This is the construction instructions for the
BS2Hub8 (rev. D) RoboBrick. The status of this project is
work in progress.
BS2Hub8 RoboBrick (Revision D) Construction
The instruction steps for building the BS2Hub8
(Rev. D) RoboBrick are listed below:
-
Orient the board vertically with N1 in the
upper left corner. By convention, the top
edge is north, the bottom edge is south,
the left edge is west, and the right edge
is east. The 24-pin socket will goes on
the east side of the board; please do not
install the socket yet.
[step1.jpg]
-
Take a 2×5 male header and install it
in the north east corner at N9. When installing,
start by soldering only one pin. Then turn the
board upside down and verify that the connector
is properly seated. If not, re-heat the pin you
initially soldered and re-seat the connector.
When you are satisfied that the connector is
properly seated, turn the board back over again
and solder the remaining 9 pins.
[step2.jpg]
-
Take another 2×5 male header and orient
it horizontally. Using some diagonal cutters,
snip off 2 pins corresponding to pins 3 and 4
in the diagram below:
Pins 3 and 4 are in the positions marked `X'.
Using the same procedure as in the previous
instruction, install the 2×5 header in
north west corner at N1 and N2. The snipped
of pins must be on the west side. Again, solder
one pin first, verify seating, and solder the
remaining nine pins.
[step3.jpg]
-
Using the same procedure as the preceding
instruction, install 3 more 2×5 headers
at positions N3&N4, N5&N6, and N7&N8
respectively. Again, be sure to snip off the
two pins prior to soldering one pin, verify
seating, and solder the remaining pins.
[step4.jpg]
-
Take the 24-pin IC socket and orient it so
that the notch is pointing up. Frequently,
the IC sockets are not very well marked as
to which pin is pin 1. If the socket gets
installed upside down, no real harm is done,
since the socket is symmetrical. As with
the male headers, solder 1 pin first,
verify seating, and solder the remaining
23 pins. In the picture, the notch is
highlighted with some white ink.
[step5.jpg]
-
Take a 1×2 male header and install it
at position N11. There may be a little
interference between N11 and the IC socket.
If so, sand, file, or scrap off a little
on the edge of N11 until it fits in without
tipping over any. Again, solder 1 pin,
verify seating, and solder the remaining pin.
[step6.jpg]
-
Find the 10K Ohm resistor. It has a color
code of Brown-Black-Orange. Frequently,
orange is followed by a Gold or Silver band.
This is resistor R2 and it is going to be
installed vertically (not flat.) With the
Brown band on top, bend the lead 180 degrees
until it is pointing down. (Resistors
are symmetrical, so no harm is done if
you have the gold band on top.) Insert
the lead coming out the bottom (i.e. near
the gold band) into the bottom hole of R2;
the remaining lead goes into the bottom.
Turn the board over, spread the leads
a little to keep the resistor from falling
out, and solder one lead. Turn the board
front-side up, and verify the resistor is
sitting straight up. If not, re-heat the
lead you soldered to re-seat the resistor.
When you are happy with the resistor
position, solder the remaining lead.
Finally, using diagonal cutters, snip the
two leads close to the board.
[step7.jpg]
-
Find the 220 Ohm resistor. It has a
color code of Red-Red-Brown, typically
with either a gold or silver band at the
end. Again, this resistor is going to
be installed vertically. Using the same
technique as in the previous instruction,
bend the lead over 180 degrees, and insert
the bottom (gold/silver) side into the west
hole of R1; the other bent lead goes into
the east hole of R1. Spread the leads,
solder one lead, verify seating,
solder the remaining lead, and snip
off the excess leads close to the board.
[step8.jpg]
-
Take the small green LED and orient it
so that the long lead is west.
The long lead is the positive lead and
the slightly shorter lead is the negative
one. LED's are not symmetrical; if you
put them in backwards, they will not
operator properly. The silk screen for
this part is confusing. The LED will be
installed in the two holes that are
immediately south of R1. Thus, the long
lead will be inserted into the hole just
to the east of "+" sign on the slik screen.
