Fred

My grandson and I have been upgrading the airplane from last year.

 
In addition to the existing jet exhaust, spot light, and voice feature we have added lots more LEDs and changed the power supply to two C batteries.  Now that 1 watt spotlight on the nose can really shine.  There is a new G2553 to play a song and make space noises- we are calling it the radio - through a piezo crystal while a RGB LED provides synchronized visuals.

 
I designed a simple G2553 PCB for wearables which will be used for my granddaughter's costume.  It uses a coin cell for power and the plan is to blink LEDs.  The in thing for wearables seems to be a circular shape with gator holes but having made this one I think I'll try something different next time.

 
Last years post:  http://forum.43oh.com/topic/9004-potm-blue-angels-f-18-costume/
 

You'll have a lot of fun with that. Definitely try PCBs and let us know how you get on.
 
The 5 axes might be overkill. The problem is that software to make proper use of more than 3 axes is complicated and expensive. Swapping one linear axis for a rotational one and engraving on a cylinder is easy enough.

This is what we ended up getting: http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/262624817100?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true or, something very similar. We're still not sure if we'll use it for many PCB's, but we do want it for various other milling jobs.
 
Now as for the pick and place machine . . . my buddy decided to make his own, and it'll be huge for a DiY pick and place machine. He's already started to amass parts for it, and assembling it somewhat.
 
We've got it setup with Mach3, and have done a few dry(demo) runs with it so far. Needed a lot of work to get it functional, and setup properly . . . 

I heard some rumors about new parts coming, and some new features which were a surprise to me. Definitely not something I can prove easily, but it ties back to something I wanted a while ago. I hope we hear something more solid soon. 

The previous FR5968 swapout was for "early adopters". Not sure how many that covered.

I'm not sure if this quite counts as "mailbag" as it's a bit big, but this was delivered recently. A nice new workshop for the end of the garden that I'm currently busy kitting out with workbenches, power, ethernet, etc. It obviously also required the purchase of some more power tools to do the job.
 

I'm not sure if this quite counts as "mailbag" as it's a bit big, but this was delivered recently. A nice new workshop for the end of the garden that I'm currently busy kitting out with workbenches, power, ethernet, etc. It obviously also required the purchase of some more power tools to do the job.
 

Now a similar deal with the MSP432 Launchpad for $12.99
https://store.ti.com/MSP432P401R-LaunchPad-Development-Kit-with-Code-Composer-Studio-Promotion-P51093.aspx

Now a similar deal with the MSP432 Launchpad for $12.99
https://store.ti.com/MSP432P401R-LaunchPad-Development-Kit-with-Code-Composer-Studio-Promotion-P51093.aspx

I didn't find milling PCBs to be very effective. It was OK for through hole stuff but for anything finer it was too difficult to get good results. The only plus was the fact that the isolation routing and drilling always lined up perfectly.
 
I got on much better with photoresist, with results similar to terjeio's above. It was fun but I realised it would often take me two weeks to find the few free hours I needed for etching, so no real time saving in the end. Do it if you enjoy it and like the challenge, not to save time or money.
 
CNC milling is however great for making enclosures and random stuff like that.

I didn't find milling PCBs to be very effective. It was OK for through hole stuff but for anything finer it was too difficult to get good results. The only plus was the fact that the isolation routing and drilling always lined up perfectly.
 
I got on much better with photoresist, with results similar to terjeio's above. It was fun but I realised it would often take me two weeks to find the few free hours I needed for etching, so no real time saving in the end. Do it if you enjoy it and like the challenge, not to save time or money.
 
CNC milling is however great for making enclosures and random stuff like that.

I agree with greeeg. I went from CNC milled PCBs to presensitized photoresist boards to DirtyPCBs. CNC is great but for many things not really for PCBs.

Not any more - as of version 6.2.
http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/Download_CCS

Polyurethane parts have come up nicely.
 

 
Main advantages of this method of rapid prototyping
Part cost is low these use about $0.05 of polyurethane resin. Parts can easily be coloured using dyes. (as demonstrated) Very little time needed for each cast (about 5 minutes) 1-2 Hour cure time 1-1 replica to original part. Of course you need to invest the time and money to make the silicone molds to begin with. So for a single part 3d printing is often the preferred approach.
 


 
The parts are a perfect fit over the button and LEDs.
 

 
 

Just spotted the CC1350 Launchpad although some of the documentation is marked April so maybe it was just me that missed it.
 
