An Electronic Lead Screw controller using a Teensy 4.1

[devils4ever]

Hmmm. I have an older version (5.0.2) and haven't used it in a few years. There should be some up to date ones out there in YT. And there should be documentation out there for the current version on the KiCad website. Try posting on the KiCad forum and ask for suggestions?

 

[WobblyHand]

Current docs are a mixture of old and new. I'm at 6.0.2, but 35% of the website docs refer to V5. The YT vids I found are most definitely V5. Been posting on that forum and have slowly been picking things up. Been a slog. Lots of new stuff to learn for this old dog. Learned there is no auto-router, which surprised me. To me that means no real commercial enterprise will ever seriously use KiCAD. Routing by hand is slow. Machines are much faster, that's why we use them!

 

[devils4ever]

Maybe downgrade to V5?

I never missed an auto router. My designs were small enough (2 sided) where hand routing was fine. Plus, I get more control that way.

 

[WobblyHand]

Maybe downgrade to V5?

I never missed an auto router. My designs were small enough (2 sided) where hand routing was fine. Plus, I get more control that way.

I'm going to have to stop talking about this auto-router stuff. Mostly, I am astonished there isn't one. I used an auto-router in the early 80's on a military PCB. Worked great - had first pass success on a tough high density PCB. That was 40 years ago... Seems very strange to me that nowadays in 2022, there's no auto-router. Like 1980 was when 1G cell phones were around. You know those big bricks, or bag phones... Much has improved since then.

This board is simple enough to hand route, if I were proficient. I'm not proficient yet, but will plug away at it.

 

[devils4ever]

Checkout Phil's Lab video titled: "KiCad 6 STM32 PCB Design Full Tutorial...". It looks pretty complete end to end.

 

[WobblyHand]

Checkout Phil's Lab video titled: "KiCad 6 STM32 PCB Design Full Tutorial...". It looks pretty complete end to end.

Finally made it through his video. Very informative. Of course, it's a lot harder when doing it yourself! The commercials every 5 minutes on YT are pretty horrible though. Just when getting to a hard bit, there's an interruption. Pedagogically that's not good, but that's a different rant.

 

[WobblyHand]

Here's a glimpse of the first PCB I have done in 40 years. Not through routing it, I still have to do a split power plane and connect the power pins. Ground connections are all done. Board size is about 100mm x 100mm. I need clear access to the processor. If I knew what I was doing, I'd stick it on the back side. But I'm lucky I have gotten this far! This has been a whole lot of learning on the fly. Next versions may be SMD, but for now, I am using through hole construction. 4 layers, 2 wiring, 2 layers for power and ground. Made the footprint in KiCAD for the display.

 

[devils4ever]

Looks good. Like I said, all CAD tools have a steep learning curve. I found KiCad easier to learn than Fusion 360 or FreeCad.

I already have Clough42's ELS on my mini-lathe. Otherwise, I'd look into using yours.

 

[WobblyHand]

Made it all the way through design rule checking. Everything routed and power planes in place. Put the mounting holes in the right places, and added a small cut out for the USB cable connector. Got it sent up to pcbway and am a button push away from ordering.

Really debating on how much I want to pay for shipping. The cheapest shipping is about $6, but it will take 3 weeks to get to me. The most expensive, umm, just not doing that. Using the cheap route, 5 boards would cost $37 including shipping via Ali Express standard shipping. ($7/board for a 4 layer board.) There's a risk of well, not getting it right (for whatever reason, including incorrect footprints) so I'd kick myself if they were NFG. On the other hand, it would be nice to keep things rolling. Pondering my shipping options...

Edit: Ordered. As a new user got a $5 coupon to apply. Out the door $34.13 for 5 boards. Expected delivery date: 10/1/22. What a weird ordering experience from Pcbway. Now the wait.

 

[Markyd]

Are you likely to share the code at any point? I've installed an encoder on my Colchester bantam and already have a teensy. I would really like to try an ELS as a stepping stone to full linuxcnc conversion at some point. I already have a home made dro display with a teensy and LCD.