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Offline pandknz

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Open Panzer TCB Scout and Sound for a Stug Build - In Red!
« on: September 20, 2018, 07:10:18 PM »
Hi all

Just going to document my three boards that I will assemble for my Stug build.

I have a TCB from Hobby King so that I can use it as a benchmark to test the Scout and Sound boards but I will build my own TCB just because I want to, the cost of components is about the same as the HK one to buy but the three boards will all be RED and build by myself which is the main reason for doing it.

Three boards are here along with all the components from DigiKey, just need a few odd bits like the heatsinks to finish them.

Will post progress report as I go and ask for help if I get stuck.

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb21/pandknz/IMG_0681_zpsdsv110zx.jpg


« Last Edit: September 28, 2018, 09:07:43 PM by pandknz »
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Offline LukeZ

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Re: Open Panzer TCB Scout and Sound foir a Stug Build - In Red!
« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2018, 07:58:19 PM »
They look good in red too! I designed the whole website around the shade of purple used by OSH Park, but in the end Hobby King sells them in a crummy hue that is half pink.

Good luck with the assembly, I'll be following your progress.
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Offline pandknz

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Re: Open Panzer TCB Scout and Sound foir a Stug Build - In Red!
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2018, 01:23:42 AM »
Hi all

ok here is todays effort, my first time reflowing and using a hot air station (although I did do a few of those practice boards before my First scout attempt and they all worked ok but they are not as complicated as this beast

Stencil set up
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb21/pandknz/15a94d0c-2d9a-4ff7-b0cf-d43383c46bcc_zpsqqmzhrlv.jpg

Paste applied
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb21/pandknz/IMG_0684_zpsinezcwra.jpg


Final result
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb21/pandknz/ea85b7ea-5b65-4fad-9d8d-2093ec5c6e67_zpsklt8ycx7.jpg

Not tested yet and I still need to have a closer look at all the joints/pads, I have left out the RC pins as I don't think I will need them as I'm connecting direct to the TCB.

Looks good in Red though :)
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Offline LukeZ

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Re: Open Panzer TCB Scout and Sound foir a Stug Build - In Red!
« Reply #3 on: September 21, 2018, 02:10:19 AM »
From the photos that looks like a very good job and I expect you will find the board to be electrically sound.

Of the three designs the TCB is the most difficult to assemble due to the extremely small pitch of the processor. On the Scout the pin spacing on the processor is much wider and even if you do have some bridged pins they are simple enough to correct afterwards by hand with an iron and some flux.

The one possible pitfall to avoid when assembling the Scout is not to have too much paste on the large heat-pads of the motor driver ICs. If during reflow those short, it will not be good because of course afterwards you can no longer visually examine the underside of those chips, if they are shorted they will fry the chips, the chips are very difficult to remove without damaging the rest of the board, and they are the most expensive components. But from your photos I think you will be fine. You'll notice I also sized the stencil to be smaller than necessary on those heat-pads precisely to help avoid getting too much paste there.

If I had to be extremely nit-picky I might recommend taking one more pass with the scraper to try to get the thickness of the paste down as thin as possible, from what is shown in your second photograph. But again I think you will be fine. Most times the paste is very forgiving and during reflow will clean itself up where previously it looked a mess. However the less paste to begin with, the better.

You are correct, if you won't be using the RC functions you can leave those pins off.

Hopefully you are familiar with flashing the bootloader which must be done before anything else, afterwards you can upload firmware using OP Config as normal. There are various instructions available on the internet and it may also have been discussed already on this forum but if you have questions let me know.
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Offline LukeZ

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Re: Open Panzer TCB Scout and Sound foir a Stug Build - In Red!
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2018, 02:18:04 AM »
Another thing that can make your life much easier, are pre-crimped JST PH cables, such as these 6" from Digi-Key: 455-3082-ND

Combine with the easy-to-source 3-pin JST PH plug housings (you can find them on eBay and all over the internet), and you can quickly create the three-pin data cable that goes from the TCB to the Scout or Sound Card. Here they are at DigiKey for reference: 455-1126-ND