The negative lead goes into the hole on
the east. As before, turn the board over,
spread the leads, solder one, verify seating,
solder the remaining lead, and snip off
excess leads.
[step9.jpg]
-
Take D2, the tubular diode labeled with 1N4001,
and orient it so that the end with the circular
band painted around it is pointing south.
The end with the band is negative and the
other end is positive. Diodes are not symmetric,
if it is installed backwards, the board will
not work properly. Bend both leads down by
90 degrees. Align the leads so that they go
through the two holes of D2. Insert the
positive lead into the north hole and the
negative lead into the south hole. Turn
the board over, spread the leads, solder one
lead, verify seating, solder the other lead,
and snip the excess leads off.
[step10.jpg]
-
Find the two terminal blue terminal block
and orient it so that the wires will enter
the block from the west. Insert the terminal
block into the holes for N10. Turn the board
over while carefully holding the terminal
block in place. Solder one lead, verify
seating, and solder the remaining lead.
[step11.jpg,
step12.jpg]
-
Using a fine point pen carefully mark the north
terminal with a `+' and the some terminal with
a `-'. Some people will take a red magic marker
and mark the north terminal as red as a way of
remembering that the positive battery lead
(usually colored red) goes into the top terminal
and the negative battery lead (usually colored
black) goes into the south terminal.
[step13.jpg]
-
Find the .47µF tantalum capacitor.
This is capacitor C1. Orient the capacitor
so that the lead marked with a `+' is south
and the lead marked with a `-' is north.
Like diodes, tantalum capacitors are
not symmetrical, if they are installed backwards,
they will not work properly. (Indeed, they
have this nasty tendency to go `bang!' and
emit a puff of blue smoke.) Insert the
positive lead into the south hole and the
other lead into the north hole. Please
note that the artwork for the Rev. D boards
has the + and - signs for C1 reversed.
Turn the board over, spread the leads,
solder one lead, verify seating, solder
the other lead, and snip the excess leads off.
[step14.jpg]
-
Find the 22µF tantalum capacitor.
This is capacitor C2. This capacitor is
going to be oriented on its side rather
than vertically. The reason for this is
because the fuse will be resting on top
of the C2. As in the previous instruction,
find the `+' and `-' leads and orient the
capacitor with the `+' lead south. Now bend
the capacitor over on its side by 90 degrees.
Now the capacitor is pointing to the right
and leads are pointing straight down towards
the board. Put the `+' lead into the south
hole (labeled `+') and the `-' lead into the
north hole (labeled `-'.) You know the drill,
turn the board over, spread the leads, solder
one lead, verify seating, solder the other
lead, and snip off the excess leads.
[step15.jpg]
-
Find the little switch SW1. While the
switch is symmetrical, we need to snip
off two leads on one end in order for
it to fit in the 4 available holes.
Turn the switch over and snip off two leads
as indicated by `X's below:
Now flip the switch over so that the 4
remaining leads are on the right and insert
it into the 4 holes labeled SW1. While
holding the switch in place with your hand,
carefully turn the board over, and solder
in 1 lead. As usual, verify seating prior
to soldering in the remaining 5 leads.
[step16.jpg]
-
It is possible to install the fuse clips
backwards. To prevent this, please find
both fuse clips and snap them onto the
fuse. While the fuse is 20mm long, the
spacing for the fuse clip is closer to
25mm long. Place the whole fuse and fuse
clip assembly into the 4 holes labeled F1
on the board. There will be some additional
space between the fuse ends and the fuse
clip edges; this is OK. Remember the fuse
goes over capacitor C2, so it might be
necessary to push C2 down a little to get
everything to fit. Again, while holding
the fuse assembly in one hand, turn the
board over and solder in one lead of each
fuse clip. To prevent burns, it is a good
idea to hold the assembly by the glass fuse
rather than the metal clips. After seating
has been verified, solder the the fuse clips
all the way in.
