little crease in the center.

12" Lengths

And then I take a sharp knife at the 0" mark and make a nice cut.  The wire is always in a perfect 1 foot length when I'm done!

Cutting the Wire

Here is a picture of the PCB stacks from the manufacturer.  I put one showing the front and one showing the back of them.

Fat Stacks

And then here's my new stencil laid on top of the front side of the PCB.  This is so that I can apply solder paste with a squeegee and then pop it all into the oven to bake on the components!  Like my ring?  Thanks.

Custom Solder Paste Stencil

Last (and least for once) comes the squeegee.  I've never actually done this before so I hope that this drywall putty knife will do the trick.  There's not too much to a squeegee as far as I've read, so we'll hope for the best!

Solder Squeegee

So that is my huge post for the week since I ripped you guys off so much lately!  If you're like me, that's a ton of eye candy that should get you excited.  Remember, I went from a 3d drawing of an enclosure to black anodized aluminum and 40 printed circuit boards to make at home, along with hundreds of components that you definitely don't want pictures of!

I think this is going great!  The only problem now is money.  Hurray

I lied…

Due to family issues, I actually moved back to school before the break was over.  Because of that, I never got a chance to take pictures of the boards or anything else I received along the way.

On the up side, there's NOTHING to do here since everybody went home.  This means I have a ton of time to cut wires into 1ft lengths and crimp on ends (doesn't that sound lovely?).  I also have plenty of time to use my new solder paste stencils and squeegee to make the boards!

If I find out how to use my webcam as a camera, I'll take some pictures of my baggies of wires (100 down, 300 to go) and the squeegee.  Don't count on it though.

Happy Holidays to anybody reading this and Happy New Year as well.  Notice the little snowman in our Nilok logo at the top? How's that for holiday spirit!

PCBs Everywhere

This morning I arose to the sound of my final roommate leaving to go home for the holidays.  After I said my goodbyes, I heard a knock.  I figured that he had forgotten something and didn't want to get out his keys to unlock the door since they were probably already in the car's ignition.  So, being polite, I got up out of bed with only a pair of track pants on, only to see an old man in a Canada Post uniform.  Point is, my little package from Seeed Studio finally arrived!

I ran inside and tore through the layers of tape.  Getting a package in the mail always feels like Christmas morning to me, so it felt great to get it a few days early.  Long story short, the PCBs are here!  I put them into the enclosure to test the fit, perfect as usual.  Then I pulled out my new solder paste stencil and lined it all up and it was perfect, as usual.

The only "problem" with the PCBs is that I accidentally sent them the wrong file for the silkscreen.  What does it mean?  It means that every connector is labelled with E$20 or something along those lines.  It really makes it look a little crowded.  Not a big deal at all!

The quality of the Seeed Studio PCBs is about average.  They certainly aren't perfect.  The HASL (hot air solder leveling) that they used didn't really level the solder quite as much as you would expect.  They are considered "prototype" circuit boards though so I don't really care.  The only other issue is that I have traces running really close to the edge of the board.  On some of the PCBs, they cut the edges a little bit too close so you can see a bit of exposed copper.  That was my only worry with the traces being so close, because the aluminum enclosure may or may not be conductive.  Apparently, the anodic layer (the black dye) is non-conductive so it shouldn't be an issue, and it would never cause any shorts, I just don't like the thought of copper touching aluminum.  It will never cause a problem, though.

I wanted to add pictures today, I really did, but I guess you guys will have to wait until Christmas!  My phone is all messed up and gives me a "Camera Start Error" every time I try to use it.  No big deal, I'll take pictures tomorrow when I get home and start assembling everything!

Wish me luck

Anodized Enclosure with PCB

Once again, I got a picture from the manufacturer.  The package I sent him with the PCB and connectors in it arrived (finally -- must be the time of year).  Anyway, he put the PCB into the enclosure and snapped a shot for me.  I think it looks great!  If you're wondering why the board looks so bad, its because it was a test run for everything.  Surface mount soldering isn't exactly the easiest practice in the world.  This tested signals, solder paste, reflow profiles, etc.  Anyway, here you go:

PCB in Enclosure

PCBs Shipped

The PCBs have shipped within the past few days, but my order status was only updated today!

Order Status

Finally Machined and Anodized

Yesterday I got a picture from the machinist along with an email saying the enclosures were ready to be shipped!  Here's all I've got for now:

Case Finished

Pictures

I got some pictures from the machinist of the new enclosures.  He said he will send some new ones when they are anodized.  Hold tight.

Spread Open

Inside Open

Closed