Cumulative Design Review

Android Keyboard

Android Keyboard

by Jeremy Figgins -
Number of replies: 10

Here's my Android macropad:

https://teachmepcb.com/pluginfile.php/7247/mod_forum/post/2762/Figgins-Gerber.zip

https://teachmepcb.com/pluginfile.php/7247/mod_forum/post/2762/Figgins-Board-Front.pdf

https://teachmepcb.com/pluginfile.php/7247/mod_forum/post/2762/Figgins-Board-Back.pdf

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In reply to Jeremy Figgins

Re: Android Keyboard

by Jeremy Figgins -
...and I already found a couple of things that needed modification. Here's the latest:


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In reply to Jeremy Figgins

Re: Android Keyboard

by Andrew Ferguson -
A couple of questions:
1) What are the H___ holes for? Standoffs?
2) Have you considered the PCB manufacturing costs for that large of a board?
3) What's the radius of your corners (see highlighted attachment)? Are they large enough to allow manufacturing with an end mill?


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Attachment interior corners.jpg
In reply to Andrew Ferguson

Re: Android Keyboard

by Jeremy Figgins -
The H___ are mounting holes. I wasn't sure how much space I would need when I started laying it out, so I did go larger than I would if I were to do it again. However, I priced it on JLCPCB last night and it came out to $16, which is fine for a one-off like this.

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In reply to Jeremy Figgins

Re: Android Keyboard

by Andrew Ferguson -
You were too quick for my ninja edit...I added a third question.

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In reply to Andrew Ferguson

Re: Android Keyboard

by Jeremy Figgins -
I didn't consider that when exporting from Inkscape. What do you think will happen if I submit it like it is? I imagine that they'll cut along the lines and I might end up with rounded corners regardless.

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In reply to Jeremy Figgins

Re: Android Keyboard

by Andrew Ferguson -

Nothing bad will happen, it might just be more of an aesthetics issue. You might get some over milling, particularly under the arm.

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In reply to Jeremy Figgins

Re: Android Keyboard

by Mark Hughes -
The offshore board houses will likely radius them and not bother even asking you.
If you ordered from a place like Royal, they'd put a hold on your design and ask you what an acceptable radius for your board might be.

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In reply to Andrew Ferguson

Re: Android Keyboard

by Jeremy Figgins -

I ordered a "v2" of the Android board (v1 is what's attached here) and I got it back today. I intentionally did a couple of questionable things to see if the fabricator would hold my design or if it would cause issues with the final board. Here's what I learned:

- I ordered from JLCPCB simply based off of the price. This board was less than $20 from them. I did get quotes from US based fabs and the cheapest was more than $100 (the most expensive was $840)!! I wish I could have ordered from one of the sponsors, but the price differential was too much.

- My board is fairly large. I found out that JLCPCB is fairly reasonable as long as your board is either under 100mm x 100mm, or is two layer. If you have a four layer board and a dimension is above 100mm, then the price does start to go up significantly.

- I had a couple of tight corners on the board edge. I'm very happy with how they came out:


- In that same picture, you can see where I left in a couple of overlapping silkscreens and also one that crossed the board edge. They came out as you would expect.

- I ran a trace as close to the board edge as possible. I was using the Kicad defaults of a track width of .25mm and a track clearance of .2mm. It seems to have come out just fine:

trace near edge

- I added a large silkscreen graphic just to see how such a large area would look. It came out okay, but there are vertical lines where the silkscreen application is not completely even:


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In reply to Jeremy Figgins

Re: Android Keyboard

by Mark Hughes -
Sweet! Nice job! And don't sweat the overseas order. All we ever ask is that you consider the sponsors, not that you write a contract in blood. You did your part. Nice board :)

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