Finally put my kit together

D

DaveInConesus

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It was raining here today so I took the afternoon to put the kit together. The instructions are excellent. About all that I saw missing was the picture of how to wrap wire around the lead bending gauge to make jumpers. If you need a picture for that you might want to reconsider hobbies. At over 55 years of making solder smoke this is the first kit I have ever had that included a tool for bending the component leads to the correct length. A very nice touch. Using different color resistors was nice touch too. At this stage of life reading color codes means good lighting and a magnifier. The last few kits I have built were surface mount so the through hole on this one was a breeze.

I paired the ESP32 before starting to solder things together just to check it. Took some digging to find the pairing password but I found it.

I am using the Vevor scales ($116 got me 150, 200 and 600 mm scales) and just followed the diagram in the box for connections.

First attempt to check the scales was a big fail. The micro usb connector fell off the ESP32 when I plugged in the cable. It doesn't look like there was any solder on the mounting tabs for the connector. I scrounged an old USB A/B printer cable out of the junk box and cut the square end off of it. That gave me a nice long power cord and I clip leaded that to the power connections for one of the scales. If I have to flash the chip for a new version I will either replace the ESP32 or solder on a new micro usb connector. I probably have a barrel connector I can use for a power connector.

Using 5080 as a calibration number gets me very close to the correct measurements using a ruler. All three scales work. I didn't bother to check the Y/Z/W axis but I am pretty confident that they will work. If not there is an old Tektronix scope on the shelf and I made my living for a few years troubleshooting digital stuff with a scope at NCR in Ithaca NY.

Next step is to get the scales on the mill and 3d print a case for the board.

Yuri - you did a great job on this.
 
DaveInConesus said:
It was raining here today so I took the afternoon to put the kit together. The instructions are excellent. About all that I saw missing was the picture of how to wrap wire around the lead bending gauge to make jumpers. If you need a picture for that you might want to reconsider hobbies. At over 55 years of making solder smoke this is the first kit I have ever had that included a tool for bending the component leads to the correct length. A very nice touch. Using different color resistors was nice touch too. At this stage of life reading color codes means good lighting and a magnifier. The last few kits I have built were surface mount so the through hole on this one was a breeze.

I paired the ESP32 before starting to solder things together just to check it. Took some digging to find the pairing password but I found it.

I am using the Vevor scales ($116 got me 150, 200 and 600 mm scales) and just followed the diagram in the box for connections.

First attempt to check the scales was a big fail. The micro usb connector fell off the ESP32 when I plugged in the cable. It doesn't look like there was any solder on the mounting tabs for the connector. I scrounged an old USB A/B printer cable out of the junk box and cut the square end off of it. That gave me a nice long power cord and I clip leaded that to the power connections for one of the scales. If I have to flash the chip for a new version I will either replace the ESP32 or solder on a new micro usb connector. I probably have a barrel connector I can use for a power connector.

Using 5080 as a calibration number gets me very close to the correct measurements using a ruler. All three scales work. I didn't bother to check the Y/Z/W axis but I am pretty confident that they will work. If not there is an old Tektronix scope on the shelf and I made my living for a few years troubleshooting digital stuff with a scope at NCR in Ithaca NY.

Next step is to get the scales on the mill and 3d print a case for the board.

Yuri - you did a great job on this.
Click to expand...
Dave,
I'm sorry about the USB connector. Last batch of ESP32 modules appears to be bad.
I just re-inspected all of the kits I have and was able to peel off 7 out of 73 connectors (27 have already shipped, unfortunately).

I pulled the kit off the site for now. I used this particular module because it's available everywhere, so the design is more DIY friendly, but it's not sold by any of the mainstream suppliers. I'm contemplating switching to the official Espressif ESP32 DevKit. It's a bit more expensive, but I will be able to order it from mouser.com, so it will be "known good".

Please send me a DM and let's figure out how to make this right for your (you should not need to be be fixing USB connectors on a brand new kit).

Thank you
Yuriy
 
ycroosh said:
Dave,
I'm sorry about the USB connector. Last batch of ESP32 modules appears to be bad.
I just re-inspected all of the kits I have and was able to peel off 7 out of 73 connectors (27 have already shipped, unfortunately).

I pulled the kit off the site for now. I used this particular module because it's available everywhere, so the design is more DIY friendly, but it's not sold by any of the mainstream suppliers. I'm contemplating switching to the official Espressif ESP32 DevKit. It's a bit more expensive, but I will be able to order it from mouser.com, so it will be "known good".

Please send me a DM and let's figure out how to make this right for your (you should not need to be be fixing USB connectors on a brand new kit).

Thank you
Yuriy
Click to expand...
I think I sent you a DM. It looks to be called a conversation here.

Dave
 
benmychree said:
A bit of background would make this post a lot clearer, otherwise, it is Greek.
Click to expand...
Background -
This is the TouchDRO Forum and the TouchDRO is sold as a kit. I bought one and built it. I have done electronics for a lot of years and built a lot of types of kits. I have also done electronics repair for a living for some of those years. The build instructions are very good and the parts choices make it pretty idiot proof. I didn't fully test but have all of the tools and background to troubleshoot any problems that pop up. It worked with the low cost Vevor scales that I bought. There was a problem with a usb connector falling off of the cpu module (ESP32) but I have a workaround.
 
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