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Geek Culture / Picaxe anyone?

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code master
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Posted: 15th Aug 2006 04:29 Edited at: 15th Aug 2006 04:38
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I discovered these wonderful little chips about a year ago, and recently started to build a robot with one of them (The 18x). They're available from the UK based Revolution Education. They're pic micro's (from microchip) with a special, pre-installed bootstrap that allows them to be programed via a serial cable in BASIC.



They require a bare minimuim of external circitry (a button, 3 resistors and a cable to be exact), and have enough I/O ports to satisfy almost any need. They only require 5v to run, and draw 1m of current unloaded. All in all, they're great little chips, and don't cost much.

I was wondering if any of you have had any experience making homemade PCBs? I recently tried it, and my results weren't too bad, but the traces didn't come out as well as i'd hoped.


Here we can see the Laser-Printer-Printed, Iron-Transfered, Self-Designed layout on my copper clad. Notice the feathery edges. Any tips on making PCB's?

I'll put up an image of the resulting PCB very soon.

Weapon Creator for sale soon!

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code master
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Posted: 15th Aug 2006 05:21 Edited at: 15th Aug 2006 05:31
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And here it is:


IT didn't come out that bad, no broken traces as far as I can tell (Hmm, I might see one ). The hard part is going to be getting it drilled.


EDIT:

Just tested it with a muilti-meter, and I'm unable to find a single broken trace!

Weapon Creator for sale soon!

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Dextro
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Posted: 15th Aug 2006 06:18
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Well then, I have some experience with pics, and I can say they're wonderful.
when I used to make these things, I didn't used any laser printers or anything fancy, I just used to outline the "copper roads", with a black marker, those that are impossible to erase. That way they come much better, and is more fun.
You might be interested in the OOPic as well, as it is purely programmed in a free version of visual basic which you can download from the site. The pic used in this thing is just amazing, having almost up to 32 ports, and can be used infinite times (you dont have to solder it). The price is a little bit high, about 99 pounds, but I don't think youll be too concerned as the "basic" you bought for your pic is just as expensive.
This product is really good, as it is reusable as many times as you wish, has up to 32 ports, and the programming language for it (Visual Basic) is free.
You can find more information on www.oopic.com.
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Nicholas Thompson
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Posted: 15th Aug 2006 12:04
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I used them at uni - they're absolutely fantastic! I actually really enjoyed the challenge of writing for them in assembly code. I've only played with them in my spare time using stripboard and my plan (at some point) is to make a programmer for them myself.

One friend at uni made one which he left linked to the serial port of his PC. He then made a Java program and used the JNI (Java Native Interface) to access the serial port to send commands to the pic on the fly. The result was a glowing globe with 3 ultra bright LED's which he could vary the brightness of using PWM (Pules Width Modulation) using the Pic. He'd then send commands to the Pic from the computer to control the colours. Finally he made plugins for his Java program which could do things like connect to a local or remote Unreal Tournament server and detect when you had been killed or got a kill and it would then make the colours globe flash different colours. Another plugin just made it fade between different colours. He was working on one which linked to your system temperature sensors and changed the colour of the orb based on that.

Was a fantastic project and I'm SURE it had market potential!

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Fallout
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Posted: 15th Aug 2006 13:19 Edited at: 15th Aug 2006 13:20
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The only circuit board stuff I've ever done is soldering a few superbright LEDs to some resistors to make a lighting kit for my RC. Absolutely bare minimum of technical skill required, but I can drive about in the pitch black and keep all the neighbours awake! I think it'd be pretty sweet to actually build a working robot that you could program yourself, but I definitely don't have the know how or patience.



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code master
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Posted: 15th Aug 2006 18:42
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Quote: "when I used to make these things, I didn't used any laser printers or anything fancy, I just used to outline the "copper roads", with a black marker, those that are impossible to erase. That way they come much better, and is more fun."


I tried that originaly, but it didn't come out very well.

Quote: "You might be interested in the OOPic as well, as it is purely programmed in a free version of visual basic which you can download from the site. The pic used in this thing is just amazing, having almost up to 32 ports, and can be used infinite times (you dont have to solder it)."


I had looked at the OOpic, but settled on the picaxe due to the small size. My goal is to make an extremely tiny, low cost robot.

Quote: "The price is a little bit high, about 99 pounds, but I don't think youll be too concerned as the "basic" you bought for your pic is just as expensive."


Acttually, the basic is free.

Quote: "One friend at uni made one which he left linked to the serial port of his PC. He then made a Java program and used the JNI (Java Native Interface) to access the serial port to send commands to the pic on the fly. The result was a glowing globe with 3 ultra bright LED's which he could vary the brightness of using PWM (Pules Width Modulation) using the Pic. He'd then send commands to the Pic from the computer to control the colours. Finally he made plugins for his Java program which could do things like connect to a local or remote Unreal Tournament server and detect when you had been killed or got a kill and it would then make the colours globe flash different colours. Another plugin just made it fade between different colours. He was working on one which linked to your system temperature sensors and changed the colour of the orb based on that."


Wow, that's just plain cool.

Quote: "I think it'd be pretty sweet to actually build a working robot that you could program yourself, but I definitely don't have the know how or patience."


It's really a matter of combining units built following directions for your first robot, which is realitively simple. then your second 'bot is more your own work, and so on and so forth.

Thanks for the reply's guys.

Weapon Creator for sale soon!

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The end is near
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Posted: 15th Aug 2006 20:27
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i wanted to get into robotics but im reconsidering based on the fact that it is about $100 USD to get a license...

i'll check out oopic! thanks!

My current savings for the PS3 is: $486.00 out of $600 !!!
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code master
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Posted: 15th Aug 2006 21:12 Edited at: 15th Aug 2006 21:14
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License!? What do you mean? You don't need a license to build a robot! If your looking for cheap, just get a Picaxe 18x from http://www.picaxe.com It only costs like 10$. Oopic costs alot more. (Not that the oopic is bad, but if you want cheap, picaxe is the way to go.)

The basic is free, and you only need a few components that you could buy from http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com

Weapon Creator for sale soon!

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