PICPROTO 18 Prototyping Board Examples

[rick hardy]

Hello Everyone,
I'm a new member to this forum.
I am currently in the process of building a control board for an 8 servo biped walker using the PICPROTO 18 Prototyping Board.
Does anyone have any pictures or diagrams of their trace work and parts placement for any of the PICPROTO 18 board(s) they made ? Doesn't matter what the board was designed to do. (Note: The parts placement/tracework/schematic, etc. for the IC, regulator, caps, crystal etc. is already given w/ the sheet that comes with the board, so I'm not looking for that) or know where I can find some examples ?
I was hoping to lay down (solder) bar wire for the "traces" rather than run, jumper a bunch of insulated wire (spagetti) all over the place.
Thanks !,
Rick

[skimask]

I am currently in the process of building a control board for an 8 servo biped walker using the PICPROTO 18 Prototyping Board.
So what exactly are you looking for? A completed PCB based off the PICPROTO18 capable of driving 8 servos?

[Darrel Taylor]

Being that he said...
Doesn't matter what the board was designed to do.
I don't think that's the case skimask.

I'm sure he's looking for the most efficient ways to mount/connect components on that particular proto-board.

Ever use a PICPROTO 18?

[Darrel Taylor]

I'd be curious to see examples too.

http://microengineeringlabs.com/images/proto18.JPG

Datasheet: http://microengineeringlabs.com/downloads/pp18_06.pdf

[rick hardy]

So what exactly are you looking for? A completed PCB based off the PICPROTO18 capable of driving 8 servos?

skimask,
I already have the PICproto 18 board w/ chip carrier, volt reg., caps, crystal, etc. mounted on it.
I also have a schematic for the 8 servo controller.
What I was hoping for was some pictures showing trace work (using bare bar wire) on any of the PICprotoboard(s) that others have made, so I can get an idea of the most efficient (as well as clean, neat, organized) way of mounting/connecting components on the "proto" area of these boards (as Darrel has stated below) rather than a rats nest of jumper wires going everywhere.

I've built alot of circuits in the past on perf board, Vector board, wire wrapped, plastic breadboarded, etc. but the cleanest method I've used is like the stripboards on a site called winpicprog. Too bad the proto area of the PICproto boards weren't set up this (strip) way.

[skimask]

skimask,
I already have the PICproto 18 board w/ chip carrier, volt reg., caps, crystal, etc. mounted on it.............rather than a rats nest of jumper wires going everywhere.

Ah...I smell what you're cooking...
I think that I was thinking about something like one of those '530 hole' 5-pad-per-strip things like from Radio Shack mounted on top of the PICProto18 vs. mounting everything on the PICProto18 itself, like with an multiple pin single in line connector at one end to get access to the PIC's pins.

Oh...and I like rat's nests!!! Some of my 'finest' work!!!
http://web.ndak.net/jdgrotte/mp3player/plly4builduppics/playerpicsmain.html

[mister_e]

I never used any PICProto myself, but i found those

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ringolake.com/pic_proj/decoder/decoder614.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.ringolake.com/pic_proj/decoder/rx_206.html&h=225&w=350&sz=27&hl=en&start=3&tbnid=UnXFf8kH5ni5dM:&tbnh=77&tbnw=120&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpicproto18%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3 DX
http://www.ringolake.com/pic_proj/decoder/decoder614.jpg

http://webs.lanset.com/rcochran/cm11a.html
http://webs.lanset.com/rcochran/images/smoch1.jpg

http://www.mcmanis.com/chuck/robotics/projects/ -- Check for The servo speed controller
http://www.mcmanis.com/chuck/robotics/projects/images/esc-proto.jpg

But yeah.. they are really simple and probably not exactly what you're looking for... on the other hand... that's the only one i found

[mister_e]

Oh...and I like rat's nests!!! Some of my 'finest' work!!!
http://web.ndak.net/jdgrotte/mp3player/plly4builduppics/playerpicsmain.html

http://www.mister-e.org/Pics/manlooking
http://web.ndak.net/jdgrotte/mp3player/plly4builduppics/protoboard-player-board.jpg
http://www.mister-e.org/Pics/error00

[BrianT]

Here are two shots of a board I built for analysing hemoglobin oxygen absorption in blood. It is built on an Olimex P40 board with SMT resistors & caps on the underside. All the wiring is wire wrap wire soldered directly to underside of the board. There is a 16 bit ADC, Real Time Clock, LCD driver, variable amplitude LED drivers and a PIC16F877A. The Olimex boards are single sided so there is a tendency for pads to fall off after extensive modifications but they are excellent value for money for quick solutions to one-off problems.

A small Outline SOIC8 pack is on a sub protytype board.

I started out with the solderless breadboards. They are great while they are new and for prototyping small ideas. They get dust and other crap in the holes giving poor analog connections for 16 bit work. They are also relatively noisy with highish capacitance between pins. They rapidly reach a level of complexity where each new wire disturbs an existing wire and it gets very frustrating working out where any problems are. Full marks for skimask/mister e/whoever that just posted that monster solderless breadboard.

With prototype PCB services now so affordable, I have made myself three general purpose boards for PIC 40 pin packs. I use EAGLE (paid 100 x 160 mm version) and get these made in Malaysia at CustomPCB for about $10 each in plate through double sided. These have headers for switch inputs, LCD outputs, SOIC 8, SOIC 16 and a reasonable sized prototyping area.


HTH
Brian

[Darrel Taylor]

Wow, you guys scare me. :eek:

I imagine the way the other prototypes shown in this thread started, was to take a board, plug in the parts in some manner that visually appealed to the builder, without regard to the circuits flow, then take a bunch of wires to hook up the different connections. Wherever they may be.

I suppose it's just different ways of doing things, but that's way to many wires for me.

This board is still a work in progress. But it shows a different way of interconnecting parts.
I don't even know that I could explain how to do it other than to say, you have to be able to visualize it in your head, before you put it on the board.

I try to put as many parts as possible, close to the parts they connect to. Minimizing wires (also called antenna) as much as I possibly can. Power busses are run on the top of the board with insulated wires.

It also keeps my cats from playing with the "antenna".

<img src="http://www.picbasic.co.uk/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2523&stc=1&d=1208750996" />

<img src="http://www.picbasic.co.uk/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2524&stc=1&d=1208750996" />

Ok, obviously not a PICPROTO18, but the ideas could still apply.