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| Re: New Board Development - SBC6120-RBC Edition [message #639 is a reply to message #640] |
Thu, 05 May 2016 11:05   |
rhkoolstar
Messages: 276
Registered: October 2015
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Senior Member |
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Hi
I've been playing around with a display board design. What I've come up with is a driver board, which holds all the logic, but with all switches and LEDS to end in a header.
This will fit on a half size euro board (100x80 mm) The advantages are a cheap design, and flexible to build. Yo can use any switch you like and build a full size front panel or a miniature, whatever you like, The downside of it is, off course, a lot of wiring.
this is an impression of what I am working on. The annotations are not complete and the bus connector is not visible, because it is fitted on the underside of the board, Any comments?
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Attachment: download.png
(Size: 264.03KB, Downloaded 1325 times)
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| Re: Front Panel for the SBC6120-RBC Edition [message #650 is a reply to message #645] |
Sat, 07 May 2016 17:51 |
oscarv
Messages: 15
Registered: October 2015
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Junior Member |
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Hi,
I've been trying not to follow the SBC6120 project lest I be tempted! But it is time to cave in.
Anyway, regarding the front panel, I made one for my PiDP-8. From that experience, it's not hard to make a nice acrylic front panel. Nor is it that expensive. I did it with a local company in Holland (sure they will ship worldwide, but there will be others). If you want ten of them, it's not **that** expensive. Maybe $70 each or so. Just make the artwork in Inkscape, with a graphics layer that defines where to cut slots for switches. It is surprisingly painless.
Also, if you want I can send you the PiDP-8 replica switches I've made at cost. Something like $1 each, standard C&K PCB footprint. At least they are DEC lookalikes 
Kind regards,
Oscar.
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| Re: Front Panel for the SBC6120-RBC Edition [message #674 is a reply to message #673] |
Tue, 10 May 2016 08:21 |
rhkoolstar
Messages: 276
Registered: October 2015
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Senior Member |
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The 10 pos rotary switch is not a problem, more so, however a 2x3 pos key switch on-on-on (or off-on-on), preferably make before break. Deck 1, for the panel lock in pos 3, deck 2 for power in pos 2 and 3. By the way, I don't think the original switch lined up with the artwork, but I might be mistaken.
Keep in mind that I tried to mimic the original front panel. I realize that not all functions are supported by the SBC6120_RBC edition. My reasoning is threefold: a. Maybe someone will implement those missing functions, b. Someone might want to use the design in a different project and c. Having more "uses" will maybe generate more "customers", keeping the cost per unit down.
I for one would rather have an "original" front panel, even f I have to put in a limited function key switch or a rotary switch which is miss aligned. This is also one of the reasons why I would not prefer a PCB holding all the LEDs and switches. This will also make parts availability a problem, particularly with the passing of time.
Final thought, It is not hard to change the design. The logo and logo text take the most time, followed by positioning all the fields, Adding or deleting text will not take all much effort.
[Updated on: Tue, 10 May 2016 08:30] Report message to a moderator |
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| Re: Front Panel for the SBC6120-RBC Edition [message #682 is a reply to message #674] |
Wed, 11 May 2016 03:28 |
rhkoolstar
Messages: 276
Registered: October 2015
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Senior Member |
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I think I'm finished now.
I centered the image correctly. The image is scale 1:1.1
I sized the plate to be 16.5 inch wide (7.273 inch high) to fit an A3 size width
I added a bezel, for looks. This sizes the outside of the box to be 17 inch x 7.773 inch, which is slightly smaller than scale 1:1.1
I added minimal size cutouts. 0.5x0.5 inch for the switches, 0.25 inch for the rotaries
I tweaked some of the artwork.
I also made a new driver board, moving the pullups, pulldowns and return wiring off the board, freeing up enough space for a minimal power supply (Recom module)
the wiring harness will consist of 4 flatcables 3x16 wide, 1x20 wide.
I located the CPREQ connector, to mate with the processor board.
I'm not posting gerbers, because I have no way of testing this, as I do not (yet) own a SBC6120. If someone wants the eagle files, I'l happily make them available
(9 sentences starting with I, maybe there is something wrong with me... 
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| Re: Front Panel for the SBC6120-RBC Edition [message #708 is a reply to message #707] |
Thu, 12 May 2016 09:25 |
rhkoolstar
Messages: 276
Registered: October 2015
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Senior Member |
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My plan is to make a led bar, Drill holes in a substrate (plastic or aluminium) then mount the leds using those black plastic push-in thingies
solder a resistor on each led anode, the harness wire to the resistor, a little shrink tube and tie the whole thing up neatly ('60s style
the LED kathodes can just be soldered into a common ground. (tip: a drop of silicone caulking on the led bottoms will prevent shorts, and breakages)
I plan to mount the switches on vero-board, solder the pull-ups on that, and then solder the wires to the vero-board.
Then mount the whole thing on an aluminium U-profile for rigidity
(Maybe I'll make a 'real" PCB for those switches, when perfboard is too cumbersome)
Those strips can be aligned very precisely to mate with the front cutouts
If you want all the resistors on the controller board, you also need all the return wires. It's a trade-off
All of this seems cumbersome, but I expect it to be only a few hours of work, and I like this particular type of job.
On the decals, you can order them with the adhesive on the front, and you can mount them "wet", making positioning quite easy
If you want to mount them on the front, they are available with a laminated protection film
I placed an order (not for this particular design) to try it out.
more on that later
edit: Oh, and the reason why the board is not bigger: I'm using the freeware version of eagle, which is limited to 100x80 mm
I can probably provide some holes to mount "legs" which rest on the mother board to prevent jiggeling. However currently I don't know where there are unoccupied spots to put them.
[Updated on: Thu, 12 May 2016 09:48] Report message to a moderator |
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| Re: Front Panel for the SBC6120-RBC Edition [message #718 is a reply to message #717] |
Sat, 14 May 2016 04:00 |
rhkoolstar
Messages: 276
Registered: October 2015
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Senior Member |
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My current plan is to crimp IDC connectors on 4 flatcables (1x20, 3x16 pins), then separate the flatcables into a LED group, and several switch groups. For the moment I seem to favor crimping Dupont style female singles (the ones used by the Arduino aficionados) onto the switch wires and use right-angle male connectors on the switch boards. The quick and dirty solution is to solder the wires directly to the boards. (I will probably end up doing that 
The rotary switch will be soldered directly
By the way, regarding the chassis: if you are not comfortable with metalworking, you could consider using (triplex) plywood, perspex, trespa, or almost any other rigid sheet material, possibly using cleats to reduce flex.
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