The larger JST XH cables that are used to provide power to these boards are much easier to find pre-made online and they are also large enough it is usually not a problem to crimp them by hand. But crimping the tiny PH connectors successfully is a near impossibility unless you have the exact right crimping tool.
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Offline pandknz

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Re: Open Panzer TCB Scout and Sound foir a Stug Build - In Red!
« Reply #5 on: September 21, 2018, 05:29:46 AM »
Thanks for all the help Luke

Have you ever tried using an Arduino to program the bootloader/ I have one handy but if not I will just buy one
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Offline johnnyvd

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Re: Open Panzer TCB Scout and Sound foir a Stug Build - In Red!
« Reply #6 on: September 21, 2018, 05:36:31 AM »
Great job on the PCB's! You beat me to it  ;D

How did you fare with the positioning of the SMD components? The LED's are the only one that have specific +- orientation or not?
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Offline pandknz

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Re: Open Panzer TCB Scout and Sound foir a Stug Build - In Red!
« Reply #7 on: September 21, 2018, 05:50:47 AM »
Hi
Using my microscope goggles its not bad, at 10X I can actually see  ;)

There are a couple other components that are polarity sensitive also like the Zener diode and its hard to see the line on the cathode side, I think I got mine right  :o

Next is to try and bootload it this will tell me if all is well :)
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Offline LukeZ

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Re: Open Panzer TCB Scout and Sound foir a Stug Build - In Red!
« Reply #8 on: September 21, 2018, 01:57:11 PM »
Have you ever tried using an Arduino to program the bootloader?

I personally have not tried that but there are tutorials online. A USBASP is only a couple dollars and would be less hassle. Another thing that makes life so much easier is an ISP pogo-pin adapter like this one from SparkFun.
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Offline pandknz

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Re: Open Panzer TCB Scout and Sound foir a Stug Build - In Red!
« Reply #9 on: September 21, 2018, 07:12:36 PM »
all good, just thought I would ask, I have ordered:


4x 2.0 mm 3 PIN PH JST Micro Connector - This will make two data cables
1x Basic Breakout Board For FTDI FT232RL USB to TTL Serial IC Adaptor 3.3V 5V FT232
1x 10 Pin Convert to 6 Pin Adapter Board For ATMEL AVRISP USBASP
1x 5V USB ISP USBASP Programmer Downloader Cable for Atmel AVR ATMega


This should be a good kit to do all my programming/firmware updates

Now back to the model while I wait for these to arrive
:)
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Offline LukeZ

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Re: Open Panzer TCB Scout and Sound foir a Stug Build - In Red!
« Reply #10 on: September 21, 2018, 09:38:13 PM »
You should be good to go with all that!
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Offline pandknz

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Re: Open Panzer TCB Scout and Sound foir a Stug Build - In Red!
« Reply #11 on: September 28, 2018, 01:51:23 AM »
Ok, still waiting to get the cables for the USBasp to programme the Scout so moved on to the sound card

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb21/pandknz/IMG_0691_zpsz39tqoq9.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb21/pandknz/IMG_0690_zpscbakv9mq.jpg

Now to do a bit of firmware and file uploads for sound and I will test it, hope it runs as well as it looks :)
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Offline johnnyvd

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Re: Open Panzer TCB Scout and Sound foir a Stug Build - In Red!
« Reply #12 on: September 28, 2018, 03:33:37 PM »
Very Nice! Keep us posted about the programming!
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Offline LukeZ

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Re: Open Panzer TCB Scout and Sound foir a Stug Build - In Red!
« Reply #13 on: September 28, 2018, 03:44:21 PM »
You've done some good assembly work I can tell!
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Offline pandknz

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Re: Open Panzer TCB Scout and Sound for a Stug Build - In Red!
« Reply #14 on: September 28, 2018, 09:12:55 PM »
Thanks guys

so I have no sound....

I have not got my serial cables yet but when hooked up with the TCB it has a slow flashing red led so this is normal waiting for a signal which I cant provide yet.
I removed this and hooked the sound up with the RC mode using y harness so I could see servos move when signal sent to sound card, when its turned on it has a solid blue led, ok so remove battery from receiver and blue led flash's quickly meaning lost signal, plug batt back in and solid blue led.

a bit of testing and troubleshooting ahead of me but any ideas would be great
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