[step17.jpg]
-
Take the LM2940 voltage regulator and orient
it so that the lettering is facing you.
The LM2940 is component VR1. Bend the middle
lead a little towards you and the two outer
leads a little away from you. Now rotate VR1
90 degrees clockwise around its vertical axis
of symmetry. Insert VR1 into the three holes
labeled VR1. Turn the board over, spread the
leads a little, solder one lead, verify seating,
solder the remaining leads, and snip off any
excess leads.
[step18.jpg,
step19.jpg]
-
Find the heat sink and orient it such that
the fins are pointing to the left with the
hole on top. Using the screw and nut, attach
the heat sink to VR1, such that VR1 is enclosed
by the heat sink.
[{Missing picture with heat sink.}]
-
Build the RS-232 cable. Take the ten lead
cable and snip a quarter of an inch of one
lead off. This lead will be inserted into
the DB-9 connector. The other end of the
cable will be inserted into the 2×5
female connector. If you look closely on
both connectors, there is a small arrow
that shows where pin 1 is. It is important
that the cable connect pin 1 to pin 1.
Use a vise to crimp the cable down on both
connectors. [{missing pictures here.}]
The assembly of the BS2Hub8 (Rev. D) RoboBrick is
complete.
Check Out
Perform the following steps to check out the BSHub8:
-
Take your Basic Stamp 2 (or pin compatible)
and put it away. You will not be needing
it until after you have done some prior
check out steps.
-
Get a multi-meter and put it into resistance
mode.
-
Verify that the circuit between the two
connections on the terminal strip is open
(i.e. infinite resistance.) If you
measure anything other than an open circuit,
you've got a short circuit between the power
lines. The most likely cause of this problem
is you have diode D2 in backwards. The band
was supposed to be pointing south. Remove it
and reinstall it properly.
-
Put one lead of the multi-meter into the south
terminal of the terminal strip. This is the
ground terminal.
-
Verify that you have a short between the
ground terminal and pin 1 of connectors
N1 through N8.
-
Verify that you have a short between the
ground terminal and the middle component
lead of the 3-terminal regulator.
-
Get out your magnifying glass and verify that
the + signs of the two capactors are south.
If you install the capacitors backwards,
they blow up and stink. If this unfortunate
event occurs, remove the capacitor, throw it
away, and install a new one with the + sign
pointing south this time.
-
Verify that there is a short between the
ground terminal and pins 4 and 23 of the
24 pin socket. (Pin 4 is the 4th pin
down from the north west corner of the
socket, and pin 23 is the 2nd pin down
from the north east corner.)
-
Push the switch to the west to turn it off.
-
Hook up your 6 volt battery back so that
the black wire goes to the south terminal
(i.e. ground terminal) and the red wire
goes to north terminal of the terminal
strip. Put your hand on the battery pack
to verify that it is not getting warm. If
it is getting warm, you've got a power
supply short and you need to track it down
and fix it.
-
Flip the switch back and forth and verify
that the green LED lights up when the switch
is to the east. If the LED does not light
up, the most likely problem is that you
have installed the LED backwards. Snip it
out, clean the solder out of the pads and
install a new one.
-
Put your multi-meter into 20 Volt range.
-
Verify that pin 3 of connectors N1 through
N8 are at 5 volts.
-
Verify that pin 21 of the 24-pin socket is
as 5 volts. (Pin 21 is the 4th pin down
from the north-west corner of the socket.)
-
Put your finger on the heat sink and verify
that it is still cold. An LED dissapates
almost no power.
-
Turn off the BSHub8.
-
Install the RS-232 cable on N9. Plug the
other end into the machine that is running
your Basic Stamp download software.
-
Fire up the Basic Stamp software.
-
Plug in your Basic Stamp 2 (or pin compatible.)
Be sure that you plug the Basic Stamp
in right side up.
-
Power up the BS2Hub8 and verify that that
your software can talk to it.
You are done.
Copyright (c) 2002 by
Wayne C. Gramlich.
All rights reserved.