It's a dual mode Sub-1GHz and BLE wireless launchpad. The US version seems to be available now, but the EU version is not yet available. I assume this means that it's not switchable between the US (915MHz) and EU (868MHz) band for the Sub-1Ghz bit.
 
http://www.ti.com/tool/launchxl-cc1350
   
 

Thanks, But don't be fooled. My setup takes quite awhile to setup. And I'm still learning all the time, The first pass I made on this cutout skipped steps somehow, ruining this enclosure.
I'd love to own some better tools But I'm going to make use of what I have right now.
 
But I took the opportunity to try some cool stuff. (note the mis-aligned cutouts at the bottom and the duplicates on the far side.)

 
Infill on my engravings and engraved pixel fonts!

 
Getting the hang of F360, slowly.


 
Working on some custom parts now. Using a molding technique using milled ren-shape, silicone and polyurethane.
Mold model

 
Blank ren-shape

 
Mid milling

Got my enclosures today. That means I now have all the hardware parts for this batch.
 
I've been playing around with Fusion 360 instead of Rhino, mainly due to the integrated CAM processor. Also it has easy to use rendering stuff out of the box too.
 
This is the reason I love companies that provide 3d CAD files. I can define some simple stroke text, and Fusion 360 will project it over the 3d curvature of the part.

 
My CNC setup is in dis-array. The setup is sub optimal.

 
But I think the results speak for themselves.

 
I want to experiment with filling the engravings with a paint to make them stand out.

Just spotted the CC1350 Launchpad although some of the documentation is marked April so maybe it was just me that missed it.
 
It's a dual mode Sub-1GHz and BLE wireless launchpad. The US version seems to be available now, but the EU version is not yet available. I assume this means that it's not switchable between the US (915MHz) and EU (868MHz) band for the Sub-1Ghz bit.
 
http://www.ti.com/tool/launchxl-cc1350
   
 

Just spotted the CC1350 Launchpad although some of the documentation is marked April so maybe it was just me that missed it.
 
It's a dual mode Sub-1GHz and BLE wireless launchpad. The US version seems to be available now, but the EU version is not yet available. I assume this means that it's not switchable between the US (915MHz) and EU (868MHz) band for the Sub-1Ghz bit.
 
http://www.ti.com/tool/launchxl-cc1350
   
 

The links below showed up in an email I received from edX .  They lead to a preview from TI for a CC2650 Module BoosterPack that is supposed to be released in time for a course in September.  Of interest, it includes an "Additional CC2650 Module Sample" along with the BoosterPack.
 
http://www.ti.com/tool/boostxl-cc2650ma'>TI SimpleLink

PCBs arrived today.
 

Glad the Tab & Route worked well, this is the first time I've used it far a panel.
It is essential for this as the PCB shape doesn't have any straight edges for V-scores.
 
The tabs could be smaller, but they snap nicely and a few passes with 400 grit cleans up the edges if needed.
 
Next step, assemble them. The GPS SAW filter is probably the smallest part I've ever soldered. A 5 pin package the size of a 0402 cap *

Well, the XDS110 wasn't going to do it. LM Flash Programmer can't even see the XDS110, never mind the LM3S. However, I have managed to get the Stellaris Launchpad's ICDI working. All I needed was to remove a jumper to disconnect the power to the target device and a slightly awkward soldering job on a small pitch ribbon cable. I didn't have to disconnect the Launchpad's target device, just power it down.     Many thanks for the kind offer though, @@bluehash. That looks like a perfect solution, but not really worth the hassle and expense of posting it across the Atlantic.   A small bit of info on getting it working here. I intend to do more when I get the chance. https://0xfred.wordpress.com/2016/07/13/hacking-the-tado-part-1/

Well, the XDS110 wasn't going to do it. LM Flash Programmer can't even see the XDS110, never mind the LM3S. However, I have managed to get the Stellaris Launchpad's ICDI working. All I needed was to remove a jumper to disconnect the power to the target device and a slightly awkward soldering job on a small pitch ribbon cable. I didn't have to disconnect the Launchpad's target device, just power it down.     Many thanks for the kind offer though, @@bluehash. That looks like a perfect solution, but not really worth the hassle and expense of posting it across the Atlantic.   A small bit of info on getting it working here. I intend to do more when I get the chance. https://0xfred.wordpress.com/2016/07/13/hacking-the-tado-part-1/

There is no flyback diode in this device.
 
All MOSFETS have a parasitic body diode, but it is no help for you because it is across the source/drain channel, not across the relay.
 
The NXP's BSS138 model has ESD diodes that protect the gate insulation, but again, these does not help you.
 
You cannot avoid putting a separate diode across the relay.

The 2N7000 would require 5 V to switch on completely, so it is not suitable for the Tiva.
 
Why do you want to avoid the flyback diode? This would require a high-voltage transistor, and those typically have higher gate threshold voltages.