BOMOTO

Decided to start working on this idea I've always wanted to do since I was a kid, create a real spy car with wireless control and wireless video streaming. Here is the first test if you will were I'am just trying to get the wiringPi C library working and testing out its features. I thought using a simple L298N Dual H bridge motor driver and also a Ultrasonic Sensor. Here is the code: https://github.com/mattboan/SpyPiCar                                          

Going to need 6 linear 100K ohm potentiometers for the 2 octave synthesizer I'm making. I will also need to mount them higher than the motherboard and i didn't want wires dangling around in the case. However i still wanted to be able to take the unit apart and also be expandable so I compromised in making this separate board that would mount underneath the top panel of the case and contain the 6 pots. Here are some photos...

Some real progress was made this past week, I finally managed to get everything right. The first prototype of the Arduino Snake using the ST7735 LCD TFT Serial display (mouth full i know) has finally been completed. The next prototype will try to recreate the Arduino Pro Mini on the actual milled PCB and probably not the contacts for the ST7735 LCD because I highly doubt i would be able to successfully pull that off, with the size of its pins. Here are some pictures of the first prototype. Final Prototype

Finally got the PCB milling working... I used a board I already tried to mill on to see if this time my new board would work and just like the sun rises it did. But the traces where on top of other traces so they don't have contiguity. But the overall mill was a success. I designed the board in Eagle following the layout I designed in Illustrator earlier, which was really nice because I could see how I wanted it to turn out and how I would route all the traces. I then used an updated version of my GRBL controller program, called CANDLE 1.0 and it includes a height mapping function that allows you to easily probe the board to alter the heights in the G-CODE to match the real life PCB.

Decided to take it slow, due to not being able to get the CNC to auto-level correctly for PCB milling. Basically just decided to create a little logo in Illustrator, send it through to Inkscape and convert it into gcode then milled it out. Turned out rather good, although is definitely not centered. p.s. sorry for the bad photo quality.

Thinking of finally putting this custom milled PCB Arduino snake monstrosity to rest, by completing it this weekend. It's been weeks in planning but i  still can't seem to get the mill to work correctly. I think the main issue is the software I'm using for auto-leveling the CNC machine requires a higher version of GRBL. Also i think another reason is the way I decided to over complicate things by designing the PCB in illustrator which was really cool because i could get a nice logo and the boards did come out okay and damn close... However i think all the measurements where off and importing into inkscape fucked up all the scaling, I was scaling the board up by like 3.65, some ridiculous number like that. So here are the main aspects i need to complete this project: Figure out how to use EAGLE software Generate some GCODE from eagle Figure out how a GRBL controlled CNC really works Figure out how the auto leveling works Mill the PCB and assemble the finished product