PICxie

So I'm putting the finishing touches on everything so I can post it all online for your consumption, the project is done though, so I'm calling this a win. I created a set of labels for PICxie:

That should be 1:1 scale by the way, to give you an idea of the size of the thing. It ended up being a bit bigger than 1"x1"x1" simply because it's hard to fit everything in to a package that small and the headers actually take up a LOT of room. The headers I'd originally chosen was just too big, so I went with a smaller one, but it was about 4mm longer. Final dimensions came out to be around 1.14"x1.14"x1.58" which is still very tiny, if I removed the speaker I could definitely fit it within a 1" square case, but I want the speaker so it stays and the case gets bigger.

I'll post a longer update with many more details about the process after midnight. :)

So here's the finished case, and PCB for the PICxie!! :D

Here's a timeline summary

Friday night I of course had the idea for the 48hr Make-It! Challenge, I decided I would start the challenge at 12:00am EST.

• 1hr - Part Selection
• 3hrs - EagleCAD Library Creation/Maintenance
• 6hrs - Sleep, LOL!
• 4hrs - Schematic Creation
• 4hrs - PCB Finished
• 5hrs - No Work Done
• 3hrs - PCB Polishing
• 2hrs - Case Creation
• 5hrs - Sleep
• 2hrs - Case Completion

So now I basically just have to compile a list of instructions for people, and post it all online for your delicious consumption ^_^ Thanks for following my progress!

The case is basically done, all I have to do is add 5 square holes for the MicroSD card, USB Port, switch. And the external I2C bus and 3.3v power line. It's done after that, I think I'm going to sleep though so I have the maximum amount of time between waking up and the deadline.

Thank you for following me during this product development journey! I you get the see how we roll at Mid-Ohio Area Robotics :D. Quality hardware, short lead-times. I can't wait to actually have one of these to demo for everyone, it's so small I'm not sure if I'll even be able to get anything better than potato quality though.

Lets recap the last 24hrs or so...

Artistic View of the EagleCAD interface

So it may be the midpoint in the challenge but I'm way ahead in terms of development :D PCBs are done, BOM is done. I decided to clean up the PCB routing before I moved on because I made the right call and decided I had enough time to do that. I REALLY wasn't happy, I see tons of poor schematics and PCBs from companies all over the place, even though I'm a lot more justified because I'm under a self-imposed time limit.

3D Rendered Top View of the PCB (it'd take longer than 48hr to have them made so physically making them isn't part of the challenge :) )

All done over the course of 24 hours, it's probably about 12-14 hours worth of work if you don't count breaks and screwing around. I'm just one guy! Anyone can do this all you have to do is have an idea and take the time to learn how to make it happen!

All that needs done now is to design the 3D printed case! I have Rhino3D so this will be really easy, I just can't become deluded like the Hare in the oh so famous fable.

Tomorrow I'll be finishing up the case if I don't get it done tonight, and as long as I get that done before midnight I've made something from idea almost all the way to reality in less than two days! Huzzah!! Go me! Accolades and whatnot :)

So it's the 48 hour challenge and I'm 18 hours in, the PCBs are done, basically. The routing could always be polished up, but that's something that can wait until after I've completed the case. routing is always a hassle because you want to use the airwires to guide you, but sometimes they form weird configurations. As you go along you usually end up rerouting a lot of stuff because as you've moved stuff around you've slowly worked toward a more optimum design.

I pretty much know exactly how I'm going to model the 3D printed case, it really shouldn't take me long at all considering it's just a simple 2 piece case. I'm guessing it'll cost less than $15 on shapeways, which means if you 3d print it yourself it's even cheaper.

I hope you've enjoyed watching the project come to life. Leave us a comment!

Alright so we've finished the schematics for PICxie, we'll be posting the schematics here in a little while when we have time. Right now it's time to make our PCB(s)!

So far our timeline has been:

• 1hr
  • Part Selection
• 3hrs
  • EagleCAD Library Creation
• 6hrs
  • Sleep, lol
• 4hrs
• Schematic Creation

If you're keeping up with us during this challange be sure to follow us on FB and twitter!

http://www.facebook.com/moarobotics

http://www.twitter.com/moarobotics

Audio Block

Power Block

Control Block

I'm almost done with the schematics! They definitely need a little TLC to look like our normal production schematics, and all the parts need to have their info redone. But I'm under a time limit :) and the schematic is readable and nearly done. If you're following us, check back in a few hours for the next update.

Finished all the package outlines and schematic symbols for anything that was missing. I'm screencapping everything so I'll be posting a video of the entire process ^_^

All of the component footprints are done! Next step is to make the schematic! Gotta take a small nap though, next update will be in about 4-6 hours!!

So I'm one hour into my 48 hour challenge and I've picked out the major components for PICxie. Here's a quick rundown:

• PIC18LF14K50 @ 48Mhz
• USB charging and programming
• Internal 3.3v rechargeable battery
• MicroSD Card Slot
• 9-axis IMU
• Environmental Sensor (Barometric Pressure, Altitude, Temperature)
• Speaker
• Microphone
• RGB Led